Zuko followed Sokka down the lowly lit hallways of the captured Fire Nation ship to his room. They stopped in front of an ornate door, torches lighting either side of the archway.
"Royalty for royalty, you know what I mean?" Sokka snickered while Zuko opened the door to his room. It was definitely what he was used to: luxurious red sheets, red silk wall hangings, a beautiful meditation rug...it was perfect by all rights.
Except for the fact that Katara wasn't here. Usually, the promise of nice quarters would have been more than enough for the Fire Prince, who preferred his own company over anyone else's, but now he wanted nothing more than to join the rest of the raucous crew near the upper decks and be like everyone else.
"So, here you go, home sweet home, I guess, you know, for now. Unpack? Lunch, soon? Uhhh ... welcome aboard?" Sokka said, suddenly feeling the awkward atmosphere. Zuko gave his best approximation of a welcoming smile.
"Thanks...Sokka," He thanked the other boy, his unfamiliar name struggling to roll off his tongue. He scratched the back of his head. "So...what do you guys do for fun around here?"
Sokka's eyes lit up and Zuko tried not to wince as he slammed a friendly hand on the Prince's shoulder.
"I've gotta introduce you to my friend Maku. He's SO fun!"
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Zuko sighed in his room as he meditated. Sokka had shown him to his room about a week ago, and lately it had been feeling like all he did was mediate trying in vain to keep the feelings of intense heat, emptiness and loneliness at bay when he was not touching Katara. At first, the fiery itch had been easy to ignore. It was uncomfortable to be away from the Waterbender, but not unbearable, and Zuko had been more than distracted by Sokka's attempts to ingratiate Zuko with the other Water Tribe Warriors that struggled to trust him. But then Katara had gotten quite busy, cutting their time together shorter and shorter to take care of the needs of the rest of the ship. And now?
No amount of meditating could help him stop feeling the intense need to possess her whenever she was around him.
This feeling had been getting worse and worse lately. He and Katara had managed a sparse few moments for themselves on this stupid first couple of days he had been here, between the distrust he was met with from the Water Tribe warriors and the memories being on a ship stirred up of his banishment, isolated from everyone on the ship, he had been miserable. The only thing that kept him from strangling Sokka as he made copious amounts of bad jokes trying to break the tension, was Katara.
She was just, just so unflinchingly kind. Those first few days, he watched as she seamlessly made herself invaluable to everyone. She somehow managed to cook and clean, have healing sessions with Aang and heal small injuries incurred from sparring, and still take extra care to make sure Zuko and Toph felt welcome among the Water Tribe people.
The few short conversations they had managed revealed to Zuko how smart she was. She was extraordinarily observant of their connection, and drew conclusions and answered questions before he even knew the right questions to ask. Teamwork was something Zuko was never forced to participate in, having grown up in the palace with no friends other than his mother and his younger sister's friends that didn't even belong to him. Katara never let him use that as an excuse, reminding him that her opinion was just as important as his, never letting him treat her as anything but his equal. She was this passionate in most things she did, he noticed.
Growing up, he had had few things he could call his own that had not simply been afforded to him by the privilege of being born the Prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko was far from lazy, but there were just very few things he had had to work for in his life. With Katara, he constantly worked to keep his private promise of being worthy of her attention, even if she wasn't aware of it. And she had endeared herself to him so effortlessly since he had joined their group that Zuko thought she was something he would not mind working for, as long as he could have her in the end. He had worked these last few days to ingratiate himself into the group as much as possible and help Katara with her chores. It had been harder and harder lately, as it was extremely distracting to him to be in the same room with her and not be able to touch her.
No more, he swore to himself. Though Zuko did not yet know what he felt for Katara besides intrigue and admiration (quite a bit of lust, if he was being honest), he knew that he wanted to be close to her, and he knew they had a bond between them that he had never heard of and seemingly no one else had. He wanted to figure out their connection, he wanted to make sure neither of them ever had to feel the crushing emptiness they felt when they weren't touching, and they wouldn't be able to do that sneaking around.
Zuko sighed to himself. This all sounded all well and good while he was sitting alone by himself in his room, but everytime he was actually confronted by Katara, he found himself tongue-tied. It was all he could do to haplessly stutter out a few words before she shooed him along to start the next chore on the never-ending list.
The Firebender pushed himself to his feet. Maybe some fresh air will be good, he thought. His blood constantly felt like it was boiling whenever he was away from Katara, so the cool sea breeze had become his best friend, something he didn't get much of down in the royal quarters in the belly of the ship. Stupid warriors assigning me here for a joke, he grumbled to himself as he strolled along the familiar hallways. He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the subject of said thoughts walk right into him.
"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed, heat rising to her cheeks. "Sorry, I must not have been paying attention."
The intense relief at having her in his arms made Zuko take a moment to gather his composure before looking her in the eye. "Well, I wasn't looking either I guess," he paused as he took in his surroundings, "and this is nowhere near the deck of the ship, so I'm not even sure how I wandered here." They were in a part of the ship near the boiler rooms, not too far from the royal wing Zuko had been traveling from.
Katara seemed surprised as she looked around as well. "That's strange...I was going to the kitchens."
"Are you...are you okay?" The Prince asked awkwardly. The heat in his chest had become a fiery inferno at the sight of the Waterbender standing in front of him, but concern easily won out at her appearance. She was visibly shivering, her tan face unusually drawn and pale, her arms wrapped around herself in a comforting gesture.
"Yeah, I'm…" she seemed to stop herself and reconsider. "Are you…" her words trailed off as a blush once again rose on her cheeks. Zuko realized the problem and looked both ways before pulling open a random door to his right. Before he could overthink it, he wrapped an arm around her waist to guide her inside.
It was dim inside what seemed to be a simple utility closet, so Zuko sparked a flame with his free hand, making sure to keep it well away from Katara. However, to his surprise, she leaned forward, nearly pitching them both over from her place in his arms in her attempt to get closer to the flame.
Katara blushed as she realized what had happened and straightened herself up, instead simply reaching for Zuko's arm and holding the flame up to her face. The Firebender watched in awe as she tilted her face this way and that, clearly enjoying the warmth on her cheeks.
They stood in silence for some time until Katara broke it.
"I'm sorry, I know it's strange, I just can't seem to help it...Lately it's beenㄧ"
"Getting worse, I know," Zuko interrupted her, knowing exactly where she was going. "I've been burning up!" He attempted to pull his arm from around Katara's waist to run a hand through his hair, but found she had an iron grip keeping him in place. Zuko sighed, but relented.
"I've been, so cold," Katara admitted. "Even wearing a parka, it's been hard to get any sleep."
Zuko frowned. He also struggled to sleep, tossing and turning, trying to find a new cool spot on the bed, but he hadn't realized the fatigue had been affecting Katara this badly as well.
"You should try it," Katara said suddenly. Zuko looked down at her questioningly.
"Try what?"
Even in the dim light, Zuko could see the blush rising on her cheeks as she jerked her head at the flame in his hand.
"I…" Touching you, while you bend...it feels, Katara looked down bashfully, even better than when we hold hands.
Zuko thoughtfully examined her face. She doesn't look sick anymore, he realized.
"I can hear that, you know," Katara grumbled. Zuko snorted. She glared at him, then continued.
"What if...what if that's how we both ended up down here?" She suggested. "We needed this, so we were, I don't know一"
"Drawn to each other?" Zuko interrupted sarcastically. He immediately regretted it upon seeing the hurt look on Katara's face.
"Right, it was stupid," she said, looking down again. The Prince cursed himself for a second, then tightened his arm around her waist.
"I think...I think you might be right," he admitted. I'm sorry, I'm not used to...depending on someone like this.
Me neither.
Well, are you gonna bend or what?
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Anyone who had seen the couple stumbling out of the closet a short while later would have asked if they had somehow managed to smuggle cactus juice on board, because they looked absolutely insane.
Zuko was the happiest he had felt in a long time and was positively buzzing with energy. After he and Katara parted, he continued his stroll up to the docks with a face splitting grin, cheerfully greeting everyone he passed.
"Hey Toph!" He waved to the younger girl. She grinned immediately.
"Sparky, I didn't know you could smile!" She exclaimed sarcastically. He glared at her without any true heat.
"Whatever," he grumbled, turning to continue walking. Toph effortlessly fell in step beside him.
"Man, Sugar Queen really has you wrapped around her finger," the Earthbender snickered. Zuko stopped in his tracks, fighting the blush rising to his cheeks.
"How do you know about that?" He asked neutrally. Toph shrugged.
"You forget I can hear your heartbeat," she said teasingly. "What exactly were you two getting up to in that cave again?" He groaned.
"You can't tell anyone about this! Not that I even know what 'this' is," he grumbled.
"That's between you and Sugar Queen, your highness. But, I've never noticed really noticed Katara act like this before," Toph said genuinely.
"What do you mean?" Toph frowned in thought.
"Well, there's the fact that whenever you're around her heart sounds like a bunch of galloping bull-antelopes," Zuko glared and Toph grinned, "but she just seems...I don't know, happier around you?"
"Huh," Zuko replied.
"And you too! I mean, I didn't know you very well before, but from how everyone described you, you were kind of...well…"
"Angry?" Zuko asked.
"Yes!" She exclaimed, "But now you're strolling down the hall smiling so hard my feet can see it!"
"Yeah, I guess," Zuko said, unconvinced. "This whole thing is just so sudden, you know? And we don't even know what it means!" He threw his hands up, suddenly frustrated. Toph simply shrugged.
"I'm not really sure what you're talking about Sparky but, for what it's worth, whatever you're doing now seems to be working. And I'm happy for you." The Earthbender was uncharacteristically serious, and Zuko smiled in thanks.
"I'm not even sure if there's anything to be happy for," he admitted. Toph laughed.
"Well, I would advise you to talk to Sugar Queen about that. Spirits know she hates it when other people try and make decisions for her." Zuko stared at the blind Earthbender for a moment, surprised by her once again on the nose advice.
"Thanks Toph," he said seriously.
"Don't worry about it Sparky, now you owe me one," she smiled dangerously. "And I always collect."
Zuko swallowed hard while Toph grinned.
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Author's Note: This is that Zuko chapter I talked about that wasn't originally ready. It's about to be a pain to insert this in where it goes now, but let me know what you think!