Happy 2023 guys! I swear, I didn't forget about this fic!

Night Changes

Chapter 3: Just Like That

Just getting off work. U sure u don't want me to pick up anything?

A couple seconds later, Zuko's phone received a new message. Zuko had no idea how Katara could type so fast in her life.

No, you don't have to. 3 Wait a second – we're all out of chips.

Toph?

Yeah, lol. But can you pretty please pick up some more? And some ginger ale? Maybe make that two bottles? I'd be eternally grateful 3 Love uuuuuu

Zuko's lips twitched, clearly unable to stop them from forming a lovey-dovey smile. He quickly typed back a response before he put his phone away. Considering that they've been dating for two and a half years, it was kind of hard for Zuko not to be amused (or affected in general) by Katara's antics.

But now that she was sick, Zuko couldn't help but worry about her; he almost didn't want to go to work today – hell, he was about this close to staying home and keeping a close eye on her. His protective instincts always went up in flames whenever someone he cared about was sick, or going through a tough time of some sort. It was in his nature. Zuko didn't think that it was problematic whatsoever.

He was aware that Sokka and the others were keeping her company. Although Sokka was his friend, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of shenanigans he was pulling back at the apartment; for some strange reason, the place always ended up being a hot mess whenever Sokka was around.

Toph, however, he knew he could trust. Although she was the youngest of the group, she proved to take charge whenever things were about to get chaotic. At least, whenever Zuko was around anyway. Out of all of Katara's friends, Zuko got along with her the most, not that it meant he hated her other friends. But Toph was the first one who approved of their relationship, and Zuko found that she had become something like a younger sister to him. The sister that he definitely deserved in his life.

"What's with that look, Zuko? I've never seen you look so excited before. Planned another hot date?"

Zuko almost dropped his iPhone on the floor after hearing his uncle's voice pierce through his thoughts. The words 'hot date' should never come out of his uncle Iroh's mouth.

He wasn't really surprised though to see his uncle, standing beside the cash register, giving him the most ridiculous smile; seriously, his sense of humour was something else. He would never pass up the opportunity to tease his favourite nephew.

"No, I don't," Zuko sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. He knew that he most likely stunk of sweat, and he was leaping at the chance to go home to take a shower. "I was just thinking."

That wasn't far from the truth: he had been thinking how long of a day he had. Don't get him wrong, he kind of enjoyed working at his uncle's shop, even though it meant sporadic work schedules, but today he could not focus at all. Not to the point where he would accidentally spill scorching hot tea over a customer's clothes, or where he would forget to put up a caution sign over freshly mopped floors. Although those things had happened when he first started working here. But that wasn't the point.

The point was, Zuko's brain was fried, and he deserved to go home early. To be home with Katara.

"Well, if your head was up in the clouds any longer, I would have splashed some cold water on you."

Zuko threw his uncle an annoyed glare. "Do that and I'll quit."

Iroh didn't seem to be fazed by his nephew's threat; he'd always make this kind of claim, but Iroh knew that Zuko would never go through with it.

"You don't need to act so agitated, Zuko."

Considering that Zuko had mellowed down over the years, he knew that his uncle was once again teasing him.

"Katara's sick," Zuko explained, breaking eye contact with his uncle. Staring down at the floor was more interesting anyways. "I was gonna go and pick up some more medicine for her."

He didn't even have to look at Iroh to know that he was grinning madly from ear to ear. "Well aren't you Prince Charming?"

"Why are you always saying that?" Zuko sighed in exasperation. If anyone knew him, they would not say that he was charming in the least. "We've been dating for over a year, and you're always spouting some bullsh—oww, what was what for?"

"I have a rule against colourful language in my shop, Zuko. Families come here, you know. I don't want to be held viable for ruining the innocence of children." Zuko was this close to pointing out that he himself tended to use colourful language whenever things didn't go his way, but Zuko knew when to pick his battles. Most of the time.

"This place is practically empty," Zuko pointed out, rolling his eyes in exasperation. It had been for the past hour or so, and even the last customers they had were way past the age of ten years old.

"That's not the point. The point is that I would like to keep this workplace wholesome. Is that the right term? Wholesome?"

"Whatever. I'm out of here." Zuko placed his work apron in the closest cupboard to him, not caring in the slightest that it wasn't the right place for it. Iroh wasn't the kind of boss to chew him out over the small stuff.

"Be sure to give Miss Katara my well-wishes."

Zuko remembered during their early months of dating how nervous he was about introducing Katara to his uncle. He hadn't dated in a long time, which was the official excuse that Zuko used, and he liked to think that he didn't know how the two of them would get on.

Turned out he didn't need to worry.

As far as Zuko was concerned, Katara was quickly accepted as the niece that Iroh always wanted, and it was clear that she thought the same way about Iroh. They seemed to have quite a bit in common – much to Zuko's surprise; they both believed that tea was the greatest drink ever invented, they both liked to play board games in their spare time, and among other things. They also had a sadistic side to them – they both liked to torment Zuko in their free time. It was almost annoying how they seemed to coalesce and talk about just about anything. It was like they formed their own little club.

Shaking his head, Zuko waved at his uncle before he turned on his heel towards the front doors. The next several minutes were a blur to him, as he was mentally preoccupied with going grocery shopping.

Never mind that Zuko merely bumped into some bystanders on the street; if anyone asked, he could say the same thing. He had a terribly long day.

:3 :3 :3

By the time that Zuko got back to the apartment parking lot, he was close to passing out. Just when he shut off the ignition, he slumped forward, resting his forehead on the steering wheel. He could seriously fall asleep here and no one would have to know about it.

Except for the person whose spot he parked in accidentally. Not that Zuko was in the mood to deal with him: he parked there on accident one other time, and the bastard had the nerve to start demanding twenty bucks – just because he parked there for twenty seconds. What was the male equivalent of a Karen? Ken? Not that it mattered. Zuko was close to flipping out on him, but he was really lucky that Katara had been there to defuse the situation.

Zuko exhaled, as he forced himself to sit back up in his seat. It didn't take him that long to pick up the food Katara asked for, but holy shit, he just could not find her medication.

Granted that there were shortages for the adult medication, Zuko was annoyed beyond belief. He had to stop at two other drug stores to find the right flu medicine. Luckily, it took him less than an hour to do so.

Zuko knew that the gang would be more upset if he hadn't come back with chips – this wasn't the first time that he was sent out on a food run.

Five minutes later, he found himself reaching the top of the stairs, finally at the third floor; Zuko didn't really feel like taking the stairs, but considering that the elevator was broken, he had no choice.

But surprisingly, Zuko didn't hear any noise coming from the other side of the door. Normally when everyone was over, they'd be making noise like you would not believe. And then they would have to deal with complaints from the neighbours. It was an exhausting cycle of passive aggressive behaviour.

When he slowly opened the door, Zuko found that the only people in the living room were Sokka and Katara. And they were both on their phones. No wonder why things were quiet. He then had to assume that Yue and Toph left out of sheer boredom.

"Hey," Zuko proclaimed, catching Katara's attention at least. He gave her a small smile, as he held up two bags – one holding the medication and the other with the food and drinks. "I bring gifts."

Still, despite how tired he was, it was so damn worth it to see Katara's face lit up; and as far as he could tell, she didn't look as sickly as she had been this morning.

"You are the best," Katara sang, as she held out her arms – signalling that she wanted the food more than anything else.

Zuko walked over, setting the bags at the end of the couch, before pulling out the bag of chips that Katara wanted. He took a seat beside her on the couch, before he lifted a hand to place on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm finally getting better. The soup helped a lot, I think." Katara thought about waiting for Zuko to get back, but she had been starving quite a bit.

Zuko's hand lowered towards one of her cheeks and caressed it lovingly. "You certainly look it." Zuko would have kissed her, if not for the fact that Sokka was in the room with them.

Sokka, who was still on his phone, faux gagged. "I'm here by the way, thanks for noticing."

"Glad to see the place is still in one piece," Zuko snorted, as he turned to face his friend. "I thought it'd be in shambles by now."

"You still have no faith in me."

"Last time I came back from work, I saw some broken plates on the floor."

"Tomato, tomato."

"Anyways, how was work, Zuko?" Katara threw her brother an annoyed stare, and then immediately focused her attention towards her boyfriend. She quickly went to work on the bag of chips that she was craving. Having some nice chicken noodle soup was one thing, but it was nothing to how delicious ripple chips were.

"Exhausting. I swear, Iroh likes to work me to the bone."

"I would give you sympathy snuggles, but…" Katara shrugged, as her blue eyes flickered downwards to her opened bag of ripple chips.

"Not when I'm in the room, thank you very much," Sokka interrupted. "You can snuggle on your own time." Sokka always had a thing about PDA – even when they were in their own home. Sometimes Zuko thought he was acting like a prude.

"I like how you think you can tell us what to do in our own place," Zuko stated.

"Whatever. Well, I should probably get going anyway."

"Assignment?"

"Yeah. Probably should get a head start on it."

Knowing Sokka, he had a tendency to procrastinate: not that he was a bad student, but sometimes he felt like he had no motivation. It was a feeling that both Zuko and Katara knew all too well.

"Is that why Yue and Toph left?"

"No, actually. Toph got salty when we beat her at Uno. Yue offered to drive her home."

Yeah, that sounded like her. Zuko couldn't say he was sorry that he missed out on salty Toph. "Well, thanks for coming over."

"Yeah, yeah. You guys owe me one."

After Sokka left, Zuko once again let out a heavy sigh as he leaned back against the couch. He closed his eyes, under the impression he could get a few minutes rest on the couch.

"You really are tired, huh?" Zuko felt Katara moving closer towards him, and he opened his eyes again to meet her inquisitive gaze.

"At least I don't have to work tomorrow." Zuko was all for the idea for sleeping in.

"What would you do though if Iroh calls you?"

At this point, Katara was laying her head down on Zuko's shoulder, and he immediately reciprocated. A few years ago, he would have tensed up at this display of affection, but he had long since gotten used to it.

"I'll just tell him to shove it."

Katara snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. But she clearly wasn't serious.

"I'll tell him that I got sick, then."

"You don't get sick that often."

"He doesn't know that." Zuko paused, before he took another glance at Katara. Even though she seemed to be doing much better than earlier this morning, he noted that she looked just as exhausted as he was. "Are you sure you're feeling better?"

"Nothing like another night's sleep can't fix."

Zuko didn't say anything in response; instead, he merely adjusted his position on the couch so he was laying on his back. The look that he gave Katara was pretty obvious. She grinned and she ended up lying down on top of him - now that hit the spot. She couldn't bring herself to care that he a) had shoes on b) that he was sweating up a storm (there was no way she was gonna tell him that he smelt like rotten fish).

"Would you be up to going to the doctor tomorrow if I said I can take you?"

Katara sighed, nuzzling herself further into Zuko's shirt. "Maybe."

"I just don't want to –"

"I know, I know. Sokka told me the same thing earlier, but I'll be fine."

Katara knew she could be stubborn – relentlessly so – and Zuko should have known that by now. Which was probably why that Zuko decided to let it go. She really didn't mind it when Zuko wanted to take care of her, but sometimes she felt like Zuko didn't trust her own diagnoses. She was, after all, studying to become a nurse; she was far from the kind of person who would let someone mansplain to her that she was, in fact, not doing so well.

Katara already had an inkling of what was going on, but she didn't want to fully acknowledge the possibility of it just yet.

She wasn't that stupid.

Katara wanted to make it clear to Zuko, but once she moved her head up a little bit, Katara saw that he closed his eyes at this point. And he was most likely drifting off into dream world now.

Zuko always looked adorable when he was sleeping – it was one of Katara's favourite things in the world to see. The temptation to kiss him just to see his reaction was there. Not strong enough for her to actually go through with it, but just imagining it was enough.

But then she realized she couldn't stay up all night watching him sleep, as she let out a small yawn.

So Katara laid back down again, closing her eyes, and letting herself drift to sleep.

Even though the lights were technically still on.