Zuko exhaustedly sat at a bench at the back of the Jade Dragon tea shop. Sweating, he took a cup of tea from the tray he had been carrying.

It was originally for his uncle, though his excuse was rather good if not, cowardly.

All day long he had been avoiding his so-called girlfriend Mai, who had told him they had "gotten back together" and that again, they were a couple.

But Zuko didn't want to be a part of a couple. Not now anyway. He was not sure what it was but he had his eyes for Katara. He told himself it was a crush, a deep deep crush. He tried to make it go away. But every time he thought it was gone, it would be back plummeting all over the place.

And when he caught the enthusiastic waterbender looking at him and giggling at his crappy and lame jokes, he knew he should have told Mai to take it slow.

Nobody knows that they are both back together again though, at least not yet. Mai was planning on announcing it at some party a fortnight from now. He knew that once that is done, he would be bombarded with questions about the "upcoming wedding".

Zuko was snapped back to reality and out of his reverie when he heard two female voices laughing. He peeked through the back door, which was opened ajar.

It was Katara and Mai, talking, apparently about their assorted female issues. He heard words like "the flow". He continued to watch until Toph, after talking to Iroh for many hours excused herself to join the two girls' conversation.

Zuko stopped. And gasped. He took the tray and carefully walked to the side. He did not want to hear Toph's long list of nicknames for him that span from Omashu to Kyoshi. "Princess" and "Sparky" was bad enough. The others were mortifying.

He took one last peek and saw Katara and Mai coming to the back door. Toph was still at where she was a while ago, but now with an evident smirk on her pale face.

Zuko almost screamed. He always never forgets to forget the girl's ability to feel anything on the earth. And they both knew that Zuko is a very emotional and that any earthbender, if he or she tried, could feel him in a two-mile radius.

He put down the tray and took off his apron. He ran to a nearby latrine booth which has a good view of the back and side of the Jade Dragon. The two girls were calling out his name.

Zuko shut the door and sighed. But then he realized that Toph could still feel him since he was still standing on Earth. So he stood up the bowl and he nearly fell down. When he stood up his head hit the metal roof of the booth and, the small bowl in which he stood on almost collapsed from his weight. It took all his might and serious lip-biting to stop him from screaming. Again.

Toph, I swear--, Zuko thought as he stood awkwardly in the small latrine booth that became his hideaway.

"Zuko…Zuko…" Mai and Katara cried as they wandered around the small garden that was located at the back of the small shop. Toph had told them Iroh needed his jasmine tea and that Zuko was supposed to bring it in half an hour ago.

Toph also asked them to find Zuko and get the tea. And she had told them that he was at the back, fumbling with something.

"Zuko…Zu—" Katara was about to say when she heard a loud Clack! somewhere near. She called Mai, who still hadn't found the newly crowned fire lord. "Did you hear that sound?" she asked. The pale girl only nodded.

"Where do you think it came from?"

"Probably some idiot hammered his own finger." Just then, another sound was heard. It was much louder, and it came from a male. A familiar male.

"You're right. That man is an idiot."