your love is my oxygen - Zuko x reader

Merchant Stalls

Y/N's POV
I sat on the slanted mini-roof over the door that led to the deck, watching Zuko spar with the Lieutenant.

He wore his sleeveless training gear, leaving his toned arms on display as he sent flaming punches to the lieutenant again and again.

The waters were calm and the sky was clear; the ship suddenly jerked, turning from it's previous course, all three of us were sent flying sideways, the two of them crashing into the side of the ship and me falling overboard. The lieutenant shouted down at me, "Y/N, are you okay?"

I gasped for breath and sarcastically responded, "never been better!" before climbing back up onto the deck and being pulled up by Zuko.

Once I was back up he furrowed his eyebrow, "someone's changing our course!"

—

He came back down to the deck with a face full of thunder, "what's the matter, Zuko? Did something happen?"

Zuko huffed, "uncle changed the course because he wants to check the merchants for his stupid lotus tile!"

I raised an eyebrow, "his what?"

He slumped against the side of the ship and groaned, "it's for his pai sho game."

I sat up on the side of the ship above where he was slumped on the floor, dangling my feet over his shoulders, fiddling with the ends of his ponytail and sighed, "don't stress so much about it, we don't know exactly where Aang is right now, so perhaps this could be an opportunity to clear our heads and gain a new perspective on this whole thing."

He shoved my feet out of his way before jumping up and snapping, "why do you always do stuff like that!?"

I pulled one of my feet up onto the side of the ship and hung my arm over it before tilting my head and asking, "what do you mean? What did I do?"

He stepped closer to me, pointing his finger and began, "you keep on-" as he did, his eyes met mine and he dropped his angry composure before shaking his head and storming away, muttering, "forget it."

—

Most times, if we stopped, Zuko would leave me behind, his reasoning being that it was best for my safety. Since people thought that the avatar was the last air bender, if they were to see me they might mistake me for the avatar.

So I waited on the ship for Zuko, Iroh and the rest of the crew to return, but this time, they didn't come back until the next day.

When they did return, Zuko was frustrated, as per usual, the crew seemed exhausted and Iroh was following behind his nephew, unfazed by his temper.

I jumped down from my spot on the roof and greeted him, "hello, it's been a while, Prince Zuko" he fanned me away like I was a pesky fly and muttered, "not now, Y/N."

I folded my arms, offended that he thought he could just bat me away like I was some sort of pest. I followed them inside and grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face me, "I get that you're royalty, but that doesn't mean you can disrespect people whenever you're in a bad mood."

He scrunched up his face, confused, "what are you talking about?"

The crew had passed Zuko and probably retreated to their beds, I wasn't sure where Iroh had gone, but it was just Zuko and I in the corridor, "you thinking you can just bat me away like I'm some annoying fly, or how you leave me on my own here for days- I don't know where you go off to! You didn't bother to warn me, I was waiting all night! I'm getting so tired of this! It's just like when I was at the temple, monks always bossing me around, 'you can't leave the avatar's side, Y/N' they would say. And now you do the exact same thing."

Zuko stared at me blankly before clearing his throat, "have you said all that you needed to say?"

I scrunched my eyebrows and replied, "Uh- yeah... I guess."

He nodded, "okay, then. Follow me."

I hesitantly followed Zuko as he continued, "I didn't mean to bat you away... sorry, I'm tired, it's just when we were gone, uncle went shopping and then we ended up teaming up with these pirates to catch the avatar because the Water Tribe girl he travels with stole from them and then we ended up fighting the pirates, my boat got wrecked and everything was just so messed up."

I sighed, still following him down the corridor, "but I didn't know that! I didn't know that because you never let me come with you!"

He paused outside his room and exhaled, "to protect you."

"I can protect myself."

He swung open his door and threw his hands up in surrender, "I know, I know. Which is why when we went to the merchants' stalls, I took the liberty of getting you these."

He strode over to his dresser where one of the members of the crew had left what Zuko had bought before handing me the deep burgundy clothing and a long piece of fabric.

He scratched the back of his neck, looking away, "I tried to find something as similar to what you're wearing now, so I hope that will suffice... oh! And that's a headband, it'll cover your arrow, so if you wanted to come with me and the crew sometimes, you could do so without attracting the wrong type of attention."

"Zuko, I-"

He threw his hands up once again and interrupted, "Yes, I know, you can look after yourself fine. I get it, I do. But it's one thing to be able to protect yourself and it's another to practically invite trouble to come your way, do you know how much my father would pay anybody who could get their hands on the avatar- you know, the last air bender?"

I looked down at the clothes in my hands and back up to Zuko, who was awkwardly stood there staring at me, waiting for my response.

"That was... really nice of you, thank you, Zuko."

I sent him a grateful smile and he quickly darted his eyes away from mine and ushered me out of his room, "yeah, okay. Well, I'm going to get some sleep, no disturbances."

He slammed his door, leaving me in the corridor, smiling at the clothes in my hands.

"Goodnight, Zuko!"