Zuko blinks, dazed.
The air is very still. So is he.
Katara's hands stay cupped close around his face, even as she pulls away, a hair's breadth between them to catch their breaths. Zuko's brain jolts awake at the movement, struck by lightning. Her breath on him is fast, erratic. He leans in and kisses her again, and again, pulling her in by a swift arm around her back. The feeling clouds his brain. He shifts so they're even closer, and Katara almost lifts off the seat until they're flush together, and Zuko's heart is beating out of his chest -
And he freezes. Katara must sense it. She lets him go immediately, her hands pausing awkwardly on his chest. Zuko's eyes swerve to Aang across the room. His breath catches in his throat- this isn't- he didn't mean-
Aang's eyes are wide. But he doesn't look upset. Katara, too, is strangely calm when he glances at her, if a little flustered.
Zuko stares at Aang.
Aang drops the camera in an uncharacteristic clatter. He rises in one fluid motion, like that look is puppeting him. Zuko draws in a sharp breath, bewildered and on the brink of speech. In the second it takes him to blink Aang has moved; kneeling in front of the seat right where he is.
Zuko's heartbeat rushes in his ears.
"I- I don't -" Zuko starts, but Aang is so close; way, way too close, his hands laid across Zuko's knees, gripping hard.
"It's okay," Aang says gently. Then, he actually cracks a smile. "Oh, what the hell -" and he's leaning up to Zuko, pulling him close by the back of his neck. His eyes are bright and sincere when he says, "Stop me if you want."
Like hell.
Zuko pulls him up the rest of the way by a clumsy clutch of his robe and kisses him, his brain numb. Aang doesn't last more than a few desperate seconds before he smiles so hard they have to part. He ends up pressing an uncoordinated bunch of kisses against Zuko's lips instead.
An exalted gasp next to him draws his attention to Katara, sitting with her cheeks bright and her mouth hidden behind her hand.
"I don't understand," Zuko says breathlessly.
Katara and Aang share a long look, eyes flitting back to Zuko as if they're both awestruck. It's a conversation, a private one, and Zuko thinks he should stop trying to follow it, but he can't make himself; he can't do anything except stay dumb from surprise.
Katara takes his hand.
"I- we- that was - that's what we wanted to talk to you about," she says, her voice carefully schooled out of the excitement that Zuko can still feel in the minute shaking of her hand. She looks at Aang every other word; their eager smiles barely hidden by the attempt at a sober conversation. Zuko watches as Aang takes her other hand and holds it firmly.
Katara clears her throat. "And, uh, we talked about it, the two of us. We want you to, um, join us, I guess. And we thought that you might feel the same way," she continues. Zuko feels faint. "But if- if you don't, then just say it. Nothing has to change, I pro-"
She stops. Zuko realises it's because he's shaking his head. He swallows. It feels a lot like his head is spinning, even without the motion. "Both of you?" he says, taking a shaky breath. "Both of you want- ?"
"This was obviously not gonna be the way we wanted to ask you," Katara cuts in quickly. She bites a smile back when they both focus on her, that sheepish hand over her mouth again. Zuko's face feels hot, and it's definitely not because of the mild temperature.
Aang looks deep in thought. "It's not - it's not want," he says. Katara takes a moment to process this before nodding hard, too.
Zuko frowns. "What do you mean?" It comes out too sharp. He can't seem to catch his breath.
Aang and Katara look at each other, regarding the situation much more steadily this time. Katara leans her face against Zuko's shoulder again with a nervous little laugh; the sound blooms like warmth in Zuko's body.
Aang takes a deep breath. He squares up, lifting himself until he's standing on his knees.
Zuko looks down at him with his full attention. "What?" he says quietly, but eye to eye, he already knows what; and that silly, wishful part of him dares to brim to the surface even as he says the words.
Aang's entire face is painfully solemn. "I love you. I really love you, Zuko," he says. "And I think you - I think you already know what I'm talking about, right?"
Zuko blinks hard. He nods once, twice. Then he takes Aang's hands in his lap and squeezes them, probably a little too hard.
He can't say it. He can't. Not right now, not with this.
Aang nods like he understands, squeezing his fingers back. Zuko takes a stupid, shuddering breath and turns to Katara. Her eyes are shiny, her face anxious and hopeful.
"Katara," he says unevenly, for some kind of sign or help.
She's smiling even before his eyes fall on her, and Zuko puts his arm around her because it's easier than talking. She leans in, and he doesn't get to finish his thought because she's kissing him again. This time she can't stop smiling, and Zuko does too, the nervous laughter forming in his throat unbidden.
She holds his face with a gaze so soft that it makes his stomach uneasy. "You know how important to us you are," Katara says quietly. "To me. I love you. In a lot of ways - more than I ever thought I could tell you"
Her gaze stays transfixed. Zuko might be able to look away and snap out of it if he had the space to, but he doesn't. They're both in it, looking at him, holding him, brilliantly crowding away any semblance of sense Zuko could hold onto. Aang's hands tangled in his lap and Katara's wrapped around his waist; both of them in a strange offering.
Aang. Katara. For him.
What could he possibly say?
Aang clears his throat; his voice a little high with disbelief when he speaks. Zuko is glad he isn't the only one. "So, uh, this was originally supposed to be a conversation. Like, a big one, if that's alright - which I think it is? - so let's try that." He's speaking very fast, his words stumbling over one another as he continues, "unless you wanna run really far away right now, which would also be okay." He tilts his head timidly, like that's a genuine option. Like that could ever be a genuine option. Zuko doesn't need to look at her to know that Katara is shaking her head at him. And just for a second, the significance is forgotten, and Zuko actually laughs out loud at the notion.
It makes Katara hold him even tighter. Zuko swallows and blinks, trying to feel more steady. It works a little. "Um, can I get a drink first?"
The morning brings a strange new air. The moment Zuko wakes up, he has to look around and recalibrate himself. The room is cleared of his belongings - it looks like it did the day he arrived. The only difference is that there's a couple of empty bottles of sweet palm wine on the table in the middle (he's really going to miss that when he leaves the city), and a couple of Katara's hair ties lying next to them. There's also Aang's elbow digging into his sternum.
The night had passed in a blur. They did end up talking, well into the early hours of the morning. The conversation was more candid than Zuko could ever have imagined. In the mad, magical state of that evening, he was unreserved, and so were Aang and Katara. It was exhilarating; falling off a precipice into something more comforting than he could have expected. Zuko was blinded, artless as ever, but it hadn't mattered. What on Earth could, when something like that lay before him?
He squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again. The faint chirping of birds drifts through the balcony. It wasn't - it isn't a dream.
When he goes outside, the mist on the mountains on the horizon is just beginning to dissipate, the sky awash with pale purple. He runs his hands over his face. He should do something normal, like feed Druk.
"Morning."
Zuko jumps with a sharp inhale, his train of thought broken.
Airbending your way around should be illegal. Aang grins gloriously.
"Oh. It's you," Zuko says, under a smile.
"Did you sleep well?" Aang says, amazingly, ignoring his tone. Well. Maybe none of his disapproving remarks are going to work after what he said last night. Zuko tries not to feel too alarmed by that thought.
He makes a vaguely affirmative gesture. Aang nods his eager agreement, a goofy grin crossing his face, and circles the wide courtyard, glancing over the edge. There's a sharp drop-off beyond the railing, looking down into the trees and roads below.
He barely slept at all, actually, but he's sure Aang did, despite the fact that they all decided to pass out in Zuko's stuffy room at two in the morning full of palm wine and confessional smiles. He doesn't doubt for a moment that Aang slept soundly between the two of them. Zuko is well aware of Aang's ability to self-regulate his temperature like it's second nature, but the notion of such a mundane use amuses him.
But Zuko knows it's not the heat that kept him awake.
Was it okay for someone of his... stature to feel so excited? He follows Aang to the corner where Druk is beginning to blink awake.
Aang approaches Druk and sits cross-legged on the ground, petting him carefully, sweeping down the coarse, long dragon goatee that drapes onto the ground. Druk squints one eye scaly open and hums, sending a low trill that reverberates in the ground under Zuko's feet.
"You know you're annoying him, don't you?" Zuko says playfully.
Aang shushes him without looking up, like the idea of aggravating a twenty-tonne mythic firebender presents no doubts for him. Talk about an ego.
Zuko fetches Druk's morning water, pulling a hose and one of the enormous pails into the corner of the courtyard. Then he sits next to Aang, blinking back a yawn. Too early for talking, they watch the sky lighten in silence. It's companionable if not comfortable. Excitement still hovers like bumbleflies in his stomach.
"Wanna go out to the mountains?" Aang asks finally. "It'll feel so secluded this early," he adds wistfully. Zuko does not want to know what the accompanying expression insinuates, or maybe he does, and neither thought makes him feel like a good, unassuming friend.
Zuko nods towards the room. "Do you want to wait?"
"It's the middle of the night, as far as Katara's concerned," Aang says, hopping up to his feet. "Would not recommend waking her up right now."
"Oh, right. Well, Appa's round the front, so I guess I'll meet you there."
Aang bites back a grin so painfully mischievous that Zuko has to prepare himself for the worst.
"Actually, I've never ridden a dragon," he says, twiddling his thumbs. "I always wanted to ask you to take me, ever since you got him."
"Really?" Zuko laughs incredulously, light as the morning breeze.
"Really."
There's a weird balance here, one that Zuko revels in - finally, for the first time without apprehension or anxiety. It doesn't matter anymore how much Aang's penchant for flirting is for fun and attention, and how much it's real. Zuko smirks. "You really want to be Druk's breakfast so bad, Aang?" he says, but the idea of flying together is so appealing that he's already getting Druk up and ready. Druk grumbles sleepily, but he isn't going to act up when Zuko is there.
At his signal, Druk stretches his wings and brings his head towards the ground. As Zuko grapples with the reigns, Aang airbends up onto Druk's back behind him. "He might screech," Zuko says. "It's really loud from this position, so don't be alarmed." He feels Aang nod firmly behind him, holding on with a sincerity that makes Zuko want to turn around and hold him in return.
They take off in a rush of wind. Zuko makes Druk go a little (or a lot) faster than their usual pace, for fun. Aang whoops at the momentum, tightening his grip around Zuko's waist; Druk roars. Zuko just grins to the clouds.
Once they are high enough, he evens the pace, observing the city down below him. Hawkers are starting their day, dragging fruits on carts and in baskets above their heads. A single early traveller glides up Daoshu's main avenue, carried on a pulled rickshaw, the kind he's only ever seen in Fire Nation villages. The sounds of construction begin. The buildings give way to trees, the trickle of a river, as they near the mountainside. Judging by the placement of the sun in the sky, there's still a couple of hours until he needs to start for the palace.
When they get back, Katara is up, sitting out on the patio with Appa nearby. A pile of Zuko's newspapers and a bowl of sliced peaches are next to her.
"Where did you guys go?" she says, her demeanour airy.
"Just flying," Aang says, and Zuko matches his sheepish smile. Katara chastises him for not waking her, to which Aang suggests that he's never going to attempt that before the sun is up, outside of a war zone. When they kiss, Zuko doesn't feel so lost.
Aang says, "You're both still here for a little while, right? I'm going to the market." He pauses, looking between the two of them. "For souvenirs," he says pointedly. He grabs his glider leaning against the side of the door and he's off before either of them can make a proper attempt at a reply.
Zuko shares a puzzled glance with Katara.
"I think he just wants us to be able to talk alone," Katara says, amused. She leans down into the newspapers, popping another piece of fruit into her mouth. "Can you believe Cabbage Corp is actually putting people out of business?" She shakes her head, holding out the bowl to him with a glittering smile. "Peach?"
Zuko takes one, sitting next to her. He picks up a sheet of paper, dated two days ago, and reads about Republic City's burgeoning white collar crime rate. He wonders briefly how Toph is going to deal with that. But Katara fidgets next to him, her leg jumping incessantly. Zuko turns to her.
"When are you leaving?" he asks.
"About an hour."
"You're nervous."
She looks up instantly. "Oh, I am. I know I shouldn't be. It's just - the conference. I was the one who got bloodbending outlawed in the first place. It was almost all my testimony, and I argued so hard for it. What if people think I'm a hypocrite?"
Zuko takes a breath in with a small smile. "That's not the end of the world, believe me."
She looks sadly at him, lifting a hand almost automatically to brush a loose lock of hair from his face. "Oh, of course, I didn't mean it like that."
Zuko ignores the way he instinctively holds his breath. "I didn't either. I mean, how much do you really believe in this, Katara?"
She puts down the paper. "A lot. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, while I'm in the hospital working. The kind of things we could do with that level of precision. I owe it to people to at least try."
"There's your answer," Zuko says.
Katara nods, rolling her shoulders to steel herself. "You're right." She studies him, Zuko's firmness faltering a little under her gaze. "Thank you, by the way, for letting me, uh, practice. It really helped a lot. I know I kind of brushed over it that night," she finishes, eyes down.
Oh. Zuko's face burns. "Sure," he coughs. That's not the reason he remembers it, but all right.
An impish smile crawls up Katara's face. Thankfully, however, she doesn't say anything about it. After a long moment, she shoves the papers, and the fruit bowl out of the way, facing him. Her face is scrupulous. "You're - really okay with this?"
Zuko hates how shy the question makes him feel. He's not a kid. "I couldn't dream-"
Katara can't seem to hold back her thoughts, rushing, "I know that it might be weird - because, well. Since we're married, obviously. I know it tripped me up a bit - a lot at first."
Zuko quirks his eyebrow, puzzled. "At first?"
Katara wrings her hands into her skirt, glancing at the ground. "I mean - when I realised that I still had feelings for you. And that they were much stronger than I thought. I felt like I had to be with you or it wouldn't feel right, and I was married..."
Zuko blinks as she trails off. He could be on fire right now and not know the difference. He starts quietly, "I thought I'd never be able to tell you - either of you - for that reason, not that it would make-" He stops short, his brain working. "Wait. What do you mean still?"
"I mean, before… now." Katara says cryptically. She gives a sheepish laugh at Zuko's gaping expression, her tone defensive. "What? It's not weird to have a crush on you. It's actually quite common. When we were travelling around, after the war, I heard -"
Zuko might actually be steaming out of his ears.
"After the war?" He covers his face with his hand, mortified. Not even recently, but when he was still just a dumb teenager, Fire Lord or not? Back then?
He might need more time to process that than this new unexpected reality.
Katara smiles widely, under a burst of jittery laughter. "Yes," she mumbles, her voice tiny. Sheesh. Zuko considers the sheer idea of it, fighting the urge to hide his face behind his hands again. He's just glad he gave her something to focus on besides her anxiety.
She clears her throat. "But, you know I'm not talking about a crush, don't you?" she says, pulling at the neckline of his robe. "We're serious about you. It might sound unbelievable given the circumstances, but don't think for a second that you're secondary to either of us." She drops her gaze, smoothing the fabric on his shoulders. "You haven't been for a long time."
Zuko looks at her sweet, earnest face, his heart beating fast. I know, he wants to say. Or I didn't know. Or, thanks for saying it, maybe, but that one would sound a bit stupid. But he just stares. He has got to get better at this.
In the end, he pulls her close by both her arms, then her waist, and says, "Come to the palace when you're done."
The holiday home on Ember Island is not a place Zuko normally wants to visit with a whole entourage - too many complicated memories here - but when it it turns out that the whole gang can make it, he makes an exception. Things in the capital are steady for the moment, with the metalworking unions appeased by the job in Daoshu. It's the perfect time for a break, even if he'd needed Uncle to convince him of it. "I am getting old," he had said, his favourite excuse for making Zuko do things, slightly diminished by the fact that he was sparring with Zuko as he said so, "I would like to have as many vacations with my dear nephew as possible, before I succumb to age and never see beyond a wing of this palace."
Aang shows Uncle photos of the wedding over the low table near the door of the reception room. Zuko peeked over his shoulder on his way through: his stomach still feels weird at the sight of that scene on the beach. There was one picture, just the two of them, their faces half hidden in shadow by the closeness of the embrace. Zuko could hear the breeze that day just by looking at it, could feel the strange yearning pulling in his chest.
He looks between them now - Aang up at the table and Katara across the Pai Sho board in front of him - and he feels lighter just by seeing them now.
"These are quite spectacular," Uncle says, musing over a photograph, holding it up to the light to examine the printing. "And the event. Just beautiful." He catches Zuko's eyes with a an admonishing but ultimately playful look. "Why did you choose to not be in a single one?"
Zuko grumbles. He wants to say, there's one from Daoshu if you really want, but that would be weird, what kind of meaning does a random official photo have compared to one taken in celebration with friends?
"Yeah, Zuko, why didn't you?" Toph pipes up from her place lounging directly on the cool stone floor.
Zuko tries not to visibly groan, unsure if he's glad or not that the glare he throws her is too surreptitious in movement for her to see. Toph does know about them, and she seems to want to take every chance to gleefully annoy Zuko over it. She had figured it out the moment she'd arrived, cornering him in a corridor.
"Your Highness." Her first words were said in the least reverent tone Zuko could imagine. "You're looking… different. Did you get a girlfriend? Or was the audience in Daoshu just that good?" she said.
In that moment, Katara had decided to come by with a row of surfboards under her arm, a lingering hand on Zuko's back to tell him which beach they would be at. There was no hiding his reaction to that. Toph's eyes had widened. And then he'd had to explain himself; sputtering not to incriminate - well, any of them. Her eyebrows had risen to the ceiling before they dropped in a cool nod; like she was taking notes on a case. "Well," she'd finally said. "I always knew something weird was going on here."
Zuko is saved from giving a reason for avoiding the photos by Sokka's arrival. He saunters in, carrying a mountain of food from one of the myriad of tourist outlets at the next beach down. The city-style restaurants seem to really be catching on everywhere. He pauses at Aang and Iroh's activity, before sitting down to watch Zuko and Katara at their Pai Sho game. "I thought there would be more contrast in the photos," he says, extracting an expensive looking komodo rhino skewer from the top of his pile. "I think I still prefer paintings."
"I know you do," Katara says, chin in her hand, giving her brother an unimpressed glance before going back to examining the board.
He glares at her. "And that guy at the wedding was annoying. It would be much better if there was a way to take 'em yourself," he takes a bite from his skewer after sizing it up. He puts his chin in his hand. "I'm not sure about the angle though. Maybe, if it was on the end of a stick, or something…"
After noticing that no one in the room would be interested in that kind of contraption, his conversation changes tack. "How was the honeymoon?" he calls up at Aang, glancing between Katara and the table.
"It was great, Sokka," Aang says casually.
It was.
"I can't believe Zuko just gave you a free pass to do whatever you want up there… that's just not fair."
Toph laughs, high and gleeful. Zuko silently thanks her for keeping her mouth shut.
"I mean, if I had known that there are luxury pools and buffets in the Fire Nation Palace these days, I'd have come."
"I don't think it was all pools and eating, Sokka," Toph says drily.
Or not. Zuko chokes on his tea; watching Aang whose eyes widen like saucers before he coughs and loudly explains the totally uninteresting list of Tribe members in one photo to Uncle.
"Zuko, pay attention," Katara says, looking at the board, her face devoid of a reaction. Only when Sokka and Toph turn away to converse about pools does she turn to him, her mouth twisting into a sly smile.
"I am," he says, frowning down at the Pai Sho board between them.
They've managed to get about three steps in after twenty minutes of playing. Uncle has been shaking his head whenever he catches sight of the board.
Whatever.
"You're losing," Katara says.
Zuko examines the board carefully. "What? No, I'm not. You're losing."
"Do you guys even remember how to play?" Toph butts in unhelpfully. "If you don't, move. I want to play with Iroh."
Katara makes a mild attempt at a frustrated sigh. "This is going nowhere. Let's go outside," she suggests. Zuko looks up, pretending not to see the serene smile Uncle gives Aang, who is looking like he could disappear into the chair right about now. Toph smirks at him when she takes over his seat in front of the board.
Katara made the right call. He really wants to go outside.
"Wait for me," Aang says, flying up from his seat.
It's a quick walk down to the beach. Even though it's well past sunset, the sky is clear out here. Zuko can make out where the waves wash up on the black shore. Katara runs right up to the edge of the pier, sits and swings her legs over the side. Zuko breathes in the sea that smells like her hair before he sits next to her.
In barely a minute, Aang follows them out of the door. "I think your Uncle knows, Zuko," he says, lying down on the pier, dunking one leg over the side into the water.
"Don't tell me that," Zuko all but snaps. "I don't know how to explain it to him."
Aang grins up at him. He and Katara start up a bizarre game of waterbending footsie under the planks. The waves glide pleasantly along Zuko's legs.
Aang hums. "Well, maybe Toph will."
Zuko groans dramatically at the idea, just enough to make them laugh. He doesn't mind, really. Aang starts to prod Katara about the thought of Sokka knowing, both of them bursting into even more laughter at the idea.
He can't think of anything he minds less. Aang sits up, head loose on Zuko's shoulder as he swings around to face the ocean. "Hey, when will you be back in Republic City?"
"I'm scheduled to be there in two weeks for a meeting, actually," he says. "The United Republic Committee, Aang, remember?"
"I would have remembered closer to the date," he replies matter-of-factly.
Katara frowns, tracing Zuko's hand in hers. "Oh. I'm supposed to be sitting in a jury back South then."
"Hmm," Aang says. "We'll figure it out."
The breeze is wondrous. Zuko nods slowly in agreement and closes his eyes, listening to the waves hit the shore in a repetitive lull. Katara sighs contently next to him, breathing in the sea air. Aang lazily swirls the water at their feet in rhythmic patterns.
Zuko has no doubt that they will.
A/N: This fic was beta'd by the lovely blueandie. Thanks to those that read to the end! I would love to hear your thoughts. :)