The first thing she noticed were his ankles, stark white against the messy cuffs of his dark washed jeans. The startling brightness of his flesh made her stop in her tracks and that was when she noticed it - the weird movement he was making.
Doing what seemed to be a strange cross between walking and running, the tall boy made his way across the pathway. He continued on with his weird - trotting? - until he disappeared from her line of sight as he rounded the corner to the library.
It took all of Katara's self control to keep herself from bursting out laughing. From the quiet snickers of the other students around, she's pretty sure she wasn't the only one who found his actions completely ridiculous. She didn't even see the reason behind his strange running because honestly, it isn't even really much faster than walking.
What in the world is that weirdo doing? She thought as giggles threatened to escape from her lips. Trying to catch one last look at the stranger, Katara walked to class smiling, feeling that he had surprisingly lightened up her mood with his comical running (if you could even call it that).
She saw him again, this time, in front of the dining hall.
"There's that weird running dude again!" Katara excitedly shook Sokka's shoulder as she pointed discreetly at the moving figure shuffling along across the street.
In the days following her first encounter with the him, she had made her friends crack up many times with her strikingly accurate imitations of the stranger's funky run. It soon became a running joke (heh) in their circle of friends - to the point that everyone started doing it just to amuse themselves. Just this morning, she had to tell Sokka off because he insisted on doing the strange run all the way to the store, earning a lot of embarrassing looks from confused passersby. Katara was used to her brother's immaturity but hell, even Suki, who was usually the most level headed one in their group, found it so funny that she joined in on her boyfriend's antics. All the way to the store and back, Katara was left to walk sullenly between the two giggling lovesick idiots doing the weird run in creepily perfect synchronization.
"Heh, it's cute." Sokka said distractedly, as he tried to stuff his entire hotdog into his mouth.
"I guess he is rather cute," Katara replied thoughtfully. "That scar also makes him look tough but kind of endearing at the same time."
At that, Sokka bursted out laughing almost choking on his food.
"I didn't mean him in general, I meant his running," he said in a matter of fact tone while still trying to hold obnoxious laughter down. He took a moment to try to compose himself but his cheeky smile still betrayed his amusement.
"All I thought is that the way he runs looks kinda cute when he runs like that - I know! We should call it 'cutesy running!'" he exclaimed proudly and launched himself into the now termed "cutesy running."
"Katara likes Cutesy Runner! Katara likes Cutesy Runner!"
Katara felt her face slowly heating up as her brother cutesy ran around her in circles. However, as infuriating his implication may be, it does (if she were to be really honest) hold truth to some degree. Strangely, Katara did find Cutesy Runner rather attractive. Her brother, however, didn't really need to know that.
"Oh shut up. He's not even that good looking. Besides, he always looks like he's waddling like a… I don't know… duckling with broken legs!"
"But you still liiiiike him," Sokka continued in a singsong voice. He took his teasing up another level by now flapping his arms and quacking like a duck while still cutesy running around her.
Just as she decided that Sokka will definitely deserve the ice from her drink that she was getting ready to dump on him, Katara's frown turned into a triumphant grin as he tripped over his own foot while trying to wiggle his eyebrows at her. Apparently, cutesy running doesn't really offer as much balance as regular running. This didn't deter him however as he followed her all the way home to their apartment doing an even stranger combination of cutesy running and limping.
Since the last time she saw him, Katara has since then saw the stranger around campus a number of times during the last couple of weeks. Of course, he was still unfailingly cutesy running every single time. She actually looked forward to bumping into him now, since he never failed to amuse her. After her conversation with Sam, Katara also started noticing more how attractive Cutesy Runner really is. He was definitely her type. Too bad she probably can never take the dude seriously on account of his weird way of moving around.
It was drizzling a bit today but Katara didn't mind since unlike most people, she actually liked rainy days. She also arrived on campus earlier than usual today because ever since Sokka told their friends about her - as he puts it - infatuation with Cutesy Runner, everyone has been teasing her nonstop about it. Toph had even managed to convince everyone to all cutesy run whenever Katara was in the vicinity, which drove her absolutely nuts. She honestly rather heads to her classes earlier in the morning than have a bunch of supposedly mature college students cutesy running in single file behind her the whole way to school. Sometimes, Katara truly feels like she's the only responsible person around here.
Lost in her own thoughts, Katara wasn't paying much attention to where she was going; and next thing she knew, she was on the ground after something really solid collided with her.
The first thing she noticed were pale white ankles that stood out brightly against folded black jeans. Stunned from her fall, she barely registered the arms pulling her up until she was face to face with Mr. Cutesy Runner himself.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked, eyes slightly wide with embarrassment.
Shocked that she was actually talking to Cutesy Runner, Katara quickly removed herself from his arms, which were still steadying her.
"You're Cutesy Runner."
"Um... sorry what?"
"You're the one who does that weird cutesy run all the time."
"What do you mean? How is my running even weird?" Cutesy Runner asked, visibly perplexed with what she had just said.
"You're running is definitely weird," Katara clarified. "The way you move is silly and not to mention, also highly impractical. It's not even faster than regular walking. Why do you even run like that?"
Visibly horrified at the thought that his running was silly, Cutesy Runner looked even more embarrassed and confused.
"All my classes are on the opposite sides of campus from one another. I have to hurry if I want to make it on time." He said, obviously flustered because of Katara's allegations.
"But brisk walking is more efficient. Why not do that instead? You just really look stupid doing that run of yours." Katara told him while biting back her smirk.
"What do you mean stupid? It gets me to where I have to be just fine." he shot back now visibly annoyed.
"You just look like someone trying hard not to have a bathroom accident while rushing to the toilet when you do that." She countered, now unable to hold back her laughter because of the absurdity of it all.
"Well, I'll have you know that my way of running is better for your knees and also…. Oh shit! My next class is starting in five minutes and it's on the other side of campus. I have to go now!" Cutesy Runner exclaimed looking very panicked at the prospect of being late.
As Cutesy Runner made to walk away from her, he suddenly turned back to face her again now looking shy and nervous.
"Do you want to continue this conversation some other time. Because really, my way of running is very efficient. If you would only give it a chance and try it out, there are actually more benefits to running like this than any other way of -"
"I would love to," she cuts him off before he could get carried away and make himself even later for his class.
"Okay, yeah. Let's do that." he said rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as a blush slowly rises to his cheeks. He waved goodbye at her and started to make his way to his class.
"Wait," she called out. "I'm Katara by the way. What's your name. You don't want me to refer to you as Cutesy Runner forever don't you?"
"It's Zuko," he said. He flashed her a small smile and continued on his way. Katara stared at the back of his retreating cutesy running form.
Hey maybe cutesy running isn't really that bad after all.