Searching (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 16

"I'm glad you find it so amusing," Zuko muttered, still embarrassed.

"It's one of my favorite memories of us. It makes me laugh," I said quietly to Zuko as the rest of the crew continued laughing.

He didn't respond but I caught the smile that crossed his face for a few seconds before he returned to his stoic expression. I was satisfied and leaned up against his shoulder as I let the moment wash over me. The warm fire, the laughing of the crew mates, and the closeness I felt with everyone there that night. I never wanted to let it go.

"Alright, my turn," Zuko said.

"I thought you said you didn't want to participate?" I asked in shock.

"I changed my mind," he said innocently, but I knew that this was his opportunity to get payback for my own story.

"Alright, fine. Let's hear it," I said with a sigh, holding my hands up in fake defeat.

"One time, when I was practicing my fire bending at the palace, Sora decided to try and join me. I was practicing the forms without bending so she assumed that she could easily join me, but this was before she started training on her own. I told her that was stupid but she didn't listen to me. She insisted on doing them with me so I let her. We all know Sora. She won't stop once she puts her mind to something," he started and I could clearly see that he was secretly enjoying the crews attention and their anticipation of where the story would go next.

"I remember this story," I said with a small smile.

Zuko ignored me and continued.

"She was following along somewhat ok, but once I got to a more advanced set not so much. She tried to copy it and ended up skidding across the floor and cutting her knees. She was crying so hard I had to carry her piggy back to my moms room so that she could get her to calm down. My mom told me that I needed to be a gentleman and she forced me to bandage her knees up. You would've thought they were deep wounds by the way she was crying, but when we both looked they were just tiny cuts. They were barely enough to bleed. But, she insisted that she needed them bandaged, so that's what I had to do. It was such a waste of bandages, but it got her to stop crying. I teased her about it for weeks after then," he finished, smirking at me as the crew mates laughed.

"I was a kid! I thought I was going to die or something," I joked back before shoving him slightly with my elbow.

"Keep telling yourself that," he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

We continued around the circle and told stories late into the night. Eventually, the fire wasn't enough to keep warm and we had to wrap ourselves with blankets. Zuko and I shared one since we only had one per pillow. Sometime during the night, Zuko had moved his hand towards mine and we had ended up with our fingers intertwined. Thankfully, we were under the blanket and everybody was too wrapped up in the stories to notice.

As time passed, it started to slow down as everybody got tired. We agreed to call it a night and everybody went back under deck to sleep. Iroh wanted to stay and help, but Zuko insisted that he would help instead. He said that Uncle needed the sleep more than he did.

"Thanks for helping me clean up," I said as I placed the last of the blankets back into the storage room.

"Uncle was tired," was all he said.

"I had forgotten about that story. The one you told I mean," I continued, trying to keep the mood light.

"I didn't," he smirked as he held the door open for me.

"Always the gentleman. First the piggyback ride and now this. I'm charmed," I teased.

Before I could stop him, he had picked me up and forced me onto his back.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a laugh.

"Being the gentleman apparently," he replied as he began walking back to our room.

"You're such an idiot," I grinned, but I didn't protest.

He carried me all the way back to his room and then dropped me unceremoniously onto the bed. I yelled at the sudden drop and glared at him. He smirked and said nothing before he went into the bathroom to change. I did the same after him and eventually we were face to face in bed.

"Admit it. You had a good time tonight," I said quietly, looking into his amber eyes.

"I didn't hate it," he replied.

"That's good enough for me," I smiled.

He smiled back and we stayed like that for a while, just looking at each other and enjoying the silence.

"I loved hearing you tell your stories. It was relaxing," I admitted.

"Relaxing?" he asked in confusion.

"Your voice is soothing. And you finally relaxed," I said before turning onto my back to stare at the ceiling.

"I guess I did," he replied, turning onto his back as well.

"I especially liked the one where you accidentally singed some of your fire bending teachers hair off. That one was hilarious," I said, yawning slightly as I talked.

"My father was so angry. He told me I would never become a master if I burned all my teachers," he said with a small smile.

Suddenly the sleepiness I had been feeling wore off and I snapped up into a sitting position. I turned to Zuko with an excited look on my face.

"That's it!" I yelled.

"What?" he asked, sitting up to match me.

"The Avatar's going to look for a waterbending master. That's why he's heading North. He's going to the Northern water tribe!" I exclaimed, proud beyond belief that I had figured it out.

"You're a genius!" he said enthusiastically.

He pulled me into a hug and I immediately hugged back. Even thought I still hadn't determined where I stood about capturing the Avatar, Zuko was still my best friend and I wanted him to be happy. He pulled away from me but kept his hands on my arms.

"I'm so happy I could kiss you," he said before immediately blushing and hurriedly adding, "I-I mean what I meant was- it wasn't- I mean figuratively."

"Y-yea. Figuratively," I stammered out, my own embarrassed blush dusting my cheeks.

"I need to go tell the crew to set a course for the Northern Water tribe," he said before rushing out of the room, still in his pajamas.

I watched him as he went and laid back down on the bed. I couldn't get his words out of my head. He said he wanted to kiss me. It made my heart beat out of my chest. Did I actually want him to kiss me? I sighed and put my hands up to cover my face.

I think I did.

The more time passed, the harder it was for me to deny that I had feelings for him. His touch was electric and yet also so comforting. I couldn't help but admit that I found him attractive either. I caught myself wanting to kiss him among other things more than I'd like to admit. I couldn't deny it anymore.

I liked Zuko.