Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.
70
"Oh. It's you." Mai said, a strange note in her voice. She stood in the threshold of the break room doorway, her bag slung across the floor, as if she had halted in shock at the sight of him.
"Suki, Aang, and Katara all asked for tonight off, so, yea." Zuko dipped his chin almost apologetically. "It's me."
Mai's onyx-painted nails drummed on the metal door frame. "But, you're a manager."
"I promise you that I can pour tea as well as the rest of them. Possibly even better than Suki."
When she didn't answer, instead turning away to tie the strings of an apron around her waist, Zuko heaved a sigh. He would never admit it, but he had looked forward to tonight, a little bit. It would be the longest one-on-one time he'd gotten with Mai since he'd met her. The prospect confused him, delighted him, infuriated him. He didn't want to be drawn to the pale girl with the barb-like humor and perpetual frown. He wanted peace, and quiet; time to get this business off the ground. It was his uncle's dream, and his uncle had done so much for him. Focusing on ensuring that Iroh's business was a success was the least he could do.
But instead, he'd sit at the desk in the break room, pouring over the same spreadsheet four times because Mai was on shift, distracting him with little quirks of her lips and the smooth, graceful curve of her neck. That wasn't his reality anymore, though. Romantic relationships hadn't been in the cards for him since the accident. And, if he was being honest with himself, romantic relationships hadn't been in the cards for him before that, either. He was too shy, too awkward. Too busy. Girls didn't seem to notice him. But not Mai. Mai's eyes were always on him, even if her lips were turned downward in a scowl.
"Well, if you're going to help out, you should probably get moving." Mai's dry voice cut through his musing. "I can handle a couple orders at a time, but not if I have to stop and bring them out to their table every time."
He glanced guiltily over to the growing line. The evening rush, just come in from work or a day in the late winter sun, where the snow began to melt from the trees that lined Ba Sing Se's streets. "Coming," he mumbled.
"So, Toph," Suki asked as she smoothed the corners of the napkin in her lap. "What do you do?"
"I'm a food artist at 'Panda Lily Express', where it is my pleasure to take your desire for good, authentic Earth Kingdom food and provide you with a barely-adequate fast-food alternative." Toph's tone was almost bored.
Suki snorted with amusement.
"I actually really like 'Panda Lily Express'," Sokka said. "It's not, like, food cart in downtown Omashu good, but it does the trick. If they had a Water Tribe version of that, I'd probably be there every day."
Katara nodded. "Oh, Spirits, I wish there was a decent, authentic Water Tribe restaurant. Some of the bigger chains will have like, a throwaway item or two that's from the Tribes, but nobody around here knows how to make a good stewed sea prune."
"You guys could open a food cart," Aang suggested brightly from his seat across from Toph. "If you're good at cooking Water Tribe grub."
"I'm not," Sokka admitted. "Katara's decent, though."
"I've got too many other things on my plate to dive into the food business," Katara laughed.
Toph picked at her beef with a fork. "Like what?"
"Oh, I'm going to school for a physical therapy degree," Katara answered. "So I still have a full class load. And I just started working at the cafe in the bottom floor of the building. Aang and Suki, too."
"That's two things," Toph muttered.
A little furrow formed between Katara's brows. "Yea... but between those two things, and my free time taken up with whatever else pops up, that's my time pretty much spoken for."
Toph shrugged irreverently, and Katara's furrow deepened.
"Katara runs circles around us. She's always doing something," Aang said with a smile. He reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"How wonderful," Toph gushed, a mocking edge scarcely concealed.
There was a soft clatter under the table, and Toph yelped. Katara looked sharply at Aang, who still had a wide smile plastered across his face. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm sure you remember her cafe job, don't you, Toph? I offered it to recommend you for an interview, if you recall."
Toph scoffed. "I do remember. But it was a customer service job- no, thank you."
"As opposed to being a server at 'Panda Lily Express', where you don't do any customer service," Sokka deadpanned.
A sharp thrill of silence descended over the table at his comment as the table's occupants waited for the sharp-tongued girl's response, but Toph merely burst into laughter. "Good point," she said mirthfully. "What do you do, Sokka? I don't think you mentioned it the last time we met."
"Well, the last time we met, you were sort of rushing us out of your yard so your parents didn't see you and Aang," Sokka said wryly.
Katara shot Aang a confused look. She didn't remember hearing about that. He gave her a reassuring look, mouthing, "I'll explain later."
"But, I go to school, too. Engineering degree," Sokka continued. "And I work part-time as a construction worker."
"A working man." Toph nodded approvingly.
Suki gave her a strange look. "Yes, Sokka is helping with the reconstruction of the roads in the lower ring right now." Katara watched as Suki pointedly ignored the confusion that creased the corners of Sokka's eyes when she spoke about him.
"That's a big commitment," Toph said.
"I guess so," Suki answered. "It does take a lot of his time, so that's a big bummer. He's only scheduled for part-time, but he often ends up working full-time, on top of his class schedule. It makes things challenging for him."
Toph shrugged. "Things that are worth it are rarely easy, or rarely done quickly."
"Are the roads that important to you?" Suki asked with a derisive little laugh.
"I don't personally like being launched into the ceiling every time the bus hits a pothole, so, yea," Toph said dryly. "Roads are important to me."
"Don't mind Suki," Sokka muttered. "She sometimes has difficulty understanding things that are of importance to other people."
Toph blinked. "Oh...kay..."
Katara almost groaned, and beside her Aang brought one long-fingered hand to his temple.
Suki's face was stretched into a pained, deranged sort of grimace. Her voice was taut as a bow string when she replied. "I'm only saying I wish your job didn't cut into our time so much."
Sokka opened his mouth to utter a sharp reply, and Katara leaned across the table to nudge him in the ribs. "Not here," she hissed at him under her breath. "Later."
"Well, what an interesting insight that was," Toph said offhandedly. She bit demurely into her beef. "Wow, this is delicious. Did you make this, Katara? Since you're so good at cooking?"
"Um, no," Katara answered, surprised. "Sokka made the beef."
"What can't he do?" Toph said. "Besides make enough time for his girlfriend, apparently."
Suki spluttered into her drink, and Katara felt herself go cold. Aang had vouched for this girl; he said she was important to him, a dear friend. And yet, it was as if Toph was going out of her way to be rude and unwelcoming. She looked over at Aang, who's strain was made evident in the little vein that pulsed at his temples. "Toph, we talked about this," he warned lowly. "Best behavior."
"What did I say?" Toph asked, spreading her hands innocently.
"You know what you're doing," Aang snapped.
"Does anyone want more bread rolls?" Sokka asked blithely.
Katara felt her body cringing into another dimension, but diagonal from her, Toph seemed to be almost enjoying the uncomfortable conversation. "I'd love one, thank you. Did Katara make these, by any chance? Or is she keeping her fabulous cooking a coveted secret?"
That did it. Katara stiffened in her chair, even as she heard Aang drag in a sharp hiss of anger. "I did, in fact, make the bread rolls, Toph. They're a well-loved family recipe. I made them to welcome you into our circle of friends, since you're so important to Aang. Though you seem hell-bent on keeping yourself at an arm's length from us. Is this ugly attitude of yours an act, or are you actually just an asshole?"
Toph's expression ran through a gamut of emotions, each one explicitly displayed on her open face. Shock, anger, embarrassment, and then a wry sort of amusement. Finally, she raised her glass towards Katara's voice in mock salute. "Consider me scolded, Sugar Queen."
Katara pointedly ignored the jab. "I look forward to meeting the version of you that Aang values so much." She stood from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I think I need some air." Without another word, she strode from the table.
A/N: sorry for the delay. Busy weekend, and I've diverted a lot of my writing energy to the minister's sequel.
this chapter's dedication goes to clichekataang, who often leaves very insightful comments on the things I thought no one would notice! thank you!