Amoris et Circenses

A/N- Fic from my Zutara Blog - November 13, 2016. Requested by Lahaina-Gurl

"You're never gonna win like that."

"Excuse me?" Katara spun around, dart still in hand, towards the stranger's voice. Her eyes landed upon a dark, raven-haired form baring a smirk. "I think I can manage," she added keeping her voice sharp and turning back to aim, she flicked her wrist and sent the small projectile flying. Pop. Her eyes shot back to him in victorious defiance.

"Impressive," the older boy nodded boy seemed to be the wrong word.

She watched him slide a dollar across the worn counter of the carnival booth and get handed four darts in return. He wore a crimson hoodie that shaded most of his face, but she could still see that smirk on his mouth and the sharp angle of his jaw. The irises of his eyes shone like gold coins as they locked on her and he picked up a dart.

She raised an eyebrow, challenging him. It only seemed to fuel his cockiness because he whipped the dart to his left, not braking eye-contact with her, and his movement was followed by a pop that pulled his smirk into a half grin that made her cheeks flush.

Hmph. Trying to ignore his stare and the random butterflies in her stomach, she turned back to the game in front of her, focusing hard on a particularly red balloon. Pop. Another balloon defeated on his side of the stall. Her hand seemed to shake as she brought it up to aim, but she ignored it and flung her last dart at the balloon. However, the little object hit the wall and bounced off harmlessly.

"Fuck" the word slipped out of her mouth before she could notice that golden eyes still looked upon her. Pop.

"At least let me take you on a date, first," he was smiling now, one last dart twirling between his fingers as he watched her.

"What?" It took her a second to make the connection between her phrase and his. "Oh! No! What? I don't even know you."

"Well, I'm Zuko." He brought his hands to his chest, motioning to himself. "I'm here for the summer to visit my moth—"

"That's not—" she cut him off.

"I've never seen you around, are you new here, too?" He interrupted her right back.

"No, I'm on break from university and— wait, no, why am I telling you this?" That last part she hadn't meant to say aloud.

"One date?"

"No."

"What if I make this shot?" He brought the dart up to throwing position.

"That's not fair! You haven't missed once!"

"Ah, so you've been paying attention."

"No…" she faltered.

"Okay, well, how about if you make this shot, you agree to one date with me. But if you miss, I'll leave you alone."

"Fine," she snatched the pointed piece of plastic from his hand. Her fingertips brushed across his just barely and she felt heat. So much, that she thought had they had any more contact, it surely would have burned her.

The dart twisted indecisively between her fingers. She could tell he'd been honest when he said he'd leave if she missed. If she wanted she could probably through the stupid thing behind her and it seemed he would go, but is that what she wanted? Her eyes traveled over to him then shot back forward when they saw he was still watching intently.

Maybe she shouldn't over think this. Why was she fighting this? He seemed nice… though that smirk did make her want to slap him —or maybe something else. She shook her head and raised her arm, letting out a long cool breath. Flicking her wrist, her hand shot forward and her eyes closed when the dart left her hold.

Pop. Her eyes snapped back open to see a small red balloon rip apart. "Fuck," she swore again, rolling her eyes and raising her hands a bit. But she couldn't ignore the swirl of excitement that shot through her.

"We'll see how the date goes before we start talking like that, hmm?"

She blushed, sure her cheeks were just as red as the balloon she'd just burst. Though, if he noticed he didn't mention it.

"We should go on the ferris wheel."

"Right now?"

"Well, yeah, you promised me a date."

"I didn't think you meant now. I'm already here with someone." His eyes dropped their hold on her and an oh feel from his lips. "I'm here with my brother." She amended. A small smile appeared on her own face seeing the change in his eyes at the clarification. "Meet me here at six, okay?"

Zuko nodded before stepping back, "Wait, you never told me your name."

"Be here tomorrow and I'll tell you."

He scraped his teeth against the top of his bottom lip, something flashing across the gold in his eyes. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Hey! Kid?" the booth attendant called after him. "You forgot to take a prize!"

Zuko spun around, walking backwards as he spoke, "She can have it, she made the last shot."

She pursed her lips, trying to hide her amusement even though he was no longer there to see it.

"Miss?"

"Yeah, uh, I'll just take that." She pointed to a penguin in a red sweatshirt, grabbing it from the man, and rushing off to find her brother.

"Sokka?"

"Hey, buddy!" Her brother turned to greet someone, but she couldn't see who. Katara looked away, searching the crowd for Zuko as she leaned against the counter. It was hot today and she hated the heat. She was underdressed for a date, just wearing flip-flops, shorts, and a simple tank top, but she'd be damned if she was going to put on anything else. It was too hot for that.

"Yeah, so this is my girlfriend I was telling you about, Suki. And, uh, that's Katara, my sister." Katara glanced back at Sokka at the mention of herself. "Apparently she's got a real hot date tonight. Some tall, dark, and handsome guy she met last night."

"Yeah?" The other boy leaned to look around Sokka's shoulder and she nearly passed out.

"Sokka!" she was mortified. "Shut up!"

"What? Oh! Ohhhh… Is this the guy you were telling us about?" He used his thumb to point to Zuko. "He doesn't seem like a bad boy to me."

"I didn't say that! I did not say that."

"All right, all right. Come on, Suki, we are clearly not wanted anymore." He linked arms with his girlfriend and headed towards the ferris wheel. Before they got to far though Suki turned and motioned like she was fanning herself and mouthed the word damn pointing at Zuko.

She was right of course, Zuko was even better looking in the light. Today he only wore a black tshirt with his black jeans and she found herself liking the way the dark clothes looked against his pale skin. He also was wearing a pair of sunglasses that seemed to be covering some type of mark on his face.

Not wanting to make him uncomfortable with her stare, she asked,"So, uh, how do you know my brother?" trying to act calm as she pushed off the counter to stand.

"I don't really," he was looking at the ground, focusing on his shoes all of his confidence from yesterday seemingly gone. "I met him last night. We were playing basketball… He talks a lot."

"I know," was her only answer. "Shall we?"

His head shot up and a hand flew to his face adjusting the glasses like he was surprised by the question."You still want to?"

"Yes, you promised me a date and I'm not leaving until I get one." Her hands rested on her hips and she didn't miss the way his gaze settled there momentarily.

The date was nice. She enjoyed herself. She enjoyed being with him, a lot more than she had though she would. They rode a couple roller coasters. They walked through the haunted house, which he had screamed inside of quite a few times, but she thought it was cute. They ate random foods from the different colored vendor got caricatures of themselves drawn, though they she didn't think that her eyes were as big as the artist made it seem, but Zuko had said she still looked good.

His confidence seemed to only increase as the night went on, he'd even started giving her a hard time when he was beating her at one of the carnival games. But he'd always ask for another round and try to show her his technique.

"All these games are set up to look easier than they actually are."

"Yeah, they're rigged."

"No, not rigged, it's just house advantage. All of them can be beaten, you just need to pay attention." He showed her how to arch the darts so that the balloons would always pop, he demonstrated where to hit the target on the strength tester, and told her to watch where the water went in reference to wear she aimed the toy gun.

"You know these are useless skills, right?" she smirked squeezing the water guns trigger.

"Yeah, but it works when you want to show off to a pretty girl," he spun his aim to her spraying her with water.

"Zuko!" she squealed but did the same to him, not pulling away until he was soaked.

His hands rose up in defeat, "You win. You are the water master," he joked before flipping his hair out of his eyes. Katara felt her entire face redden at the site and felt a swirl in her stomach. He looked really good. She squirted him one last time, before running off to the next booth so she could compose herself.

At the end if the night, he walked her home. Both of them still a bit soggy from earlier.

"Okay, well," his hand found slid behind his own neck awkwardly as he looked at his feet, "I'll…I'll see you around, I guess."

He went to leave and she could feel her heart thudding in her chest, he was three steps away. "Zuko?" She grabbed his sleeve pulling him back, his eyes widened in confusion until she put a hand on his cheek and leaned up to kiss him.

His breath was hot. His lips were hot. He was hot.

His arms wrapped around her; one steadying her by pressing into her lower back, the other winding into her hair. A small moan pulled from her mouth as his moved against hers and she blushed finally pulling away.

"So, uh, you wanna do that again tomorrow? The date, I mean! Not that, I wouldn't want—"

"I would love to, Zuko," she smiled leaning up to give him one last kiss.

"I saw that!" were the first words she heard walking in the door.

"Shut up, Sokka!"

"So is he your boyfriend?"

"Shut up!" Katara ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. Her fingers touched her mouth as she peered out her window. Zuko was still walking down the driveway. His hands suddenly in his hair with his arms above his head. She hoped he wore the same grin as she now did.

This went on for another week or so. They went to the carnival. The went to the beach. Walked through the mall hand in hand. And each night ended with him walking her home and the two of them making out on the porch —not that there lips weren't locked half the time they spent together anyway.

"Zuko, stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" But she couldn't help the smile as she watched him. They were on the carousel —his idea, of course— and he was currently hanging upside down from one of the metal horses.

"And if I did, would you tell me you love me?"

She glared at him as he swung back up, only to roll into a handstand with his feet wrapped around the pole that moved the horse up and down. "I would tell you how dumb you are." She slid off her own metallic steed and stood next to him as they spun. "But I love you anyway," she pressed her lips to his upside down ones, feeling him smile against her.

He righted himself as she crawled back onto her spot, sitting sideways so she could face him. The ride slowed, likely because the operator had finally noticed Zuko's acrobatics and wasn't too happy.

"Hey! Kid! What do yo—"

"Come on!" Zuko grabbed her hips and lifted her down before taking her hand. They jumped the fence, both laughing, as they ran through the crowds of people. "In here," he said pulling her into a back door of one of the game stalls.

"Why are we—They're not even chasing us!"

"I know," he breathed, spinning her against one of the walls and pressing himself against her. He nuzzled her neck making her skin flush.

"Ohh," she sighed feeling his touch, her own hands already pulling at his shirt. He whipped it off feeling her struggling with the hem of it.

It was so dark. She wanted to see him. "Lights?" she gasped when his fingers found their way under her shirt. He groaned, but pulled away to look for a switch. It only took a moment before he did and he was back to her, his hands resuming their ascent on her body.

He pressed against her, hot hands and steaming breath making her shiver. She looked around, noticing they were surrounded by mirrors —hundreds of them, showing his and her reflection everywhere she looked. "Wait, I… Can we just… I wanna go slow."

"Okay," his hand slid back down to her hip. "That's fine, Kat, he brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. "We don't have to do this." The way he agreed so easily made her want to change her mind, but she didn't. It wasn't that she didn't want to —because, Spirits, how she wanted to— but she just didn't want to rush it.

She ran a hand up his chest, feeling his muscles tense in each place she touched. She liked the effect she had on him. She liked how his pale skin looked strong and hard, but was smooth under her fingers.

His breath became uneven, like he was nervous. But what did hehave to be nervous about? He was perfect. Her fingers moved up to his shoulder, playing with the tips of his hair.

He still wore his sunglasses, like he always did in the daylight. She knew, of course, that he had some sort of scar, but she'd never seen all of it. Just the edges of it behind his glasses and the outline of it when he took them off when it got dark.

She must have been staring because his face suddenly fell. "You want to see, don't you?"

She shook her head, "Not if you don't want me to."

The hand that had been on her waist, lifted, shaking as he brought it to his own face. He pulled the dark frames away, but he didn't look back up. Her hand found his chin, making his eyes meet hers. He swallowed hard, watching her watch him.

"You're beautiful." It might have sounded silly, but it was true. The scar looked painful —and from its placement, it didn't look like an accident— but it was part of him and she loved him. All of him. And no scar was going to change that.

His eyes were disbelieving as she studied him, a hand reaching up to trace its edges. He let out a hot breath when her fingers met his face. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. Not until her hand retreated and came to a rest at the base of her throat.

"Kiss me."

"What?"

"Kiss me, Zuko." It took him a moment before he obliged, falling into her and grabbing her waist. She raised up on her toes, trying to get closer. His hands moved to her ass, lifting her. She hissed his name while wrapping her legs around him. Her back hit the wall and she moaned.

"Mommy! What are they doing?" A child's voice shrieked. Katara's legs instantly untangled themselves from Zuko's waist and he released her, pulling her to the door, not bothering to grab his shirt.

"Maybe we should call it a night?" he gasped as the ran into the street to get away from the carnival.

She felt light-headed and could feel her blood coursing under her skin. "Yeah, maybe that'd be good."

They walked, leaning against each other with their fingers intertwined, though her free hand kept finding its way over to his chest. They were both grinning idiotically, but saying nothing until they returned to her porch.

"Goodnight," he whispered landing a single kiss on her lips.

"Night," she felt him squeeze her hand once before letting go. "Zuko?" she said his name much like she'd done the first night they kissed.

"Yeah?" he turned to see her leaning against the door.

"Sokka's not gonna be home for a few hours, so—" she bite her lip and looked him over, "if you want to come in…"

He practically threw himself at her, not that she was complaining, his hand pulling her to him the way they had done in the mirror hall at the carnival. But this time she was lifting her own shirt up over her head and pushing his dark jeans down. They stumbled towards the couch and when they were close enough she pushed him onto it. He looked up to her grinning with eyes that seemed to be drinking in the very sight of her. She loved the way he looked at her. She loved the way he looked. She loved him.

She hooked her thumbs in her shorts and shimmied them down, stepping out of them and crawling on top of him. She leaned in to kiss him, moving her hips against the hardened length beneath them. He groaned against her mouth, cursing her name, and pulling her closer.

"Zuko," she gasped feeling a sudden warmth between her thighs, "Do you have a…a…?"

"Fuck," he groaned as she leaned away, "I don't."

"Hold on!" She stumbled off him, her legs shaking a bit as she ran up the stairs into Sokka's room. She flew through all his drawers, throwing his clothes around in search of the box. She finally found what she was looking for on a shelf in his closet. She grabbed one and turned to leave, but stopped to grab a second one. Just in case.

She bounded back down the stairs, to find Zuko exactly where she'd left him.

"Hey," she grinned, slowing to a walk as she crossed the living room.

"Hey," he returned the smile, sitting up a bit.

"You're brother's going to kill us if we keep doing this," he panted between heavy kisses.

"He's not in charge of me," she replied shortly, nipping at Zuko's scarred earlobe.

"Fuck, Kat," he groaned. He'd never get any sleep, if she kept at this. "You're, mmm, you're right. Ahh," her hand slid underneath the seam of his jeans. "It's been a month and he, fuck, hasn't caught you leaving, ye-et."

Her hand wrapped around his length, slowly stroking him. "Can you not talk about my brother. The only name I want on your lips is mine." Her thumb traced over his head as she said the last word and he hissed. "Better," she pressed her mouth to his before ducking under his sheets.

"I just don't feel well, okay? Maybe tomorrow." The phone beeped as she hung up and he sighed throwing the cursed thing back on the table. This was the fourth day in a row that she'd done that. Something besides being sick had to be bothering her. Had he done something to offend her? He thought back, but came up with nothing. Maybe she had just grown tired of him.

"Katara?" He knocked on her door, he'd gotten a text from her early in the morning saying she didn't want to see him anymore. "Katara? Open up, come on? Please?"

The door swung open, but it wasn't her. "Zuko!"

"Hey, Sokka. Is Katara here?" He didn't really feel like socializing.

"No, she left for a doctor's appointment about an hour ago."

Zuko's eyes flashed, "Is she sick? Is she okay?"

"Nah, she said it's just girl stuff." Sokka made a face and shook his head. "She should be back soon, though."

"Okay, I, uh, gotta go," Zuko spun on his heel, not bothering to say goodbye before bolting down the driveway and around the corner. The hospital was only a few blocks away, so he hoped she was still there or maybe on her way back.

It only took him a couple minutes to reach the doors, which he nearly slammed into when he noticed a reflection in the glass. It was Katara. She was sitting on a bench in the garden area by the entrance. Her head was resting on her knees which her arms held close to her.

His heart fell, she was crying. "Katara? Babe, what happened? What's wrong."

"Nothing!" she spat, not looking up.

"Katara," he tried to keep his voice even, but he was terrified. Was she sick? Did someone hurt her?

"I told you to go away! I don't—I don't wanna see you!" She hiccuped a sob. "Just leave me alone. Please."

"No," he dropped down on the ground in front of her. "I love you and I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong."

"You're gonna leave anyway," she sniffled.

"Why would I—"

One arm moved and pulled something out from the pocket of her sweatshirt —actually it was his sweatshirt— and dropped it in his lap.

"What's this…" There were numerous numbers and words and stats written on the paper, but only one was circled. Pregnant.

He drew in a breath, before standing up. But he didn't leave, instead he sat down next to her on the bench and pulled her into his lap. He felt her lean into his chest, new tears already staining his shirt. "I love you, Katara. I'm not leaving you, okay. I'm never leaving. We can do this."