Prompt: Day 13-Moonlight
Summary: Everyone knows the night is Katara's time. The ocean is her realm. The night is her companion. And no one dares to encroach upon her territory.
But Zuko's always pushing boundaries, isn't he?
AN: I own nothing you recognize from your tv screens.
I envisioned ZK as a few years older while writing this, but if you want to read this as happening during the show, that will work too!
this is just fluff. that's literally all it is. fluff I wrote after watching every instance of Zuko and Katara looking at each other.
so enjoy :)
When Katara steps onto the back deck of the Ember Island beach house, her eyes widen at the sight of someone standing amidst the roaring waves. Accentuated by the time of day, or rather night, his fire is bright and strong and it beckons her. He is a lighthouse, and she is the ship whose captain has been blinded by his brilliance, crashing into the rocks at his feet.
He moves with a grace and agility that she does not normally associate with firebenders, but is natural for him. There is no haste in his swoops of fire, no rage in his kicks, no carelessness in the waves of flames he creates to match the ones of water. There is only raw power and talent behind every step and it is breathtaking to watch.
Seeing the Fire Lord surrounded by her element in the dead of night, with moonlight spotlighting him like he's the center of the universe, is truly doing something strange to her heart.
She leans forward, bracing her hands on the porch's railing, to study the way he commands his fire. Some gestures are more familiar to her than others - the ones that are her own. She is touched that he has watched her closely enough to be able to perfectly imitate her waterspouts and walls of water.
The fire skims the ocean's surface again and again, eventually causing a layer of steam to rise and conceal the firebender, much to her dismay. Without thinking, she twists her fingers so the waves rise higher before crashing, splashing the steam out of the air. But when the mist clears, Zuko is standing rigidly, as though he has been frozen.
Katara can feel the pout taking over her lips and tries to repress it when she feels a warm presence nudge her elbow. She looks down to see hundreds of wisps of fire surrounding her like fireflies, all of them pointing towards the ocean. Tongue in cheek, she heeds their direction and walks to the highest point the tides have reached before burying her toes in the damp sand. She is a few feet away from Zuko, but she can feel the heat and playfulness radiating off of him.
"How long have you been watching me, Katara?"
"Not that long," she mutters at the shells bridging her feet to his. He spins around with a soft smile on his face.
"It's okay, you can admit it. You wanted to spy on me."
She stomps her foot and meets his mirthful gaze. "I did not! I wasn't spying. I just came out to do some…"
She trails off because Zuko has tilted his head just so, and now the full moon is a halo, backlighting his long, loose hair, and the sight is causing the words to dam her throat.
"Katara? Is everything okay?"
She blinks, but the effect doesn't fade. Instead, the stars in the backdrop become even more pronounced and the man who can hold a bit of the sun in his palms looks celestial. The universe has created a beautiful, surreal painting, just for her, and she wants to stare at it forever.
But the subject keeps opening his damn mouth.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"
"Yes," she snaps. "Will you shut up now?"
He shakes his head, bewildered, and warm water droplets fall from him onto her frigid arms, faintly sizzling on contact, similar to the sound she thinks she might hear if she touched him right now.
"Um, alright. Sorry. I just thought I'd do some firebending since I didn't get to this morning, but the ocean is all yours now. I'll head in. Good night, Katara." He smiles at her, and she has to close her eyes to nod lest she acts on her urge to collide with him.
They brush past each other to move in opposite directions and all of Katara's nerve endings are on fire as she settles her feet and hands into a waterbending stance.
Eyes still closed, she can sense and differentiate every drop of water in the oceanic expanse in front of her. She can feel the thrum of every creature's bloodstream in the vicinity. And when she notices the container of blood and water that is Zuko pause at the deck, exactly where she had been just moments ago, she smirks.
She traces the seafoam with her toes, twisting her ankle just so. She grabs for the stars, twirling her fingers and resulting in tiny whirlpools rising into the air around her. She moves her waist enough to have water crawling up her tunic, coating her in the essence of La.
Her waterbending is a dance and a thrill rushes through her at the idea that Zuko is watching it.
On a whim, Katara raises whirling pillars of seawater to hide her from the firebender's vision before holding her breath and diving into the ocean. She lowers the pillars and waits.
It only takes a minute before Zuko rushes into the ocean with his heart racing. She treads backward to be better obscured as she watches his feet move rapidly from here to there and back here again. She probably shouldn't find this funny, but if him firebending in the ocean can put her heart through such turmoil, he can handle a little worry.
She holds her breath for a little while longer before she decides to take mercy on him and jump up.
The moment his eyes alight on her, he lunges and wraps his arms around her.
"Katara! I was so scared, don't do that!"
She laughs lightly into his chest. "You were scared of the waterbender drowning?"
He pulls back, scowling, to look her in the eyes. "Yes. Firebenders can burn, so..."
She glances at his scar for a second and feels her smile droop. She lets a second or two pass in silence before she moves out of Zuko's embrace. "Well, in more exciting news, firebenders can get drenched too!" And with that, she slaps the water, sending a huge splash of seawater straight into his face.
He splutters and wipes his face with his sleeve, forgetting that it is also soaked, causing his face to get even wetter. She giggles at his eyebrow hairs sticking up wildly and he growls before sending saltwater spraying into her open mouth.
"You are so on."
At some point, their splash war turns into a spar and it is exhilarating to see orange and blue whizzing past her as Zuko stays constant in the midst of it all. They rotate around each other, eyes locked and hands brushing.
When their foreheads finally touch, they're both breathing heavily, eyelashes fluttering across each other's skin, and they have identical grins plastered on their faces.
He pushes her hair behind her shoulders and wraps his arms around her. "That's a draw, then."
Katara laughs softly before braising her elbows on his shoulders. "Absolutely not. It's a full moon night and we're in the middle of the ocean. I win." She can see Zuko actively resist the urge to say a snappy retort and helps him out by reaching up and gently brushing his lips with her own. She settles back on her feet to see him blink twice, shake his head, smile at her, and then dip down for another kiss.
It feels like the world has started spinning rapidly and she loses herself to the sensation for some of the most pleasant moments of her life.
When Zuko pulls back, her head follows and ends up tucked underneath his chin. His warmth coupled with the glow of Yue shrouds her in heartsease and she smiles. She has definitely won.
Zuko thinks the world has gone silently still in awe of the master waterbender. He certainly has. If he moves, he thinks he might shatter the tranquility of this scene and he can't imagine a greater tragedy.
A simple flick of the wrist, a bend of the elbow, and a spin of the foot have the ocean swirling around Katara, dressing her in a dark gown of liquid. What he would give to be a fish at her feet, safe in her shadow, wrapped in the element she controls.
He relates so emphatically to the drops of water in her constant orbit, completely under her command, helpless to resist her every whim, content in her hands.
The moon shines upon its favorite daughter, making her radiant. She is effortlessly ethereal, spirit-like, seraphic, and he is hopelessly, permanently under her spell.
AN: The last part is just kind of an outtake? I had planned a part for Zuko and then I decided he wasn't pining enough which was unacceptable. But I really liked those lines so I included them. However, if you'd like to read the 'daylight'/pining zuko counterpart to this story, leave a review or send me a PM!
anyhow, I'd love to know what you thought of this, so feel free to leave a comment or find me on tumblr (thebluesunflower44)!