A/N: So I think that from now on, this is when I'll update: Sundays and Thursdays. Ugh, Pesah break is ending soon... back to school.
Teffe sipped his drink, cringing at the flavor. The people in this goddamn city couldn't even make baijiu right. You'd have thought there could be no bad flavor to a drink that strong, but the Eartheners managed. Teffe couldn't wait for his next mission that would take him out of this place.
He took another sip. Ugh. It didn't compare to the baijiu they made back home, in the water tribe. He supposed you got better at making liquors if it was cold all the time and you actually had a motivation.
He scanned the pub for signs of his friend, but to no avail. Lee was usually a little late, but this was pushing it. Where the hell was he?
"Hello," a voice said right next to his ear. A few months ago, Teffe would have jumped. Now, he simply smiled and said, "Hello to you too. Why can you never come in like a normal human being?"
Lee smiled, too, and took a seat on the other side of Teffe's table. He was wearing his mask again, Teffe noticed, which meant he had been looking for a job. It was about time, too. Lee had spent the last month lazing around, or 'thinking about my place in the universe', as he put it. While it was nice that Lee was always available for a talk (or a quick save from a pub brawn that escalated too quickly), Teffe really thought Lee ought to get off his ass and start doing something.
"You know me. It's more fun this way. Plus," he lowered his voice, "I have a feeling my soon-to-be contractor is spying after me."
"Oh?" Teffe said, absent-mindedly. A waitress approached their table. "Would you like anything to drink?"
"I'll have some rice wine," Lee said. "You might know it as sake."
"One glass of sake coming up," the waitress smiled, and Teffe could have sworn she winked at Lee before leaving. Lee got that from girls way too often, even with the mask on.
"Hey, Lee, why are you still wearing the mask? Is it because you're worried 'bout the scar? 'Cause no one here gives a shit. I mean, we're all in the business here. Look," he pointed at a large man sitting in the middle of the pub. The man had scars crisscrossing his bare hands and a huge cut in the middle of his face, right across the nose. Lee's scar was bad, but in here it wouldn't attract any attention.
"It's not that. I told you, I have a hunch someone's spying after me." Lee looked as if he was contemplating something. "Although you may be right about the mask. I have a feeling it would be redundant here."
"And why's that?"
"Because- and here I'm not sure, but I am getting more convinced by the second- that the person giving info on me is you."
Teffe burst into laughter, and after a moment Lee joined him as well. After a few seconds, when his mirth had quieted down, Teffe wiped his eyes and said: "Damn you, Lee. You're way too good at this. How'd you know?"
"You might want to work on your poker face. But the important question is this: how much did he pay you for it?"
"Ten gold pieces," Teffe admitted.
"And don't you think it would be fair for you to share some with me, seeing as I'm the only reason you earned them?"
Grumbling under his breath, Teffe counted out five coins and handed them to Lee. Lee took them with a satisfied expression and immediately used one of them to pay the waitress, who had arrived with his sake.
"I'll go get the change, sweetie," she said and left. Teffe started laughing again.
"You bastard. I'll bet you didn't even have any money on you when you ordered that, did you?"
Lee's smirk said it all. "I didn't have any money at all, actually. I'm afraid I gave my last coins to the nice woman who I rent my room from."
"You couldn't know all this would happen."
"No, but I was pretty sure. You're not a good liar, Teffe. I've known much, much better."
"Normally, I'd get back atcha and call you a pussy for ordering this drink instead of something a man might have, but I gotta tell you, this baijiu is crap."
"All baijiu is crap. I want my drink to taste good, not be one hundred percent alcohol."
"That's the only reason anything's worth drinking. So tell me, what's your new job?"
Lee tilted his head. "I'm not sure, actually. My would-be employer refused to tell me the specifics, but apparently it has something to do with rooting out a spy. The one problem is I need to go into Fire Nation territory for it, and I don't have the right documents."
"Rooting out a spy for the fire Nation… damn Lee, these guys better pay you good for it. Don't tell me you're thinking of working for these stinkin' world conquerors without enough pay."
"Three hundred gold pieces."
Teffe whistled. "Wow. Okay. You have my permission to work for the sons of bitches."
"Thank you. You have any advice about the documents?"
"I do, actually. I know a guy who's really good at this sort of stuff. Give him a name, a nationality and a sack of coins and you'll have your documents in a day. I'll take you to him right now."
Teffe started to get up, but Lee waved him down again. "I told you, I don't have any money right now. I hope the guy who's hiring me is willing to pay in advance, because I need those documents and I have no way of getting them otherwise. Tell you what, when you report back to him, would you tell him I need part in advance? I think he'd listen to you."
"Sure, no problem. That's what friends are for. And just so you know," Teffe's voice became serious for once, "I'd never tell that guy anything bad about you or anything that might cause you not to get the job. I only took it so I'd be sure no one complained about you."
Lee smirked. "And because you wanted the money."
"And because I wanted the money, obviously. Who do you take me for, some damn idealist?"
"I'd never dream of it," Lee said.