Zuko studied himself in the mirror. With choppy bangs covering the left side of his face, it was harder to notice his scar; a casual glance wouldn't reveal it. There were plenty of people with scars in Yu Dao after the war, anyway, and everyone knew that the Firelord wore his openly, with pride.

The snob in him was a little disgusted with his clothes, though. Even Sokka wouldn't be caught dead in baggy, knee-length shorts and a shirt that had had its sleeves cut off, presumably by a dull knife, since the edges were frayed and uneven.

There was a commotion in the hallway. He looked up in time to see Toph burst out of the dressing room, radiant in gold and rusty browns. Her bangs were braided back, away from her face. It was disturbing how much of a change that made. "How do I look?" She shook out her mane, most of which hung down her back, ending past her waist.

"Different." Even in her official capacity as his wife, she preferred to dress down. The metal armor that she'd first made for contract police work had been a jumping-off point for her; she'd remade, refitted and refined it, and had someone match the colors to the headband Zuko had given her for their wedding. The court seemed to consider her armor and vaguely crown-like headwear an acceptable substitute for formal dress, so today was the first time he'd seen her willingly put on anything traditional and enjoy it. "You look like you're having fun."

"Of course I am." Grinning broadly, she flopped onto a low divan beside the mirror. "Finally those fancy-lady manners I had hammered into me as a kid are going to be useful."

"Did you choose a name?"

"We should just pick really common Yu Dao names. Wait, what'd people call you when you were a tea waiter in Ba Sing Se? You couldn't've gone by Zuko. There were wanted posters everywhere."

"Li." Zuko frowned, turning away from the mirror. "I don't want to use Li again."

She was silent for a moment, clearly holding herself back from asking why. "Uh, how about Hiro? Kanto?"

"I like Kanto."

"Okay." She rubbed her chin and swung her leg off the edge of the divan as he watched, arms crossed. "I think I'll be Jaya."

"I've never met anyone named Jaya."

"Really? There's a fuck ton of them in Yu Dao. Maybe you really don't visit this place enough."

"I'm sure you'll force me to remedy that," he said dryly, reaching down to clasp her hand and pull her up. She rose, and whether she intended it or not, swayed toward him; it was almost too slight to notice, and yet neither of them could resist falling into a warm, lingering kiss.

"Where are we going tonight?" he asked, a moment or an eternity later.

"I don't know, somewhere to eat, and then we can prowl around looking for trouble." With her arms around his waist, she pulled him close, heat building between their bodies.

"Trouble?" He could tell that his voice was vacant, but it was for good reason: his mind was focused on not grinding himself against the soft curve of her hip.

"Yeah, like...pick a fight, maybe. I'm a spoiled rich girl. If someone insults me, can't I make my manservant fist fight 'em on the street?" she grinned.

"Sounds like no trouble at all, compared to fighting you," he murmured. She was short enough that he could see straight down her dress when she stood so close to him, and though she couldn't see where his eyes were pointed, he knew she'd be able to tell what he was thinking, anyway. Toph was insightful. And used earthbending at a level that could be considered cheating. "We should stay in. We could get into plenty of trouble here."

"We can get into trouble out there, too," Toph said playfully.

"Not the kind of trouble I-"

"Zuko." She put her hands on either side of his face, steadying him; he was happy to shut up and look at her. "I love you, but sometimes you're really dense. I'm saying we can fuck outside."

He blinked. "L-like, out in...in the training yard? Or in town?"

"Anywhere you want. We can get a room or just find an abandoned alley."

"Toph! We can't just-the Firel-"

"You're just Kanto tonight!" she interrupted again. "Kanto doesn't have to follow rules."

"Isn't it illegal to-" he stammered.

"I trained all of the police. I know where they don't go."

"What if someone sees-"

"I can feel when someone's coming, dumbass."

He was running out of excuses. Also, he was rock hard, and she was pressed against him, so he couldn't pretend he wasn't into it. "If I was a servant," he finally said, slowly, "I wouldn't dare make advances on my mistress."

Toph laughed, right in his face. "Yeah, well, if I was the kind of rich bitch to hire a servant to carry my stuff around town, I'd choose a sexy one I could bang. And I know you're lying, Zuko. You're really bad at it."

He had absolutely been lying. Why did he think it was a good idea to marry a human lie detector, again? "Okay, well...let's just start with dinner. All we've been doing is sparring and making love for two days now. It'll be nice to get out."

"Okay," she agreed. Smiling, she stepped away from him, giving his hand a squeeze. "Just dinner."

Even without the ability to detect lies, Zuko was pretty sure she was feeding him a line of bullshit.