I Do Not Own Avatar or Miraculous.

Thirty-Three: Pao's Tea Shop.

Gabriel was supposed to be working late in the tailor's shop. Likewise, Zuko and Iroh were working late that night. He began serving people tea, as his job description said, when a familiar crutch wielding teenager entered the tea shop for what was the millionth time over the past week, only he was a carrying the crutch in case he needed it and carefully walking on his injury. The teen was persistent, Zuko gave him that, but he was annoying. Everytime he came he would try and talk to Zuko. Granted, they had a few brief conversations that Zuko enjoyed. Still, Adin was like a lost kitten. He always came back, eager for attention. One would think the guy never had a friend in his life, considering how much he worked to befriend Zuko. It didn't help that Adin insisted on wearing that stupid hat every time he went out or was working at the bakery. No haircut could be that bad.

"Hey, Lee."

"Adin, I'm working." Zuko grunted, "Now isn't the time to-"

"Look, I'm bored. Messing with you is my only option right now. I already hung out with Jeng, but now I have nothing to do. Normally try and catch some zzz's about now, but I am honestly annoyed with the routine I've found myself in. I hate schedules… for personal reasons that I will not expand upon. Pestering you makes my day less boring because you are so easy to bother. Easier than most of the Akum- er, the people in my old village."

"What, were you like the town prankster in Paris?"

"Nah, the prince of puns himself. Never got caught though. Hmm. I never considered pranking a person before…"

"Great. I gave you an ide- wait. How does one who puns a lot not get caught punning?"

"A mystery to all, Mr. Lee. A mystery to all." Adin was with a sly grin. Zuko sometimes didn't get Adin. He was some nights kind and reserved, contempt with drinking tea (which the bakery he worked at already sold and he apparently brewed himself, by the way) and having small conversations with Zuko when business was slow. Other nights he was wild and unpredictable, making a joke and pestering Zuko to his hearts delight. Tonight was one of his wild and unpredictable nights.

"Are you actually going to buy something or do I have to kick you out?" Zuko asked.

"My usual, good sir." Adin said with and unsteady mock bow as he tried to balance on his good foot. Zuko inhaled sharply in annoyance.

"Coming right up." He monotoned. He rung up Adin's order and got it to his uncle and looked back into the shop to see a few of the ferry officers had decided to come in and enjoy tea and pastries. He quickly took their orders and went back for Adin's tea. He had the same tastes as his uncle apparently, obsessed with jasmine tea and apparently pineapple cakes and tarts. He brought in Adin's order.

"Thanks Lee." Adin said, taking the meal, "Yah know, I've recently reread a play about a guy named Lee. I've read it like a thousand times since I met the bakers. The guy kinda reminds me of you. Haven't been working out any weird dragons wars recently, have you?"

"No. Why would I do that? Dragons are extinct. Everyone knows that." Adin's face went slack in surprise.

"Dragon's used to exist here?" He asked in confusion. Zuko couldn't tell if Adin was joking or not.

"Stop messing around." Zuko warned, "I'll be back, these men want their drinks. Don't do anything stupid or try pranking anyone while I'm gone." Adin raised his right hand.

"Cat's honor." Adin said. So random. Zuko went back and got the officer's their tea, noticing one was armed with duel swords very similar to the ones Zuko stole for himself when he'd been traveling with Iroh.

Suddenly, Jet, the kid he'd stolen food with from the bakery burst into the Tea Shop with a mad glint in his eyes, his weapons were drawn.

"I'm tired of waiting! These two men are firebenders!" Jet yelled. Zuko froze, terrified, but careful not to show it, "I know they are firebenders! I saw the old man heating his tea!" Zuko mentally scolded himself. Jet had seen Iroh heating tea with firebending at the ferry. That was probably how Jet knew… this was not good. Before Zuko could respond, Adin snorted.

"They work in a tea shop." He said, slowly getting up in front of Zuko in a protective manner like he planned on fighting Jet himself.

"He's a firebender! I'm telling you!" Jet insisted. Adin looked confused. Zuko heard Adin mumble under his breath 'what the heck is a firebender? Like an earthbender? Are they bad? Ah, Lee's not bad.' Wait. What? Did Adin seriously not know what a firebender was? How!?

"Drop your swords, man. It's not worth getting into trouble." Adin replied louder so everyone could hear. Jet growled and went to shove Adin out of the way, obviously not thinking rationally enough to notice Adin was crippled. Adin growled and snatched Jets arm.

"Seriously, dude. I'm asking nicely. You need to calm down. I know you are upset, but there are far better ways to handle these situation. And it isn't considered nice to publicly call someone out on something. I don't know why you are upset with Lee and spouting out wild accusations, but you should address the matter privately when you are much calimer and unarmed. Wildly accusing without proof leads to conflict. Conflicts always leads to innocent people getting hurt. Chill out, or one of these officers can gladly escort you out until you are much calimer." Adin hissed. Zuko was shocked, despite being injured, Adin was still crazy enough to defend Zuko to a madman. Jet grunted pulling away from Adin.

"You wouldn't know. You didn't see what the Fire Nation did to my family. If these to are really firebenders, then they deserve anything that's coming to them. Now get out of my way!" Jet pushing Adin. The boy stumbled back and lost his balance, falling into the table, hard.

"Gah!" Adin objected, wincing in pain. Jet ignored him, pointing one of his blades at Zuko.

"You'll have to defend yourself! Then everyone will know! Go ahead! Show them what you can do!" Jet demained. Zuko glanced at Jet, then over at Adin who was slowly picking himself up again. The idiot was probably going to try and stop Jet again. Zuko wasn't going to let that happen. Adin would get seriously hurt. Zuko glance over at the officer with the duel swords. Perfect. He grabbed them as the officer objected.

"You want a show!? I'll give you a show!" Zuko roared. Zuko attacked. Jet backed up in surprise, clearly not expecting the firebender to grab swords. Zuko shoved a table at Jet. The freedom fighter leapt over it, swinging his hooks at Zuko. Immediately his childhood training took root and his mind went blank. They danced around the room, both very skilled in their art. At the back of Zuko's mind he felt the tug, the urge to firebend like he was born to do, but his locked those feelings away. He never needed firebending before. His father was the one who wanted it. No. Zuko wasn't born to firebend. He was born to fight, whether it be by sword or flame. Zuko was a warrior all the way through. A warrior was disciplined, unlike the mad freedom fighter who only fought because he wanted to avenge something… undisciplined and unfocused o what he actually did and who he actually hurt to do it. Granted, Zuko knew he could be impulsive and destructive, but even he knew when to back off.

They got to the point where their swords were locked and it was a test of strength.

"You must be getting tired of using those swords. Why don't you go ahead and firebend at me?" Zuko shoved Jet into the street outside the shop. Everyone, even Adin and Iroh, crowded around the door to watch.

"Please, son! You are confused. You don't know what you are doing!" Iroh yelled in fear. Jet grunted, ignoring him and swinging high.

"Bet you wish he'd help you out with a fire blast about now." Jet said, motioning towards Iroh.

"You're the one who needs help." Zuko replied. He swung at Jet, cutting the annoying straw piece he had in his mouth in two. Jet lost his balance and turned to the bystanders, waving his hooks wildly.

"You see that!? The Fire Nation is trying to silence me!" He declared. Suddenly, he heard a voice yell, "Drop your weapons!" A Dai Li appeared from the shadows. Out of the corner of Zuko's eyes, he saw Adin slink back into the tea shop, his eye wide with absolute terror. Reluctantly, Zuko obeyed.

"Arrest them, they are firebenders!" Jet demained.

"This poor boy is confused. We're just simple refugees." Iroh agreed. Pao came out of the tea shop.

"This young man wrecked my tea shop and assaulted my employees." He declared.

"It's true sir. We saw the whole thing. This crazy man attacked the finest tea maker in the world." Iroh blushed.

"That's very sweet." The Dai Li walked up to Jet, arresting the struggling freedom fighter promptly. Jet loudly objected, but Zuko wasn't concerned about that. The people scattered, leaving the tea shop because Pao needed to shut down earlierly to clean up. Zuko went inside the tea shop to find Adin sitting with his back to the wall, hugging his knees and talking to his satchel, of all things. What startled Zuko was that Adin's hat had fallen off, revealing hair the color of gold.

"Plagg, they could've seen me. They were right here. They responded too quickly to that guy attacking this place. They could be anywhere." Adin said to his bag, his voice wavering slightly before he bit back a small sob, "I'll never see my Ladybug again." Zuko slowly realized that, like Zuko, Adin wasn't who he said he was. He was hiding from something. The Dai Li, most likely, with how he reacted to their appearance. He wasn't sure why, but Zuko wanted to help the boy who stood up so bravely for him despite his injury. The Dai Li wouldn't touch Adin, or a certain prince of fire would unleash his true fury. Zuko walked up to Adin and picked up his hat.

"Adin." The kid jumped at realising Zuko was there, Zuko handed Adin the hat, "Here's your stupid hat. You're right. The haircut is a real head turner. You should probably not show that to everyone, but seriously, invest in a better hat. This one sucks." Adin took the hat, fixing it on his head over the golden locks of hair.

"I guess you are curious why my hair is like that, huh?"

"You don't ask about the scar, I won't ask about the hair." Zuko replied.

"Deal." Adin agreed. Zuko sat down next to Adin.

"Do you need someone to walk you home?"

"I'd like that, yeah." Adin said. He twist the silver ring on his finger nervously, "Lee, what's a firebender?" Zuko shook his head. He had no idea why this kid didn't know.

"There are four kinds of benders, fire, earth, air, and water. Each element has their own nation. The Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads. There is only one Air Nomad left. He is the Avatar."

"What's that?" Wow, this guy was clueless.

"The master of all elements."
"Oh. So why is it bad to be a firebender?"

"It's… complicated." Zuko said, "Outside the city… there is a war going on between the nations. The Fire Nation against everyone else."

"... a war?" He said in a small voice.

"Don't worry about it. It's safe here. That's why refugees come here." Zuko explained, "To find refuge."

"So, if you're a fire bender, then why are you here? Are you a spy?"

"I'm not a-"

"Don't lie. I've had enough of those in my life. Why are you here?"

"I'm in hiding. The Fire Nation had my uncle and I marked as traitors after an incident in the North Pole. We came here to get away from the Fire Nation, just like anyone else here. Could you maybe… not tell anyone?"

"I won't. You aren't bad." Adin said, "In all honesty, I'm finding this place more and more like a prison. The Dai Li think I'm dangerous. The entire time I've been here I've been on crutches and they think I'm dangerous because I turned down some stupid job they wanted to give me. Then things slowly snowballed downhill. They honestly scare me. I don't know anything about the Fire Nation, but I know those men? They are not good people. They are pestering a wounded teenager and threatens him when he did nothing wrong. I'm really scared for that guy they took away today, because it might be the last anyone sees of him. No one told me about the war or the benders. We didn't have that in my old village. Long Feng said if I wanted to know what happened outside the walls, I'd have to go outside myself, but risk getting arrested, or turn myself in. But now that I know… I'm mad. It isn't right for them to be pretending something that huge isn't happening. They are lying to people and people are probably dying while they bother to go on a manhunt for some kid instead of actually solving the problem. It's… wrong." Zuko shook his head.

"We can't really do anything about that, Adin" Zuko said.

"No, but Ladybug will. I know it." Ladybug? Like the girl he had encountered wit Team Avatar that gave him bandages. No, it was probably just a coincidence.

"Who's that?" Zuko asked. He immediately regretted it. Adin got this lovestruck look on his face.

"My best friend. We got separated, but she is the bravest and strongest fighter I know. She's also really smart. If anyone can put the Dai Li in their place, it's her. Until then, I have to wait. I can't do much on my own. Especially while I'm still recovering, but Ladybug? She can do anything." Adin said dreamly.

"How do you know?" Zuko asked.

"Because, Milady has only lost once, and after all the battles we fought, and after seeing how lucky she is… there is no way she will ever lose again." Adin replied.

"So you used to be a warrior." Zuko stated.

"The protector of my village. I used staffs and fencing sabers. Ladybug was my partner… but there was this guy, Hawkmoth he called himself, who began to attack it. We were so focused on defending Paris. We won every battle, outsmarted his every plan. We thought we were invincible… but we were wrong. It was all my fault. I rushed into a fight I wasn't prepared for. I broke my leg and almost died. She almost sacrificed everything to save me… but I didn't let her. I got away. Trick Hawkmoth into following. I've been hiding ever since." Adin said.

Zuko frowned. Adin was only a few months older than Zuko, but like Zuko he'd sacrificed everything because he thought he was doing the right thing. Now they were both fugitives, hiding in plain sight. Perhaps the two had more in common than terrible fathers and missing mothers.

"We should get you home. The bakers will worry." Zuko grunted standing and helping Adin up, "And Adin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." Zuko said softly. Adin smiled.

"You too." And that was how Zuko made friends with Adin.