Work Text:
Zuko was starving, he’d been traveling for days. He felt like he would die any minute from how hungry he was…
“Hey boy! If you help me and my wife we’ll… give you some food…” A man called out, getting quieter as he saw Zuko’s eye… “Can you work?” He blurted out, to which his wife elbowed him.
“That’s not polite! It’s just one eye.” His wife scolded, shaking her head.
“What do you need help with?” Zuko asked, climbing off of his ostrich horse.
“Could you help us haul these items back to our place?” The wife asked, smiling at the boy. “I am Poppy Beifong and this is my husband, Lao Beifong.” Poppy said. Lao extended his hand to shake Zuko’s hand.
“I’m Long.” Zuko said, shaking Lao’s hand.
“I think you’d get along well with our daughter, her name is Toph Beifong.” Lao said and Poppy nodded in agreement.
“Yes! I’m sure you would. You can meet her as we eat dinner.” Poppy said before Lao helped Zuko get the supplies that they couldn’t carry onto his ostrich horse before they led him to their home.
Zuko was silent for the whole ride, listening to Poppy and Lao talk. They spoke of their daughter the whole time; who they should marry her off to, if they should marry her off, when they should do it, and who would take care of her best… It didn’t interest Zuko very much and he frankly didn’t care to learn about their daughter. He was pretty tired of the conversation, didn’t the couple talk about anything else? Goddamn!
“Long, were you a fire nation prisoner?” Lao asked suddenly, Poppy elbowing once again.
“Yes.” Zuko lied and Lao nodded. It’s what the man had assumed, seeing his burn scar.
“Oh! We are nearing our home.” Poppy pointed out to Zuko, who just nodded.
Upon the trio arriving, Zuko hopped off his ostrich horse and unloaded the stuff. He walked in with Poppy and Lao, helping to put stuff away.
“Who’s this weirdo?” A girl asked and Zuko turned around.
“Toph! You can’t say stuff like that to people. He’s going to be a new worker for us! He'll be your new guard and I'm sure you'll get along with him! He's half-blind after all." Her father said and Toph groaned.
"How many times do I gotta tell you, old man? I ain't gonna get along with someone just cause they're disabled!" Toph snapped.
"Ah- *Differently* abled, we've talked about that, Toph." Her mother scolded and she just groaned louder.
Okay so Zuko was living with a bunch of ableists who had a blind daughter.... ironic.