Cross-posted from AO3. No recognizable characters, names, etc. belong to me. Thanks for reading!
Zuko is pretty sure he could go back to his room now and his mom would be none the wiser.
He knows he won't.
But he will stay right here in the coat room and thumb through his phone instead of make painful small talk in the living room. And he will dutifully ignore the flickering of the light bulb that he was supposed to replace before the party began.
It's not like his mom's Halloween bash is happening in the coat room, after all.
Zuko has never understood his mom's total enthusiasm for holidays, parties, and holiday parties. He understands even less now that both he and Azula are more interested in making their own plans. If mom wants to celebrate Halloween with her friends, great. If her friends want to force their own children to come, fantastic. Why does Zuko have to be here too? Clearly his mom isn't missing his presence considering he's been standing in this stuffy room for the last twenty minutes.
He scrolls past another few tweets without reading them. Overhead, the light bulb flickers ominously, but he doesn't even glance at it. He's lost in his thoughts. The party is barely halfway over and he's already suffered enough embarrassment to last him through the end of the year. And probably well into the next one too.
Though it's not mom's fault, he reflects, that Azula has taken to flaunting Mai around. To be honest, Zuko is not even sure what's happening there. Mai had broken up with him six months ago claiming a need to "explore other options." Zuko had honestly been relieved… until he realized Mai was spending the same amount of time at his house, only the closed doors now hid her and Azula.
He shakes his head to stop that train of thought. He thinks he's better off not knowing.
He sighs and slouches further against the wall. Maybe he should sit down. So what if someone comes in? He's already guilty; he may as well be comfortable too. Or at least as comfortable as one can be while hiding in a coat room.
But instead of sitting, he closes Twitter and busies himself with refreshing his email for about the seventeenth time. He's not even waiting for an email, but there's only so many stupid memes he can scroll past before he throws his phone at the wall. He watches the circle spin at the top of his inbox -
And nearly fumbles his phone to the floor when the door opens quickly and a figure darts into the room.
Zuko freezes, heart beating wildly. It's Mom! Or worse: it's Azula! But the girl peeking out through the tiny gap she's left in the door is not tall enough to be his mom, and Azula is definitely wearing green tonight, not black. And this girl…
She is clad head to toe in tight, black clothes. Zuko's mouth goes dry. His phone screen goes dark.
The girl eases the door shut, then turns around and stops short at the sight of him.
They stare at each other across the small room. All he can see of her is her eyes. Even in this dim light Zuko can tell they're a stunning blue. He'd be willing to bet they're even more impressive up close. The light bulb flickers overhead. The girl blinks up at it. She pulls off her hood and shakes out her hair. It falls in waves around her shoulders. Zuko's train of thought derails.
Maybe his mom's Halloween party isn't happening in the coat room, but Zuko's seems to be.
"Sorry," the girl says. She takes a few steps forward, glancing between him and the coats surrounding him. "I didn't know anyone would be in here."
A flush spreads across his cheeks. "Uh," he shoves his phone in his pocket and rubs the back of his neck. Say something, you idiot! Except he can't because she's still coming closer and she keeps looking at him with those big, blue eyes and why is she so close -
"Um. Excuse me." She gestures toward the coat rack next to him. "I sort of stole my brother's phone"-there is indeed a black phone in the hand she's holding up-"since he wouldn't stop bothering me and I was just gonna leave it in his pocket -"
Her words suddenly crash into Zuko's brain. He scrambles out of the way. "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to… block you."
She gives him an amused look and steps into the spot he's vacated to reach for a navy blue jacket. Zuko can't stop his eyes from tracing down the length of her hair. It looks soft. His fingers twitch and he clenches them into fists. The girl struggles a bit to rezip the pocket of the jacket and Zuko sees what else she's holding.
"Is that a Blue Spirit mask?"
She peers at him over her shoulder, a surprised quirk to her eyebrows. The light flickers overhead as she turns back toward him. "It is."
She holds the mask out between them. The dark eyes stare up at Zuko. He's pretty sure his brain is malfunctioning.
This can't really be happening to him. There is no way he's hiding from his mom's Halloween party in their dimly lit coat room with this beautiful girl who is dressed as the Blue Spirit.
Her voice is hesitant. "You… like the Blue Spirit?"
"Like the Blue Spirit?" Zuko's eyes pop. "The Blue Spirit is the best hero ever!"
And when he sees her grinning widely at him he knows for sure this isn't real. No girl has ever looked at him that happily.
But she doesn't notice his crisis or even give him long enough to sink into it. "I know! Sokka doesn't like him because he steals from people -"
"- bad people -"
"- but Sokka also likes Combustion Man -"
"- Combustion Man! -"
"- so his opinion doesn't really count!"
The girl beams at him while Zuko boggles at her. The light bulb dims further.
"Who likes Combustion Man?" The idea is completely foreign to Zuko.
The girl giggles. "Just Sokka," she says.
Something settles in Zuko's brain. "Wait. Sokka?" A vague memory of a small, dark-skinned boy with blue eyes floats through his mind. A small, dark-skinned boy with blue eyes and a little sister. A little sister who was just a toddler the last time Zuko saw her… "Katara?" Her smile widens. "But - ! Your family hasn't visited for - for…"
"Thirteen years," Katara supplies. Her blue eyes twinkle at him. Overhead, the light bulb flickers. This time it doesn't stop. "It's good to see you again, Zuko."
But Zuko is stuck in his head. Thirteen years. That means he'd been six the last time he saw her. That means she hasn't seen his face since before…
Hot shame floods his chest. He turns his good cheek towards her. A moment later, gentle fingers grip his chin and Katara turns his head back to her. He takes in her pretty eyes and kind smile -
And then the light stops flickering and they're plunged into darkness.
Katara huffs out a laugh. Zuko doesn't know if she actually sounds nervous or if he's just imagining it. He feels her fingers leave his face and ghost down his chest, then the back of his hand, and then she's reaching into his pocket what -
Light shines into his eyes. He blinks in surprise. When he can see again, he realizes that Katara is holding his phone with the flashlight pointing up at them. It makes her hair look shiny and casts weird shadows over her face. Zuko is sure it makes his scar look even more horrific.
Katara ducks her head a bit to catch his eye. He meets her gaze reluctantly. "I mean it," she says softly. "It's good to see you, Zuko."
He swallows hard. Maybe it's the dark, enclosed space. Maybe it's her Blue Spirit costume. Maybe it's her kind words, her blue eyes. Maybe it's just her.
Whatever it is, it gives him the courage to slide his hands along her jaw until his fingers twist in her wonderfully soft hair. Her eyes widen. Her eyelashes cast spidery shadows above them. He stares for a long moment. He can hear his heartbeat loud in his ears.
Then his brain catches up with him. Their shared enthusiasm over the Blue Spirit doesn't mean she's as mesmerized by him as he is by her. Her kindness doesn't mean she wants him to grab her head. Agni above, he's an idiot…
But then she whispers yes and he stops breathing. Suddenly they're both leaning. Her eyes are fluttering closed, his fingers are brushing the skin of her neck -
And the door of the coat room is thrown open and their heads whip towards it instinctively. Something goes clattering to the floor. The mask, Zuko thinks. He can feel Katara's heart hammering under his thumb, in time with his own. He squints into the bright doorway.
"...Zuko?" Of course it's his mom. And she's with two of her friends. His face heats. "Zuko, why are you in the dark?"
"Uh," Zuko pulls his hands from Katara's face and tries not to think about her heartbeat against his fingertips. "Hi. Mom." He swallows and points vaguely at the ceiling. "Uh, the light bulb died?"