With her curious yes in mind and her blue eyes locked on his golden ones, Zuko reaches up and slides her underwear off.

Zuko kneels in front of Katara with his eyes locked on her crotch and her eyes locked on his face. He has been with women before, has been with Mai and a few others, but nothing could have prepared him for the way he would feel when finally seeing this part of the woman he'd attracted to for years. He'd liked Mai. He'd enjoyed her company and her strangeness. He enjoyed the odd admiration she seemed to have for him - but he'd never thirsted for her, never burned for her, never spent nights upon nights masturbating to hopeless fantasies with her in mind. There is something about their history and his love for Katara that makes her the most beautiful person he's ever seen.

"Have you ever heard of cunnilingus?" Zuko says, wetting his lips.

"No," Katara says. "What is it?"

Zuko's face flushes, but he presses forward. He wants to give this to her, if she's interested. "It's like kissing you…" Zuko pauses, jutting out a finger toward her vagina, "there."

Katara stares at him for a moment. Her face is pensive.

"Try it," Katara shrugs, and Zuko grins at her nonchalance. He parts her thighs further and leans forward, pressing a kiss to her inner thighs. Katara giggles, and the sound fills Zuko with something akin to joy. "Is this going to tickle the entire time?" Katara asks.

"It shouldn't," Zuko says, deciding to try a new tactic. He lowers his hands to her upper thighs and squeezes slightly before leaning forward and dragging a long lick across her slit. Katara's laughter twists into a long, almost painful-sounding moan. Zuko looks up at her and is surprised to see Katara is clenching her eyes shut. Zuko tries to imagine the way Mai looked when he pleasured her - he couldn't remember her face ever seeming to give way the way Katara's is.

"Katara?"

"Zuko," Katara breathes, and Zuko tightens his grips on her thighs. His name on her breath… spirits.

"Is this okay?"

"If you stop I swear, Zuko," Katara threatens, her eyes peeling open, and that's all he needs to hear.

As teens, Katara and Zuko had skirted around their attraction to each other as if it was nothing more than a bother, and at the time, it was. They had a war to worry about, and the Avatar was in love with her, and Zuko both wanted to be with her and repair things with his uncle. There was only so much time in a year, and that time passed quickly between duties and problem-solving. He'd remained with Mai and Katara had turned down the Avatar's advances, and then she'd gone to traveling and he'd become bogged down beneath the job of a fire lord, and then he'd ended things with Mai when he realized he just didn't feel for her and that in the back of his mind he'd harbored feelings for Katara ever since the time they'd taken a trip to search for her mother's killer. The emotion in her eyes was something he'd never seen in Mai's. Her ability to be vulnerable was something Zuko coveted.

They'd written to each other. Long letters in Katara's uneven, curling handwriting and Zuko's blunt words passed between them for two years. He wrote her every week. He sent her money when her grandmother passed in her sleep and apologized for not attending the funeral. She sent him dried flowers when his sister killed herself in the mental institution he was keeping her in.

So much time meant a lot of time to think. It seemed as if the spirits had finally decided to pull them together and push away everyone else. If nothing else, they had this moment - and Zuko is going to take advantage of it.

Zuko's face presses into Katara's vulva, his nose tickling her clit as he slides his tongue around her lips. He kisses her slowly, letting his tongue dip inside of her every once and a while as he works her. When her legs tighten around his face he pulls back some and focuses all of his motions on her clit. He circles his tongue around it, testing things out. When his tongue goes wide, not quite touching it, she grunts and digs her fingers into his scalp and pulls his hair. When his tongue moves in tight circles upon her clit, Katara gasps and pants and cries and yanks on his hair so hard he thinks he was losing strands. When he slides a finger forward, pushing inside of her warm wetness, Katara's hips begin to grind against his face. She rides his face recklessly, her legs locked around his head as he slides another finger inside of her. Her warmth is enough to make him moan around her clit, and that's all it takes for her to burst. Her entire lower body seems to clench around him and she shoves him away, the pleasure now unbearable as she grows more and more sensitive by the second. Zuko watches, mesmerized, as Katara's back arches and her hands grip the sheets and her body melts and sweats and shakes.

"Zuko, Zuko," Katara pants, "Oh." The word is torn from her throat as her orgasm hits her, and Zuko smooths her hair back when the heat finally leaves her. She lays panting on her bed in a pool of her own juices and sweat, and Zuko presses a kiss to her forehead. Katara's eyes are still tightly closed, and Zuko begins pressing kisses to her heated skin, her neck, her shoulders, the damp space between her breasts, her fisted hands. By the time he has made his second circle of kisses around her navel Katara's eyes open. "Zuko," she whispers, and there are tears in her eyes when she kisses him.

"You're alright?" Zuko says, and Katara laughs, wiping away her tears.

"Yes, I'm definitely alright. I feel like a giant blob," Katara smiles, kissing him again. She reaches down and starts removing his pants. "Zuko?"

"Yes, Katara?"

"I want to have you, now," Katara says, and Zuko stands, tugging down his pants and removing the rest of his clothing.

"Are you sure?" Zuko says, and Katara pulls him onto the bed. He slides a finger through her wetness and begins to prepare her again when Katara pushes on his chest, lowering him to his back. She shakes her head and sits on top of him so that her heat is only inches from his erection.

"I'm ready for this," Katara says, and Zuko places one hand on her hip and the other around the base of his shaft, steadying it as she lowers herself. Katara's eyes widen and her nails curl against his chest as she stares at him.

It takes everything Zuko has not to flip her over and drive himself into her.

"Oh," Katara says, "oh wow." Zuko sits up and pulls her toward him so she's now sitting in his lap, their bodies still connected. He has to be able to see her face, read her bright blue eyes.

"Can I -" Zuko says, his hand coming to rest on her cheek, and she cuts him off when she grinds down against him.

Zuko groans loudly and brings his hand to her breast as he presses up into her. His hands lower to her waist and suddenly she is lifting off of him and slamming down on him again, her shaky legs hot against his and her breath warm against his neck. She wraps her arms around his waist and then she's taking over. She moves her body so quickly he can hardly catch up, so distracted he is by her heat. He feels like he's in a dream as Katara stares into his golden eyes and seeks her release and attempts to gain his as well.

"Oh, Katara, oh my - spirits, Katara," Zuko mutters, his hands gripping her waist more tightly. Whenever he imagined their first time having sex, he always imagined her on her back and himself putting in the work. He certainly never imagined this confident Katara completely taking over.

Zuko can feel his release coming closer and closer. He bites down hard on his lip and stills her motions. He separates their chests and lowers his fingers to her clit. They both watch as he presses down hard on the nerves, and then Katara is bucking against him and he is slamming into her and Zuko feels that blinding heat taking over and knows there is no stopping now and that he can only hope she is coming with him.

When Zuko comes he feels like he's has his heart torn out. It almost hurts, it feels so perfect. He can't stop the tears that flood his golden eyes and tears at the sheets with his jagged nails. He can feel Katara's inner muscles clenching around him, pumping and pulling and forcing everything out of him. He can vaguely hear Katara screaming his name at the top of her lungs as she orgasms.

When Zuko comes to, Katara is flopped beside him, her hair in a giant tangle beneath her head and her body damp. He splays out next to her and stares at the ceiling, hoping with his entire soul that it isn't the last time he'll get to have her.