A slight pattering issued from the hallway, and it seemed to be receding. When it was finally quiet again, Zuko visibly relaxed. "Sorry I didn't get to explain myself first," he apologized, pulling the comforter back up over the bed.
The girl gave him a sideways look. She seemed to be calculating something, and suddenly her mouth fell open in a perfect 'o'. "You… You just pretended to have sex with me," she realized, shaking her head unbelievingly.
"Yeah…" Zuko admitted, blushing again. He had been so focused on fooling the spies outside that he'd forgotten to be embarrassed.
"Why… why would you do that?" the girl asked. She was tense, not having moved from her position wedged far back into the headboard, knees tucked protectively to her chest. Her eyebrows were pulled together in a careful study.
"I was trying to help you," Zuko mumbled, his face so flushed now that he thought his blood vessels might burst.
"But it doesn't make any sense!" the girl hissed, tugging absently at her hair. "You can't be helping me. Whatever… I don't know- this- is, I'm not falling for it."
Zuko's eyes snapped to hers. He hadn't expected her to swear undying fealty or anything, but he HAD expected her to be grateful. "What, you wanted to be left for my father?" he asked with a slight bite to his tone, "I've seen what he does to women…"
The girl harrumphed, the side of her lip curling up in contempt. "Oh, like you're any better," she dismissed scathingly.
Zuko caught her eyes and stalked up to her. Her own widened, and she attempted to scramble backwards, but was already occupying the furthermost point on the bed. Zuko shoved the knobbed wood of the headboard on either side of her, caging her between his arms. She balled her fists, staring back at him with dilated eyes and panting breath. They held like this for a long moment, each waiting for the other to break.
Eventually the girl's eyes slipped down a little, and that was all Zuko needed. He pushed himself away, stooping down to gather the pillows strewn across the room. One, he attempted to hand to the girl on the bed. She glared at him murderously, so Zuko grudgingly took it back to add to the two long columns he was arranging on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing now?" the girl demanded after a time, her curiosity for the moment winning over animosity.
He gestured at the pillows, explaining, "Making a bed, what's it look like?"
"You're joking," the girl stated crossing her arms in a gesture of defiance.
"Um… no," Zuko said, raising his good eyebrow. Shouldn't that have been obvious? A man spends the night with his concubine, that's just how it goes. "But don't worry, I'll just be on the floor," he reassured. "Can I take the comforter?"
The girl looked once at the comforter, then at Zuko, then at the comforter again. Without warning, she hurled it at him, making sure to yank it slightly taught before letting go so that it would slap him like an oversized whip. He seethed quietly, but didn't retaliate. He only flicked the comforter out over his makeshift mattress and creased it down neatly. He then thought better of that, and threw the comforter over the side. Sliding onto his mountain of pillows, he waited to be settled before he pulled the comforter properly over him.
"Well, um, good night," he wished her awkwardly as he extinguished the lights with his fire bending.
She snorted, turning pointedly over.
As the night wore on, and he assumed that she thought he had fallen asleep, he heard rather than saw the girl slip gingerly under the sheets above him. She tossed and turned a few times, her body unable to decide what position was comfortable. As Zuko's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he caught a flash of azure from her eyes.
"What's your name?" he remembered to ask.
She was stunned silent for a moment, he was sure, but as the moment stretched it became clear that she was purposefully not answering. Zuko let out a long snort of frustration. What had possessed him to save this girl? She was stubborn, hated his guts, and most of all, a liability. Just because one spy was fooled by their elaborate soundscape didn't mean another wouldn't be, and then he could very well be branded as an enemy sympathizer- or worse.
Well, it wouldn't do to call her 'the girl' all the time, anyhow. He thought perhaps he should make up a name for her. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at that particular skill. When he was little and his mother had tasked him with naming an injured turtleduck, for example, Zuko had dubbed it 'Turtly'. Now, the names he thought up were equally unoriginal. Ty Lee, Mai, Azula- they were all names of actual girls he knew. Zuko caught another flash of eyes as the one above him turned over again with a huff. Blue. Zuko nodded to himself. That was fitting, somehow. And as the moon rose steadily in the sky, the two unlikely companions drifted down into slumber.