Chapter Text
Sokka is an annoying dickhead in Zuko’s first impressions. Although he is Zuko’s type with the ponytail and expanse of golden skin, but personality above all, just like Uncle Iroh always told him.
Zuko had been working his part-time job at Uncle Iroh’s cafe for several months now and he liked to think that he had gotten acquainted with just about all the regulars–the group of students in his bio class, the older lady who always comes in with her grandchildren to knit, and the (attractive) flower shop owner from across the street. He’s sitting at the counter doodling turtle ducks (just ducks with a turtle shell, it’s cute, okay) waiting for the 11 am rush when the students who have shit sleeping schedules come in for caffeine. What he was not expecting was an attractive trio to come clamoring in.
They each have a distinct style, but the boy in the center catches his eye. Somehow, he was pulling off a hideous hoodie vest. Zuko had never seen someone look so good in one. Well, probably because his arms are toned in every way they should be and they flex with every movement and now he kind of wants to touch-
“Hey, Barista Man, what up yo?”
That snaps Zuko back to reality. He looks up from the (gorgeous) arms to see a (gorgeous) smile.
“Uh, what can I get for you?” Zuko makes sure his voice doesn’t crack when asking that question as it does often when he meets an attractive customer.
Zuko can’t help but wonder what this attractive, athletic-looking man will order. An iced americano since it’s warm out and lacks calories? An earl grey tea perhaps, like them London boys (Zuko definitely does not have a weakness for English accents). Or maybe a strawberry frappe, which would be a cute twist to his appearance-
“Give me a large vanilla latte without the vanilla syrup but 8 pumps of caramel syrup instead with soy milk and with extra whipped cream and chocolate and rainbow sprinkles and extra caramel drizzle?”
What the fuck.
“Umm, okay, I can try. I don’t think we have any… rainbow sprinkles though.” Zuko has never received such a bizarre order before. Even the occasional Karens that walked in did not order like this.
In Zuko’s defense, both of the guy’s friends also look confused.
“Ew, that’s totally homophobic of you, my bro,” the guy says in response.
Before Zuko can even register whether the response was a joke or not, the tattooed friend is apologizing. “I am so sorry for his behavior. You can totally just ignore the rainbow sprinkles part. I’ll take an iced vanilla latte and she’ll have an iced americano. Here's my card. Thank you.”
After that whirlwind of orders, the last Zuko sees of Attractive Annoying Customer is him being dragged out of the cafe by his friends, as loudly as they had entered just a few minutes before.
...
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to drink that golden mountain of sugar.”
“Toph, you can’t even see the drink, and it’s not that bad,” Sokka stammers, failing to defend himself.
“I am blind, not deaf, you idiot. I heard you ordering that ridiculous drink.”
“And you’re right, Toph. This looks like a monstrosity.” Sokka shoots Aang a dirty look. His best friend is not helping him out at all.
“Of course, I’m right, Aang. Okay, but before anything else, why the hell did you talk to the guy like that and order the most ridiculous thing, Sokka?”
“Yeah, we went in there so you could finally talk to your pretty boy after months of pining, not to traumatize him.”
“That’s how all my friends with girlfriends talk though…”
Toph cackles. “Because they’re frat boys, Sokka! And I don’t think the way they speak got them their girlfriends…”
Okay, so maybe things had not gone as smoothly as he had planned it. He simply ordered a complicated drink so that he would be more memorable to the pretty cashier. And the rainbow sprinkles? To signify the LGBTQ+. Duh. He also definitely did not mean to call the cashier ‘ew’. He panicked! And he tells this to his friends.
“And…8 pumps of syrups because… that’s my jersey number.”
Aang falls out of his chair laughing.
“You are so dumb, Sokka. I don’t think your pretty boy is going to be analyzing your order that deeply like he’s in an English class,” Harsh, but Toph is giggling.
...
Zuko did indeed analyze Sokka’s order.
“What do you guys think it means when someone orders a latte with a lot of caramel, whipped cream, and sprinkles?”
“That they’re waging war on diabetes?”
“That we should introduce them to the simplicity and beauty of a cup of tea.”
Expected answers from his sister, Azula, and Uncle Iroh.
“No, no, like why did he ask me for such a specifically complicated drink? Maybe it was his way of showing interest?”
“Or maybe he’s just another frat boy messing with you, little brother.” Azula is tired of hunting down and threatening frat boys that give Zuko a hard time just because of the scar on his face.
“Yes, I agree with her sister here. Your description of the boy reminded me of the many nasty frat boys you have encountered, Zuko.” Iroh hands him a cup of tea and ushers him into a seat. He hadn’t realized he was pacing around.
“But he feels different! He seemed genuinely flustered and his friends were definitely not the egotistical, empty-brained friends most of my exes had.”
It was true. One of the friends had tattoos but they had been a collection of comprehensive blue tattoos, not the usual sleeves of random Chinese characters and symbols. He had also genuinely apologized to Zuko about his friend’s behavior. The other friend was a shorter girl with sunglasses on, which Zuko thought was strange because it had been a very gloomy day, but he noticed her hand was on the tattooed friend’s shoulder the whole time. Zuko couldn’t help but wonder if it was an impaired vision. But he knows these facts don't necessarily prove that Attractive Annoying Customer was a good person.
But the biggest thing! Not one of them had commented on or stared for an unreasonable amount of time at his scar–a large red scar that was pretty hard to miss. That has to be a good thing, right?
Yeah, that was pretty refreshing because even the kindest people always held eye contact with him for a second longer because of his scar.
Maybe he’ll try to get their names next time.