ZUTARA WEEK 2013, Day 7: SPARK
Show Me Your Smile
DISCLAIMER:Avatar: the Last Airbenderbelongs to Bryke, but Zutara Week belongs to all Zutarians. And I always write in a context where neither Kataang nor Maiko ever happened.
NOTE: I made it! I finished my 6th Zutara Week! I am so happy to have been a part of this tradition, even in my small way. I've done my best to contribute as much as I could to this fandom because this will always be my AtLA OTP.
I apologize for posting some of the prompts a bit late and for being generally uninspired compared to previous years. My well of creativity seems to be running dry, at least for Zutara. But I didn't want to miss Zutara Week so I tried my best with the prompts. They were great prompts, but I just feel like I didn't make the most of them.
Quite a lot of fluff this time although this might be one of the more humorous of my entries this year. This is set sometime after "The Southern Raiders" when Zuko and Katara are already getting along.
And like my entry for Gravity, this one was also inspired by a song, "Show Me A Smile" by APO Hiking Society. Look it up if you're interested. I felt a little nationalistic and it seemed to fit the theme so well.
I hope you enjoy reading it and thank you to everyone who has been reading all of my entries this year. Your support has been very inspiring!
Summary: Katara tries so hard to find a way to ignite Zuko's happiness when the answer has been in front of her all along.
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"I've tried everything!" Katara cried in exasperation.
Toph and Suki listened patiently as the waterbender continued her rant. Katara had decided to make Zuko her new project. She was determined to find the one thing that would trigger a smile on the stern firebender's face.
She had seen him smile on occasion but this happened so rarely that she wanted to find a way to consistently spark some joy on his face. He had suffered so much pain and he seemed to carry it around him all the time. Katara wanted him to lighten up, to really feel that he was no longer alone.
When she had told the others about her plan, they had agreed, though not with the same level of enthusiasm. Aang was definitely on board since he had also come to care a great deal for his firebending master. The airbender was also a master at finding something to smile about despite the carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders (almost literally). Sokka was likewise interested, if only to have the chance to experiment on Zuko. Toph was supportive because she knew it was bound to be an amusing exercise. Suki's motives were not as suspicious and were the closest to Katara's. Even Momo and Appa seemed to agree with the plan.
So, Operation: Smile Sifu Hotman (Aang's idea) was implemented. Everyone tried his or her best to say or do something that would provoke even the smallest smirk on Zuko's grave face. But all their efforts did not have their desired results.
Sokka exhausted the jokes in his arsenal but only elicited raised eyebrows and awkward, uncomfortable laughs from Zuko.
Aang tried all his best airbender tricks as well as some old jokes he had heard about the Fire Nation. He only made Zuko feel even more awkward.
Suki tried to get him to talk about his happiest memories but he only became nostalgic and almost sad. "I think you might be missing the point of this whole operation," Sokka had teased her, a comment he regretted very much afterwards.
Toph seemed the have some of the more favorable results. She often challenged Zuko to sparring matches where they would exchange blows and witty remarks. He would smile every now and then during these sessions but he was also so focused on bending that he became more serious.
And Katara also had some good results, though still not to her complete satisfaction. She combined everyone else's techniques by spending more time with Zuko whether through sparring or simply talking. She attempted a few jokes, which he seemed to appreciate but which made everyone else cringe. The more she got to know him better, the more she wanted to see him smile again.
Soon, however, the operation had to end to give way to more urgent concerns like defeating the Fire Lord and ending the war. Moreover, Zuko was getting suspicious and the others didn't really want to explain what they were doing. Besides, by this time, nearly everyone already knew the solution to the problem. Everyone but Katara.
But they knew that she would figure it out. Eventually.
One day, as Katara walked away in dismay after another attempt at making Zuko smile seemed to have backfired, Toph approached the firebender. She couldn't see him but she knew that at that moment, he had the biggest smile on his face. She felt it, the sincerity of his happiness seeped into the ground.
"What are you smiling about, you dork?" Toph asked.
"Katara," Zuko replied simply.