I wrote this last year during Greenifyme's Zutara Week because I felt a little left out being a non-shipper. This was the only prompt I wrote on – I just couldn't think of that many strictly one sided ship-drabbles. This prompt really intrigued me though. And I think the Kataangers maybe be happy reading this too. I'm just an Avatard who enjoys writing . . . and a bit Zutarian/Kataanger rivalry ;).

Enjoy! ^_^

Denim

Somewhere in the Fire Nation, six friends are shopping.

"Tah Dah!" Sokka burst out of the peddler's 'changing room' with a smile stretching from ear to ear. All eyes widened and muffled snickers caught in up in the gaang's collective throats. Toph didn't even have to see his to know how ridiculous he looked. But Sokka had been very adamant about being the first to try this 'new and exciting' product. "Well . . . what do you think?!"

"Um . . . rrr . . . aaa . . ."

"Pretty snazzy, I know." He hooked and arm around Suki and pulled her in front of the mirror with him. "What do you think Suki? Don't they make me look – Manly?"

Suki was politely trying to squirm out from Sokka's death grip, when Zuko caught a look at the rest of the description on the display sign. "Aaa . . . Sokka –"

"Not now Zuko, Suki is busy admiring my new pants." In reality, Suki was attempting to admire anything other than Sokka new, TIGHT pants.

Zuko pointed at the sign and Aang peered his head over. "Sokka, I think Zuko's right –"

"And watch what I can do in them!!"

Suki paled and Katara yelped in horror. "Sokka put your leg down!"

"Man I wish I could see this!" Toph was literally rolling on the floor in laughter.

"What?! You know I look good!" Sokka flexed his muscles in the mirror and Suki stumbled to where Katara was standing breathing like she had just been attack by the Unagi.

Zuko and Aang shared a brief look but kept their attention glued to the display sign while Aang read aloud. "New and Exciting! With these Denim-Ultra-Low-Rise-Stretch Jeans you are sure to be the envy of all your friends." Sokka puffed out his chest in the mirror. "As durable as they are sleek, wear denim anytime: when going the theatre, a special meeting with the Firelord –"

Katara swallowed hard, not wanting to think of what kind of meeting where anyone would wear such restricting pants.

"– Or just hanging out with friends at the beach. Denim is the fabric of the new era!" The proudest grin was plastered on Sokka's face. "Be the first GIRL in your village to own New Denim Jeans."

Everyone was quiet for a brief moment.

"This keeps getting better!!!" Toph was dying of laughter and effectively started the entire group laughing.
All but Sokka. Caught in mid-muscle-pose, his face turned whiter than Zuko's and his eyes seemed to sink back within their sockets. He looked at himself in the mirror. The waist band of the pants sat a good three inches below his naval, actually revealing the crack on his backside; they hugged his legs making him look scrawnier then a sewing pin; they wrapped around his ankles so tightly that his feet looked abominably huge; and worst of all – they left nothing to the imagination around his more personal area.

Indignantly he scowled at his so called 'friends' and immediately went on the defensive. "Hey, it's not that funny!!" Katara snorted. "I didn't know they were girl's pants!!"

Suki sobered first laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We know Sokka."

Toph pointed directly at him. "But you still liked them!"

"They're 'new and exciting'!!"

Aang giggled, "Maybe you should have read the rest of the advertisement."

Katara shook her head and pushed her brother back behind the dressing curtain. "Come on big brother. I think it's time to get you out of those things."

"Katara do you even know how long it took me to get these on?!"

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "I don't even want to think about it."

Thoroughly humiliated, Sokka did the only thing he could think of: retaliate. "I want to see them on a girl then!" Everyone paused. Sokka's head popped out form the dressing room. "What scared? You just know you won't look half as good as me."

Suki rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's the reason."

"So you're going to try them on?" Sokka stepped out of the dressing room with the pants in hand, smiling deviously. Suki just stammered an awkward 'no thank you'.

Toph was still snickering and became his next target. "Toph?"

"No way."

"But you can't even see what you look like in them!"

Toph flicked a rather larger pebble at Sokka's head. "I'm blind not stupid!"

"Fine! Then Katara will have to try them on!"

"Wait? What?!" Katara blanked.

"That seems fair."

"Toph!"

Aang stepped up. "It would be nice to see them on someone they're designed for."

Suki nodded her friend on. "They are 'new and exciting'."

"Then why don't you try them on!?"

Sokka cut in before Suki could answer. "Now you're stalling! Get in there and try them on!"

Katara was trapped. Everyone wanted her to try them on and she was not one to disappoint her friend, but she had seen them on Sokka. And that was something she rather forget. She looked from one person to the next finally settling on the one person who had been trying to blend in with the back-ground and not get involved. "What do you think Zuko?"

"Aaa . . ." The banished prince scratched the back of his neck avoiding eye contact.

"Tell her she needs to try them on." Sokka put in.

"Well, I . . ." Zuko stammered on.

"I think she'll look good in them."

"Thanks Aang." Katara blushed lightly. "Well Zuko?"

Zuko gulped, cleared his throat and put on the friendliest, most encouraging tone he could muster. "You couldn't be any worse than Sokka." Katara's eyes flashed dangerously. "Wait – that didn't come out right. What I meant was: seen one watertribe sibling in denim seen them all." Katara's eyes narrowed. "No! I didn't mean that either!"

"Give me the pants." Katara demanded. Sokka instantly obliged and stepped back as his sister stormed into the dressing room.

Toph appeared beside Zuko whose shoulders fell in defeat. "Smooth."

"Look on the bright side," Zuko glared at Sokka. "She's trying them on."

Aang put a hand on Zuko's shoulder, but before he could say anything to comfort his friend his attention went to the dressing room. "Wow Katara! I you great!

The rest of the gang looked up then and Sokka's mouth dropped. "Not fair!"

Suki scurried over to Katara. "They look amazing! Now I can believe the advertisement."

"You really think they look okay?"

"Okay?! Katara they were made for you!"

The warrior pushed Katara in front of the mirror so she could examine them for herself. "They are really comfortable." She looked them over, lifting up her long tunic to see just how they fit. Unlike Sokka, the pants made her legs look quite shapely. The band sat right across her hips hugging nicely over her bottom and her feet did not look big. She flexed at the knee before squatting to text the mobility. "And they are really flexible."

Suki clasped her hands together. "You should get them!"

Katara looked again at here reflection. "I don't know . . ."

"You could wear it with the fire nation top you have." Sokka raised an eyebrow at Aang's comment. "You know, so you don't have to hold up your shirt like that." Katara let it down after that, but Aang was right, the button and zipper left a bulky disturbance under the fabric.

"Well I think Sokka looked better in them." The earthbender grinned.

"Thank you Toph – hey!'

"Look at it this way Katara," Suki could see her friend's inhibitions. "Everyone deserves a treat now and then. And this is even a practical treat!"

Katrara smiled and nodded. "Thanks Suki. I think I'll get them." She looked down at the pants for the price but didn't see it. Katara dipped back into the dressing room quickly and the group headed up to the counter to pay, all tittering about the "pant-capades' as Sokka deemed it. Katara placed the pants on the counter and reached into her sash for her money. They could spare few copper pieces for a new pair of pants. It was justified and the others were so proud that they had found the 'new and exciting' item.

"Comes to 80 gold coins."

Katara was taken aback. "Um – pardon me?"

"80 gold please." The shop keeper eyed her. He was well acquainted with young customer who thought they could buy anything with nothing and he had been watching the youngsters. They were no different. He knew this girl didn't have the money. Now he just had to make sure that they didn't steal the pants.

"Oh . . ." Katara looked down at her would-be new pants and sighed putting them on the table. She thought about all the meals that could be, all the warm blankets and supplies. What if someone got sick and they need medicine? What would they do when they needed all that money? Did they even have 80 gold pieces at all? She sighed sadly to herself. "Sorry, I don't have enough." No one seemed to have noticed the exchange when she turned back to her friends; they were still laughing and joking. "Come on guys, let's go." She tried not to show that she was disappointed and made a hasty exit. "I didn't really need them anyway."

The group filed out after her. Aang was the first to catch up. "Hey Katara, what's wrong? Why didn't you get the pants?"

Katara smiled sadly. "I didn't really need new pants Aang."

Sokka nodded his head. "True, true. But those were 'new and exciting' pants. You can't pass things like that up."

Katara was flustered and snapped at him. "I just didn't want them, okay?"

"Jeez! What got into you?"

"Sokka." Suki's voice warned as they watched the waterbender march over to a nearby fountain. She stared into the water, letting the subtle movements calm her down. Still, her disappointment prodded her. She could always have taken them, but then she would have been steeling from someone who wasn't selling stolen good like pirates. She just had to accept that it was not meant to be.

"Hey Katara?" The airbender tentatively approached her.

Katara gave him a soft reassuring smile. "Yes Aang?"

"Zuko wants to go before he's recognized and I think that's a good idea."

"Yeah you're right." The two friends rejoined the rest of the group and they made a causally escape so as not to raise suspicion. Sokka blabbed on about something or other and Suki humored him. Toph of course popped his ego every chance he gave her. Aang tried to make conversation standing between Katara and Zuko, but there was still residual tension between the opposing benders. He figured Zuko's earlier comments didn't help the situation much either.

"Hey Twinckletoes! Get over here and help us get the fruit out of this tree."

"I'm coming!" Aang whisked himself up into a near by moon peach tree that Sokka was ineffectively hacking at with his sword.

"You could have asked for the money you know."

Startled by his sudden words, Katara threw a skeptical eye in Zuko's direction. "We don't have that kind of money to spare."

"I could have helped."

"Well forgive me for not being a prince!" She did not want nor need him talking to her at the moment.

Zuko didn't say anything in defense. He looked at her for a long hard moment before shaking his head and reaching into his cloak. "Here."

Katara glanced at the object he held out and gasped. "How did you get those?!"

"I didn't steal them."

"I mean, where did you get the money to buy them?"

"I borrowed it."

"You borrowed it?" Katara crossed her arms, glancing once at the temping denim jeans her 'friend' was holding out to her. "What, did Toph give you some money on the sly?"

"I just thought you would be happy to have them."

"You should know by now that I won't take anything from you without being skeptical."

Zuko rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore her comment."Well, I thought Suki was right when she said everyone deserves a treat. You work really hard for the group so I got you the pants."

Katara was slightly stunned by the complements but still wary of Zuko. "Well that't all well and good, but it doesn't explain how you got them."

"I just borrowed some money. That's all." He draped the pants over of her shoulders and stared to walk to where the other's combated the moon-peach tree.

Katara was not about to let him get away that easily. "From who? Some poor man's wallet?!"

Zuko stopped and looked over his shoulder with a wicked smirk. "From Azula's charge account."

Katara shared his smirk. Suddenly She did not feel so bad about where the money had come from. She knew she would be able to pay Azula back herself one day soon.