Hey guys! This is my fanfic, so please read with an open mind. I don't know Zuko that well (time to watch those reruns!), but I do know that he is a bit...mean in this story. It's a two shot, with me (ShyGuy) writing Zuko's POV and GeekForAang writing Aang's POV. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Part 1: Mind Games

I concentrated on sorting the mixed tea leaves into separate jars. The dark, dank backroom made it hard to see, and I couldn't light a fire for fear of burning Uncle Iroh's precious tea leaves.

Ha. Precious. Snort. As if. What was the difference between that dried leaf and this one? There wasn't one.

I turned my head to see Aang shuffle in slyly. He stood in the corner, waiting to be acknowledged. I was in a bad mood. I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

Minutes passed in silence. Finally Aang sidled up to me and asked with an innocent smile, "How do you get so many girls to look at you?"

Shock flitted across my face before I returned it to a careful mask, calmly saying, "Why do you ask?"

Of course, this was just a stalling question, because I already knew why. I had seen the way he looked at Katara. But, how would I answer his question? He was a bit too innocent to divulge full details too…I should probably give him a watered-down, storybook version.

"Uhh…" Aang stuttered, his face red. "Just wonderin'…Heh."

Aang wears his heart on his sleeve, idiot. He's too easy to predict…and to mess with. Might as well have a little fun.

"Got your eye on somebody, eh?" I asked, watching his face out of the corner of my eye.

"What? Why would you say that?" he said, feigning surprise. The coward's way out, of course. Denial.

I raised an eyebrow sardonically. There was no need for words.

"What?" he asked innocently. I inwardly chuckled. When was he going to realize that he was making a fool out of himself? I could see right through him.

Silence. How long was it going to take for him to break down? Hmm…I was a bit impatient, as I tended to be, so I gave him a nudge in the right direction.

"You can't fool me. I'll tell you how… if you tell me who," I said, breaking the silence. Ha ha, it would be fun to see him squirm. Perhaps I would be entertained this afternoon after all.

"Aw man, Zuko! Can't you just tell me?" he begged. How amusing. Begging already?

"Take it or leave it," I said, walking away. I was done sorting the damn tea leaves anyway. No need to hang around any longer than necessary.

Aang grumbled softly before softly saying, "Fine…Wait!"

I paused, my back still turned away from him.

"It's-It's…" he sighed, "Katara." I could practically feel his blush from here.

"Huh. Isn't she a bit old for you?" I said, intentionally trying to provoke him. Who said I couldn't have a little fun messing with his head?

"What! No!" he shouted. I probably caught him off-guard. "Katara is only TWO years older than me!"

I let my silence sink in.

"Aw man! I'm never going to get her," he groaned. He never ceased to amuse me. When would he learn I was just messing with his head? Hopefully never. It's hilarious.

"Yeah. You probably never are," I said, smirking.

"Yeah. You're right. And I was hoping we could get married when we were older…" he said dejectedly, shoulders slumping. Marriage! He was thinking that far? Damn, he was worse than I thought.

"I'll just…go ask Toph or something…I guess…" he mumbled, "It might hurt…but…"

Pity the poor, love-struck, bald kid. I would probably regret this later, but…

"Hang on a sec," I said.

"What?" He looked up hopefully.

"I'll hold up my side of the bargain," I said, immediately regretting the words as I said them.

"Ok!" he smiled.

"Yeah," I sighed. I looked around furtively. If anyone other than Aang heard me say this, I would never live it down.

"First, you gotta be aloof and mysterious. The ladies like tall, dark, and charming," I said in a low voice.

"Right. Aloof and mysterious… But I'm not tall!" he despaired.

"Good luck with that one, then," I snickered.

"I've tried aloof, though!" he nearly shouted, excited that he had already fulfilled some part of my advice.

"And?" I waited expectantly. That bit almost always worked.

"It…didn't…work…"he trailed off. Huh. Perhaps he didn't do it right... "Sokka gave me that advice. Go figure."

Sokka! So Aang went to that kid before me? Didn't he know that I was the more attractive one out of us?

"As if that pathetic kid could attract anybody," I scoffed.

"Well…he got Suki," said Aang.

"Whatever," I said, brushing it off, "Anyway, it's all a mind game. The more uncertain of how much she thinks you like her, the more she'll think of you, trying to figure it out, and the more she thinks she likes you."

"UNcertain…?" he said, sounding…uncertain. (Ha ha, lame, I know.)

"Yeah," I nodded. Makes sense, right?

He paused, thinking over the new concept. "Oh. I get it. So…I have to get her to like me…just a little bit?"

"You gotta intrigue her, but yeah, basically," I said.

"Oh…ok," he said, still processing the idea.

"Then…she'll think about me more and more!" he said excitedly. "Ok! Thanks Zuko!"

Aang walked away, a spring in his step. I raised an eyebrow. He's going to be back soon, I bet.

Ten seconds later…

"How do I get her to like me?" Aang asked, walking towards me.

I snickered. "About time, smart one."

"What…?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.

"You don't plan well, do you?" I said sardonically.

"Well…Sokka's more of a plan guy," he explained. "I just do what he says."

"That's nice," I said, sarcasm lacing the words.

"Yeah," he replied, his tone indifferent. It was hard to tell whether or not he got my sarcasm. "So? How do I get her!" he said impatiently.

"Well, first, you have to gauge how much she likes you already," I explained. "And what kind of like it is. Platonic? Sisterly? Motherly? Romantically?"

"I don't know…"he said, avoiding my eyes. "I kissed her at the invasion-"

"Did she kiss back? Was it awkward?" I interrupted.

"-and in the cave when we were about to die and at the Ember Island play," Aang continued, ignoring me.

"Uhhh…" he said, thinking.

"Did she look like she enjoyed it?" I asked. Despite myself, I was kind of interested in this bit of courting going on in front of me. Who said playing matchmaker wasn't fun?

"At the play? No…she seemed…conflicted…" he said, thoughtfully. "She kissed back at the invasion though! I think…"

He needs to start paying attention to these subtle little signs, dammit!

"Not a good sign," I diagnosed.

"What? Why?" he said, sounding slightly panicked.

"Your chances aren't looking so good, buddy," I said solemnly. He frowned.

"You did the 'first move' three times, and what do you get?" I asked, almost rhetorically.

"Uhh…" he struggled to come up with the answer.

"Nothing," I answered for him. He was taking too long, ok? Aang should seriously work on his listening comprehension…

"A kiss at the Jasmine Dragon…" he said, defiantly.

"Did she initiate?" Ah, the all-important question.

"I DID feel her tongue. Unless that was just her lip…" he said thoughtfully. I fake-coughed.

"Too much info, man. Seriously," I said.

"Oh. Sorry, heh heh," he laughed nervously.

"And yeah-well… We both went in at the same time," he said hopefully.

"Oh. That's…ok, I guess," I said optimistically. It was pretty good for him doing almost nothing in between the kisses.

"So…you have a lukewarm kind-of like there," I said gravely. It was ok. Definitely better than I thought, but still far from where it should be.

"She…hasn't said or done anything…" he trailed off. "Yet."

"She needs a little nudge in the right direction," I said, trying to think of how Aang could give her that little nudge.

"And…how do I do that?" Aang wondered.

"Does she blush when you do a particular thing?" I asked. "I think…for you… You have to be sweet and charming. You see, your courting/flirting style has to fit with your personality."

"Ok," he agreed. "So…do I get her a flower?"

"A bouquet," I corrected. "Go all out. Impress her."

"Ok. I'll go pick them myself!" he said, excited to put a plan into action.

"You have learned well, young grasshopper," I said sarcastically.

"Thanks Sifu Zuko," he replied, sarcastically. Good. He got it this time. Aang ran off.

I sighed quietly to myself. He was like the little brother I never had (or wanted to have).

"Hey! Hey! Zuko! Look what I got!" shouted Aang.

I looked up from the tea leaf bush I was studying. "What?"

He shyly brought out a flower from behind his back. If you could even call that hideous thing a flower-the center a big, open bowl-like structure, with swollen red petals dotted with beige spots. Laughter threatened to burst out, at how naïve Aang was. I quickly disguised it as anger, and let that flash across my face as the flower exploded into a big ball of flames. Not that I had anything to do with it.

My face slipped back to an impassive expression as Aang frowned.

"Zuko! Why'd you do that?" Aang said angrily. He was somewhat frustrated that all of his effort had gone up into a ball of flames. Literally.

"That's garbage, boy, garbage. She'll run away screaming," I stated. Truth is the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"But Sokka said she would LOVE it!" he said defiantly. Of course he would trust Sokka. Aang was way too trusting.

"Don't trust him. He's her brother. Naturally, he's going to get protective and sabotage your courtship," I explained slowly, hoping he would take this as a lesson.

"Oh…you're right"-aren't I always?-"He WAS a little twitchy…" he said. "So…would you do that for Azula?"

Now THAT caught me off guard. I tried not to think of her, of our dysfunctional, screwed-up family. A deep pang of longing and pain shot through me. How I wished I had a sister I could be protective of, a sister who didn't try to kill me at the first chance she got. So, I pretended to be indifferent. I scoffed, "No," I said without hesitation. "Of course not. That bitch deserves whatever's going for her."

"Oh…harsh much?" Aang sounded kind of shocked.

"Not as harsh as trying to kill her own brother," I said bluntly.

"Yeah. You're right," he said.

I was silent. Nothing put me in a worse mood than thinking of my past.

"Ok then…I'll just…go find another flower," said Aang as he walked off, breaking the silence.

"Make it pretty this time!" I called after him, trying to get myself out of this bad mood.

"Hey Zuko!" Here we go again… "How about this one!" he yelled excitedly. This had better be a good one…

Again, it was a horrifyingly ugly one. I firebent it into a ball of flames-again- before I lost my temper.

"IDIOT!" I screamed as I threw a fireball at him. I could be really hot-headed sometimes, especially when SOMEBODY *cough, cough, AANG* made me think of past experiences. It made me revert back to my old instincts, where anger and aggression was usually the best reaction to almost any situation.

"Hey!" Aang shouted as he stomped on the ground and a big rock sprouted from the ground. It went to his hand before flying towards my head. I quickly dodged it.

"What now?" he growled.

I calmed down. I didn't need those instincts anymore. I was in a safe environment, without my father breathing down on my neck, my mother imprisoned somewhere, and my sister out to kill me. "You never learn, huh?"

"What did I do NOOOOW!" he wailed as his arms flailed about wildly.

"It has to be a PRETTY flower, not the first one you find," I explained.

"But…I asked the flower vendor and he said there was only two of this kind of flower left in the world. Well…not anymore…" he trailed off, giving me a dirty look.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" I shrieked. "IT HAS TO BE AESTHETICALLY PLEASING!" Okay, admittedly, I need to work on my anger management skills.

"OK! Geez! You have a BIG temper!"

I sighed quietly. I didn't need him to tell me that.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" I said.

"No I'm not!" he protested.

"You are! Now go find a PRETTY flower!" I said. For Pete's sake, that was the third time I said that!

"Ok, ok! Geez. I'll find one," he sulked as he walked to Ba Sing Se.

"I found one, Zuko!" he exclaimed, holding something behind his back. "How about…THIS ONE!" He pulled out a multi-colored rose and presented it with a flourish.

I examined it for a while before saying, "Good…about time!"

"Thanks! I got it from Sokka!" he said brightly.

"Gimme that flower!" I said, alarmed. I snatched the flower from him and peered at it closely. "I bet it has some poison in it."

"He wouldn't kill his sister! Gah! You know what? This is impossible!" he said, throwing his hands to the sky, fed up.

"He might intoxicate YOU though," I said.

"Oh…and I was about to smell it…" he admitted.

"You are still very innocent, untrained," I said, shaking my head gravely.

"You know what! Forget it! I'm just going to ask Katara out!" he exclaimed, stomping away, his patience used up.

And now…the last, all-important line… "Good luck with that," I muttered sarcastically.

"I heard that!" Aang said angrily.

Done and done! I mentally patted myself on the back. Who knows how long it would've taken for him to summon up the courage to do that on his own? Toph slid out of her hiding spot about 5 feet away, and gave me a high five.

"Not bad," she said. "But I think I could've done a better job." She winked.

Ok, next part is Aang's POV!