Author's note: Just a harmless bit of fluff. :)
Katara idly wondered where Aang was. When they'd all gathered for dinner, she had expected that he'd have joined them, had actually steeled herself for halting conversation and discomfort, but when she entered the dining room he was nowhere in sight. Suki had moved immediately to her chair at Sokka's right and Toph took a seat at the other side of the table while the waterbender approached slowly. Her brother, looking up, saw the confusion and hesitance on her face and understood immediately.
"He won't be coming for dinner. He ate earlier."
"Why?" she couldn't help but ask as she slid into her chair. Sokka shrugged.
"I suggested he wait until tomorrow to talk to you and Zuko, and he decided that he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable so he took off. He'll be back tomorrow morning, he said, and he'd really like a chance to talk to you."
"Who would like a chance to talk to her?" Zuko asked from the doorway as he walked in, Hakoda at his side.
"Aang's back," Suki answered bluntly. The firebender looked surprised as he crossed to sit beside Katara, leaning down to kiss her lightly before speaking again.
"Really? Where is he?" Zuko's voice was slightly worried, and Sokka went back over his explanation as to the airbender's absence. Nodding his understanding, he glanced up at the Water Chief who had walked over to hug his son and his future daughter-in-law.
"Aren't you staying for dinner?" Katara asked her father. He shook his head.
"I've got to go talk over some stuff with Bato and send a message to Chief Arnook. I'll just grab something when I get back to the rooms." He walked around the table and gave Katara a hug, then did the same to Zuko – an act that startled the Fire Lord to no end. Hakoda just laughed at the look on the firebender's face.
"Get used to physical contact, Lord Zuko. You're marrying my daughter, and we're a very demonstrative family."
"I...yes, I...okay. I'll try," the younger man stammered, causing everyone at the table to chuckle. With a wave Hakoda left the room and the five friends settled in to enjoy their dinner. They tucked into the food without delay, all of them rather hungry by this point. Not much conversation was had while they ate, but once the entrees had been consumed they all relaxed a little and began to discuss the events of their respective days.
"So," Zuko asked, taking a sip of fresh berry juice, "how much progress did you girls make on the hospital today?" To his and Sokka's confusion the two older females began to laugh while Toph just groaned and dropped her head to the table. "What did I say?" he asked, confused.
"It's not you," Katara reassured him. "It's just that...well, Toph had some stress and stuff she wanted to work out so we just turned her loose with her bending." Suki picked up the tale from there.
"Katara gave her a rundown of the major changes she wanted on the ground floor, things like replacing the west staircase with a curving ramp and taking down the wall between the first and second dining rooms, that kind of thing." Suki was actively trying to hold back her mirth. "While Toph got started on that, Katara and I went outside to mark off the area she wants to use as a medicinal garden. We were just checking off some of the notes when there was this horrid crash from inside the house."
"Suki and I rushed back into the house, and the first thing we saw was Toph just staring awkwardly upwards. It took me a minute to figure out what was so strange about what I was seeing." Katara was grinning, eyes glimmering with amusement. Toph let out a small moan and draped her arms over her head, muttering something none of them could hear under her breath.
"What happened?" Sokka asked gleefully, clearly enjoying their youngest friend's embarrassment.
"Oh, nothing much," Katara replied blithely. "Just a beautifully curving and stable ramp that started on the ground floor, wrapped in a gentle slope around the entryway...and plowed right through the first two bedrooms to knock a hole in the far wall of the second story."
Disbelieving looks crossed over both male faces, the guys knowing how precise Toph usually was with her bending.
"Sweetness, is this payback for me teasing you about Sparky?" the earthbender griped from her face-planted state on the table. Katara giggled.
"Maybe..." she answered playfully.
"You were teasing Katara...about me?" Zuko asked, partially out of curiosity and partially to deflect some of the attention from Toph. Suki took the hint and helped change the subject, knowing their friend wasn't ready for the guys to know about her crush on their resident airbender. With a wicked smirk, she looked slyly at the suddenly apprehensive Water Tribe girl.
"Just a little bit," the Kyoshi warrior said with a grin.
"What about?" he asked, golden eyes alight with interest.
"Well, apparently our Momma Pantherbear here gets a little...possessive...when it comes to you," Suki began, only to be cut off by Katara.
"Oh, look, dessert! We should probably eat it before it, you know, gets cold or...whatever..." Her sentence trailed off lamely as she looked down to realize that their dessert was a frozen whipped concoction of some sort. Toph and Suki just laughed but no one argued with the idea of eating rather than talking. Eventually, though, bowls were scraped clean and one by one they leaned back in their chairs, thoroughly full and happy.
"Well, I guess this is a good time to call it a night and head to bed, right Suki?" Sokka said, shooting his girlfriend a glance that was about as far from subtle as it could get. There were snickers around the table, and Toph rolled her eyes.
"Geez, Snoozles, even I saw that one," she teased. He gaped at her for a moment before sighing with resigned agreement. Suki meanwhile was simply chuckling, and Katara and Zuko wore indulgent smiles as they shook their heads. It seemed, though, that Sokka's words were the unofficial signal for the end of the evening. Shortly afterward the two warriors took their leave, followed by Toph who, in typical Toph fashion, couldn't resist a snarky comment as she walked out of the dining room. Once they were alone, though, Zuko arched an eyebrow at Katara.
"So you're possessive?" he asked, grinning smugly. She felt her cheeks heat and blustered a reply.
"Well, no – I mean, yes...oh, just shut up."
"So tell me about this teasing," he murmured, reaching out to draw her into what was becoming her customary spot on his lap. He made an idle motion with his hand to dismiss the servants for the evening as she snuggled against him.
"It was nothing." He looked at her, disbelief in his golden eyes, and she sighed and buried her face in his neck. "Fine. Remember the night you were invited to the Water Tribe rooms to discuss betrothal customs?"
"How could I forget?" he groaned. She looked up at his face, seeing him blushing, and broke out in a laugh.
"They wanted the curtain ceremony, didn't they?" Her smile was wicked, enjoying his shy attitude. He nodded.
"They did, but Sokka told them we'd already decided against it. It wasn't until after the get-together when we were walking back to our rooms that I convinced him to tell me what it was." His eyes gleamed as he smiled. "And I just have to say that your people are far more kinky than I ever thought they would be." He laughed at her renewed blush. "But what has that got to do with you being teased about me?"
"Well, I...that night, Suki and Toph hijacked me for 'girl time'. So they said. Mostly it was an excuse to tease me about...you."
"What about me?"
"Do you really want to know?" she asked, not meeting his eyes. She felt his chuckle reverberate through his chest.
"Absolutely. This should be good."
"Well," she began, taking a deep breath, "first Toph wanted to know if you were really as sexy as people said." Glancing up at him under her lashes she saw that he was completely floored by her statement. "What? You cannot be oblivious to the fact that you are one damnably attractive man." It was her turn to laugh at his blush and stammered denial, which she did happily before continuing. "Anyway, so somehow...maybe...chocolate got brought up, and -"
"Chocolate?" he asked, eyes wide. She just shrugged, deciding to go for broke.
"Suki said you had a body that begged to be covered in chocolate."
Though she felt her own flush, it was nothing to the flabbergasted expression on the firebender's face. He looked simultaneously intrigued and frightened, and she couldn't help but giggle and cuddle closer to him, raising one hand to gently stroke the side of his neck. After a moment he cleared his throat, speaking as if unsure that he wanted to hear the answer.
"And what...what did you say..? About that?"
"Not much. At one point I reminded them that I could bloodbend them out a tower window, I think." She felt him relax marginally and couldn't resist poking a little more. "I never told her that I thought it was a great idea." She laughed delightedly as he buried his face in her hair, muttering about temptations and devils. Unable to resist the urge, she slowly ran her fingers from his neck to his scalp, loosening his topknot and carefully setting the decorative metal flame on the table. He pulled back slightly, staring at her while she ran her hands repeatedly through his hair, the texture silky-soft and sensual against her skin.
"How did I get so lucky?" he murmured softly.
"I've been asking the same thing about myself," she replied, leaning slightly so that she could brush her lips against his forehead. They sat there in a warm silence until, after a while, Katara suddenly yawned loudly. A sheepish expression flashed across her face and he laughed gently, rising to his feet with her still in his arms. Her gasp of surprise as he easily carried her across the room made him smile down at her.
"I am perfectly capable of walking, you know," she said archly.
"I've no doubt you are," he rebutted. Still, he made no move to put her down and she made no attempt to leave the haven of his embrace. He carried her through the halls, reveling in the way she curled against him, and after a quiet, comfortable walk they were standing outside her chambers. During their journey her cuddling had slowly morphed to a slumped embrace and by the time he reached her door she was sound asleep, her face buried in his neck and her soft breathing tickling his skin. Cazin and Baru looked fondly at the scene before them – the Fire Lord carrying his sleeping lady - and the older of the two guards opened her door so that Zuko wouldn't have to relinquish his burden just yet. He whispered his thanks and stepped inside, kicking the door shut with his foot as he did so.
It was the work of several moments to get her arranged on her bed and he debated for a moment on waking her up so that she could change into her nightclothes, but she looked so peaceful that he was loathe to disturb her. Even in sleep she didn't seem to want to let go of him, however, and when he attempted to remove her arms from around his neck she began to stir. Her eyes opened slowly, once more holding him willingly captive with their incomparable beauty.
"Zuko?" she whispered.
"It's okay. Go back to sleep." He leaned down to brush a soft kiss against her lips when everything changed. No longer passive and pliant, Katara's arms snapped around his neck with such abrupt force that he lost his footing, tumbling down on top of her. A quick motion and she'd flipped him to her other side on his back, leaning over him with a wicked smile. Hie eyes widened in shock at her temerity.
"You weren't asleep at all!" he accused. Long lashes blinked slowly as she plastered an innocent expression on her face.
"Are you going to complain or are you going to kiss me again?" she asked before taking the choice from him entirely by capturing his mouth with her own. His arms came up of their own accord to wind around her waist and pull her down against him, and the happy moan she made was matched by one of his own as she took the invitation to heart. At some point her legs tangled with his and they rolled over until he was the one on top, her arms refusing to release him any further than was necessary to shift positions. He was drowning in her – her feel, her scent, the little noises she made as they kissed. But then her mouth left his and began to run down over his jawline to his neck, his collarbone...when her her teeth closed on his earlobe and her hands slipped beneath his tunic to scrape her fingernails across his stomach, lower, lower - reality returned with a gasp.
"Katara...wait..." Part of him was cursing himself for calling their interlude to a halt, but the rational part of his mind was slowly reasserting itself. She sat up, a frown on her face.
"What's wrong?" she asked timidly.
"I just...we can't...I mean, really, we shouldn't – we're not married yet and I don't want you – I mean, I do want you...gods, how I want – wait, what are you laughing at?"
Sure enough, as he was trying to stammer out some sort of coherent sentence – a task made none too simple thanks in part to the fact that her fingertips were trailing over his abs and skirting across the waistband of his pants – she began to chuckle, soft little huffs at first graduating to full-blown laughter at the look on his face.
"I'm sorry, love," she managed to get out. "You're just so adorable when you're flustered." He sputtered some sort of response that just made her laugh harder before snuggling against him, her hands still warm on his abdomen. Still, she was no longer running her fingers teasingly along his skin, and for that he could heave a sigh of relief (mixed with a tiny bit of regret).
"You're going to drive me to madness, water wench," he said fondly as he nuzzled her hair. He didn't even need to see her face to know the smug expression she was sure to be wearing.
"It's not my fault," she protested quietly. "You're just so damned hot I can't think straight." She punctuated this statement with a long, slow kiss that left him spinning. Once she finally released him she sat up and grabbed her blankets. One quick movement and she was curled against him, her soft curves pressing against his side, and she'd drawn the covers over them both. He tried to sit up but was stopped when she reached across his chest to grab his shoulder and slam him back down onto the mattress.
"'Tara, I can't -" She cut off his protests with a fond glare.
"You're the Fire Lord. I'm your betrothed. And if you're planning to make me wait to have you until after we get married in a year and a half, the least you can do is let me sleep in your arms." The words were kind, even playful, but her expression was a mixture of love and determination and he knew he wouldn't be able to win this one. If he was honest, he wasn't really sure he wanted to win. Heaving a pseudo-resigned sigh, he settled himself into the pillows and pulled her closer until her head was resting on his chest and her arm was draped over his stomach.
"Fine, fine. You impudent wench." He felt her small chuckle.
"Yes. But remember - I'm your impudent wench."
Holding his love as they drifted off to slumber, his last active thought was that he had to be the luckiest man in the world.