AN: Insert disclaimer here and enjoy even though it's a bit late...ok, quite a bit late.
"You're not doing it right."
Katara stopped mid-sentence and looked up from what she had been reading to rest her eyes on an unimpressed Prince. Golden eyes looked back at her easily and even when she raised her eyebrow and shot him a questioning look he still didn't appear to understand that she wasn't too impressed with being interrupted in such a manner.
"He's right mum, you're not doing the voices properly."
Katara looked from her son to her daughter who were both looking at her expectantly from their spot surrounded by pillows and stuffed animals on Kira's bed. Her eyebrow remained raised, after all her children had never complained about her story telling skills before, they had even grumbled when she had caught a cold a few days ago which prevented her from reading the usual bed time story to them.
"You're supposed to have a deeper voice for the pirate, kind of like General Yu."
Ryuu decided to be helpful and tried to be more specific about his mother's shortcomings, it didn't help. It also certainly did not help that he was giving her the pitying look that he had copied from his older sister who had in turn copied it from her, so this was how Sokka had felt all that time.
"It's ok mom, you can't be the best at everything remember?"
As if having her son use her own pitying look against her wasn't bad enough her daughter simply had to quote back her own words at her. At least the twins were still a bit too young to be pulling such, charming, tricks.
"Dad!"
Kira exclaimed happily and drew both Katara and Ryuu's attention to the door frame where an amused Fire Lord was watching them. Katara knew as soon as she spotted his slightly smug grin that he had heard their children break it to her that she was no longer their favourite story teller. Good thing that they hadn't learned how to copy his smug grin for the moment.
"Dad, can you finish the story for us please?"
Ryuu quickly asked and with his hopeful tone coupled with both of the young fire benders urgent nodding Zuko couldn't help but smile. A quick look from Katara kept him from laughing too much.
"Okay guys but after this you go right to bed, no excuses, no matter how creative they are."
He shot a pointed look at both of them; of course this only earned innocent looks that quickly turned into laughter from Ryuu who couldn't hold the façade as well as his sister. Taking their actions as the closest thing he would get to an agreement from them Zuko took great pleasure in nudging Katara to the edge of the chair and stealing the book out of her grasp. Her glare only seemed to make him look even prouder of the situation.
"The pirate Captain was just about to set sail."
Kira supplied as the siblings scooted closer and clutched their favourite stuffed animals. Katara noted that they hadn't reacted like that to her stories in a while. Beside her Zuko quickly flipped to the correct page, clearly familiar with the story, settled into his seat, and cleared his throat.
She was jealous, quite jealous actually, of how entranced Kira and Ryuu were as their father read of pirates, storms, and adventure. He paused in the right spots to cause suspense, altered his voice accordingly for every character and every mood, and always seemed to know when to glance up at them to make them smile. He was extremely lucky that they were all so adorable because it was helping quell her jealous streak at least somewhat.
"Where did you learn to make all of those voices?"
Katara finally questioned him after Kira had been tucked in and Ryuu had been carried to his own room and tucked in as well. Gone was the proud slightly smug grin and in its place was a blush as he scratched the back of his neck and avoided her gaze. Of course this caught her attention.
"Zuko…"
She called in a sing song voice and he oh so casually turned his head to avoid her gaze. He muttered something under his breath, caving under her gaze even though he wasn't looking at her.
"What did you say?"
He could hear the slight gloating tone in her voice and hung his head slightly in resignation as he repeated himself.
"My mom used to read to me."
Clearly this didn't serve as a proper enough answer and Zuko was quite aware of it. No longer avoiding her gaze but retaining a hint of the blush he shrugged as if that would distract her from the lingering pink on his cheek.
"She used to do the same voices. The one that they say sounds like General Yu was originally inspired by his uncle nobleman Chen. I just remembered her version and copied it."
He was surprised when she tugged on his robe and brought him down close enough for her to steal a kiss only to let him go just as quickly. The trace of confusion remaining on his face earned a quick grin from her.
"You're lucky you're adorable, that doesn't mean you can steal story time with the twins though."
She left him with the quick warning before stepping out of stride and heading into the bedroom before him. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't told her that he had also read to the twins while she had been sick. No, it was definitely a good thing that he hadn't told her.