It was the third Wednesday of every month. A few months ago, Aang and Katara decided to host a game night. When all the excitement from the war's end had died down, the couple realized how hard it would be to keep in touch with their diversity of friends. Surprisingly, the group had split up in search of their own little adventures or to fulfill some distant, lifelong dream.
Zuko was in the palace, running the Fire Nation. He hated every moment of it. Everyone had problems that needed his personal attention. Oh, your bike broke? Let's tell Firelord Zuko. The cabbage cart has been overturned again? The Firelord will help you! Your batty mother-in-law is missing? The Firelord will know what to do! It was a never ending stream of agony, not counting the civil unrest in the streets. Not all of his subjects took kindly to the re-writing of history books to detail the Fire Nation's real role in the 100 year long war. Needless to say, he was glad for a little reprieve every few weeks.
He was glad to be away from the palace, to sleep somewhere where untold amounts of people aren't waiting on your every need. Zuko knew they were merely doing their jobs, but for the Avatar's sake he did not need someone to brush his teeth for him or to warm his bath water or to comb his hair or any countless trivial jobs they wanted to save him from doing. He really didn't understand it. Just because he was the Firelord did not mean he couldn't keep his hygiene up to par.
Getting away from his guards was the hard part. Before he had even sat on the throne, he had immediately dismissed the Dai Li from his command. He didn't need anyone plotting to take the Fire Nation from him right under his nose. Since they were out of the picture, sneaking out would be the easy part. Only a handful of people knew where he went every Wednesday. He knew for certain they would cover for him if something went awry.
Smiling to himself, he walked out of the Fire Nation toward the place where Aang picked him up every night. He had told the Avatar that he was perfectly capable of getting to the Earth Kingdom on his own, but Aang would have none of that. It was nice to have people who cared about you without having to be paid. Patting Appa gently, they rode through the night into the Earth Kingdom.
"Who's coming tonight," Zuko asked to break the silence.
"Just the normal group: you, me, Katara, and Sokka."
"Oh," Zuko said blandly. After about a year of working with his council of advisors, he was careful to keep his face expressionless and his tone neutral. He was staring into space when he noticed the Avatar looking at him with a huge grin on his face.
"Toph will be there too, y'know." Aang's eyebrows were slightly raised, enjoying the mortified look that crossed Zuko's face. "Don't worry though," the Avatar said, "I'm the only one who knows."
Zuko cleared his throat. "Knows what?" he asked casually, aware that the slightest of colors had flooded to his face.
"Nothing, Sifu Hotman. Nothing at all."