Katara's eyebrow twitches and she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Really Aang, when I agreed to one more date I was thinking you'd set up a nice dinner."

Aang shifts anxiously. "Well I was hoping to show you something new, something awesome. Maybe you'll realize how awesome I am again," he mumbles.

Katara sighs and swears. She didn't even want to go on the stupid date in the first place. It's only because he looked so incredibly hurt when she decided to end it that she agreed to this at all. She had been hoping they would talk like adults, she could explain that the spark had never really been there - she'd tried but it never clicked. Obviously that's not what's going to happen tonight.

A woman dressed in Goddess only knows what comes up to them, the fringe on her leather jacket and boots swaying with each step. "Howdy Avatar Aang and Master Katara. If you would be so kind as to follow me to the changing rooms we have your outfits ready." Katara rolls her eyes but the pair follow the woman.

. . .

"Zuko, this is a terrible idea," Mai states without any sting, she's actually excited about this.

He smiles, "Thanks, I know. Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

She looks at him, a small smile flickering across her lips. "I love you, I really do but we both know this isn't working. They want us to get married and we'd both end up bored and miserable if we did that. A nice friendly split will leave all the court gossips harassing you while a nasty breakup will give them enough to talk about that they'll leave you alone."

Zuko sighs, "I wish you weren't right about that."

"Besides," Mai smirks, "We're going on a double date with the Avatar and the water bender you love you so much."

"They're happily together."

Mai raises her eyebrows, "Not from what I heard. Now remember, you 'accidentally' knock over my drink to get this whole thing started." She looks the Fire Lord in the eyes and straightens his collar. "Tomorrow I'll be off to join Ty Lee and you'll be free to look for someone you really love." She pecks him on the cheek, "Drop me a letter in a few years and maybe I'll be able to whip your guards into proper shape."

Zuko smiles at her and they both square their shoulders, setting their faces to disgruntled annoyance before walking out the doors.

. . .

Katara had tried to request pants of some sort but no, the attendant had only smiled and offered her yet another dress so now she feels like her rear is enormous. A bustle is strapped on and the dress falls over it and she swears her butt is the size of the Earth Kingdom. The sheer amount of fabric on it is impressive though with all the ruffles and the bows. The corset is the worst part. Her already small stomach is pinched in, her ribs are being crushed, and her breasts have been pushed up to the point that if she puts her head down her chin rests easily on her cleavage. On top of that her hair has been curled and coifed and somehow arranged and she's not even sure at this point that all of the hair on her head is in fact hers.

She's mumbling obscenities under her breath when Aang finds her leaning against the wooden railing outside of the saloon. At the sight of him her swearing only increases. They gave him pants! They gave him pants while she's stuck in this get-up. "You're so lucky," she growls. "You get pants."

Aang smiles, ignoring her tone like he always does. "You look really good!" His eyes keep wandering down to her cleavage before he yanks them back up to her face. "Really nice."

"Mhmm. So what now? We go eat and then call it good?"

"No, actually we're waiting for two more people and then we'll go eat, dance, take a nice moonlit stroll." He's hoping that on top of showing her he can be awesome, he's hoping that the his friend's presence will remind her that this is how things should be. He silently thanks Mai for coming to him with the suggestion of a double date. Zuko and Mai got together at the end of the war, he and Katara got together at the end of the war. They're still together and so he and Katara should be too, she's his forever girl.

"Who else is coming?"

"We are," a deadpan voice states.

Katara whirls around, her bustle almost catching Aang in the groin until he jumps out of the way. Mai stands there - in pants - with her arm looped casually through Zuko's. She has a black fringed top on with cream pants - again with fringe - while Zuko wears a button up shirt, a loose red scarf, a vest and dark pants. An unnecessarily large belt hangs around his hips and an equally unnecessarily large hat tops his head. Katara soaks up the sight. "You two decided to be part of this?"

Zuko shrugs and tugs on the scarf, "Yeah."

"I'm so glad you decided to do this! Come on, let's go eat!" Aang takes Katara by the elbow and opens the saloon door. The two couples are seated at a rustic wooden table near the bar where the bartender serves ale in tankards. A man twangs away on the small stage at the back of the room. A few dozen diners sit nearby, enjoying the break from reality but most are there because of the Fire Lord and the Avatar. Said Avatar smiles excitedly, "This is so cool! Look Katara they even have oil lamps!"

"Sure Aang, cool." She tries hard not to roll her eyes which Zuko catches.

Aang babbles nervously on as a waitress arrives with their food, ordered before the outfit change. "Here ya'll, for the Fire Lord, Lady Mai, and Master Katara, ribs. For Avatar Aang, vegetable soup and a salad. Tell me if ya'll need anything. Enjoy." She sets the meals and drinks down and saunters off, her bustle swaying with each step.

They all dig in. Katara easily tears the meat off with her fingers, getting them sticky with the sauce. Zuko takes a moment before following suit though he tries to keep his fingers clean as much as possible. Mai sneers and pulls a shuriken out, slicing through the meat before picking each piece up with chopsticks. Aang sips his soup, happy that they were willing to add this to the menu.

"So Zuko, how's everything going? We were at Republic City a few days ago and everything was going smoothly, everyone seems to be adjusting well." Katara makes conversation after several moments of silence.

Zuko looks up from the ribs in front of him. "Things are going really well. We were able to take care of the riot in the Northern Islands- it turns out it wasn't directed at me it was actually to an ex-commander that they were angry at. He was an Ozai supporter and had been trying to create an army so he was taken care of. Other than that, we're about to start renovating the infrastructure of the capitol city."

"That sounds great! Are you focusing on the slums? I remember there being a sewage problem last time we were there."

"Yeah, we're completely redoing the sewage system and the roads in the poorer sections. We actually have some earth benders who are are coming in to help."

"Really," Katara exclaims, "That's amazing! I didn't think anyone would want to come."

Aang tries to shift her conversation back to him, "Well we did a lot to help out the view of the Fire Nation. Remember that one village in the Earth Kingdom that we helped with the rat disease? There was a fire bender we got to help us out with that."

"Oh yeah," Katara clenches her jaw and flashes him a very fake smile. She would love to be friends with him but she needs time before she can stand to listen to him without wanting to snap at him. She turns back to Zuko and Mai, opening her mouth to speak when Zuko's elbow runs into Mai's cup, knocking the wine out onto the table. It spills onto her pants and they all freeze, even the surrounding tables pause - watching - before Zuko hurriedly begins apologizing.

"I'm so sorry Mai, I -"

"That's enough!" She stands. "I can't do this anymore! Even Azula treated me better than this and she's psyco!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zuko jumps up. Katara and Aang just watch in surprise.

Mai's voice rises, "You don't have any time for me! We never do anything together, all it is is politics and uprisings. I'm just not made for this! I need more attention than you can give me!"

"Well if you had emotions, if you didn't look like you wanted to kill anyone nearby all the time then I would spend more time with you!"

Mai huffs, "If you weren't so damn stupid then I wouldn't look like I wanted to kill you!"

"At least I don't yawn my way through sex," Zuko roars.

"That's it!" Mai throws her hands up, "I've had enough. It's over Zuko! I'm going away and I'm never coming back. Have a nice life!" She storms out.

"Fine," Zuko shouts at the swinging door before plopping down, staring at his ribs.

It's quiet enough in the saloon to hear a chopstick drop and Katara slowly reaches out her hand. "Zuko?"

"What?" He has to act angry but by Agni is he happy.

"Are you okay?"

"I can't do this right now," He stands back up and walks out, it was getting too hard to hide a smile. Katara gets up to follow him.

"No, Katara, let him go." Aang grabs her hand. Her forehead furrows and right then he knows. She's trying to find a way to say it gently but Aang's fingers fall away from her arm. Tears well up at the corners of his eyes but he tries to smile. "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah Aang, you will. Give it a little time but eventually we can be friends again."

He sighs, "Okay."

. . .

It doesn't take long for Katara to find Zuko, or for the two to explain what happened. She had gone to comfort him, to share her good news and in stead he ended up sharing his good news and listening to hers. She sheds a few tears, mostly for how Aang must feel, and the two end up sitting together watching the moonrise. Their hands don't quite touch but in the coming months the feel of the other's hand in theirs will become the most natural thing to them.

. . .

Author's Notes: this is for Probending round 3 - my prompt was a) Write about your OTP (Zutara) having a double date with your NOTP (Kataang) b)Western c)Azula d)"You're so lucky"

Also to those that were interested in last round's story and where it would go I'm sorry. It was a one-shot for the round, sorry.