A/N: This was a request by sorcerousfang. You may not even remember sending it in at this point, but the prompt was "Hair." Also, for the purposes of this fic, The Tales of Ba Sing Se were not necessarily in chronological order (meaning: we'll still see the Tale of Uncle later).

Hair

Zuko grumbles as Uncle slathers his hair down against his scalp. Where did he even get this hair product? That weird flower shop? It smells too strong, but maybe girls like that. Uncle would know better than him.

Not that it matters what girls like. He isn't trying to impress Jin, not really. It's just… polite, right? He knows he needs to be more polite. He can't afford to scare off a regular customer, even if he'd been sure she was a spy. Why else would she want to go on a date with him?

Why does she want to go on a date with him?

"Hold still, nephew," Uncle says. Zuko can see the corners of Uncle's lips twitch in the cracked bathroom mirror. Does he think it looks funny? Zuko's head hasn't looked so flat since he wore it shaved, with the phoenix tail billowing from the center.

What would Jin have thought of a hairstyle like that? It doesn't matter. He won't wear one again until he captures the Avatar. If then.

He tries to stop squirming. It's hard when he has to squat so Uncle can reach the top of his head. When had Uncle gotten so short?

"Looking good, Lee!" Senna calls, his towel over his shoulder as he heads towards the shower.

Zuko scowls at the chuckling older man before Uncle forces his head back to the mirror. His gaze still dodges the left side of his face, like oil skimming the surface of water. It helps that his left is his blinder side, anyway.

"See? Even our neighbors agree. You'll sweep miss Jin off her feet tonight!"

The only sweeping Zuko is good for anymore is sweeping the teashop floor. But somehow, he still feels a flicker of excitement. It's a night away from the teashop. A night away from his Uncle, with someone his own age. He hasn't had that since… ever, actually.

Maybe this won't be so bad.