Chapter Trois est ici! ok, ferget about my sucky french, i know, i haven't studied all summer XD anyway. well, i can't say much about chapter or it's lack of length -stabs chapter- i had fun writing parts of it, and others i spend hours endlessly pondering how to play it out.

Reminder! i posted a pic up on my profile that Shadowfire[or something like that, too lazy to look] drew for me! she's amazing! its zuko eating ice cream with me =] look at it and show some love 3

Chapter 3: If You're Bored

oh, and aside from the first chapter, i'm going to have a theme throughout the chapter titles, pm me if you can guess it ;]

WC: 4,400

Disclaimer: i don't own anything avatar!

[Zuko's POV]

The walk to Shredder's house had been pleasant, in a weird way. It was hard to grasp the concept of 'cars' and why everyone within them wanted to whistle at Thunder and Sarah. When they did that, Thunder would smirk and show them her middle finger, which, according to them, was an insult. I didn't get it, but I didn't get most of the weird things about this place.

About a few minutes after we had starting heading toward his house, I had downed my entire ice cream, cone and all. I wiped my hands off on my pants, they were sticky from when I couldn't lick my cone in time and the ice cream spilled over the brim and made a lazy trail down my fingers. Thunder and Sarah found my look of mortification positively hilarious, and laughed around their own icy desserts.

I sulked the rest of the way to Shredder's, my mind uncomfortably empty as we approached a dingy gray house with boarded windows and vines eating the entire left side. Huge trees towered over it, casting a haunting shadow over it, making it appear unbelievably creepy. I had my doubts about going in there, or why a mother would allow her daughter in such a place, but kept my mouth shut as Thunder marched up to the door like it was completely normal.

Cautiously, I peeked around, as if someone was going to explode from the shadows. My muscles felt frayed and tender, they had ever since I had gotten here. I really hoped this neighborhood wasn't as sketchy as it seemed. Looking over at Sarah, she seemed to be just as at ease as Thunder did, and, although I was still suspicious of the place, I relaxed a little.

Thunder rapped on the door three times, pressing her ear up against the grimy wood and sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. I turned to Sarah for an explanation for her behavior, but before I could voice my confusion, Thunder growled under her breath and faced us.

"Shredder isn't home." She grumbled, swiveling back around to feel all along the rim of the door frame. Her fingers landed on a silver key and she jammed it in the door victoriously.

"What makes you think that?" Sarah asked, leaning back to peep in between the cracks of one of the boarded up windows. "The lights are on, and I swear to you I hear music." She added. Thunder just viciously wiggled the key in the lock, becoming frustrated.

"Well, I mean, he doesn't normally answer the door, but I don't smell herb." Thunder's voice darkened at the same time she managed to budge the door open, stepping inside and instantly veering off towards what I could only think was a bathroom. My thoughts were confirmed when she threw over her shoulder, "Gotta pee, be right back." I directed my attention to Sarah, who had flopped down on a couch. I was curious again.

"What does she mean, she doesn't smell herb?" I wondered, arching an eyebrow at her. Sarah bit her lip, as if I had brought up some sort of taboo or something. I waited in a stretch of silence, getting more uncomfortable, until Sarah opened her mouth to speak.

"Herb is weed, and weed is a drug." Sarah mumbled. Her hesitancy made me even more curious as I sat down on the other end of the couch.

"Why did she sound like she had a serious hatred towards it?" I kept quiet like Sarah, in case Thunder walked in, because this was clearly one of those conversations she didn't like being in, from the way her and Sarah both acted. It's not like I mean to pry.

"Weed is really bad for you, and we lost a friend who was high on it. And her dad is a drunk. She is really straight edge about that stuff. She doesn't drink, smoke, chew, do drugs, or really even go past kissing with anybody." Sarah stated, keeping the information at a need-to-know level. I didn't mind, I mean, it was her job to stay true to her friend and not to me, a stranger. I understood that.

"So you don't do drugs either, right?" I asked, assuming that she didn't. If Thunder disliked drugs that intensely, I doubted her best friend would be an addict.

"No, never," Sarah responded at the same moment as Thunder walked back into the room and hopped over the back of the couch and landed in between Sarah and me. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on Sarah's shoulder. A soft sigh escaped from between her lips, and she fumbled with the sleeves of a gray jacket she must have just adorned in the bathroom.

"Drugs are for fools." She mumbled, making my eyes widen. Had she heard our whole conversation? I didn't want her to go on a rage or start crying. Thunder chomped down on her lower lip and closed her eyes, just for a moment. Out of nowhere, though, before I could blink, she perked and cradled her face in her hands, inhaling deeply.

"My hand sanitizer smells like Sprite!" She chirped, pulling a tiny bottle of clear gel out and pouring a drop into her hand. Her mood had changed once again, and I was having trouble keeping up with her violent swings.

"Give me some!" Sarah said, thrusting her hands in front of the bottle, pulling them back when her demand was met. Then she began to rub her hands together furiously, as though she was washing her hands under water.

This world was crazy, really.

Thunder looked over at me and, without asking, grabbed my hand, startling me, and squeezing a small amount onto my hands. I almost jerked my hand back, but her grip was almost deadly, and I could feel her fingers just beginning to dig into my skin.

"Uh…" I started, but stopped when she cut me off, letting go of my hand. I held the strange gel in my hand awkwardly, not sure what to do with it, or myself for that matter. This situation just kept getting stranger and stranger.

"Rub your hands together." She ordered, snapping the lid shut and slipping it back into her pocket. I did as I was told, feeling a slight sting when the strange liquid washed over one of my cuts.

"Why does it burn?" I asked, slightly astonished. She rolled her eyes at me.

"It's called alcohol. It cleans your hands and cuts and makes you 99.9% germ-free." She spoke like she was reciting something, and Sarah smirked at both of us, now smelling her own hands.

"Definitely Sprite." She nodded, agreeing with Thunder's earlier statement. Thunder grinned, turning her attention back to Sarah. The gel, which was now just a cover of moisture on my hands, stopped stinging and was beginning to dry, making my skin itch. I wondered briefly if that was normal.

"I know right?" Thunder abruptly jumped up, standing on the couch cushion and leaping over the top again. "Speaking of which, I want a Sprite. Anyone else want one?" Sarah raised her hand in the air.

"I would like a scrumptious soda!" It almost sounded like she was singing. Scratching the back of my hand, I nodded when Thunder looked at me for an answer. Then she was skipping toward another room of the house.

I had to admit, after looking around, that the house was pretty well decorated on the inside. There weren't any plants growing inside and threatening to strangle anyone in their sleep. That had to be a plus, right? Paintings garnished the walls, some very horrifying, and others just plain strange. I assumed they could only be the work of Shredder himself. The furniture was decent, although I was thrown off by the amount of black box-shaped things and a giant reflective silver-framed object that was hanging on the wall, taking up most of it.

I didn't know what half of these things were! In fact, I didn't even know what 'Sprite' was, other than 'soda', and that wasn't ringing any bells either. I groaned with frustration and rested my head against the back of the couch, still scratching the back of my hand, ignoring the way my flesh felt like it was beginning to feel too soft.

Gesturing around the room, I looked to Sarah for a description of the things that were surrounding us. She gave me a blank stare for a few moments before she realized what I was asking. Sitting up, her eyes moved about, and her face was locked into a mask of thought.

"Well, that thing on the wall is a flat-screen TV. You can watch things on it. Its uhm, like moving pictures?" she seemed to be struggling to find the right words to describe it. I nodded for her to go on, thinking I knew what she meant a little. Moving pictures? Ok. I pointed to the black boxes with the black cords coming out. "Those are gaming systems. Games are like, entertainment-y things." Sarah simpered, "Thunder sucks at video games. She has the worst hand-eye coordination I've ever seen on a human."

I smiled back. I knew what hand-eye coordination was. "So what are the names of these, uh, systems? Or are they all just called 'gaming system'?"

"Oh, no, they all have different names." Sarah said, then, "That one is a PS3, the one of top of it is a Nintendo 64. Shredder has basically every console there is, but he uses those the most." She shrugged. "Thunder could list them all, seeing as she always has to watch." Sarah's laugh was cut short when an ice cold can was dropping in between her legs.

"Yeah, I watch Shredder kick your ass!" Thunder retorted, handing me my own can. I looked at it, mystified. Sarah opened hers by pulling on a metal tab and a hiss erupted from the can, along with a little white foam. I copied her. After she brought it to her lips and took a huge swig, I was hesitant, but did the same anyway, wincing at the way the bubbles made my mouth tingle

"Besides," Thunder continued, her tone less accusing, taking a gulp of her own Sprite, "I think I'm pretty rad at Mortal Kombat." She clasped her hands together and flexed her fingers proudly. My mind was at a blank. Why must these people be so complicated?

Once again, Thunder startled me by bouncing up, her soda sloshing in the can. The cautious sip I was taking splashed onto my chin and I wiped the bubbly liquid off, glaring at her. She took my drink and smacked it onto a coffee table, pulling Sarah and I up at the same time.

"I just had a killer idea." Was all she said when we shot confused looks in her direction. I looked at Sarah who simply shrugged as Thunder dragged us through the house in the direction of the bathroom. She had that same death grip, the one where her nails dug into my already red flesh. My hands were still itching, actually. I stumbled after her helplessly, unable to break free or scratch my hand.

We squeezed past the door frame, and Thunder sat me down on the lid of a toilet, pointing to my scar, and then the mirror, and back, nodding her head to Sarah, who was returning the gesture. I studied both of them with mixed feelings of confusion, and a little trepidation. I went back to scratching the flesh on the back of my hands, blinking and waiting for an explanation of their weird behavior.

"Zuko," Thunder said quietly, "I don't want you to be offended by this or anything, but how would you feel if we uhm, covered your scar up?" She looked me in the eyes with her big brown ones, and they were so sincere and unguarded for that one moment that I was slightly at a loss for words, just staring into them.

"I-uh, why?" I fumbled for a proper sentence, blinking up at her. She seemed to already have a response prepared for this.

"Because your scar is noticeable, and it attracts attention. People will ask about it, and I'm sure you don't want there to be rumors started about you, so just trust me." Thunder stated impatiently, already gathering make-up brushes and other beautifying products. As soon as I'd observed them properly and realized what type of horrors she was about to implement on me was the moment I got my thinking process in order.

"Whoa, wait, what are you doing with that?" I pointed warily at the compact she was holding, rubbing a black puffy brush in the dust and lifting it up, concentrating on my face. When she continued pulling together a bunch of make-up supplies, I became nervous and started to get up. Sarah shook her head and put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, then rotating my head just an inch so that more light shined on my face.

"We are so lucky Shredder is so metro and wears an eternity of make-up" Sarah commented. Thunder giggled and put more powder on the brush, lifting it up and blowing on it softly. Men wore make-up here?!

"Whatever you do, don't twitch or you'll make me fuck up. I'm putting make-up on you, and don't give me some bullshit excuse about your masculinity or something, because honestly, I don't care. No one is going to notice, and anyway, most guys wear make-up these days anyway, so just shut up and hold still." Thunder had already begun spreading the powder on the left side of my face, holding onto my chin. I opened my mouth to object, but Thunder mean mugged me until I closed it again.

For the better half of an hour, Thunder applied layers of make-up to my face, turning my face this way and that to judge her work. She would occasionally ask for Sarah's opinion, who would constructively give her tips, and remind her that my scar stretched all the way to my ear. Sometimes Thunder would bring out a 'cosmetic wipe' and dab at my face. Her lips pursed in concentration, working dutifully until she was satisfied.

Finally, after immobilizing my face for so long, she nodded and allowed me to look in the mirror. What I saw stunned me more than anything in the world, so far. My scar was gone, vanished, disappeared, and wiped off my face as well as the earth. I moved my head around, examining it like a diamond or something. The only way anyone would even be able to realize there was a scar there would be if the studied the almost invisible indent in my skin. I blinked, and they deepened, but looked more like dimples of some sort. I turned my surprised gaze to Thunder and Sarah who were watching me with smug expressions on their faces.

"I…" Was all I could utter. I was so shocked and bewildered by this kind of use of make-up. I was astounded and astonished and any other kinds of adjectives of that variety. But most of all, I was grateful. No one, other than Uncle of course, had shown this kind of… Selflessness. Katara, once, but she didn't go through with it, and I'd assumed her later hatred sort of cancelled out her previous kindness. No, this was totally different. Two girls had found me and gave me ice cream and now they made me look normal. I was…

"He's speechless!" Sarah said gleefully, clapping her hands together. Thunder was just barely smirking at my expression in the mirror, no doubting feeling proud of herself for the labor she'd done, slaving over my face with the make-up brush and foundation. When our eyes met, her smirk became more pronounced and her eyes gained a little spark of mischief.

"Well, Zuko, still think you're too manly for make-up?" Thunder asked innocently, holding her hand up to cover her smile, her eyes dancing with amusement. I didn't even know how to respond, or if I even could respond. I was still too engrossed by my normal appearance in the mirror to actually take my mind off of it and form words inside of my head instead of random gibberish and appreciative feelings.

"Thanks," I finally mumbled, feeling just a little awkward at being so taken aback by their kindness. The looks they were giving me weren't helping much either. I wanted to ask them why they were doing this, why they were so nice, how they knew so much about me, if they knew why I'd been sent here, or if they knew a way back. The weird thing though, is that none of that seemed important right then. All that was going through my head was that they helped me, they helped me, they helped me.

"Ok, come on, don't be like that. Let's go play Mortal Kombat so I can kick both your asses!" Thunder exclaimed, always one step ahead of us and racing out of the bathroom, leaving me and Sarah faintly dazed by her change of mood and motion. Sarah, of course, was already used to them and had less trouble following suit and charging out of the bathroom. I shook my head, puzzled by both of them and their odd ways.

We spent a good part of our time playing video games, which I was actually pretty good at. However, neither me nor Sarah though could beat Thunder's superb skills at Mortal Kombat, but I surprised them both by beating her at Devil May Cry. Sarah jumped at the opportunity to jeer at Thunder for her pathetic coordination, mentioning how a person who'd never played games before had beaten her, she who had played video games since she was an infant.

Eventually, we grew tired of playing video games and Sarah and Thunder thought it would be fun and beneficial to explain every worldly object to me. They took this very seriously too, going into long drawn out details about the buttons on a remote, the way a microwave works, how to walk on an escalator. They even thought it was necessary to show me how to properly load a dishwasher, use a power drill, and change a light bulb. Sarah demonstrated the use of text message, while Thunder took the role of teaching me how to make a phone call. The information and the amount of it that was being piled into my head at a time were both overwhelming and exciting. I felt more comfortable with my surroundings too, that was for sure.

Ultimately, they ran out of things to tell me about, having fully explained the use of an mp3 player and the perks of laptops and digital cameras. I didn't think I could take much more anyway. Just as they were about to ask one another something else they could tell me about, the handle of the front door jiggled. We all looked at one another before looking back to the door, hearing the lock click into place. No light seemed to seep in from the crack, and that was when I realized how late it was, and how exhausted I felt.

"SHREDDER!" Thunder yelled, happiness colouring her tone as she threw herself towards the front door and into the arms of the person who walked in as soon as it was open. The figure stared down at the young girl snuggling into his chest and grinning from ear to ear.

"Thunder, why am I not surprised to see you here? And why did you turn my music off?" He stepped into the full artificial light of the room, the brightness revealing him to be a tall guy with an average build, jet black hair that tumbled down to his shoulder, and big dark brown eyes, drawn around with a thick layer of black eyeliner.

Breaking apart from their embrace, Thunder lead him toward the couch, pushing him down and placing herself beside him, resting the whole left side of her body against him, as though she needed his body heat or something. I ignored the way she nuzzled against him, repulsed. Physical affection was not something I really enjoyed, or wanted. On occasion, yeah, but right after I open a door? Hell no.

He seemed to enjoy it though, smiling back at her earnestly and blushing very slightly. I couldn't tell whether or not his face was really as white as it seemed, or if he was wearing make-up, and by the amount of beauty products he owned, I had to go with the latter. I couldn't judge though, I was wearing make-up too.

That surprised me, also. When he came in, his eyes didn't travel to my scar, they didn't cloud with pity or revulsion. He didn't immediately blurt his thoughts and ask what happened to my face. It was one of the best feelings I'd ever felt. I felt normal, for once. So normal, in fact, that I was surprised, too, when he didn't give me a second glance or ask me what the fuck was wrong with me.

Shredder drew and arm around her and pulled her tightly against him and rested his cheek on her hair. "Who's the boy? Do I need to call my friends and beat him for breaking your heart?" Shredder grinned, whispering to her, although it was loud enough for everyone to hear. I was about to say something back, snap at him for accusing me, but I was silenced by Thunder's response, which was bubbly and animated.

"Of course not, Shredder. I think I know how to beat the fuck out of someone if I need to." She giggled, then "he's just a friend, and I need you to help him out." She turned her head to look up at him, throwing her legs over his and snuggling closer. "I would love you forever and ever and ever until time ceased to be, and then even more" She tacked on, offering him a cute grin. "Please?"

It was obvious to me, and probably everyone else, that Thunder had Shredder wrapped around her little finger, and by the way he swooned, I'm sure he was wrapped around tight.

"I'll do it, but only because I'm that amazing." He said, acting like he wasn't completely under her control. "What do you need?" he asked, looking from her to me. I was only faintly interested in the conversation, even though it was about me. The darkness outside was reminding me that I had been awake far longer than I have ever wanted to be, and it took a great deal of effort not to fall asleep. I mean, it had been this time when I had arrived here. That means I was awake for a whole day, and a strange day at that. Thunder seemed to notice this, eyeing me and turning to Shredder.

"I'll tell you in a minute, but I think he needs to get some rest. He looks really tired." She commented, probably noting the way I was beginning to sway from the dizziness and blurriness. I couldn't really see ahead of me anymore, too sleepy to keep my eyes open.

"First door on the left is a spare room, light switch is behind the door," Shredder told me, and I thankfully got up and wandered over to it, hearing them talk as I left. "You can sleep in my room tonight, I'll take the couch." He was telling her, at the same moment as she was denying his room, because it belonged to him, and she was only a guest. I never heard the end of that conversation, because the moment my head hit the pillow, my eyes were closed and I was out.

Thus concludes chapter three. it was basically a filler to get past all this information junk.

read and review because you love me and i won't have internet all weekend! GASP!

i love you all who reviewed previously -love love love-