Zuko slammed the apartment door behind himself as Katara kicked her shoes off and approached her rucksack. It had only just gotten dark out.
"We could go check out Lake Laogai." Katara tried, pulling the gray ribbon from her hair.
Zuko exhaled, holding back a furious flame. "I can't believe that man." He pulled his toes up to exercise the muscles in his sore feet.
Katara sighed heavily, sitting down by her bag, pulling her knees up to her chest so she could press her fingers into the balls of her feet, in an effort to relieve some pain. "The people aren't exactly patient either."
Zuko pulled the tiny sack full of money from his pocket and tossed it to Katara. "You got less than that, right?" he sat down.
She pulled hers out and compared them. His was definitely more full than hers. She nodded at him and put both sacks down next to her. "My feet hurt so badly." She curled up her cold toes in her hands.
"Mine too." Zuko opened his bag and looked in for something. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, and eventually sat back against the wall.
Katara looked up and met his gaze. "I bet you don't even know what cold is." She smirked through her shiver.
"I know what cold is. I did actually go to the north and south poles." He answered quickly.
Katara tried to ignore her low temperature and grinned, shooting her cold hand towards Zuko and touching his bare arm, which was warm to the touch. Zuko jerked away and rubbed his warm hand against where her frozen hand had touched him.
"Agh!" he laughed out, still rubbing it warm.
Katara scoffed a laugh. "See? You can't handle the cold."
"I don't need to." He immediately answered, snatching her hand and rubbing it between his two. She felt the tingling of heat penetrate her fingers. Katara felt some feeling return to her fingers as he heated them up. She gave him her other hand to keep warm, which he took also.
"I thought you were supposed to be able to handle the cold." He smirked, rubbing her hands.
"We're not immune to it, we just dress warmly. How was I supposed to know it would be this cold in Ba Sing Se?" she gritted her teeth to keep them from chattering against each other.
Zuko exhaled a warm breath onto her hands and glanced at her face as she took her hands back. He saw bright blue eyes that watched her toes in amazement, like they weren't actually hers. They were moving, yet she couldn't feel them. She only felt the bruised feeling on the bottoms of her feet, and her toes seemed to be additional.
"Come on." He motioned for her to give him her feet.
Katara gave him a confused glance, but within a second more, she had turned and lifted her soft, cold foot to his warm hands. She winced at the sudden temperature change before her face relaxed as his warmth caressed her foot. He ran one hand underneath the bruised area, his other hand holding her toes as they became alive once more. He pressed his thumbs firmly against the heel of her foot and she accidentally let out a sharp breath that indicated how much it hurt. He started massaging the heat into her sore foot and she was soon lying back on the floor enjoying.
"That's … oh, spirits, where did you learn to do that?" she slurred slightly, her eyebrows coming together as he moved his thumbs to the arch of her foot.
Zuko let a laugh out as he massaged her now warm foot. He pushed his thumbs into the ridge between the arch and ball of the foot, and she let out a low moan that would make Aang, or any other boy blush.
"Your muscles are really tense." Zuko squeezed her foot.
"Oh, I know. I've been on my feet all day. When you finish I'll do yours, it's only fair."
"You can try." Zuko scoffed a laugh, pushing his thumbs again into her foot, making her moan again. He massaged each individual toe before taking her other foot and starting at the heel. She let out another moan as his fingers climbed from her heel towards her arch. "Doubt you could top me."
Katara murmured with another sharp breath. He was probably right; what he was doing was amazing. But he needed to know what he was doing; how awesome it was.
His thumb pushed into her arch and she let out a squeak that caused him to laugh out loud, still pressing into her arch. He finished and she sat up, she held out her hands for him to give her a foot. He lifted his pale-skinned foot and she immediately took it in her hands, which had already started to cool. She placed her thumbs underneath, her fingers resting on top. Her thumbs traced over to his heel and she recalled the feeling of his thumbs pressing into the edges of her heels. She pressed her thumbs into the outside of his heels, and he was quite surprised by how fast she'd learned what to do. She smirked at the slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, his eyes falling closed in relaxation.
Her thumbs moved into the centre of his heel, pressing steadily and slowly. She threw him another glance to admire the state she'd put the Firelord in. He was relaxed, leaning back on his hands as she pushed away the muscle pain in his feet. She suddenly had an idea and moved her thumb and forefinger to either side of his Achilles heel. Maybe it would be his weak spot. She started squeezing gently to avoid doing any damage to the muscles, as she knew she wasn't a pro at this.
He let out a long breath that Katara saw as the equivalent of her moans, and moved her thumb and forefinger into the muscle a little harder, before moving back to the spot between his heel and arch.
"I'm a fast learner, huh?" Katara laughed softly.
Zuko didn't answer, but enjoyed the sensation of her fingers pressing into his foot. She finished the foot and took the other. There was a long silence that would have been classed as awkward if Katara didn't know how much Zuko was enjoying the pressure she put on the muscle knots. She put the second foot down when she realized he'd fallen asleep, and smiled reluctantly. She was no longer cold, and she eventually nudged Zuko to wake him.
"You fell asleep." She yawned. By now the moon was high in the sky.
Zuko nodded and pulled his shirt over his head, before peeling open his sleeping bag, tiredly. Katara untied her tunic and clumped it into a pillow, sliding into her sleeping bag. Zuko curled into the sleeping bag and fell asleep almost immediately. Katara realized how much easier it was to fall asleep when she was warm.
"Katara," he shoved her lightly.
Katara blinked her eyes open. "What?" she grumbled.
"Come on, get up." He smiled energetically.
Katara shook her head into her tunic under her head. She'd never understand Firebenders; how they could wake up so early. The sun had only just risen.
"It's your turn to take the hot water," he nudged her again.
Katara groaned and pushed the sleeping bag away, sitting up. "I'm not wearing those stupid shoes again." She rubbed her eyes, climbing to her feet. She snatched up her clothes for today and headed for the bathroom.
They got to the teashop as Mr. Dong was opening it again, and snatched up their aprons.
Two hours into the day, Zuko had decided to swap jobs with Katara so he could have a chance moving his legs, and she could stay still for a while. He'd showed her what to do and was walking back and forth, finally realizing how much Katara's day had sucked yesterday.
"Lee!" there was a high-pitched, surprised voice.
Zuko turned his head quickly. Jin was approaching a table.
"Uh … Jin!" his voice was also surprised.
"I didn't know you were back in Ba Sing Se." she smiled widely, sitting down.
Zuko approached her. It was quiet now. "Well, circumstances changed. My uncle … um, died."
Jin gasped. "Oh, no! How did Mushi die?"
Zuko had to think fast. "He caught that fever I had." He feigned some fake sadness.
"Oh, Lee," she breathed. "So who's making the tea now?"
"I am, mostly. My girlfriend usually waitresses, but we decided to swap jobs for a while." Zuko explained. If he said he had a girlfriend, maybe Jin wouldn't hang around so much.
"Oh." Jin looked disappointed. "Oh, so what's her name?" she smiled brightly.
"Uh … TeiLyn." He swallowed awkwardly.
"Oh, what a pretty name!" Jin burst out. "So, can you take my order?"
Zuko smiled and nodded.
"I'll have … a raspberry, cinnamon and cocoa tea."
Zuko smiled again and retreated to the kitchen with the order. Katara glanced at him and noticed his face was bright red.
"Why are you blushing?" Katara poured the water into the cups.
"This girl I dated for a while is here. I told her you were my girlfriend." Zuko spoke quickly. "She wants a … raspberry, cinnamon and cocoa tea."
Katara nodded, returning the water to the fire. She pinched some of each ingredient into a cup and handed Zuko a tray. "Those two are for table three, and these four are for table five." She pointed to the cups.
Zuko nodded and disappeared into the teashop. He walked back in with an empty tray not long after. "Want to swap jobs again?"
"She driving you crazy?" Katara smirked, stepping away from the stove. Katara took the next tray out and put the raspberry, cinnamon and cocoa tea on the table in front of the only girl sitting alone in the teashop.
"Thank you," she smiled up at Katara. "So, are you TeiLyn?"
Katara nodded with a smile. "Lee decided to take over the stove again."
"Ah. Well, if you don't mind my asking … erm … would you agree that he's a good … kisser?" the girl's voice dropped into a whisper.
Katara swallowed. "Oh … definitely." She was half shocked, and half just trying to torment the girl.
Jin smiled quickly and blushed a pale pink before speaking again. "I never … we never got …" she took a deep breath and spoke again. "Is he … uh … good in the bedroom department?" her voice was somehow quieter than a whisper now.
Katara turned beet red. "Oh, we're not … we haven't …" her voice cracked in shock.
"Sorry, forget I asked-,"
Katara struggled to smile as she backed away and entered the kitchen. She put the tray down next to the clean cups and burst out in sniggering laughter. Zuko turned his head and looked at her. She was sliding down the wall in hysterical laughter, doubling over and jerking with huge, wracking laughs.
"What?" Zuko glanced at Katara.
Katara shook her head, trying to avoid his gaze.
"She just asked-," she broke out laughing again, before taking a deep breath and standing up straight. "Sh- She just asked me if you were good 'in the bedroom department'." She coughed out another snigger, doubling over again.
Zuko turned scarlet red and stared at Katara. "What did you say?" he snapped, causing her to laugh harder.
"Oh, oh, your face is-," Katara sputtered between laughs, now sitting on the floor.
Zuko managed out a short laugh before asking her again how she'd replied. Katara regained her composure and stood up, wiping her eyes.
"Relax, I told her we hadn't gotten that far. She turned this really, really dark red, it was so funny. Then again, I was probably redder." Katara shook her head, still sniggering.
Zuko laughed slightly. "You're worse than Azula, you know that?"
"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad." Katara sighed happily. She picked up another tray of cups and walked back out into the teashop, biting back a grin.
A/N: Because it has to be asked. This chapter's quote:
'Zuko: (mocking) 'I'm so pretty, look at me. I can walk on my hands, whoo!'
Love yas! xx