Worth It
Although he enjoyed living in the Fire Nation advising the new Fire Lord, Iroh looked forward to the occasional diplomatic visit to Be Sing Se. Being in the great city allowed the former general to monitor his thriving tea shop more closely. Not that he didn't have any confidence in the manager that he assigned to watch it while in the Fire Nation. He just liked seeing The Jasmine Dragon's success in person.
"Hello, Iroh. It is good to have you back," the manager said with a smile, as Iroh walked into the tea shop.
"It is good to be back, Raku."
"How are things in the Fire Nation? Is the Fire Lord doing well?"
"Yes, my nephew is fine, thank you for asking. It is funny you should ask, he will be arriving soon with his wife to speak with one of the Earth King's diplomats. How is The Jasmine Dragon doing," he asked, getting straight to business.
"We are doing better than ever now that the war is over. In fact, we've had to hire two new waitresses just to keep up with business. Here they come now," he said, nodding to two girls who had just walked into the tea shop.
Iroh looked at the two new employees for a moment and thought that they looked very familiar, but for the life of him, couldn't quite place their faces.
Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning straight to the royal berries.
"S-Song? Jin? You are the new waitresses?" A weaker man probably wouldn't have survived the shock that Iroh felt when he saw the two girls.
"Mushi?," they said at the same time with a shocked expression on both of their faces. Then they looked at each other, each wondering how the other knew the old man standing in front of them.
"Who is Mushi," Raku asked.
"No one," replied Iroh with a nervous smile on his face. "H-Hello, Song. When did you move to the city?"
"We moved when the Fire Nation was getting close to my home," she said with an equally nervous smile on her face.
"How do you three know each other," asked the manager.
"They are...uh...old friends of my nephew. Song helped me when I was sick, and Jin was a...ahhh...loyal customer when I lived in the lower ring." Iroh was sweating bullets.
"How is Lee, by the way," asked a blushing Jin, hoping the change in topic would alleviate some of the tension in the air.
"Lee? I thought your nephew's name was Zuko," said a very confused manager.
The eyes of both girls bulged almost completely out of their skulls when they heard the name of the legendary Fire Lord that had ended the One-Hundred Year War.
"Z-Zuko?" Song was stammering, almost as if she was afraid of the answer to her next question. "As in Fire Lor-"
"Here he comes now," interrupted Raku. "And with his wife."
Every head turned to see the scarred and regally dressed Fire Lord enter the tea shop. Walking beside him was an exotic and beautiful young woman dressed in multiple shades of blue that was no doubt his waterbending wife. There was no denying it. The handsome and troubled boy that stuck out so clearly in the memories of both girls was now the married man standing in front of them. Neither knew which fact hurt more: that he lied and betrayed them all those years ago, or that he was no longer single.
Iroh thought about leaving the room and giving his nephew some privacy to straighten out the awkward situation, but realized that he would never get another opportunity to see something like this in his entire life. He wasn't going anywhere.
This should be interesting...
"Good afternoon, Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara. It is good to see you again," greeted the manager.
Katara, always wearing a radiant smile, beamed at Raku. "Hello, Raku. How are things going?"
"Quite well, thank you. I was just introducing Iroh to our new waitresses when you came in. They tell me that they are old friends of Fire Lord Zuko."
"Is that right?" She now turned to the previously ignored girls standing in front of her. She was about to ask them how they knew her husband, but when she saw their horrorstruck face staring intensly at Zuko, she turned to him and saw that he wore the same shocked expression. "Zuko, is someting wrong?"
"N-no," he said quickly, recovering from his mild heart attack. "Uhh...hello Jin. It is good to see you again after so long."
God hates me. That's gotta be it. God truly, truly hates me.
"Lee-I mean Zuko-I mean Fire Lord Zuko. I didn't know you..." lied to me about everything, you no-good, two-timing, man-whore "were married. Congratulation."
"Uh, yes. This is my wife Katara. Katara, this is Jin. She...uh...used to...visit me...when I lived in Be Sing Se."
Katara, completely unaware that this was the first unofficial meeting of the Girls-Who-Had-A-Crush-On-Zuko Club, took Jin's hand and shook it happily. "Any friend of Zuko is a friend of mine." The Fire Lady now turned to the other waitress before her, who was currently a dark shade of red. "Are you an old friend of Zuko's too?"
Snapping back to reality, she answered the beautiful woman with a shy "yes." Song never took her eyes off the guilt struck Zuko. "I helped him and his Uncle once. My name is Song by the way."
"It's nice to meet you. You said your name is Song? Your name sounds so familiar..."
It was maybe a week after Zuko joined the 'Gaang' when the topic of old girlfriends came up, and Zuko, not wanting to lose face infront of his new friends, might or might not have mentioned a pretty Earth Nation nurse who totally into him.
God, if you have even the smallest amount of love for me, you won't let her remember.
"Now I remember!"
Of course you do...
"She was the nurse...who...ooohhh...," she said now sporting a blushing face that perfectly matched said nurse.
Well, at least it can't get any worse.
Almost as if God himself heard this as a personal challenge, the newly elected ambassador of Be Sing Se entered the tea shop with a bored expression on her face. Mai walked into the tea shop prepared for a boring and somewhat awkward conversation with her ex and his wife. Things were still a little weird between Zuko and Mai, but for the sake of world peace, she put up with the occasional awkward silence.
"Hey, Zuko. Hey, Katara. Hey, Jin." She did a double-take.
She considered asking why the pretty local was in the tea shop with an obviously fake and nervous smile on her face. But in true Mai fashion, her only thought was Whatever. Don't ask, don't tell.
The next hour was one of the longest that Fire Lord Zuko had ever had to endure. Katara and Mai wouldn't stop glaring at each other, Jin refused to make eye contact with the him, and he couldn't look at Song without being overcome with the guilt. And to make matters worse, Song and Jin, being waitresses, had to wait on him throughout the entire meeting. And Iroh's quiet snickers and knowing smiles weren't helping. In fact, if he didn't get that stupid grin off his wrinkled face, he was going to roast him right there and then.
Actually, it would probably be less painful to roast himself than continue to be surrounded by the four members of the Used-To-Have-A-Crush-On-Zuko-But-Now-Want-To-Kick-Him-In-The-Crotch Club.
With the meeting finally over, Zuko rose from his seat and turned to the two nervous waitresses.
"Well, it was good seeing you two again. But I have to get goin-"
"Lord Zuko," interrupted Iroh, "I just had the best idea. Seeing as we will be in the city for another week, we should invite Song and Jin to join us for the ball in three days. It would provide a wonderful chance to catch up," he said with a grin.
All eyes turned to the formal general. "It is the best way to repay Song for her unpaid kindness from so long ago. And I'm sure Jin would love to come as well."
Song and Jin, forgetting the previous hour's awkwardness, both turned to Zuko with hope filled eyes. "Really, Zuko? We can go?"
"Uhh...sure. Y-you can both go." He didn't notice Mai roll her eyes or the jealous and fustrated looks that Katara was giving her husband.
The girls were so happy, they hugged him, all previous lies and hurts forgotten. "Ohh thank you thank you thank you...," they squealed. Zuko slept on the couch that night.
If looks could kill, then the one the blushing Zuko was giving Iroh would have certainly done the job.
You're going to pay, old man.
Iroh merely smiled at him.
Totally worth it.
There are few things in this world that is more fun than torturing Zuko.
I can't tell you how much fun I had writing this chapter. The idea for this came when I read the Azula chapter of an Avatar fic called 'World Tour' (highly recommended). I thought to myself, 'how would Zuko react if he came home and saw Song and Jin standing in his living room?'
Don't flame me if you think that they're OOC. I did my best.
And I apologize for having to picture Iroh's royal berries.