A/N: Ok so if you hate me for Moral of the Story and you like smut please enjoy. I don't write a lot of smut but I love reading it, so let me know what you think!
Also go shower hereforthezutarastuff on tumblr with some love because she is a wonderful beta reader! And while you are there say hi to me gemgirl28
You're my wife," Zuko says with awe for at least the twentieth time that day. They are three days into their weeklong honeymoon, and he's said it every day, at least every hour since they walked into their wedding reception. She struggles to suppress a smirk when she turns to face him.
"And you're my husband," Katara responds easily.
"Is that ok? You're ok with that?" he asks, and she can hear the faintest edge of paranoia in his tone, the slightest hint of true uncertainty breaking through the teasing line.
"I did agree to marry you, didn't I?" she answers, lazily wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. When she pulls back, they both sport matching grins.
"C'mon," she tugs his arm to get him moving again, "I want to explore that cove you were telling me about."
He lets her pull him down the beach. They share a similar exchange again and again before they head back to the house, and each time Katara has to keep from rolling her eyes. Each time still, she remembers how little Zuko knows of reassured love. She says her piece, shows him how much she adores him when the worried look ghosts his face, and swears to herself she will never let her husband feel unloved.
When they are lying in bed, spent from another day of exploring Ember Island, he finally voices the concerns creating the constant furrow in his brow.
"It just feels too good to be true," he whispers, and she rolls over to face him, "like at any moment I'll wake up and you won't be here."
The nights are much cooler than the days, especially with the windows left open. Despite the breeze drifting in from the ocean, he wears only sleeping shorts. When she reaches up to touch his scarred cheek, his skin is warm, almost too warm. He instinctively leans into her touch and closes his eyes against her cool fingers.
"I hoped marrying you would vanquish your fears," she says, "but I guess I should have known you carry scars that run deeper than this one." With that her hand glides down his face, tracing along his jaw, his neck, before coming to rest on the scar he carries because of her. She feels his heart beating steady beneath her hand, and for a moment she has to push down a terrible memory, the one where she couldn't feel it so steadily. She takes a deep breath and looks up to find his open eyes.
"I know there's a part of you that feels like you don't deserve this, like you don't deserve to be happy. I'm ready to spend the rest of our lives proving that part wrong," she says, tracing the edges of his scar. She watches as his eyes darken, a now familiar look of want and need and desire lacing into the gold, and she forces her breath to remain even as her heart starts pounding.
"And how do you intend to do that?" he asks, his raspy voice sending a shiver down her spine. She walks into his not-so-subtle trap with her head held high and inhibitions long forgotten.
"I intend to show you. Each day. Just how much I love you," she says, holding his gaze, and his breath hitches.
"Show me, how?" he asks, and she can't even care that he led her to this because she can see how much he needs it. She can hear his blood singing for her, the same song her blood sings for him.
"Like this," and then she kisses him. She starts slow, gently, a soft wave lapping at the shore, but before long she can feel him ready for more. She gently pushes his shoulders into the mattress and rolls on top, straddling his lap as she bends down to kiss him.
His lips part immediately, letting her tongue swipe over his as she explores. She tries to keep the kiss steady, even as she pours all her emotions into it, all her love and desire for him, but when he moans into her the kiss quickly turns heated.
His hands roam tantalizingly, trailing up and down her sides over her thin robe, and the sensation of his fingers through the silk is driving her crazy. She sits up, earning a whine from Zuko until he realizes she is undoing the knot at her waist. The whine turns into a growl as his hands settle on her thighs, his hold almost bruising. She does her best to play to coy, to drag out removing the robe and throwing it off the bed, but she needs this too.
She is rewarded with a strangled moan that chokes past his lips when he realizes she wasn't wearing any wrappings under the robe. She had hoped for this chance, hoped the beach left him with some amount of energy after a long day. After all, she has other ways of wearing him out in mind.
Once the robe is free from her skin, she settles back over his hips and begins kissing down his face, starting at his forehead, his cheeks, a quick press to his lips, before she's moving down his jaw. As she peppers him with kisses, his hands come up to cup her breasts. When he rolls a nipple between his fingers she grinds down on his lap, nipping at his neck before continuing down the length of his body.
He tries to stop her, tries to pull her back up, but she looks up at him under her heavy lashes and says, "Be still, my love." He wriggles under her, his hands moving roughly against her breasts, and whines, "I want to take care of you."
She shakes her head, sitting up to move between his legs. "I'm the one showing you how much I love you, remember?" When she hooks her fingers in his waistband, he lifts his hips instinctively, letting her remove his sleeping pants. "I've found you learn best with a... hands-on approach," she whispers, shooting what she hopes is a seductive wink at him, and takes him in her hand.
His head falls back on the pillows with a groan as she begins stroking his cock. She loves the feel of it in her hand, loves how it twitches when she pulls just so, loves watching him come undone beneath her. She quickly discovered her favorite way to make him fall apart, though, is with her mouth, so she lowers her head to the tip, planting a gentle kiss before swallowing as much of him as she can.
Zuko lets out a string of curses that would make her blush if she wasn't so proud to be the reason. She runs her tongue around the head, relishing the way he pants, and uses one hand to stroke what won't fit in her mouth. She works him over and when she can feel his thigh twitching, she reaches down with her free hand to work herself over, wanting to be ready for him. He catches her eye, and she practically preens at the way his face melts into understanding of where her hands are, more curses spilling from his lips. When she sees his hands fisting in the sheets, hard enough to tear the fabric, she pulls off him with a resounding POP and sits up.
She overestimated how far gone he was, or maybe underestimated his desperation, because when he flips her over she yelps in surprise. He hovers over her, one hand by her head and one lining himself up.
Even though he's taken charge, even though he's pressing against her and one breath away from being inside, he still begs, "Please, Kat, can I?" and she can only answer, "YES, yessss please," as he thrusts into her, him grunting and her moaning at the sensation. He quickly sets a fast pace, letting the hand by her head twist in her curls and the other come up to cup her breast.
It's far from the first time they've done this, but somehow each time feels different. The tidal wave of lust and desire have become familiar, threatening to pull her under with every thrust. But, there's an undercurrent this time, another level of need, and as she thrusts back, she imagines she's answering his unspoken questions.
"Kat- oh fuck, Kat," he groans, but she hears Is this real? Are you really mine?
"Zuko, yes, yes yes, Zuko," she moans, and she hopes he hears her answer. Yes, I'm yours, only yours.
She thinks he hears her, picked up on the unspoken message from the way he untangles his hand from her hair just to cup his face. Even still, she drives the point home.
"I'm your wife," she whispers, smiling up at him, and she pretends not to notice the tears welling in his eyes.
"Mine," he whispers, and its half a question and half a statement. She nods and cups his face.
"Yours," she whispers back, and he's kissing her again, passionate and needy, and he only breaks the kiss to speed his thrusts back up.
"So fucking good to me," he growls, moving a hand between them to rub her clit. Her back arches up, bringing her impossibly closer to him.
She tries to call his name again, but all coherent words escape her over the building pressure she feels. She writhes beneath him, into him, against him, trying to find that spot that will send her over the edge. His thrusts become erratic, both of their chests are heaving, and she just needs him to push right there-
She comes, a tsunami of pleasure washing over her and a strangled version of her husband's name on her lips. The feeling intensifies with him praising her as he finishes, "You're so beautiful when you come, I could watch you all day and never get tired, you feel so good around me, makes me-" and then with a feral growl he finishes, his thrusts slowing before stopping. She pulls him down on her, ignores his protests about crushing her, and holds him close.
It takes several minutes for their breathing to return to normal, but Katara doesn't mind. As much as she loves making love to Zuko, loves exploring his body and finding new ways to make him come undone, she thinks this could be her favorite part. The quiet night, save for their ragged breathing, the feeling of his heart pounding against her chest, the knowledge that they get to do this for the rest of their lives, it all settles a piece of Katara that she didn't know had shifted, like a river smoothing over a rock.
After a few more minutes, she reluctantly lets Zuko up so he can clean them up. When he's finished, he settles into bed beside her and draws her close. She rests her head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, and wraps her leg with his.
Just when she thinks she might drift off to the steady drumming of his heart, he places a gentle kiss to the top of her head and whispers, "Thank you."
"For what?" she says, tilting up to meet his eyes.
"For being you. For loving me," he says, and she shifts up to kiss him.
"I do love you," another gentle kiss, then, "I hope you believe me someday."
He lets out a heavy breath. "It's a little easier like this, when it's just the two of us. When we get back, and there's meetings, and laws to pass and decisions to make and-"
"And we'll do it together. I know it won't be easy, I never expected it to be easy, but when have either of us ever taken the easy road?" she holds his stare, watching the understanding pass over his face.
"You're right," he mumbles, and she can't help but tease him.
"What was that? I'm sorry I didn't quite catch it," she says, her lips twitching into a smirk. He rolls his eyes but indulges her.
"You're right," he says a little louder, a little clearer, "I'm overthinking, and I should just enjoy the moment we are in and not worry about later."
"That almost sounds like something Iroh would say," she teases, and he groans a little.
"Can we agree to not discuss family members while in bed?" he asks, and she giggles a little.
"What, that doesn't quite set the mood you were going for?"
"No," he deadpans, "It doesn't."
She giggles a little more and kisses him. "Alright, fair enough. Although, I figured you would be ready to pass out by now after such a long day," she says, a little softer. His eyes darken again, and she barely keeps from shivering.
"I was actually hoping I would get the chance to show you how much I love you," he rasps before capturing her bottom lip between his teeth.
"By all means," she says when he starts trailing kisses along her neck, "show me."
Later, when they are both truly spent and cleaned up a final time, they cuddle beneath the sheets. Katara again listens for his steady heartbeat, the reminder that he is alive and here and hers, as she drifts off to sleep. Before she fully slips into dreaming, she mumbles, "I love you, my sun."
She falls asleep to his whispered, "I love you too, my moon."