And Other Fairly Stupid Tales

Day 2

Luminous

"I'm not going to say that, Sokka."

"C'mon, buddy. You wanted my help and I'm giving to you. I promise this will work."

"You're crazy!"

"Trust me. I know my sister. She'll be all over you."

"I don't want her all over me! I just want her to not hate me."

"Shh. You don't know what you want."

"Wha– Yes I do!"

"No, shhh."

"Stop that!"

Zuko couldn't believe he was really about to do this. Why had he gone to Sokka for advice? He should've gone to Aang, or Toph, or Suki; even Katara's father would've been a better choice. As it was, he felt more like he was going in to woo Katara than ask for her forgiveness.

Peering in through the entrance to the temple's common area, he immediately spotted the waterbender sitting with Suki atop the fallen column on the left side of the platform. Just his luck, the rest of the group was there as well, all scattered into little groups around the place. Zuko took a deep breath and steeled himself before entering. He just had to trust that Sokka knew what he was doing.

Standing tall and straight, as a proper prince should, he strode up to the two girls with an air of confidence. Luckily, he'd become good at putting on airs in the couple months he'd spent back at home under his father's and sister's watchful eye. Katara and Suki both looked up at him as he approached, Suki with a curious look on her face, and Katara with her usual frosty glare. He stopped in front of Katara and gave her his best nonchalant smirk. "Hey."

"Can I help you?" Katara asked frigidly, narrowing her eyes.

Zuko didn't let her iciness deter him. He was on a mission. "Oh, no," he said, holding up his hands placatingly, "I just saw you sitting over here and thought I should tell you how stunning you look with the sunlight hitting your hair like that." He gestured at her crown, as if she could somehow see the top of her own head. Taking a leaf out of his uncle's teapot, he leaned in a little and added suavely, "You're positively luminous."

He heard Suki snicker and saw her cover her mouth out of the corner of his eye. He ignored her, keeping his eyes locked on the waterbender's.

Katara looked startled for all of a second and a half, then her eyes narrowed even further and her nostrils flared warningly. "You're not fooling anyone, Zuko. I'm not going to fall for any of your tricks."

Zuko was on unstable ground and he knew it, but he wouldn't back down. At least she was talking to him. That was more than he usually got. Mentally sifting through the arsenal of lines that Sokka had suggested for him, he put his hand over his heart and said, "You wound me, Katara. I was simply remarking on your radiance."

Katara did not look impressed.

"You shine brighter than the sun itself."

Her expression didn't change.

"Your eyes are like sapphires."

Her eyebrow twitched.

Zuko began to sweat slightly. He was running out of lines, and he could feel the gazes of the others as they stopped what they were doing to watch the scene play out. He was just wracking his brain again for anything to use, when he caught a flash of movement behind the girls. It was Sokka.

Sokka waved at him and held up a finger to his lips to mime silence. Then he reached down and grabbed a signboard, holding it up for Zuko to see.

"You are the most dazzling woman I have ever laid eyes on," he read aloud from the signboard. Sokka disappeared behind the broken column and reappeared a second later with another sign. "I want to father your children– SOKKA!"

Zuko's face flushed scarlet, and he looked back at Katara, completely mortified. Katara's cheeks were also a deep rosy color, but she looked on the edge of murder. Suki could no longer contain her laughter and began cracking up next to the incensed waterbender. The rest of the room followed suit, giggling and guffawing – and all other synonyms for laughing one's hindquarters off – at the blushing, irate pair.

Katara stood and whirled around, catching her brother as he tried to surreptitiously sneak away. "Both of you!" she shouted, casting her most menacing glare back and forth between them. "I can't believe you! You–"

While Katara told them off, the rest of the gaang attempted to rein in their laughter with mixed success. With a wide grin, Toph turned to Haru, who happened to be standing next to her, and said gleefully, "He wasn't lying."

And there's Day 2. I can't seem to resist having the other characters troll Zuko.

See you all tomorrow!