Chapter Text
"Ooooh, what are you doing?"
Zuko didn't jump. And he definitely didn't cry out. He just used his burst of adrenaline to reorient himself into a fighting stance while letting out a tactical battle cry. There was a woman behind him, dressed in black and dangling upside down from the ceiling. Zuko glared at her and didn't relax his fighting stance. "Nothing." He thought a little bit and then added. "What are you doing here?"
He shouldn’t have let her sneak up on him. He'd been listening. He had definitely been listening. He was just still getting used to how he couldn't hear as well out of his left ear and it was taking all of his attention to read these stupid labels with their stupid tiny text in the stupid dark with only one stupid eye.
The woman shrugged. She was still hanging upside down. It was weird . "Oh, same as you, breaking in. Messing with files. How'd you get in here?"
Zuko kept glaring at her and purposely didn't answer the question. He wasn't sure why she’d want to know, but it couldn't be for anything good. That's what Azula would always do, goad him into digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.
That didn't seem to stop the woman though. She looked over to the open window that he definitely hadn't been looking at. "Oh, the window! Good thought. They aren't usually locked in the summer, especially this high up." By this point, she'd reoriented herself into an upright position and unclipped herself from the line she was dangling from. "Did you climb down from the roof or up from the ground?"
"Up," Zuko admitted, not entirely sure why he was talking to her in the first place. It didn't make any sense to climb up to the roof just to climb back down again.
The woman nodded and peered out the window. "No equipment?"
"No." It came out sounding more confused than he wanted it to. Who was this person anyway, and why was she asking him all of these questions?
"Four stories, not bad," the crazy woman said and it almost sounded approving? His life didn't make sense. It hadn't made sense in a while. "You should probably get a rig though. Don't want to risk a fall, even at this height."
As if he had access to a rig, whatever it was. It wasn't like that was the sort of thing they had at stores, not that he could buy one even if they were.
She turned back to him. "Exit strategy?"
"None of your business," Zuko said every bit of royal presence he could muster because 'climb back out the window' seemed somehow inadequate when she asked. Also, he didn't have to answer any of her questions if he didn't want to. It wasn't like she was supposed to be here either.
"Do you have one?"
"Of course I do!" Zuko said a little too quickly.
The crazy woman looked back to the window that he definitely hadn't glanced to. "Back out the window then. There's no need to be embarrassed. It's perfectly good for your first break-in."
"What's yours?" Zuko asked because he was trying to regain at least a little control over this conversation.
The crazy woman grinned. It was a grin that looked halfway between Ty Lee and Azula and that was enough to make Zuko very nervous. "Oh, I've got a fun one. I can show you if you want."
"Why should I trust you?"
"I'm a thief," she said, like it explained everything.
Zuko went back to glaring at her.
"Come on, it'll be fun! Even more fun than climbing down a building."
Well, it wasn't like he was particularly looking forward to climbing back down another four stories. At night. When he was still nearly half-blind. And maybe this crazy woman was trying to trick him, but she seemed sincere. And that usually never meant anything, but, well, maybe this time it would be okay. "Fine."
The woman's face lit up. "Great! Wait here, I'll be back." She started to climb back up into the ceiling. "Oh yeah," she said, poking her head back out. "I'm Parker by the way."
"... Lee," Zuko said. Because he wasn't crazy. You didn't go around telling people your real names when you were breaking into places.
Parker nodded and disappeared completely into the ceiling, leaving Zuko to go back to digging up information on the Avatar.
---
Parker’s exit strategy involved jumping off the roof with a new rig that she’d just been dying to try out. She only had the one rig on her, but that was fine. Lee could have it. The building wasn’t that tall and it wasn’t like she ever really needed a rig; they just made things easier to control. Lee looked at her like she was crazy when she told him that on the top of the roof, but that wasn’t anything new.
“Come on!” she said. When Lee still looked dubious, she walked over to the edge.
“I’ll go first.” Then she jumped. If she wasn’t supposed to be discreet because of the whole breaking and entering thing, she would’ve laughed all the way down as the wind danced around her.
Once she landed, she looked back up. She couldn’t really see Lee on the roof from this angle, especially since it was night, but she waved and hoped he caught the gesture. A few moments later he jumped, the rig catching him just before he hit the ground.
"See, way more fun," Parker said with a grin once she’d helped Lee get himself untangled and the rig put away.
Lee wasn't glaring at her, but he was definitely giving her a look. It kind of reminded her of Eliot when he was trying to look grumpier than he actually felt. "You're crazy," he said.
"I know." Parker shrugged. Then, because she'd given the matter some thought. "You should come home with me," she said.
Lee stepped back into a defensive stance. "Why?"
"I have some friends. We can help you." Was she getting to him? It was hard to tell. Sophie was so much better at this. He was still in that defensive stance. Maybe a different angle. "Or I can teach you to be a better thief."
"I'm not a thief," Lee mumbled, the glare was back. “And I don’t need help.”
"Do you have someplace to stay?"
He hesitated just a second too long.
"Then come with me, we can help you out," Parker said before he could lie to her. She did her best to look all trustworthy like Sophie had taught her. Smile, open posture. Was she supposed to stick out her hand or was that only if you gave a choice? It was too late to stick out her hand anyway, so instead she just waited. A stray breeze blew crumpled papers and empty bottles towards the mouth of the ally. Lee took a hesitant step forward and Parker smiled because she knew she’d managed to steal him.
---
“Parker?” Hardison had been expecting Nate and Eliot back from their part of the con when he heard the front door to Nate’s apartment opening. The fact that it was Parker on the other side of the door was the first sign that something was up. The second was the look on her face, somewhere between Alice White and something else.
From the couch, Sophie looked up from the script she was reading. “Is everything alright?”
Parker didn’t respond to either of them. Instead she looked back behind her and said "Come on, I promise they're nice," before nudging a scrawny kid through the door. "Lee, these are my friends Sophie and Hardison. Sophie and Hardison, this is Lee."
Lee glared at them. The first thing Hardison noticed was the nasty burn scar on his face. The second was the way he held himself, tense and ready to bolt at any minute. He’d seen that posture before, on the kids who’d come to Nana’s from rougher places. Put those two together and it didn’t paint a pretty picture. Where had Parker gotten this kid from?
Careful not to spook the kid, Hardison smiled his warmest smile. “Nice to meet you, Lee.”
“Yes, it’s very nice to meet you.” Sophie gave a smile that you could only tell was fake if you knew her very well. “Where did you meet him Parker? I thought you had… business to take care of.”
“Don’t worry, I took care of everything,” Parker said lightly. “Lee was breaking into the consulate too. I told him we could help him.”
“Help with what?” Hardison asked because he wasn’t sure if they were helping this kid with a heist or helping him because he looked like he’d been living on the streets. It was one of those things you never really could tell with Parker.
Parker shrugged. “You know, stuff.” So, probably the second one. Or at least not the first one. Hardison could work with that.
Hardison smiled back at the kid. “Well, whatever your problem is, we got you.”
Lee looked dubious and he hadn’t stopped holding himself like he was going to bolt at any minute, but he nodded, once, at Hardison.
“Why don’t you come sit down?” Sophie offered, standing up and taking a couple steps closer. She had her grifting voice on, all soothing and ‘you can trust me’. It was working on the kid; he relaxed a little and let Sophie lead him over to the couch in the corner. He was still scanning the room like Eliot whenever Sterling was around when he sat down, but small victories people, small victories.
“So, baby,” Hardison asked once they were settled. “What do you want me to do?”
“Ummm…” Parker was fidgeting with the wallet that Hardison hadn’t felt her lift from his pocket. He could see the wheels turning in her brain and waited. “Your thing, I guess?” she said at last.
"I can call up Nana," Hardison offered. "She's always got room for one more kid."
Parker shook her head. "No." She looked over to where Lee was sitting on the couch, talking to Sophie. "I mean, Nana's a good idea," she said, still looking at Lee, "she's good. But we should see if he has any family first." She looked back at him. "Right?"
Hardison nodded. It felt like there was something else in there that Parker wasn’t saying, but he could wait while she figured it out. "Family first, then Nana if that doesn't work out. I'll see what I can dig up."
Parker took a step towards him and that was all the warning he got before she’d latched onto him with an impressively tight hug. "Thanks, Hardison," she said softly.
Hardison hugged her back. "It's what I do, baby girl."
And then almost as soon as she grabbed him, she was out of his grasp and wrapped around the spiral staircase in an improbable position, watching over where Lee and Sophie were talking softly. Hardison smiled and got to work.
---
Zuko still wasn't sure why he'd even come here in the first place. He shouldn't have, he really shouldn't have. They were strangers and he’d followed a crazy thief who broke into Fire Nation buildings and jumped off buildings to get here. (Zuko ignored the part of him that knew he’d done the exact same thing.) But the thief hadn’t seemed like she was lying and he was tired of sleeping on the streets. And now he was here, sitting as far away as he could manage from the woman whose smile seemed real but had just a hint of the way all the noble ladies smiled at him in it.
He didn’t say anything and neither did she at first. Zuko got the impression that she was weighing him up just as much as he was weighing up her.
“Hello,” the woman said eventually in a soft, warm voice.
She was addressing him wrong. It was too casual, appropriate for a commoner, not a prince. It took a second to remember that he wasn’t in the Fire Nation any more, that they should be speaking English, not the ravaan fire dialect. He glared at her. “How did you know?” he asked, carefully not using the level of formality he was used to as a prince.
She smiled and he could almost believe it was genuine. “I have a good ear for languages. I could switch back to english if you prefer.”
Zuko shook his head. “You don’t have to.” He’d missed the language. It reminded him of home.
The woman nodded. “Do you have any family?” she asked gently.
His first instinct was to lie. He hadn’t told them his real name. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to tell strangers everything. But having family wasn’t everything and he was a terrible liar anyway. “Yes,” he admitted.
“Where do they live? We can help you go home if you want.” The woman looked right into his eyes and it felt like she was seeing everything, seeing all of him. Zuko was struck by just how much he could feel that she cared .
He wanted to say yes. He really did. He wanted to go home more than anything. Just say yes, he could feel her telling him, and we can make it happen . But, but… Zuko looked down at the bag on his lap. The bag that held the files on the avatar. What was important was that he wasn’t looking at her. “I can’t go home,” he forced himself to say.
“Why not?” And the question sounded more earnest than it had the right to be. Why did she care so much?
“I- I just can’t.” And there was that lump in his throat and tightness in his chest that meant he was about to cry and he couldn’t cry. He couldn’t be weak. He held his backpack closer to his chest. The avatar. Think about the avatar. He had to find the avatar.
Zuko was focusing so much on the bag on his lap that he didn't notice her moving closer to him on the couch until there was a gentle touch on his shoulder. It felt warm and comforting like sitting next to the turtleduck pond at home. He wanted to sink into it but if he did he'd never be able to get up so he didn't. But he didn't move away either.
"You don't have to go home if you don't want to,” she said. “We can find someplace else."
"No." She didn't understand. "I want to go home, I just can't." And he really shouldn't have started talking. That definitely wasn't a sob that had come out, but it was close.
The hand moved from his shoulder to gently rubbing at his back and he really did melt into her this time. She felt safe in a way that no one really had since Lu Ten died and mother disappeared. "Do you miss it?" she asked.
He didn't trust himself to speak so he just nodded.
"You can tell me about it if you want."
There was still a hand rubbing circles on his back and he was pressed against her side and Zuko found that he didn't have it in him to tell her no. So he told her about home, not about being a prince of course. He wasn't stupid. But he told her about the way the sun shone down and the way the turtleducks swam in their ponds and about spicy food and festival nights. And maybe he cried a little, but that didn’t feel as important anymore.
---
Nate was hoping for a relaxing evening with Sophie and a nice drink. Both of those went out the window when he walked into his apartment to see Sophie holding a boy who may or may not be crying on the couch. Nate sighed. This was supposed to be a simple con. Where had the kid come from? "What's going on?" he asked the room in general.
Hardison looked up from his computer. "Parker brought home a kid."
“Really Parker?” Eliot asked from next to Nate in a tone that didn’t actually have any bite to it.
Parker looked up from where she was perched on the stairs like a spider on its web. "His name's Lee, I told him we could help him."
Eliot sighed, but unlike Nate, it was clear that he’d accepted the situation. Nate was still hung up on the fact that there was a kid in his apartment when they were supposed to be on a con.
Eliot walked over to where Lee was still curled up on the couch. He’d pulled himself away from Sophie and was tense and alert, glaring at the room in general. Nate had to suppress a shudder when he saw the burn on the kid’s face. A drink was sounding nicer and nicer.
“Are you hungry?” Eliot asked gently.
Lee hesitated for a second and then nodded.
“Let’s get you something to eat then.” Eliot led him towards the kitchen.
Nate went over to his alcohol stash and poured himself a glass. “Did you at least get those files planted, Parker?” he asked rather than dealing with the elephant in the room.
Parker untangled herself from the staircase and nodded. “Yep. It was easy.”
Well, at least there was that much. Nate took a drink. “Can you explain to me why you brought this random kid back to my apartment?”
Parker began to shift around a little. Her hair began to flutter about. “He needed help and that’s what we do. We help people.”
“Yes, but we take down corporations, not this.”
Parker glared at him. Some of the papers lying out rustled about a bit and Nate found himself idly wondering if Hardison was ever going to fix all the drafts in his apartment.
Sophie gave him a dirty look. “Nate, you can’t seriously be suggesting that we do nothing.”
Nate sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying. Look, there are organizations out there who help with this sort of thing. I’m just saying we drop him off with one of those, let them do their job and let us do our job.”
“But I told him we’d help him!” Parker said.
“And we will be helping him. We’re just helping him by introducing him to people who are more qualified to help him than we are. We’re thieves, we don’t run an orphanage here.”
“But Lee’s a thief too! He was breaking into the embassy. They won’t be able to help, not like we can.”
“Come on, Nate,” Sophie said. “It won’t be that much trouble. Hardison can take care of most of it.”
“You bet I can,” Hardison said with a shrug.
And now they were ganging up on him. “If you’re going to say something, say it now,” he said to Eliot who’d walked back about halfway through the conversation.
“Kid got on the bad side of someone pretty powerful. A burn that bad and that controlled? Definitely a master firebender. And firebenders don’t burn easy.” He shrugged. “We’d probably be the best people to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Of course the random child thief Parker picked up had a powerful enemy. Of course. Nate sighed and then processed the other thing he’d said. “Wait, the kid’s a firebender? You’re sure about that?”
Eliot gave him a look. “It’s a very distinctive way of breathing.”
“Of course it is,” Nate muttered under his breath. “Do we need to worry about random fires?” And as soon as he said that, he knew that he was admitting that Lee was staying.
“Shouldn’t need to, he’s old enough to have control.”
“So we can keep him?” Parker asked almost at the same time.
“ For now ,” Nate said. “This isn’t turning into anything permanent.”
“Yay! Thanks, Nate!” Parker latched onto him with all the strength she used to climb up buildings.
“We’re still on a job.” Nate pried her off.
“I know,” Parker said and drifted over to where Lee was eating at the counter.
“Hardison, find out what you can about him. Where he’s from, if he has any family who can take him in, that sort of thing.”
“Already on it.”
“Good. I’m going to turn in for the night.” Have a nice drink and ignore the fact that he was going to have to spend far too much time with this kid Parker found, that was his plan.
Sophie nodded. “We’ll get Lee set up in the guest room. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
His guest room. Of course Lee was going to be staying in his guest room. Nate sighed. He definitely needed that drink.
---
Sophie cornered Parker as she was preparing to leave Nate’s place and guided her over leave via the actual door. Running across the rooftops may work for Parker but she certainly wasn’t about to start doing it.
"You know we can't keep him," she said as they waited for the elevator.
"I know," Parker said. Clearly , her tone implied. Judging by the look on her face though, there was at least a part of her that wasn’t ready to admit it. "But we can still help him."
Sophie nodded. "Of course we can."
The elevator arrived and began it’s slow descent to the main floor.
Sophie waited patiently, seeing if Parker would share the other thoughts that were on her mind. You couldn't push with her, only wait to see if she'd let you in.
The elevator came to a stop. They both stepped out and made their way to the exit. "He broke into the embassy and didn't scream at all when we jumped off the roof," Parker said just before they reached the door. "I thought I could teach him to be the right kind of thief."
“I’m sure you’d do a good job,” Sophie said gently.
Parker nodded. “Thanks.” For a second, it looked like she might say something else, but instead she vanished into the night.
---
Zuko still wasn't sure if he trusted these people. They seemed nice enough. And it was nice to sleep in an actual bed. It felt almost strange after weeks of sleeping on benches and in hidden corners. He didn’t really feel safe, but he hadn’t felt safe since before the Agni Kai so that wasn’t as important. He'd sleep here tonight and in the morning he'd find out just what the weird woman who liked jumping off buildings meant by help. It probably wouldn't actually be helpful, but he had information on the Avatar and that meant he had a starting point. He'd figure out where to go from there, he'd find the Avatar, and he’d prove he wasn’t a coward or a failure so he could get his honor back and go home. He was going to go home. He had to believe that he was going to go home.
The room felt too quiet and too cold for the middle of summer. Zuko pulled the blankets tighter around him and eventually dozed off into a fitful sleep.