The bookshop reopening is going great if he does say so himself. The place now looks bright and welcoming; it's more spacious; there's a consistent flow of people coming and going, and it's hard to believe that this is the same dusty store with an imminent book avalanche at every corner Zuko and Katara had come across at that first meeting.
Zuko leans back on his chair and takes a moment to appreciate the fruits of his labor.
Ty Lee has recruited her friends to help during the reopening, and they seem to be doing alright. Mai is handling the register whereas Azula operates the espresso machine with a mastery he has no clue where she could have attained.
In the meantime, the owner herself sits in the new children's section and reads a picture book to a little audience, using different voices and dramatic intonations to give life to the story. Her theatrics captivate the children, and they beg her to keep reading one book after the other. Zuko's already lost count of how many the girl has read so far, but Ty Lee looks like she's enjoying herself, so he guesses there is no problem there.
He takes a sip of his latte. There's a cute turtleduck drawn on the foam, courtesy of his sister, and a part of him wonders if maybe Azula hasn't found her calling at last.
As he's appreciating his beverage, his eyes are suddenly covered, and someone is whispering in his ear, "Guess who?"
Easily recognizing the voice, Zuko sighs dramatically. "If you're gonna ask me out on a date, the least you could do is not be late, Katara."
"I said I was sorry," she says, not looking apologetic in the slightest, and plants a loud smack on his cheek. "Shopping with Sokka took a little longer than expected."
"Did you at least find what you were looking for?"
"Not really. We may need to try somewhere else." Katara pulls a chair next to him and sits down. With no sense of decorum, she steals his cup, taking a hearty drink of the beverage before frowning, disgusted. "What's the point of drinking a latte if you're not gonna add any sugar to it?"
"The caffeine content, maybe?"
As Katara reaches for the sugar packets and sprinkles an entire one over the turtleduck, she mocks, "Silly man. Don't you know that lattes are merely an excuse adults came up with so they could have desserts in a cup?"
"You're just a well of knowledge, aren't you?" Zuko scoffs, putting an arm on the back of her chair, and pulls her closer.
She smirks. "Aren't you glad to have me around?"
He rolls his eyes, deciding that violating his sacred coffee denies her any right to an answer, but she seems to see right through him, and there's no stopping her ridiculous grinning.
"Looks like the book reading is going well," she mentions between sips of her self-proclaimed adult dessert with a nod in the direction of the children's section.
"All thanks to you."
"It was a combined effort." Katara gently puts the mug down and shifts on her seat so she can fully face him.
Curious, he arches an eyebrow and looks at her in question.
The tip of her fingers trace his chin and rest there. Her eyelids lower as her face inches closer. When she speaks, her lips tantalizingly grazes his, "We make a good team."
"That we do."
And they kiss.
The End.
Day 7: Stories
And here it is! Very short but we made it! This was such an awesome challenge. It was stressful and I was very anxious wondering whether I'd finish it in time or not (I had to cut at least three scenes and combine a few others). But figuring out how to portray the AtLA characters in my own way was very fun. And it felt oddly natural (at least to me)? So I will probably write more when I come up with a new idea. Canon compliant, another AU, adding to this one (I wanted to show Tyzula some more love), who knows? We shall see what happens next...
