Last Laugh Lane

"Why did I agree to this again?" Zuko Sozin found himself asking no one in particular.

"Because Sugarqueen's gonna be here and so is Jet," Toph Bei Fong replied. "Plus we're all in agreement that you're not a dick and Jet is and we're already friends. Besides, Jet called me a shit drummer and I've got a score to settle."

Zuko nodded. He knew all about honor. "And you're okay with this, Sokka? I mean she's your sister and all."

Sokka Naga looked Zuko in the eye and nodded. "Better you than Jet." Zuko exhaled in relief. "But," Sokka continued, "no hand holding till you're married."

"I've definitely seen a lot more than handholding from you and Fangirl, Snoozles," Toph replied in annoyance.

"You haven't seen anything ever, Toph," Sokka complained.

Before she could reply, however, they felt a small breeze and looked over to see that their friend Aang Pathik had arrived. "What'd I miss?" he asked.

Zuko patted the boy in the back. "Glad that our second guitar is here, buddy."

"Wow, Zuko, you seem a lot calmer than you were yesterday when you realized that we'd be performing in front of a hundred people," Aang observed.

Zuko suddenly paled and withdrew his hand from the boy's shoulder. Toph groaned, "Way to go, Twinkletoes. We had just psyched him up."

"I'm sorry!" Aang exclaimed. "We'll do great, Zuko! Really! We're great. You sound so good. So much better than Jet!"

"I highly doubt that," a new voice replied.

"Jet," Sokka growled and the gang turned to face the other teen. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be setting up for your set? You're on first."

Jet smirked and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Just scoping out the competition," he replied. "When I found out that you'd be performing I figured I'd wish you good luck, Sokka. Seeing as we're going to be seeing a lot of each other. Thought we could find some common ground. Maybe jam."

"YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER," Sokka lunged only to be held back by Zuko and Aang. The latter calmly patting Sokka on the back to placate him.

"Why are you really here, Twin Hooks?" Toph asked, crossing her arms across her chest. "Like you give a shit if Sokka likes you or not."

Jet replied with laughter before waving goodbye and disappearing into the corridor that lead to the stage.

"I fucking hate that guy," Zuko muttered.

"Agreed," Sokka replied.

They suddenly felt Toph's arms circling their shoulders and they couldn't help but grin. "Listen guys, we're gonna go out there and kick ass and Sugarqueen's gonna realize that Sparky over here's the total package and we'll all be spared the walking douchenozzle that is Twin Hooks over there, okay? Now, Sparky, get over here. You gotta help me with my make-up."

Zuko sighed. It was gonna be a long hour before their band would grace the stage.

...

"I can't do this."

"I'm gonna kick your ass, Sparky. We're all wearing clown make-up because you're too chicken shit to perform as yourself."

"AND don't even think about doing that angsty woe-is-me hair sweeping thing you do with your hand because I worked really hard to get that red frown just right," Sokka added.

"I'm gonna puke."

"Look at it this way, Zuko," Aang's hand found his shoulder, "as least it's dark."

Before Zuko had time to thank Aang for being, well, Aang a booming voice interrupted them announcing, "Performing an original track called Fluorescent Adolescent, please welcome Blue Spirt!"

Before Zuko had time to process that statement, he was thrust onto the stage and landed directly in front of the microphone. "Hello," his raspy voice awkwardly filling the silence left after the cheering died down, "this one's for my Painted Lady."

Toph counted them in with her drumsticks and then the rest of the band joined in with their riffs. Zuko turned around to face Toph and grinned when he saw that her eyes were closed. Abruptly, he turned around, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth.

You used to get it in your fishnets

Now you only get it in your nice dress

Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness

Landed in a very common crisis

His eyes scanned the crowd before realizing that Aang was right. It was dark. There were also a shit ton of people. There was no way he was going to be able to make suave prolonged eye contact with Katara during his set. Shit.

Oh the boy's a slag

The best you ever had

Zuko moved away from the microphone to glance at the ceiling. He was really doing it. He was really performing in front of people his age. Not that Iroh's White Lotus club wasn't a respectable gig, but he was on an actual stage with lights.

My love when you dream them up

He glanced up to shake the hair out of his face before playing the next verse. Then Zuko let himself become the Blue Spirit.

...

"The green better wash off, Sokka. I swear to Agni," Zuko said as he took a sip of water.

"Relax, Zuzu. It makes you look hot." Zuko spit the aforementioned water.

"Oh, uh, hi, Katara. Fancy seeing you here," Zuko muttered nervously. His hand found the nape of his neck and the floor was suddenly very interesting.

Katara smiled. "Do you need help getting the make-up off? I mean, you make a cute clown, but leave the make-up to the Painted Lady, okay?"

Zuko was happy that the white make-up covered up the red dusting his pasty complexion. "You didn't, by any chance, miss the first part of our set, right?"

"That depends," Katara replied, taking a napkin and adding make-up removal to it. "Was that the Blue Spirit talking or was that Zuko Sozin?"

"Katara," he said, holding her wrist before she could begin dabbing his face, "do you want to go out with me? Tomorrow? At 7?"

The noise of the doorknob twisting quietly filled the room.

"I think I can do that," Katara grinned.

The doorknob stopped twisting, replaced by a new noise. One of Toph yelling, "That's right! Get the fuck outta here, Twin Hooks. She's with Sparky now! You owe me twenty bucks, Smellerbee!"

I like the Arctic Monkeys and I've been reading a lot of Zutara fanfiction. Uh, the clown thing was inspired by this performance: youtube watch?v=PltKDFVAkXs (without the spaces)

Highly recommend watching it. It's adorable. Anyway, the whole clown thing is inspired by that. Thanks for reading.