Yeah, Zuko had kinda thought she seemed scared of him at first, and he guessed being the guy he used to be he could be pretty intimidating (or he wanted to believe so), but now? Not a chance. He was a different person now, and despite the fact that he might not be a good, perfect person, he wasn't the bad person he used to be. It was complicated. He fell awkwardly in the middle and it didn't help, because he was awkward enough without that. He looked to Katara, who was taking a customers order, and he found himself smiling a little. Jeez, he really had it for her, didn't he? He wasn't a stoic, completely pessimistic guy; no, when they settled into Ba Sing Se he did have a period where he was pretty happy all around, and showed it openly to Uncle (who seemed sincerely pleased to see him sincerely happy for once, because he appeared to be rarely so most of the time). But this was different than a good attitude about the new day in a new place under a new name. New, new new. These were new feelings, but this wasn't a knew person. It was Katara. And he never thought she would make him happy just by seeing her smile or even just her face, by hearing her voice or even just thinking of her. He knew he seemed so ridiculous and pubescent and naive and so goddamn much like a teenager it wasn't even funny, but at this point, he didn't care. He felt a little happy for once; which again, was rare. Why should he spoil that with preconceived ideas of how he was supposed to think and feel, and if he thought or felt different he was silly or wrong?

But there was no way she could even be remotely intimidated by him now. Firstly because well, he noticed her act a little more comfortably around him. She used to jump or appear a bit shocked whenever he spoke or moved past her or touched her by accident, even if just an innocent brush of the arm. It was a little saddening to realize at one point, he really frightened someone that much from all his past endeavors. It made him feel a little guilty, but he didn't dwell on all that guilt. He never really thought about his past or his choices or how they affected people too much. The more he thought about it, the more reason arose. The more the reasoning filled out through him, the more he started to question if the path he took or was taking was truly the right or correct path. He didn't think he had either the choice nor the time to question his morals or choices, and if he did, so what? No one would believe he really changed anyway. He did far too much wrong to ever let that be considered. But once again, don't think to much! Don't let the reason in, because then you'll realize what you're doing and start to question it and think it might not be the right path.

No, he wasn't all that intimidating anymore. Far from it, really. At first, it was just him being emotionless and careless about what was going on here in this city or in this tea shop or with him or anything, so long as he wasn't arrested for being a firebender or found by Azula, or anything of that nature. He went from just generally not caring, being neutral and just unfazed by nearly anything, to growing pretty nervous. He had obviously begun to be around Katara more since she was working here, and he had grown into a nervous wreck in her presence. He wouldn't speak to her when she approached, aside from just a gesture of greetings or a polite acknowledgment, but he couldn't truly have a conversation with her. It seemed way too hard, impossible even. He would slip up and he honestly knew it.

She came over to him, a tray of cups lined up, and smiled a little at him in polite greeting, and the way her face lit up, even if not in sincerity to seeing him, was still amazing, and make all the blood rush to his face, but he forced himself to calm down before facing her. He honestly hated the fact that this girl, this one person that used to be so insignificant, or, spirits, used to mean nothing, was making him blush like a stereotypical schoolgirl.
"Can you fill these?" She asked, and Angi, her voice was just always so sweet and gentle, wasn't it? It made intimidating Katara even scarier. He only replied with a curt nod, knowing his voice might crack in nervousness (and he'd die from embarrassment at that point). He tilted the teapot to let the amber tea pour into the cups, but of course, with his luck, it didn't work. He didn't even get one cup filled and it spilled over the counter. And he just stared, sighing a little over dramatically as he set down the pot and searched for towels to clean it up. She chuckled a little, and he didn't know whether she was amused with his clumsiness or just how angst-ily he acted over spilled tea. By the time he found anything, he'd noticed her bending the tea into the cups, and smiled gratefully at him as she carried the tray off to the table she needed to serve it to.
"Thanks, Zuko." she said before she left to serve, and he really was like a little kid with a middle school crush, because he near gushed on the inside at how beautifully his own name sounded coming from her

She served the tea as cheerily as she always did, smiling and making small talk with the customers as she worked, but she couldn't get her mind off of how Zuko had acted before. They had such a simple set of actions, such a simple interaction, and it was almost like he'd overthought that. Why would he do that? It was just a little interaction between them. It was almost like he was.. nervous around her. That was pretty odd, given all the things he'd done in the past that were the result of anything but sheer shyness. Maybe it was him changing. Maybe she was right about him being another person, that he was a little nervous because he wanted to make a better impression. Maybe he was trying to hint at the idea of an alliance or even a friendship between them? A little while ago, spirits, before she started working here, she would've never considered it. But now she seemed intent on the idea of trusting him, that maybe he'd changed and it was for the better. After all, she didn't have any reason to believe he was up to anything malicious, right?

He was probably just being polite, though, she thought as she continued to dwell on her earlier thoughts. After all, most Fire Nation people were just obsessed with honor, and the scar stretching across his left eye was no doubt an obvious mark of how much honor mattered to him. That, and he was apart of the royal family in the Fire Nation. It would only make sense that he was keen on honorable things, right? He was probably just doing the honorable thing in being polite, as he assumed since they either weren't fighting right now, or weren't really enemies anymore, that he wasn't going to be less than honorable, and maybe a little more than before simply because they were less hateful towards one another than before. She wasn't sure really; she didn't care as deeply about honor as he must, but she did acknowledge it was an important thing. Though even with his deep enthrallment with honor, it didn't explain why he seemed a little skittish around her, like he knew he was going to fumble or make mistakes in her presence before they even took place because he was just nervous for no reason around her. She couldn't find an answer for why that might be. She supposed that it was just her imagination. Yeah. There wasn't anything more to it; her imagination was just getting the better of her.