WIP: "In your own company" (Ch.02), rough draft
Just backing this one up... Not finished writing the original draft yet, and no real corrections yet, either. Will finish / edit later.
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Title: In your own company
Author: Moor (beyondthemoor on LJ)
Genre: Modern AU, high school
Length: Approx.
Pairing: Zutara
Rating: T
Disclaimer: “Avatar: TLA” belongs to its copyrights holders.
AN: This fic is based on how the group would interact in high school... but if events similar in nature had happened to them up to the season three episode, ‘The Firebending Masters’.
After a way-too-long-time deliberating, this fic kind of continued itself in my head, so I wanted to add an extra chapter or two to really ‘finish’ it. Please excuse my belated creativity… Thank you for reading!
*****
(Thursday afternoon, before Aang arrived for his tutoring session)
Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot bid their time patiently in the leaf-cover provided by the treeline on Iroh’s property. Their attention never waivered from the immaculately-kept property they’d kept under surveillance for the last day or so.
“He’s there, I’m sure of it,” mumbled Jet to his two companions. They nodded, trusting his instincts.
Sure enough, an hour or so later they saw the front door open and the young man in question led a pretty girl with long, dark hair out with a smile, waving to each other and promising to see each other the next day at school.
Jet’s eyes narrowed as he got a closer look at the scene.
“Now that’s interesting,” he said thoughtfully, and watched the girl walk down the path to the main driveway before heading off in the direction of her home.
(BREAK)
(Friday afternoon…)
In the hallway outside the student council office, Aang proudly handed Zuko a piece of the most damning evidence of their teenagerdom: A ticket to their school dance that night.
“Doors open at 7:30pm, and Katara and I’ll be there early, so you can show up whenever you’re ready!” chirped the younger man, so excited Zuko was joining them for an official school-sanctioned social activity he couldn’t help himself from grinning. Anyone else observing them would have definitely been getting the wrong impression.
“You and Katara are going together?” Zuko asked nonchalantly, shifting his knapsack on his back and still not looking at the ticket he held. Finally being able to speak to her, alone, the day before at his home, and then again that day at lunch had made him far less wary of the young woman.
“… Uh, no…” Aang coloured a bit and scratched the back of his head. “We’re on set-up, so we have to stay late after school, and then be early for the dance to help take tickets and do coat check, et cetera… We’re both on Social Committee, so we don’t really ask, or get asked, to dances. We’re just always there. We stay late to clean up afterwards, too.”
“Oh. Sounds like a lot of work.”
Aang looked more closely at Zuko’s slightly downcast face, wondering why the other young man looked less enthusiastic than he had a moment ago. He reached his own conclusion, and immediately decided on a course of action he was sure would cheer up his tutor.
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “But don’t worry - you won’t have to go to the dance alone! I’ll ask both Toph and Sokka to stop by your uncle’s house on their way here to get you, so you’ll have lots of company.”
Zuko froze in panic.
“That’s ok,” said Zuko quickly, blanching a bit and raising his hands, peace-maker fashion. “Uh, I’ll come by myself. They don’t need to come to the house.”
“It’s no problem at all, it’s on the way!” insisted Aang, clearly missing the expression of Really Bad Idea plastered across Zuko’s face. They heard their last warning bell ring, and Aang waved and started jogging to his next class.
“See you tonight, Zuko! If you need anything to wear, just let Sokka know, he’s really good with that stuff! Especially accessories!”
“But-!”
“Bye!”
Feeling adrift and abandoned, Zuko’s arm lowered and he stood alone in the corridor a moment, trying to figure out just how much damage he’d do to his reputation and friendships if he were to fake sick that night and stay home.
“Ah, Nephew!”
Zuko’s blood ran cold at the warm, welcome sound of his uncle, Vice President Iroh’s, voice from a doorway behind him. He’d forgotten the Student Council office was so close to the staff offices. It was a painful awakening.
Missing, or ignoring, his nephew’s lack of greeting, Iroh barreled right along.
“I hear you’re going to the dance tonight! What a lovely idea! Are you taking a lady-friend? We need to get you ready for your big night out!” Zuko felt a lead weight drop onto his shoulders; his uncle had put a fatherly arm around him. “Now don’t you worry,” whispered Iroh, “I know exactly what you can wear.” He glanced at Zuko’s head critically. “But we’ll have to do something about that hair…”
“Miss Jun,” called Iroh from his doorway while he maintained an iron grip on Zuko’s shoulder. He was wily enough to know when the young man would bolt. “I’m going home early today--.”
“Uncle, I mean, Mr. Sozin, I have classes this afternoon I can’t miss--.”
“Nonsense! This is a very important night for you!” Iroh turned back to his secretary-slash-administrative assistant. “Could you please send a note to Zuko’s teachers that he’s been called home for the afternoon? You can make up any excuse you like,” he said conversationally.
Leaning back in her chair, her short skirt dangerously close to infringing on rule number four of their Casual Friday dress code, the most renowned, lazy secretary on their school board payroll perked up considerably. The promise of blanket permission brought a rueful smile to Jun’s face, and she leaned forward to rest an elbow on her desk. “Is that so?”
“We’ll see you this evening at the dance, Miss Jun!”
“’Later, Fatman.”
The woman’s chilling chuckles followed the two men the whole way home.
It wasn’t more than a few minutes into his Manly Makeover that Zuko came to the conclusion that it would definitely have been less damaging to his friendships and reputation to have stayed home from the dance that night compared to the abuse he was sure he would suffer once he went out in public dressed in the outfit and hairstyle his uncle Iroh had enforced on him. Emphasis on the ‘force’.
“Zuko, I’m heading out now to oversee the preparations for the dance,” called his uncle from the foot of the stairs that led to the second floor, where Zuko was desperately trying to tame his hair in the bathroom mirror. “I’m on chaperone duty tonight, so I’ll see you when you arrive!”
“Better and better,” the self-conscious young man muttered under his breath as he glared at his reflection.”
“What was that?”
“I said I’ll see you there later!”
“Good!”
The front door opened quietly and clicked shut politely as his uncle exited and made his way towards the school grounds.
It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang again and Zuko glumly welcomed Toph and Sokka inside. He hadn’t had the nerve to call them to cancel, so now he was stuck with their uncomfortable, awkward silence when he revealed his ‘new look’.
Sokka took one look at Zuko’s, er, overwhelming appearance before putting his hands on his host’s shoulders and steering him solemnly back to the bathroom. “We’ll be back when he’s more presentable, Toph,” was all the younger man said in explanation.
“See, I told you it was a good idea to come early,” called Toph as she settled into her ‘usual’ spot on their couch and reached for the candy bowl she knew was always stationed on the coffee table.
(BREAK)
Less than an hour from Toph and Sokka’s arrival…
Longshot signaled Smellerbee from the side of the road, and they shifted from their hiding spots in the shrubbery to follow the trio of friends as they left Iroh’s residence. Their orders were to simply follow at this point, and they did so quietly and swiftly up the private driveway to the school. They could clearly hear Sokka and Toph’s nettling banter as they accompanied, or rather dragged, the reluctant third party with them up the long, winding road to the auditorium-cum-dance hall for the evening. The music flowed from the doorway and grew louder as they got closer; there was a small line-up outside of students who’d already queued up to get in.
As they approached the building, the tails glanced at each other and without a word slunk to the side back into the treeline to mask their presence.
Longshot drew the sleek, black cellphone from a pocket in his equally dark flak vest, nodding once to Smellerbee as she kept watch. He sent the expected text-message to their leader, and then put it away again until they received further instructions. The two friends sat back when the phone stayed silent after that, and waited for Jet to tell them when to make their next move.
In their gang, it was blood-in, blood-out.
And Zuko had left a few debts in his wake that needed to be taken care of.
(BREAK)
The lights were dimmed in the auditorium, and all the seats had been pushed to the sides of the room where small posses of friends crowded together away from the main dance floor to laugh and socialize and watch the newcomers arrive. The polished wood floors shone where the flashing stage lights spun and reflected on them between the pulsing, flowing bodies of those students who were dancing in throngs and groups. Several large video screens were set up on the stage behind and beside the DJ, and speaker cable lines ran along the perimeter of his workspace.
From his place against the wall behind a boisterous clan of jocks, Jet surveyed the room with his arms crossed over his chest; he’d received the text-message, and was just biding his time a few more moments before setting his plan in action. Pushing away from the wall, he glanced at the clock on the opposite side of the auditorium and made his move.
He smiled at the beautiful young woman who accepted his jacket at the coat check, and she smiled back in welcome.
“Are you new?” she asked in an open, friendly tone as she placed his worn canvas jacket on the hanger.
“Yeah, it’s my first dance here, just looking to meet some new people before I start here officially next week. You free to show me around a bit later, maybe have a dance?”
The way she blushed a bit, and smiled wider in amusement at his charm, were all the confirmation he needed. Inside, he crowed triumphantly. He’d hooked her.
“Maybe. I get a break in about an hour or so. I’ll take a look around for you.”
She held out the coat-check-ticket to him with a teasing smile; her eyes widened when he held her hand in his a moment, looking deep into her blue eyes.
“I’ll look forward to that…”
“Katara,” she said softly, a blush creeping across her cheeks. She glanced down at the counter between them a moment before looking up at him again to find him still gazing at her.
“Katara, I like that,” he said smoothly, and gave her captive hand a quick, gentle squeeze. “Then hopefully I’ll see you later, Katara.”
“What about you?” she burst out when he turned to leave, his fingers trailing over hers a moment longer than they needed to.
His eyes shone happily back at her. “My name’s Jet.”
With that, the confident young man walked away back to the dance hall; but not before he caught the eye of another youth who’d just entered through the main doors, accompanied by two friends.
Wedged between Toph and Sokka, Zuko paused in shock as he recognized Jet, there in front of him at the school dance, and bristled when the other man looked him in the eye and smirked. If Jet was there, he was up to no good.
Something was very wrong, he could feel it. After a moment of reflection, he started walking towards the main hallway, following Jet. There was no way he was going to trust the other man; he didn’t want him out of his sight.
However, he wouldn’t be able to follow him quite yet.
“Zuko, you made it!” he heard a female voice call from nearby and distract him; against his better judgment, he turned away from Jet to see Katara smiling at him cheerfully from the coat check; her sparkling top immediately caught his attention, and her hair was down, cascading in waves over her exposed shoulders and back. “Oh wow, you really…”
“Hmm?” She was staring at him, and the colouring on her cheeks had warmed to a very appealing rose tint. Her attention was making Zuko uncomfortable-he wondered for a moment if he should have stopped Sokka from ‘helping’ him earlier…
“Oh uh, just… you look really good tonight, Zuko. Take your jacket?” The blue-eyed girl said quickly, and fumbled with a coat hanger.
“Sure, thanks,” his coat was still warm from his body heat when he handed it over; Katara handed him his ticket, and passed tickets to Toph and Sokka, too, before they immediately grabbed and led Zuko on a short tour of the auditorium building.
…Which was good, because Katara knew she would have been very embarrassed if they’d caught her holding on to his warm garment a few minutes longer than she needed to, brushing off imaginary lint as she put it away on the racks behind her. It was a very nice, expensive piece of clothing, and she recognized the brand name. His family must be more well-off than she’d realized.
“Just being careful with it,” she murmured to herself. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
(BREAK)
Notes: Pull back on K's reaction to Z; make S & T funnier; finish up with conflict; don't forget Blue Spirit idea; don't forget Z & J conflict / K's participation / reason Z doesn't want K/her father involved, etc.