The Tea Shop-(Zuko x Reader)

He Speaks

I have trouble sleeping that night, embarrassment filling my head as my mind races. I'm glad I caught myself before I kissed him, I can't imagine the embarrassment I'd be going through if I did. I manage to fall asleep out of pure exhaustion. I wake up with barely any time to get ready, I throw on a dress and my apron and do my hair as I walk out the door.

I head into work and start to work on opening up, Sweeping, dusking, making sure there are clean sets of teacups, and plenty of tins out. I can't make conversation with anyone right now and I feel especially embarrassed by the fact that Lee keeps looking at me. He looks concerned and a little upset.

After the shop opens, Lee and I stay in the back to put tea in tins, we sit silently for a few minutes until he grabs my hand and stands up.

"What are you doing??" I ask as he leads me out of the shop. He says nothing, but a serious look is fixed on his face as he continues to lead me. I decide to still follow him, he obviously has something very serious to tell me.

He takes me to an apartment building and walks up to one of the apartments, he quickly takes out a set of keys, unlocks the door, and leads you to a small table.

"Sit." He finally says, I quickly do from the command in his voice. He walks to the little kitchen and gets two small cups of tea, placing one in front of me and finally sits down at the table in front of me.

"We should be working, why did you take me here Lee?" I ask nervous and confused, still not understanding what's going on. He opens his mouth trying to speak, he sits there for a few seconds before touching the big scar on the left side of his face.

"I got this scar from...My father. I was never good enough for him, I tried so hard to live up to his expectations but I would always fail him. I became obsessed with trying to prove myself to him, it was the only thing I thought about for so long. He never cared about me, he just wanted me to be this perfect image that I could never live up to."

I blink in shock for a few seconds, taking in all the information that I was overloaded with. I don't even think he's said that much to me at one time.

"I-"

"My mother left me, I only really felt safe with her, but when she left I just constantly reminded myself about how much of a failure I am." His tone is like how it always is, it carries no emotion, but his eyes tell me of his pain. They glisten, They have a sad expression of their own.I reach my hand over and gently hold his. He flinches but quickly relaxes.

"Your father doesn't control you, especially now that you don't have to live with him. Just because he has some crazy ideal that he wants you to live up to, doesn't mean that you have to, you're your own person and you should make your own destiny." I finally say, returning the same look that he has as we lock eyes. He thinks about everything I said.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I understand if you want to leave." He quickly pulls his hand away and walks to the kitchen and starts to wash his cup.

I quickly get up and stand next to him, putting my hand on his back. "Why would that ever make me uncomfortable?" I reassure him, trying to get him to look at me so he knows I mean it."I don't have a good relationship with my parents either, obviously they aren't nearly as bad as your father, but why do you think I live alone when I'm barely even an adult." He turns and faces me, I quickly pull him into a soft hug and he does the same.

"You're not alone, I promise." I feel his arms tighten around me as I speak. We sit there for a few minutes, our arms wrapped around each other. I would have never guessed that he went through so many awful things.

I pull away, my arms still wrapped around him, we lock eyes for a second before I start to lean in. The expression that I saw last night wasn't there, instead, he leans into me too, closing his eyes. Our lips meet for a soft, gentle, long kiss as we maintain our embrace. Our lips part and I look at him, a happy but flustered expression is on his face.

As we stare at each other, we don't even notice Mushi coming into the room, "Am I interrupting?" he asks as he nonchalantly walks past us. Lee's expression changes to embarrassment and I laugh, "It's ok, I should probably head home now anyway." I reach for Lee's hand and he quietly walks me home. My heart beats out of my chest as we walk. He smiles at me, more than I've seen him do before. He walks me up to my apartment, We embrace again and I kiss his cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I give him a smile"I'll see you tomorrow." He repeats back to me, returning my smile.