Happy Birthday

[honorinflames]

Who: Natsuki and Zuko
What: Birthday drinks vs. moping!
When: Backdated to Natsuki's birthday
Where: In town somewhere
Rating: PG?

[he really didn't feel like going into town, let alone trying to celebrate anything, but Natsuki hadn't really given him much room for argument. She'd been so insistent... and she's not usually insistent on much. He literally couldn't say no.

Besides... maybe he'd quietly missed being bossed into doing something 'normal.' That probably wouldn't be happening much anymore.

So, still unsure as to what exactly they're going to go do, he's waiting around for her to show, and trying not to think about the little shrine he'd had sitting under the tree...]

Comments

[honorinflames]

I hadn't been keeping track...

[somehow, this puts it into a new perspective that simply tallying the months and years hadn't quite done.

His shoulders are beginning to slump again.]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[no topic is safe, it seems.]

Whatever. I never really thought there would be an 'after.'

[honorinflames]

[it really isn't, especially as he now starts to think about what would happen if the losing-everything trend continues-- which he's sure it will.

He runs into thoughts that he really doesn't want to dwell on though, so it pulls him back to the present in an attempt to ignore it]

How far are we walking, anyway? [as if he really cares about that]

[sexyhitchhiker]

To the nearest bar that doesn't look too shady on the outside.

[And when they get there, she walks in confidently, straight to the bar. Considering that the one she used to frequent back home was in a sketchy alleyway, it's a big improvement to have a bar on an actual street.]

You want anything in particular?

[honorinflames]

[to the casual observer, he seems confident enough, striding in just a step behind Natsuki. ...To someone who actually knows him, however... he has just been dumped outside of his comfort zone, and he doesn't like it.

Glaring unnecessarily at nearby patrons, glancing around as though watching for a hidden threat, the fact you're supposed to go to a bar to have fun seems to have escaped him.

...And then Natsuki asks him a question, and the uncertainty is suddenly visible on his face]


Uh...

[...that would be a no]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[eyebrow raise. Silence crawls by for half a minute before Natsuki turns back to the bartender.]

Two beers. What have you got on tap?

[and soon enough, there's two pints on the bar]

[honorinflames]

[he's trying not to look so desperately unsure as he pulls one of the pints closer... but he's failing.]

...Do you do this often?

[drinking, he means]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[yup. This was totally worth it, just for that expression.]

No. I hung out in bars more often than somebody my age should, but I didn't really drink.

[honorinflames]

["don't really" drink is still more than he's done. The only time he'd even gotten close was once, and that was the castle's fault.

Enjoy all the awkward. There will be plenty of it.

...Especially when he... brings the pint up to his face to smell it. And kind of makes a face]

[sexyhitchhiker]

[and she's taking a gulp of hers]

Not bad. [not the worse she's had, by a long shot.

And is that amusement she's hiding when she looks at Zuko?]

[honorinflames]

[it smells horrible, but he can't let her completely show him up.

So... he follows her lead and takes a gulp himself.



...and immediately regrets it.]

--Uggh!