Shut Up and Do It

So, he's pretty sure that someone's stalking them again.

It starts like this.

He's in the middle of obsessing over his disastrous date with Jin (yet again) when Ping, one of the shop's regulars, randomly mentions that somebody has been going around the markets and taverns asking "who the hell this Lee person is."

Then, he stops thinking about Jin for what is probably the first time in a million years and starts freaking out over the very real possibility that someone is trying to expose him and his uncle as firebenders again. That's really the only logical explanation why someone's asking around for him. Ping's saying something about how it could've been another Lee and that there are at least a million Lees in Ba Sing Se. But he can't shake off the feeling that this is something that has to do with him because how many of those one million Lees in Ba Sing Se are secretly firebenders?

Exactly. Just him.

So he does what any rational person would do. He cashes in on all of the breaks he has never bothered to use and spends the next two hours wandering around Ba Sing Se, just trying to find out who exactly this person is. Maybe he's overreacting or being overly paranoid but he and his uncle's current living situation is precarious. One wrong move and they could find themselves facing the Dai Li. He has to nip this in the bud before it even starts.

It only takes him around thirty minutes to get a good description of who exactly this guy is.

(He guesses that spending nearly a quarter of his life tracking the Avatar down did have some of its benefits.)

He manages to get a name (Ryu) and even a workable physical description. This Ryu person seems like a typical Earth Kingdom citizen—dark-haired and green eyed. But what sets him apart from everyone else is his wild hair and the small bump at the crook of his nose (people say he got it from an earth bending accident). Apparently, he's a pretty nice guy, well-liked and fairly popular around the area. The people manning the stalls have all told him that Ryu's very friendly and easygoing, an absolute sweetheart. Zuko probably would've let the whole thing go if he didn't hear that the guy also apparently served in the army, under General How and that his father was killed in the Siege of Ba Sing Se.

Great. So from the looks of things, this person has a huge grudge against the Fire Nation. Or firbenders in general.

Sounds like the whole thing is shaping up to be another Jet situation.

When he asked why the guy seems so bent on knowing who he is and where he works, everyone else replies that Ryu never really mentioned anything. The only thing they could recall him talking about was that he just wanted to "have a talk."

Zuko's chest tightens. Having a talk sounds really vague and it can range from this Ryu guy wanting to figure out his uncle's secret tea recipe to him yelling out death threats.

So yeah, best to be on guard.

He spends the rest of the morning trying to convince his uncle that they should move and leave this place forever. But when his uncle says no, he settles for anxiously watching the door, just waiting for someone to burst in and start flinging accusations at them.

At least he's no longer thinking about Jin. The date they had makes him feel strangely happy and embarrassed at the same time—the whole thing was unbearably awkward but he's not going to lie and say that he didn't enjoy it. Thinking about the way her lips curved into a smile when he lit all of those lamps makes him feel all warm on the inside.

He's coming dangerously close to thinking about their disastrous date (yet again) when someone suddenly barrels in from the front door.

Zuko blinks at him.

Tall, wild hair, bump on his nose.

Shit.

"Hey! You Lee?" he roughly barks as he stomps towards the counter. The shop's practically deserted now so if this Ryu guy ever starts something, then at least he can fight back without worrying about hurting other people.

"Yeah. So what?" he snaps. From beside him, Pao and his uncle have stiffened, eyes wide and afraid. His uncle puts a hand on his shoulder and gives him small, pleading look that's just begging him not to do anything stupid.

The guy places both of his palms flat against the countertop, brows pulled together in a threatening manner. He still has his armor and helmet, making him seem bigger and more intimidating then he really is. Still, there's just something in the expression of his eyes and the way his lips are twitching that's so familiar and makes Zuko feel, weirdly enough, at ease.

In fact, there's just something about him overall that's familiar.

Before he can figure it out, the man suddenly grabs him by the collar and growls, "So you're the little punk that took my baby sister out on a date, huh?"

"W-What? Baby sister? Date?" Zuko incredulously babbles.

"You little bastard! So now you're just going to pretend like you don't even know her!?" Ryu roars. From beside him, his uncle anxiously starts tugging at his sleeve, almost as if he's trying to warn Zuko of something.

It takes him half a second to figure it out.

"Wait! Are you talking about Jin?" he says.

"Who else would I be talking about? Unless you're secretly dating someone else?" Ryu snarls.

Zuko blinks back at him as he tries to process everything. Why is Jin's brother after him? Why does he want to report them to the Dai Li? Awkward as he might have been in covering up his real identity, he's pretty sure that he at least managed to keep it a secret—fuck. The fountain. He completely forgot about that.

Agni, he's so stupid. Whatever possessed him to use his firebending? All he wanted to do was to make her happy. But obviously using his firebending in the middle of the city was not the smartest way to go about it. And of course she would come to the conclusion that he's a firebender. Whatever made him think that she would be stupid enough to accept his silent-mysterious-look as an answer as to how he lit all those lamps?

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about," he quickly says. He can't think of any plausible escape scenario right now except for "deny everything he's going to say."

"Stop acting like you didn't do anything wrong!" he roars.

"That's because I didn't!" Zuko shoots back, fists balled. If he's going to get violent, then Zuko's not going to take any of it lying down.

"What the hell? Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners!?" he snaps. "What part of suddenly leaving a girl in the middle of a date is perfectly okay to you?"

"I'm telling you, my uncle and I are just normal refugees—wait. What?"

"You abruptly left my sister in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and now she's upset and embarrassed and sad. And anyone who makes her sad makes me really, really angry. You hear?" He lets Zuko go, crosses his arms and narrows his eyes.

"Wait so you're not about to turn us—you mean this isn't about—you don't really think we're—''

"You broke my baby sister's heart. And unless you want me to break every bone in your body in recompense, you're going to do exactly as I say," he says, voice suddenly very quiet.

"Are you threatening me?" Zuko retorts, a bit of his temper flaring up.

"I'm the best soldier in the entire regiment, I've won every single street brawl against every single lowlife in the Lower Ring and I may or may not have been arrested for putting someone in a coma," he says as he leans back. "You really want to go against someone like me?"

Zuko blankly stares at him, largely unaffected by his list of threats. He's taken on worse people than this clown.

"Yeah, those all sound really scary—''

"Thought so," he says, oblivious to the indifferent expression on Zuko's face. "So unless you want to eat through a straw for the rest of your life you're gonna one: go ask my sister out on a second date, two: show her a good time and treat her nicely and not mention that she's got an appetite bigger than a Canyon Crawler and three: give her a juggling performance she will never forget."

Zuko blinks at him. "Juggling?"

"You're a circus clown or something right?"

"Circus clown?" his uncle pipes up. He shoots Zuko a vaguely amused look.

"Juggler actually," Zuko corrects.

"Whatever. Look, just shut up and do it," Ryu exasperatedly says.

"But—"

He suddenly grabs Zuko by the collar again, lifting him up a few feet above the ground. "Listen man, she really likes you, okay? And you were a total jerk to her. I know you may not be interested in her but the least you could do is take her out on a second date—a proper one this time. That's all I'm asking. You don't have to take her on a third date. Just a second, great one. Just one that will make her happy. She works hard and she's been through a lot. She deserves this."

Zuko suddenly remembers that they've lost their father in the Siege—the Siege which his whole family started. His throat tightens. Jin seemed so happy go lucky and positive; she seemed like one of those persons that always had it easy in life. She never even mentioned, never gave any indication, about it. But then again, it's not like he bothered to ask her anything about her life. Suddenly, he feels bad for not trying.

"I...I actually wouldn't mind going out on a second date with her," he honestly tells her brother.

Ryu lets him go, his face breaking out into a wide, mischievous smile. His face eases into a ridiculously easygoing expression, almost as if he's completely forgotten that just seconds ago, he was threatening to put Zuko in a coma. He puts an arm around Zuko's shoulder like they've known each other for the whole of their lives and gives him a small noogie as he cheerfully says, "Really? You know what, Lee? You're actually not all that bad."

"Thanks," Zuko mumbles as he rubs at the spot where there's sure to be a bruise. Iroh and Ryu have happily moved to the corner to talk about tea, with his uncle cheerily saying, "You have to forgive my nephew. It's been quite awhile since he's interacted with the ladies..."

Agni, he just can't catch a break.

"Lee?" Jin says, eyes wide with confusion. He avoids her gaze and anxiously toes a piece of rock to the side. She's wearing a neat but simple dress and her hair is twisted into a high bun. She's got an armful of scrolls and books in her hand and she looks exhausted. Her brother told her that school usually ends at around five for her and then she heads straight to work at a noodle shop.

She raises a brow. "What are you doing here?"

Great. She probably thinks he's some creepy stalker.

"I wanted to get some noodles," he lamely replies.

"But you're standing outside of the shop," she points out.

"I know...it's just that um..." He awkwardly scratches the back of his head.

"Do you wanna maybe go out again sometime?" he blurts out. Then, he inwardly slaps himself. Why is he so bad at this?

"What?" Jin says, looking even more confused.

"But if you don't want to, then that's okay too," he quickly says.

"No! I want to!" Jin replies, just as quickly. Then, realizing how desperate she sounds, she hurriedly schools her features and clears her throat. "I'm just...taken aback. I was under the impression that you didn't want to see me again. You know. Considering how you suddenly ran away and stuff."

He's not sure but he thinks he heard a note of resentment in her voice.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," he awkwardly mumbles. Agni, why is he still talking? Why isn't he shutting up? "I actually had a good time that night. It's just that...I'm not used to stuff like that and I sort of...panicked."

"It's okay," she disarmingly says, looking more happy than confused now. "Don't worry! This time, I promise not to kiss you."

Actually, he doesn't mind if she'll kiss him. Not that he'll tell her that because you know, he's still a firebender and it's probably best if he just sticks to a second date.

"Er...right," he mumbles. She suddenly grabs his arm and starts dragging him towards the restaurant, whatever apprehensions she had quickly dissipating. He blinks at her, slightly baffled at how she just flows through life like nothing was a big deal.

"Wanna go right now? My shift doesn't start until six and I'm wearing one of my best dresses," she enthusiastically says. "And we can get extra soup on the house. My boss is really nice."

"Sure," he says as he follows her through the door of the restaurant.

"So how do you know where I work?" she conversationally says. Then, she abruptly stops. "Wait."

A worried look crosses her face. "My brother didn't put you up to this, did he?"

"What? No. Of course not! I mean...er...what? You have a brother?"

"Nice try, Lee," Jin says as she places her hands on her reddening cheeks. "This is so embarrassing. And after I told him it was no big deal! Did he tell you about the coma story? Please tell me that he didn't."

"Um..." he says as the two of them take a seat.

"Ughhh...he did, didn't he?" she groans as she pinches the bridge of her forehead.

Just one date and that's it. After this dinner, he's done.

But then, she gives this flustered little squeak and he thinks that it's just so...cute...because she's so easygoing and confident that it's kind of nice to see her in a situation where she's as flustered and as awkward as him.

And then he decides that another date probably won't be so bad.

He did promise her brother to give her a juggling performance she will never forget and he still hasn't even started practicing.

Author's Note: So, it's been a while since I wrote Jinko but this request came to me in tumbles. I know all my previous fics had Jin with a little brother. But for some reason, the idea of an overprotective big bro came to me and I loved that idea just as much. I didn't expand too much on Zuko and Jin's interaction because I've done the awkward-meetup-after-the disastrous-date bit at least two times already and it's hard coming up with different scenarios of how it could go. And yes, this features Jin as a student again. It's seriously a consistent headcanon of mine. Like, I honestly think that she seems like the kind of person who would go to school. She is one of the more normal teenagers who's had a presumably normal, non-badass upbringing. So it makes sense for her to do regular teenager stuff like go to school. And given her plucky, positive nature, it wouldn't surprise me that despite being poor and living in the lower ring, she would still be determined to go to finish her studies and do something better with her life.

Please leave me a review or tell me what you think if you have the time :)