Well, here we are. I'll be honest, I had this chapter done for a few weeks and completely forgot. I hope you enjoy meeting one of my favourite characters.
After a few minutes, the medication kicked in, and Zuko felt himself calm down. He could breathe again, but he felt tired. Fuck, why did he have to be such a coward?
They were stopped at a red light as he rested his head against the window.
"Nephew?" Iroh asked, concerned, "are you alright?"
Zuko didn't move from his position. "No."
"I'd rather not close the tea shop today," he said sadly, "somebody is coming by. But there is a sofa in my office if you're okay with that..."
Normally, Zuko would have annoyed, possibly even angry, over going to the tea shop and not the house. After all, he didn't need a babysitter. But in that moment, he didn't care. He just wanted to sleep and pretend the day never happened. "Okay."
The rest of the drive was silent, it was only another two or so minutes before they were pulling into the back alley of the Jasmine Dragon. Iroh got out of the car, and it took all of his strength for Zuko to follow. He wasn't sure if his exhaustion was a side effect of the medication, or an outcome of his anxiety attack. In the end, he supposed it was probably both.
Iroh led him up a set of concrete stairs at the back of a red building. The door was metal, but unlocked. Zuko followed his uncle as he walked through the door. As soon as he entered, he was hit with the strong scent of incense mingling with tea. They were in a small hallway. He could see the light of the main store area at the end of it, but Iroh didn't bring him there. Instead, he opened a small door to the left of the hall, leading to his office.
The room was small. It had a desk piled with paperwork on one side, and a red sofa on the other. A few plants were scattered around the room, all in all, it looked very similar to the living room back at the house. He watched as Iroh opened a bin next to the sofa and pulled out a white pillow and blanket. He didn't question why his uncle kept them in his work office. Instead, he simply took them and curled up on the sofa; before falling into a restless sleep.
Zuko wasn't sure how long he actually slept, only that he had spent a few hours in various states of consciousness. Iroh came to check on him a few times, but mostly left him alone. For that, Zuko was thankful. It was late afternoon when he finally woke up, head pounding and body aching. It took him a few minutes to remember where he was, and what happened. When he did, he groaned. God he was so fucked.
With a sigh, he sat up and stretched. The room was not far off from his first impressions of it. Just like Iroh's living room, his office was full of clutter. There was a small bookshelf next to the desk, full of his uncle's personal tea collection. The top shelf however, was cover with of an assortment of different items; most of which looked like gifts. Zuko stood up and walked closer. Small clay artifacts were placed side by side with what looked to be birthday cards. He frowned, turning to look at the desk. It was indeed covered in work related papers, those; he didn't touch. However, the desk also had a plentiful of photos, all different from the ones at the house. It surprised him to see how many of the pictures were of him and Azula when they were younger, however none of them were newer than when he was eleven. A few photos were of Lu Ten, something that didn't surprise Zuko, he remembered how much his uncle had loved his son.
As Zuko worked his way around the room, a conversation from down the hall reached his ears. Iroh must have left the door open a crack, because he could hear what they were saying.
"I'm sorry, but my nephew is not feeling well as of now. Perhaps you can come back a different time?" Iroh said.
Carefully, Zuko snuck out of the office and towards the conversation.
"Okay," there was an obvious air of disappointment in the voice. "Sorry, I just got worried when he didn't meet us at lunch, and then when we figured out he was supposed to be in our drama class, but never came."
He came to stand just around the corner, listening clearly but successfully staying out of sight.
"Which is very noble of you Aang," Iroh replied. Aang? He was at his uncle's tea shop? Why? He wasn't really checking up on him, was he? Why would he even want to?.
"Are you sure he's okay?" Aang asked again.
Iroh never got a chance to reply. Instead, a very annoyed sounding girl spoke. "He said your friend is fine Twinkle Toes. Now sit down or get out. We have another game to play."
Twinkle Toes?
His uncle laughed and Zuko heard the sound of a chair being pulled back. "Sorry Toph," Aang mumbled.
"You have first move Ms. Beifong."
The conversation seemed to die down as whatever game they were playing began. Customers chattered to one another, speaking of meaningless topics like the weather.
Zuko was just about to sneak back to Iroh's office when he heard a dog bark loudly. Why was there a dog in his Uncle's Tea Shop?
"Hush Badger, I'm trying to beat him this time," the same girl from before said. The dog barked once again. The girl's tone changed. "I think somebody is there," she announced.
He flitched. Stupid dogs, he was never an animal person.
"Zuko?" Iroh asked, he heard a chair push back.
He bit his lip, debating on dashing back to the office and pretending he never left, but it seemed wrong. They already knew he was there, well, at least the girl and her dog did.
"Uh, yeah," he said, stepping into view.
Iroh stood at the table nearest the back hall, he smiled at him. "I'm glad you're awake Nephew."
Zuko nodded as he quickly scanned his surroundings. The customers hadn't noticed him, or at least had the decency not to stare. Aang and his uncle were both watching him. The only other person who seemed to be aware of his existence was a short girl. She sat with her back to him, but her head was tilted towards him. Next to the small girl was the ugliest dog he had seen in his life.
"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the beast of an animal. It was large and brown, probably large enough for the petite girl to ride it if needed. It's brown fur was short and dirty, causing a perfect juxtaposition to the girl in a white dress next to it.
"Is he pointing at Badger?" the girl, did Aang call her Toph? asked. Wait, didn't AAng mention a friend named Toph earlier that day? Well that made sense.
"Yeah he is," Aang told her. "But I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, right Zuko?"
He raised his eyebrows. "That thing looks like it crawled out of a trash bin."
Iroh chuckled as Aang looked horrified. "You look like you just crawled out of a trash bin."
"Toph, you can't even see him!" Aang pointed out.
Zuko snorted. "Probably can't see anything if she doesn't know how fucking hideous that thing is."
In reply, Iroh spoke. "That is a correct assumption Nephew, as Ms. Beifong is blind. Badger here is her guide dog.."
Realization hit him like a train. He just insulted a blind girl's seeing eye dog and pointed out that she was blind. Fuck. "Shit, I'm so sorry!" Toph's shoulder slumped forward. Was she crying? No, please don't tell me I made a blind girl cry. "I'm really sorry!" he pleaded, looking at his uncle.
Before anybody could reply, Toph let out an obnoxiously loud laugh. "You should hear how worried you are!" she threw her head back and let the sound echo off the walls of the shop. For a moment, everybody looked at her, before going back to whatever meaningless task they were doing before. "I know Badger is 'ugly'," she told him after her laughter had died down to a mere chuckle. "My parents never stop telling me that, but he's a good dog, and it's not like his appearance matters to me. RIght boy?" The dog barked in reply. Carefully, the girl stood up and held out her hand towards Zuko. She was smiling wickedly as her dead eyes stared unfocused on the floor. "The names Toph. And you must be Zuko."
Hesitantly, he shook her hand. "Yeah, I am."
Fuck this is awkward.
"Would you excuse my Nephew and I Toph?" Iroh asked. When she nodded her approval, he motioned for Zuko to follow him into the back. Aang looked vaguely disappointed at their departure.
"How are you feeling?" his uncle asked as he opened the door to some kind of brightly lit store room. It was full of shelves, each holding different types of tea. Next to the door was a counter and sink. He opened up the cupboard below the counter and removed a teapot. He filled it with water and set it to boil on what looked like a hot plate.
Zuko shrugged as he sat in one of the chairs. Even after sleeping, he still felt tired and weak. He watched as Iroh took a can of tea leaves from the same cupboard as the teapot.
"Sometimes it's too busy out front for Toph, so we play Pai Sho in here," he explained as he grabbed two mugs. "Lavender alright?"
He nodded. Zuko had never cared much for tea, but his throat still hurt, and something warm would probably help.
After a few minutes, the tea was done, and Iroh sat across from him. They both sipped from their plain cream coloured mugs and listened to the ambient noise of muffled chatter.
Eventually, Iroh broke the silence. "Aang told me what happened this morning."
Zuko felt his heart stop. He had forgotten about that.
His uncle seemed to pick up on his distress. "I'm not angry with you Zuko," he said calmly. "You stood up for somebody, I'd never be angry over that. Although I do wish violence could have been avoided, I know how difficult that can be at times."
When their tea was done, Iroh took his mug and put it in the sink with his own. "It's just after four. I usually close at five. Would you like to come sit with Toph, Aang, and I?"
"Sure," Zuko mumbled, not willing to put up a fight. Truth be told, he didn't really want to be around anybody, let alone Aang, who was bound to ask questions.
They walked back to the main room, only to find Toph and Aang engaged in a not-so-friendly game of Pai Sho.
"And, I win again," Toph sneered victoriously. "Really Aang, you should work on your strategy."
The boy sighed before looking up to see the two. "Well, it looks like I won't need to fill in any longer, Iroh's back."
Toph merely smirked. "I know, Badger told me," she shrugged, "just figured i'd drive home how horrible you suck."
Iroh laughed as Aang allowed him to sit opposite his opinionate.
As the game started, Aang stood next to Zuko. "Hey, are you feeling better?" he smiled.
"Yeah," he lied as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was a nervous tell, he knew it was, but he couldn't stop it.
"I'm glad!" Why was this kid always smiling. "Katara and Sokka were sad they didn't get to meet you at lunch, but at least you met Toph."
"She goes to our school?" he asked, interest peaked. He remembered Aang mentioning that she would be there at lunch, but that was before learning that she was blind.
"Yeah," Aang nodded, watching his friend as he lowered his voice. "Her parents sent her to a special needs school for most of her life, but she finally convinced them to let her go to public school. She fairs just fine as long as Badger is with her."
Zuko looked back at the girl. She seemed pretty confident in her abilities, even playing a game like Pai Sho. In fact, she was playing it better than he did.
It felt like Aang wanted to say more, but was holding back. Fuck, Zuko hated the feeling of awkwardness that came when somebody was holding something back. The air filled with tension, which did not help his anxiety. Aang just rocked back and forth on his feet, he would glad quickly at Zuko, before looking back at the game unfolding in front of them.
"Yes?" he asked through clenched teeth after a few minutes.
Aang jumped at his tone of voice. "Oh, um, sorry."
Zuko only looked at him expectantly.
"I was just wondering..." Aang looked away. "Are you mad at me?"
That caught him off guard. "I-what?" he asked.
Aang looked back to him. "I mean, I invited you to lunch, and then you didn't come. I thought maybe I annoyed you or something."
Zuko only stared at the younger boy before looking back to his uncle. "No. I'm not mad. Just wasn't feeling well."
The other boy seemed to believe him, or at least believe that he wasn't angry.
A silence fell between them once again, and Zuko wasn't sure how to react. Awkward silences had never been easy for him, especially with people who apparently wanted to be his friend. Fuck this kid was so odd.
"Damnit!" Toph yelled suddenly. "How is it even possible for you to always win?!"
Iroh chuckled in response, "years of practice my dear."
Badger barked in agreement as Toph reached down to give him a pat.
"Patience Toph, you are getting much better," Iroh smiled.
"I'll beat you one day old man," she replied. Her phone let out a chime and she sighed. "That's my mom. She wants me home early today, I was hoping she'd forget. Guess not."
Iroh nodded. "That's no problem. Will you be here on Sunday?"
Again, Toph sighed. "Yeah, after Church."
Zuko, who had been listening intently in an attempt to ignore Aang, looked the the other boy in confusion. "Church?" he asked, Toph didn't seem like the Church type.
Aang shrugged. "Her dad is the Pastor."
Zuko made a face. He had never gotten along with religious people. Well, that wasn't exactly a lie, but he didn't like most.
Badger barked, drawing their attention.
"Hey Twinkle Toes," Toph called to Aang. "Want to come over? My parent's won't bother me if you're there."
A smile lit up Aang's face. "Sure! Just let me text Gyatso."
He was sending the message when Zuko looked towards Iroh. The man smiled at him encouragingly.
Apparently, Aang's guardian responded quickly, because he and Toph were quickly leaving the shop. "See you tomorrow Zuko!" he called before leaving.
"See you, I guess," he muttered in reply. Iroh was still smiling at him, and Zuko couldn't help but feel annoyed at the gesture.
As terrible as everything was, at least he had a friend. Which was more than he had going for him a month ago. Sighing, Zuko left Iroh to clean up the Pai Sho board, and retreated back to the office.
I fucking love Toph. In case you didn't catch on, Toph was taught to bend by badgermoles, hence the reason her guide dog is named Badger!
