"Boys are such a pain in the butt," Toph complained. Katara and her were sitting on a curb, waiting for Katara's brother and his friends to get out of the schoolyard. The fifth grade had gotten back from their field trip late and the two girls were waiting for them to get back for Sokka and his fifth grade friends, Zuko and Suki, to walk them home. They all lived on the same cul-de-sac, as well as with their other friends, Aang and Jet.
Katara nodded in agreement with her friend, idly kicking a stone by her foot. "I know! They're good for nothing, with their cooties and stupid pranks," she replied. Just the other day Sokka and Jet had tricked her into being locked in a closet for half an hour. Zuko had taken pity on her and let her out, though Toph still gave all of them a good wrestle for tormenting her friend.
Azula, Zuko's little sister who had to occasionally help him with his multiplication problems, pranced over to the two girls, followed by Ty Lee on her hands and Mai reading a book. The smug girl squatted next to Katara and peered at them. "Why do you hate boys? One day you're going to marry one, probably Haru, and have babies and a family!" she mocked.
Katara stuck her tongue out at Azula. "No way will I ever marry Haru! He's gross," she squealed.
Azula didn't stop there, turning to Toph, who was scowling now. "And tomboy over here will probably end up with Aang, since he's-" But what she was going to say was cut off by the smaller girl launching herself at Azula.
"Shut up shut up shut up!" Toph growled, trying to pin Azula down. There was a flurry of hands, legs, and feet before Ty Lee squirmed in the way and separated the two. Mai's eyes flicked up from her book for a moment, before returning to reading. Katara stood, ready to take on Ty Lee.
The two fighting girls continued to squirm, trying to get Ty Lee's hands off their shoulders. "Stop it both of you!" the gymnast cried. "Azula, take it back. Toph, apologize!"
With one last futile lunge Toph stopped struggling, averting her eyes and crossing her arms. "She goes first," she muttered stubbornly.
Azula straightened her shirt and flattened the creases on her shorts. With a scowl as miserable as Toph's she muttered, "I take it back."
"Sorry," Toph replied, hardly sounding it.
Ty Lee smiled brightly. "There we go! That wasn't so hard!" Katara moved out of her fighting stance, unclenching her little fists but still glaring at Azula.
Mai slid a bookmark into her book and closed it with a snap. "Why don't we just walk home now? We can go to my house since it's only a block away," she said, sounding bored out of her mind. Ty Lee agreed and Azula stuck her tongue out at the other girls as they walked away.
"My sister's really a pain, isn't she?" a boy called from behind Toph and Katara. They both whirled around, spotting Zuko and Sokka walking over from where a bus had dropped off the fifth graders as the girls had fought.
Katara tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and Toph hurriedly straightened her shorts when she spotted Sokka. "H-hey guys," Toph called out, stuttering. The two boys jogged the rest of the way over, Zuko stopping just inches from Katara, his face obnoxiously close to hers. "Miss us?" he joked, laughing as she stepped back quickly, sticking her tongue out, as was her usual response to gross boys.
"Why would I miss you?" she asked. "You're a boy, and you're one of Sokka's friends. Even worse." He only shrugged as Sokka looked around with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, where's Aang and Jet? We're supposed to walk back with them or Gran-gran will kill me!" he said. He looked genuinely nervous of his grandmother's punishment.
Toph only pointed to where a group of fourth grade boys were clustered in the yard. "They're over with the soccer team. I think Jet's trying to get them to wear their 'Freedom Fighters' jerseys to school tomorrow before the game," she explained.
Sokka tapped his foot impatiently. "I wanna get home to watch TV though!" he whined. He gave a meaningful glance at Zuko and added, "And I don't want them to melt." Zuko nodded, running over to get the two other boys.
Katara looked at her brother questioningly. "What's going to melt?" she asked, curious.
He only sneered at her, saying, "None of your business!" He started to walk, not waiting for Katara and Toph to scramble and get their backpacks on. They met up with Zuko and the fourth grade boys, who grinned widely when they saw the girls. "Hey girls!" Aang said brightly.
Katara waved vaguely, still intent on her brother's mysteriousness. "Sokkaaaaaa," she whined. "What's going to melt?" He mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. Toph only looked at her friend and shrugged.
She however was undaunted. She circled around and stood in front of Zuko, poking him hard on the chest. "You're going to tell me what's going to melt, or I'm not going another step!" she cried. The golden eyed boy looked surprised and started to stutter, "I, well, I'm not supposed to tell you."
Before he said much however Jet grabbed Katara around the middle and picked her up, trying to look like it was nothing. "I don't know about you, but I'd like to get home soon!" he crowed.
"Let me go you big bully!" Katara wailed, hitting him in the back with her hands curled into fists. Toph, ever the valiant rescuer, kicked Jet behind the knee, forcing him to let go of Katara. Sokka just bayed with laughter and Aang joined in, giggling. Jet in turn whirled around and tried to tackle Toph. Katara grabbed him from behind the neck and they struggled for a few moments.
Sokka groaned, this just turning into complete mayhem. "Alright, enough! Everyone just stop, guys!" he yelled. Aang and Zuko stepped into the fray and separated them all. Katara panted heavily, rubbing a scraped knee. Toph rubbed her elbow and Jet shook his hand, trying to get the pain to stop. "Alright, fine, you win Katara," Sokka said. He theatrically reached into his backpack and pulled out…a Klondike bar. "What," he said dramatically, "would you do for a Klondike bar?"
Jet's eyes opened wide and he grabbed for the frozen treat. "Dude, share that!" he called. Sokka complied, tossing a bar to Jet, Aang, and Zuko. He took one for himself and started walking again, unwrapping the bar. Jet ripped the foil off and took a huge bite, ice cream dripping onto his face. "Where did you get these?" Aang asked, unwrapping his slowly.
Katara and Toph, empty handed, ran up behind the fast-walking group. "And where's ours?" Toph cried indignantly.
Sokka merely shrugged. "Field trip," he said simply. Katara ran next to her brother and stuck out her hand expectantly. He just crumpled up the rest of his foil and dropped it into her hand. "Thanks!" he said brightly.
"Jerk-k-k-k!" she squealed, tossing the foil back at him.
"I asked you, what would you do for a Klondike bar?" he repeated.
"How about kiss Zuko?" Jet hollered, nearly done with his bar. Aang snorted in his ice cream, laughing. Zuko turned a bright shade of pink, pausing halfway between bites.
"Excuse me?" Katara said stupidly. Sokka smiled widely. "Yeah, kiss Zuko, 'Tara!"
Toph balled a fist, ready to hit Katara's idiot brother, but Sokka looked at her warily and handed her a Klondike from his pocket. "You get one for free Toph," he said, scared. Contented, she proceeded to munch on the treat.
"Thanks for the help!" Katara said sarcastically to her best friend. Toph only shrugged, as if to say ice cream trumps friends.
They were passing the town park now, and they turned down one of the paths to use as a shortcut to get to the cul-de-sac. Katara was still furious. "I am not kissing Zuko," she insisted. "You're going to give me a Klondike, Sokka."
The older boy jumped onto a bench, holding the last wrapped Klondike in his hand tauntingly. "Then I guess I'll just eat this one for me, Katara!" he taunted.
"You're such a pain in the butt!" she replied. She crossed her arms and huffed, trying to look dignified. Instead, she hurried away and promptly tripped over a particularly large root in the path. Flushing red and scrambling upright she mumbled, "I meant to do that."
Jet and Aang glanced over at each other, nodded, and split up. Jet knocked into the already unbalanced Katara, forcing her off the path and into the bushes. Aang bull rushed Zuko, who was completely unprepared, forcing him right where Katara had landed. The boys high-fived and kept walking. Toph looked confused, but decided to just go with the flow and keep walking.
In the bushes, Katara stood up carefully, brushing a branch out of her face. "Ouch!" Zuko yelled from behind her, tripping and knocking into her. They both tumbled, rolling even further from the path into a small clearing- only about 6 feet wide.
Katara rubbed her eyes and scooted away from Zuko. He crouched a few inches away, wiping his sticky fingers on the grass. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I didn't want to make you kiss me."
She looked over at him, leaves in his hair and shallow scratches on his face. She couldn't look much better, she thought. For some weird reason this bothered her, where she usually didn't care what she looked like. "I know it wasn't you, stupid," she replied, reaching over in a sudden bout of friendliness to pluck a leaf from his hair.
She dropped her hand back to her side, surprised at herself. He flushed red and she did too, suddenly realizing she was all alone with him. "Right," he mumbled, ruffling his hair nervously. "Not that you'd want to kiss me," he laughed, only half joking.
"R-right," she stuttered. "Boys are gross," she repeated, though she didn't sound as convicted as she'd had before. She looked at his bright, golden eyes and realized that he was staring at her.
"Your eyes," he blurted. "They're really pretty and I never noticed." He turned an even brighter shade of red and looked quickly at the ground. Katara literally fell backwards, landing on her butt and blushing from embarrassment.
"Thanks?" she said confusedly. They sat there for a few awkward seconds, their eyes flicking to each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.
"I really want a Klondike," Katara said quietly. She plucked at the grass in front of her, keeping her eyes directly on her hands. Zuko's hand reached out and grabbed hers. She looked at him and grinned wincingly. He chuckled and murmured, "Well why didn't you say so, 'Tara?"
With a swoop he pressed his mouth to hers, a quick peck, then darted away through the brush. She sat there, surprised with her hand pressed against her lips, for nearly a whole minute. Katara then stood up and ran through the bushes to the path.
She sprinted to where the rest of her friends were walking. Zuko was also running, though he was shouting, "'Tara kiss-s-s-sed me!"
She caught up with the group. Jet looked like he was going to hurl. Aang seemed to have wiped all emotion from his face. Sokka was dumbfounded. Toph just laughed as Zuko grinned nervously at Katara, and Katara stuck out her tongue at them all. "Do I get my Klondike?" she asked simply, as though they shouldn't be making such a big deal out of the whole situation.
Sokka shook his head, replying stupidly, "Oh, yeah. That." He handed her the promised Klondike with a dazed look on his face. "Here." She took it and opened it up. It was a little melted from being in Sokka's pocket, but otherwise edible.
Toph shrugged and started to walk again next to Katara. "Boys are such pains, aren't they Katara?"
She frowned for a moment, then shrugged. "I guess they can be if they want to," she compromised, looking over her shoulder at a still red-faced Zuko.
Author's Notes:
Zutara Week 2010: Pain
Okay, again an unorthodox view at the prompt. Rather than being a physical or emotional pain, I picked a very common childhood phrase: "S/he's such a pain in the butt!" (Closely followed by "What would YOU do for a Klondike bar?" in common usage) I hope you guys all liked Little!Katara and Little!Zuko :3 I know I loveeeed writing them as pesky 4th and 5th graders :D