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Zuko's Favorite regular

Author's Note: This was written for @zukkaweek as a VERY late contribution. Please check out their account for all the other beautiful works and future event weeks

Prompt: Day 1 - Ba Sing Se or Jasmine Dragon Words: 904 Rating: General Audiences Genre: Fluff

Enjoy!

Zuko and Iroh sat in silence at the dinner table. The smell of tea clung to them, not that they minded. Both of their bodies and minds were sore after a long day of work at the Jasmine Dragon, and Zuko still had homework from college to finish. Although, he couldn’t think of any better way to spend his time. 

Iroh looked up at him every few seconds, which Zuko didn’t mind at first but was starting to. 

“What?” he asked, putting down his chopsticks. “Nothing,” Iroh said, putting his hands up. 

Zuko squinted at him but returned to his meal. Once again, he felt Iroh looking at him. 

“Really, what?” he persisted. Iroh finished slurping his noodles before saying. “How’s school?” 

Zuko made a slight face. All that just to ask how school was going?

“It’s fine,” he shrugged.  Iroh cleared his throat obnoxiously. “Make any new friends?” “…no?” “Oh.”

Zuko gave up on eating, resigning his hands to his lap. Iroh pretended not to notice, living up to his title as the least subtle man alive. 

“What?” Zuko said again, annoyance tracing his tone like the way a cat’s tail thumped against the ground. 

Iroh shrugged too hard to look natural. “Just curious.”

Zuko squinted at him. He ran through the events of the day in his head, recounting whatever would make Iroh start to talk like that. It then dawned on him what he was asking about. 

“Is this about Sokka?” he asked, leaning against the dark wooden table a little, making its old support beams creak. 

“Considering he’s been flirting with you on table napkins for the past week, I’d venture to guess you know each other,” Iroh shrugged, not looking up from his bowl. 

Zuko’s cheeks got a little red at the mention. In truth, this little routine had been going on for about a month. The receipts weren’t even half of it. 

Sokka always walked into the Jasmine Dragon at four in the afternoon. He sat down, pretended to study the menu, and waited for Zuko to walk over and take his order. He always got the same thing. 

Sokka would sit in the sunlight of the café, look between him and the menu, and say his order with a cheesy pick-up line afterward. 

Zuko would roll his eyes, write down what he ordered,—which was always a lemon green tea—and walk away with a dumb smile on his face. 

He tried to hate it, he really did. He’d pretend to be annoyed with the advances. However, there came a point where he could no longer hide how amused he was. 

He remembered the first day he laughed at one of Sokka’s little jokes. Sokka lit up like a lightbulb, grinning at the slight snicker he received. 

After the initial flirting, Zuko took his order to the back and went about his business until Sokka’s tea was ready. 

When it was done, he’d carry it over and place it down, avoiding whatever homework Sokka was working on. Sokka would give him a smile, another pickup line, and would finish his work. 

Once he was done, he’d wait for the check, and take the time he had Zuko trapped there, waiting for his signature, to have some casual small talk. Zuko would usually just nod, but lately, he’d been finding himself engaged in the conversations. 

Sokka would eventually leave his signature, putting another dumb pickup line beside it, and he’d leave a few minutes later. 

They did that nearly every weekday for the past three months. Zuko wouldn’t admit that he liked the attention or just Sokka’s attention, but he found it hard to deny that he smiled every time he walked in. 

Iroh, as unsubtle as he was in domestic situations, could be discreet when he wanted to. He was observant to a near-impossible degree. 

“So?” Iroh prodded, dragging Zuko out of his thoughts. “Care to explain to your uncle?” Zuko shrugged. “He’s just weird.” “He has a crush on you. You have a crush on him.” Zuko put his hand to his chest, scandalized. “No, I do not!” “No one is judging you.” “I do not have a crush on him!” “Your face is as red as the chili flakes in this broth, nephew.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “We’re just friends. Hardly friends, at that. He thinks he’s funny.”

Iroh looked at him one last time before shrugging and continuing to eat. Zuko finished his meal, helped wash the dishes, and walked to his bedroom to change clothes and sleep. 

As he tossed his jeans into the laundry basket, something fell out of his pocket. He picked it up, inspecting the folded paper. He opened it with gentle fingers, a smile crinkling his eyes as he studied it. 

In the receipt printer font were the words “medium green lemon, extra sweet.” The last part was underlined in blue pen. Sokka wrote out in his messy, near illegible handwriting “just like you.” 

Zuko, even in the privacy of his own home, pretended to roll his eyes. He laid it on his desk and lay in bed, still grinning. 

Despite his claims at the dinner table, he couldn’t wait to go to work tomorrow and see Sokka’s face again. 

Little did he know, tomorrow was the day that Sokka would scribble out his number on his receipt. They would start dating a few days later after their third date. 

Author's Footnote: hope you enjoyed! This is a VERY late contribution, but I enjoyed participating nonetheless <333 Go check out @zukkaweek !! Can't wait to contribute next year, should they run the event again.