A/N: You should have "Fever" by Peggy Lee ready to listen to. Also, in a strange departure most of the background characters are not based on AtlA characters, but dancers at the club I go to.
It's Zuko's first time back in House of Loom in several months.
He doubts anyone missed him; he'd only come a few times before work pulled him away, regrettably.
Still, the dance club had irrevocably changed him.
Suki couldn't believe he was going to a dance club, before he corrected her assumptions. There were no crazy lights, drinking, or drugs. In fact, Suki was almost bored when she went, because she wasn't expecting a swing dancing club.
Yeah, Zuko Sozin got sucked in by swing. To be fair, House of Loom is a more modern club, with an even mix between blues, west coast, and lindy. Zuko hadn't been around to figure out if most of the dancers had a specialty or not, because to his still young eye they all looked like masters.
So while Zuko had spent the last five months running about the world repairing his father's mistakes, he found a dance teacher in each city, and practiced like an obsessed man.
He came back how he wanted to, something more than an advanced beginner in each form.
His fiver exchanged for a raffle ticket, Zuko found an empty table (score!) where he could switch out his shoes, all the while watching for the brunette he hoped to see.
He hadn't caught her name, but he couldn't forget her. She was beautiful, yes, with wavy brown locks that floated in the air while she spun and curves like a winding mountain road, but more than that, she was joyful. When she dances, you can't look away, and it doesn't matter who she's dancing with. She brings that same brilliant smile to a dance whether she's being thrown about like a LindyFest Jack&Jill Champ or quietly chatting with a lead who only knows the basic of single-time east coast.
She loves this, and Zuko loves her for that.
He danced with her once, when he was a lead who knew three moves and was painfully shy. She smiled, as if it was the best dance of her night, and made pleasant conversation while he stammered.
Zuko doubts she remembers him, and he's positive he'll still stammer when he talks to her, but this time he may just give her the best dance of her night.
He sees her when he stands, shoes tied and ready to go. She's standing alone, watching the dancefloor while "Lavender Coffin" finishes..
Tightening his resolve, Zuko starts for her.
He pretends to be intimately concentrated on the water fountain when he gets close, but a friend of hers comes up first, and Zuko can overhear their conversation, his stomach turning uncomfortably.
"-ed with Jet yet?"
"Nah. Haven't gotten my fix."
"I can't believe you don't just ask him out, already."
She giggles. "He's nice, and a great dancer, but you've seen him. He's cute regularly, and damn attractive when he dances, but he has this, aura. I don't know where he's been."
"And I forget. Your 'dance heart' belongs to Dan. How many times have you danced with him tonight?"
"Not enough!"
"Well speak of the devil-"
The opening bars of "Sing, sing, sing" thump through the room as a man old enough to have danced with Frankie Manning offers his hand to her, and they run onto the floor.
Zuko's heart lifts.
He spends an entertaining four minutes watching a wild Lindy Hop, her skirt flying just as high as her jumps.
And when the song finishes - and she hugs Dan like an old friend in thanks - he's waiting. She's panting, slightly out of breath, but the next song is bound to be a slow one.
"Do you want to dance," he asks, slightly timid, as she glances towards him, lungs working overtime. Her eyes run up and down his frame - she's trying to place him; there's a hint of recognition in her eyes, but he's still crushed because there's a "no," a "gotta sit this one out" making it's way to her tongue.
The next song starts, though, and it's rolling bass promises a slow dance.
Zuko's hand drops, but the flash of energy in her eyes inspires him again. "Do you blues?"
Her breathing is more even as she places her right hand in his left. "Yes. And I thought I knew all the blues leads here."
"Just got back from a long business trip."
"Ah," she breathes, sliding with him to the side as the singer begins to croon.
Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear
At first, he leaves her at a distance, in open, leaving her to the freedom of blues and time to recoup.
Yet when the first punch of the music hits, he cheats, pulling her into a brief moment of pivots, out into a spin. Her arm automatically bends, even as she reaches out away from him.
So Zuko spins her in, closing their dance, and takes in the softness of her hair against her cheek, how the curve of her takes the edge of his lines.
Everybody's got the fever
That is somethin' you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time ago
He spins her, dips her, and crows inside that she leaves her arm hooked around his neck for the longest time until she has to let go.
When he cheats again, throwing in the argentine tango his mother insisted on in his youth, she follows as he knew she would. She is a goddess of dance, who can follow just about anything. Except when she surprises him.
He expected ochos. He's seen her do them with other leads, so he is completely thrown when he reels he back, twisting her past a ninety degree angle from him, and she wraps her working leg around his waist when he snaps her back.
Fever I'm on fire
Fever yea I burn forsooth
"I'm Zuko," he murmurs.
"Katara," she replies, breathless, though this is not half the exertion of her last dance.
He keeps an eye on the couples around them, few though they are, because there's nothing worse than a collision. It's difficult, for her half-lidded eyes are right there, and he wants to press a kiss to her forehead. He pulls her closer and pivots again, trying to think of something to say, to ask her to coffee.
She's humming, he realizes, humming along with the song as it winds down, as their dance ends.
Fever, till you sizzle
"What a lovely way to burn."
Her arms are looped around his neck and waist, his own arm tucked into her curve to support her as he dips her, lower and lower.
"What a lovely way to burn."
She meets his eyes, and he's never seen a better blue.
"What a lovely way to burn."
He almost kisses her, but instead asks, "can I buy you coffee?"
"If I can buy you a drink."
