Zuko/Sokka x Reader - One shots - Requests CLOSED

All Seasons Round 1/3 - AU - Depressed!Zuko x GenderNeutral!Therapist!Reader

The idea behind this was requested a long time ago by: @crxstxllxzxd. I'm sorry for the delay in my writing, hopefully you'll enjoy reading this. Also, I tried to make this a GenderNeutral!Reader (not requested along with this, but some comments made me realize that up until now I've always assumed a female gender so I wanted to try and include everyone, please tell me how I did and what I can improve in the future).

Warnings: mention of depression, implied suicide attempt, idolizing unhealthy/life risking behavior.

Please don't read this small series if any of the above might trigger you.

Also, if you're dealing with any mental health issues, it's okay to seek help. In the chapter titled 'suicide hotlines' of this book you can find a list of suicide crisis lines across the world. 

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Some people would call you a miracle child because of the fact you received your bachelor's degree in psychology by the age of 17, you however thought you had to thank your parents for this. From the age of 4 – 14 you had been homeschooled for primary, middle and high school at a rapid pace. Your parents had taken care of this mostly, challenging your mental abilities in as many ways as they possibly could.

They each had an advanced degree in psychology and were the owners of the best well-known mental health institute in the state. They wished for you to live up to their legacy and one day take over their flourishing business and turn it into something even better. It was why they worked so hard on getting you started as early as possible.

You now worked at the company for a few days a week, treating a few of your own patients whilst you also continued your studies to get yourself a master's degree and eventually a Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology). The latter would allow you to practice as a Psychotherapist. You wished to specialize in the younger patients: children, teenagers and young adults, all the way up to 25. This was partly due to your interest in the life they lived that you hadn't gotten to live during your childhood, but up until now you had mostly been given the slightly older patients who were further in their therapy treatment.

Zuko didn't care about anything in the world anymore. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he hadn't for years. He wished to sleep as much as he could, preferably a continuous round of day and night and then a week straight. However, he often couldn't. His sleeping pattern was majorly messed up. He tried to spent his days up in his room as much as possible or at least away from all the kids at school if he had no choice but to go in; the world seemed black and white around him.

The nights were even worse than the days, he often couldn't fall asleep. It were those nights where he just laid in his bed, staring up at his ceiling in the dark when he contemplated the thoughts running through his mind. They were messy, empty and usually ended up making him feel trapped in the clutches of his own subconscious. It was in these moments when he did the most stupidest of things, like climbing out of his window to the roof; jumping down from his window and "borrowing" one of his parents' cars for a crazy night ride. It were these moments that made him feel more alive, more in control, because honestly? In a way he was.

During these moments, the times he'd speed through the abandoned streets of the city without caring to put on a seatbelt, Zuko felt in control, it was the sudden rush of adrenaline through his veins causing him to feel more alive than he did during the other hours of the day. The same feelings occurred whenever he was on top of the roof, the wind blowing through his hair as he watched the ground several feet beneath him. The feeling of knowing he was one step away from possibly ending it all in these moments made him feel alive and kept him alive to this day.