"A Final First at Fire Light Fountain"
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did there's be no Meng or Azula and Jen would've been more than a one-night stand.
Pairing: Angst, Fluffy, Zuko x Jen, creating Zuen. Funny sounding name, eh? Eheheheheh…(sweat drop) This takes place during the episode, plus Jen's reaction to Zuko running off on her.
Warning: Spoilers for basically the whole Zuko part of episode 35.
"Uncle! We have a problem." Zuko muttered fiercely as he approached Iroh who continued to wear his kindly smile, as if he already knew what his dear nephew were going to say next. "One of the customers is onto us." He continued, his narrow golden eyes glaring tensely over his shoulder as he held the tea pot. "Don't look now but there is a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we're Fire Nation."
However, being the playful senior he was he turned to look just to get Zuko hot and bothered, which it did. Before he grabbed his shoulder to turn him away form the young lady however he managed to scan over her appearance, recognizing her to be his most common customer, a fair young woman, perhaps a little younger than Zuko himself. He laughed inwardly as his nephew scolded sharply, "Didn't I say don't look?"
Blissfully unaware of the men speaking about her, the naturally beautiful girl continued to drink the jasmine tea.
"I've seen that girl here quite often. It seems to me she has quite the little crush on you." Iroh said cunning as the old fox he was.
Zuko clenched his fist, voice a tad shaken, "What?" He seemed shocked, and deeply flustered.
Abruptly, a simple female voice broke through before his long objection. "I'll have a cup of tea." She said, dropping about six silver into Zuko's hand. He took them and turned away to prepare her tea, looking slightly nervous and uncomfortable to Iroh's enjoyment. "So, what's your name?" she asked with interest. Turning around her blurted, "My name's Lee. My uncle and I just moved here." He said, calming down before she noticed. Unfortunately for him, she caught it, smiling wider. 'Aw, he's even cuter now that I'm really meeting him!' She thought. "Hi, Lee. My name's Jen. Thank you and…" she looked behind her, feeling shy yet again. "Well… I was wondering if you would like to go out some time?" she asked softly, gazing at her crush's astonished and surprised expression. Before he could say no, Iroh intervened. "He'd love too!"
Jen smiled, 'Good enough for me!' "Great! I'll meet you in front of the shop at sun down!" With that she was gone, Iroh leaning in, grinning, to place his arm around the younger man's shoulder, his iron beam faced with an equally strong glare of disdain.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, pulling away form the friendly arm. "Come now, nephew. A lovely young miss like herself doesn't come along every day! Take advantage of your youth, Prince Zuko. Live a little!" he insisted. Zuko gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing more. "I told you already, I have neither intention nor desire to start a life trapped in these walls! You wish for me to lie to this girl just so you may have a laugh?" Iroh grinned, "Already you're concerned for her then?" He chuckled, only making the prince angrier if possible. "Oh, calm yourself. It is just why night? Why let such a pure heart get crushed over one little date? You might find you like it." He persisted. "No."
"How about I fill in for you tomorrow at work? You may have the day off; free to do whatever it is you please."
Zuko paused. "Fine."
"Wonderful! Now, let's get you prepared."
Before poor Zuko could protest, Iroh had dragged him by the arm away putting up the "off on break" sign and pulling him along in the direction of the Ba Sing Se bath house.
-o-
Jen crept up the alley and saw "Lee" was just coming out to, still in the same wardrobe from work (minus the apron which she still thought looked adorable on him) with his messy hair brushed to both sides. She giggled inwardly, sneaking up on him. He turned and saw her however just as she was coming toward him. "Hey! Well, look at you…" she teasingly began to ruffle his hair. "You look so cute!" she chirped, enjoying the softness beneath her fingers. Zuko whined, trying to fix it. "My uncle spent ten minutes trying to do my hair!" Jen smiled, taking his arm and starting to walk to the restaurant.
-o-
After finishing their first course, Jen decided the awkward silence was getting to her. 'Come on, Je, you finally asked him out! You gotta do something so he can see who you are! And so you can see who he really is…' She thought dreamily, blissfully unaware once again. "Sooo… how do you like the city so far?" she asked, drinking her tea as he played with a ball of meat with his chop sticks. Without looking at her he replied quickly, "Its okay."
She sipped then smiled vivaciously. "What do you do for fun?" She persisted trying to get more than just a few words at a time out of him, trying not to lose hope. "Nothing." He replied coldly. 'Just let this date be over with…'
The waiter came, leaning over with a smile. These faces were starting to bug him. "Excuse me sit, but would you and your girlfriend care for desert?"
"SHE NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Zuko shouted, pounding the table. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at him now, the idle waiter walking away as if nothing happened.
Zuko turned back reluctantly to Jen to see her trying to get away with slurping up some noodles without him catching her. He looked astonished again, not because she could eat this much. It was more that she didn't seem to mind not having the manners. While most girls were uptight and sensitive about bad table manners being noticed by their suitors or anyone for that matter, she just his it because she wanted him to like her.
Not that he was even suggesting that he was her suitor or anything.
"You… have…" he stammered, raising and eyebrow and opening his hands. "Quite an appetite for a girl…" He mentally slapped himself. 'Good one, Zuko, real nice.'
Feeling ashamed he lowered her sights on her soup. "Uhhhm… thanks?" 'Oh great, he probably thinks I'm a complete swinephant now!'
Zuko aka Lee began poking his thumbs together idly. 'I guess I offended her… But why should I care? I'm not going to apologize to some girl!'
"So… Lee… Where were you and your uncle living before you come here?" she asked, trying to scrape up some dignity.
'Uh-oh! Uncle didn't tell me how we were supposed to answer to this!' He panicked. "Uhhh… we've been… traveling around for a long… time!" He decided on, praying he didn't sound suspicious. Luckily for him (or unluckily), Jen only thought that he was shy.
Leaning in she exclaimed, "Oh! Why were you traveling so much?" she asked, that same interest he saw in her eyes during their first meeting returning. Sighing Zuko milked the lie that was 'Lee' on, "We were, uh…" he started but only has one pathetic idea. 'Don't even go there.' He challenged his nerves. The nerves won. "This traveling circus!" Excited, Jen continued, "Really! What did you do—Wait. Let me guess…" she tapped on her chin and grinned. "You juggled!" She decided. He rolled his eyes, arms folded. 'Now look what you did.' "Yes. I juggled." He grumbled. "I've always wanted to learn how to juggle!" She told him, seeming almost like a little girl at a magic show. Still skeptical looking of her however, Jen handed him several items from the table. "Can you show me something?" she requested.
Zuko stared at the items for a few seconds, his eyes slowly traveling upwards to meet with her olive-covered ones. He was surprised by how much they appealed to him and suddenly there was a desire in him that didn't want the spark in those eyes to be put out by the rain of her tears or the taint of her disappointment. He stared at her with hopelessness, as if she could magically provide him with the 'gift' of juggling her eyes sought without having her know that he knew as much about the silly talent as he knew about love and romance and panda lilies.
Still, he threw the items up in the air, attempting to catch them, only to give a cry of surprise as he missed everything falling onto his head, once edible mush now in his already tampered with hair.
Trying to sustain a laugh or worried cry (he couldn't tell which) she covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide. He stared at her with embarrassment, disdain and somewhat disappointment. "I haven't practiced in awhile." He lied again, cleaning up. She smiled forgiveness, just relieved that he hadn't hurt himself too much. "It's alright." After another moment of silence to recover from that awkward mishap, she beamed at him again and he noticed unhappily that it was becoming less annoying to him. "Hey, I wanna show you one of my favorite places in the city!"
-o-
As Zuko was dragged around Ba Sing Se for the second time that day (no rhyme intended), Jen guided him down an alley as she chattered on about this favorite place: The Fire Light Fountain. 'Tough guy or not he's going to love this! Maybe he'll even like me back. He's even more amazing than I imagined he'd be… all this time all I saw that was cute, silent tea shop boy with the strange damaged face when meanwhile there was this ordinary, awkward guy behind him. I really, really hope he likes me… Oh, Lee.'
Midway through her talk they arrived and to his unyielding shock, the smile on her face died into unhappy shock. "I can't believe it!" she cried, staring at the lightless, fountain. "They aren't lit…" she said sadly, sounding too strong to cry but like she wanted to. 'So much for that idea…he probably thinks I'm an idiot now. I guess there's no way someone like Lee could ever like someone like me. It wasn't mean to happen…'
Zuko stared at her. He then looked at the fountain in all its dark gloom. 'Well, I've gotten this far… and she did try her best for me, no one besides uncle has ever really done that. I guess it can't hurt.' He turned to her and commanded, his prince self kicking in. "Close your eyes and don't peek." Smiling again she closed her eyes, putting her hands over them to assure him that she wasn't going to disobey him… ever. He stared off for a moment. 'Iroh would never let me live this down…' Yet despite the denial, he knew that wasn't what was bothering him. Checking to make sure no one was around. He walked closer to the Fire Light Fountain. He folded his hands together, shutting his eyes stop concentrate for a few seconds. They reopened and he went to work, using his fire bending to toss flames into each candle, all forty of them. The way he moved was like a dance, like fire itself did – sharp, swift, fierce and passionate.
Proud of his achievement not realizing he was smiling he whispered to his date, "Alright… you can look." She did as told, arms dropping and amazed eyes opened. "Oh, wow!" she inhaled, taking in the breath-taking scene that seemed to have been taken from a romance novel. She wandered into the area, looking around, "What happened? How did they light? How did… you…" Jen stared at him, and he smiled cunningly, mysteriously back. She could tell by that look that he and his uncle were definitely related through it. Together they watched as the lights dances off the fountains water. Zuko couldn't help but feel his smile widen. 'Heh, what do ya know. It is amazing somehow, she was right.' He thought.
Jen look at him while he was distracted, smiling deviously, brushing back some of her hair. She finally built up enough confidence. 'This is your chance, Jen! It's now or never! All or nothing at all!' She took his hand in her, leaning in, sure of herself this time for the most part. Zuko turned to her, staring down at her, his golden eyes which were even more dazzling with the fire's light, soft and tender. Just as they were about to kiss, however…
"I got you something." A coupon came between their lips. 'Saved by uncle Iroh's lame gift ideas.'
Jen's sensual smile faltered into a slight hurt expression as she listened to him speak. "It's a coupon for a free cup of tea." She couldn't help but smile, putting her other hand around his other to have the piece of paper. "Lee… this is so sweet." She told him, feeling warmth inside her being. 'This can't be a crush…I don't think I'll ever feel this way again, about anyone other than him…'
As Zuko continued speaking he thought over a thought he denied hurting him. 'Lee… she loves Lee of the traveling circus. She loves my lie…now look at what's you've done, Zuko… look at what you've done, Uncle… Look at what you've done… Lee.'
Zuko scratched the back of his head, "Don't thank me. It was uncle's idea. He thinks you're our most valuable customer." He explained.
"You're uncle is a good teacher." She said, feeling great gratitude for her love's companion at this moment. 'My love's…' she smiled to herself, knowing then what had to be done.
She placed her hand on the undamaged side of his face, turning it to face her, earning her that sweet, shy look again. "I have something for you too…" she removed her hand and added, "Now it's your turn to close your eyes."
Zuko stared down at her. 'I've never felt this before. I shouldn't…' Zuko, lost control of his body as his eyelids hid away the look of longing in their golden depths, feeling warmth in his cheeks, slowly approaching his lips.
She kissed his, briefly, softly, innocently…
And he returned it, wanting to badly to deepen it, to take her into his arms, to have her as his forever and for once to belong to someone, to her…
Only to pull, far away.
Jen's eyes opened abruptly at the cold night air that replaced the sweet, delectable warmth that had resided there recently. "What's wrong?" she asked, scared that she may have acted too soon, that she had been too forward and had scared him. He did indeed look like a sparrokeet in the armadilion's way. He turned away from her. "It's complicated." He uttered. He sounded as scared as he had looked while facing her. Jen became sad and wanted to die as he whispered, "I have to go." He ran away.
Never for her to see him again.
Jen stood there for eternity, a montage of destruction playing out inside her. All the memories of tonight became a bitter taste. All dreams and fantasies she had before hand shattered like a formally beautiful crystal. All possibilities of a future of the two of them, running from this cage of a city, to a place where war truly could not affect them, to a place where they could be together and perhaps even start a family and get married… were now black, empty, unfulfilled, and dead.
"Lee…" she whispered with tears welling up in the eyes he embarrassed himself to keep dry. "LEE!" with that Jen, the second person to ever love Zuko who was more Lee than he believed, feel to her knees, beginning to sob into her hands. "Come back!" she pleaded like he was still around.
'It's complicated…' rang through her mind.
'Why?'
'I have to go.'
'But you're not coming back… Lee…'
'I love you.'
-o-
Iroh poked his head out the window of the shop, searching around for his nephew. He was worried. It was rather late and he expected his grumpy relative to have been home hours ago to scold him for setting him up. He turned around in surprise as the door squeaked open, and he smiled. "How was your night, Prince Zuko?" he asked almost knowingly as the man in question stormed past him wordlessly, slamming the door of their bedroom shut. He frowned, turning back to his work. He heard the door slide open to reveal a sad, blushing Prince Zuko who whispered, regretfully of regretting…
"It was nice." The door slid closed and he could practically feel his Uncle smiling through it.
'Forgive me… Jen. If not for that Avatar and this war, I might have played Lee for you forever.
--End
A/N: I'm sorry if Zuko was out of character in his thoughts. I'm still getting to know the Avatar characters and I'm sorry if you don't approve of this couple. I still think it deserved a story and I still wish they could be together. Please review, no matter what. You have a keyboard and mouse.