your love is my oxygen - Zuko x reader

The Firebending Masters: Part 1

Zuko's POV
"I know you're nervous, but remember, fire bending in and of itself is not something to fear."

Aang exhaled and looked up at me, "okay. Not something to fear."

I folded my arms and sternly stated, "but if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino! Now, show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make."

He inhaled before taking his stance and throwing his arm out, but all that he created was a measly puff of smoke.

He awkwardly turned back to me and hung his head, "maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?"

"Good idea. You might wanna take a couple steps back."

I inhaled before punching forward, but my flame was... tiny.

I stepped back, puzzled, "what was that? That was the worst fire bending I've ever seen."

"I thought it was nice."

I ignored him and tried again, but again, I produced the tiniest flame.

I groaned and gritted my teeth, "why is this happening!?"

Aang scratched his head and suggested, "maybe it's the altitude."

I turned away from him, "yeah, could be..."

We went lower down in the temple and I tried again, but again, only produced a tiny flame.

"Just breathe and..."

I punched, but I was only producing the tiniest flames I had ever seen a fire bender create.

Aang looked up at me, "that one kind of felt hot."

I snapped back, "don't patronise me! You know what it's supposed to look like!"

"Sorry, sifu hotman."

"And stop calling me that!"

Sokka walked by, munching on an apple and sat to the side of us, "hey jerks, mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerk bending?"

I turned to him and yelled, "get out of here!"

He dropped his apple and replied, "okay, take it easy. I was just kidding around. Ha, jerk bending... still got it."

I groaned and hung my head in defeat.

All day I tried to fix it, but I still could barely produce a flame.

In the evening when everyone was eating their dinner, I walked over to them to announce, "listen, everybody. I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff."

Toph threw her hands up defensively, "don't look at me. I didn't touch your stuff."

"I'm talking about my fire bending. It's gone."

Then Katara burst out laughing.

I furrowed my eyebrow at her and she looked back up at me and explained, "I'm sorry, I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you'd lost your fire bending a long time ago?"

"Well, it's not lost. It's just weaker for some reason."

She snapped back, "maybe you're just not as good as you think you are."

Toph raised her eyebrows, "ouch."

I turned to walk away, but a thought came to my mind, "I bet it's because I changed sides."

But Katara was quick to dismiss me, "that's ridiculous."

Aang then jumped in, "I don't know. Maybe it isn't. Maybe your fire bending comes from rage, and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to."