Torn Heart (Zuko x Reader)

Chapter 5

My POV:
          Taking a deep breath, I stepped out onto the porch. Lee sat there cross legged, leaning up against the building, watching the storm.
          "I brought make-up tea," I announced, biting my lip.
          For a moment, I thought maybe he didn't hear me over the downpour, but after a second he lifted his eyes to meet mine—that gorgeous amber color!
          Trying not to shake, I held out the tray pointedly. "Can I sit down?"
          He just nodded, before turning his attention back to the weather. I stepped past him and sat cross legged to his right, placing the tray between us. For a long moment he didn't acknowledge me, or our beverages, but I noticed he flinched slightly whenever thunder sounded or lightening split the sky. "Do storms scare you?" I asked without thinking.
           "More like they bring up bad memories,"
           "I see...Listen, I'm sorry about what I said. That was really mean,"
           "Don't worry about it," he said, "You weren't wrong. I don't really...have many friends—I don't think I have any actually."
           "Well, you got me now. I'm your friend,"
           He fixed me with a strange look, so I looked away and started pouring myself some tea. To my satisfaction, Lee reached over after a moment and poured himself a cup too. As he took a sip, I heard a "Hm," from his throat.
           "What?"
           "Just thinking—my uncle would probably say this tea hasn't been left to dry long enough,"
           "Oh, yeah?!" I laughed.
           "Yeah, why do you seem so happy?"
           "That was the first time I've learned anything at least close to personal from you,"
           "You...know I don't like storms,"
           "True. You should see my friends during a storm—we always dance and splash around. My one friend is a water bender so she really has a riot,"
            Lee gave another short closed-mouthed laugh. We lapsed into silence, watching the rain for a moment, until I asked, "Have you ever met one?"
            "Hm?"
            "A water bender. Or any benders for that matter—ever met any?"
            "Oh, um...no,"
            I grinned, "Consider yourself lucky. They're all freaks, but they're my friends. I grew up in a little village by the sea. I'd never met a bender before them. I thought maybe they were just a myth—you can let me know if I'm talking too much."
          Lee shook his head, "Don't worry about it."
          "The rest of the world felt really far away, until we took in a small number of refugees and that was the first time I'd heard first-hand about all this war stuff. And I knew I had to help,"
          "I've always been right in the middle of all the chaos," the next part, Lee spoke very slow, as if he was learning the words still, "Sometimes...it's...it's overwhelming."
          I nodded encouragingly, "I know what you mean. Sometimes you just want to go back to when things were simple?"
          "I don't know if they were ever simple,"
          "Hm?"
          "How'd your parents feel about you leaving?" he asked instead of elaborating, turning to look at me. He looked very curious for some reason.
          I looked back, grinning at the idea of Lee trying to show interest, "They didn't want me to go, but they said I was an adult and I could make my own decisions."
           For a reason unknown to me, Lee looked almost shocked at this, "I see."
           "And pretty soon I met my friends and decided to go with them. See, one of my friends is actually the—"
           "Knock, knock," the teenage girl interrupted, rapping on the doorframe beside us, "We're turning in. Mama wanted me to show you where you'll be staying."
            "Okay," we both stood up. I started to follow, but Lee grabbed my wrist.
            "Y/N?"
            "Yeah?" I turned to meet his eyes and he looked like a whole different person. His face was slack with pure terror and his cheeks were red. His hand was incredibly warm.
            "I—I...um...I just...Good night. Sleep well," he dropped my wrist and bent to collect our tea things.
            "Oh...yeah...you too," I said, before following our young host inside. I didn't sleep well at all though, trying to riddle out what he had been about to say.