Zuko & Xia Modern Drabble 3
Unblocking Writer's Block Writing Prompt #385: How They Met-
It's 4 o'clock in the morning and we both ended up at a dingy diner and we're the only people here besides the waitress. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?
Word Count: 1,665

Yawning, Zuko rubbed the sleep from his eyes with one hand and opened the door to the dingy diner with the other. The little bell above the door jingled making him grimace and glare up at it before shuffling inside the establishment.

He'd been studying for his finals for the past two days straight, without sleep, driving both of his roommates—and apparently their girlfriends—insane because of it. Sokka had finally had enough and kicked him out of their apartment so he and Aang could have a movie night with their girlfriends, which was way he was currently inside the dingy diner five minutes away from his apartment at four in the morning.

The waitress, an older woman with hard eyes, glanced up from the magazine she had spread out on the bar top and looked right back down again. Zuko rolled his eyes. What excellent customer serve this place has.

Zuko covered another yawn with his hand and shuffled towards the bar, landing heavily on one of the tattered stool. He folded his arms on the bar top and rested his head on them, exhaling tiredly. He contemplated ordering a coffee—his stomach growled, pointedly reminded him that he hadn't eaten in who knows how long—and possibly something greasy enough to shave a year off his life. Ultimately he decided the effort it would take to lift his head, flag down the disinterested waitress, and order something was not really worth it. His stomach growled again and he mentally told it to shut up.

"Rough night?" The laughing, feminine voice roused him from the stupor he'd fallen into. The etiquette lessons that had been drilled into his head since birth demanded that he lift his head and respond to the mystery woman's question. The exhausted, anti-social part of his brain told those etiquette lessons to go fuck themselves.

Zuko sighed and decided to comprise by turning his head to the left, towards the voice. The girl sitting one bar stool away from him looked vaguely familiar but for the life of him, Zuko couldn't pinpoint where he'd seen her before.

She was tiny—her feet barely brushed the bottom rung of the barstool—and his mind was apparently awake enough to acknowledge the fact that she was cute; amber brown eyes that almost looked orangey in the diner's bad lighting stared out of a heavily freckled, round face with full cheeks, small nose, and a wide mouth currently quirked in a small impish half smile that showed off an impressive set of dimples.

The tank top and athletic shorts she was wearing did very little to hide the intricate tattoos that decorated every visible inch of her light golden brown skin from her neck down; even her feet, which were bare, a pair of flip-flops lying under her stool, and her fingers were tattooed.

Not his usual type, but still cute in an edgy, bohemian kind of way.

His sluggish brain finally remembered where he'd seen her before. Her pictures were all over his second roommate's bedroom. "You're Aang's sister."

Aang, his other roommate beside Sokka, was several years his junior and a musical prodigy. Great kid, a little too hyperactive and naïve at times, but he wasn't the worst person Zuko had ever roomed with—that particular title went to his crazy younger sister—and his sister was always sending him care packages full of the oddest things. She'd sent him a staff with wings attached to it just last month, called it a glider or something.

The girl—he searched his weary mind futile for her name, but couldn't find it—tipped her coffee mug in his direction. Her eyes laughed at him from over the rim. "Yup."

She obviously knew who he was, knew he didn't remember her name and she obviously wasn't going to help him out by giving it to him. He groped for something polite to say, something worthy of his etiquette lessons before finally giving up the ghost. He was too tired for that shit anyway.

He sighed and admitted bluntly, "I don't remember you name."

Amber brown eyes still laughing, she carefully set her mug down and leaned toward him. She extended one tattooed hand over the barstool separating them. "I'm Xia Sangye."

Zuko forced himself to lift his head the rest of the way, uncross one of his arms and grasp her hand with his. "Zuko Ryuuji."

"I know."

Of course she does.

Her lips pursed and Zuko got the feeling she was trying really hard not to laugh. It was a little insulting and very annoying. That was why the next thing that came out of his mouth would have gotten him smacked by his mother.

"Why are you here? I thought you lived in a hick town in the mountains or something."

"I moved." Xia replied lightly, not looking the least bit offended by his waspish question. In fact, she just looked even more amused than before, sipping daintily at her mug. She set the mug down and spun on the stool, resting her hands on the cracked leather between her thighs. "So what brings you to this humble establishment at four AM?"

He scowled when he remembered the reason he was at this salmonella outbreak waiting to happen in first place. "Sokka kicked me out."

"Ah." She nodded sagely and changed the subject. "So since we're the only two souls dumb enough to actually be here at four in the morning, want me to buy you a cup of coffee?"

"Uh…" Zuko faltered and blinked at her in surprise. He didn't know this girl from Eve and she wanted to buy him coffee. "Sure?"

"Great." She chirped then clambered over the bar.

"What are you doing!?"

Xia gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was mentally deficient, "Getting you a cup of coffee."

Zuko leaned over the bar and hissed at her, "Are you crazy? You can't go back there!"

"Sure, I can. Doris doesn't mind." Xia raised her voice, pitching so it carried over to the waitress at the other end of the bar. "Right, Doris?"

"Just don't have sex on the bar, kid." Doris replied drolly without looking up from her magazine.

"No promises, doll." Xia quipped back lightly as she fiddled with coffeemaker.

Zuko's eyes bugged and jaw dropping in mortification. He went bright red and his face in his arms. He was starting to regret not telling Sokka to shove it when he kicked him out of the apartment. Soft laughter had him lifting his head and he glared at the petite young woman leaning on the bar top directly in front of him.

She smiled. "Sokka was right. You are ridiculously uptight, aren't you?"

"Sokka needs to learn to keep his mouth shut." Zuko grumped darkly. He would be more than happy to teach the younger man how to do that.

"Oh, I don't know, Toph seems to enjoy his mouth when it's open."

Zuko made a strangled noise and pinched his eyes closed, gritting out. "You're a menace."

"Yup." Xia chirped and sat a mug full of freshly brewed coffee in front of him. "Now drink your coffee before you have an apoplexy. Those aren't sexy, you know."

Zuko scowled at her, but picked up the mug and took a sip, expecting it to taste horrible. It didn't and he pulled the mug away from his mouth, staring at it in surprise. Xia gave him a smug smile and sipped from her refilled mug.

They drank in silence, the only sound coming Doris flipping the pages of magazine a few feet away. It was, Zuko grudgingly admitted to himself, a little relaxing. The tension that had accumulated in his shoulders and neck over the last two days loosened some and he slouched a bit on his stool.

He glanced up and noticed Xia was watching him, an odd little smile curling her lips. He narrowed his eyes at her and frowned.

"What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, that odd little smile still on her face. "You're cuter when you don't look like you've got a stick shoved up your ass, is all."

"…Thanks."

She laughed and murmured into her mug. "Guess I spoke too soon, the stick is back."

"Are you like this with everyone or am I just lucky?" Zuko demanded drily, also taking a drink of his coffee.

Her eyes laughed at him and she sat her mug down, leaning almost halfway over the bar top. "I'm sorry. I get weird when I try to flirt with overly attractive guys."

She was flirting? Zuko stared at her like an idiot for several moments then sat his mug down next to hers and leaned forward until there was only an inch or so of space between their noses. He heard more than saw her swallow thickly and he smirked smugly. "Overly attractive, huh? For some reason, I don't think that has anything to do with how weird you act."

Her amber brown eyes sparked and his smirk widened. At least until she leaned closer, her nose only a hairsbreadth from his own. "Maybe. I guess you'll just have to take me on a date and find out."

That…actually sounded interesting. She wasn't his type at all, but maybe that was a good thing. Staring into her laughing eyes, Zuko felt his own smile—not a smirk—tug at his lips.

"Guess so."

"I said no sex on the bar. That includes eye sex and mind fucking each other." Doris grouched loudly from by the register.

"Doris!"

Zuko sat back and shook his head, laughing silently as he picked up his mug and took a drink. His face felt hot, but whether it was from embarrassment or something else was anybody's guess. All he knew was that Xia looked really cute as she glowered at the older woman down the bar.

He was definitely going to take her out to dinner.