Morning

2nd Person PoV

You shifted slightly as you began to wake up, feeling a hand softly rubbing at your shoulder. You forced your eyes open after a few seconds, searching for the source of the disturbance from your sleep.

"Good morning," Zuko said, staring down from over you with a caring gaze and a small smile.

You felt a surge of fluttering in your chest, which effectively woke you all the way up.

You pushed up onto your elbow groggily, responding, "Morning."

Zuko still kept his eyes on you, peering out through his shaggy, unkempt hair through which you wanted to run your fingers. He took the hand off your shoulder and placed it on your head, patting it a few times.

"You look cute when you're tired," he smiled.

You felt your cheeks heat up and redden, and you inwardly cringed at the effect he had on you.

"You're such a softie," you groaned at him, slapping his hand off your head gently.

Even so, his little grin persisted, as did the slight squint of his eyes and the twinkle present within them that was present whenever he was looking at you.

"Yeah, I might be spending a little too much time around Aang," he chuckled. "He and Katara are total saps. It kinda rubs off."

"Well then maybe you should spend less time with them and more time with me," you hinted.

Zuko brought his forehead to yours, meeting with a quiet bump.

"That meeting I had this morning was my last for the day; I'm all yours until tomorrow."

Despite yourself, you smiled at the thought and lightly threatened, "You better be."

You could feel Zuko's warm breath caress your lips as he leaned in farther and closed the distance between you, giving you a sweet and loving kiss that you returned easily. When you broke away, your faces lingered together for a moment longer before you backed up a bit to stretch out your arms. You yawned as you reached your hands upwards and felt a pop in your shoulder, earning another smile and soft laugh from Zuko, which you decided you would let him get away with since, though you would never admit it out loud, his little caring expressions and light giggles were actually really adorable.

"So," Zuko started as you shifted the blanket off of yourself and swung your legs over the side of the bed, "what do you wanna do?"

You were about to stand up before thinking better of it and settling back into the cushy pillows in a sitting position. You looked over at Zuko with a thoughtful eye.

"Could you maybe, I don't know, arrange for breakfast in bed?" you asked innocently.

Zuko's smile never left his face, and you could tell he had figured that's what you were going to ask of him by his mischievous nose scrunch.

"Of course, Mai," he answered, giving you a peck on your cheek and a brush of his hand through your bangs before moving towards the door to go ask someone to make them breakfast.

Watching Zuko walk out of the room, you leaned back until you felt your back rest on the headboard and gave an involuntary smile as you thought about Zuko and waited impatiently for his return.

The smile still hadn't left your features before the firelord returned, and seeing that Zuko was still sporting his own grin just made you even happier (ugh, why did feelings have to be so contagious?).

"Breakfast should be ready in a few minutes. I asked the servants to bring it to us. I just asked for a surprise though, so hopefully you like it."

You snorted, still amused at how easy it was to get stuff as royalty and at what Zuko had done. Even if you didn't like it, it was still nice of him to ask for you. Also, you could definitely send it back if it was really that horrible.

"Thanks, Zuko."

"Anytime," Zuko replied as he crossed the room and sat back down on the bed next to you, putting his hand over yours and running his thumb over your knuckles lovingly as you sighed with content.

The two of you didn't exchange many words, but there weren't really any that needed to be said. There was a sort of pleasure in just sitting with each other in silence, absorbing each other's presences and feelings for each other and knowing that you shared such a connection. Neither of you were really ones for long, gushy speeches about how much you loved each other. Your conversations with each other were short and simple, but they held just as much meaning as a longer or more complex one would.

You tilted your head over and let it slump on Zuko's shoulder, and he returned the gesture by leaning his head on top of yours. He was the perfect height for that, which was just another small but meaningful sign of how you were really meant for each other.

You enjoyed being alone with Zuko much more than being in the company of anyone else. You felt that you needed to put up a front with other people, but with Zuko, you were really your true self, which might've been a little more affectionate than you would've liked to say. Maybe that was to be expected though. After all, he made you happy, and you made him happy. What was wrong with making that clear every once in a while?

S, you closed your eyes and relaxed, saying softly, "I love you."

You could feel Zuko's smile where he was resting on your head.

"Who's the softie now?" he said teasingly.

Having braced yourself for such a comeback, you didn't hesitate to elbow your boyfriend right in the ribs.

After his exclamation of pain and some light-hearted whines, he corrected himself, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I love you too, sweetie."

You hummed in approval and Zuko settled back into the cuddling position.

As you sat quietly and felt Zuko's warm embrace surround you, you realized that this was the happiest you'd felt in quite some time. And you wouldn't change anything about it for the world.