AU in which Zuko is painfully aware that his dad is an asshole and decides to vibe on his ship rather than chasing Aang-
rewatching ALTA rn (cough quarantine really do be like that) and- I cant help but laugh when watching Zuko act like a spoiled brat with heavy daddy-issues throughout the first season, knowing how awkward he’ll become later on (”Zuko here” is all I’m gonna say rip-)
now, instead of waiting for uncle Iroh to spill the tea (no pun intended) about his scar and chasing the avatar without telling his crew a word about wHY he’s so hellbent on steering his ship all over the fucking world to chase a ghost… Zuko’s just aware of why exactly he was put on this ship and decides “well, might as well enjoy the ride”
One of the first things he does after boarding the ship (after waiting for his injury to heal rip) is ask Iroh or Lieutenant Jee to cut his hair for him, since,,,, well he’s a banished prince that was sent out to chase a ghost,,, no real reason to cling onto the illusion of royality any longer, is there? so off with the hair-knot
*cue tiny, 13 year old Zuko with a bandaged eye and freshly shorn head walking up to the ship-railing and chucking his hair overboard. he waves the severed hair-knot goodbye, Uncle Iroh just brews himself another cup of calming tea-*
He knows his dad’s not expecting him to come back, or… even wants him back, for that matter.
“Sir, where is our next course leading?”
Either spends his time holed up in his private quarters or fucks around on the ports whenever the ship needs to stop for supplies. Instead of spending his ‘pocket money’ on anything that could help him find the avatar he just buys whatever crap would unnerve the crew the most. (last time they let him run off on his own he came back with 67 tiny, wooden sky-bison figurines and has hidden them all over the ship. It’s been 3 years and the crew is still finding bisons hidden in their belongings.)
If it weren’t for the nasty scar you’d just assume he’s the bastard-child of one of his crew-members they’re letting tag along, not, y’know, the crown-prince of the fire-nation.
He still trains a lot- just not to capture the avatar. Just because there’s literally nothing else to do on the ship-
Because he doesn’t have such a nasty temper, the crew doesn’t wanna throw him overboard all the fucking time. Instead they just all collectively decided that they’re adopting the brat- no one’s sure how Iroh feels about suddenly having to share his nephew with 20-something sailors, but no one caught him complaining so far.
Zuko can and will take advantage of that. Watch him yell “Uncle!” on the main bridge and grin like a demon as he sees 5 old sailors’ head snap around and give him a concerned look.
His dad may be an asshole but at the very least he got 20 new uncles-
People tend to recognoze him, because… uh. Well. When he was freshly banished he easily took offense when he was recognized as the banished prince of the firenation, even in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere…. as he grew older Zuko just came up with creative ways to change the topic.
“Nah, his scar’s on the other side.”
“Oh, no, I was just seeing a firenation-girl for a while and learned the hard way why you shouldn’t get them too excited in bed.”
“A scar? What scar- OH MY GOD UNCLE WHY CAN’T I SEE???”
When he eventually stumbles into team avatar, he *could* technically capture the avatar and bring him to the firelord to restore his honor and reclaim his throne… but he’d rather fuck with his old man for a bit.
Cue him inviting them onboard to play Pai sho with uncle. Zuko and Sokka going around, terrorizing the locals with Sokka’s terrible humor and Zuko’s scar. Toph and Zuko befriending each other, using the excuse “We only have one eye between the two of us.” whenever they end up in deadly situations together-
He sleeps in the rhino-pen. No real reason behind it, it just terrifies Lieutenant Jee and if anything brings Zuko joy, it’s terrorizing his crew by endangering himself in the most creative ways
