ZW 2016 Day 5: Fever
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Trying
Katara is experiencing some very mild baby fever. Zuko is alarmed.
The Fire Lord is not hiding from his wife. He's also not hiding from his wife's basal temperature readings or pomegranates or enormous bowls of natto. Really, he's not. If he happens to be concealed behind a pillar in the guest wing of the palace; that's purely coincidental, and he's just assessing the need for cosmetic repairs in the little-used space. Especially considering that Toph made some of her own renovations during her last visit.
The Fire Lord could also use a nap, given how late said wife kept him up last night. Maybe a hot bath for a few muscles that have been screaming at him all day.
"Hey Zuko, what are you doing?" Crunch.
Sokka leans on the wall across from him, crunching on an apple. Loudly.
"Be quiet! She'll hear you!" He hisses.
"Who, Katara?" Crunch.
Zuko glowers. "Your sister won't leave me alone."
"I understand." Crunch.
Zuko winces, glancing furtively around them. "You do?"
Sokka loops an arm around Zuko in a most brotherly, manly half hug. "It's okay, buddy. Katara is a little much-CRUNCH-for all of us sometimes. She's just very motherly. It's her way!"
"Yeah," Zuko rubs the back of his neck as he chooses his next words (carefully). "She really wants to be a mother."
"I know! She talks about it all the time."
Zuko allows himself to relax, just a little. "She won't stop talking about it."
"Remember that time Toph left Lin at the market? Katara was all-" Sokka's voice rises an octave "-if I were her mother, I'd never let her wander off like that!"
Zuko snorts. "Remember that time she dressed Momo in baby clothes?"
"Ha!" Sokka slaps his knee. "I forgot about that. What about the time she announced you two were trying to have a kid at breakfast last week?" Sokka takes an enormous bite of his apple. "Too much information, Katara!"
"Yeah. Or that time when she, uh, waterbent my…stuff…so it would stay in longer."
Sokka chokes on his bite of apple. "Zuko! What is wrong with you! I did not need to know that either!" Gagging helplessly, Sokka flails about with all the coordination of a beached dolphin-seal.
"There you are!" Katara approaches suddenly, and Zuko flinches, trying in vain to curl further into the shadows. "Why don't you have any lights on?"
"Uh, I like the dark. Because…Sokka and I were, uh-"
"Telling ghost stories," Sokka rasps, thumping his chest and coughing. "Katara, I have apple stuck in my throatal flap."
She sighs heavily. "Come here."
Sokka sends Zuko a look of one thousand deaths as he passes. "We will never speak of this again."
Zuko is too preoccupied with his escape to comment.
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A/N: I was originally planning a pandemic story for this, but honestly, I think I've had enough pandemic for one decade. Is this crack? I don't know. Maybe crack-lite. Or maybe I'm a crackpot.
In any case, long time no talk y'all. Nice to be back.
