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Azula peered at the box on the counter. A counter that had never seen a coaster or a sponge if the sticky rings littered between the crumbs were anything to go by. Her nose wrinkled in disdain. She focused on the box again, her sharp eyes picking apart the brightly colored illustrations plastered across the front. One of her hands rested on her hip, “Alright, I give up Zuzu, what is it?” Azula shoved the box toward Zuko.
He caught the box and turned it over in his hands, “Sokka said it’s microwave popcorn and in his words a requirement for movie night.” Zuko cradled the box in one hand. He tugged a strand of hair back from his scar with the other hand, tucking it behind his ear.
Azula sniffed. An immediate wash of regret washed through her as the musty stench of the dorm rushed into her nose. She stared at the collection of abandoned dishes and loose socks scattered around the room. Unsure she trusted Sokka to be an authority on anything if this was how he’d been living since going off to school, “Commoners eat strange foods,” she remarked.
For a moment, Zuko considered bringing up the fact that Sokka would likely think the caviar Azula’s boarding school served with breakfast most mornings was equally weird–if not more so than the mysterious box. But decided against it. Even though Azula still wore her burgundy school blazer, his truant sister wouldn’t want the school mentioned. Not when he estimated she had less than 24 hours before her security detail tracked her down to escort her back–she knew it too. It was in everyone’s interests not to bring it up.
Zuko’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He shoved the box back at Azula, fishing the phone from his jeans, “Sokka said he stayed back to ask Professor Pi a couple questions. Says he’ll be back in five minutes tops,” he looked up from the phone, “and that we should start the popcorn.”
Both royals stared at the box on the counter. They blinked slowly. Azula broke the silence, “And how, dear brother, are we supposed to do that?”
Zuko shrugged, “Microwave?”
“Whatever would I do without your wisdom in my life?” Azula let out the glib quip and tore open the box. She yanked out one of the plastic wrapped packets, “Well, it stands to reason that if Sokka said he’d be back in five minutes that it takes five minutes to cook.”
Zuko’s brow furrowed, “But he always runs late. It’ll be at least ten minutes until he gets here.”
“So, ten minutes in the magic commoner box. Understood,” Without waiting for Zuko’s opinions, Azula threw the packet into the microwave and punched the buttons until ten glowed on the little display screen.The microwave hummed to life. Clapping her hands together, Azula turned back to her brother, “Now, your quest is to find three clean bowls.” There had to be at least a few tucked away somewhere.
Zuko raised his eyebrow, “And what’s your job?”
“To supervise the magic commoner box, of course.”
Zuko rolled his eyes, “How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling our friends commoners?” Azula shrugged. She supposed she didn’t have to say it. But not saying it didn’t change the facts, so why bother keeping it to herself. Her turned up nose nearly pressed against the glass. Not touching of course, she didn’t want to catch anything from the microwave.
She fiddled with one of her blazer’s buttons, watching flecks of moisture build up beneath the plastic film. Muffled crackling noises brewed up from the bag. The paper packet swelled inside the plastic, “I assume it’s working. How’s your search for the bowls coming along, Zuzu?” she asked. Azula followed his reflection in the microwave.
“Found some in the freezer, right next to the otter-penguin pops.” He dumped the bowls on the counter beside the microwave with a clatter. Azula’s manicured eyebrows rose.
“The freezer?” she asked. Her attention wandered from the battle of the paper popcorn packet with the plastic film surrounding it, “Why would they be in the freezer?” Commoners made no sense to her in the slightest. Not that royals were any better.
Zuko shrugged, “Not my dorm, don’t ask me.” His nose twitched at a bitter smell that cut through the usual musk in the room, “Is the popcorn supposed to smell like that?”
“I’m not a commoner, don’t ask me,” Azula said. She turned her attention back to the microwave and its contents. The bag seemed to have swollen to its full capacity. Plastic film clung to the sides where it had finally burst from the pressure. A dingy fog built up inside the microwave. It tinted the glass door, darkening it and obscuring the popcorn’s progress from view.
In her limited experience with the microwave, she took it to mean the popcorn was finished cooking. Azula jabbed the stop button. She swung the door open. A dark cloud of smoke wafted out into the door. The bitter stench of the popcorn mixed with a chemical tinge of burning plastic filled the room.
On the bright side, at least she couldn’t smell Sokka’s socks anymore. Azula cleared her throat. She ignored the flecks of moisture building in the corners of her stinging eyes. Pinching the smoking bag between two fingers, she held it out toward Zuko, “Here, open it.” She ignored his incredulous look through the fog.
Though Zuko doubted it was edible, he took the bag. He examined it until his eyes settled on the gap at one end, he grasped the corners, and gave a sharp tug to either side. The force of the action tore the bag in half. Bits of charred popcorn exploded out into the room with the tail end of the smoke. Azula and Zuko stared at each other in the midst of the mess. They examined the wreckage on the floor. Azula brought her hand up, stifling the undignified giggles spilling from her lips. Infectious giggles.
Sokka raced into the dorm room, dumping his backpack on the floor. He stopped short at the sight of the two royals, doubled over and cackling in the fading smoke. Charred remains of the popcorn littered around their feet. He shook his head, a wry grin growing across his lips as he pulled out his phone to search for movie times.
He’d planned on them staying in for movie night, but he should have known better than putting two dumbass royals in charge of the popcorn.