Hello guys! I've finally had the time to update the next chapter (and write it)! I'm so sorry for the long wait, I had to get caught up to some uni stuff, as there will be exams at the end of this month. So I'm also not sure if I'll be able to post another chapter of this story before August. Or of my other stories.

So, Zuko will meat Katara's family in this chapter, and that's also why it took me so long. It's a difficult situation to write, and I think it could be done better than what I wrote. It was especially difficult, since the scene is from Zuko's point of view, and not having Sokka's, Hakoda's, or Kya's made it a little harder for me. But we already had Katara's last chapter, so there'll be Zuko's now.

I hope you'll like the chapter. Let me know what you think!:)

It starts directly after the last one ended. Katara and Zuko are just driving away from the Volcano Club.

I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender.


Chapter Twenty-One

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked, once they were both seated in his car.

Katara hadn't seemed very upset for the rest of the lunch and had been very pleasant when they had said goodbye to his family, but Zuko thought she might be not so well after all.

After having been treated so awfully by the staff, Zuko simply couldn't imagine her to be well.

"Oh, well, yeah. Of course," she said absentmindedly, looking out of the window.

He glanced at her for a few seconds, before he sighed and started the motor, driving around the roundabout and down the driveway, palm trees growing on both sides.

"I'm sorry that I brought you there," he said, not knowing what else he could do. He had never experienced anything like this, and although he was angry on Katara's behalf, he did feel uncomfortable about this.

"It's not your fault," she said with an empty voice.

"But I should have thought about it. And done something!" he growled as an afterthought, before he quickly glanced at her. She gave him a questioning look. "I-I mean..." He faltered. "You're not... Well, we're not really together, but we're closer than my father is to you, and he was the one who defended you, and it should have been me," he murmured apologetically. "I'm sorry."

She heaved a heavy sigh. "It's okay. I know you wanted to do something first, but your father stopped you. And honestly, I'm sure that even if you had pressed the issue, your father would have still told you not to do anything. He showed himself as an open and tolerant person today. That video has probably already gone viral, and it will make him look good in front of my people or the lower class. It was an opportunity for him."

He tensed, his hands clamped around the steering wheel. What she said was probably true, but it wasn't good for her to think like this about his father. "Maybe. But I don't think it was his only reason for doing what he did."

Katara sighed. "I hope so. I mean he obviously wants people to think he is a tolerant person, but that doesn't mean he really is."

"He is," Zuko said, sounding more convinced than he felt.

When Katara went quiet again, Zuko didn't know what to do or if to say something. This issue was probably very important for Katara, but it was too foreign to Zuko. He didn't just want to let it be, he wanted to understand better and for her to tell him how she felt about it all, but he was unsure of how to ask.

In the end, he told himself she wouldn't have said anything to him anyway. And so he didn't ask.

oOo

Katara and Zuko didn't meet again before Friday, the dinner at Katara's parents. Zuko had felt like it was his fault for not being there for her enough on Wednesday, and he kept thinking about how stupid he behaved. She was probably wondering if he thought less of her because of her skin colour, too. The only problem was that he didn't know how to address this problem, how to make her talk to him. He couldn't even begin to understand how Katara felt, after all.

But to his relief, she called him on Thursday to talk about what he should do, not do, know and say in front of her parents on Friday. He was glad she had done this, because now he didn't feel quite as panicked as before.

Zuko had bought hamburgers for Jet again to apologise, and Jet had started to treat him normally again. He had immediately knocked on his door, showing him a video of his father defending Katara. It already had 280,000 clicks, and the number was increasing. Zuko was sure that his father was very pleased with this outcome. Although the camera zoomed in on Ozai's face, his whole family was shown, too. He could see Katara's shocked and uncomfortable face, his mother's and Azula's identical hard look at Kazan (the owner of the Volcano Club), and himself, scowling and tugging Katara protectively to his side. They really looked like a couple in the video.

The comments were... bipolar. Most people wrote about how great Ozai had behaved, how surprised they were, but also how happy. Lots of them said they hadn't even considered voting for him, but now they totally did. He had gained lots of supporters.

Others were saying that they didn't take this seriously as it was surely out of context, and they didn't believe Ozai would actually defend a Southerner.

Very few people commented about him or Katara directly, which he was glad for. A few people commented on how they couldn't believe Zuko was with a poor Southerner, some insulted Katara as a gold digger. But a few people also wrote they thought it sweet.

He wondered how Katara got along with it, and if people were talking to her about the video. Azula called him and told him to be prepared for an onslaught of interview offers from reporters. After this video everyone and their mum would want to know about Zuko and Katara.

He didn't like it. The few weeks they had had, spent in solitude, just getting to know each other had been so comfortable. Now the whole country would be involved.

Zuko wore simple clothes for meeting Katara's parents. Blue jeans and a black button down shirt. He hadn't styled his hair a lot, per Katara's request, so most of it was hanging in his face, just brushing on his eyebrows. He had bought a bouquet of tulips, the favourite flowers of Katara's mum, and a bottle of Octopus Shark, the favourite ice wine of Katara's father. For Sokka, he had brought a pack of seal jerky, although Katara had told him he didn't have to bring something for Sokka, as he already knew him. Katara hadn't known what he could gift her grandmother at first, but in the end, she had told him to buy her the album of an opera singer. And for Katara, he had brought chocolate mochis, not that she knew, it was simply a backup plan, if everyone would ask him why he had brought things for them, but nothing for Katara. And when he had seen them, he had thought of her, and thought she'd like them.

So, packed with gifts, in way more casual clothes than usual, he stood in front of an apartment house, in the outskirts of town. It was a developing area, lots of new houses, but also some building sites. Small trees lined the street, and everything looked clean and new.

Zuko pressed the bell for 'Qinu'. He waited not even two seconds, until he heard a woman's voice.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Er, Zuko here." He cringed, not able to face palm, because of all the things he was holding in his hands.

"Come in! Fourth storey!"

The door buzzed, and Zuko pushed it open, slowly climbing the steps. There wasn't even a lift. Not that Zuko needed one, as he was quite sportive, and on top of that wasn't eighty years old.

He immediately knew which door he had to go to as it was standing wide open, light flowing out to the hallway and four people with brown hair and blue eyes trying to stand in the doorway.

Katara squished past her parents and brother, approaching him with a tentative smile. He was glad her family didn't see her face, because it certainly didn't look like that of a happy girlfriend. Oh crap, he knew she was angry at him!

His eyes darted nervously to her family, before they settled on her, as she stopped in front of him.

"Hi," said Katara, her eyes wide and her smile not reaching them.

"Hi," he responded awkwardly.

"Can I take something off you?" she asked, eyeing his luggage.

"Oh no! I'm fine, but thanks." Before his gaze could return to her parents, Katara grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her back in their direction.

"Mum. Dad. This is Zuko, my boyfriend," she introduced them. "Zuko, these are my parents. Kya and Hakoda."

Without asking, Katara snatched the bouquet from his arm, which he was grateful for, because his right hand hadn't been free to shake the lower arms of her parents.

"Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you," Zuko said, first bowing in greeting, and then waiting for the Southerners to offer their lower arms.

Kya extended her arm first. Zuko firmly grabbed it underneath her elbow, just like Katara had told him to do. She inclined her head, and he did the same.

Her face was friendly and funny with a sharp chin. Katara looked a lot like her mother, but clearly also had something from her father. Sokka and she both looked like perfect mixes of their parents' genes.

"The pleasure is ours," Kya said, raising her chin, before she suddenly started laughing. "Oh spirits, Katara! I'm so sorry I just can't do this!" Fanning herself some air, she turned around to move deeper into the flat, bending at her waist, still chuckling.

Zuko started to panic. Had he done something wrong? Or said a wrong thing?

Hakoda sighed, before grasping Zuko's arm as well. "Welcome to our home," he said, his voice holding no friendly emotions, but Zuko was thirty percent certain that not all of it was the wish of breaking his bones. He moved to the side, letting Zuko in.

Sokka tapped him on the shoulder twice in order to greet him, only when his father cleared his throat, did the younger man grasp his lower arm.

Zuko could still hear Kya laugh.

"Don't worry. She always makes fun of stilted talk or traditions," Katara said, closing the door. "She just finds it funny that she got to say 'It is our pleasure'," she drawled.

Zuko stiffened. "Oh. Should I have said something else?"

Sokka shook his head. "Nah. She probably already likes you anyway."

Hakoda snorted, and Zuko felt suddenly very bad.

As soon as Katara closed the door, he looked around, searching for a place to put his shoes. "Er, where can I put my shoes?" he asked, because even if it had been obvious, he wouldn't start acting as if he knew this flat.

Katara's father eyed him critically, before glancing at his children and leaving the hallway.

Sokka and Katara looked at each other, before she laid a hand on his shoulder. "You can leave them on. We don't have any rules about this," she said, shoving Sokka forward.

Zuko's head snapped towards her, his eyes wide. "B-but… I just came from outside… and your floor…" His skin prickled at the thought of stepping any further into this flat with his shoes on.

"Relax. The neighbourhood is clean, and the only one getting a heart attack from dirt anywhere here is you." Katara padded his back amicably, obviously not knowing what this was doing to him!

He'd leave the dirt of the streets on their floor. Please don't let them have a carpet!

As he looked down at her, he could see that she was also still wearing sneakers. He grimaced. "Kata…" he started.

She smacked him slightly on his arm. "Shhh! I know you don't like it, but you won't make my parents feel like they should clean more!"

His eyes widened slightly, panicked. In his horror of thinking about walking over a floor with his shoes still on, he had completely forgotten about what her parents would think!

Katara sighed. "Look. Everyone walks around here with their shoes still on. So the floor is dirty. In that case, wouldn't you prefer to leave your shoes on?" she asked slowly, as if she was talking to a child.

He wrinkled his nose, before nodding, trying not to be too obvious in his examination of the floor. He didn't want to make Katara angry, and he really wanted her parents to like him, but this was something he couldn't help himself with.

Taking a deep breath, – it actually smelled quite nicely in the flat, flowers, laundry and food – he followed Katara down the hallway, entering a small, but comfortable living room. He noted that it was certainly big enough, everyone could move freely and there were sitting options for more than six people. But still, the room was smaller than his own living room, which was only for two people. He frowned. How come Katara had never actually grumbled about this? She was normally so quick to ridicule everything too large, too expensive, or too luxurious.

The room was held in relatively neutral colours. The wooden floor had a light hazelnut colour, and the walls were left white, with one exception, which was painted in beige. Bookshelves full of CDs and DVDs covered one wall, a large grey sofa another one. Next to the TV, right in front of a window, was a cream coloured chaise longue with pink cushions. Two armchairs, one in brown, and one in teal stood at the other side of the sofa.

Zuko glanced around, finding the room didn't look so much like the living room of a family, but then again, the children were adult and didn't live here anymore. Besides, the living room at his parents' home had never looked as if a family with children was living there. The living room of Katara's parents looked as if adult, well educated people who liked to have visitors were living here.

Sokka had slumped down in an armchair, looking at him, as he came through the door.

Katara pulled him to the other side of the room, closer to the books. "I want you to meet my grandmother," she said with a very enthusiastic voice. He couldn't tell if her enthusiasm was fake or honest, but he was pretty sure it had been fake, after looking at the woman sitting on the chaise longue with a book.

Her stern face looked as if she couldn't even be shocked by fireworks exploding right next to her. Although she had a typical soft looking grandma body with slack flesh, her posture was straight and rigid, making her look like a ballet teacher, which was enhanced through the low knot she had twisted her grey hair in.

The woman wore old fashioned clothes in sky blue and white, the colour of the Southern Province.

Zuko would have known it would be hard to make this woman like him, to make her even accept him, but when he realised to his horror that he had already seen her once, he knew it would actually be impossible.

Katara's grandmother was the woman whose shopping bag he had sliced two days ago in the underground.

He couldn't do anything against his eyes widening and his mouth hanging slightly open in shock.

"Grangran, this is Zuko. Zuko, this is my grandmother Kanna," Katara introduced them, her voice still sounding cheerful.

The woman raised an eyebrow, before she snorted. "Will you eat what I cooked? Or will you throw it on the floor?"

Katara gasped, as Zuko cringed. He quickly took a step towards the old lady and bowed deeper than was necessary this time. "I am truly sorry about what happened the other day. If I had had any more time, I would have helped you, or even bought it all for you again."

Katara's grandmother somehow managed to look down her nose at him, although she was still sitting, and Zuko knew that even if she would stand, he would still tower over her.

"What are you talking about?" Katara asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah. You know each other?" Sokka interjected.

Their grandmother's gaze never left Zuko. "Would you like to tell them?" Her voice sounded dry and old like sandpaper.

He blushed furiously, biting down on his lower lip. "Erm…"

Shit, how could he tell them? He remembered he had shouted at Jet through his phone. He hadn't used any nice language, and the lady already hated him, that was clear! He had said the f-word several times, probably a lot of other bad words, then snarled and then ripped her paper bag open! She would tell Katara to run away from him, as fast as possible. And then she would tell Katara's parents, making them disapprove, and Katara wouldn't be able to bear it, and of course she would choose her family, not him!

He stood stiff as a board while these thoughts were coursing through him.

"Well…," he tried again, but still, it was all in vain.

The old woman sent him an odd look. "Your boyfriend, Katara, should really wash his mouth. I heard some filthy language coming out of there," she said in a grated, monotone voice, but somehow making it full of disapproval.

Katara raised an eyebrow at him, a gesture that made her even look a little like her grandmother. "How did you hear him swear?"

Zuko swallowed, knowing he started sweating from nervousness.

"I met him Wednesday. I was just getting back here from doing some shopping, you know. I had bought everything I needed for five flavour soup. The boy," she nodded at Zuko, "was in the same underground train as me, insulting someone at the other end of a phone call, using extremely crude language." It was beyond Zuko to understand how she made it clear with her voice that she could absolutely not stand him and that he would never be good enough for Katara, when there was really only a tint of disapproval in her voice.

"I-I was talking to Jet," he murmured, casting Katara a quick glance.

"Oh!" Sokka laughed. "Well, it's understandable then."

His grandmother shot him a look. He shut up.

"Grangran, if that's all…" Katara said cautiously.

The woman huffed. "All? Tss, while throwing a little temper tantrum he sliced through my shopping bags, and all the food I'd bought fell to the floor."

Katara gasped again. "What?"

Zuko pressed his lips together in a firm line, staring at the ground.

"He first apologised and wanted to help, but then the train stopped, and he said he had to leave," the ballet teacher ended.

Sokka still kept his mouth shut. For a few moments, the sound of Katara's parents bustling on in the kitchen was the only sound to be heard.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko looked back up into the eyes of the old woman. She was terrifying, but he had to fix this. Damn, he made Katara like him enough to play his fake girlfriend and repeatedly kiss him, and that girl had been the person who had loathed him the most in his entire life, he was sure of it!

"As I said, I truly am sorry about what happened then. I was being very late, and I was stressed. I let that get the better of me, and I thought that nothing was more important than being punctual for my meeting. But I should have helped you more. It certainly hadn't happened intentionally." He meant everything he said, and despite not being good at lying, Zuko knew he was good at being honest. Katara's grandmother should be able to see that!

He took some comfort in the fact that Katara's hand was still lying on his arm, even rubbing slightly. Was she doing this consciously?

Her grandmother watched him for a few seconds with a stoic look which didn't even change when she said "Call me Grangran."

oOo

In the beginning, Zuko felt a little attacked by these people. It felt similar to how meeting Katara's friends had been. Kya and Sokka just said and asked everything that came to their minds.

"I must say it was quite the surprise I got when Katara told me you are the one she's together with! After all, she complained so much about you in high school! It was so bad that I didn't even think she had a crush on you," Kya chuckled.

"At least this way I won't have to assist her in playing pranks at Zuko anymore," Sokka grumbled. "Getting your pocket money really wasn't worth stealing his underwear! So gross!" He narrowed his eyes at his sister, before faking a gag motion.

Zuko's eyes widened in horror, as he turned to Katara. "So that was you!"

After throwing a glare in Sokka's direction, she smiled at him sheepishly. "That was... er..."

"Well, she hopefully won't need to result to such drastic measures to get him undressed in the future!" Kya grinned devilishly at the pretending couple.

Blood rushed into Zuko's cheeks, and he stared intently at his plate, while Katara sputtered, trying to find some words.

"Kya!" Hakoda sounded like he was scolding a child. "Not at dinner, not while I'm here!" He looked like he was hurting.

Kya rolled her eyes.

Katara put her head in her hands, groaning. "Mum! Dad! Just stop!"

"Well, I certainly won't help with any of this in the future," Sokka said decidedly, and Katara groaned, while Zuko kept staring at his plate, too mortified to even attempt to react to this somehow.

Oh gods. It just became worse.

The family found themselves bickering with each other, most of the times over something completely irrelevant. However, somehow the attention of the room always made its way back to Zuko.

"Of course I helped preparing dinner!" Sokka exclaimed.

"If you call standing next to us and commenting everything we do 'help', then yeah, sure," Hakoda replied dryly.

"I asked you to cut the aubergines, because I had to go to the bathroom!" Katara shouted.

Sokka frowned. "Yeah, and I did!"

Katara snorted. "No, you did not! When I came back, it was still just one aubergine."

"Then that must have been another one! I cut one, seriously!"

Kya rolled her eyes. "It's no use anymore. He's already left home, and he'll never learn how to help in the kitchen."

"Oh, the poor girls out there. I really hope you'll at least change then," Katara told Sokka, who blushed furiously in a dark red tone, before pointing with his chopsticks at Zuko.

"Yeah, so you're telling me Zuko is a perfect household help?! He probably grew up with servants and didn't have to lift a finger!" he snarled.

Zuko tensed again, glancing at Katara from the corner of his eyes, before slowly looking at the rest of the family.

Katara grinned. "Actually, he is a big help in the kitchen, but he also cooks and bakes by himself. If you want a girl my age to like fall for you one day, you should try it out."

Sokka scowled. "And be so whipped like him?" He nodded at Zuko.

Before Zuko could repeat to this slight stab to his manliness, Hakoda spoke up. "I help your mother in the kitchen. DOes that make me whipped, too?" he asked with a slightly hard tone.

Sokka's eyes widened. "No, no, no! No, Dad. Not you. You're super manly."

"You bake, Zuko?" Kya asked him then, obviously trying to change the topic.

He looked up from his soup, which was very good, but before he could answer her, Katara opened her mouth. "Yes, he does! Just last Sunday, we baked..."

"Katara!" Kya interrupted her. "Would you let your boyfriend speak for himself?"

Zuko flushed again. Oh man. It's not like he couldn't talk for himself, but he just preferred letting Katara do it around people she knew better than he did. It was her family. He was too afraid of saying or doing something stupid. Katara knew better how to manage these things. But now, he really would have to say something.

He cleared his throat. "Er, yes, I bake."

Silence.

"You like baking?" Kya probed.

"Yes."

Clitter.

"Do you bake for special occasions?"

"Yes."

Tick.

Kya's eyes narrowed. "I suppose you're just a silent person, and not trying to be impolite, right?"

Zuko's eyes widened in panic. "What? NO! I-I mean I'm not trying to be impolite. I don't want to be impolite."

Katara rolled her eyes. "If you want Zuko to talk much, Mum, then you got to ask him something about kung fu, swords, or architecture of long gone civilisations."

His head snapped back to her. "If that bored you so much, you could have simply said something!"

She grimaced at him, before gently laying a hand on his arm. "It didn't bore me. It was rather endearing, since there aren't many things you're passionate about."

Endearing? Him? What? No. Zuko was not endearing. He was far from endearing. He was... silent and stoic. Awkward and asocial. Aggressive and rash. But definitely not endearing!

"Katara, I'm not endearing," he murmured, as he looked over at her.

She was still grinning at him. "Of course not, just as endearing as a little turtle. Or duck."

"Stop it!" he growled quietly, blushing worse as he felt the eyes of everyone at the table on him. He suspected Katara to enjoy this immensely.

"Okay," she said, but ruffled his hair.

He groaned, as he tried to undo what she had done to his hair, athough it probably didn't even matter. His hair had been a shaggy mess when he had arrived, and it couldn't look worse. He didn't get why Katara liked his hair like that, but he understood why she hadn't liked it combed back. He glanced at her, how she was giggling, a pink coclour on her cheeks, her eyes sparkling, as she looked shortly at him. He felt his breath catch, staring for a moment, before he remembered his surroundsings.

Clearing his throat, he turned away, glancing at Katara's family.

Sokka glared at him, before grimacing, as if he were disgusted.

Kya grinned knowingly, as if this had been a display of affection, and not two people accepting and tolerating each other, who were simply pretending to be together.

Although... This wasn't right. He didn't just accept and tolerate her. He liked Katara.

All in all, Zuko felt the most comfortable with Kya, because she didn't seem to take most things seriously. Sometimes she downright laughed at something he said, saying he sounded hilarious, like some warrior from the last century. Katara gigged then, while Hakoda snorted.

Sokka was okay, too, but Kya had something which made him feel more at ease. With Sokka, Zuko was still on his guard, never knowing how to interpret the words of the other boy.

Hakoda held himself stoically, just like Katara had told him he would. He wasn't very enthusiastic about meeting another boyfriend of Katara's. Apparently, he had always hoped it would be the last. It would take him a while to warm up to Zuko, and then he would wish he would be the last, too. But Zuko could never be that. The thought left something burning in his stomach.

But Zuko had the most respect and the most fear for GranGran. He could see that she was adored by everyone else in the family, and he instinctively knew that what she said was law. If she wouldn't approve of him, he would lose Katara. But she had already told him to call her GranGran, right?

They all thanked Zuko for the gifts, Hakoda did so with narrowed eyes. He didn't seem to be ecstatic about a boyfriend for his daughter who gifted him alcohol. But he couldn't say anything, since both Zuko and Katara were adults. Besides, even Zuko saw that his choice of ice wine impressed Hakoda. That was all Katara's doing. She had told him there was one ice wine Hakoda always had at home and liked to drink, but there was one special bottle hidden in his wardrobe for special opportunities or emergencies. That was the Octopus Shark.

After dinner, they were all gathering in the living room, arguing about which board game to play. Zuko had wished to finally be able to go home. And maybe drive Katara home first and get some of her kisses…

But no. They were playing activity. Zuko was the worst at this game. At anything with explaining and quickly thinking about something, actually. He could be rash and reckless, but not spontaneous.

It was Sokka's idea to play men against women.

He never knew what Sokka wanted to explain, sometimes Zuko guessed right what Hakoda meant, but he himself couldn't explain anything the right way. Worse was the mime. The only good thing that Zuko was doing was drawing. Hakoda hummed approvingly, and Katara exclaimed that she hadn't known he could draw. Sokka shushed her for intruding on the men's team.

The women won in a rout.

After that, Katara announced that she would like to leave now, as she was incredibly tired and had to get up early in the morning. Zuko was disappointed at hearing that. That meant there would be no kisses later.

When they had said goodbye to everyone, and Hakoda had given him that "You-better-drive-my-daughter-home-without-touching-her"-look, Katara took his hand to lead him away.

Sokka hurried to catch up to them, as Zuko had to drive him home again.

This time, fortunately, Sokka stayed silent for most of the time, only talking to Katara. He also smelled better this time and was clean. Zuko hurried to get to Sokka's flat, wanting to be alone with Katara.

When Zuko finally stopped in front of the gate to the student dormitories on campus, Katara turned around to him, tucking her hair behind her ear. "So, that went rather well, didn't it?"

Zuko grimaced. "You think so? Your grandma and dad hate me!"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. They don't hate you. Grangran is just being Grangran. She's always rather stoic. And Dad is just being a dad. He wouldn't like any boyfriend I would have from the beginning. Although Dad liked Aang just fine, he completely changed his demeanour towards him after we got together," she explained, reaching out to squeeze his knee. "My mum likes you! And I'm pretty sure, Sokka likes you, too."

He took a deep breath. "I just… If they wouldn't approve, I would understand if you would want to end…"

"No," she interrupted him firmly. "I'm in this. And if I would end things with you, because they don't approve, it would actually make them suspicious. I'm more the kind of girl who would stay with a boyfriend her family doesn't approve of only to prove the point that they're not my boss."

His lips twitched in amusement. Yes, that was right. That was just the way Katara was. Without thinking about it, his hand moved onto hers, which was still on his knee. "True. But… Things will get difficult for you. Now that everyone knows about us…"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah, the video. I know. Things might become difficult. But that doesn't mean they'll be bad."

He frowned. "I don't know. There are people disapproving of this. I don't want anyone to look strangely at you, or say anything offending." He quickly turned more towards her, squeezing her hand again. "Please tell me, if someone does. Or did."

A grin slowly spread on her face. "Well, there's Meng from university. She looked very strangely at me since yesterday, and today she asked me if I had already moved on from Aang." She sighed. "She was so into Aang all the time, it was very obvious, and she could never stand me. I think she considers this her chance. I'm actually surprised she hadn't acted earlier on her feelings." She shrugged, her long hair falling over her jeans clad shoulder. "But apart from that, I didn't notice anything in particular."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Good. That meant until now, no one had offended Katara because of her connection to him.

"Er…" he started, not knowing how to address this topic. "There's something else I wanted to ask you…"

She yawned right into his face. "Gan this waih? I'm vewy tire."

He closed his mouth, pressing his lips together. He nodded. "Sure. Yeah, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She nodded slowly. "Alright. See you tomorrow then. You'll pick me up?"

He nodded. "At half past five pm. It'll take us an hour to get there."

"Good. I hope the dress I bought will be okay," she said, frowning.

He swallowed. "I'm sure you'll look beautiful."

The smile she sent him made his heart beat faster. When they were sitting in the dark like this, her teeth seemed to gleam even whiter in her brown face. It was stunning.

"Thank you. And thanks for tonight. For… well, behaving and making an effort. I appreciate it." She suddenly leaned towards him, and Zuko felt relief flood through him at the thought that she still seemed to want to kiss him. Maybe she wasn't that mad about Wednesday as he had thought.

He quickly met her lips with his, causing her to make a surprised noise. Wait… Why was she surprised? She was the one who had leaned in!

"What's wrong?" he asked, retreating and frowning at her.

Pressing her lips together and avoiding his gaze, she almost looked shy. "Nothing. You just took me by surprise, is all. Er, I had planned to kiss you on the cheek, so…"

Zuko flushed. Oh no. Really? Why was this his life?

"Oh. Sorry," he murmured.

Urgh, she had only wanted to kiss his cheek and he had taken her mouth, idiot!

"It's okay," she said, and in the next moment her lips were on his.

He instinctively closed his eyes and leaned in her direction, showing her that he wanted the kiss. He cocked his head to the side to gain better access, brushing his lips against hers. A warm shiver ran down his spine and he lifted a hand to gather her cheek, caressing her skin. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled her scent and felt himself slightly dizzy, as arousal rose deep inside of him. But before he could deepen the kiss, she had already leaned back. He was still holding her cheek, not wanting to let go completely of her.

"Good night," she murmured, not looking him in the eye, as she got out of his car.

His mouth opened to respond, but the door already shut.

He watched her walking away, through the gate, her long hair almost covering all of her back, her hips swaying to the rhythm of her fast steps.

What. The. Hell. Was. That?

Blinking, Zuko turned around, staring at the steering wheel. Why hadn't he been able to reply to her? Why had he felt so… empty when she had drawn back? He had felt disappointed, too, but it had been worse. He had a very odd sensation in his stomach, which told him he should be more careful with Katara. He couldn't care too much for her. Wanting to kiss and touch her was one thing, longing for her presence and closeness another.

He leaned back against the rest, closing his eyes as he thought about his fake girlfriend. Her laughter, her smile, the teasing glint in her eyes, how comfortable he was when she was lying in his arms…

Groaning, he ran a hand down his face. This had to stop before it could develop any further. There was no way she could ever feel in a similar way about him, and besides, his father wouldn't want him to actually want to be with Katara. Maybe he was just mixing up his feelings. He had never kissed a girl he hadn't fallen for so often, and that's why he was suddenly confused. Zuko just liked Katara like a friend. And he probably just liked kissing her, because she was a girl and had nice lips. That was all. Yeah, that sounded like a logical reason.


Thanks for reading!:D Let me know what you think!

Aha! So that's why I needed Zuko to be impolite in front of an old lady two chapters before! The slicing of the shopping bag was this AU's version of Zuko manhandling Grangran. I just wanted him to have a bad start with her in here, too, as it is in canon.

So, yeah... Katara's family... This wasn't easy. I just had no ideas! No ideas at all! I didn't know what and about what to write, and I wanted to post this chapter three days ago, but then I got more ideas, and added some things to this chapter... I really think it is better now, and I hope you liked it.:)

Katara said there are few things Zuko is passionate about, and I just wanted to make it clear again that I don't forget that Zuko is a passionate person. But really just about a few things. There is firebending, sword wielding, the Fire Nation, capturing Aang, protecting the weak, fighting Ozai, protecting the people he cares about. Yeah... and I think that's it. I mean, again, he is the guy who said he did nothing for fun, nothing in his free time! He is most of the time like simmering embers, but when it's about something that's important to him, Zuko transforms into a wildfire. I just think that Katara is passionate about way more things than Zuko, as she also clearly shows enthusiasm about way more things, so from her point of view he seems like not a very passionate person.

About Zuko liking architecture... I have that from the episode The Sun Warriors, when he's so fascinated that the booby traps still work and remarks that the temples were probably the model for those of the Fire Sages. Otherwise, I never would have thought or guessed that Zuko could be interested in history or architecture at all, but I kind of like the thought. Architecture is something creative after all. I also already hinted at this, because I let him read a magazine about architecture in a previous chapter.

Answers to reviews:

To uchihaNaruto247: Thanks for reviewing:) It's how I like to think of Azula if she had had the chance to be normal. Since Ursa is there, I think it helped Azula a lot, plus, she spent her last years of school only with Zuko, without her parents, and had to watch Zuko being bullied. She's not dumb, she suspected Ozai had done something to Zuko, and therefore sent him away. And Azula is so fierce, she also feels emotions very intensely, so I can't imagine her not trying to protect Zuko, if she allowed herself to show her love for him. Yeah, that was difficult to handle. I didn't want to exaggerate with the racism, but at the same time there had to be some. And how Katara reacted... I think she mostly didn't react at all, because of the paralysing anger and shock. Later, you somehow always know better how you could have handled such situations. You suddenly know what you could have said. But yeah, Katara seemed quite thick-skinned, and the way she thanked Ozai seemed very elegant to me. Oh, this is all the acting job of Ozai's life!

To IDidn'tSignUp4This: Thank you!:)

To fan101: Thank you! I will definitely keep writing, even though I don't seem to be able to do so regularly. But I still have so many ideas and plot twists for this story in mind, and I really want to write it down. The updates are slow, but they will keep coming. Apart from haters, there are one group of people on this site that I hate very much: authors who just stop writing and never finish their story. I get that sometimes life intervenes and all that, but in this case, some people write a short note into a new chapter, and then that's okay. But simply leaving a story out there to rot is cruel to me. Thanks, yeah, I didn't think it would seem very logical to stick to the way teenagers are... Thanks for your review!:)

To Smckoy929: Yeah, apart from Ozai everyone even meant it... :) As you see, Katara's food was fine. They already had one ranting Kasaishi, I'm pretty sure they didn't want to have the police in their club, or an indictment from the Kasaishis. Ozai might show a new side of his to his old friends, but they still fear him. They do what he asks and wants. Thanks for reviewing!