Zuko glared at his uncle.
"Why do I have to make the dessert cakes? Why not you?"
"Because I will be brewing these nice people some tea," said Iroh with an air of obviousness. "Now, Li, please go to work. There is some cream in a bowl in the kitchen that I was whipping. Please finish the job, my nephew."
The sullen teenager merely muttered, "Fine," and retreated to the back room.
"Now, where is that cream?" He wondered out loud. Spotting it, he seized an egg whip and ferociously attacked the half-fluffed cream.
When he had finished with the task, he divided it into four portions, topped with truffles and fruit.
Oh, how he hated this. Being the servant of those…those people! He was royalty! They should be serving him, not the other way around. He detested it – waiting hand-and-foot on the Avatar and his playmates.
Carrying out the tray of desserts, Zuko cast a longing glance around their apartment. He and his uncle had never had anything as nice as this in Ba Sing Se. They'd only had a few days at their substantially-less-lavish apartment in the Middle Ring before being dragged off to serve here.
He scowled as he saw the laughing group, smiling over a meal that was less extravagant than he imagined, but still far better than he thought his uncle was capable of. Iroh – to no surprise – was socializing with the little blind girl.
Then he tripped.
It seemed to happen in slow motion; the small foot of the Earthbender just moving so; the stone ledge that appeared out of nowhere; the sensation of weightlessness as he fell through the air; the soft splat as he landed face-first in gooey, fluffy, whipped cream.
"Aw, man!" exclaimed the Water Tribe boy as Zuko emerged stony-faced and bearded with said dessert. "What a waste of good food."
The, to everyone's puzzlement, the Water Tribe girl – Katara? – left her seat and kneeled in front of him, at eye-level.
Zuko was taken aback as a pair of warm, firm lips pressed against his, and a tongue ran fleetingly along his bottom lip.
Katara pulled away, smirking. "Nope. Still good."