A/N: This was only ever intended to be a one shot to exercise my mind. Although, if I get enough requests, I could see this turning into a chapter-series about their lives together, for pure fluff, or maybe a "prequel" of sorts, describing how they got here. This is post-series, about 18-24 months after the war ends, but it diverts from canon at about the end of Book 2: Earth.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar (And I don't mean James Cameron's Avatar, but he doesn't actually own that either).
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LIFE AS A SIMPLE TEAMAN
"Honey! Two jasmines and a black!" came the voice from the front of the tea shop.
"With a small, secretive smile, Zuko dutifully filled three cups with the requested beverages and placed them on a tray, which his blushing fiancée took with a big grin across her beautiful, tanned face. Zuko never tired of seeing the light sparkle in her big, beautiful eyes.
As he heard someone yell their complements to the brewmaster from the interior of the shop, he let a true smile spread across his face. Ever since those weeks that he and his uncle had hid in Ba Sing Se as refugees, his tea making skills had improved tenfold. He remembered how, not long after arriving in Ba Sing Se and getting that job at Pao's Family Tea House, his uncle had confessed, under the duress of a little too much cheap Earth Kingdoms honey whiskey, that his efforts at tea making were, at best, lacking (or, at worst, "unfit for human consumption", as his uncle had put it). Now, not only was his tea drinkable, but it was approaching that of his uncle's in quality.
Ah, his uncle. Of course, now Fire Lord Iroh, as he should be, as he was groomed to be from his earliest years. After Zuko's "death" at the hands of his sister underneath the caverns of Ba Sing Se, Iroh had reluctantly left his dear nephew's body as he escaped with the waterbender and the Avatar, eventually becoming his teacher and helping save the world.
But Zuko hadn't died that day under the Earth Palace. He was saved by a Dai Li member who returned after the fact to clean up evidence. The agent, Ten Shu, was one of the rare Dai Li that weren't loyal to Long Feng – he was loyal to Ba Sing Se, and as long as the two's methods agreed with one another, there was no conflict. But Azula had taken power of the Dai Li, and the agent knew who Zuko was. Therefore, the agent made a choice that saved Zuko's life that day. He brought him to one of the few waterbending healers in Ba Sing Se and saved his life. He knew of the Fire Nation's beliefs, and he had just earned himself a life debt from the young prince. Or better yet, as he had thought, a bargaining chip. As he cared for, and hid the young firebender, something unexpected had happened.
He grew fond of the young Crown Prince. He had never expected that to happen, of course, but it had. The young man's gruff attitude (and initial hostility, of course) had eventually worn away as the weeks passed and he began to see beyond the facade that Zuko put forward. Underneath the attitude lay a man who believed in honesty, in courage, determination, mercy, but most of all Justice. This man, not even 17 years in age, had the strength of character and indomitable will of men two, even three times his age.
So in a move that had surprised Zuko and Ten Shu both, the agent had made his request of Zuko, which would render them even from that day forth. Zuko smiled as he remembered that confusing day.
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"Live here", he said. "Live here as a common man. This is the chance of getting the life that you've always dreamed of – everyone thinks that you're dead. I'll have papers drawn up saying that you're a relative from out of town, so the Dai Li and the guards will leave you alone."
Zuko looked at the man that had started as his captor, but had changed into something akin to a friend. "You can't be serious. As Fire Lord, I could grant any request that you wanted, make you the richest man in Ba Sing Se, but instead, you want me to live here? And I've dreamed for, my whole life of becoming Fire Lord – I won't give that up!"
"Yes, Zuko, you would. Think of all the common folk that you saw on your treks around the Earth Kingdoms." To pass away the time, they had gotten to telling tales from each other's pasts. Zuko hadn't told Ten Shu of much of his time in the Fire Nation, though, and Ten Shu hadn't prodded, feeling that this was a sensitive topic with the young royal. "I can tell from your stories that you're envious of the simple lives that they live. How they can have nothing, yet still be happier than life in the Palace, where you had everything. So I want you to do this. The healer that I took you to can help with this disguise – I've caught her smuggling Fire Nation colonists into the City."
"You caught her smuggling FIRE NATION COLONISTS into Ba Sing Se and you didn't report her?"
"I.... I couldn't" the agent said, with a downcast look. "Their mother was of Earth Kingdom stock, but her husband… he had been a Fire Nation soldier. She was terrified, didn't know where to turn, and her children were starving..."
Zuko understood the meaning behind the earthbender's words. Had been a Fire Nation soldier. As in no longer among the living. It seemed as if there were humans among the Dai Li, after all. "I...You can't possibly be serious. Me, the exiled Prince, living beneath the noses of all the Dai Li in the city? Not possible."
"As I said, with the papers that I can produce, no one will doubt their authenticity. And the healer can help mask some of the more... obvious signs of your heritage." Looking the royal in the eye, he asked him seriously "This really is what I want. I know that you Fire Nation take your vows seriously, and the royalty more so. Besides, you loyalty belongs to me because I saved your life, remember?"
Glowering fiercely, Zuko reluctantly agreed to his plan, knowing that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't honor his debt to this man. So he agreed to see this healer again, and live out his days in disguise as Li. She changed his eye color with a mysterious form, and gave him a limited resistance to Dai Li mindbending interrogation techniques. He didn't ask where she learned how to do this, and she didn't offer any answers. There was one thing that had bothered Zuko about Ten Shu's deal, and that was the fact that he forbid him from contacting his uncle in any way, shape or form.
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Looking back now, he was glad that Ten Shu had forced this upon him. Who would have thought that he, the former Crown Prince of the most powerful Nation on the planet, would be content making tea in a teashop in the Middle Ring? More than that, that he'd OWN a teashop, along with the love of his life.
He smiled as her sweet, innocent face appeared in his mind's eye. Her chocolaty brown hair that he couldn't stop running his fingers though in their comfortable flat in the Middle Ring. The smell of jasmine and panda lilies that surrounded her at all times, her-
"Li! Stop daydreaming back there! We have customers waiting!" A slightly irritated voice came calling from nearby, shattering his reflections on the past.
Emerald eyes flashing with a suppressed fire, he looked up…. And saw his beloved's beautiful green eyes come into focus as he flushed mildly at his strong reactions. Even after more than a year, his pride had diminished in the least. "Yes, Jin, my dear" he responded, kissing her briefly, sending waves of heat down her spine, and smirking as she looked stunned "But you better hurry and deliver this tea before it gets cold."
In a daze, she nodded as she stepped out into the serving area of the Emerald Bear, one of the most well-known (and well-liked) teashops of the Middle Ring. Zuko continued smirking as she nearly tripped over a customer before recovering from his kiss.
"Consequences be damned, Ten Shu" he muttered to himself "I'm going to invite uncle to my wedding, even if I have to beat you black and blue." Zuko knew that he could, and so did Ten Shu – they had sparred on multiple occasions, with Ten Shu only coming out the victor the first few times they battled, before Zuko got used Dai Li fighting techniques.
"Dear, could you grab another black and an oolong tea, please? And no daydreaming this time!" With a roll of his eyes at his beloved's tone, he began to chuckle as he prepared the next order.
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A/N P.S. ....And there it is. Cookie to anyone who figured out that his wife-to-be was Jin before I told you. I know that Zuko is acting pretty OoC in this, but I don't really care, for two main reasons. One, a near-death experience will tend to change people, and Two, don't underestimate the bounds to which he'll go to satisfy his honor. And repaying a life debt by living his life in Ba Sing Se DOES seem a little extreme, but so is chasing a possibly non-existent all powerful bender around the world with the expectation of bring it back alive... at the age of what, 14? And for two YEARS? And we all know that he would have searched longer, so I'm taking a leap of faith here and saying that it isn't too OoC with my views of him.
This actually turned out really different that what I was planning on – I was planning on writing it that Jin and Zuko were having vacation in Ba Sing Se, working at the Jasmine Dragon, but then I read Ashes to Ashes (by "The Wacky Wannabe Writer", an absolutely BRILLIANT Jinko fic, best one on , if you ask me), and I changed it so he was living there with her, and the world thinks that he's dead. Ten Shu was inspired by a Dai Li agent in a Zuko-centric fic that I just came across called Embers (by Vathara, and another awesome-tacular fic, in my opinion). This is also where I kind of stole the idea of changing his eye color to make him fit in more. Well, review if you will.
All I know is that Jinko needs more love – it's my second favorite Avatar ship (after Zutara, of course). If you guys think that this is good enough for more chapters, I left plenty of room for more – the wedding, Iroh finding out, You can actually meet Ten Shu, the Gaang (Katara/Toph, at the very least. Keep in mind that Katara had her moment with Zuko, who then betrayed her, but was then "killed" by his very own sister. So that re-uniting would be… interesting to say the least. Also, Iroh totally told them about how great Zuko "was" when he trained Aang), maybe even Ursa (if Iroh found her). Wow, talk about long author's notes…