Genre: Humor/Romance
Pairings: ZukoxAang
Warnings: Yaoi. Don't like? Don't read.
Time: 100 ASC - Post War
Setting: Upper Ring - Ba Sing Se
Summary: After the war, the Gang stays in Ba Sing Se for a much needed vacation. But what happens when Toph decides that everything is getting much too monotonous and brews up trouble, taking them to a play that portrays Aang and Zuko as a gay couple? And what happens when, during convincing the whole of Ba Sing Se that they aren't gay, Aang and Zuko find that they are convincing themselves as well?

Part XI
A Back-Alley Tryst

Zuko kept his head down as he walked back into the living room. He could practically feel Iroh's gaze boring into the back of his head and nervously glanced at Aang before taking a seat beside Toph. The earth bender must have sensed his erratically beating heart for she shot him an odd look before beginning to sip her tea once more. From across the table, Katara glared at him while Sokka was busy stuffing his mouth with food.

"So, nephew. What was it that brought you here in the first place?" Iroh said as he eased himself into the chair at the head of the table.

"Miyako Suzuri." He said flatly.

"Ah, yes. What a lovely young girl." He said with a chuckle.

"You know her?" Zuko asked in surprise.

"Indeed. The story of my failure at Ba Sing Se was a very big hit." He said with a chuckle, even though it seemed somewhat half-hearted.

Zuko merely gaped at him and then, hastily rearranged his expression. "She made a deal with me and Aang. Said that if we could prove to the whole public that we weren't gay, that she would take down the play. And she only gave us a fortnight. Today's the third day." He said miserably. "And you know the rest. It's been two days since, uh, she dumped me and Aang in a bar and told us not to disappoint her." He added. "I can't really come up with any spectacular public displays since Mai is back in the Fire Nation and Aang doesn't have a girlfriend."

"I see..." Iroh said thoughtfully. "And you are telling me this, why?" He wondered.

"Well, because we need your help in getting back at her." Zuko said promptly.

Iroh stared at him for several seconds and then hummed thoughtfully before turning to his food. Zuko stared at him in confusion but when five minutes passed and still Iroh continued to eat, he too turned to his food. He had barely put the first bite into his mouth when he spoke.

"The answer is obvious, nephew." Iroh said as he sat back in his chair.

Zuko looked up at him, his brow furrowed in puzzlement. "It is?"

"Indeed." Iroh said happily. "If you can't convince her of the contrary, then do not." He said simply.

A few seconds passed in silence and then: "WHAT?" Zuko yelped angrily.

"What? What is it?" Aang asked worriedly, unable to decipher the meaning behind Iroh's words.

"That is my opinion, Zuko." Iroh said nonchalantly.

"You have got to be kidding me!" The fire bender spluttered angrily.

"Why? Did it never occur to you, nephew?" Iroh asked curiously.

"What? What is he talking about, Zuko?" Aang asked worriedly.

"He wants us to tell everyone that we are gay." Zuko said incredulously.

"But that's ridiculous!" Aang said in confusion.

"Not at all, Avatar Aang." Iroh insisted as he lightly sipped his tea.

"But don't you know about the riots that are already breaking out? This would only make it worse!" Zuko protested.

"On the contrary, Zuko, these riots are only breaking out because your people are unsure. The riots are a challenge. They are daring you to admit that you are, indeed, gay and once you admit to it, firmly and decisively, it will influence the outcome. If you show no fear or hesitation, the riots will eventually die out and even though the Fire Nation might not admit it, they'd be pleased to have a leader who is not afraid to admit to the truth." Iroh said calmly.

"What truth?" Zuko cried in outrage. "I'm not-"

"That is not the point, Zuko. For now, your focus should only be on bringing these riots to an end." Iroh said firmly.

"But aren't you forgetting just the tiniest little detail that I am not gay!" Zuko said angrily.

"Zuko, you might like to believe that this is about you, but at this particular moment, it is not. It is about the innocent people, your innocent people that are getting hurt just because you aren't taking any action." Iroh said forcefully.

Zuko's face contorted with irritation and he looked down at his food, aware that every single person except Toph was looking at him. However, he refused to look up and continued to eat his dinner until he was done. Snatching up a napkin, he sat back and glared at Iroh before turning to look at Aang, whose gray eyes were trained on him.

"Well, nephew?" Iroh wondered.

"Can I talk to you in private, Aang?" Zuko said through gritted teeth.

The air bender jumped at the random mention of his name and uncertainly nodded. "Yeah, uh, sure." He said and stood up to follow Zuko who had already threw open the door and made his way outside.

Once the door had slid shut, Iroh sat back with a satisfied smile. "It's done, then." He said happily.

"But he didn't even agree." Sokka pointed out with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, he will." Iroh said slyly.

Meanwhile, Zuko swiftly made his way down the stairs, into the Jasmine Dragon and out the back door, along with the sound of Aang's light footfalls. He didn't even know why he was feeling so apprehensive, so nervous and jittery. And now, he wasn't even sure why he'd wanted to talk to Aang in private in the first place.

The fresh air did nothing to calm his nerves and with no regard for the dinginess of the back alley, he slumped against the wall and sat cross-legged on the ground. Aang silently joined him.

They sat like that for several minutes, watching what little of the sunset they could through the rooftops until Aang spoke. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. What would you do?" Zuko asked uncertainly.

"Why are you asking me?" Aang asked.

"You're the Avatar. Help me." Zuko said simply.

"This is your business." He replied quietly.

Zuko's gaze at once snapped to him and the air bender hastily looked away. "This is just as much my business as it is yours." He hissed angrily.

"No, it's not." Aang said flatly.

"Fine, then. What would you do in such a situation?" Zuko asked.

"That's irrelevant." Aang said tersely as he looked away.

Zuko stared at him for several seconds, disbelief painted all over his face until his face suddenly broke out into a bitter smile. "I get it. You just don't want me to know that if you were in this situation, you wouldn't have the guts to tell everyone you're gay. Is that it, Aang?" Zuko asked snidely.

The air bender's gaze at once slid to him and despite all the anger swimming in those grays, Zuko did not relent.

"No, I wouldn't. Because firstly, I'd have the sense to actually figure out if I was gay or not." He snapped angrily.

Zuko's face contorted with irritation and he fully turned around so that he was facing Aang. "What? You think I'm confused?" He challenged defiantly.

"I don't think you're confused, Zuko. I know you are." Aang said coldly.

"Oh and what makes you think that?" Zuko snapped, somewhat stupidly.

Aang stared at him in alarm for several seconds before shaking his head in disbelief. "Zuko, are you drunk? You said, barely half an hour ago that Toph said that you might be gay and not know it." He said as he shot the fire bender a funny look.

"I only relayed that information to you. I didn't say that I believ-" Zuko began defiantly but was cut off as Aang stood up in one swift motion.

"Look, Zuko. This is pointless, okay? I'm going back inside." He said quietly and turned away to walk towards the teashop.

As if sensing Zuko's burning gaze on him, Aang came to a sudden halt and turned back to the fire bender with a frown. "Just figure things out before running off to save your people, Zuko." He said quietly.

"I can't." The fire bender muttered and Aang's eyes widened at the defeat lacing his voice.

"Yes, you can." The air bender said forcefully.

"What makes you so sure?" Zuko asked with a scowl.

"Because I think you already know the answer." Aang said and the fire bender looked up, alarm painted all over his face.

"I'm sorry, what?" Zuko hissed in disbelief.

"You said it yourself, Zuko. In that rant outside the teashop. You're gay, aren't you?" He said and the fire bender's disbelief merely grew as a delicate blush bloomed on the air bender's cheeks.

Several minutes passed in an awkward silence before with a growl, Zuko stood up. "Fine, then. If I'm gay, then so are you." He snapped stubbornly as he advanced towards Aang.

The air bender blankly stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"You heard me." Zuko growled angrily and Aang shrunk back at the anger clouding the fire bender's eyes.

"Zuko, what are you doing?" He asked, mentally wincing as his voice shook.

"You made a jibe at me." Zuko snapped angrily.

"No, I didn't!" Aang protested and exhaled sharply as his back connected solidly with the wall.

"Yes, you did. You insulted me." Zuko growled.

"Zuko, you're being completely irrational. I didn't insult...!" Aang protested defiantly, his voice trailing off as the fire bender placed a hand on either side of his head on the wall. "What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously.

"If I'm gay, then so are you." He repeated stubbornly.

"Zuko!" Aang said warningly as the fire bender leaned forward. "If you even dare to come any closer, I'll ask Toph to earth bend you all the way to the Southern Water Tr-" Aang began but was cut off as Zuko roughly grabbed him the collar and pulled him forward.

And just like that, Aang's brain froze and he stood there, like an idiot with his mouth half open and covered by Zuko's own. Several rather colorful swearwords were at the very tip of his tongue and at that particular moment, he would have forgotten all of his monk teachings and spat them out without any hesitation. But even that thought slipped away as Zuko's lithe fingers lightly traced his cheekbones. "You're ridiculous." The fire bender groaned against his mouth and just like that everything fell back into proportion.

However, Aang wasn't really sure he liked the outcome since as Zuko pulled back a fraction, his traitorous body leaned in for another kiss. Again and again, the fire bender claimed his mouth, biting, sucking, licking and Aang was barely aware of the muscled arm that had sneaked around his waist. Their kisses steadily became more fervent and heated and the air bender, despite himself, groaned into Zuko's mouth.

He almost tripped over his own feet as the fire bender pushed him up against the wall, their bodies pressed flush together. Aang didn't do anything to stop Zuko from practically forcing his tongue down his throat. Instead, he was pretty sure he heard a something that sounded very suspiciously like a...purr? The sound resonated between the two of them and Aang felt Zuko's lips twitch against his own, just as he realized that the sound had come from his own mouth.

Oh great Spirits! I'm purring! Into my best friend's mouth.

With something that Aang liked to believe was a manly enough squeal, he wrenched himself away from Zuko and backed even further into the wall as if such a thing were possible. "If I'm gay, then so are you." The fire bender breathed into his ear. And Aang was sure that if he hadn't been biting down on his lip, he would have whimpered at the tone of Zuko's voice.

"I'm afraid that the Ojiya* didn't turn out quite right..." A muffled voice suddenly said and just like that, Aang felt all awareness about the fire bender's body pressed against his slip away.

"Zuko!" Aang hissed and the fire bender looked down at him just as the back door flew open and they saw one of Iroh's slipper-clad foot from behind the door. There was a splash as with a tch, the old fire bender dumped the contents of a large pot into the alley.

Zuko felt a tremor run through Aang's body as a pair of bare feet stepped out along with Iroh's and earth bended the ground over the spoiled soup. "We can try again, right?" Toph's voice said and with a chuckle, they heard Iroh walking back into the teashop.

"Certainly. Though I'll have to run over to the nearby shop and get some ingredients." Iroh said.

"Hmm, you do that..." Toph's absent-minded voice said and as Iroh's footsteps faded, the back door was flung shut to reveal Toph.

At the bang that echoed throughout the whole alley, Zuko felt Aang jump and even though the air bender's hand clawed at his, he did not let him go. Instead, Zuko was too horrified to see that Toph was looking in their direction, an almost feral grin on her lips.

"Well, well, well. A back-alley tryst. How romantic." She murmured and Zuko suspected that if he hadn't been holding Aang against the wall, the air bender's knees would surely have buckled underneath him.

Well, it turned out to be a little bit of a jerky ending but hey, its a cliff-hanger! xD

As for Ojiya : a soup containing rice stewed in stock, often with egg, meat, seafood, vegetables or mushroom, and flavoured with miso or soy. Known as juushii in Okinawa. Some similarity to risotto and Kayu though Zosui uses cooked rice, as the difference is that kayu is made from raw rice.
-Courtesy of Wikipedia :D

And hmm, there has been a rather visible drop in reviews! So, unless I get at least seven for this chapter, no lime-scented yumminess for you guys

But for those who shall be awesome readers, be warned that when I mean 'lime-scented' that means it won't be very graphic :]
Am I mean for saying that? :P
Oh, well...I enjoy the reviews so get reviewing! ;]
And thank you to those who have reviewed! I really appreciate it! ^_^ *gives all the good reviewers a cookie*

-Jade258