How? How on earth is this actually happening? This guy likes Azula….and she likes him BACK?!
Zuko was really starting to regret going to this party. Him, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee had somehow managed to get themselves invited. At first, he hadn't really cared. It was a chance to spend some time with his girlfriend, and to hopefully get his mind off of everything. Only, there was two things that Zuko hadn't been prepared for: Mai wasn't enjoying herself at all (ok, he probably should have seen that one coming) and Azula seemed to find a guy that she liked. Said guy happened to be the idiot who was hosting this party. Zuko thought nothing of it at first, for he was sure that Chan wouldn't be interested in Azula, since his sister had a knack for being intimidating, even when she wasn't trying to be. So if nothing else, that should have been enough to send Chan running. Right?
Oh, how wrong Zuko was.
"That's a sharp outfit, Chan. Careful, you could puncture the hull of an empire class Fire Nation battleship. Leaving thousands to drown at sea. Because…it's so sharp!"
That had to be the worst attempt at flirting Zuko had ever heard, there was no way that Chan would fall-
"Why thank you, I picked this outfit out myself. Want me to show you around?"
WHAT?!
He actually fell for that? What was wrong with this guy? For that matter, what was wrong with Azula? Couldn't she see that she could do so much better than this punk? That guys like Chan were nothing but trouble and only wanted one thing from girls?
At that moment, Zuko made up his mind. He had to do something about this.
"Hey, I'm hungry. Can you get me something to eat?"
As soon as he was done with getting Mai something to eat.
Zuko was livid.
After he had gotten Mai something to eat, he immediately set out to find Azula and Chan, but was unsuccessful. If only there weren't so many people here! Plus this house was huge, and he had no idea where to start looking. With a scowl on his face, Zuko returned to where Mai was and sat down next to her, fuming.
Mai immediately noticed his bad mood and raised an eyebrow at him? Zuko had been in a bad mood all day (and really, when was he not in a bad mood?) but right now his bad mood seemed to have skyrocketed ever since they got here. Deciding that her time here would only get worse if Zuko were like this the entire time they were here, Mai turned to Zuko and asked him a simple question.
"What's wrong with you? You've been in a bad mood since we got here."
Zuko looked at her and glared before he dropped his head and covered his face with his hands before mumbling "It's Azula".
Azula? Why would Zuko be like this because of her? The two of them haven't said a word to each other.
"Why are you mad at Azula for? She didn't do anything to you as far as I know."
Zuko looked at her, confused "What? No, I'm not mad at Azula. I'm mad at that idiot guy she's with!"
"Idiot guy? You mean the one that invited us to the party?"
"Yes, him! Ever since we got here he's been giving Azula these looks, and she's got it in her head that she likes him. She then made an attempt at flirting with him, and it was so sure that would've scared him off because it was that bad. But her weird attempt at flirting had the opposite effect! And now the two of them went off somewhere and I have no idea where. I know what guys like him think, Mai. He only wants one thing from Azula, and I'm not about to let that happen."
Oh. So that's what this was about.
Mai couldn't help herself. She started laughing.
"What the- why are you laughing?! Can't you see how serious this is?! She's your friend, aren't you concerned about her?!"
"Who would have thought that in your 16 years of life, now of all times is when you choose to play the protective older brother."
What?
Is that what this feeling was? He had never felt anything like this when it came to Azula. She always seemed capable of taking care of herself. Clearly he was wrong.
"Have you tried checking the balcony?"
Zuko blinked "There's a balcony here?"
"Yes, Ruon-Jian told me about it."
"Who is that?"
"Would you just go already?"
After asking around for directions, Zuko eventually made his way to the balcony. As he got closer, he heard two distinct voices, one of which belonged to Azula.
"Your arms are so strong."
Azula would most likely kill him for this, but he had to put an end to…whatever this was before things got out of hand. He had to protect his sister.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"
The two teens turned around to face him, stunned. Azula's face was a mix of shock and anger.
"Zuko? What are you doing up here? And where's Mai? Shouldn't you be with her?"
"She's downstairs, waiting for me to come back. As for what I'm doing here, I'm doing my part as your older brother and protecting you from creeps like him."
"Creeps like- what? Since when do you care who I hang out with?!"
"I care when it's guys like him who only want one thing from you! Now come on, we're going back downstairs, and you are going to sit with me and Mai for the rest of the night."
"ZUKO!"
But it was already too late. Zuko forcefully grabbed his sister's wrist and dragged her back into the house, leaving a stunned Chan behind them.
Azula never felt the urge to kill someone this badly before in her life, but Zuko was truly asking for it.
True to his word, her dum dum of a brother took her to where Mai was waiting for them, and sat her down in between the two of them. As if she was a damn child who was in trouble with her parents. Mai seemed to be thoroughly amused by all of this, as if this was the first source of entertainment the girl had gotten all night.
Well lucky for her.
"You must be hungry by now, right? I can't imagine that idiot got you anything to eat while he was giving you a tour of this place. I'll get you a plate of food. And DON'T go anywhere. Mai, can you watch her for me?"
Mai nodded "Don't worry, she'll be sitting right here when you get back."
Zuko gave her a small smile and walked away.
"What in the world is wrong with him? Who does he think he is, treating me like I'm some child! I'm a big girl, I can choose who I want to be with without Zuzu interfering. Right, Mai?"
"Absolutely"
"Could you at least say that without sounding like you are thoroughly enjoying this?"
"No"
"I hate you"
"You love me"
"And how do you know that?"
"Because I'm not going to get in your way with talking to Chan who is currently making his way over here. Zuko just told me to keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't get up and go off somewhere. He never said that you couldn't talk to anyone."
Azula smirked.
Zuko looked at the plate of food with a satisfied look on his face. He had gotten all of Azula's favorites. That should keep her happy. And hopefully she would even feel grateful enough to remain with him and Mai for the rest of the night.
And maybe she wouldn't kill him.
As he made his way back to where his sister and girlfriend were at, however, Zuko stopped dead in his tracks.
Well, Mai had done one part of her job. She made sure Azula didn't leave her seat.
He probably should have mentioned to not let Chan get anywhere near her.
With a newfound rage, Zuko dropped the plate of food and stormed over to the three of them.
He heard Azula laugh at something the idiot had just said. Damnit, why can't she see that this guy is a sleaze ball?! Did father not warn her about guy's like Chan? Didn't he care about Azula?
No matter. If nobody else was going to care, then he was going to have to step up.
Zuko grabbed Chan from behind and shoved him away from Azula. It seemed like the only way this guy was going to learn his lesson was if Zuko made him learn. Which suited him just fine. He could use a good punching bag.
Chan glared at Zuko "What's your problem?! I was just talking to her, that's all!"
"My problem is that I told you to stay away from my sister!"
"If you don't like seeing me around her then you could just leave, you know!"
Huh. How about that?
Zuko gave Chan a smirk "That is an excellent idea. C'mon Azula, we're leaving."
"I meant you, not her!"
"Don't I get a say in this, Zuko? Since this is about me?"
"No!"
Zuko was really starting to piss her off.
After that little fiasco, the dum dum took her hand (can't he stop treating her like she's a child?) and proceeded to walk out of the house. She looked to Mai for help, to no avail. The older girl gave her a smirk that clearly said "you're on your own".
She clearly needs better friends.
Her attempts at freeing herself from Zuko's grasp proved to be futile. Her brother had a surprisingly strong grip. After a while, they eventually came to a stop. Right in front of their old beach house.
"What are we doing here?"
Zuko didn't respond and began to walk inside.
"Hey, don't ignore me. Zuko!"
But her brother just kept walking and pulled her along with him.
Screw it.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Now will you finally listen to me, dum dum?"
Zuko turned around and glared at her, before sighing in defeat and walking towards a couch to sit down.
"Fine. Talk."
"What was all of that earlier? Why are you acting like this? In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl Zuzu, I can take care of myself."
"I know that! I know that, but…"
"But what?"
"I don't know, ok?!"
"Oh sure, that's really helpful."
"Damnit, this is your fault! If you just realized what Chan was truly about, I wouldn't have had to do what I did!"
"Now what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you flirting with him! You don't actually believe he fell for that, do you? That had to be the worst flirting I have ever heard!"
"Oh, so you think you can flirt better than me?"
"As a matter of fact, yes! I actually got a girl to go out with me back in Ba Sing Se."
"Oh ho, look at you! Well then, since you seem to be an expert on flirting, please tell me what you said to this girl on your date."
Zuko began to open up his mouth, only to immediately close it once he remembered exactly what he said to Jin.
You have…quite an appetite for a girl.
Um… thanks?
He couldn't tell Azula that! She would never let him hear the end of it!
"Well? I'm waiting, Zuzu."
Maybe he could pull a fast one on her. Pull the wool over her eyes. That way he wouldn't have to live with the embarrassment-
"And don't even think about lying to me. You've never been good at that."
Damnit.
Zuko sighed "Fine. I said 'You have quite an appetite for a girl.' Happy now?"
Laughter answered him.
He knew that this was going to happen, damn her. Now she had yet another thing to make fun of him. Azula would never let him live this down. Although, Zuko would much rather have her here with him, laughing at his expense, than to have her be with Chan. He would take what he could get.
After a few minutes, Azula finally calmed down enough to speak "Sounds like we both suck at flirting, wouldn't you say?"
"I, um, guess so. But at least I have enough sense to know when some guy is trying to take advantage of me."
"Why Zuko, I didn't know you went that way! Does Mai know about this?"
"I DON'T LIKE GUYS! STOP TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"
It was silent between the two siblings for a couple of seconds, the both of them glaring at each other. Azula was the one to break the silence.
"You know Zuko, Chan pretty much had me to himself the entire time before you showed up. So if he truly was going to try something with me at some point, he would have done it."
"Maybe he was just waiting for the right moment."
"Maybe you're just being paranoid and he wasn't going to do anything to me. And besides, even if he tried to, I wouldn't have let him. I'm not…ready for that yet."
Well that was good to hear. He still doesn't want her anywhere near a boy though. At least not until she's 20. Or maybe 30.
"I really don't know what came over me tonight. Mai said that I was actually acting like a protective big brother for once. And maybe that's what it was? Because the entire time you were with Chan, all I kept on thinking about was how much I wanted to find you two so that way I could punch him and keep him away from my little sister. And as for why we're here, I don't really have much of a reason. I just needed a place to talk to you in private without anyone interrupting us. This seemed like the perfect place for it."
"Yes, nothing says having a private talk with your sister more than an abandoned house."
"Shut up."
Azula turned and began walking towards the door "C'mon, let's go down to the beach. This place is depressing."
Without a word, Zuko followed her. She didn't seem as upset as Zuko feared she would be, which was a good thing. He didn't need her firebending at him and setting the beach house on fire. If she did that to Chan's house, however…
"Hey"
Azula's voice brought him out of his musings "What is it?"
She stood there for a few moments before speaking again "I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, but I appreciate you looking out for me like that, even though I can look after myself. It… felt like you actually care about me."
He really was a terrible brother, wasn't he?
Granted, neither one of them were perfect siblings, but even he had to admit that Azula had been trying with him ever since they returned home. Perhaps it was time to reciprocate that.
"I do care about you, Azula. And I'm sorry that I haven't done anything to show you that. Despite our differences, you're still my little sister. And I'll always watch out for you. I promise."
Azula looked at him in shock before quickly turning around "Well, that's good to know."
She didn't have to say it, but Azula was touched by what he just said. He was sure of it.
"Oh, by the way. No dating until you're 20 years old. No, until you're 30 years old!"
"ZUKO!"
"Hey, how long do we have to wait for those two to come back, Mai?"
"Well, assuming that Azula hasn't killed Zuko by now, they'll be here soon enough."
Ty Lee looked at Mai with a confused look on her face. Why would Azula want to kill Zuko? They seemed to have been getting along just fine as of late. She said as much to Mai, who gave her a small smirk.
"I'm sure that Azula will be happy to fill you in about her protective older brother."