It is currently 11:52am,on December 26, 2018. Whether or not I finish this story at a reasonable time will depend entirely on... well, me. My procrastination levels are through the roof, and my story ideas are extremely limited at this point. So, for now, I'm just going to go with the flow and cross my fingers that I'm not hindered with writer's block again. For two years.
That, and I've kind of lost all motivation to write more than a couple hundred words, so this update will be a short one.
Zuko sat on the floor of his uncle's living room, visibly becoming more and more annoyed as the hours wore on.
The group had decided to all meet up in Ba Sing Se for their yearly vacation, but in Zuko's case, he had been reduced from Fire Lord to babysitter in a matter of days. While the other five members of their group were off on their own adventures within the city, Zuko was deemed "the one who needed a day to himself the most."
For some reason unknown to him, that meant he got to spend the day without any other adults while looking after four children all under the age of five. One with a boomerang he hoped wasn't carved into a blade, one that constantly babbled but had yet to form coherent words, one that seemed to find a way to make everything dangerous for either himself or others, and another that did everything in her power to be as incredibly annoying as humanly possible.
This left him with a hangover-like headache as he leaned against the wall, counting down the hours until the rest of the adults came back.
Just as the pounding in his head seemed to calm, the eldest of the children let out a blood curdling squeal that Zuko swore the entire neighbourhood heard. Great, now the city thinks I'm a child murderer, he thought, glaring harshly at the oblivious four-year-old who continued to play with wooden blocks on the floor in front of him.
Why was he stuck here, of all places? He was the Fire Lord, for spirits' sake! There were better things to do than babysit his friends' overly rambunctious kids. Things like dealing with the influx of citizens coming in from the colonies, or releasing prisoners of war and detaining criminals, or even sitting through meetings with the nobles and officials he despised.
Hours came and went, and by the time everyone else came back to Iroh's home, the sun had already dipped below the horizon. An entire day. He spent an entire day with children that weren't even in school yet. As each of the adults entered the home, the noises the children produced became increasingly loud.
Zuko pushed himself off the floor and turned his glare from the children to their parents. Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Aang were just as oblivious as their kids.
"They've been awake this whole time?" Suki questioned, handing the youngest of the children the Aang before going over to her own three. "Why didn't you put them to bed after their supper?"
Zuko resisted the urge to mimick her in a squeaky, high pitched tone. "They're your kids. You should know just how easy it is to get them to do anything," he said on his way out the door for fresh air. He could feel all their eyes following him right before he shut the door behind him, nearly colliding into Katara as she trailed behind.
"Everything okay?" she asked, her cool hands cupping his burning face.
"If you can promise me we're never having kids, yes."
Katara had a strange expression like she was stuck between wanting to laugh and being furious with him as she thought about his words. A fire burned behind her eyes. "And what if I want kids?"
Zuko contemplated his wife's words. They hadn't discussed kids in the seven years since they had started dating, but it was foolish of him to believe Katara would be satisfied with a family of just the two of them. As much as this day had turned him off from the idea of having kids, he also couldn't think of a better way to make his friends pay for making him watch their kids. "If they're good with us and hooligans while with your brother, you can have as many kids as you'd like." Katara was the only person that could manipulate him with her eyes alone.
His wife took a breath before looking him deep in the eye. "Zuko, I'm pregnant."
