#zuko was a powerful bender

[the-badger-mole]

I don't understand people who say that Zuko was a bad firebender. He's demonstrably not, even before he meets the dragons, he's shown to be a very good firebender. HE thinks he's not good enough, and sure, he's not a prodigy like Azula, but that doesn't mean he's a bad firebender. He clearly knows his stuff, and the implication is that he's only not as strong as he could be in the first couple of seasons because he's relying on anger and hatred to fuel his inner fire (man, that sounds cheesy!). Once he figures out a better, more sustainable source, he's a match for Azula. That means at his "weakest", he was still able to go toe-to-toe with a military trained, fully grown man and win. Zuko was never a bad firebender, he just didn't believe in himself (again...cheesy).

[ofswordsandpens]

I fear that "fire bending didn't come easy to zuko" and "zuko isn't a prodigy" (both true) has somehow snowballed into "zuko is a bad or at best average fire bender".... which simply isn't true, especially by the end of book 3

[queenpiranhadon]

A/N: You all voted on this poll, and this poll, and this poll, and after a LOT of voting, I present you this :) BIG thanks to @that-multi-fandom-hijabi for beta reading this go follow her writing acc rn (@novaaaaaa-writes). Here's my masterlist!

Warning(s): Enemies to lovers trope, mentions of burning, stabbing, blood, bad descriptions of both fire of water (ice, snow ?) bending, Zuko is whipped, just a little confused about it, reader is a baddie, water benders unite (not me tho), reader is GN but written with f!reader in mind, reader looks non-threatening, is underestimated a lot, this takes place at the end of season one, I think that's it

Pairing: Prince Zuko x GN!Reader

•──•°•❀•°•─── ʜɪꜱ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀʙᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ───•°•☁︎•°•───•

“You shouldn’t be here” you glare, your gaze sending shivers down his spine. 

But that could just be because of all the snow and ice surrounding the both of you. 

The fire prince remains unfazed though, his amber eyes sweeping over your form- assessing the threat you posed. 

He could take you down in seconds. 

Zuko doesn’t respond to your jab though, because he knew you were wrong. He had to be here, it was the only way he could finally receive his father’s favor- as the heir and as the son of Firelord Ozai. It was his duty, his honor. 

And he wasn’t going to let a non-threatening waterbender get in the way of that. 

Reaching back, he unsheathes his dual swords, the glint of the waning moonlight reflecting the dangerous glint in his eye. 

And yet you didn’t back down.  

Pooling some water from your waterskin, you assumed the stance you had trained yourself to take whenever you honed your skills. One with the water, one with the ice.  

‘Power should flow, not force itself” Master Pakku had told you once.  

People had always underestimated your skills, saying you were better suited for healing. But after showing Master Pakku how you could use your bending to control the falling snow around you, he gave you a chance.  

He had told you to let the power settle in your body before releasing, instead of forcing it out immediately. Conceal and then control. 

You met Zuko’s fiery gaze with an icy one of your own. You were going to protect your home.  

With a yell, you form flurries of snow, whipping around your form as you channel your strength to change the form of your flurry, snow turning to water, water turning to sharp daggers of pure ice.  

Zuko scowls, setting his hands ablaze and you run at each other, fire meeting ice.  

Time slows down, as the intensity of your elements picks up, until all you could hear was the steady thump – thump – thump – of your heart, and the roar of crystalline knives swirling around you. 

Flames lick the side of your leg, wincing as the raw burn of the fire sears through your skin in white-hot pain. Razor sharp icy shards cut into Zuko’s skin, finding chinks in his armor, piercing his flesh and drawing blood. 

The snow beneath the both of you was dotted red now, both of you staring at each other, panting heavily.  

“You really shouldn’t be here.” you repeat again, but this time, it was barely a whisper, swallowing down tears as the cold wind of the Northern Water Tribe stung your gaping wounds. 

Zuko growls, grunting in pain as he pulls a shard of ice out of his skin.“I don’t take orders from a little waterbender” he spat, venom dripping from his words. 

You reciprocate with a snide comment of your own. “This ‘little waterbender’ just sunk 5 icicles into your skin.” 

Zuko was just about ready to tear your head off, hands igniting with vermillion flames before you collapse, the burns along your thigh and calf were much more severe than either of you realized.  

You choke out a sob of pain but keep your control of the water left in your waterskin. You couldn’t die, not today, and not at the hands of the prince of the Fire Nation.  

Zuko’s heart throbs unexpectedly, the look on your face too familiar for comfort. The face of someone who worked so desperately hard, only for all that effort to go down the drain. But he didn’t care for you. He couldn’t- couldn’t grow attachment to a non-threatening waterbender. Yet you sat there on the snow, dotted with blood, with that raw look in your eyes. His flames extinguished, without him meaning to.  

You flinched as he threw his swords down frustrated, impaling themselves into the nearby snow mound, standing straight up. 

He stomps over to you, and you frantically move back, but your leg flares up in pain again, and you yelp, hissing in pain.

“Stop moving, you’ll make it worse.” he says, glaring at you, but not as intensely as he had before.  

You want to scream, kick him, punch him, anything, but your body betrays you as he sweeps you up into his arms, carrying you to the nearest place he can find, where he can keep you safe. You feel his strong arms hook under your knees and under your back, holding you securely to his firm chest. Even through his armor, he radiates warmth, a gentle heat, unlike the flames he threw at you merely minutes ago.  

He hates this, with every fiber in my being, his voice screaming at him to drop you and burn your frail body to a crisp, vengeance for the blood dripping from his own body, but he keeps moving, step after painstaking step. 

You try to stay awake, you really do, yet channeling so much energy from your battle, the numb throb in your lower leg, and the comforting heat radiating off the fire prince who refuses to look at you, you slip into unconsciousness.  

Zuko feels a weight press against his chest, and he huffs, honey-colored eyes catching onto the details of your face, the curve of your nose, the apples of your cheeks, the slight pout of your lips as you nuzzle into his armor unintentionally, how pretty you were when you were at peace. 

He stops himself there, reprimanding himself for thinking such things. He can’t have feelings for the enemy. 

And yet, even as he and his troops head home, battle wearing and dejected from the loss of a major battle, Zuko can’t help but think about his little waterbender.  

*** 

When you wake up, the kind woman tending to you tells you all about the mysterious and handsome man who carried your sleeping form across the entire Northern Water Tribe because he didn’t know where the healing center was.  

[blluespirit]

i keep thinking about zuko during the day of black sun, starting down his father who's goaded him into staying by torturing him with details of his missing mother, only to use that opportunity to try and kill him again.... only for Zuko to use a technique Ozai did not even know possible, flowing through motions that are distinctly not firebending demonstrating a power so different and deeper than Ozai could ever fathom... idk man just zuko

[my-cabbages-gorl]

Post-canon AU Aang and Zuko traveling on official political business

Village elder: We apologize for our meager offering of accommodations, we wish we had more space, or even another bed in our village to accommodate esteemed guests such as yourselves

Aang: *waves hand* Don’t even worry about it, we’ll make do!

[yikes077]

Rewatching the animated series, and I know it’s just bc character design and stuff, but thank god the four elements chose the specific national areas they did. I mean, water benders without blue or grey eyes?? Fire nation without the edgy black spiky hair?? The animals that teach bending really went “they match the colour aesthetic so they’re cool. They can learn earth bending”

[miss-sweetea-pie]

A zutara rant about Aunt Wu’s prediction.

As a proud Zutarian I personally love the idea about aunt Wu’s prediction that she gave Katara about marrying a powerful bender is actually hinting at Zuko being the guy.

But I did see some antics mention “Zuko isn’t a powerful bender and it’s mentioned a lot that he’s not that good, they didn’t even think he was a fire bender bah bah”

First off that’s very rude!

So let’s over, analyze the fortune teller episode. Looking back on that episode we noticed that Aunt Wu’s predictions are technically accurate, but not always as they seem. this gets confirmed by the end of the episode and how that one man smugly tells Sokka that the prediction, said the village wouldn’t be destroyed and it wasn’t. Or that one guy having a safe trip and almost getting attacked by a platypus Bear but the gang saves him, technically, he still had a safe trip.

So the whole prediction is “ I see great romance for you the man you’re going to marry, he is a very powerful bender.” 

(technically that wasn’t actually the whole prediction, considering A.ang was eavesdropping  and well Kat@ang is all about A.ang and his feelings but I digress)

So the first half I guess is more about your taste in romance. I don’t think or feel like the canon kat@ang is this great epic romantic personality. But hey i’m willing to admit it could just be my taste. However the show does give us an example of a really powerful romances between Oma and Shu. In story lore of a romance that is so great it has been remembered for centuries and has a city named after them and ironically it has the famous enemies to lovers trope. hmm Interesting.

What I can defend though is the part that mentions “the man you will marry is a very powerful bender” you see A.ang it is a very powerful bender and once he is a fully realized avatar, he will probably be considered the most powerful bender. but like I pointed out Aunt Wu’s  predictions have a catch or they’re not always as you expect. And she said, A (not most) very powerful bender that could technically be anyone right? considering there are masters for all the different elements and being considered a master is still very impressive and seen as an accomplishment Even if you are not the avatar. So her future husband could be a possible Master. Adding the fact that most of the masters are old so this person could not even be fully realized yet, Insert Zuko.

So people mention that he isn’t that great of a bender or he’s not that powerful and yes, the show does mention that, but also who tells us that? Oh right. His dad the literal villain. The people that try to put him down tell him that he isn’t good enough. personally, I also think the show try to contradict that by showing us moments. for example in book one he did take down Zhao and showed him mercy. (when I watch the show, I think Zuko is actually holding back a lot of the time because he does have a consciences. his whole arc was kick started by him, having a conscience  and being empathetic so I don’t think it’s crazy to imagine him holding back a little). so when Ozai calls Zuko weak it’s kind of similar to how he calls A.ang weak in the finale. But no one questions A.ang not being a powerful bender. Hmmm weird.

Also, the other reason why I think Zuko being the one in the prediction is just better for the story is because the idea that you can become a powerful bender just feels so satisfying to me. In the show people still need to find masters and grow their skills. we are shown that people get better at things over time if they apply themselves. I think that’s a really good lesson. A similar lesson is already applied with Katara I may add, so it’s pretty fitting in a way.

Also the fact that he learns the true meaning of fire bending adds a nice layer of depth. it isn’t just about the skill of fire bending It’s also about the mindset. It really goes to show how he really has become a better and powerful bender in the end.

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Counterpoints to downplaying Ozai as a the Final Villain of ATLA!

"Azula fooled and manipulated her father regarding Zuko!"

Ozai was fooled by Azula regarding Zuko's "killing" of Avatar Aang because Ozai deeply values and trusts Azula as his capable enforcer and imperialist commander daughter. Azula probably subconsciously missed Zuko along with having him back taking some pressure from her as heiress. Zuko's killing and hunting of the Avatar was more about proofing his worth and value as a ruthless, capable, efficient, and effective Prince of the Fire Nation more than anything.

"Zuko and Aang nearly killed Ozai via lightning redirection!"

Of course, Ozai nearly got one-shoted or heavily damaged by lightning redirection by Zuko and Aang. The first time by Zuko was completely unexpected and was a new technique that Iroh personally developed, and Ozai never heard and learned about. Ozai also probably never expected Aang to learn lightning redirection in the short time since Zuko's rebellion. Ozai obviously, can't learn lightning redirection because the movement is based on waterbending forms that Ozai wouldn't learn because of his Fire Supremacism views.

"Ozai is harmless and useless without his firebending skill & talent!"

Ozai isn't harmless or useless without his firebending skillset. However, he can't be Fire Lord and rule the Fire Nation without his firebending prowess and abilities. I heavily doubt there was ever a non-firebending Fire Lord in ATLA history besides possibly later on with Izumi when Zuko affected and changed the Fire Nation's social culture. Even with his firebending, he is still completely harmless to Avatar State Aang. Ozai and Azula would be foolish to challenge the full-realized Avatar State Aang. wi

"Firebending training from the dragons means that Ozai is inferior to Iroh and Zuko due to their learning of true firebending!"

The "true" form of firebending has less to do with actual power and more about the righteous and moral path regarding firebending. According to the creators, "Ozai is the most powerful and dangerous firebender of his era. Period!" However, "true" firebending is about using fire to create, protect, and provide warmth whereas imperialistic firebenders such as Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, and Azula view firebending as a weapon of war, destruction, conquest, and carnage. Zuko didn't gain a power boost by meeting and training with the dragons but a skill boost by following a philosophy of firebending that suits his personal morals. Zuko became more controlled and focused outside of his rage-based firebending in comparison to Azula due to her mental breakdown and the opposite of Ozai who is always controlled and focused with his rage and fury-based firebending.

"Ozai legacy as Fire Lord is pathetic compared to his grandfather, father, brother and daughter!"

Of course, Ozai's legacy is overshadowed by Sozin and Azulon. First of all, Ozai's reign was cut short by Avatar Aang awakening the Avatar State; the reign was only 5 years old compared to Sozin and Azulon's many decades of reigning. Sozin began the Air Nomad genocide, Azulon began the Southern Raiders, and near complete domination of the Earth Kingdom. The only thing regarding Iroh's legacy is that he "killed" the last dragons became the Dragon of the West and led the Seige of Ba Sing Se which was a horrific failure. Iroh's "legacy" isn't all that impressive beside the near conquest of Ba Sing Se which is a military and strategic achievement. Ozai has dueling Agni Kai achievements. Basically, fighting as a group vs one-on-one comparison. Prime Ozai vs Prime Iroh is probably an extremely difficult toss-up match. It is possible that Iroh is a superior commander and tactician whereas Ozai is a superior fighter and duelist. They are both probably excellent in each other expertise nonetheless, however; just they have their preferences. For all we know, Ozai could have led a blockade around the Earth Kingdom port cities during the Seige of Ba Sing Se with a massive Fire Nation navy fleet considering that a six-hundred-day seige needed supplies and manpower across the oceans without Earth Kingdom interference. Also, during Ozai's tenure as Fire Lord, the Fire Nation had dramatic improvements of technology such as steam, coal, and air ballon flying. Ozai reign saw the near domination of the Northern Water Tribes and Conquest of Omashu and later Ba Singe Se!

"Azula is a superior villian to Ozai and is more powerful and dangerous than her father which is why in ATLA comics she is the current antagonstic force!"

Azula is more of an annoyance and nuisance during the ATLA comics considering there is no way she or any of her supporters can defeat Avatar Aang in his Avatar State in order to overthrow Zuko's reign. The best they can do is kill or assassinate Zuko and Aang with poison. Also, the only side character that can possibly threaten Ozai in an actual fight baring lightning redirection surprise is post-prison training buff Iroh. Azula and Zuko are getting stomped which is why Azula deeply fears dueling her father when he is pissed & enraged during the Phoenix King Coronation and why Zuko fled during the Black Sun Invasion. Toph, Katara, Suki, Sokka, Mai, and Ty Lee are getting curb-stomped by a full-power Ozai. Ozai and Iroh are grown-ass men and trained royal princes who are war criminals. These children would get stomped by a blood-lusted adult fire-hazard duo.

"Ozai is incompetent as a warrior and is a brutuish and unintelligent loser compared to his daughter. He cowardly hides behind Azula doing all of the work and action in the series!"

Ozai's position and role in the story are perfect for the purpose that he serves in the current ATLA timeline as the shadow-arching villain of the Fire Nation. Ozai represents the accumulation of Sozin's imperialist, warmongering, and fascistic ideals as his successor and grandson. Ozai doesn't just represent the Fire Nation as Fire Lord but embodies the Fire Nation Imperialist Culture in its entirety. Also, where does the ATLA Fandumb believes that Azula learned her cunning, conviving, strategic, and mericless planning skills and callous ruthlessness efficiency and effectiveness from? Azulon? Iroh? Ursa? Lu Ten? Zuko? Or let me guess, Azula was born naturally perfect and unbashedly cruel and vicious like a spawn of Satan? Of course, not! Azula was meticuliously groomed, trained, and tested by her father to be the ruthless and mericless warrior that she is.

[zukosfires]

it amazes me how zuko lived a good portion of his life thinking he was a bad firebender. like yeah, if he’s comparing himself to the best three firebenders in existence (azula, ozai, and iroh) , his skills aren’t going to look amazing. but if he looked at literally any of the other thousands of fire benders out there, he’d realize he’s significantly better than them. bro was 16 years old defeating generals and soldiers with decades more experience than him. i’d say the one thing that really limited his ability was the source of his bending, which he changed in season three. so even when he was drawing his fire from anger and was objectively at his worse, zuko was still a force to be reckoned with.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

why does everyone i watch the series with think aunt wu saying katara will marry a powerful bender immediately jump to zuko like this isn’t even ship hate it’s just zuko factually is not actually a very powerful bender especially not by this point in the story like he’s able to improve by the end with finding a new technique that’s healthier in general and that clicks with him better but like zuko is just Not a very powerful bender in that point of the story he’s a better fighter with swords lol

[nobodysdaydreams]

Sometimes I think about how bittersweet it must have been for Zuko to see the reunion between Sokka, Katara, and their dad given what his own relationship with his father and younger sister is like.

[ididgettomeetyoubackupblog]

Katara and Aang obliterate Zuko (:

[zeus-favorite-child]

Not some dumbass calling Zuko "real fire bending prodigy" as a shot to Azula. First of all, do y'all even know what "prodigy" means, cause if we have watch the same show Zuko is far from being a prodigy. Zuko is a skilled bender, no doubt about that plus he came from a powerful lineage if we must say. However, despite of having a powerful bloodline Zuko as shown in the show (and comics) is a late bloomer bending-wise, I think it's mentioned in the comics where they thought he's a non-bender because the glint of his eyes. This is the very reason why there's a drift between him and Ozai because it's not what he expected (I mean you got a Roku and Sozin blood in your veins so I think many thought he'll bea spectacular bender from the get go). And don't even get me started about how Zuko needs to experience some dragon shenanigans so that his bending will improve skyrocket.

[daminono]

Rewatching atla and I got to the fortuneteller episode where the lady says that kataras husband is going to be a powerful bender and I thought “so obviously it’s not zuko”

[concernedbrownbread]

ID: tags reading

#'well at least this fucking dude won't come backin my favourite class spirits and mythology wherewe will read how princess yue became the #moon spirit with one last kiss to fucking sokka again I guess. anyway here's a list of the very little people who ever managed to go into #the spirit world and come back guess who's on there too' #'aw man I'm still so mad about the loss of the spirit library imagine all that knowledge. the only thing we have left is a description of #one of the last people who visited the library. guess fucking who again' #like obviously all the names of the gaang will be remembered but everyone else's #name when u first learn about them u know you need to remember them bc of course they will be important to history. like of course you're #gonna remember avatar aangs name bc you know his name will surely come back. of course you remember firelord zuko who led the fire nation #into an era of peace. meanwhile sokka's name is kinda a side note like yeah this guy was also #here you might need to remember this random detail for a test #except then he keeps coming back in every single class and by the end of your school career you're just like 'oh this test is asking me for #the name of whoever invented this or did that? well if I just answer sokka there's like a 50% chance it'll be correct do' #obviously then it becomes a meme #if tumblr exists 200 years after atla someone would make a post with a screenshot of some show with the text ah they really invented love' #and someone also will reblog with 'nice try but I think we all know who really invented love' and then it's one of those long posts in which #everyone reblogs with 'sokka' probably in a bunch of different fonts #atla. #sokka #mine. #atla #avatar

END ID

obsessed with sokka’s name kinda popping up everywhere in school books years after atla. like yeah ur learning history about the end of the hundred year war? oh right with the avatars amazing team and some non bender named sokka who probably wasn’t all that important. on to gym class where u learn different fighting styles, did you know btw that the first guy to ever train with the kyoshi warriors was some random guy named sokka? oh well. can’t be late for physics where we learn about the invention of the air balloon and the submarine by … sokka? huh okay I guess, on to politics where we learn about all these important decrees over all the different nations which were first proposed by.. ah man, sokka? again? anyway art class now, here look at these paintings made by sokka

[phsychobanana]

In your eyes

Pairing: Zuko x Firebender!reader

Summary: When Zuko falls for a member of the gaang, he fears that his mistakes may ruin his chances with them.

Word count: 2.3k

A/n~ I think this is gender neutral? I don't remember putting any specific pronouns, but correct me if i'm wrong. Enjoy!

Funnily enough, the first time you met Zuko was at the northern water tribe. Two fire benders surrounded by waterbenders during a full moon. Not exactly an ideal situation for any firebender, but you were welcome, whereas Zuko was not.

You were running as fast as you could, your legs carrying you in a speed you didn't know was even possible. Katara was in trouble and the moon was slowly disappearing from the sky, fire nation soldiers were everywhere, the water benders were struggling with the loss of the moon and you were terrified.

"Katara!" You yell to her as you get closer to the girl. She was fighting a boy you had never seen before.

You jump on the boy's back and hold your hand to his throat, heating your palm up slowly.

"I would choose my next move carefully if I were you." You say as Katara puts her own hands to her neck and moves them around trying to mimic an explosion.

Suddenly, the boy moves his hands to your face and you feel a burning swipe across your eyebrow. You let go of him and move your hands to your face, a searing pain on your eyebrow almost making you drop to your knees. Katara rushes to your side in a panic,

You see the boy grab Aang and run off before you could do anything.

"Who was that?" You ask Katara angrily.

"Zuko."

***

Zuko followed you and the gaang around for weeks, those weeks turning into months. And the more he saw you, the more he wanted to see you again.

Unfortunately for him, the more you saw him, the more you wanted to smash his head through a window. But every couple has their problems.

You held a very strong grudge towards him, seeing as your eyebrow had scarred and you now had a line going through your eyebrow and over your eye. It made you angry every time you looked in the mirror.

Unbeknownst to you, Zuko felt absolutely terrible for what he had done. He didn't mean to scar you, he would never wish his fate on anyone. Not even his greatest enemy, which lamentably, happened to be you at the moment.

***

The next memorable time that you saw Zuko was in the crystal cave. You had both been thrown in there as a punishment and you were freaking out. Aang, Katara, and Sokka needed you.

You started hitting the walls, throwing as much fire power at it as possible, you even broke a crystal into one big sharp shard and slammed it against the door repeatedly, but it was no use.

"There's no point in doing that." Zuko says, looking at you with his blazing golden eyes. "We aren't getting out until they want us out."

You just scoff in response, unsure of why he was even talking to you in the first place.

He looks at you when he hears your scoff, "You don't have to be rude."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your feelings by being mean?" You mock him in a baby voice, causing him to roll his eyes.

"What's your problem?" Zuko asks, looking you up and down with pinched eyebrows.

"What is my problem? You're my problem, Zuko. You've been hunting my friends and I for months, you've hurt us -or attempted to- more times than I can count, you gave me this," You point to your scar, making him flinch, "And you have the nerve to ask me what my problem is?" You let out another scoff and turn around, giving him your back.

Zuko looks down at his hands, not knowing what to say. He watches as you light each one of your fingers up like a candle to keep yourself distracted.

He walks over and sits next to you, doing the same with his fingers.

You look at him and roll your eyes.

He smiles softly to himself. You haven't moved away from him, yet.

***

If there had ever been even a sliver of you that had liked him in that cave, it was completely gone now. He had betrayed you that night in the cave and it hurt you.

It was the day of the eclipse and you were running through the underground tunnels, looking for Sokka. As you were running you bumped into something, falling hard to the ground.

"Ow!" A familiar voice huffed as the other person made contact with the ground.

"Zuko?"

He looks up, his hair falling into his eyes. You notice his eyes widen and light up, but just as he goes to say something you lunge at him.

With your hands around his neck, you yell at him through gritted teeth. "I trusted you!"

"I know, I'm sorry." He barely gets the words out, gasping and clawing at your hands.

You let go of him and slam him into the ground hard.

"I swear to the spirits, if you ever try to hurt my friends again I will kill you with my own two hands. No bending, no help, just me and you." You say and walk away to go find Sokka.

Zuko sits there for a moment replaying what you said in his head over again. A small smile spreads across his face and he jumps up, running after you.

***

"You have got to be kidding me!" You yell at your friends. They were letting Zuko, the guy that had tried to kill you and capture Aang on more occasions than you could count, into the group.

"Everyone deserves a second.....or 100th chance, Y/n." Aang says, placing a hand on your shoulder as Zuko takes a step towards you.

You clench your fist defensively, making him put his hands up in defense as he takes another step forward.

"I get why you wouldn't trust me, but I've changed." He says, taking one of your hands in his. You pull away with a hollow laugh and walk away.

"Fine, let this psycho join us. I don't care." You say as you disappear behind a wall.

Zuko looks down with a sigh. "Challenge accepted..." He says under his breath as he thinks of ways to win you over.

***

Two days after Zuko joined the gaang, you were attacked. A pack of firebenders found you, attacking the group. You all paired together, Sokka with Toph, Katara with Aang, and you with Zuko. You had begged Toph to pair with you but Sokka stole her, leaving you with the one person you did not want.

You were back to back, fighting off the soldiers when another fleet arrived. The gaang chose to run, not wanting to be captured. You stayed behind to fight off the rest of the soldiers so the others could get away.

"Y/n come on! Hurry!" Sokka yelled for you as you were running after Appa. A soldier dived at you and their hand grabbed at your ankle, making you tumble to the ground.

"Go!" You yell and Aang pulls Appa out of there. You kick your foot back at the soldier, successfully kicking them in the face. You run off into the forest, You can hear the soldiers running after you as you twist through the trees.

You feel something grab your arm and pull you toward them. Looking up, you see Zuko. He's not looking at you, instead looking at the soldiers running around looking for you. You notice that he pulled you into a clearing hidden by trees and bushes. He places his hand over you mouth as you go to say something.

His adams apple bobs as he swallows harshly, listening and watching for any signs that the soldiers might be headed towards the two of you. After no signs, he looks down at you, finally making eye contact.

His golden eyes shine as he looks at you and he smiles softly.

"Thank you." You say quietly, not wanting to be too loud.

He nods.

"Do you still hate me?" He asks with a barely there smirk.

You shake your head. "I don't think I ever really hated you." He smiles at you. "I just strongly disliked you. It was a very strong dislike. Very strong."

"Okay, I get it."

You laugh softly at his dismissiveness of the subject.

"Do you think I'm still a bad guy?" His voice is quiet. Barely a whisper, but you hear it.

You look at him, he's looking down at the grass, his fingers are playing with each other out of habit, his hair is fallen over his face and covering his eyes. You never quite realized how pretty he was.

"Of course not-" You begin to tell him your answer, but your words are interrupted by yelling.

The two of you turn your heads in the direction of the noises and see your friends running to you.

"There they are!" Katara calls to the others as she makes eye contact with you.

Zuko lets out a frustrated breath at the interruption, but he gets up and dusts off his clothes, offering you his hand.

***

The days after that moment in the woods would replay in your mind every night before you would sleep, every morning when you'd awake, every meal, every training session with Aang and Zuko, every group meeting, every day all day.

You had started watching Zuko more than you would care to admit. The way he tried to make up for all of his past mistakes always seemed to put a smile on your face. He helped Katara in the kitchen when he could, he always made time to talk about weapons with Sokka, he always played games with Toph and Aang, and he was especially trying to make it up to you. Though you didn't notice that part.

He always pulled your chairs out for you, he helped teach you how to control the lightning within you, he even got you flowers one time. Unfortunately the flowers backfired and Appa ended up eating them, sneezing petals for a week.

You were currently training Aang on the beach with Zuko. The sun was blazing down on your back and your cotton shirt was absorbing all of the heat, making you sweat more than you would normally.

You walk over to where Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Suki are sitting, sipping their little coconut drinks as they watch you and Zuko beat the arrows off of Aang.

You take both ends of your shirt and pull it over your head, leaving you in your shorts and bathing suit top. When you walk back over to the boys you notice how red Zuko's face is.

"You alright over there, Z?" You ask, worried that he might be overworking himself in the heat.

His head snaps to look you in the eyes, his face going an even deeper red.

"Y-yeah, heh. Why wouldn't I be?" He looks around, avoiding looking at you with everything in him.

You decide to ignore his weird reaction to your words and go back to teaching Aang.

"This one is a partner move. So, I'll demonstrate with Zuko and then when you understand how to do it, you can try with him." You explain as you walk over to the spluttering and red as a beet, boy.

You move his hand to your waist and his other in yours, your own face heating up a bit at this position. You then kick his own foot out from underneath him and flip him over your shoulder. You light your hand ablaze and put it near Zuko's neck like one would a sword.

"I thought you said this was a partner move," Zuko groans out.

"Yeah, good guy and bad guy. Partners." You say with a smirk.

"You can do that, right Aang?"

Aang nods his head excitedly.

After another hour or two of flipping Zuko over your shoulders, you all sit down around a camp fire on the beach for dinner. You and Zuko offer to collect the plates and take them back up to the house.

"You did good in training today." He says as he takes the plates from your hands and places them on the counter.

You let out a small laugh.

"Well I would assume I did considering the amount of times I was able to flip you."

He rolls his eyes and you take this moment to admire him.

His hair falls in perfect strands across his forehead, his golden eyes reflect the light of the setting sun peeping through the window, his skin is soft as you place your hand on his.

He looks at you confused when he feels your touch.

"You did good, too." You say softly.

He smiles at this, looking down at your hand that was still on his.

"How do you see me?" He asks, breaking the peaceful silence.

"What do you mean?"

"What am I in your eyes?"

You think for a moment, pondering how your answer.

"You're a person who has made many mistakes." You begin, making his shoulders droop a little bit. "But you are also a person trying to make up for all of those mistakes. You're a kid, a kid who has been through a lot. Yet, you're still sweet and funny and kind and loyal. You try to hide how you feel, but I can still see every emotion you have in your actions. You're trying. And for that, I think you are amazing. That is who you are in my eyes."

He doesn't say anything for a moment, making you feel nervous about how he would react.

With a million thoughts racing through his mind, he decides not to say anything. You said that his actions meant more, so he spoke with an action.

He gently placed his hand on your cheek and leaned in slowly, giving you time to pull away at any second. But you don't.

His lips meet yours in a soft kiss, his hair tickling your cheek. You smile into his kiss making him smile as well. Your arms wrap around his neck and you pull him closer as he pulls away from the kiss. You rest you foreheads against each other, catching your breath.

"I think I like you." He says, making you laugh.

"Oh shut up." You say and lean in for another kiss.