Find Me | Zuko x reader | Avatar the Last Airbender | Book 1

Chapter 36: Rest

          Zuko couldn't tell if she was talking about the last time they had parted, or the date he just ran away from, but he didn't care. He ran forward, wrapping his arms around her.

          "Slow down!" Y/N yelped, falling against the wall for support. They both slid down the wall to the pavement, Zuko not letting go of her as she splayed her arms, trying to catch herself from hitting the ground too hard.

          "One of these days we're going to be standing on the edge of a cliff, and you'll be the ultimate demise of the both of us. Zuko? Are you okay?" She wrapped her arms around his slumped body, running her fingers through his hair. 

          "I needed to see you right about now." He responded simply, his face still buried in her shirt. Y/N chuckled lightly. 

          "We just keep finding each other, don't we?" She asked. Zuko pulled away, sitting up against the wall next to her, arm around her shoulders.

          "What are you doing here?" He asked, lightly guiding her chin towards him so he could get a good look at her face. She took his hand and held it in her lap.

          "I could ask the same of you. Look at you, really getting around. You tackle a girl right after running away from another you kissed?" She teased, and Zuko's face went pink.

          "I was trying- I can't- my uncle wanted- I wanted-" He tried starting about 5 different sentences, but all of them died in his throat halfway through. He was cut off as Y/N leaned forward, pecking him on the cheek.

          "Shut up. You can't speak to save your life." She chuckled at his confused expression. "I need to get back to the others soon, but we can stay here for a little while, okay? You have a lot on your mind, just calm down and rest for a second."

          "We can't- I don't know-" Zuko started, and Y/N kissed him again, on the lips. It wasn't awkward, or tense. Her soft lips against his made his heart flutter, but slow to a calmer pace. 

          "I think we both already know, and we've been thinking too much recently. I believe we can agree on that." She wrapped her arm around him as he leaned on her, letting out a long sigh. "We need to chill for a little while. Maybe this is just me wanting to hold on a little longer, but just stay here for a bit, and don't think. Just rest."

          They leaned on one another, Zuko trying to push away the panicked and anxious thoughts, focusing on Y/N's steady breathing and heartbeat instead. Y/N rubbed slow circles on his back, humming softly to herself as more and more shops on the street to their left shut down. 

          Upon actually looking at the street they were on, he realized it was more of an alleyway. Ba Sing Se was very clean and well kept, surprisingly including the alleyways. The voices in the nearby street were muffled by the walls, and far away.

          "Why have I never heard you sing?" Zuko murmured as she began mumbling the words to the song she hummed. 

          "I never really felt the need to." She shrugged lightly, adjusting her position to make it more comfortable for Zuko leaning on her. "I've never heard you sing."

          "Don't you dare ask me to, it's terrible." He cut in with a chuckle. "You asked me to dance and then my feet hurt for days after."

          "You were the one who chose to dance for 20 or so songs." She pointed out. The stars were visible overhead, but barley. There were many lights still on in the city, and it was a little cloudy, making the points of light hard to find.

          "You dance beautifully." She said after a few moments of silence. "Remember when I tripped, and somehow you just caught me and kept going?"

          "Which time?" Zuko asked with a smile. "That happened like 5 times throughout th-" he cut off with a laugh as Y/N lightly smacked him.

          "We don't talk about that." She scolded, giggling.

          "Wha- YOU brought it up!" Zuko complained, laughing at Y/N's clumsiness. 

          "Where did you learn to dance?" She asked after a few moments. "I thought the Fire Nation banned it or something."

          "My uncle showed me." Zuko said with a smile. "He taught me his favorite, and I kept coming back to learn more. A lot of them were related to our firebending exercises, so I called it training. I would never admit I actually wanted to dance."

          "That sounds lovely." Y/N smiled, running her hand through his hair again. "I would think it would be hard to have him dance the lady part. Who was your partner?" Zuko chuckled.

          "Most of the time I didn't have one, but when I did it was Azula, and nearly died every time."

          "What on earth could you do in partner dancing that would kill you??" Y/N asked in a concerned voice. 

          "See, that's what one would think, but she stepped on my feet all the time, and one time she made these boots with metal spikes on the bottom..."

          "Holy- Wow." Y/N laughed nervously at the gruesome image. "I'm glad you can still walk."

          "Me too." They fell into comfortable silence, and Zuko snuggled closer. "Can you sing again?" Y/N laughed.

          "Have any requests?"

          "No, I just want to hear your voice."

          Short chapter, sorry. I usually don't do notes, but I'll make this quick. This is for my readers that haven't seen the notes in my conversations tab: thank you for the support and comments. Seeing the reactions makes my day, and you guys are a big part of my inspiration to keep writing this story.

          This might need a lot editing- I don't write fanfictions off an outline or anything like my other creative writing projects, so I am as surprised as you guys are when's something happens. Therefore, I can promise that I will finish this book, but I cannot promise that it will make sense.

          Again, thank you, and I hope you stick around. :)

                    (Keep commenting, I love reading them, despite the cursed conversations that come up. I mean, I'm not surprised, it's the Wattpad comment section.)