Sour

Zuko's face twitched as the elderly woman in front of him took her sweet time making her order in the middle of the evening rush, and then changing her mind at the last minute.

He hated being a waiter.

He hated it so much.

He'd complained about it numerous times, but Uncle always told him it would be a good way for him to practice keeping his temper.

(I don't need practice! My temper is fine!" Zuko had shouted the first time he'd heard that only proving Uncle's point.)

He'd asked Ty Lee to switch jobs with him, but she both thought his suffering was hilarious and informed him he probably wouldn't like her job all that much better.

When their boss, Pao, found out they had an ostrich-horse, he jumped on the idea of having them use it for deliveries. That meant most days Ty Lee was out on Peacock the Second riding all around the rings of Ba Sing Se trying to find the places she was supposed to deliver to or pick up deliveries from. And with a city as big as this one, it was no easy task, not at all helped by the fact Pao's handwriting was even worse than her own, so getting comprehensive directions and finding the correct place was hard. More often than not, Ty Lee arrived later than intended and had to deal with irate customers complaining about how long it took.

The two envied Uncle and Mai since the two of them actually got jobs they enjoyed but neither Zuko nor Ty Lee had the skills to ask for a switch. Uncle was in heaven brewing tea day in and day out, and Mai spent most of her days in the back of the shop with TomTom cooking snacks and cakes to go alongside the tea (and, more importantly, not having to deal with pushy customers).

All in all, it wasn't the worst life could have given them, but Zuko knew for sure that the second they could leave Ba Sing Se he was never wearing an apron again.

At least since it was the evening all the deliveries were finished, and Ty Lee would be there soon to help him wait tables, otherwise he'd have a lot more angry customers to deal with while waiting for this one old lady to order.

Finally, her husband seemed to get tired of waiting too and made the order for her (thankfully, the old lady seemed to find it sweet he knew her so well), and Zuko was able to step away from the table and take a breath before he exploded in the middle of the tea shop. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he managed to get them fired with his shouting, but it would make Uncle sad to no longer work there.

Unfortunately, breathing exercises weren't cutting it, and there were too many customers for Ty Lee to deal with alone even after she arrived. He needed to either bottle up his temper now or find some other outlet for it.

At that exact moment, Jet burst into the tea shop and shouted with no proof that they were all firebenders and then attacked.

Despite the accusations, Zuko suppressed a grin as he borrowed a pair of swords from a guard and fought back.

Finally, a way to blow off some steam and just maybe rid them of their stalker problem.

Perfect.

Sweet

Ty Lee sighed as their shift finally ended and she left the tea shop with a spring in her step.

It was an eventful evening with Jet getting arrested, and Zuko getting a chance to beat him up with no consequences. She'd been seeing how much her brother had needed to vent his frustrations, so when she arrived to see them going at it, she spent the fight making sure they broke as little as possible. Pao had appreciated her efforts and given her a small bonus with her pay, finally giving her enough savings to buy a certain something she'd had her eye on.

And so, with just a little bit of time before a date with Mai (Uncle and Zuko agreed to babysit TomTom while they were out), Ty Lee raced Peacock the Second to a Middle Ring music store and bought an instrument that had been on display there.

She then hustled the ostrich-horse to a nearby garden where she and Mai intended to have a picnic dinner under the stars.

She'd totally intended for her purchase to be a surprise, but Mai hadn't missed the large parcel strapped to Peacock the Second's back when she arrived and asked, "Is that a delivery you didn't finish today?"

Welp, no hiding it now. It was just as well, Ty Lee had been vibrating in excitement to show her purchase to her lover anyway.

"Nope," she said, plucking the package off their ostrich-horse and presenting it to Mai. "It's a little gift I got for you."

She enjoyed the sight of Mai quirking her eyebrow and looking amused at that declaration. Many might say Mai's face wasn't easy to read, but compared to her face as Lan Wangji, she was infinitely more expressive in this life compared to her last one. It was so cute, and Ty Lee was enjoying memorizing all her expressions all over again.

"Funny you should say that," said Mai, reaching among the picnic supplies, and pulling out a long thin box of her own.

Ty Lee squealed in delight at the sight of a present, and the two exchanged the gifts.

Mai unwrapped the parcel to find a beautifully carved ebony guqin and ran her fingers over the strings reverently.

Ty Lee gasped as she opened her box to find a dizi carved from white jade. "Mai, this must have cost so much!" she exclaimed.

"In the past and the Fire Nation, maybe," Mai admitted humbly. "We're currently in the Earth Kingdom where people can shape rocks with their minds."

Ty Lee laughed a bit at that. "I suppose there is a price decrease when an earthbender can grow precious stones like radishes," she said.

"There is," said Mai, still running her hands over the guqin. "Unlike this."

Ty Lee waved away any concerns. "Oh, don't worry. I've been saving up my tips and doing a few odd jobs here and there when I'm out on my deliveries. This guqin may be no Wangji, but I know you miss playing."

Mai smiled at her. "And it may be no Chenqing, but I know you've missed playing as well."

Ty Lee sent her a sly look. "Not afraid I'll use it for demonic cultivation?" she asked in a mostly teasing tone. Mai needed to cultivate her Golden Core longer to use the guqin as a weapon, but demonic cultivation didn't need a Golden Core to be used.

"If it can protect you by doing that, then all the better," said Mai as she made some experimental strums on the strings of her new guqin. "My fighting style can let me keep my opponents at a distance or up close. It'd be good for you to have that option too."

Ty Lee just smiled at her fondly, before raising the dizi to her lips and blowing out the opening notes of Wangxian.

Mai froze next to her at the love song she'd composed a lifetime ago, before joining in on the guqin, a soft smile spreading across her face as she did so.

The soft melody wafted through the garden around them.

It was a good night.

A/N Just a brief pair of stories explaining what Ty Lee and Mai do with their time in Ba Sing Se and get Jet's arrest out of the way. Also, give Mai and Ty Lee a date night and a new set of their signature instruments.