No happy ever after

[princeinexile]

"That should be... the last of it," he says.

He means -- the box. That they filled up. The things inside it. Her things, they gathered. After--

The bed (a few times) and the shower (desperate, last grasping).

And now? There they stand. Him in things obviously intended for before-sleep (loose sweatpants) and rumpled and... they're never going to get the scent of sex and sorrow out of the suite before his uncle gets here.

He doesn't rightly care anymore, anyway.

"I don't think there's... anything left."

Here. Of her things, or their relationship.

He almost prays for interruption.

Comments

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's very quiet, hasn't said anything for - a while. She nods, and picks the box up, and - doesn't say goodbye, just turns and heads for the door, lips pressed together.

Just for now is okay while it's happening. After -

- not so much.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

And the door opens before she reaches it. Iroh's partly-unconscious plan to make his nephew as uncomfortable as possible at all times rides again!

Even so, though, there's hilarious, and then there's destructive. Iroh steps into the door, and quickly steps aside, with a quiet "good evening". He can read mood, when he has to.

[princeinexile]

"Uncle," says Zuko quietly. "Nice to see you back."

And then his eyes narrow, just a fraction. "Were you entertaining the cleaning woman at her suite, maybe?"

Yeah, you're not leaving unscathed for that.




See, if he's angry at Iroh, he can blot out Stephanie leaving. Easy, isn't it?

[alwaysroomforhope]

And Stephanie can leave. It works.

She murmurs an indistinct greeting/farewell to Iroh and slips past him, clutching the box.

(When she gets back to her suite she'll kick it under the bed; she won't have the guts to get it out for a long time. If ever. Who knows?)

Whatever. Just - whatever.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

Iroh looks after the leaving girl, and then turns back to his nephew, manfully ignoring the comment about his December-December romance.

"Parting is difficult, I know," he says, in his most rumbly wise-old-man voice, and heads into the kitchen.

[princeinexile]

"She just came to bring the dogs back and get things from the suite. She... had left quick, the first time."

This time, she lingered far too long.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

Iroh's voice floats out from the kitchen.

"We believe that a thing torn away quickly will hurt us less, that getting it over with will focus the pain, reduce the time we have to deal with it. But sometimes we're wrong, and to cut something away quickly only does it inexpertly, leaving portions behind."

A brief pause.

"And sometimes we are right to go quickly."

[princeinexile]

"A clean cut is a kinder one," Zuko says simply, voice muffled.

The dogs, practically laying atop each other in contented, post-feeding slumber, don't stir while Iroh busies himself there. They are the picture of bliss -- happy, together, never comprehending separation from home and hearth again.

"We need to get you your own suite," Zuko says quietly. "Especially if you are going to be entertaining while you're here."

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

Iroh eyes the dogs approvingly. It's nice to see happiness, whether it's in dogs, humans, or nephews. And since the latter doesn't seem likely any time soon, Iroh'll take canine joy. He doesn't ruffle their fur, what with the 'content' and all, and nor does he inform Zuko that if he is going to move he wants a suite with a couch as comfortable as this one.

"I suppose my own presence and that of your two friends in here would be a little much," Iroh says, with a bit of a planned waver in his voice. It's the sort of waver that says 'if it wasn't for these dogs to keep you from going insane from solitude in the night, I would be staying here forever and refusing to take any hints you drop'. "But would the bar be able to provide me with the right assortment of teas for a proper housewarming?"

[princeinexile]

"Bar can provide you with just about anything," Zuko says, glancing over. "And She makes fabulous tea."

Just so he knows.

But -- wait. "The-- the dogs? They'll be going back to Wells. He's looking after them. Stephanie-- didn't know, was all. I'll be taking them back to him come morning."

No, it really would be him all alone in the night. Sorry to rupture your bubble -- Zuko's still a masochist and nothing on this side of the door changes that.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

Ah. Ah.

Okay, now this leads to the question of how to make it look like Iroh needs Iroh to stay here? ...and how to make sure that he never sleeps with anybody on Zuko's couch again?

"So there will be this much space without the dogs? Perhaps I should remain here. It wouldn't do for us to become used to more luxury than we have in Ba Sing Se, would it?"

...okay, not his best effort. At least he didn't mention that he was quite fine with the couch, nudge nudge wink wink.

[princeinexile]

Good because that'd have Zuko in the shower again! Unclean! Unclean! (He really liked that couch, too.)

"Uncle, this is a one bedroom suite. Spacious, but..." Goddamn-- filial-- piety--! "...this is... it's just I've..." making-- throwing-- uncle-- out-- so-- difficult! "...I suppose it won't hurt."




DEFEATED.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

FLAWLESS VICTORY.

"I have slept in worse conditions than simply outside a bedroom. Thank you, nephew."

Iroh bags the couch, since Zuko will probably never ever touch it again ever. And he really will do his best to rendezvous with his octagenarians elsewhere.

[princeinexile]

"I'm sure, but..."

This is his elderly, beloved uncle who he recognizes on some level that he should treat better-- and is intensely embittered against because that fucking hole called Ba Sing Se makes him happy and does nothing for Zuko's joy levels.

...there is no winning there. He stands, a little helpless -- wondering how the whole DAY just went right out of his hands.




FINISH HIM.

[ginsengdragon.livejournal.com]

Iroh knows there's no way for Zuko to win. Iroh just wants him to lose least.

"I shall take the air for now, nephew, if you do not mind. I do not believe I've had a good walk in some time."



FRIENDSHIP.
...Iroh wishes. Honestly, he just wants to avoid Fatality.

[princeinexile]

"Bundle up if you're going outside," Zuko says, scrubbing his face before he padded toward his bedroom on bare feet. "It's cold out there. You'll freeze." And then your joints will ache and you'll moan and groan and Zuko will fret secretly, and grumble publicly.



Fatality? Avoided. Friendship...

Zuko didn't need it.