"Zuko, can you hand me that knife over there, please?" I ask as I prepare the kids pumpkins for de-gutting.
"Sure, but be careful, I don't need you cutting off a finger." Zuko says as he hands me the knife to me.
We have been helping at the Republic City Daycare for the past three years and all of the kids love us. Today, we are carving pumpkins. The kids' favorite part is taking out all of the pumpkin guts and seeds out and since there are so many kids here, we decided that we should prepare for the kids. As I get ready to cut the top off the pumpkin, I feel like there is someone behind me. When I look up to see Zuko, he was gone. I got a little confused until I felt Zuko's hands on my shoulders.
"What are you doing, Zuko?" I ask as I feel his hands move slowly down to my upper arms.
"Shhh, just let it happen, Katara." He says, as he moves his body closer to mine, moving his hands towards my hands to help me cut the pumpkins. I giggled as we were cutting, I couldn't take how cute he was being. "Why are you laughing?"
"I'm not laughing! I'm… giggling." I say smiling.
"Why are you giggling?" He backs away from me as if he was offended. I turn around and see his scarred, grumpy face.
"It was a happy moment for me. I was just thinking of how cute you are by helping me." I walk towards him, extending my arms out to hug him. He takes a step back again this time looking away from me.
"I am not cute…" He grumpily says. I take a big step towards him, and he tries to take a step back but runs into the wall. I bring my arms up and around his neck.
"You are definitely cute." I say before I kiss him.
Right before I was about to deepen the kiss, we hear kids laughter and screaming. I pull away and look at him with those lustful eyes.
"We need to finish the rest of these. The kids are about to come in here." I say.
"Right, yeah, we should…. Yeah." Zuko moves towards the table again, and grabs one of the knives. As I make my way to the table to help Zuko with all of the pumpkins, our manager comes in.
"Zuko! Katara! Just the people I needed to talk to!" She looked at us with fake smiles. "I need to ask you two for a favor."
"Sure, what is it?" I ask enthusiastically. I would do anything for these kids.
"A lot of the parents don't want to go trick-or-treating this year. And I want you two to help out. Take the kids out to trick-or-treat and all that fun stuff." Our manager said still smiling. Before I could respond, she started talking again. "Oh! It would also require you to wear a costume. I want the kids to be excited and encourage them to have fun. It would be more fun if the big kids that they look up to, were dressed up as well. So what do you think?"
"Sounds like fun!" I was getting all sorts of excited. I started thinking up of all the different costumes Zuko and I could do as a couple.
"I don't know, Katara. I thought we already had plans." He was looking at me as if he really didn't want to do this. I know he likes kids, so I don't know why he doesn't want to go trick-or-treating with them.
"No, we don't. We will be glad to help you out!" I say turning to our manager. She smiles and walks away.
"What were you thinking, Katara?" He was gritting his teeth as he said that. He was definitely not happy with me for volunteering us to help out.
"I was thinking that the kids would love to have us trick-or-treat with them!" I said glaring at him.
"Katara, I don't want to dress up and walk around town! What if people see me?"
"Who cares if people see you, Zuko? This isn't about dressing up. Think about the kids that won't be able to go trick-or-treating because their parents won't let them. You know you want to help the kids out." I knew his weakness and I was definitely getting into that head of his.
"But, what am I going to dress up as?" He says giving up.
"There are so many options! We have to do something that only couples can do! We could be Jack and Sally! Or we could be Mario and Princess Peach! Oh! We could even be Mickey and Minnie! What do you think?" I was getting all sorts of excited over all the different outfits we could do. But when I looked at Zuko's face, he was not all that excited. In fact, he looked a little bit frightened.
"Uh, those sound… fun? Do I have to dress up?" He practically whined at me.
"Yes, you know the boys won't dress up if you don't dress up. You know how much they look up to you." I smile at him, and he breathes deeply.
"Fine, but does it have to be something couples do?"
"I got it!"
~Halloween~
"There! All set! You are my favorite animal, a polar bear!"
"I look like a doofus with this on. I am practically wearing pajamas!" He says pouting.
"Come on! You look adorable!"
"Yeah, but you look sexy, as a red panda!"
"Quit whining." I say as I give him a quick kiss then move towards his ear and whisper, "Think about it this way, we have foreplay all set up and ready for tonight." I lean back and look at him with a smug smile and I bite my lip as I move my body away from his. I turn around and walk towards the kids, purposefully swinging my hips, for Zuko.