Zuko x Reader: Love Burns [COMPLETED]

The Boiling Rock PART ONE

(A/N): The credit for the joke in the first part of this chapter goes to [Do you even bend?] on Reddit. 

Zuko was serving tea to everyone. Thankfully, his tea making skills have improved significantly. Iroh really does work wonders. 

"No one can make tea like Uncle, but hopefully I learned a thing or two. Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" Zuko asked, while pouring tea into multiple cups. 

"Sure," Katara said. 

"I like jokes." Aang said.

"Bring it!" Toph smiled. 

"Okay.  Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punch line is "Leaf me alone, I'm bushed!"" Everyone stared at him blankly.

"You know, maybe telling the whole joke would make it funner, Zuko," I said.

"Well, it's funnier when Uncle tells it."

"Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing." Katara said, everyone laughed. 

"Well, as it just so happens, I remember the whole thing," I said, smiling. 

"Really, (Y/N)?" Zuko asked me, sitting down. 

"Yes," I turned to the group, "A tea server walks over to one of his customers and hands him a bushel of tea leaves. The customer thanks him for the nice gift. Later the tea server comes over and hands the customer another bushel of tea leaves. The tea server keeps bringing the customer tea leaves when the customer finally says "leaf me alone, I'm bushed!""

Everyone laughed, and I smiled at Zuko, "alright, (Y/N), you win this round."

"It's funny, you say that like I haven't won every round since I was 11."

"At least I can play hide and seek," he grew defensive. 

"Can you though? You never could find the Avatar,"

"Oooh, she got you there!" Toph exclaimed. 

"I guess she does," Zuko said, scratching his head and smiling. 

He seems to be a lot happier these days. I liked it.

Sokka approached Zuko and I, "Hey, can I talk to you guys for a second?" 

I looked at Zuko, then Sokka, we both nodded.

"So, what's up?" Zuko asked Sokka, when we were out of ear-shot. 

"If someone was captured by the Fire Nation, where would they be taken?" Sokka asked us, blatantly. 

"What do you mean? Who was captured?" Zuko turned to Sokka, confused. 

"Are you talking about your dad?" I chimed in. 

Sokka nodded. 

"I can't tell you where they are." Zuko said, shaking his head no. 

I turned to him and we had a silent conversation with our eyes, which went a little like this:  

Me: You don't think?

Zuko: Where else would they be?

Me: True but it's impossible to get there, let alone escape. 

Zuko: I know.

"Hello?" Sokka said, waving his hand between Zuko and I.

"Huh? What were you saying?" I asked him. 

"Why can't you tell me?" He asked, frustrated. 

"Trust me. Knowing would just make you feel worse," Zuko told him.