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Zuko walked around Uncle’s teashop, handing cups of tea to the rest of the Gaang. First Uncle, who glanced up from his tsungi horn to see Zuko’s small smile, then Toph, who was lying on the table next to him, cross-legged. He walked over to hand a cup to Katara, Mai, and Suki when they were startled by Sokka, who yelled, “Zuko, stop moving!”
He continued, gesturing his hand wildly and frowning as he declared, “I’m trying to capture the moment!” Returning to his work, he said, “I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together.”
He stuck out his tongue in concentration as he returned to his painting, and Katara walked over to him and said, “That’s very thoughtful of you, Sokka.” But then something caused her to frown. “Wait, why did you give me Momo’s ears?”
“Those are your hair loopies!” Zuko had to walk over to see this. However, he was not amused as he saw how Sokka had depicted him.
“At least you don’t look like a boar-q-pine!” he said to Katara, looking at his hair that looked like a flaming bush-but hey, it wasn’t as bad as some of the others. “My hair’s not that spiky!”
“I look like a man,” Mai said gloomily next to him.
“And why did you paint me firebending?” Suki asked, and looking at it closer, Zuko could see that Sokka had painted her fan in one hand and a jet of what could be called fire coming out of the other. Looking further, saw what could be Sokka next to her, his hair drawn in a way that reminded him of a certain wheat-chewing Freedom Fighter. But he guessed it could be Sokka, since there was one space sword–found in a halfway-scorched forest in the middle of the Earth Kingdom a few days prior–instead of two hooked swords. Seeing that play from the Ember Island Players put into perspective how much Sokka would hate to be called Jet, so Zuko didn’t point it out.
“I thought it looked better that way!” Sokka said, defending his painting. Momo jumped up onto the table and chittered, and apparently Sokka took that to offense, saying, “Oh, you think you could do a better job, Momo?” Zuko certainly thought so.
“Hey, my belly’s not that big anymore. I’ve really trimmed down!” Uncle said.
“Well I think you all look great!” Toph said, lifting her arms and causing everyone to laugh.
“Toph, it looks like your wanted poster,” Zuko said, remembering the poster Toph had shown him at the Western Air Temple with pride, even if she couldn’t see it. “And Sokka, really, I look like I did in the play. You recreated Toph’s wanted poster perfectly, and I have two for you to choose from!”
Everyone looked at him, questions clear on all of their faces. Aang had returned from outside, wanting to see what was going on, and a grin was appearing on his face as he realised what the second one Zuko was talking about. Oh no, he thought, since he knew the members of the Gaang were way too curious for their own good.
“So…what’s the second wanted poster from? We saw the one from the desert, what, were there two versions?” Sokka asked, and Zuko knew there was no getting out of this. Even if he didn’t say it, Aang would.
“Not exactly…”
“C’mon, buddy, just tell us! It’s not like you’re going to tell us you’re the Blue Spirit or something.”
Zuko stared at them, fighting a simultaneous smirk and blush that would surely give him away. Aang was silently cackling in the corner and Uncle was fighting a smile as well, though he tried to hide it behind a disapproving look when he caught Zuko watching.
“Zuko,” Sokka said, staring at Zuko with an exasperated look on his face.
“Yes?”
“Aang said you broke him out of Pohuai stronghold.”
“And?”
“Iroh, why was a bounty placed on the Blue Spirit? The posters don’t say,” Katara asked, hoping what was unfolding in front of her wasn’t real because it definitely made sense for the guy who leaped off of an airship, the same guy who decided to fight a waterbender during a full moon while surrounded by snow, the guy who was obsessed with theater, to be a vigilante dressed as a chaos spirit from Love Amongst the Dragons.
“Well, Katara, it was placed because of a break-in at Pohuai stronghold,” he said, more exasperated than Katara. He knew it was his nephew, why else would the Blue Spirit show up only where they traveled and why Zuko would be spotting new bruises and minor injuries the day after, as well as being overall very moody and tired.
Everyone turned to face Zuko.
Well, when an opportunity like this showed up, who was he to ignore it?
“Hello, Blue Spirit here,” he said with a wave.
Chaos. Everywhere.
Toph started laughing maniacally, while Katara and Suki just looked up and didn’t say anything, they couldn’t say anything. Sokka, on the other hand, was screeching incoherently. Aang started laughing, unable to hold it in anymore, and Mai was staring at him with a look you’re-definitely-stupid-and-crazy-enough-to-do-something-like-this-aren’t-you. Uncle had just taken another sip of his tea, knowing he was definitely crazy to do that.
Zuko didn’t notice Aang at first, but he definitely did when he said in a high voice, imitating the female actor who had played his character, “My hero!” He then proceeded to use airbending to land on Zuko’s shoulders. Zuko didn’t move, just looked up at Aang, who stage whispered, “Now is the part where you start running around waving your swords.”
If possible, Toph started laughing even more, along with Katara and Suki who realised just how the Blue Spirit was portrayed in the Ember Island Players.
“How!?” Sokka screeched (barely coherently). “But wait…how were you in two places at once?” he demanded.
“I wasn’t.”
“But in the play…”
“Sokka, do you really trust the Ember Island Players?” Katara asked.
“It was Zhao who captured me, not Zuko,” Aang supplied helpfully.
“So let me get this straight,” Sokka said. “While you were hunting us by day, by night you decided to be a masked Stabby Blue Menace vigilante directly working against the Fire Nation.”
“Pretty much.” Zuko’s face was red with embarrassment. Everyone else’s faces were red with laughter.
“He’s definitely stupid enough to do something like that,” Mai said, glancing over at him.
“So if we start a rumor/not-really-a-rumor that the new Fire Lord is the Blue Spirit…”
“Please don’t, I’m already dealing with too many revolts.”
“Well, Katara,” Sokka said, turning to his sister. “Looks like someone deserves an award.”
“What are you talking about?” Zuko asked, confused.
He was ignored for the sake of Sokka explaining to Katara, “Even though the guy has a really messed up family–no offense, Iroh.”
“None taken,” Uncle says with a smile, sipping his tea.
“He still joined the Gaang to teach Aang firebending and was a Stabby Blue Menace way before that.”
“And?” Zuko asked, confused why they were talking about this now.
Sokka stood up dramatically and said, “On behalf of Lady Katara, I hereby address Lord Zuko with the ‘Not as Much of a Jerk as You Could’ve Been’ Award.”
“Oh no, Sokka,” Katara said, hiding her face in her hands.
“What?” Zuko asked, confusion evident on his face.
“At the Western Air Temple, when we were trying to convince Katara to let you teach Aang firebending–”
“You mean me,” Toph interrupted.
Sokka glared at her before continuing. “Well, after Aang told us you helped him break out of Pohuai stronghold, Toph told us you weren’t lying about setting Appa free and considering your messed up family you could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Wow, thanks Sokka,” Zuko said sarcastically.
"You're welcome. Anyway, right after that Katara here said we should find you and give you a medal, the ‘Not as Much of a Jerk as You Could’ve Been’ award!”
“You’re going to give me a medal now, aren’t you,” he said, groaning.
“That’s right, buddy.”
A few days later, after leaving Ba Sing Se to return to the Fire Nation, Zuko arrived at a meeting he originally thought would be about the colonies; he instead found himself being awarded a great honor by the Southern Water Tribe.
It was the ‘Not as Much of a Jerk as You Could’ve Been’ award.
He told them it was his honor.