Mayhaps familial fluff with Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady reader? They have a few little ones already, maybe another on the way, and it’s just a cute little family day that they were able to delegate?
Zuko seems like the type to play on the floor with his kids, teach them to swim, feed animals with them—just really cute stuff even though his RBF paired with his scar makes him look scary-
Notes: damn bro, I took the whole day and some more to write this (got stuck a few times and had to ask my friends for help) BUT HERE IT IS! Hope you enjoy it!! Also, it's not proofread so if you find typos pls ignore them 🙏🏻
Tags: fluff, sprinkles of angst, your and Zuko's kids have names, their ages are left up to interpretation. Mentions of pregnancy. (tell me if I missed something in the comments)
Word Count: 2,394
divider by @/pxrce-lain
Zuko being able to spend time with his family— actual time, and not just the few moments in the early hours of the morning when he got ready, kissed you goodbye, pat the kids on the head, and went to work. No, this was one of those one in a blue moon times where he had the day off.
Naturally, he wanted to spend the day with you and his kids, so without telling you he could, he woke up early and went into the kids' rooms, woke them up and whispered to them: "Let's surprise your mother" with a silly grin on his face.
Your daughter, Nami, the youngest of the two, jumped in excitement, meanwhile, your son, Kai, rolled over on his bed, groaned, and only got up after his father pulled the covers off of him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going…" He said, rubbing his tired eyes to try to get sleep to let him go.
Nami waited for her brother, while Zuko walked ahead to the training room, where you usually went when you had the day to yourself. They both ran to catch up with their father's long strides (cons of being tall), and smiled as he opened the door (Well, Nami did, Kai had that neutral, almost annoyed face he inherited from his father).
They opened the door to find you hitting the straw-made training dummy with such strength that you almost broke the bag covering its makeshift body. While the kids watched, Zuko slowly approached you, making his footsteps as light as he could.
Nami admired you, while Kai just stared in awe at how serious you were with your fighting abilities. Zuko got behind you as you prepared another strike, and gently blew cold air into your ear, startling you so much you almost kicked him, but he was able to avoid it, somehow.
"You scared me…" You said, half-laughing, half wondering how he was there since he was supposed to be attending a meeting at the moment, or at least, that's what he said… "what…?" you didn't finish the sentence as Nami came running and hugged your legs.
"Mommy!" She said, burying her face in your clothes.
"My little firefly, what are you doing here?" You asked, looking at your husband and silently asking him for an answer.
"Daddy said we were gonna surprise you!" She smiled innocently at you, the little gap between her teeth showing.
"Didn't you have a meeting today?" You asked, raising your eyebrow at him.
Zuko looked at you with a small smile that seemed to say 'please don't get mad at me', "Well, I might have made that up." He sweat-dropped at your face, knowing that if it weren't for the children being there, you would have hit him for real. "I wanted to surprise you, it was all in good nature, I swear!"
Kai just looked over at the three of you, arms crossed, completely unimpressed. "It's true." he said. It seemed that in a rare instance of benevolence, he wanted to back up his father.
"Well, now that you're here, I guess we can all train together." You clasped your hands together, smiling.
"Oh~!" You heard Nami speak, "Can you teach me? Can you teach me?" She asked, almost begging.
You smiled at her, being as eager to learn how to fight like you were when you were her age. "Sure, come here," you motioned her to the center of the room, where you started explaining the correct position to form a basic attack. "if you're ever incapacitated from using your bending, you can-"
"Can you please teach me the cool fight moves you used earlier?" She asked, interrupting you.
"Well… those moves are a little advanced, and someone your age shouldn't be-"
"PUH-LEASE…" she begged, putting her hands together as if she was praying.
You looked over at Zuko for support, who decided to absolutely betray you, and said: "Well, if she wants to try it, we should let her."
Nami got happy hearing that, and since you didn't want to disappoint, you guided her into position, and she copied you as well as she could. When you hit the dummy, she gathered all the strength she had in her body, and used it, making a small mark on the straw body of it. She seemed so happy she managed to hit it, she looked at you expectantly, waiting for your verdict.
"You did great!" You said, "Please don't use it on living things, though."
"Kai, Kai, come here, let's do it together!" She called over for her brother, who seemed surprised she even acknowledged his presence, given that whenever she was excited, she seemed to concentrate too much on the thing she was doing.
"Uh… I'm not sure." He said, trying to discourage her.
"Come on, Kai! Are you scared of a little fight?" She teased him, which made Kai frown and begrudgingly approach.
"Fine… just make it quick…" He sighed.
So for the next few minutes, you taught both kids the basic stances for fighting and some moves to use their bending with, while Zuko comfortably stood on the side, watching you three. Those few moments gave him time to reflect on just… how much he missed family time.
He didn't really acknowledge how much he had been missing you, his kids, this. He remembered all those times he had to travel far away for political reasons, meeting with the people, stretching hands… he had received letters of everything during those, but of course, a letter isn't the same as watching his son stumble through a stance, or watching Nami's face as it lit up when she managed to produce a tiny flame. He felt himself smiling, only for his daughter to call him out.
"Is daddy going crazy? Why is he smiling at the air?" She said, prompting Kai to agree with her.
"He might be… or he might be having low blood sugar due to not eating."
"Oh! Right, we haven't had breakfast yet!" She said.
"You woke them up without having breakfast?" You asked.
He got out of his daydream and shrugged. "It was part of the plan."
"What plan?" You crossed your arms.
He paused, "I- Um… I didn't get that far."
That's when Nami started dragging everyone out and into the dining room, declaring you all should have breakfast there. She skipped steps as she walked ahead with you by her side, as she animatedly asked you about what you wanted to have, meanwhile, Kai walked behind both of you, and Zuko walked behind him. Until he stopped walking for a few seconds, to let Zuko catch up to him.
He asked his father something he had been itching to know. "How long are you staying?"
Zuko tells him the truth "All day."
"Oh." He doesn't react much, something that hurts Zuko more than a knife to his heart could ever do.
"Kai, come on!" Nami calls him, and he speeds up, leaving Zuko to stare at the three of you, sending him into another train of thought, how you had been there for them while he wasn't. How you always made time for them, despite having a busy schedule. That… that made him feel like a failure.
You all had a satisfying breakfast, well, as satisfying as it could be, since the smell of the food made you somewhat uncomfortable. That was followed by Nami declaring you all would play hide and seek in the palace, which led an embarrassed Zuko to hide behind a curtain while Nami tried to find him, her eyes blindfolded, getting directions from her brother, who directed her wrong for almost 10 minutes, as he found it funny to torture his father like this.
After they got tired (Nami got tired) of hide and seek, they guided both of you to the garden, which Kai explained to Nami all he knew about plants and different bugs they saw, while you and Zuko sat together under a tree, watching them from afar.
You looked at the grass for a moment, your face saddened, until you spoke: "Don't you wish you could just… stay like this?"
He knew exactly what you meant. "Every day."
You looked up, seeing Nami and Kai discussing a fat bug they had found on a plant. "You know, sometimes I wake up, wishing that I find you sleeping there, but it's always the same cold space beside me."
That brought pain to his heart. "I hate leaving you three, but… the Fire Nation needs me."
"Mom!" Kai called, a rare smile on his face.
"But your family needs you too," You said, getting up and calling back to your kids, "Coming!" But before you could fully go out of earshot, you heard him speak.
"I know." He said, making you turn back, face softening.
"Mom, look!" Kai held up a bug, making you recoil back.
"Oh, honey, that's… that's cute!" You grimace, "what- what is it called?" You try to make conversation, which Kai takes as a sign to unload every single bit of information he's ever read on this type of bug.
"Well, it's a rhino beetle, and the name comes from the fact that-"
Zuko approached the scene feeling a bit awkward, not knowing how to approach the conversation. This leads him to yet another wave of feeling inadequate, realizing that… the kids probably come here with you all the time, hell, they probably did so much more without him, especially Kai, who, now that he was looking at him intently, had grown much taller than the last time he had seen him. When did that happen?
As the sun was pulling more heat, the garden got unbearable, so you all went into the kiosk that sat nearby one of the garden's gates. The four of you sat on the mat that lay there, and enjoyed the air that came in thanks to the open structure.
Nami quickly went over to one of the cabinets in the kiosk, where the palace maids often stored items, and got some wooden toys out. Of course she had hid them there…
"Daddy, come play!" She called for him, bringing the toys out one by one.
Kai laid down on the side, faking being asleep as to get out of his sister's games. You mostly watched as Nami and your husband played with the wooden items, until the food you had eaten earlier seemed to want to come out. You covered your mouth, standing quickly.
"Excuse me."
Zuko looked up, startled by your sudden uneasiness. "Are you alright?"
You nodded, keeping your hand over your mouth. "Yeah, I just- I just need some air."
You stepped outside the kiosk and quickly walked toward a small open space, taking a deep breath as soon as you were away from everyone. The scariest part of it all, was that this wasn't the first time you'd felt this way; in the past few weeks, you'd been nauseous and tired, far more than usual.
You told yourself that it was probably just stress of living in the palace, of being the Fire Lady, as it wasn't an easy job after all, but there was another possibility, one you were afraid to consider. The hand over your mouth slowly drifted towards your stomach.
"Please, no…" You whispered it to yourself. Not because you didn't want it, but because you were afraid of… everything, really. If you didn't have time for 2 already, how would you raise 3?
Behind you, the sound of footsteps on gravel alerted you that someone was approaching, and when you turned, you found your husband standing there, concern written all over his handsome face. "Are you really alright?"
You quickly dropped your hand before he could see, "I'm fine."
"You're a terrible liar."
You rolled your eyes. "And you're terrible at minding your own business."
"It's my job not to." He said, eyes softening.
"Yes," You began, ready to snap at him, "being the Fire Lord is sorta about being a nosy-"
"I meant being your husband."
That shut you up for a moment, making you become sorrowful that you had gotten angry at him like that, so subconsciously you looked away in embarrassment. He got even closer, taking your face in his hands, cupping your cheeks. For a few moments, he said nothing, just stared at your face, searching for the right words, until he opened his mouth.
"I've… I've been thinking about us lately."
Oh? That was not expected. "About us… how?" You asked, already fearing what he was going to say.
"About all of this, being the Fire Lord, being your husband, being their father." He thought back to Nami and Kai, who were still playing in the kiosk. "I kept telling myself that everything I do if for you three… that if I keep making the Fire Nation better, then it means I'm doing my part." He swallowed hard, "But, I look at them and realize I barely know my own children,"
You reached for his hand, taking it in yours. That made him look into your eyes, and what you saw in his was painful vulnerability.
"I look at you and see how tired you are of handling everything while I'm gone." He hesitated continuing, but the soft look on your face invited him to do so "I'm terrified of waking up one day and realizing that my family moved on without me." He confessed, looking at the ground in shame.
"Oh, Zuko… my Zuko…" You hugged him, and as he held you there, you started to speak "You don't have to be the perfect father, or husband, or the perfect leader… I-… we just want you to be here with us." Your voice cracked while saying that.
"I will be." He promised.
While you both felt the nice gust of wind that ran through the garden, Nami's voice broke through the silence with ease.
"Mommy!" She shouted.
"We better go see what she wants." Zuko said, letting go of the embrace, to which you smiled softly at him, patted your stomach and said:
"I hope you have the same energy for the third one." You walked towards the kiosk, leaving Zuko standing there, confused for a few seconds, until the gears in his head started turning.
"Wait, what?"
