One Too Many

by frayedeecat

This oneshot is set directly after the events of Ember island Players. Katara tries to hide from Zuko and ends up having a little bit too much to drink.

This story was inspired fully by one of my favorite Zutara oneshots: Love Amongst the Embers by delectate.

Everybody was walking back to the Fire Lord's old summer home on Ember Island after seeing The Boy in the Iceberg when Katara suddenly stopped and turned back.

"You guys go on ahead," she called at her friends. "I think I left something in the theatre."

"Are you sure?" Aang questioned. "It's after dark, after all. I don't know if you'll be safe…"

Katara rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, Aang. Nobody's going to attack me for going back for my bracelet." She didn't notice Zuko's keen eyes darting to her wrists. Both her bracelets were still there.

Sokka swung an arm around Suki and started walking in the direction of the beach house. "See you around, sis!" he called with a casual wave back to his younger sister.

Aang still looked worried, but he said finally, "Okay, well, be back soon, alright?"

She was already turning back to the theatre as she replied, "Yeah, yeah, sure." Her bright eyes darted to the side, and she abruptly turned around and walked away. She could hear Toph's raucous laughter, soon followed by childlike peals of laughter from Aang. Her shoulders tightened and she quickened her pace. She felt guilty, so guilty, for making excuses to ditch her friends, but she was feeling so out of sorts from the horrible play and the incident at intermission that she desperately needed some time to herself. A quick walk around town, maybe a stroll on the beach as well, and then she would have her head on right again.

Suddenly she picked up on something irregular in the noises around her. She casually slowed her pace, and heard for a moment footsteps walking the exact pace she had been walking before slowing to match her again. A prickle shot down her neck and she turned her head slowly to look over her left shoulder. Nothing out of the ordinary immediately jumped out at her, but her heart was still pounding and her neck was still tingling. Trusting her gut, she changed course and started heading back to the theatre after all.

A figure suddenly materialized in front of her. Katara, preoccupied with the worried feeling simmering in her abdomen, slammed directly into… "Zuko?! Why did you follow me?"

He raised his eyebrow and replied, "You sound like someone who maybe wasn't heading to the theatre to get her bracelet, Katara." He pointed at her wrists, both clad in shining metal.

Katara huffed and crossed her arms, hiding her wrists from sight. "Fine. I lied. Sue me."

Mimicking her, the prince crossed his arms as well and smirked. "Where are you really going?"

Flustered, Katara snapped, "Wouldn't you like to know?!"

"Yes, I would," he coolly returned, staring her down.

She broke her furious glare and instead looked at the ground, shuffling one of her feet. "I'm going for a walk. I needed some air."

"Can I join you?"

Startled, Katara looked at Zuko, searching for any hint of amusement. When she found only a small smile, she glared again at the ground and muttered, "I wanted to be alone."

Zuko ducked his head to meet her eyes. "Look, I was upset by that play too, but that doesn't mean you have to run from everybody."

"It's not just the play!" Katara burst out. "It's...it's...ugh!" And she threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

Zuko, visibly beginning to get annoyed himself, prodded, "It's what?"

Katara shot him an icy glare. "It's none of your business, is what it is." And with that she pushed past him and began walking towards the theatre again.

Zuko grabbed her arm and gently turned her back. "Katara…"

"What?"

He shook his head slightly and said, "Come home. Walk on the beach. I'll walk with you if you like."

Puzzled and upset, she frowned. "Why are you pushing this?"

"Because I'm worried about you!" he exploded.

Her frown deepened and she said as she wrenched her arm out of his grip, "Don't be."

She dashed away suddenly, towards the crowd still pouring from the theatre. Without looking back, Katara knew that he was following her, so she ducked her head and weaved through the crowd, dodging people and making erratic turns. She felt a hand brush her back and she shouldered past a large man and kept running. Why was he following her? Why wasn't he leaving her alone?

The crowd thinned, and caught in embarrassment, she turned and ran into the closest building, closing the door behind her and darting deeper into the dim and smoky room.

When she stopped to catch her breath, she realized she was surrounded by a large and boisterous crowd. Looking around, she saw glasses clinking and people laughing and men leering and women smiling and everywhere, people dancing. Startled and still a little out of breath, she sat down in one of the chairs scattered around the room and looked around more. Good, it seemed like Zuko didn't follow her in.

"Hi," a strange voice suddenly greeted her from above.

She looked up into the grinning face of a man she'd never seen before, and replied, "Um, hi."

He smiled wider and pulled up a chair next to hers. "I'm Kahn. What's your name?"

Too taken aback to to think up a fake name, she said, "Oh, it's Katara!"

"Katara, huh? That's unusual."

Racking her brains for a suitable answer, she finally settled on: "Well, I'm from the colonies, you know. My parents were...uh...hippies. They liked weird names." And with that she grinned back at him.

Kahn waved at a woman walking around with a tray, and as she turned and walked towards them, he said to Katara, "Would you like a drink? You look parched."

"Oh! Um, yes, I'd love one!" She turned to search for a coin to pay for a drink.

Kahn smiled charmingly and placed a hand on hers. "Please. It's on me."

She paused, and smiled back. "Okay. Thank you."

The waitress came over and smiled, and Kahn asked, "Can I get a Flame Broil, extra ice, and...hmm...let's see...two Fire Lilies and an Ember Island Shaker for the lady?" The waitress smiled again and turned to get their drinks.

Katara, trying desperately to seem like she wasn't too young to be there, refrained from asking what kind of drink an Ember Island Shaker was. Kahn flashed a grin at her and asked, "So, what brings you to this part of town?"

Katara replied, "I was watching The Boy in the Iceberg by the Ember Island Players, and, well, I guess I just wandered in here afterwards."

"Oh, I heard something about that show! It's about the Avatar, isn't it? Was it any good?"

She grimaced, and then quickly shuffled her features into a smile and nodded. "Yeah, it was really...um...interesting!"

Kahn just smiled again, and suddenly the waitress was back and there were several drinks in front of the two of them. One, a small rounded glass filled with amber liquid and ice, was placed in front of Kahn. The rest, two tiny glasses with clear liquid and one large curvy glass with bright red drink and a flower resting jauntily on the rim, were set in front of her.

Katara hesitantly reached for the taller glass, but Kahn shook his head as if she were a child making a silly decision and placed one of the small ones in her hand. "These first, love. They make everything else afterward better."

Katara nodded and said, "O-okay."

He smiled encouragingly as she raised the glass to her lips, then quickly said, "And make sure you get it all down in one go. It's more fun that way." She nodded again and gulped the clear drink down, grimacing as it burned her throat.

"Wow, that's...different."

"Oh, never had a Fire Lily before? Take the other one now, quickly!"

Struck by a strange desire to have an adventure, she smiled at Kahn before gulping the other Fire Lily down as quick as she could. She winced again. All it tasted like was tingling.

"Don't like it?" Kahn laughed. Katara shook her head sheepishly. "Try the Shaker now. It's much better, I promise."

She pulled the glass closer to her and took a careful sip. It tasted much better, like moon peaches and summer apples and mangoes and laughing. She grinned and took another, albeit much bigger, sip. Kahn laughed again and watched as she happily drained the glass until it was almost empty. "I'll buy you another one, since you liked that one so much." Katara hummed happily and finished off the drink, the flower on the rim tickling her cheek.

She was feeling slightly strange, the room spinning a little bit, but she assumed it was just because the band was loudly playing across the room. Kahn was smiling so charmingly at her, and he had just bought her another drink and it was so yummy, and she heard a voice from somewhere in the back of her mind say that she probably shouldn't trust him, he was Fire Nation, for spirits sake! But that voice faded out, and she smiled back and grabbed the drink as soon as the waitress brought a new one.

Zuko, in the meantime, had been running through the crowd right behind Katara, following that flowing brown hair, but suddenly her place in the crowd was taken by a large, frowning man, and in the time it took to apologize to him and move around, the crowd had surged forward again and he had lost her. He sighed and began running down the street, calling her name softly. She had to be around here somewhere, right?

An hour later, he still hadn't found her and he was beginning to get seriously worried. He decided to peek into the buildings nearest to the theatre, figuring that she must have ducked into one of them to throw him off.

When the first few buildings turned out to be a bust, he turned towards the one with music streaming out from the cracks in the windows. Looking to the sky, Zuko prayed to any spirits that were listening that Katara hadn't found her way into the rowdiest bar on Ember Island. With a heavy sigh, he pushed open the door of the Dragon's Fist Tavern and walked in with a glower.

Casting his gaze around, for a second he dared to hope that she was somewhere else, but then he heard a familiar laugh and saw a flash of brown hair, and he heaved another sigh and walked towards her.

Zuko was shocked to see her draped across a stranger, perched in his lap and giggling. She was holding a nearly-finished cocktail and several similar glasses littered the table before them. The man was sitting back with an immensely pleased look on his face, enjoying Katara's drunken behavior. It seemed like she was in the middle of telling a story, and as Zuko drew near her he hoped with all his might that she wasn't about to expose them.

When he got close enough to overhear her speech, he found that she was simply telling a made-up story about the Fire Nation military and the Earth King, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly Katara looked up and saw him, and her eyes brightened. "Hey, you!" she slurred. "Long time no see!"

The strange man raised his eyebrows at her. "You know him?"

She nodded and laughed. "Yeah! He's my friend. He's mean sometimes, but he's my friend!" And she laughed again.

The man she was sitting on turned to Zuko and said. "Hi. I'm Kahn."

The prince froze for a second, then coolly returned, "Hello Kahn. I'm Li."

Kahn smiled and gestured towards an empty chair. "Why don't you have a seat?"

Zuko was about to say that he wasn't planning on staying long when he was distracted by Katara nearly falling off of Kahn's lap, and catching herself by wrapping her arms around his neck. She laughed and nuzzled into Kahn's chest. Zuko, bristling and unsure why, sat heavily. Katara flashed him a smile from her perch on top of Kahn and said in a strangely bubbly voice, "Why don't you have a drink? The Shaker is great!"

Ignoring her, he asked Kahn as he pulled the near-empty glass from Katara's hand, "How many drinks did she have?"

Kahn waved a dismissive hand and said, "Oh, a few. How do you know Katara, anyway?"

Zuko bristled again. Was he...jealous? "We're roommates," he gruffly answered. When Kahn raised his eyebrows in surprise, he continued, "Speaking of which, I should get her home. Thank you for…" -he glanced down at Kan's hand placed a little too comfortably on Katara's waist and frowned- "...looking after her."

With that he took Katara's hand and pulled her away from Kan, still glowering.

Katara, however, had other ideas. "Come on, let's stay a while!" she protested as she tugged on Zuko's arm. "I'm just starting to have fun!"

He frowned even more at her and shook his head. "We're going home, Katara."

She pouted, and suddenly turned back to the man still sitting in his chair. "Kaaaahn, tell him that we were having fun! I can't leave now!"

Kahn smirked and said, "Yeah, Li, we were having fun. Stay a while, have a drink! Relax!"

Katara brightened. "See? He agrees with me! Let's stay, just a little while longer!"

Zuko, however, would not be persuaded. "No, we're going home and that's that. Come on, Katara."

He turned and began pulling her out of the bar, his frown deepening as he saw Katara wave brightly to Kahn as they walked outside.

As soon as they had made it a little ways past the bar, Zuko whirled to face Katara and yelled, "What were you thinking?! You hid from me in the Dragon's Fist, of all places?!"

Katara pouted. "Don't get mad at me. I feel better now. And it wasn't scary at all! Kahn was really nice to me…" Her face fell and she began to whine anew. "Zukooo, let's go back, please? I just want five more minutes…"

He shook his head furiously. "No! We're not going back! Spirits above, how many drinks did you have?!"

He watched as she began to count on her fingers, eyes widening as she moved from her left hand to her right. She laughed as she got to seven and said, "At least seven."

He frowned again. "What do you mean, at least seven?"

She said, "After seven it gets blurry." And she giggled and wobbled on her feet.

Zuko reached out and grabbed her shoulder to steady her. "Spirits, you're drunk…" he muttered.

She blinked. "Drunk? What do you mean?"

He gaped for a second, then yelled, "Katara, did you not know that you were drinking alcohol?! You were in a bar, for crying out loud!"

"A bar?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Yes," Zuko groaned. "You were in a bar. Drinking alcohol. And now you're drunk out of your mind and Aang is going to kill me."

She laughed brightly. "Oh, Aang! I hope he's not still grumpy at me…"

"What do you mean? He's not mad at you. What are you talking about?"

She frowned. "Wait, no...it's...it's the other way around. I'M grumpy at HIM. Yeah. Very grumpy." And with that she sat in the middle of the path, crossing her arms and looking for all the world like a petulant toddler.

Zuko sighed heavily. "Katara, please move out of the road." When she shook her head and pouted some more, he sighed again and scooped her up, ignoring her squeaks of protest. Luckily they had nearly made it to the beach, so he carried her there and put her down on the soft sand. "There. You can sit and pout here."

Katara looked up at him, standing above her with arms crossed, looking out at the waves. "Sit down," she quietly beseeched. When he didn't respond, she said louder, "Come on, Zuko, just sit down with me!" And she tugged on his pant leg until he sat down heavily next to her.

After a moment of quiet, he asked, not daring to look at her, "What happened with Aang?"

She turned to look at him. "What?"

"Why are you mad at him?"

She huffed and sat quietly for a second before answering. "He kissed me. During the intermission. Even after I told him I was confused."

She paused and he prodded, "Confused how?"

"Confused as in...I don't...know what I feel. About anything. I don't know how I feel about Aang, but we kissed at the invasion and he expected me to, I don't know, leap into his arms, and I'm not ready for that. I don't know how I feel about the war. I'm nervous and afraid, and...and...I don't know." She sighed and rested her head on her knees.

Zuko was quiet for a moment before answering, "Well, Aang is still a kid. It's natural for him to expect...I mean...you don't have to...well, what I mean to say is...you don't have to do anything before you're ready. Aang may be the Avatar but that doesn't mean he can pressure you into anything."

There was a moment of quiet before Katara said quietly, "Thanks, Zuko."

He shrugged. "Don't mention it."

Silence fell again. Suddenly the drunken waterbender leapt up and cried, "You know what I love? The ocean! It's just so...big! And wet!"

Zuko flopped backwards and flung an arm over his eyes. "You are so drunk…" He was jolted from his grumpy reverie when he was splashed by cold salt water. He looked up, startled, to see Katara up to her waist in the sea and still fully clothed. She was laughing hysterically. "Come on in! It's so much FUN out here!" And with that she began to happily wade deeper.

The dripping fire prince pushed himself up, shaking his head to flick water from his hair. "I'm good here, thanks."

She sloppily blended some more ocean water in his direction, and he easily dodged. "Come on, Zuko!" she whined. "Don't you want to have fun?"

He groaned. "Yeah, sure, but I also want to keep my clothes somewhat dry, so I'll stay on the sand, thanks."

Katara looked down at herself and giggled. "Oh! I forgot about clothes!" And she started to take off her shirt.

Zuko's eyes widened before he looked sharply to the side. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!"

She laughed. "I'm taking off my clothes, silly! So they don't get wet!"

He rolled his eyes. "Katara, they're already wet. You waded into the water with them on."

She frowned. "Did I? Oh, I did. Well, that's annoying." She was up to her shoulders now, and quite suddenly her head disappeared from view.

Zuko stood up quickly and called, "Katara? Are you okay? Katara!" When she didn't surface, he tugged off his shirt and kicked off his boots before running towards where she went under. He took a gasping breath and dove under, groping wildly with his arms. His hand brushed hers, and he latched on and pulled her head above the surf. For a moment her eyes remained closed and she was still, and Zuko's heart pounded so hard it hurt. But then she opened her eyes and grinned wickedly at him, and he let out a quick breath.

"Ha! I got you in!"

He rolled his eyes and grumped, "That was mean."

Katara's smile widened, and she dramatically fell back, draping herself over the prince. "And you got your clothes wet to save me! Zuko…" -here she batted her eyelashes and sighed theatrically- "...you're my hero!" She giggled and ran a hand over his bare chest. "Look at you! You're kinda hot!" She stopped and looked up at him, looking immensely pleased with herself. "Hot! Ha! Get it? You're a firebender!" With that she pushed herself away from him and began stumbling towards shore, still laughing to herself.

Zuko, for his part, was trying very hard to remain composed. It should be ILLEGAL for beautiful girls to run their wet fingers over a boy's chest...and she said he was hot. Hot! Him! Katara thought he was hot! Of course, she was drunk as a raccoon skunk, but still! She thought he was hot! He struggled to contain a huge grin and walked back to the shore.

Katara was looking down at her sopping wet clothes and looking very upset. Zuko, still recovering from the chest touch, asked, "What's wrong?"

She turned to him with an expression of utter distress. "My clothes are wet and I don't like it!"

He shrugged. "Bend the water out of them."

Tears began to run down her cheeks. "I don't remember how!"

Not expecting such a reaction to wet clothes, he offered, "Well, I could evaporate the water off…" He'd already done so to his own pants.

She immediately brightened. "Oh, could you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Stand still and I'll heat them up."

She stood as still as could be expected, considering how intoxicated she was, and patiently waited. But when he approached her with hot hands, she jumped away and squealed. "It's hot!"

"Yeah. That's kinda the point."

She shook her head violently. "No, I don't like that either! Oh, what am I going to do?!"

Zuko, with a considerable blush creeping across his cheeks, awkwardly suggested, "You could...I don't know...take them off?"

She grinned. "Why didn't I think of that?!" And without a hint of modesty she began tugging off her sarong and pants all in one go.

To say the the prince wasn't ready would be a massive understatement. He jerked his head to the side and stared intently at the waves, blushing furiously. He hadn't expected her to just strip down right then and there! His eyes widened and he determinately looked harder at the ocean as he heard Katara sit down next to him. She playfully swatted his upper arm and teased, "Oh, you don't have to be so shy. I'm not naked or anything. Gosh."

Quickly he banished the mental image this sentence produced from his head. This would not do, this would not do at all… Trying his hardest to maintain the image that he wasn't freaking out, he turned his head slowly around to look at her.

She was beautiful. Her cheeks had a drunken flush and her hair was wild from the sea air and the salt water, and he had never seen quite so much of her before. Of course, her modesty was preserved by sarashi bindings as undergarments, but still…

Katara smirked and ran a finger over Zuko's exposed collarbone. "There. Now we're matching."

He was sure she could feel his frantically beating heart. It was practically jumping out of his ribcage. Agni, help him, her hand was still resting on his chest… He gulped and cleared his throat, managing to not squeak as he replied, "Yeah… yeah, I guess so…"

She pulled back her hand, and Zuko discreetly sucked in a quick breath. But the air froze in his lungs as she suddenly leaned against him and tucked her head into the hollow between his neck and shoulder. Afraid to move, he waited with his heart in his throat and hands twitching by his sides, yearning to reach out and pull her closer.

Katara smiled and murmured, "Mm… you're so warm…"

Zuko's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Being a firebender'll do that."

She nuzzled closer into him. "It's nice. I like it."

They sat in silence for a while. Katara seemed content where she was, snuggled up to Zuko's chest.

Zuko, for his part, was trying to think of anything but her hand still resting on his stomach, the way she fit so well against him, the softness of her skin… He was jolted from not thinking about all these things by Katara suddenly looking up at him and saying, "Hey."

He swallowed and replied, "Hey."

"I know I act real mad at you all the time…" she began quietly. "...but it's mostly just for show. I was just mad at you for so long I didn't know how to not be mad at you. But you know...you're not half bad. Now, at least. I… I just want to say…"

"Yeah?" Zuko prompted after a pause.

"I'm sorry, I guess. I'm sorry I was so mean to you."

He jokingly narrowed his eyes and frowned. "How do I know this isn't the alcohol talking?"

She hit his chest and blushed. "I'm trying to apologize! Leave me alone!"

Grinning, he replied, "Apology accepted."

Whatever she was going to say next was covered by a yawn. "Do you want to go back to the house? Are you tired?"

She sat back up and indignantly protested, "No! I'm totally awake! I wanna have fun! I don't want tonight to be a total bust!"

Zuko gave her his best fatherly smile. "It's okay to be sleepy, Katara. We can do more fun things tomorrow, if you'd like."

"But we have to train tomorrow!"

"Well, training can be fun." At her frustrated look, he relented. "Okay. Let's do something fun tonight. What do you want to do?"

She smirked and looked up at him through her lowered eyelashes, running a finger down the middle of his ribs. "I do have one idea…" Her hand lingered at his solar plexus, and suddenly she pushed him backwards. "Let's go look for moon peaches!"

Gasping and startled, Zuko scrambled up to follow her as she raced down the beach. Chest-touching in all its forms should be ILLEGAL! Absolutely ILLEGAL! She was… she was teasing him! How unfair!

Katara turned around and waved him over impatiently. "C'mon!" As she turned back and happily strode into the woods, he couldn't find it in him to tell her that there weren't any moon peaches on Ember Island. After a few minutes of fruitless, so to speak, searching, however, he finally cleared his threat and gently said, "Um, Katara? I gotta tell you… there aren't any moon peaches on Ember Island. We could probably find some summer apples or lychee nuts or something…"

She slowly spun and looked at him, drunkenly confused. "No… moon peaches?"

Zuko had to stifle a laugh. She looked so much like a little kid! "No moon peaches. If you want something sweet, we probably have some fruit at the house."

Crestfallen, she replied, "I didn't really care about the moon peaches. I just wanted an adventure."

He gently took her hand and started tugging her back towards the beach. "You're tired and drunk. Let's go home."

Half-heartedly, she resisted, protesting, "Noooo, I wanna have fun…" Here she yawned and promptly continued, "...and besides, I'm not even sleepy yet!"

Zuko shook his head and laughed. "Okay, sure, Katara. At least can we go back to the house? We can hang out on the porch and look at the stars…"

She nodded, head lolling slightly. "That sounds nice. Let's… let's do that."

The prince gently led her back to the house on the shore, holding her hand and assisting her over various obstacles. When they reached the porch and he tried to let go, however, she simply tightened her grip on his hand and tugged him down to sit next to her. Zuko swallowed, just now noticing how much shorter than him she was. He had to fight a sudden urge to kiss her still alcohol-flushed cheeks.

"Mmm… this is nice…" Katara murmured. "Look, Zuko. The stars are singing just for us."

"What?"

"They're singing! Can't you hear them?" she exclaimed. He chuckled and shook his head. She leaned against him and sighed, "That's okay. I'll hear them for the both of us."

They sat for a while in amiable silence until Katara suddenly said, still staring at the night sky, "What's it like to be kissed for real?"

The firebender gulped. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're sitting right next to me."

He couldn't argue with that logic. "Well, it's very nice. It… um… feels like knowing somebody really well. It feels like when someone's running their fingers over your back and everything's shivery and delicious." There was another moment of silence. Katara seemed to be thinking over what he had said, and Zuko was wondering if he had been entirely too cheesy. "Why do you ask?" he finally questioned her.

When she answered, her voice was small. "Aang kissed me tonight. And I think Kahn kissed me in… in the bar. I don't really remember."

"Kahn kissed you?" Voice tight, fists suddenly clenched, adrenaline racing. Why was he so protective all of a sudden?

"Yeah. It was… shivery, like you said. But not a good shivery. He… it was…" Her voice faded out.

Zuko questioned anxiously, "He didn't try and do… anything else?"

"I don't think so."

He let out a brief sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't… bad. I just… didn't like it. I was just wondering if all kisses were that way."

He swallowed hard. He could show her, he could demonstrate how untrue that was… "They aren't. I promise," he finally managed to say. Thoughts of kissing Katara, running his hands through her hair, holding her tight, so tight…

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Quiet fell. How did he get here again? All he could think about was Katara. Specifically, her lips. Her lips on his… He gathered all of his courage and looked down at her, planning on suggesting that he show her exactly how good kisses could be… she was asleep on his shoulder. He sighed and scooped her into his arms to carry her to her bed. He could kiss her another time.