Katara is curled up against Zuko's side in the club's booth, Sokka at her side and Suki next to him. They're talking about what they're going to eat and then drink, and she stays mostly silent as Zuko leads on that conversation and then redirects it to Jin and Haru. Zuko's coworker and his girlfriend show up a minute later, and they direct themselves into the seats across from Katara and Zuko.
Katara smiles and introduces herself, and Jin smiles too, and they shake hands quickly before they order what they want to drink. The others all go around the table, and Katara has her ID, the one saying she's of age, but she tosses it between her fingers.
Zuko holds her hand under the table. "I think I'll get a lemonade or something."
"I'll just have water," she says, squeezing his fingers. Sokka looks worried for a second but then glances away, taking in the way she's attached to her boyfriend. Katara doesn't know why, but they've both been more prone to gestures of affection lately.
Zuko feels warm, and nice, and like something that can anchor her as she is, caught up in the storm of the thoughts running through her mind.
They get a large plate of nachos to share for the table, and then the conversation starts, formal until they start to get comfortable with each other.
"Zuko doesn't shut up about you," Haru smiles at Katara, and she blushes. "You're about to graduate, right?"
"Yes, and then we'll look at what the future holds in store for me," she adds. She doesn't really want to talk about herself right now, so she makes sure to turn the conversation to Jin and the restaurant she works at.
It all goes well until the combination at the table— of her, a girl who wants to eventually start a series of clinics across the south, of Suki, who works at a gym, and Jin, who runs a restaurant, lends itself to a conversation about health, of all things.
"I usually run in the morning," Jin says. "It's been nice, with the weather lately."
"Katara usually spends some time at the gym with me," Suki adds, "though she's been busy lately with school."
Katara has lost a lot of the muscle definition across her legs that she used to have. She hasn't been frequenting the gym at all. She hasn't been doing much aside from her runs, and she barely has the energy for those sometimes. The past week has been different, because Zuko has been talking half days and leaving late, ensuring that she eats breakfast and doesn't stay out too long. And he comes home and cooks dinner with her every night. But she keeps telling him she eats heavy lunches, emptying out salad cartons into trash cans sometimes. She knows she shouldn't, but—
It's very hard for her to think, at all, that she may be beautiful, that she shouldn't do this, especially when everything that goes through her mouth makes her second-guess her entire self worth and makes her feel absolutely sick to her stomach.
She drinks the water when it comes, turning down the sip of Zuko's lemonade that he offers her. He squeezes her thigh— she hasn't really eaten since the light dinner they'd had last night, only chugging down coffee for breakfast— and she smiles at him, even though she moves off him until they're no longer pressed together. He almost seems to protest, but then she leans her head on his shoulder and sucks through the straw.
The night is long, and eventually they get up. Her vision stirs when she gets up and turns absolutely dark and black for a moment, and she feels tiny shivers run up her spine when she grabs onto Zuko to right herself. Jin and Haru seem uncaring, but Katara realizes in a start that they haven't hung out with Sokka and Suki in a while, and the both of them seem wholly concerned. She can't stop Suki from dragging Zuko off with her with the other couple while Sokka grabs her hand and takes her to the side.
It's getting late, and the music in the club is getting louder and louder. Her head is a whole mess, and she's stumbling over her own thoughts, and she can't stop Sokka from opening the door and tugging them into the rough Ba Sing Se night. She can't stop him.
Katara leans back against the wall of the building and stares at her brother. "What's up?"
"I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever," he says.
"You just haven't been here in a while," she frowns. "Don't apologize for going home and taking care of Gran-Gran."
"Are you good? Suki's been—" he starts, and then his eyes close, and then he resumes "— worried about you."
"Worried about me? Why?"
She knows why, and her heart is about to beat out of her chest, reach out and shatter between her brother.
"Just that you've seemed different lately. You're taking care of yourself, right? Getting enough rest and food and everything, right?" Then he leans in close. "Zuko and you are— you're fine, right?"
She can hear his undertones and feels dismayed. "Oh my spirits, Sokka. Zuko is amazing."
"I just— I should be here," he whimpers. "If you're going through something and I'm not here . . . I want to be here for you."
"You are," she tells him. "You've always been there for me. And I don't need taking care of, Sokka. I'm fine. I've always been fine."
"Okay," he reaches for her and draws her to him, holds her cold body in his arms. "But you know that I'm here for you, and Suki is too, right?"
"Of course," she says against him, and then they go back indoors. Zuko grabs her hand again as she comes in, locks her fingers around him, and she tries to let go of the hazy way she's viewing the world, how nothing seems to balance itself in the air.
The music is louder than it was, but something doesn't feel right. "Come dance!" Suki yells in the haze, and grabs her hand and takes her away from Zuko, and then . . .
She feels like falling, and then she feels like nothing.