Here's to You

***
HERE’S TO YOU
By Gunwild

***

Jin was striding purposefully down the lane of Fountain Street with a set jaw and tight fists.

This by itself was cause for concern in onlookers. The entire neighborhood knew her to be the most pleasant sort of girl, always smiling, consistently helpful. Jin was pined for by every young man who’d returned home from the war wounded and penniless to find that she’d greet them with donated rice, blankets and clothing. She wasn’t dating any of them, but since she would be seventeen and marriageable soon there must have been suitors, and all the clever oldsters nodded to each other as if they were watching the middle act of some well-known parlor opera. Only a thoughtless boy could get a thoughtful girl in such a huff, they were certain.

Her plan had been to break into the tea room, but it was open unusually early. It made sense; there were so many eager customers around enjoying and buying that the traditional home ‘breakfast tea’ must be served here too, as in the grandest establishments of the Inner Ring. Whole families were seated at the sidewalk tables, smiling and enjoying the intimate morning treat.

Couples, too.

Oh, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

It took no time after pushing the double doors open to find “Lee.” He was briskly attending to all the patrons’ needs, never looking at anyone’s face, only at what they had and what they needed so he could act accordingly. His hands were holding a much finer tea tray than the last time she’d seen him here, and if she had been paying attention she would have noticed that the whole place was improved. But Jin had homed in, steadfast against distraction from the moment she’d heard of his return.

Pacing right into his path, the tall boy almost went right around her on his way to the next table, leaving his eyes on the floor and where he should be going. It wasn’t until she pointed a finger at his face, just under his nose, that he blinked at her. His scarred eye failed to widen in surprise like his normal one did.

“You!” she said loudly. There were no doubt people were turning to look; that was good, she wanted them to know what she was doing, and what he had done. “I came here to tell you that I… I…”

The tea shop employee flinched. His lips thinned like he was ready for a tongue-lashing that he knew he deserved, but he wasn’t breaking from her gaze. Jin was reminded of the quiet dignity she had previously admired in him, thought about what he must have gone through, and then felt her lower lip quiver. She’d come up with clever, incisive, correct things to use against him, but now they all seemed petty. Who was Jin to scold someone like him? Despite still being upset, she was now disappointed with herself, too, and felt her eyes growing wet. She pushed her fists together and spoke in more of a mumble than the yell she had been going for. “… really liked you, and you left without saying anything, and that wasn’t nice, so I’m mad. And you should apologize. So there.”

After a pause in which she noticed that he looked suitably ashamed of himself, “Lee” talked back. “I’m sorry, some things came up, and we only just now got the chance to reopen the shop. I’ve been away in the country, so-”

“Oh, save it!” Jin cried, wringing her hands at his stupidity. “Everyone knows you’re really the Fire Lord!”

Zuko dropped his tray. His uncle, who was passing by, caught it and pulled it away quickly, though not so quickly as to risk spilling any of the tea.

“Um,” he stammered. “I… why would I be the Fire Lord?”

“Because the last one is gone!” she yelled, finding her anger again, “And you ended the war and now you’re here, and nobody’s calling you on it because they all think they *owe* you! The whole town knows who you really are, ‘Lee!’”

At least two of the patrons actually looked away and whistled, with the rest remaining transfixed by the situation.

“Well you know what?!” Jin announced to them. “I don’t owe you! In fact, I think you owe me! You owe me an apology for going on a really special date and then leaving without ever talking to me again!”

Iroh was now seated at one of the planks in the corner, sipping from a mug and watching. “This is getting good,” he remarked, to which his neighbors nodded.

Bowing his head in humiliation, Zuko fidgeted for half a second with his apron cord, looked back up and stated, “I’m very sorry, and I’ll do whatever you ask to make it up to you.”

Some people gasped or murmured to each other. If you thought about it, that was pretty big of him to say. He was the Fire Lord, even if he’d been masquerading as a busboy. His incredible wealth and resources could be called on to give young Jin any favor. And naturally, there was no telling what a jilted sweetheart might demand.

She knitted her eyebrows, lifted her finger once more and pointed down at the recently-redone floor. “I’m going to come back here at nine bells this evening, and you’re going to sit down with me and treat me to some really good tea. Because I still have…” she reached into her sleeve and, in a trice, withdrew a folded piece of card paper “… my *coupon*!”

Even though Zuko’s lack of comprehension was obvious, he bowed politely. “I would like that very much, Miss Jin.”

And, unable to suppress the slightest of cattish smiles, Jin marched out of the tea room with her head held high, self-contentment all over her pretty face.

***

It was just as the afternoon was beginning that Jin could be seen carrying her largest bucket from the main fountain back towards her home, having to lift with her chest in a way that every boy who saw her appreciated.

This was how she would get ready. Well, the main way. Jin couldn’t afford to spend real coin on makeup, and she didn’t own any properly fancy clothes, so this was the best she could do; she would try to relax and make herself attractive, charming and fragrant.

Her favorite method was, as far as she knew, unique to her. In the high-grade spas they had mud baths, and royalty had their legendary milk baths, but for a commoner of her means and interests, the tea bath was the only way to go.

She could not be sure when she’d first thought of it; perhaps when seeing her mother throw out old leaves that still had the slightest flavor in them but were too weak to use again, or when observing out-of-towners rinsing their utensils in their cups between courses. Either way, it had seemed obvious; as long as it didn’t have additives that made it sticky, and you didn’t stay in too long, soaking in tea was wonderful. It woke the skin up like nothing else, made you smell fantastic. And if there was a date to be had, well, you had to be clean, so…

She dumped the last bucketful into her tub. It was a good thing she lived so close to the fountain or this would be a real hassle. Without even waiting for the heating to finish, Jin undid her sash, dropped her robe around her feet to be put back on when she was done, and hopped in gleefully. She had to remove the strainer so that she didn’t sit on it, this not being the biggest bath around, but once she was inside up to her knees and chest she felt warmed all the way through. When the fire got hot enough and the steam began rising, there was a delightful scent in the air that reminded her of the days she’d spent eyeing that silent young man, thinking he must be taken, even if he did have that scar, and ultimately spending just a little, exceptional time with him…

Hugging herself, which helped submerge her large breasts, Jin felt her bottom get that rare but welcome tickling sensation while pressed against the base of the tub. She’d get the rest of her time, and it would be even better than before. And if it went according to plan, they would both enjoy it enough that… well… there was no reason to plan so far ahead. For now.

***

Her, the outed Zuko and his uncle all seated themselves around a traditional low table in the empty shop. She had insisted that the old man stay for the first round at least, since he’d no doubt brewed their beverages, and she got the feeling that he approved of her.

Despite his earlier fortitude, Zuko was having trouble looking at Jin now. She wasn’t dressed differently, but her glow of contentment was back and she kept… smiling at him. Not meeting his eyes fearlessly or exchanging quick glances, just smiling. He didn’t see why. He hadn’t done anything right that he could recall.

Iroh raised his drink slightly. “To cups. They’re close to the best things in the world.”

Iroh and Zuko drank, but Jin merely hid her smirk behind the teacup, turning it around in her palm. “Cups like these, or the cups of a bra?”

Zuko spat the tea back into his cup so hard that some of it splashed onto his nose. His uncle simply half-drained his and glanced over at the girl. “That one’s fair. I’ve heard better. For example, let’s drink to loves who will, and loves who won’t, but not those who say they shall but don’t.”

“Oh, certainly,” she replied with a giggle, then downed her entire serving, swished it with a grin and looked at the remainder. “This is yellow tea, but it’s very sweet. Almost too sweet if I might say so, but it has a flavor I don’t know…”

“Honey from the Dog-Hornet,” Iroh explained, “Colloquially known as the Smellerbee. I recently purchased some and fed them exclusively on flowers from the white lotus plant…”

Jin looked down again. This was probably the most expensive tea she’d ever laid eyes on. “The white lotus is so rare, though…”

“Yes, but some of us know where to find it. Be careful, it can go to your head before you realize.”

Zuko regarded him unhappily. “It’s… spirituous?” Jin tried not to laugh at his formal wording.

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I simply mean that the lotus pollen can induce euphoria. It’s purely temporary and no one has enough for it to become habit-forming, but I do hope you’ll savor it and share. *I* am going to bed, nephew… Miss Jin.” He bowed, may or may not have winked conspiratorially, and retreated, leaving Jin to pour herself more tea and keep her cheerfully amused expression.

Zuko had no idea what to say. What if she asked about what he’d been doing? He’d come here specifically to avoid that, now that he’d settled as much business at home as he could. Things were so complicated there, he’d longed for a break in simpler surroundings, but now Jin was around and of course there was no understanding *her*…

At a sound, he noticed that she had moved around the table to sit near to him, and gotten up onto her knees to pour him a refill. Naturally, she had to lean, so her chest was at her collar, which was loose enough to show how she was built. He gawked but stopped himself almost right away. It made her blush like a child. So often they stared, but he went out of his way not to. Somehow that was more flattering.

“Thank you,” he murmured. She returned to sitting cross-legged and enjoying her tea, watching him take only tentative sips but never interrupting the silence. Eventually Zuko got tired of nursing his tea and asked, “Is there something that you want?”

“This,” she responded buoyantly. “It’s what I asked for.”

He could not have been more confused. “Why?”

“Because I like you.”

“Can you be more specific?” he probed, though later he would consider this to have been a rude question. Jin’s smile never faltered as she shook her head.

“I just do.”

He remembered the maddeningly nuanced way Mai and he had alternately upset and comforted each other, and finally upset one another so much that there was no more comfort to be had. Zuko had often tried to explain that to himself, and come up with rather concrete answers. For Jin, though, it was different, and as the aroma of his drink became heavier and heavier in his nose, he allowed himself to accept that he did indeed like Jin too, and that perhaps that was all there was to it.

“I’ll drink to that.”

***

“Here’s looking at you… which is getting harder…” Zuko’s head swerved to the side without him meaning to move it that way. Or maybe his vision did, and not his head. Or was it both? Did that even make sense?

“Zuko,” Jin spoke in a way that either sounded or looked like a purring kitten. He couldn’t remember a second later. “You’re a little drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” he opined gently, clasping her hand to make her understand his seriousness. They had moved much closer to each other, though he couldn’t tell if he’d done it or she had. It was convenient, though. “I’ve just had ‘euphoria induced.’ A Fire Lord does not become drunk. I’ve never taken any liquor, you know. I was absintent… obstinate… I was very good.”

The lotus-honey appeared to be affecting her somewhat differently from he, with her eyelids shutting affectionately as she patted her date’s arm. “You’re still very good.”

“You don’t know that,” he protested. “I’m terrible at being good. I’m awful. I’m only good at all because I failed at being bad! And I… I’m boring you, aren’t I? You look like you’re going to fall asleep.”

“Nope.”

“But I’m just talking about myself again. I always do that. It’s the worst thing I do.”

“I don’t mind. But I’m actually thinking about one of the things you do better.”

“Hm?”

“You let me kiss you.” She closed her eyes and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. “Usually boys try to make the first move with me… actually, they *always* have, and you didn’t. That was out of the ordinary.”

He wasn’t sure he liked this idea of Jin spending time with other boys. Or at least, he didn’t want to think about it. “Well that can be… improper.”

She looked up at him askance. “Like having a peasant this close to royalty?”

“I’m the Fire Lord now.” He sipped his tea officiously, trying to imitate Iroh in one of his more dignified moments. “I get to decide what’s proper.”

“If you don’t mind my asking…” she poked him in the belly, “… because we don’t get a lot of news, how come your uncle doesn’t have the job?”

“Too old, and he didn’t want it,” Zuko confessed. “The thing is, it’s always been practiced to swear in a Fire Lord under a certain age, who is healthy, who’s completed a certain level of martial training and education, but who’s lost his… uhh…” he cut himself off. He probably should have left that part out.

“His wha… oh.” Jin seemed to conclude that it was important now to concentrate hard on the table, though she didn’t pull away from him. Eventually her hand came to rest in his. It was shaking slightly. “Can I ask for one more thing?”

“Well, yeah.” Zuko wasn’t prone to having his voice crack, but he felt like it might at the moment. “We only really honored your coupon, so I still owe you a favor, and…”

“It’s only an answer. Could you tell me, honestly, if there’s someone else already?”

He didn’t have to hesitate. “No. There… there was. But it didn’t work out like we’d hoped. And she’s found someone else.”

“Uh-huh.” Jin took a deep breath, though the air seemed thick with the lotus-tea scent, and then sat up with her side still pressed against his. “I want to give you something, then…”

Zuko was never able to tell quite how she got her robe to begin sliding down her shoulders without using her hands, but he enjoyed watching anyway. Jin had gotten a look in her eyes that he had scarcely ever seen before, though its meaning was unmistakable. “That’s not necessary…”

“Shut it,” Jin pushed back, “I know I’m acting like a whore. I don’t care, if it’s for you.”

Zuko was going to argue that she wasn’t a whore and that his real problem was his own nervousness, but she shut him up with a hard kiss that almost bowled him over. Her passion was refreshingly blunt. Still, it rather frightened him. He’d never been pursued like this before. Mai had always made him work for it, and while he respected that, he couldn’t lie to himself. It was exciting to be wanted. Exciting enough to give him butterflies in his stomach until his hands quavered. This resulted in him tipping his cup and spilling his tea right onto Jin’s bare neck.

He mumbled something apologetic while reaching for a napkin to blot the spill away, though in his mind he was shouting vague oaths about being unbelievably awkward and taking vengeance on himself and regaining his lost honor. However, Jin barely seemed upset. The tea was far from uncomfortably hot, and she batted his hand away. “That’s a waste. You should at least taste it.”

Zuko folded up his jittery hands. Oh, crap. He’d never even heard of something like this happening outside the kind of books you hid under your bed. But how could he say no that face? “Um, okay…”

Since it was a drink, he tried licking first. She twitched just a little, but stayed firmly in place thereafter, letting him lap the tea off of her shoulder, and then touching his cheek to direct him lower down. Around her breastbone Zuko’s licks turned into kisses, though he could still taste the over-sweetened tea where it had flowed over her skin. He didn’t have to take off her clothes to chase it down further; Jin had so loosened her robe that it fell away without any help, and rather than trying to slow him she petted his hair tenderly.

The young Fire Lord’s experience had at least taught him that women did enjoy some attention being paid to their breasts in these situations, so he touched them with the same delicacy he’d given her hands. A tentative feel of her large nipple with his tongue made her right leg jerk against him once, but her smile explained that it was the right move to make. Zuko couldn’t help it. He was smiling too. She reached out to him and pulled on his belt cord. “No fair… I can’t be getting naked while you’re not…”

“Why would you want to see me naked?” He understood the impulse, of course, but it didn’t mean he stopped being modest and a little ashamed. “I’ve got marks, it’s not…”

“If I cared about that I wouldn’t have tried dating the most scarred tea boy in town.” Seeing that she would have to do it herself, Jin’s unhesitant fingers unknotted his belt and pulled his sleeve.

He did have scars, but they were mostly small discolorations, places where the childhood burns of a long-trained firebender had healed nicely, though in the center of his torso was a dark, reasonably fresh crater that looked like it would leave lasting disfigurement. It was still plain where he’d been recently wearing bandages on it.

Jin displayed no fear, placing her middle and ring fingers on the middle where a tiny black scab still clung. “I didn’t know you… actually *fought* in the war.”

“A little,” he answered. This hardly seemed like the time to get his mind on that, and he wished she would stop staring and no doubt becoming more disgusted by his flaws, but Jin only placed one hand over his heart, bent her head in and put her lips on his wound for an instant before looking away.

“You should always try having someone kiss these things better.”

“… oh…”

It would be fair to say that at this point, Zuko melted.

It was like Jin had to keep him in her arms just so that he would stay together. Certainly, his kisses remained kind and he didn’t neglect her, but for a short time she felt like she was taking care of someone vulnerable, and that he was not accustomed to such. Eventually he got pleasantly handsy again and she edged her hands into the waist of her underwear. That part wasn’t so baggy that it would take itself off.

Jin’s panties came away while she was lying on top of Zuko, and she flicked them with her fingers, scratching behind her neck and waiting for his next move. To her delight he didn’t actually bother looking there as he touched; he kept his eyes on her face, his lips to hers, even while he fumbled to find a good spot for his palm when his fingers started a gentle stroking motion.

He might have forgotten that it was Jin’s first time, because he was rather abrupt, but she didn’t mind. She gripped his sides while it began, trying not to squirm so much that she would interfere. Certainly she was wet enough for this, it would just take some relaxation on her part, and listening to her own breathing, comparing it to his, calmed her.

When she was unable to keep herself from writhing from the pent-up desire, Jin reached unsteadily under the table and was pleased to find a spare tablecloth, which she threw out on the ground and crawled to, flattening on her hands and knees.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve never done this,” she reminded him. “I might bleed.”

That worried Zuko. Him and Mai had faced the early awkwardness that two virgins would experience, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to put Jin through that with him. “We could just do… other stuff.”

It wasn’t easy to get hold of a masterful fighter like Zuko without his expecting it, but that was just what Jin did. With her feet. Her knowing smile was back and irresistible as she dragged him in between her legs. “Oh no. What if you disappear again and I don’t get another chance?”

“I won’t!” Zuko declared, though of course he knew saying so would hardly be enough. “I mean, now I won’t – I mean, not because of this, but because of you, I mean not because you said so but because you’re…”

“Shh. Hold still for me.”

He didn’t need someone to take his clothes off for him, Zuko thought, he’d told the servants that a hundred times. But he wasn’t about to tell Jin, who so thoughtfully punctuated each part of the removals with a kiss to the bared area.

She didn’t look at him down there either – what was the point? Instead Jin laid on her back, arms outstretched. “If you’re… if you’re ready…”

He was actually *quite* ready, just not sure if she was. But he had to be supportive if he wasn’t going to ruin everything, and so rested himself on his shoulders above her, keeping firm eye contact between them. “If this hurts you too much, I’m going to stop.”

“No cutting out on me this time,” she chided with a hand on his back. “Please?”

“… all right.”

Being who he was Zuko had always faced challenges with force rather than finesse, so he was not as slow or deliberate as he might have been. Jin screwed up her face in anticipation of some pain, but only felt pressure. It was strange.

“Zuko…” she mumbled.

“What?”

“It’s the tea. I don’t think I can feel it hurting.” It wasn’t so much that her sensations were dulled, but that the pain just seemed insignificant, beneath noticing next to the pleasantness of contact.

Zuko knew what she meant. The euphoria was making this easier, probably had made the whole thing easier. *Uncle.* He couldn’t have planned this… maybe he had gone out of his way to cover Zuko in case it did happen? Despite his dislike for that kind of meddling, he had to respect the thought put into it. *Thank you, uncle.* He edged some of Jin’s fluffy hair out of her face with a finger. “Then I hope I can make this nice.”

She rubbed his back while he began moving. “… already have.”

The main strength of Zuko’s lovemaking wasn’t his technique, which was far from nuanced, but his surprising interest in maintaining intimacy. It was like he threw his reserve and shyness aside and was willing to tell everything he felt; the things he whispered were conventional, but said so earnestly that they added to Jin’s blush, made her happy. For her part, Jin never let herself stop guiding with her hands, and when she could she’d push their bodies together, soft and hard parts, attempting to deepen his pleasure. He didn’t think about it, but Zuko did get more forceful with her breasts. Pinching got the best response; the nipples were too big to become overly hard, so he was able to knead them and make her convulse a bit if he tied it with the movement of his hips.

Some centuries before, it had been believed that White Lotus could supply one with psychic abilities. That was patently untrue, but it *did* grant one a care enough for empathy that it was undemanding to orgasm together. There was no fighting or shouting or struggle to it; one made the other climax, and it actually went back and forth. The two were so exhausted by it even as it happened that they practically lay still, shaking while they each came repeatedly for some long moments.

“Ah,” Jin said dreamily, feeling that sweat was cooling on her face.

“Uh-huh.” Zuko swallowed. “I really hope that wasn’t all the tea’s doing, because if it was then I don’t know how I’ll be able to compare next time.”

She gave him a gentle shove in the shoulder. “There being a next time is a good start.”

Not too far away, sitting up in bed, an old man heard the giggling from downstairs. He lifted a cup from his dresser and smelled it. After all, it wouldn’t do to brew something so rare and not save some for himself. “Ah. Tea and success.”

***

END

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

(This fanfiction was not produced for profit, and without the permission of Viacom, its subsidiaries or other authorities of Avatar: The Last Airbender trademarks and indicia. Apologies to Messrs. DiMartino and Konietzko. Done as a request by fans of Jin: I'm not exactly satisfied with it... maybe I'll add a second chapter at some point with more varied sex. Or some swinging. Never written a story like that. Aheh. [Gunwild@mail2world.com])