Fire & Rain: Book 1

Hands Off

Y/N's POV
I was running around the tea shop taking orders and cleaning tables; it had become a lot busier over the last few days, I suppose the word had spread about the outstanding quality of Iroh's tea.

Zuko was running around too, but he didn't look happy at all, he was snatching tea cups from the tables and slamming his cleaning cloth into the surfaces.

I scurried to the table beside the one he was cleaning and started wiping it down,

"Hey, what's the matter?"

He avoided eye contact with me,

"Nothing."

I leaned over to his table and placed my hand over his, his eyes darted up and met mine, I whispered his real name close enough for only him to hear,

"Zuko, talk to me."

His eyes quickly darted back down to his hand which he pulled away from mine and his cheeks tinted a light pink as he got back to his work,

"I said nothing."

"It's clearly not nothi-"

"YARA WE HAVE AN ORDER FOR YOU AT TABLE SEVEN."

I heard my boss shout to me from the other side of the shop, I sighed and sent a small smile to Zuko before hurrying over with my notepad and pen,

"Good afternoon and welcome to the Pao Family Tea House, home of the best tea in Ba Sing Se! I am Yara and I'll be your waitress today, how can I help?"

The two men in front of me looked up and smirked before one of them cockily remarked,

"Wow, we would've come here sooner if we knew about this stunning waitress."

I ignored them,

"Can I take your order?"

One of them grabbed onto my hand and replied,

"Come on, you don't need to be so shy... we can all be friends."

I pulled my hand away from his and continued,

"How about the tea maker's special, jasmine tea?"

They chuckled to themselves before agreeing to two jasmine teas, I walked off whilst jotting it down and passing the slip of paper to Iroh,

"Two jasmines for table seven please."

I made my way over to table six and cleared their tea pots and cups from the table,

"Lee, do you mind wiping this one down? I sort of have my hands full."

Zuko, who was cleaning down table three nodded to me whilst I ran the dirty tea cups and pots to the sink. As I got to the kitchen area, Iroh handed me a tray with two jasmine teas and smiled,

"Two jasmine teas for table seven"

I thanked him and exhaled as I walked over to table seven.

I plastered a smile on my face,

"Two jasmine teas, enjoy."