"What are you doing?"
I glanced up slowly, waving the book in front of his face, "I'm
reading, dolt."
He frowned, his eyes shifting suspiciously from
the book to my face. He yanked it from my grasp and asked
incredulously, "You can read?"
A growl escaped my
throat, "Great idea, Zuko; insult the master waterbender who is
reading at the edge of a lake."
He laughed, flipping idly
through the book's pages, "What are you reading, anyway?"
My
breath hitched as I realized he was about to read the last page I'd
marked.
That could not happen.
" Zuko, give me my
book back!"
He dangled it a little ways above my head, raising
it every time I jumped up to get it, "Why should I? Maybe I'll
like it."
"NO!!" I screamed, clawing blindly at his outstretched arm, "Give it back!"
He stepped back to distance himself from me, opening the book threateningly.
"Zuko. Give. It. Back." I hissed, "Now."
He fixed his gaze on the page, his eyes scanning it carefully.
"A romance novel?" he gasped, reading the entire page before tossing the book back to me, "This is precious; wait 'till your brother finds out the stuff you've been reading."
The blood drained from my face as I recalled certain… Inappropriate… chapters.
"You can't tell him," I pleaded, "ever."
"Okay," I smiled,
"On one condition." Aaaand the smile vanished.
"What?" I
asked suspiciously, taking careful notice of the way he was
approaching me.
"Come shopping with
me," he said softly.
"Okay," I said happily, "But only if
I do all the shopping for you."
"…Does that mean I'll end up looking like Sokka?"