Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.
66
"Oh, Spirits," Suki cried as hot water spilled over the side of the mug, scalding her hand. "Ow, fuck."
Aang was at her side in a moment. "What is it?"
"I burned my fucking hand."
"Here," he said, dragging her over to the sink. "Run it under some cold water."
"What about the order?"
"I'll take care of it," he answered.
Suki frowned as he scurried away, busying himself with the order that she messed up. Or rather, the second order that she messed up. The first one had been been some burnt coffee that she had served to an older man with an elaborate goatee. His already pinched expression grew even more distasteful as he sipped at his scalded brew, and she had held back a sharp retort when he had pompously informed her that the cafe needed a lot more work before he would visit it again.
"Sorry to see you go," she'd said in as contrite a voice as she could muster, but neither she nor the pinched man had been fooled.
Looking across the cafe, she could see Aang delivering the teas to the two young women who'd ordered them, flashing them a crooked smile that left one of them blushing and the other one fanning herself. Suki had to repress a snort of amusement as they openly stared at Aang's ass as he walked back behind the counter. "Thanks," she said to him, her amusement fading when she was reminded why he was out there in the first place.
He waved her off. "How's your hand?"
"Freezing," she said with a noncommittal shrug. Pulling it out of the frigid flow of water, she gave it a rapid shake to pump blood back into it. "Ready to get back to work. Or whatever is I'm doing, since you seem to carrying all our weight this afternoon."
"It's your first shift, Suki," Aang said sympathetically. "You're too hard on yourself."
"I'm not used to sucking at things."
"You do not suck-"
She glared at him. "Don't patronize me, Aang. I'm mature enough to admit my own shortcomings."
"Okay," he said with a weak chuckle. "Tea is an area where you could use some practice. But, you fixed the coffee right away. You'll figure out tea, too."
There was rustling sound behind them as Zuko strode out of the break room, a small stack of papers in his hands. "How's it going out here?"
"Great," Suki answered quickly. Too quickly.
"So good," Aang added.
Zuko eyed them suspiciously. "Why is your hand all red, Suki?"
"I, uh, burned it on some tea," she admitted, flushing.
The scarred young man stared at her. "How?"
"Spilled over the side of the mug," she said, squaring her shoulders and trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
"Don't do that," Zuko said after a moment. Beside him, Aang sagely nodded his agreement.
Suki gave them a sickly-sweet smile. "What excellent advice."
Zuko turned back to Aang, his head nodding toward the counter, where two patrons waited to place their order. "After you get their order, can you check on the restrooms?" he asked. "It's been a while."
As Katara typed away on her computer, she was distracted by her door opening slowly. Sokka stood in the door frame, staring at her.
"What do you want?" she asked in a huff of irritation. "I'm kind of busy."
He didn't answer, instead continuing to stare in a way that raised her hackles immediately. Her eyes narrowed.
He stared back.
And then, with one sweep of his arm, he knocked her water bottle off the nearby dressing. It clattered to the floor as Sokka turned from the room.
"You're so fucking annoying!" she shouted after him. "Come back here and pick that up!"
"So..." Aang began slowly as he and Suki wiped down tables. "What do you think about doing a family dinner, and inviting Toph?"
"Isn't Toph the one that nearly broke you and Katara up?" Suki asked skeptically, wringing out her wet rag.
Aang rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Not exactly. She did something stupid, but I did most of the heavy lifting with that disaster. And, anyway, she and I have patched things up. But she hasn't seen Katara since it happened. I want to re-introduce them, but maybe it'll be less awkward if there are a lot of us."
"It won't be less awkward," Suki corrected. "The awkwardness will just be more widely distributed."
"Sure," he chuckled wryly.
Suki laughed with him. "Well, I don't mind, and I doubt Sokka will, either. But I would definitely ask Katara before you lock plans down for that one."
"I was going to," he said, pausing in his cleaning to lean against a chair. "I was just wondering what you thought about it."
She paused as well, her wet rag dripping onto the painted cement flooring. "If Toph is a good friend of yours, and you've forgiven her for whatever her involvement was in that little snafu, I think it's not a bad idea," Suki said thoughtfully. "Provided, of course, that Katara is front-loaded."
"Right."
"I can't wait to ask Toph what the fuck she was thinking," Suki added.
He cringed. "Please don't."
"It'll be hard not to."
"Not as hard as the intense awkwardness that will follow."
She gave him a light chuckle in response that did very little to reassure him.
"Please, Suki," he practically begged.
"Fine," she sighed. "Less for you, though, and more for Katara's sake. She was really torn up when all that went down. She kicked Sokka out of my room one night and cried in my arms."
Aang rubbed his temples, a hot twinge of shame washing over him. "Spirits, don't remind me. I felt awful about it. I still do."
"It's all water under the bridge, for her at least," Suki said comfortingly. "She's very forgiving that way. You've got yourself a real catch, you know."
"I do know that," he agreed. He peeked shyly at her. "So do you."
She smiled, more to herself than for Aang's benefit. "I know."
"Has Sokka..." Aang began slowly, nervously, "has he talked to you about that at all? Relationships, and whatnot?"
"We talked about Song and Haru getting married," she answered, oblivious. "But that was about it."
His heart fell a bit. "Oh."
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious," he said quickly. "No reason."
She raised one arched brow. "Well, what about you and Katara?"
"Not much," he replied, relieved for a change in subject. "Well, we've told one another 'I love you', but other than that, same old."
"Wow, what a casual mention of such a major relationship step," Suki laughed. "Congrats! That's very exciting."
"Far be it from me to interrupt a little heart-to-heart," Zuko's dry voice came from behind them, "but if you two don't mind getting to work on closing, that would be great. I'd prefer not to sleep here tonight."
A/N: inspired by marjojo's shout-outs, I'd like to start doing reader appreciation stuff, too. Starting with TR13 Reader, a faithful reviewer from the beginning! Thank you. I love how you really understand what I'm trying to get at with Aang and Katara.
Speaking of marjojo, I really recommend their work "When It's All Over". Great stuff, politics and background building for a lot of the works following the show.