tampered | log; open

log; open

When; Sometime in the past week & a half
Rating; PG
Characters;

pyromatics, and anyone else who wants to stop by
Summary; Derek's volunteered his services for rebuilding tea shop. Time for Iroh and Zuko to take him up on the offer.
Log; The tea shop was painfully empty.

With the help of their friends, he and Zuko had managed to get the place cleaned up. Everything that had been destroyed in the fire was cleared out, and what remained -- the walls and floor, more or less -- had been scrubbed down.

Now it was time to build it back up again.

Derek Morgan had agreed to come over to the shop today and begin the rebuilding process. Iroh prepared a pot of tea -- a pot with a great deal of kick, just as Derek wanted -- and sat at the last remaining table, sipping it and waiting for the young man to arrive.

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Derek had a lot of left-over supplies from having just recently renovated a building into the new Youth Center. And luckily, he also still had the tools. The tools were easy to get to the tea shop. The supplies, well he had made a few trips and dropped the nice wood off at the side of the tea shop so as not to hinder any other company the shop might have. After all of that work, when Derek entered the tea shop he already had a light sheen of perspiration glazing over his skin.

Walking inside, he gave Iroh a grin and took off one of the gloves he was wearing to extend his hand in greeting. "Hey. Good day to build a counter and some shelves, isn't it? Not too hot and not too cold."

Iroh hesitated just a moment before taking the other man's hand - he was still getting used to this customary greeting. But the smile he gave Derek was warm.

"A lovely day indeed!" he said. "I am only sorry we will be spending so much of it inside. We should take our lunch out in the garden."

"Lunch?" That surprised him, but Derek was rarely one to turn down food. The team he worked with back home had often teased that he was still a growing boy even though he was already a pretty big guy. "Might even have time to get started on some tables for the shop too, although that might have to wait until tomorrow."

"As if I could let you help us out without feeding you!" Iroh said. "I would be most ungracious."

He glanced up the stairs. "Let me go see if my nephew is awake and we can get started."

"That's really nice of you. And I'm not really one to turn down food." He started back out of the doors to the tea shop while replacing that work glove on his hand. "Alright. I'll start bringing some of the wood inside so we'll have something to work with."

Zuko was definitely awake. He stood at the window with his arms folded over his chest and his back to the door that had been left ajar, his eyes fixed on the pond the small colorful shapes he could make out moving beneath the surface of the water. Zuko had no idea that Derek was in the tea shop on the main level, but he knew that Iroh wasn't alone as he could hear him talking to someone.

The gardens were awfully quiet save for the bamboo pipe at the small garden fountain. Maybe... a duck or some frogs could be added...

Iroh knocked on the edge of Zuko's doorframe before poking his head inside.

"Nephew, we have a guest downstairs. He will be helping us rebuild the inside of the shop."

Looking away from the window, Zuko glanced back at his uncle. "A guest?" He turned around to face him, arms unfolding and lowering to his sides. "Who is he..?"

"A very generous young man named Derek Morgan," Iroh answered. "Come downstairs and I will introduce you. We'll also need your help."

Zuko didn't question him, only nodded and left the window to quietly follow his uncle to where this generous young man was waiting downstairs for them.

Derek was just hauling in his second load of wood slats that would be good for shelving along the walls, loaded up on his shoulder. He set them down with the first load and then removed his glove again to hold out a hand to the new person. "Hey, you must be Iroh's nephew. I'm Derek."

Glancing down at the offered hand, Zuko paused a moment before taking it to shake. Handshakes - still a new concept to him, but he would get use to them. The name wasn't familiar but the voice definitely was.

"Zuko."

"Good to meet you, Zuko. Here to help get this place back on its feet." Derek looked around the main room of the shop, slipping that glove back on. "Have a lot of supplies left over from building up the youth center."

Iroh smiles. "And Dr. Goldsmith has kindly agreed to lend us the money for any other supplies we need. Now! Where do we begin?"

Derek takes a moment to look around the shop again before deciding. "Well I think we should begin with measuring how tall and long you want your main counter to be and work around that. Sound good?"

Zuko hesitated as he looked between the other two men. "Uh- What do you want me to do?"

He had no idea what Derek or Iroh wanted him to do other than stand there. Was he supposed to cart anything inside? Run an errand? Hold ... something?

"Why don't you get help measure out the counter you guys want and I'll go haul the rest of the wood in?" He holds out a measuring tape. "That work?"

Taking up the measuring tape Zuko turned it this way and that, curious, but nodded. "Should be fine."

He turned to Iroh then. "Do we have anything to write with? We'll need to take measurements, right...?"

"I should have some paper and a brush somewhere..."

Iroh hurried upstairs and returned a minute later with said objects. "Now Zuko, what do you think about..." He began blabbering on in great detail about his plans for a new and improved Jasmine Dragon.

Zuko could already tell Iroh was going to take the opportunity to dress up the tea shop, and if the planning front left his elder looking and sounding as happy as he was in that moment ... Zuko was already guessing how Iroh would be once it was completed.

He listened to what Iroh had in mind, nodding and adding thoughtful sounds here and there. And once the older man was finished Zuko shrugged a shoulder. "Whatever makes you happy, Uncle," was all the exiled prince had to say, and it was the truth.

Iroh loved these moments, these little glimpses into who Zuko was meant to be, had Ozai not been the kind of man he was. Thoughtful, intelligent, caring...if only more people could see him like this.

He beamed at his nephew. "Now! Let's go get Derek."

Derek chose that moment to come in hauling another load of wood. He set it down on top of the rest with a clatter and looked around the room. "I've got an electric saw outside but I'm wondering if we need to do some electrical work in here too. Did all the electrical work survive or do we need to add that to the list of things to do?"

"I'm not sure," Iroh said. "We really don't use it much. What do you think, nephew?"

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