AtLA: Tea Theory
Title: Tea Theory
Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender
Author: kawaiispinel
Feedback: ...Is loverly.
Word Count: 257
Rating: G
Prompt: 14. Smile (Multifandom 100 Challenge)
Characters: Iroh, Jin, Zuko
Summary: Iroh finds a kindred soul in the art of making tea.
Disclaimer: Totally not mine.
Author's Note: Slightly AU-ish, I guess. Initially it was going to be my theavatar100 prompt, but I decided against it. And I swear this is my last fic for the night. *apologizes for spamming a dozen or so flists.*
She makes tea with the hands of an expert and he watches her closely, inspecting her for errors, because he expects something special out of a girl who comes off the street, declaring that she could make tea worthy of his teashop. She seems to be going through each step in the process like a dance, even humming a little tune as she prepares everything, and then smiling a snarky little smile as she hands over the steaming cup.
They give each other slight nods as if they are combatants on some distant battlefield and he takes a sip, while she watches, still smiling. His nephew, busying himself in the background, suddenly stops to look, interested.
He savors the tea, his eyes closed and then a smile creeps onto his face. "I must say, young lady, this is the best jasmine tea that I’ve tasted that I haven’t made myself." (His nephew rolls his eyes and continues his work, muttering something about old men and their arrogance.)
"Thank you." she bows low and then straightens. "Do I have the job?"
"You most certainly do, Jin. You start immediately." He waves her to the front to wait on customers, which she does with ecstatic glee, flashing a flirtatious little smile in his nephew’s direction.
Iroh takes another sip of his tea and smiles at Zuko as he exits. "You’d be lucky to get a girl who can make jasmine tea this splendidly."
He’s out the door before his nephew has time to react.