|•|W I T 卄 E R||•| Zuko X Reader ⚠SLOWBURN⚠

I Will Never Give Up On You

It had been hours since you had laid down in bed, yet you were still up. There was an odd feeling keeping you up.

The blue shade of the night engulfed your surroundings as the faint glow of city lights shone past the window's wooden casements and into wavering strokes of light on the ceiling.

You watched them flicker. It was like counting sheep. Two lights-then suddenly three, then two, and then none.

"Y/N?"

You flinched at the sound of your name, glancing ever so slightly to your right. Zuko was still awake as well. You hummed and raised an eyebrow.

"You told me you wanted to learn how to wield a sword, right?" He inquired.
You nodded, confirming that you had.

"Do you remember that bridge where we released the lantern? There was a forest."

You realized what he was trying to say.
"We could potentially train there without being stopped or anything."

"That's right," Zuko whispered, "And you could use your abilities to make sure no one's there."

You chuckled, poking his forehead with a smile. "Is that why you've still awake?"

"You normally don't stay up this late, so I wanted to make sure you were alright." Zuko mumbled in a soft tone. His words were slightly slurred due to his drowsiness.

Your smile dropped as you furrowed your eyebrows in concern. "I'm fine! You shouldn't have stayed up worrying about me." You huffed.

"That's... Easier said than done. You're part of the only good, truly happy memories I had back then. And... It's kind of unfair to say I shouldn't stay up like this..."

Zuko reached into his pocket and took out a small, red, plastic butter-fly. "When you did the same for me."

Your expression softened as you laid your eyes upon the old toy. Back then, it looked so gorgeous and magnificent with it's intricate designs and fresh coat of maroon paint. In fact, it was about as big as your hands.

Now those patterns were starting to wither away, the paint began to fade, and the once gracious and grand gift was as small as your palm.

What truly touched your heart was that even now, he still cherished it as if it were as beautiful as the first day he saw it.

"You... You should worry about yourself, too, okay?" You placed your hand atop of his, keeping the butter-fly within the warmth of your hands.

"You need to worry about yourself as well. Seriously." Zuko chuckled.

"Uh- Excuse me? I am way more self absorbed than you!" You whisper-yelled, as to not awake Iroh.

"You literally spent time out in the rain crying about how much you were worried about me, and how guilty you felt that you weren't there for me." Zuko scoffed.

"Th-That's... Not true! I wasn't out in the rain, I was out in front of the tea shop!" You grunted, puffing out your cheeks.

"You were still crying either way!" He laughed.

"Don't laugh at me, you jerk!" You grumbled, rolling away and turning your back towards him.

"Not laughing at you is almost impossible when you constantly act like a drug addicted monkey." Zuko muttered, shrugging.

You gasped, rolled back around, and sat up in shock. "MONKEY!? Wow, Zuko. I didn't know you had something against people from the Water Tribes."

"Wh- If I did, I would've called you a snow savage or something." Zuko said, narrowing his eyes.