A/N: There was a typo at the beginning of the previous chapter. Zuko was not supposed to blow his cover in the first letter (even if that might be on brand for him). It's fixed now.
Special thanks to Winter for beta reading this chapter :D
Zuko trips over the edge of his apron. Somewhere between joining Aang and his friends, fleeing Ba Sing Se, and confronting his sister, the hem had come loose, even though it had been safely packed at the bottom of his bag this whole time.
Sokka snickers from a table over. "Consider it payback for calling me Sock."
Zuko barely resists the urge to dump the hot pot of ginseng on his friend's head. He could even pretend to trip; make it look like an accident. But he doesn't feel like mopping up the mess afterwards.
Mopping.
He's the Fire Lord, and he's still worried about mopping.
"Come sit down, Zuko." Katara waves him over to her and Toph's table. "Sokka can make his own tea for a change."
"Hey! Zuko offered."
He did. That was before he knew his apron would attack him, though. He unties the strings in the back and tosses it at Sokka's face, leaving him grumbling and Suki and Aang giggling.
"Here." Zuko sets the teapot carefully on Katara and Toph's table. They're not making fun of him (today, anyway).
"My deepest gratitude, Mister Hotman," Toph says in her most pretentious noblewoman voice. It's uncanny how accurate it is.
He gives her a tired glare. It's hard to stay mad, though, especially when there's so much else on his mind.
Will Jin like his friends? It's a stupid worry. If she can put up with his attitude, she can probably befriend anyone.
"Hey, who's that girl?" Sokka calls, pointing to the Jasmine Dragon's front entrance.
It's embarrassing how quickly Zuko's head shoots up—especially when there's no one there.
"Sokka." Katara crosses her arms. "Cut it out."
"What? It's not every day I get to make fun of Zuko for liking a girl! And at least I wouldn't go into his tent when he's—"
Suki elbows him in the ribs. Zuko's not entirely sure why, but he's grateful anyway.
"...Yeah, that's probably for the best," Sokka mumbles. Then he picks up his quill and goes back to doodling.
"Aww, that's a great Momo!" Aang says, leaning over his shoulder.
"That's not Momo." Sokka pulls his parchment close to his chest. Zuko leans back in his chair until he can see the ink smudged on Sokka's tunic.
Aang grins sheepishly. "Oh. Uh… what is it?"
"It's Katara! Those are her hair loopies!"
Suki giggles. "Maybe you should try drawing Aang instead."
"I'm going to draw all of us! ...If I can get a new sheet of paper."
Zuko snorts, but smiles. No matter how bad Sokka's art is, it'll be a good souvenir.
While Sokka digs in his bag, Katara and Toph make plans to recreate some spa day while they're in the city. Their light conversation almost helps Zuko relax. But the door keeps drawing his gaze, even though he'd hear the bell ring if someone actually stepped through it.
Whenever Jin does arrive, she's going to know he lied to her. She already knows, since he wrote it in his letter, but he's going to see her and know she knows and what if she hates him or worse, if she doesn't show up at all—
"Hey. Hotman." Toph flicks a pebble on the table at his chest. "Do me a favor."
"Huh?"
"Take some deep breaths. The world's not ending. Not anymore, anyway."
Oh. He rests a hand over his heart, which is practically beating out of his chest. Sometimes it's helpful that she can feel that.
He pours himself a cup of tea and takes slow sips until the beat slows, slows, to something resembling normal. Toph gives an encouraging grin.
"Do you think she'll bring Lorai with her?" Katara asks with barely concealed enthusiasm. It's a distraction, and that's what he needs right now.
"Probably. I told Jin you wanted to meet her."
"She has to be a Southern Waterbender. The Northern Tribe has been isolated for decades, and they didn't teach the women combat bending."
"Which is stupid," Toph says, echoing what they've said before. Zuko still doesn't know how the Northern Tribe survived with only half of their benders trained in combat and half in healing. But he doesn't think about it too much, for fear of slipping back into the mindset perpetuated by the Fire Nation's propaganda.
"I think she heals too," he says. "I mean, she works in a pharmacy."
"I thought you said it was a flower shop?" Katara raises an eyebrow.
He shrugs. She wants to ask, he can see it in her face, but she lets it go. Lorai can explain everything when she gets here; it's not like Zuko ever really found out why the pharmacy doubles as a flower shop. Maybe the front helped them dodge the Dai Li. Or evade taxes.
The bell over the door rings, and Zuko nearly springs to his feet, ready to take drink orders. Even after all these weeks, that ingrained response still hasn't gone away.
"Psst. Zuko," Sokka stage-whispers, leaning his chair back so far he might tumble backwards. "Is one of them your girl? They look a little old for you."
He forces himself to take a deep breath and turn towards the door.
"Ah! Rena, Lorai! Welcome, welcome!" Uncle dries his hands on a towel as he appears from the kitchen. Nothing like old women to bring him out, even if they're lesbians. "Can I get you some tea? Or are you here for—"
"Cut the crap, old man." Rena brushes past him. "I'll have oolong. Lorai, what do you want?"
"Chamomile." Lora passes a bouquet of small white flowers into Uncle's hands. "These are for the Jasmine Dragon."
"Oh, how delightful! Thank you—"
"Stop flirting with my wife."
Zuko nearly chokes on his tea.
"Er—I wasn't—"
"You're not the Grand Lotus anymore. She is. You're lucky she finds your antics endearing."
"Amusing was the word I used, actually." Lorai's eyes twinkled.
"No way," Katara breathes, keeping her head low over her tea. "She's the head of the White Lotus and a waterbender? That's amazing!"
"Huh. Uncle didn't tell me he'd stepped down." Or been replaced. Zuko wouldn't know; he doesn't go out of his way to keep up with the flower club. Even if they're apparently a secret society spanning across nations.
...Okay, maybe he needs to start keeping track of them. Secret societies are probably something the Fire Lord should stay on top of.
As soon as Lorai extracts herself from Uncle, Katara gets up and bolts towards her. Zuko doesn't have time to eavesdrop on that conversation since Rena is already striding directly towards him. Her gold eyes look like they could set him on fire without even bending.
"Piendao gave me a lotus tile. Doesn't anyone want to talk to me?" Sokka grins hopefully.
"Later, kid," Rena says, then tosses a letter onto Zuko's table. "Your not-girlfriend asked me to deliver this. Since I'm not your nosy uncle, I don't know what it is."
She sits down with Sokka, Suki, and Aang, leaving him staring at the envelope while dread pools in his gut.
"What is it?" Toph leans forward on the table. "A present?"
"Probably nothing that exciting."
"If it's a breakup letter, I'll beat her up for you."
"That's really not necessary. And we're not dating."
"Fine. If it's a friendship breakup letter, I'll… what can I do that's not beating her up?"
"You can bury me under a pile of rocks." That's probably what losing Jin's friendship would feel like, anyway.
He slips his dagger through the edge of the envelope. The paper slits open with barely a whisper.
Dear Zuko,
Would you be willing to meet me by the Firelight Fountain? I'm looking forward to meeting your friends, but it would be nice to talk to you alone first. If you can't make it, I'll come to the Jasmine Dragon in time for dinner.
Love,
Jin
"What is it?" Toph repeats, reaching out for the paper but missing by a hand.
"Just a letter."
"A regular letter? Not a breakup one?"
"Not a breakup one." He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I've got to go. I'll be back before dinner."
He dashes out the door before his friends can stop him. He's not sure what Jin has in mind, but he hopes it's less awkward than the last time they went to the fountain together.
XXX
"Lee! Um—Zuko, I mean." Jin darts up to him and greets him with a grin. Besides that, the first thing he notices is her outfit, a light blue tunic that resembles Katara's. Did Lorai make that for her?
"Hi, Jin." He sounds less excited than he feels. She's okay. She survived the Fire Nation's last stand. He could hug her right now… if he weren't afraid it would send the wrong message.
He loves her. But he's not sure it's the same way she loves him.
"Are you okay? I didn't scare you with my letter, did I?"
He's fought his sister and imprisoned his father. Nothing should scare him anymore.
(The thought of losing her still does.)
"...I was a little nervous," he admits, because he's trying not to lie to her anymore. He's done enough of that. "But it was a good idea. It would probably be overwhelming to talk at the Jasmine Dragon."
And Sokka might jump on her with all his wrong assumptions, and Uncle might start planning a wedding, and everything might blow up in face like an overheated pot of tea. Now that he sees her, smiling and clearly not hating him, he's grateful she thought ahead and avoided that.
"I thought it might be a lot for you. Coming back here after… well, everything." She stares up at one of the lanterns.
It's not lit. Whether because the sun hasn't set, or because of the city's newfound wariness for firebenders, he doesn't know.
"It's… weird."
It's an understatement. His old clothes don't seem to fit right. His longer hair tickles the back of his neck above his collar. But Jin still looks at him like he's the friend she knows.
"Pretending to be a tea server again?"
He shrugs, embarrassed. "I was a tea server. That wasn't pretend."
Her hands clasp in front of her tunic. "And being my friend. You weren't pretending that…?"
"Of course not." He looks up, but then his eyes dart away. "I didn't want to lie to you. I didn't have a choice."
"I know." She smiles, then places her hand on his arm. "You were protecting me. I don't know what would've happened if someone found out I was friends with the Fire Lord."
Friends with—the—
Agni.
She knows. How long has she known?
"Uncle Mushi is the Dragon of the West," she answers his unasked question. "One of my professors taught us history that the Dai Li wanted to keep secret. It was easy to recognize General Iroh when I saw him fight. And from there…"
She shrugs and gives a small smirk. "There aren't too many Zukos in the Fire Nation, are there?"
His mouth works soundlessly. He'd rehearsed a speech to break the news to her, but it all goes up in smoke. Instead what comes out is, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Lee—Zuko—you didn't do anything wrong."
He raises an eyebrow. He can't help it; he knows too clearly what he's done wrong.
"Even if you did, I know you helped the Avatar in the end. I'd love to hear the whole story from you. If you feel tell up to telling it. It must have been so exciting… and terrifying."
She looks deep into his eyes, though he's not sure what she expects to see. The royal gold has always been there.
"That's one way to put it." He grimaces. "You're really not mad? I know I'm not what you expected."
"But you're still you." Her arm slides from his arm down to his hand. "Is this okay?"
He blinks. "Uh. I—I'm not going to kiss you again," he blurts, like an absolute idiot. This isn't how he planned this at all! He was supposed to look her in the eyes, and tell her how much he cares about her, but be firm about how he feels.
Well, he skipped the first two steps, but at least he hit the last one.
Jin stares back before letting out an adorable snort. It builds up to a full-on laugh, then a cackle, louder and louder until the older couple on the other side of the fountain starts looking at them strangely.
Zuko's face heats. She isn't mad… probably. That's good, right?
"Uh…" he trails off, having no idea what to do. That older couple is really staring now. And Jin is still laughing.
"Sorry! I just—I know, Zuko." She smiles softly. "You get awkward when girls try to flirt with you. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, and I'm sorry if I was too forward before, I just… I do love you, and I want to be close to you, even if it's not the same way I wanted to at first. Does that make sense?"
"No." His brow furrows. Nothing ever makes sense when it comes to girls and feelings. "I mean… sort of? Girls at the tea shop are weird. And you're not the same kind of weird, but—ugh." He smacks his forehead. This isn't coming out right either. But then again, when does anything?
She just laughs again. "Let me put it this way. If we were best friends and held hands sometimes, that would be good to me. No kissing required." She winks.
That's an option? If you listened to Uncle, you'd think that dramatic romance is the only way to keep a woman in your life.
Though Uncle also thought that flirting with married lesbians was a good idea, so Zuko's pretty sure he can safely ignore any of his love advice.
"That doesn't sound bad." He tentatively smiles back.
She holds out her hand, and he takes it. Her index finger has a papercut. He's careful not to brush it.
This… this is nice.
"Can I still say I love you?" he asks, his voice nearly drowned out by the soft burble of the fountain. "Or is that weird?"
He does love her. He's more sure about that than he expected. Who else would take every crazy development in his life in stride? Who else would treat him just as kindly whether he's a waiter or a ruler?
"You definitely can." Her face lights up like the sun, and she gives his hand a light squeeze. "I love you too, Zuko."
"Heh. That's… nice." He blushes.
"You said it first." She elbows him lightly, with her arm that's still linked to his. "Why do you sound so embarrassed?"
"I don't know! It's just… I didn't think anyone would…" His shoulders rise up to his ears. "I don't know."
"It's okay. You don't have to know. I'm sure you've got a lot more important things to worry about after saving the world."
"Ugh. Don't remind me."
He used to be worried about making budgets for the Jasmine Dragon. Now he has to figure out how to do that for a whole country.
"Let's just have a good time tonight, okay?" she says. "We'll eat some good food, and I'll meet all your friends, and it'll all be okay."
It will probably still be a mess. Sokka and Uncle probably won't believe that he and Jin aren't-exactly-dating.
But it'll be okay. He has a best friend, who he loves.
They walk hand-in-hand back to the tea shop, and as the sounds of the city rise around him, he feels at home.
A/N: Thank you for sticking with this fic for so long! I hope it was obvious enough from the ending, but Zuko is aro. (He always has been in this universe. I hope that doesn't come as a surprise.) I've been trying to figure out how to resolve his arc with Jin for a while and I feel like they could still work in a nontraditional type of relationship. You can decide whether Jin eventually becomes Fire Lady or not, but regardless I imagine she visits the Fire Nation and loves the turtleducks :)
Not pictured: Sokka actually juggling later and Toph suggesting that they all actually form a circus