Work Text:
Zuko lay sleeping in the barn of the family who had taken him in. He was behind a few hay bales but heard rustling in the main area of the barn. He saw light grow and die quickly, softly, and heard small, child-like grunts of effort coming from the source of the light. He sat up, loose hay in his hair and clothes, and saw the boy, Li, doing a pathetic excuse for ... firebending? Li looked at Zuko, alerted by his movement, and his face quickly turned to one of terror.
“I - it’s not what it looks like!” The boy exclaimed.
“You’re a firebender?” Zuko asked quizzically, and also slightly drowsy.
“Please don’t tell anybody! I didn’t know I could bend until a few weeks ago... I wish I wasn’t a firebender, it’s not my fault!”
Zuko’s stomach clenched as he watched this boy, blessed with the gift of fire, fill with so much fear and shame over it. Conversation wasn’t exactly his strong suit, but even so, Zuko sat cross legged in the hay, inviting Li to do the same.
“I’m not going to tell anyone. I don’t understand though, aren’t both of your parents non benders?”
Li sighed and looked away in embarrassment. “Well, not exactly. My dad isn’t really my dad. Before I was born, my mom’s village got attacked. There were Fire Nation soldiers everywhere and one of them... my mom...”
“Oh.” Said Zuko, not wanting to hear the boy say the words.
“Yeah. That’s why I have gold eyes, too. Fire Nation Eyes. And now I’m a firebender.”
He looked so sad to be a bender, Zuko did something extremely irresponsible. “Come with me.” He ushered the boy. “You’ll burn down the whole barn in here.”
They walked out to a sunflower field and Zuko pushed down the second guessing feeling in his stomach and dropped into a firebending stance. “Try it like this.” He instructed.
The boy’s eyes grew wide. “Are you a firebender?!” He asked, astonished.
“No!” Zuko nearly yelled. “I - uh - I’m not a bender. I’ve just, uh, fought a lot of firebenders before ... and uh ... I’ve uh, picked up on some of their moves. You know?”
“Oh yeah, makes sense.” Said Li and mirrored Zuko’s stance.
“Good,” Said Zuko and demonstrated the move. “Now you bring your leg forward like this and kick out an arc of flame. Try it.” It felt so weird for him to run his katas cold, but he knew he could not bend in front of the child.
Li tried to execute the move like how Zuko did, but something went wrong and he ended up flat on his butt. The sunflower in front of him was burned. He looked up at Zuko expectantly.
“Uhh, maybe that one’s a little too hard for you... Let’s try just making a flame. Like this.” Zuko demonstrated with his own hand. As soon as the light from the fire illuminated his face, his expression dropped and his eyes went wide. He realized what he’d done.
Li’s face did a similar drop. Oh shit , they thought in unison. Zuko closed his hand and the fire went out.
Li’s face slowly changed from shock to horror and he began to back away, terrified. “You’re a firebender!” He cried.
“Wait!” Zuko exclaimed. His heart galloped. He couldn’t let Li run away. Not just for the sake of their relationship but for his own safety. If this town found out that he was a firebender, or even worse, that he was a prince, there was no telling what horrible fate would befall him.
“Wait!” He yelled again. “I’m not gonna hurt you!”
Li didn’t look convinced, but he seemed to realize that he didn’t have a lot of options. Zuko was undoubtedly faster than him, so he couldn’t run. He was undoubtedly stronger than him, so he couldn’t fight. And if he ran back to the house, that would just lead the evil firebender back to his family! Cautiously, and with a comfortable distance between them, the boy stopped backing up and looked at Zuko.
“You’re a firebender!” He said again.
Zuko resigned and hung his head. “You’re right, I am a firebender.” He admitted. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I just wanted to show you that firebending doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know there’s a lot of bad firebenders out there, but not all of them are like that.” Zuko thought of his uncle, of Lu Ten. “Fire can be scary, but it can also be good. I just don’t want you to spend your whole life hating yourself for being a firebender. It’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s not a burden, it’s a gift.”
Li took a quizzical but cautious step forward. “How? What can fire possibly do except burn?”
Zuko tried to be welcoming. He wanted to look non-threatening. That was hard with his scar, but he did his best and plopped down in the grass cross-legged. He lit a small flame in his hand and looked down at it tenderly. “It can keep you warm. Or give you light. It cooks our food, and the smoke can keep bugs away.” He started, awkwardly listing the ways fire could help him. “It’s a reflection of yourself. When you hold your flame, it’s like a little heartbeat.”
Li tilted his head in interest. He sat down opposite Zuko and lit his own little flame in his hands. “Do you see what I mean?”
Li looked down at his fire. “Yeah... I - I guess I do. What else can you do with firebending?”
Zuko smiled. Just barely, but he did. “It makes cooking a lot easier, and you’ll never have to take a cold bath again. My uncle uses it to make the best tea. When you have more control over the temperature of the water, you have more control over the flavor, apparently. I don’t know, I’m not any good at it.”
Li smiled too. “My brother loves tea. His favorite is oolong.”
“I like jasmine. What about you?”
“Gingseng.”
And the two firebenders chatted away about tea and firebending until they were both sleepy underneath the full moon.