𝘼𝙈𝙀𝙍𝙄𝘾𝘼'𝙎 𝙎𝙐𝙄𝙏𝙀𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙎 | 𝙯𝙪𝙠𝙖𝙖𝙣𝙜.

𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠.

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⠀Zuko walked in on his uncle and Aang laughing heartily, Aang with a chair in his hands and Iroh with a rag on a table horizontal from the blue arrowed boy. "What the hell is he doing here?" Zuko asked, not quite angry or annoyed but more confused, did Aang know his uncle? His voice silenced their laughter though, both of them turning away from each other to his direction. "Aang here came all the way to speak to you, I told him that you were busy at your classes but he decided to stay and help me set up shop," Iroh spoke with a mischevious tone, one that put Zuko on edge. "I think I will go to the back to make sure everything is in stock for opening," Iroh spoke quickly before disappearing to the back kitchen, leaving Zuko and Aang alone amongst an empty room of chairs and tables.
⠀⠀"I'm sorry about what my friend Sokka said last night," Aang started, setting down the chair he forgot that he had been holding in his hands. "We didn't mean to offend you, and you even stopped serving us afterward so..." Aang couldn't think of a graceful, well-worded apology as he had hoped. Zuko quirked a brow like he was confused about what Aang was saying. "What do you mean? What your stupid friend said isn't why I left, and I wasn't offended by it. You wasted your time coming out here." Zuko's voice was nearly as cold as the air that drafted underneath the old door from outside, but to Zuko's surprise, Aang didn't seem phased. "Well, that's good! to be truthful with you I was hoping you weren't angry because I wanted to do something with you, you know, to show you around town or whatever." He was afraid he may be coming on too strong or reaching his hand out too fast, that he may scare the other away. As Zuko averted his gaze from Aang to somewhere, anywhere else in the room Aang's intense eye contact, he gave it a good thought. Hanging out with this kid seemed a whole lot better than washing tables and being lectured by his uncle. "Alright, where do you plan on taking me?"
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The first half of the walk to the farmer's market, Aang's choice of location, was pretty silent. Zuko wasn't much of a talker and Aang couldn't get his heartbeat to calm down to get the nerve to say anything. There's a lot of things he did want to ask though, like why Zuko moved here of all places, Where Zuko got his scar, Where Zuko got all his nice clothes, What was Zuko's number...but he felt all of those may be a tad inappropriate for how close they were, which wasn't very much at all. "I was wondering, I mean- your uncle said that you were used to comments like the ones Sokka said, the whole being a thug thing...I was wondering what your life was like before you came here?" Aang swallowed the sour lump in his throat, wishing he could immediately take the awkward prying words that just came out of his mouth right back. Zuko didn't seem angry though, in fact when Aang looked over when Zuko had remained silent he saw a gentle smirk pulled across his lips. "My uncle didn't tell you more about me?" Zuko responded, looking down right into Aangs grey eyes to pierce them with his golden ones. Aang shook his head, thinking back to the tea and dad jokes Iroh had told instead. "Well, back when I lived with my parents I went to a private school. My sister did as well, but around the time I started high school I realized my parents only applauded my sister for her accomplishments and I got compared to her. It started out with them comparing my C- to her A+, and before I came here they had been ignoring me entirely." Before Aang got the chance to ask more, they had encroached upon the flocks of people that busied the farmers market, leaving an even deeper canyon of curiosity than he had before.

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On Aang's bus ride back to his dorm, he felt a sense of giddiness mixed with sadness. This was the first time he's ever reached out to someone and had a good time, but Zuko didn't act like he cared to see Aang again in the future when they parted ways in front of Iroh's restaurant. Plus, Aang had assignments and classes to go to, and he had already apologized so he saw no reason to pester Zuko to spend time with him again... by now it was noon, and he knew Katara was in class and Sokka wasn't good at discussing the subject of feelings, and with no afternoon classes he just didn't know what to do with himself.