Can i even complicate your breathing

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/51684166.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of
Violence
Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), The
Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Characters: Zuko (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Suki
(Avatar), Toph Beifong, Mai (Avatar), Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula (Avatar),
Iroh (Avatar), Jet (Avatar)
Additional Tags: Blue Spirit Zuko (Avatar), Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko-
centric (Avatar), Bad Parent Ozai (Avatar), Toph Beifong and Zuko are
Siblings, Badass Zuko (Avatar), Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Iroh is a
Good Uncle (Avatar), Zhao sucks, everyone hates zhao, rancid little
sister toph, universal big brother zuko, Bisexual Disaster Sokka (Avatar),
Gay Zuko (Avatar), Underage Smoking, Underage Drinking, theyre
teenagers fighting a war, of course they’re going to be reckless,
Swearing, Zuko swears like a sailor, Jet sucks, The Gaang Learns How
Zuko Got The Scar (Avatar), Canonical Child Abuse,
Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko
(Avatar) Needs a Hug, Azula Needs a Hug (Avatar), Protective Zuko
(Avatar), Badass Katara (Avatar), Badass Suki (Avatar), Badass Toph
Beifong, Fall Out Boy References, but fall out boy doesn’t exist so
they’re technically not references, no beta we die like jet, Angst and
Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Swordfighting, homoerotic sword
fighting to be specific, Zuko is a Little Shit (Avatar), Sokka is a Little
Shit (Avatar), They’re all little shits
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-11-17 Updated: 2023-11-30 Words: 3,877 Chapters: 3/?
 Can i even complicate your breathing
by azuladefender

Summary

Sokka willed the courage to look directly at their new travelling companion

“Who are you?”

The masked man simply looked ahead into the night, basking in a silence loud enough that
not even his breathing could be heard.

He shrugged.

Because that’s a question Zuko had been asking himself for a long time.

- OR

Instead of going after the Avatar, Zuko decided to fuck around as the blue spirit and make his
dad’s life slightly more difficult out of spite.

Maybe that includes joining the Avatar’s group as the Blue spirit

blue spirit zuko au !

Notes

hiyaa, this is my first fic in like three years TT so excuse if this is badhshs also english is my
second language so i’m trying my best herebbebe

hope you enjoy !

also be prepared for so many song references because i cannot help myself. title is from ‘yeah
boy and doll face’ - ptv :33

See the end of the work for more notes

 prologue

Prince zuko was dead.

Three years ago he died, his untimely end witnessed by hundreds in the stadium.

It was a poetic death, some said. A young boy, mirror copy of his father, the man to end his
life, surrounded by a lotus of the very element that created him as it seared through and
burned his flesh.

As Prince Zuko’s screams of anguish rung through the stage, multiple voices begun to
harmonise his song of pain with celebratory cheers, still continuing even after the boy’s
pleads died down.

Prince Zuko’s charred body was carried off stage by the arms of palace healers that were
human enough to feel pity for the small child, the boys uncle following them in desperation.

It was that night that he was pronounced dead by the Firelord himself. The murderer not only
admitted his crime, but took pride in it and wore it like a badge of honour.

Some say, however that Prince Zuko never died. Rumours of him surviving his father’s
flames were scarce, yet they were there. Very few speculated publicly, but those that did were
so sure that the boy was alive that even the threat of execution wasn’t enough to stop their
abhorrent speech.

It didn’t matter what people said, however, because prince zuko is dead.

He spoke out and therefore received a request from Agni himself to be punished, an embrace
from fire and ash as his soul rose up with the smoke of the incinerated corpse of his young
body, for the whole stadium to cheer and bid farewell to.

So as a 16 year old boy sat at the back of a bar, discreetly lighting a cigarette from the bag
he’d stolen only an hour prior from a rich assailant, no one took any notice.

He took a long draw, allowing the smoke to fill his lungs and gather all the stress from the
day, all being released at once as he exhaled the smoke, a relaxing sensation embracing his
body almost immediately.

The boy sighed.

He had been on the road for three years now, recently celebrating his 16th on the solstice by
breaking into a Fire nation stronghold and stealing their finest liquor.
During his raid, he’d also killed four soldiers, three in an accidental explosion and one in a
satisfyingly aggressive sword fight, leaving him with a nasty scar on his knee as a birthday
present.

‘Not like one extra scar could do any harm though’

He’d thought to himself bitterly, allowing his free hand to graze at the rough skin of deep red
scarring that loomed over his eye and stretched back to his mangled ear. He took another long
draw of smoke, grumbling in annoyance at the nearing end of his cigarette.

“hey kid, wanna drink ?”

Slightly taken back at the notion of being acknowledged, the boy nodded, his shaggy black
hair falling over his eyes as he did so.

“what d’you want”

”got spiced rum?”

The old man scoffed in disbelief.

”bit ‘eavy for a kid your age, eh?”

Annoyance begun to rise slowly in the boy’s body at the man’s comment, so he rolled his
eyes and narrowly glared straight forward at the man.

He seemed to quickly acknowledge the teenager’s irritated response and chuckled

”’aight well we don’t ‘ave any of that left. But since you want somethin’ heavy, how ‘bout a
whiskey?”

A simple nod was enough to get the man to leave. The bar was small and not very crowded,
only occupied by a few small groups of middle aged locals talking loudly between each other.
In an attempt to dissipate the growing migraine in his head, the teenager closed his eyes and
allowed the noisy shout of his thoughts to take over. It was working, until a certain word
caught his ears.

“I told ya, the Avatar is back! I seen ‘im with me own two eyes i did! Small airbender kid
with ‘is two friends.”

The Avatar.

A loud ringing ricocheted through his ears and his mouth went dry. Blood seeped from the
palms of his hands as he dug his finger nails into them to stop himself from setting something
on fire.

The Avatar is back.

A perfectly timed glass of whiskey was placed on the table in front of him by the same man,
who didn’t seem to take notice of the 16 year old hyperventilating in front of him.
“You sure ‘Diago ? couldn’t this be another one of them dragon situations you find yourself
in?”

The suspicion in the bartender’s tone gave the boy a chance to recollect himself and allow
logic to come to him again.

Of course. How could he be so gullible? It was impossible. The Avatar was dead, he couldn’t
be back.

‘but you’re still living’

That same bitter voice pointed out again.

Stubbornly, the black haired teenager decided to ignore the irony and put out the remains of
his cigarette in the ceramic green ash tray in front of him.

“‘Aye i saw ‘im! I’m tellin’ ya. ‘Kid was bending air and had the tattoos. He even ‘ad one of
them big bisons with ‘im. Saw it fly too. I was fully sober, this ain’t a dragon situation”

Seemingly unconvinced by the villager’s statement, the bartender raised his arms in a
sarcastic manner,

“Long live the avatar, master of all elements and keeper of balance. please bring an end to
our suffering and end the war in all your child glory”

Sarcasm all but oozed in the man’s tone, making the villager begin to bark back about a
defensive statement, once again trying to prove himself.

Cold glass met his fingers and the cold liquid burned as it slid down his throat, causing a
warm feeling to spread in his belly and a gentle buzz to fill his head as he shot back the drink
in one go. In a rushed yet slightly delayed manner, he threw a few copper pieces on the table
as he slung his swords over his back and grabbed his bag, ignoring the continuous sounds of
the two men’s argument and slipping away unnoticed into the cool air of the night.

The avatar was back.

Breathe, Zuko. This doesn’t change anything.

Zuko tried to calm himself down as he walked, imagining his Uncle’s reassurance beside him
as he paced. But unfortunately that same bitter tone returned,
It does change things. It changes everything. Because the day Prince Zuko died, the Blue
Spirit was born, and Zuko wasn’t sure how long it’d be before his past would catch up to
finish him off.
 confirmation
Chapter Summary

Zuko gets confirmation that the Avatar is in fact alive and is also twelve.

Sokka is absolutely astounded by Aang and how he is supposed to trust this child to save
the world.

Chapter Notes

i’m trying my hardest to not rush anything but my god am i excited for them all to
meetsjsjsjs

I should also mention that this isn’t planned at all and is entirely an impulse thing, so i
may be slow at updating as i try to think of how to make the storyline not awkward and
bad TT

anyways enjoy !!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sokka was about to bash his head into a wall and allow an eternal slumber to wash all of his
currents problems away, because what the fuck was going on.

He loved Katara, he really did. She was his little sister and god forbid anyone or anything
tried hurting her or he’d become a human shield.

But right now at this moment, he really did not like her.

Things had been totally normal two days prior; they were out fishing and engaging in a very
heated argument. The usual.

Then Katara just had to open her big mouth, didn’t she. And because of her opening her big
mouth, she’d managed to destroy an iceberg containing a 112 year old airbender who was
also the Avatar.

Great.

Unsurprisingly, because his sister had a heart of gold she’d insisted on joining the avatar on
his journey to master the four elements, using the opportunity to master her magic water
powers in the process.
Obviously, this meant Sokka had to come as well to be a voice of reason and logic in a group
of optimistic softies. Although Sokka wouldn’t dare say this out loud, a part of him did
genuinely think this could be interesting and fun, the idea of leaving home and travelling the
nations with a literal myth appealed to him in a sense.

Being ambushed by a load of girls and tied up to a wooden pole however, did not appeal to
him.

“You cant blame me for assuming you were men. That’s just the way things are, men hunt
and fight, and women cook and heal”

Sokka tried arguing to the group of warriors a few hours after being released from the pole.
He genuinely didn’t understand, it was what he was always taught back home at the Southern
Water Tribe. Although Katara often argued against it and called Sokka ‘sexist’ for speaking
this way, it was true.

Wasn’t it?

After getting his ass handed to him 8 times by the Kyoshi warriors, Sokka decided it’d be
better to go eat some food and take a nap.

‘Avatar privileges’

He’d mused to himself once he realised how much people were willing to do in order to
accommodate Aang as best as they could.

Lazily slumping backwards against the wall, Sokka ate a meat pie that had been offered to
him by one of the servants. He didn’t want to think about today or the day before that, so he
opted for listening to the conversation between the two servers that were sewing a few metres
away from him.

“Did you get a glimpse of his face or skin? maybe his hair?”

The girl that had given him the meat pie, Lain, shook her head.

“I told you like 5 times already, Jia. Nothing. He was like an actual spirit, he moved
impossibly fast and practically hovered instead of stood. Seriously. His skill with his swords
too.. oh stop i’m getting lightheaded”
Lain and Jia giggled, seemingly abandoning their sewing to hold each other’s hands as they
gossiped about more people.

Sokka would be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued by the story Jia was telling about one of
the villagers cheating on his wife, so after taking a moment to thank Tui and La for his
natural ability to talk to people, he joined the two girls’ conversation.

“OH! You know Lain met The Blue Spirit”

Jia giddily mentioned, as if Sokka knew who that was.

”Who’s the Blue Spirit?”

Shocked and disappointed would be an understatement to describe the reactions of the girls in
front of him as they gasped. He really didn’t know, news never travelled to his tribe since
they were so far away from the rest of the nations, so they can’t really blame him for being
unaware of the Earth Kingdom’s current events.

“The Blue Spirit is a very popular vigilante in the earth kingdom-“

“Some say he’s an actual spirit-“

”He’s got these incredible swords-“

That caught Sokka’s attention.

“Swords?”

The inhuman squeal that escaped Lain’s mouth almost had him regretting ever saying
anything.

”yes swords! oh my gosh, you know you’d think for a non bender he wouldn’t be able to do
much damage.. but those swords”
“he’s a non bender?”

“Wow you really don’t know much do you?.. Yes, he’s a non bender. He wears all black
except for a blue mask over his face and carries two swords, he’s incredible”

Jia had gone back to her sewing while talking, skilfully threading the needle through the
fabrics as she spoke. Curiously, Sokka watched her work as more questions begin to fill his
head.

“Who is he? like.. where is he from and stuff do you know?”

A soft laugh escaped Lain’s mouth and she shook her head

”That’s part of his whole thing. He’s a mystery. Just appeared one day and every since then
he’s been rebelling against the Fire nation. No one knows anything about him other than the
fact he’s a man and used swords.”

‘That leaves so much more questions than answers’

He thought to himself tiredly, turning his head to the doorway and seeing what looked like
Katara’s silhouette in the distance. The two girls had already turned back to their own
conversation, allowing Sokka to stand up and exit the small wooden building without much
fuss.

Leaning against one of the wooden pillars, he could now properly see his younger sister and
the increasingly annoyed expression on her face.

“what’s wrong?”

Katara snapped her attention to him and suddenly Sokka slightly regretted asking.
”Aang. That’s what’s wrong. you’d think he’d focus a little bit more on his duty? No. He’s
spent his whole time with all the village girls, he won’t even speak to me!”

’damn’

Was the first response that came to Sokka’s mind, however he quickly reminded himself of
who his sister was and came up with a better response.

“seriously?”

‘not much better’

It didn’t seem to matter though, because Katara’s stomped past loudly as she stormed into the
house they’d be staying at, grumbling to herself angrily.

He followed her inside, shutting the door behind him and internally sighing as he saw his
sister sit down with Lain and Jia, who immediately passed her a drink and sat around her as
she begun ranting to them.

Taking one final look back at the trio, Sokka walked up the stairs to their shared room. As he
wrapped himself up in his bedroll, he thought about the past few days; the avatar, the war, the
kyoshi warriors, and even the vigilante he’d just been told about. Thoughts continued to
gather in his head until his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until Sokka fell asleep with the
word ‘sword’ repeating over and over in his mind.

Zuko was stood at a stall in a small coastal village. He hadn’t planned on stopping so soon
but he’d become so preoccupied with thinking about The Avatar that food and supplies had
entirely flown out of his head. It wasn’t until this morning when he realised he had no food
left, leaving him with no other options other than going into the nearest town.
This didn’t turn out to be such a bad idea, the village was small but not empty enough to
make him noticeable. There was a large food stall at the edge of the area, overlooking the
ocean and the docks for travelling ships. A large field of flowers could be seen surrounding
the town and a large bell tower stood at the center.

“that’ll be 5 copper pieces”

Zuko reached into his pocket and handed over the money, picking up the food items one by
one and placing them into his bag.

“You on the run then?”

He nodded. There wasn’t any point lying, even though he was legally dead to the Fire nation,
that didn’t mean he couldn’t be recognised.

“Hm. Pretty tough i’m guessing. Won’t be for much longer though, hopefully the wars gonna
end soon”

Zuko looked up from his bag, furrowing an eyebrow in confusion at the tanned man in front
of him.

“It is?”

”Yeah. Didn’t you hear? Avatar’s back”

There it was again.

Holding back an eye roll, Zuko tried to reason with the stall owner,
 ”Really? Has anyone actually seen him? Its probably just rumours. You shouldn’t believe
everything you hear, you know..”

The tanned man shook his head as he counted the money he’d made on the wooden counter
in between the two of them.

”He has been seen, Kyoshi Island. Whole place got burned down by some general. Says the
kid’s name is Aang and he’s going up North to learn waterbending. Don’t know how he’s
gonna do that though, Fire nation is already aware of his return. He’s just twelve, you know?
He might not even last that long”

Zuko felt dizzy at the conversation topic, it was definitely his time to leave. He bid farewell
to the stall owner and turned around to walk towards the forest path that would lead him
further into the Earth Kingdom.

The name ‘Zhao’ didn’t stop screaming in his head, he knew it would have been the old man
that’s trying to hunt the avatar, with him being Ozai’s favourite and all. A protective knot
formed in his stomach at the thought of a 12 year old kid being hunted by merciless old war
generals. Zuko didn’t want to get any more directly involved with the war that he already
was, however that didn’t stop him from wondering.

Maybe he’d keep an eye out for The Avatar, just making sure to stay in roughly the same area
to keep an eye out for him and prevent him from getting into too much trouble.

‘No, that’s too much’

Zuko kept thinking as he walked, paying no mind to the destination of the path ahead of him,
and certainly not aware of the fact that miles above him in the sky, a giant bison flew past,
coincidentally in the same direction as he was headed.

Chapter End Notes

sokka is so me sometimes

maybe i’ll be back tomorrow, maybe in three months who knows, but thank you for
reading angels <33
ily all tysm for the sweet comments it means sm :(
 Chapter 3
Chapter Summary

Omashu !?!?! King Bumi !?!!? idk how to summarise this because it’s mainly a filler
chapter but we move

Chapter Notes

whoops sorry this took way longer to post than i expectedhahsbs

school is beating my ass atm so don’t expect a very organised schedule for chapters ヽ
(´ー｀)
i’ll try my best though !!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sokka tried to ignore the constant sting of guilt in his chest as he looked down to see endless
forests and valleys miles below. It had been around two days since they’d left Kyoshi island
as it got burned by angry sideburns man.

Even though Sokka knew there wasn’t anything he could have done, it still hurt to watch the
homes of those that had been nothing but welcoming and accommodating to them be
carelessly destroyed as they simply hopped on Appa and flew away. Aang may have put out
the fire, but the feeling of futility still weighed down on his chest.

Sokka tried to distract himself from the feeling, instead focusing his attention on another
thought, such as: what they were going to eat later, how long it would take to get to Omashu,
what their sister tribe in the North would be like, the blue spirit.

Sokka buried his head in his arms in annoyance. He didn’t understand why he kept thinking
about the guy, he’d never even seen him, only hearing a few stories from the residents at
Kyoshi island. It was fascinating, yes. A man dressed in all black and a theatre mask,
carrying swords, and bringing justice to the victims of the war. It was hot in theory.

‘no, shut up’

Just as he was about to start spiralling, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Aang’s excited
rambling.

“..I can see it! We’re almost there, wow it’s been so long! Have i told you guys about my old
friend Bumi yet?”
Sokka tuned Aang and Katara’s voices out as he focused his thoughts back to the vigilante,
trying to theorise who he could be and getting increasingly frustrated as he realised his tribe’s
lack of contact with the rest of the world meant he didn’t really know many people to
suspect.

“-He was a mad genius! He came up with using the delivery system as a fun ride! i miss him
a lot..”

The sound of Aang’s abruptly melancholic tone pulled him out of his thoughts once again
and he noticed Katara placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort the young boy.
Sokka sighed softly and leaned over to place his own hand on Aang’s other shoulder, feeling
himself smile as the young avatar looked up to smile reassuringly at both him and his sister.

Sokka might just kill a man for this kid.

Omashu was far more different to what him and Katara had ever seen in their lives. Tall,
almost bronze pillars of earth and stone buildings towered high above them. Sokka felt
insignificant as they walked through the streets of the city. Riding in the carts made him feel
even more small, even if it was arguably the most fun thing he’d done in a very long time, the
consequential throw up beside a loose cabbage from a poor stall they’d unintentionally
destroyed being entirely worth it, in his humble opinion.

When sent to meet with the King of Omashu for their destructiveness Sokka didn’t know
what to expect, but he knew it was not a crazy man trapping them in edible crystals for a few
hours. But the man turned out to be just insane instead of evil and insane, since apparently he
was Aang’s old friend or something. Sokka was still a little lost on that.

They were all currently sat in a large green room, eating a meal before leaving for their next
destination, with Bumi asking Aang questions on his future plans.

“That’s strange. I would have thought mr blue would have been with you”

Sokka looked up in shock and wondered if maybe he was the insane one. Everywhere he
went, he couldn’t stop thinking about the Blue Spirit since hearing about him at Kyoshi
Island, and now apparently he was supposed to be travelling with them?

“Whos mr Blue ?”

Katara put down her spoon as she looked curiously to the King.

”Ohh you haven’t heard? Mr Blue Spirit. Very interesting boy. Some say he’s a vigilante, i
say he’s just a passionate man with a unique hobby”

Aang and Katara looked even more lost than before, so Sokka decided to intervene and
hopefully clear things up for not only them but also for himself.
”Um The Blue Spirit is a popular vigilante in the Earth Kingdom. He’s like got these swords
apparently and wears a blue mask.. i’m not sure what he actually does or what he looks like
but Jia and Lain were telling me about him while we were staying at Kyoshi..”

Sokka scratched at his palms as he spoke, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone at
the table for a reason he didn’t quite know.

”Yes! That’s Mr Blue! I have a few wanted posters of him hanging around, i’m quite a fan of
his work”

“Why would we be working with him?”

Katara seemed to grow slightly suspicious, glancing to Sokka for confirmation he felt the
same.

Sokka looked back.

None of them expected Bumi to burst out into loud laughter and start hitting the table
aggressively as he cackled.

“Oh have you guys tried the cabbage yet? you know what they say about ostrichhorses and
cabbages”

’This guy is actually something else’

Sokka held back the urge to hit his head on the table, instead opting for trying to continue
their previous conversation instead.

“What about the Blue Spirit? Why did you think we’d be working together?”

”When did i mention that?”

”What?”

”What”

Sokka could no longer try to be polite and leaned forward to band his forehead against the
wooden table.

They decided to leave shortly after, Sokka still in recovery at the sheer stupidity of the entire
visit. It was only when they were on Appa again that Aang brought up the Blue Spirit again.

“Maybe we should ask around? He seems kind of well known here, maybe we can try find
him and ask him to join us?”

While Sokka didn’t object to the idea, Katara seemed more hesitant about it, shaking her head
slightly and trying to reason with the young avatar,
 ”I’m not sure.. we need to remember that he’s a criminal. No matter what side of the war he’s
on, we can’t trust him just yet. Id rather be safe than sorry”

They decided to leave it for now and to think about it once they had more information,
resulting in the rest of the flight being filled with peaceful conversation and planning over
what to do once they reached the Northern Water Tribe.

Chapter End Notes

This is lowkey a filler chapter because i felt bad for how long i left this (ｰ ｰ;)
sorry for the current quality of work i promise this will get better in the later chapters
once they meet and stuff !
tysm for readinggg <3
End Notes

thank you so much for reading lovelies :((

again sorry if this was awkward, also i am so going to be self projecting onto zuko because
that man deserves a cigarette after everything and i’m trying to quit :3

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