Disclaimer: the Avatar Series does not belong to me.
—
[[ Til Next Time, Then ]]
(Post-canon, pre-LoK fic)
—
Zuko was Katara's best friend. She didn't know when it happened, but it just did, whether it was because of the mother-bond they shared or something completely opposite. They were also confidants. Zuko and Aang were close, but there were things he told the Avatar's girlfriend that he wasn't comfortable telling Aang.
And, although Katara and Aang never really had any secrets, when Katara had problems, she would tell old scar-face anything. They liked to talk and hang-out as much as any pair of best friends would.
But what Zuko hoped would not happen happened. He fell for the waterbender and he fell hard. It's been more than a year since Mai broke up with him and a few months since he discovered his crush on Katara.
To him, conversations with her became a little awkward, but he would have them anyway. He looked forward to visits from the Avatar and his girlfriend, but Zuko dared not steal her heart. He would think about her constantly, but would never tell anyone about it, being the private man that he is.
And so it was only natural for him to brighten up when Katara told him she was having a big fight with Aang about priorities. The waterbender was visiting the Fire Nation for a meeting regarding the restoration of the Southern Water Tribe. After the meeting, she decided to have a little chat with the Firelord that evening.
"I mean, I know it's his job to restore balance to the world and stuff like that," she ranted as she paced from left to right in front of him, "But I have priorities, too. The tribe, the waterbenders..."
"Relax," Zuko replied, "I'm sure Aang's in a lot of pressure right now, with the whole Republic City business and all. He just misses you."
He only muttered the last part, mentally sympathizing with the Avatar. He missed her every day.
"It just gets so annoying sometimes..."
They were walking around the palace's garden as the moon started rising in the distance. The sound of cicadas reverberated around them.
Nights in the city were buzzing with activity, children running along the streets, mothers looking around for them, merchants calling for costumers, bargaining, compromising. They were nothing like nights in the palace. In the palace, everything was at peace; it was calm and quiet like fire on a candles, sometimes eerily so.
But that was why Katara liked to stay there.
A soft wind blew past the two friends. "I love this place," she said, sitting down by the pond and starting to play with the water. "It's so peaceful."
Zuko sat down beside her and admired how she entertained herself with the water. He found it amusing how childish she could be at 20, despite all the claims of other people about how motherly she was. He guessed no one really abandons childhood completely.
"You're so naïve."
SPLASH! Katara laughed at him as he glared at her for bending water at him. She quickly waterbent the water off of him and dusting off imaginary dirt on his clothes before looking up at him and smiling.
"Cheer up, you grouch!"
"Oh, so now I'm the one needing to cheer up?" He patted her head and ruffled her long brown hair. Katara pouted at him and hit his leg. "What?"
"I didn't wanna talk about that." She crossed her arms, serious this time and started at the ripples on the pond as the water calmed down. She really didn't want to talk about it. It was always at the back of her mind and the reason why she called Zuko out was to try to keep the thought away as she would talk to her best friend about small things like the latest news about Toph's metal bending academy or how they both disliked papaya.
"Yeah, but you should talk to him about it."
"Ugh."
"Katara, you should. If you want things to work out." Katara's brows scrunched together in thought. Zuko's next words hit him harder than it hit her, "You love him, don't you?"
They were both quiet, the sound of cicadas reverberating around them again.
The waterbender bit her lips in deep thought, refusing to talk to Aang about their fight. The two have barely had any fights in their relationship and it both scared and comforted Katara that they were fighting. It scared her because it was their first and their forever seemed too quick; it comforted her because, after all, they were only human and it was bound to happen and it happens because it was supposed to strengthen their relationship.
As Zuko looked at Katara lose herself in thought, he couldn't help but want to wrap his arms around her and tell her it was okay if she and Aang wouldn't make it. He wanted to tell her all the pent up feelings that he had been harboring for her since . . . well, he didn't know. No one really knows the exact moment they fall in love; they just come to realize that they have.
He didn't notice that he had leaned a bit closer to her before he said, "Katara..."
She looked up at him and flinched at their proximity.
"Y-yes?" Her heart beat fast. If Katara was being honest with herself, she kind of had a crush on Zuko since he turned into a good guy. He was awkward and angsty, but she knew he would have been a very sweet boyfriend.
She knew that whoever would end up with him would be a very lucky girl.
Much to her surprise, he leaned in closer and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. His lips were warm as the fire he conjured and maybe she even felt a little spark at the touch. Aang's were the only lips she'd ever kissed and, not that she wanted to compare or anything, but Zuko kissed with an intensity far different from Aang's. The airbender's was chaste and sweet, the firebender's was fiery and passionate. She didn't even notice herself kiss back until she thought of such things.
Katara gasped and pulled back, scolding herself for doing such a dishonorable thing. She looked at Zuko and knew he was feeling the same.
"I—I'm so sorry," the boy beside her whispered and lay down on the grass draping an arm over his eyes, eyebrows evidently creasing in conflict. "I d-didn't mean to—"
"Do you like me?" Katara looked at him, "Honest question."
Zuko peeked at her and sighed, "I do."
"Since when?"
"I don't know."
Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.
"Do you like me?" He tried.
". . . I think so."
There was silence. She swallowed.
"But I love Aang." She lay down beside him and they looked at the stars.
There weren't as many stars as there were in the South Pole, she noticed. There was a lot of light pollution in the Fire Nation. She wondered how the stars came to be and if anyone was out there just like them. It was a crazy notion, but still she wondered.
She wondered how many people met and fell in love and lived their lives and found the right people.
Zuko thought about the same things. Unknown to the other, they were thinking the same thoughts, almost as if they were somehow . . . connected.
He looked at her, she looked at him. "I love him, Zuko."
He looked away. "I know."
The cicadas stopped chirping. The summer wind was warm. The clouds rolled by against the black-blue sky, constantly reminding them of wind... and water.
"Maybe..." Katara started as she took Zuko's hand into hers, "Maybe in another life, we could be together." The man smiled at her warmly, reveling at the thought. "But, for now, we live our lives as who we are."
Zuko nodded, tightly gripping her hand in his, still reveling at the moment they had. He wished for that other life, he yearned for that other life. But for now, she wasn't his. Next time she will be, he promised. Next time he will have made her fall in love with him before anyone else could, he vowed.
"'Til next time, then?" he asked her.
"'Til next time."
xx
Note: So this has been in my files for, like, six months and I only just edited it into something better (at least better than how it was before. I hope you guys liked it! I've been attacked by A:tLA feels and zutara feels all week and just felt like sharing this.
Please review and tell me what you think!
Thanks so much for reading!
somuchlovefromrenzie17