Chapter Text
Despite it only being her second week on the job, Katara stands in deep consideration, contemplating how her manager would feel about her murdering one of his employees.
She eyes the door to Shen’s office in the back of the store, evaluating whether her grievances are worth the disappointment of the twenty-eight-year-old who looks like he’s already experienced too much for such a short lifetime.
But all sympathy she has for the man is cast away when Sokka opens his mouth. “When do we get off for lunch,” her brother bemoans, as he has several times already in this hour alone.
Katara resists the urge to hit him with one of the tapes she’s placing on a shelf. “You just asked me that less than ten minutes ago.”
“And? I’m still hungry,” he replies, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“You can hold over for another hour.”
“But can I Katara? Can I?”
A group of younger girls save him from becoming a front page headline when they come into the store and distract Katara, giggling as they ask for her assistance in finding albums to buy for the store’s start of summer sale. More teens file in and out, looking through the catalogue of music under the fluorescent lighting of the shop.
The Misty Palms Mall is thriving now that the school year is over. Opened nearly a decade ago by the Beifong family, the mall stands as a glorious testament to consumerism and suburban spirit, as Mrs. Beifong would say after her fourth shopping trip of the week. And most importantly, it’s air conditioned. Most of Katara’s classmates are either wasting their days away wandering around the mall or taking day trips down the shore, trying to make the most of their summers without suffocating from the rising temperatures.
Those in need of money sprinted to the mall’s various stores, trying to grab jobs before none were left. Katara had been lucky enough to spot an ad for The Wall, promising minimum wage and a 30% discount on CDS at the mall’s music store and raced to apply with her brother. With Sokka going away for college in the fall, she must admit that she’s quite glad to spend time with him for hours every day, even if she wouldn’t dare say it aloud and make his ego even larger.
Though his college is only a few hour’s drive, she knows their relationship will be different. For so many years, it felt like it was just the two of them against the world, taking care of each other after their mom passed while their dad and grandmother worked. She always knew he was going to leave, hell, she encouraged him to, and spent countless hours checking over his applications to make sure admissions officers saw his full potential, but she also is aware of that this is the end of life as she knows it.
Bagging up customer orders only takes up so much of Katara’s time, so she gets plenty of time to overthink during the day. Her friend, Aang, usually stops in but not long enough to get rid of her boredom. While Sokka found use the workspace towards the back of the store and spends his downtime fixing old radios and arguing with Katara over whether they should be allowed to play N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton over the store’s speakers, she is mainly left to her own devices.
So in between picking the music and letting her thoughts get too loud, she likes to people watch. Young daughters with their slightly uncomfortable looking dads as they go bra-shopping for the first time. Moms on their powerwalking route, if they’re not racing to their jazzercise class in too-tight leotards and too-bright leg warmers. Flocks of teenagers, walking aimlessly, always one of the girls and one of the boys drifting away from the group so that they can brush hands and send each other shy smiles. It’s almost sickening for Katara to witness. But she can’t help but wish one of those glances was currently being sent her way.
Her junior year had been relatively quiet in terms of relationships. Besides a couple dances at homecoming, she had too much schoolwork for her to really get involved with anyone. But now it’s summer and a part of her is hopeful someone will walk right into her life. Like something straight out of a movie, she can imagine her hands brushing against a cute boy’s as she hands his purchase to him, and suddenly the universe just clicks into place. But things are rarely ever that easy.
Thankfully, she doesn’t have to think about it for much longer because, as if right on cue, Sokka asks “How much more time until lunch?”
Just 10 more weeks.
Roughly 70 days until Zuko can finally leave for good. Even if college doesn’t embrace him with the most open arms, it’ll be far more comforting than the years he spent with his father. And until then, all he has to do is sell some tea.
Generally speaking, he knows that he has one of the easiest jobs at Misty Palms. The Jasmine Dragon is located in a secluded section of the mall, so the only people that stop in are mothers and grandparents who want to choose from their “fine selection of imported tea leaves” to take home while their middle schoolers cause issues in all the other stores. His boss, Pao, rarely comes by, so it’s just him and his walkman most of the time, and he has no reason to complain.
“Hey Sparky, miss me?”
Taking off his headphones, Zuko looks up to see one of the few people that enjoys regularly disrupting his peace.
“Are you here to actually buy anything today Toph?”
“Nope,” the short girl grins, popping her lips to emphasize the p. “You can’t hide out in this corner of the mall forever.”
“Actually, I can," he taps his finger on the countertop, "and I think I will.”
“Look at you, you’ve become just another boring rich kid.”
“I’m not a rich kid anymore,” he reminds her, looking around at his workplace through the dim bulbs illuminating it. The gesture is lost on her, but his point remains. He’s not just here for the quality life experience, he's working the job that no one with a social life wanted because he needs money.
“Yes, and I very proud of you for escaping your family, but don’t become a hermit.”
“And what do you suggest I do, since you’re so wise?”
“Ah, I’m glad you’re finally recognizing my talents.” A chuckle escapes his lips. “I want to buy music. Are you on break?”
Zuko glances down at his watch. It’s nice, with a large face and plated in gold, serving as a remnant of his life before. Before he stood up to his dad. Before he showed up at his uncle’s doorstep with only a couple suitcases and the news that he’d been kicked out. Uncle had taken him in, caring for him like his own for the past few months, but he can’t stand to burden the older man anymore. Which is why he took Pao's offer, hoping to find a way to pay for four years of school himself.
“No, but I can be.” He’s due for his fifteen-minute break, and besides, no one’s going to come in anyway. Putting his walkman in a drawer, Zuko follows Toph out the shop, making sure to put up a sign saying he’ll be back soon before locking up. While he doubts anything would happen to the tea store, he doesn’t want to take any chances.
“You know, I’ve been thinking it over, and I’ve decided that I’m done with this whole high school thing,” Toph announces, letting her hand slip into the crook of his elbow as they make their way through the crowds of people rushing to and from stores.
“You’ve only finished one year.”
“And that was more than enough.” Looking down to the walking stick in her hand, Zuko has a strong feeling about what she’s referring to. While hadn’t enjoyed his years at the stuffy private school located uptown either, Toph’s situation is entirely different than his. No matter how much money her parents threw at the school didn’t mean that it would accept that she’s blind and capable, the former never detracting from the latter.
Guilt begins to creep coil in his stomach, his head clouding with worries about what will happen when he leaves her behind. She doesn’t need protection of any sort- no, she has that handled perfectly- but underneath her tough exterior, he’s aware of the difficulty she can have making friends. Despite her abrasiveness, the other kids tend to walk on eggshells around her, treating her like glass, and its only amplified due to her social standing.
Like calls to like, and while she can irritate the shit out of him when she wants, he’s glad to have had someone he could stand at his father’s business meetings with all the other snobby families in town. His sister had lived for those moments to show off, but quiet and with a fresh new scar on half of his face, he’d never had her charm. But snarky comments in between sips of champagne at banquets turned into weekends of him helping Toph pick out albums that are loud enough to piss off her parents. Though they hadn’t been in the past month, the walk to the The Wall is ingrained into his memory, and they’re standing in the open doorway within a matter of minutes.
“Step by step
Ooh baby, gonna get to you girl.”
Two other voices are joined with the members of New Kids on the Block, enthusiastically singing along with the chorus. The hours his sister’s friend Ty Lee spent playing this song, trying to get him and her other friends to dance along, have permanently burned the song’s melody into his memory. Zuko looks over towards the counter to see a younger boy and a girl his age performing a dance routine along with the song, as if they are in the shelter of their own homes and not in a mall for everyone to see.
He can’t help but be entranced by their dancing, and while neither one of them is particularly spectacular, they carry an energy one can’t help but notice. The boy looks around Toph’s age, far shorter than Zuko. His hair cropped short and his polo shirt that doesn’t fit quite right, exuding the awkwardness that can only come from a 14 to 15-year-old boy.
But his partner is who really caught Zuko’s attention. She’s a bit taller than the boy and wearing a short black and white plaid dress. Her long brown hair sways and her white kids slide across the linoleum floor as she bounces back and forth, she moves her feet and arms with the rhythm, following the same steps as her companion for a routine they’d clearly developed.
“Step by step
Ooh baby, really want you in my world.”
She turns in Zuko’s direction, moving onto the next part of the dance, when her eyes suddenly widen, and her hands fall from their place in the air. The other boy stills beside her, while she smooths down her hair.
His mouth opens to say something, most likely I’m sorry, (though he’s not entirely sure what for) but it doesn’t come out. Instead, he just stares, and an uncomfortable tension settles over the store.
“Aang, quit messing around with my sister, and come help me with something,” someone calls out from the back area of the store. The younger boy walks in the direction of the voice, leaving the girl alone.
“Sorry about that,” she says. “We got a bit carried away. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Zuko clears his throat, quickly bringing his eyes to the shelves of music, rather than staring at the deep red that has risen on her dark cheeks. “No, we’re just browsing.”
She hesitates slightly, giving him and Toph a once-over, before walking behind the register, “Oh… okay. Well, I’m Katara. I’ll be over here if you guys need anything.”
He takes Toph over to the rock section, pulling out records and describing them to her before she takes them over to the listening booth.
“What was all that?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, the singing when we came in. And the weird way you’ve been acting since the salesgirl talked to us?”
Zuko doesn’t look towards the register, instead he just silently prays that Toph’s voice doesn’t carry in that direction. “Oh, she and some boy were dancing, it was probably just some marketing gimmick.” He knows this isn’t true. In reality, he’d walked in at an awkward time and she probably hates him. But who dances in the middle of a store if they don’t expect to be walked in on?
“So why are you being all weird?”
“I’m not being weird.”
“Sure,” she draws the word out, telling him she doesn’t believe him one bit.
“Whatever, just take your stupid music,” he shoves an album into her hand so that she can go off to a listening booth and leave him alone.
“Ooh, someone’s sensitive today.” Toph takes the CD, holding it securely in one hand, before shoving him with the other. Hard. Startled, Zuko falls backwards, and lets out a grunt when something pokes into his spine. His back doesn’t hit the ground, but unfortunately something else does. Wincing as he hears the sound of things crashing, he turns around to see a shelf of what had been brand new CDs is now shattered on the ground.
“No no no,” he hisses trying to pick everything up, and ignore Toph cackling in the background while he assesses the damage. “You fucking idiot,” he hears her say. It’s too late though, because the salesgirl -Katara, he now remembers- is already there.
“What the hell happened here?” She looks absolutely furious, and Zuko could be lying if he said it didn’t make his stomach do a backflip of sorts, but she definitely doesn’t need to know that.
“I can explain- “
“Explain what? That you two rich kids thought it would be fun to ruin the rest of my day because you don’t have any jobs?” Zuko wants to point out that he does have a job, nor is he rich anymore, but it feels unnecessary when he’s wearing clothes worth thousands combined and came in with the owner of the mall’s kid.
So, he shuts his mouth and listens to Katara rant, until a boy around his age, who looks strikingly similar to her comes and the kid from earlier come to help sort it out. Zuko doesn’t manage to weasel an apology out of Toph, but he does get her to pay for the damage, plus extra, and agree to be more careful around the merchandise in the future. By the time they leave Zuko’s break is long over, and he hopes not to get yelled at again today.
“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”
He gapes at Toph, “No, actually it wasn’t at all.”
“Yeah yeah,” she dismisses him with the wave of a hand. “I bought you more time with a hot girl.”
“You don’t even know what she- whatever, that was a bitch move.”
“Okay, I’m sorry dude. I didn’t really mean to knock something over, I was just hoping you'd trip and fall and that would get her attention so you can finally try and get with someone. I’ll be better in the future, but I’m just making your summer more interesting.”
Zuko sighs, “So you’ve added love guru to your long list of specialties.”
“Oh, shut up. You’ve been real grumpy ever since Azula and her friends ditched you. You need me to do this for your own good.”
Zuko sighs as he walks the familiar distance back to his own job, only now with the knowledge that these are going to be the longest ten weeks of his life.