Title: Plays of Epic Romance and Jealousy
Genre: General/Friendship
Characters: Zuko, Suki
Summary: Somehow, a late night walk became a friendship bonded over theatrical plays, blue-eyed members of the Water Tribe, and the jealousy of two twelve-years-old. Oneshot. Set before Ember Island Players, with a little bit of spoilers.
-
-
-
Don't Own Avatar.
-
-
-
The moon was high, and she couldn't sleep.
She slipped out from her bed- yes, she sleeps alone- no matter what her relationship with Sokka is, sleeping together was just wrong- they're sixteen and even with the numerous kisses and hour-long snuggles, she wanted to take this slow.
Her boyfriend's room was right beside hers, and she stopped for a few moments to look at him- at his rising, falling chest- and hear his low snores. She smiled- he sleeps like a log.
He talked to the moon before he slept and she heard him; she wondered whether he's having nightmares or not. She hoped it was the latter.
The warrior- even without her fans and war paints she still carry the spirit of Kyoshi- continued walking along the corridor, occasionally slowing her steps to see the hanging scrolls properly. After all, she was staying in the Fire Nation Royal Beach House, and no matter what vendetta she has against the nation, she has a special spot of affection in her heart for art in general- old Fire Nation paintings are a rare species in the Four Nations- just like the original Avatar Kyoshi's artifacts.
It was dark, and she winced when her right knee collided with a small wooden table- an empty small wooden table, thankfully- if there were any fragile items on top of it they might fall and break. But now her sore legs are once again in pain.
She sighed; they- she, Sokka, and Toph had went to the island's marketplace today to buy some disguise- and do a lot of window shopping, in Sokka's case- Katara trusted her brother with a lot of things but money handling was never one of them, and they had a great time.
No. Sokka and Toph had a great time.
Toph… she knew the girl has feelings- strong feelings for Sokka, and with every kiss and every hug, she felt guilty. Once, she has been in the younger girl's shoes back then in Kyoshi, and it was a difficult time.
She remembered how today's trip went. It started off pleasantly, she needed new clothes and Sokka wanted to take a stroll around town. Toph wanted to come too, and they left Katara and the rest of the boys back home. They chatted and laughed the whole way to the marketplace, and she even traded jokes and teamed up with the green-eyed girl in making fun of his boyfriend.
It was after she bought her clothes everything went downhill- for her, at least.
Her thoughts was interrupted when she saw none other than the owner of the beach house- well, the owner's son, clad in his sleeping attire, standing on the house's open balcony, leaning down on its ledge, his expression is one in a deep thinking. With no better thing to do, she approached him.
"Couldn't sleep?"
She wasn't surprised that he already felt her presence before she even talked. She knew trained warriors when she saw them. Her boyfriend might have a sword made out of meteorite, but he still need years of training to catch up with her warrior instinct. Zuko, on the other hand, seemed to have the instinct by nature.
"Sokka was snoring."
Zuko raised his eyebrows at the girl's answer.
"He snores every night."
"Your point?"
"You never complained before."
"Okay, fine. I just want some fresh air."
"…fresh air."
Suki stole a glimpse at the boy beside her- he seemed troubled, no matter what his calm appearance said, and she's not in a mood of awkward silences.
"You're okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Anything happened today?"
"I taught Aang firebending."
"That's nice."
"Yeah."
Silence hung between the two once again.
"You know," she tried to start another conversation again; "We passed a theatre on the way back here from the markets. I never thought the Fire Nation like plays- I thought they would be busy, with the war-"
"Not all Fire Nation people care about war that much."
"Yeah, yeah. But the theater's closed. They say it's planning a new production."
"It doesn't matter anyway. If you wanted to see good plays, you should go to the capital. The players here butchered a lot of plays; it was nice when they only added a bit of humor to the original script, but sometimes the changes are outrageous."
Suki gaped. "Wait- you watched plays?"
Zuko frowned a bit, and lines appeared on his face. "My mom used to take me to the theatre when we visit Ember Island- why are you looking at me like that?"
"You? Watching plays? What, your mother dragged you to the theatre? Shouldn't it be your sister- a girl, to accompany her mother to watch soap operas?"
"Fire Nation plays are not soap operas! And Azula never liked plays."
"And you like them?"
"They're tolerable."
"Oh my- I can't believe this."
"Shut up."
"The mighty, scary, manly, banished prince of The Fire Nation watches soap operas. Never thought I live to see the day."
"Shut-"
"What do you like to watch, your majesty?"
The boy beside her mumbled something that she didn't quite catch.
"You like Love amongst The Dragons?"
"The one that played in the capital! They slaughtered that here!"
She could see him beside her, flushing- and she started giggling, and he pouted- yes, it was a pout- her boyfriend had said that Zuko has an intimidating glare (and frown) but Suki just failed to see that, and her giggle became louder.
After a few minutes (it's nice to laugh with another person other than Sokka for a while) she stopped.
"You finished?"
"You watched a romantic play. The one that the ladies love."
"So?"
"It never crosses my thoughts you're a romantic at heart."
"The original story was wonderful." His good ear pinked.
"Back on my island, we used to stage some plays too. Even though our theatre wasn't as big as the one you have here."
"You mean in the Kyoshi Islands?"
"Yeah, the one that you burned."
"I'm sor-"
"Enough with the apologies, Princy. It gets old quickly."
"Well, I thought you were an actress when I first saw you."
"The face paint?"
"The face paint."
"Technically, Avatar Kyoshi got her inspiration from the ancient Earth Kingdom plays back then, so I guess you're kind of right. They said her face paint was designed to intimidate enemies."
"What kind of plays did the people staged there?"
"We staged romantic plays, if that's what you're looking for- the old tale of Oma and Shu is the crowd's favorite, but mostly we staged plays based on The Legend of Avatar Kyoshi. It encourages our citizens to learn about our origins, and it's very educational."
"Were you an actress back then?"
"No." She remembered her friends- her fellow warriors, their usual practice- "We Kyoshi Warriors only make some cameos. The fighting parts and battle sequences are ours."
"Wow."
"Yeah. Wow."
"I liked plays, but I'm not that good in acting. Azula is."
Her back stiffed at the mention of the princess' name. "Well, you told us Azula-"
"-always lies. And it's true. I spent most of my time pondering whether she's telling the truth or not. Sometimes I wished we could turn back the pendulum. She wasn't always like this- like this scary person. We used to play together in the beach, and it was nice."
Suki couldn't imagine Azula nice- much less behaving like a normal girl and played with her family in the beach, but she couldn't really imagine Zuko doing the same thing- well, he seemed more likely to do that compared to his sister, but more importantly, what Zuko said reminded her of the sandy beaches she passed today.
"The beaches here are beautiful. Sokka and I wanted to stop by earlier, but Toph didn't like sand very much." Actually, the blind girl had said that beaches are 'lame', right after she said it was beautiful- and erased any chance for them to take a nice stroll along the beaches.
"How was the trip? Anything interesting happening around town?"
"Not much. We bought some new clothes, some food, and some maps- the usual necessities. And my feet are sore."
"What happened?"
She replayed today's 'happenings' in her mind… That tattletale sound of the earth moving- they were silent enough that she was the only one who noticed, and the sound gradually became a warning before her legs lost balance.
"I fell down a lot."
"Really?"
"You're right. Maybe I should take that offer to spar with you. I'm turning into a klutz after a few days."
Zuko turned to her and smiled a knowing smile. "That, or the earth was… suspiciously moving today?"
She wasn't surprised. "You knew."
He wasn't surprised, either. "I know."
"I feel guilty. What do you think of that?"
"I think someone can't handle having a competition."
He lips pursed on disagreement. "But-"
"You love him. He loves you. What's there to be guilty about?"
"She loves him too."
"Doesn't mean he must love her back."
"It's just… I feel like I'm interrupting something, interrupting their relationship, somehow. I know she loves him, and I know that he feel strongly too about her, even as friends. And I thought maybe, maybe I can work things out with Toph, you know? Become friends."
"But…" He was waiting.
"I don't know. Sometimes when I spent time with them, I feel like a third wheel. Jokes I'll never understand, stories I'll never know- I don't think they did that in purpose, but-"
He snorted. "Trust me. She did that in purpose."
She wasn't sure if she wants to believe that. "You don't think Toph-"
"After a few weeks living together, I realized one thing. The Blind Bandit is a sore loser."
"She's jealous. I can't blame her for that. I've been down that road before."
"Are you planning anything for the situation?"
"I think letting Sokka decide for himself is the best course of action."
"Nice. Now if only Aang could get his act together."
"I knew something went wrong in today's practice. What happened?"
He gritted his teeth, and when he spoke, his tone was tinged with exasperation.
"He- wouldn't- stop- trying- to- impress- Katara."
"I'm getting the feeling that it wasn't his first time doing that."
"Oh, Agni. I don't get it! It was like he was so determined to upstage me or something- I don't know. Who can make the larger fireball- the longer whip- the higher jump- but when it came down to real combat, he hesitated. Hesitated! When I asked why, he said he didn't want to hurt Katara- which he already said plenty of times- and it led to Katara herself cooing and fussing for him not to worry- which led to more breaks- how am I supposed to teach him firebending?"
"Wow. For someone who's quiet in most days, you have excellent breath control."
"Firebender."
"Right. Hmm… I wonder what went wrong."
"Believe me, I spent hours thinking of the same thing."
"Did Katara say anything to you before practice? You know, did you guys have a talk or something?"
"Not really. Well, she finally acknowledged that I'm good enough to be the Avatar's firebending teacher, and said that I'm really a powerful bender now. Somehow, Aang had a funny look on his face when she said that."
She smiled (and laughed in her head, because really, this is somewhat funny in a bizarre way) "I think I know what the problem here is."
"Enlighten me."
"He's jealous."
His expression was priceless. "What?"
"You heard me. Aang is jealous of you… and Katara's relationship with you."
"What relationship? For Agni's sake, she hated me before this- we just got started to behave civilized at each other two days ago! Why is he jealous of me?"
"Hey, you're the one who figured out Toph was jealous of me. Figure it out yourself."
"Augh."
"If the same thing isn't happening to me too, I would find this very amusing."
"Ha ha."
"We both got ourselves entangled in the middle of people's relationship- with two Water Tribe members- in which if we make one wrong move- one misstep, we're at the mercy of two twelve-years-old."
"Two very powerful benders for twelve-years-old."
"I feel bad for you. You're the one that get the Avatar."
"Hey, he's a monk. He won't kill. Toph on the other hand… is merciless."
"What have we gotten ourselves into?"
"This must be some kind of a curse. It's probably a Water Tribe curse."
"And to think, we were talking about plays earlier- how on earth did we come to this conclusion of our doom in the hands of those two anyway?"
"Don't ask me."
"I think I'm going back to sleep."
"You do that."
"I'm going to check the theatre again tomorrow with Sokka."
"I'll make sure we're having that four-way-battle tomorrow. It should get everyone else busy. And it'll give me reason to train Aang harder."
It was an unspoken agreement, and Suki found herself an ally in this epic battle of jealousy and romance, and she was glad- it's nice to know someone's sharing the same problem that you're having. Even if that someone is a Fire Nation royal.
"Thanks."
He stopped her in her tracks.
"Do me a favor."
She glanced back.
"Hm?"
"Ask them when the next performance for Love amongst-"
"Done and done."
She smiled. And he yelled.
"Don't tell anyone!"
-
-
-
This is, somewhat, a longer version of the interaction between Suki and Zuko in my other fic, Broken Hearts Club. I like these two as friends. Reviews will be very nice.