"You're hurt…"
Zuko turned towards Song belatedly, distracted as he was by the scene work on stage before him. Jaome and Chen were amongst the ensemble finishing the blocking of the battle sequence they'd all been practising outside the day before, because Hui had decided to forbid Taiko and Zomah from choreographing any more scenes unless they were on stage and exclusively in his own presence.
The four men involved in Zuko's late night altercation had been unusually subdued during the entirety of the session, and Zuko had found himself strangely fascinated despite the fact that he was supposed to be working on his own lines with Song until the stage was free again.
Lersah had turned up earlier, only to say that she would be unavailable for the next three days because her sister was getting married, of all things. (Hui had tried his best not to get all apoplectic about it...)
Okay, so maybe he wasn't really that fascinated. He was just trying to avoid having to endure a strained and uncomfortable conversation with Song…
…and failing miserably.
"Sorry. Er. What did you say?"
They were sitting in the tiered audience benches for a change, because the lighting was somewhat better here than in the wings and they could actually read the script without having to squint.
Song wasn't reading lines however. She was frowning at the side of his head.
"You've hurt your head."
Great.
He'd forgotten about that.
"No, I haven't."
She shot him a strange look.
"Your hair's cut all unevenly there and I think I see dried blood. You want to try that again?"
"Uh." Zuko felt caught in spot lamps, unable to turn away from her.
"That wasn't there yesterday, right?" she asked mildly.
"It's fine," he said stiffly. "Really."
"How did it happen?"
"Nothing happened, okay?"
She nodded, said, "Okay," and promptly turned forward to watch the scene, her hands clutching the script on her lap too tightly.
Agni, he was being an ass to her all over again.
They were silent for a few minutes, watching Jaome getting yelled at by Hui for being preoccupied and missing his cues. Zuko winced when Chen turned around and he noticed how his hair was shorter at the back, nearly close-shaved- he'd been tiring when Zuko had sent that particular jet of flame at him, and hadn't ducked fast enough.
Neither he nor Song made another attempt to do what they were supposed to be doing-
"They came for you last night, didn't they…"
Zuko nearly cricked his neck, turning to look at her.
She was looking down at his hand, which had been clenched into a fist on top of his script. Hurriedly he relaxed it, trying to hide the minor burn on his wrist- courtesy of Jaome, which he hadn't noticed until much later after the fight.
Zuko opened his mouth to deny it.
"Don't bother," she said suddenly, going back to observing the scene. "I'd rather not know. Honestly though, everyone will probably know everything by the end of practice anyway."
Shit.
"... How would they know?" Zuko asked, aware that he was outing himself but desperate to stay on top of any implications.
Song seemed to find something funny about that.
She smiled wryly to herself, and then appraised him with a raised eyebrow.
"Have any of you guys even seen yourselves, Long?"
Damn it all.
"It's not that obvious," he said stubbornly, feeling his cheeks grow hot.
"Mmh," Song hummed pleasantly. "Of course not. Silly me."
Despite himself, Zuko felt a reluctant smile tugging at his lips.
The situation was so ludicrous he had a hard time believing it had actually happened. In hindsight, everything about the fight, even their minor cuts and bruises and ominous quips, seemed funnier and stupider than it had been the night before.
After several more minutes of silent observation- which was oddly not that awkward at all, and in fact seemed nearly… companionable?- Song spoke again.
"At least tell me you cleaned the cut before you went to bed?"
She wasn't looking at him, but he knew she expected an answer.
Saliva caught in his throat, and he hurried to clear it.
"...Uh," he mumbled at length, before glancing at her. "Does water count?"
She smiled then, fully, still looking straight ahead.
"Yes, water counts," she said, sounding far too amused.
"Oh, er-okay. Then yeah, I did."
"Okay," she said, trying to nod seriously- and failing. "That's good."
Zuko nodded awkwardly and turned away, feeling slightly pleased with himself for no apparent reason.
A few minutes later, when Hui called for a break and Chen and Jaome promptly fell down, wincing and groaning with relief, Zuko couldn't help glancing at her.
She caught his eye through the mask and they both looked away hurriedly, each trying not to grin- Zuko cheating all the way because his whole face was hidden.
In his defence, it was quite funny.
"So," Song said finally, when there was nothing left to watch on stage but tired troupe members milling around and gossiping in groups. "Maybe we should…"
"Practise?" Zuko asked, and nodded. "Scene… three?"
"Oh, definitely. You can't even look me in the eye in that one. How are you going to manage with her?"
His cheeks went numb again, but he shrugged dismissively. "We'll climb that mountain when we get to it."
"Good point. It's not going to get you out of practising that climb, though."
He stared at her.
She was teasing him, if her slight smirk was anything to go by.
Zuko shook his head to himself… but he found that he didn't really mind.
"Of course it isn't," he mumbled, beginning to look for the right page while she did the same.
And just like that, conversations with Song weren't so difficult anymore.
