14. Stranger
"Wow..." Katara gazed at the magnificent sight before her, taking in everything before she could dive right into it.
"Yup." Zuko looked slightly nostalgic as he flipped his bag over his shoulder and breathed in the clean, subtly sharp smell of chlorine. "We're here. Now, we should settle in before you get started on warming up..."
"What? I'm not talking about the pool." the young trainee gestured to the nearby refreshments table. "Look at those delicacies! Italian soda—cranberry, pomegranate, guava, pineapple! Fluffy pastries! Chocolate croissants! Shrimp toast!"
Zuko groaned and rolled his eyes, overdramatically putting his head in his broad hands. "At times like these, you're so like your brother. Speaking of which, when is your family flying over? Tomorrow?"
"Mmm-yeah." She nodded, cheeks now stuffed with shrimp toast. Her words were muffled, and Zuko was sure she'd spit crumbs into the otherwise pristine pool. He sighed, then gently spun her around and tenderly dusted the crumbly bits off her lips and cheeks. She smiled fondly at him and kissed him.
"Okay, after we settle in, I'll practice." Katara agreed. "But can we see some of the sights first?'
"And...we're live!"
"Today is practice for the Summer Olympics, and look at them go! We definitely see some familiar faces, but also very fresh ones!"
"You're right; one of the rookies, Katara Amaruq, is a rising young star, full of potential and has a particularly interesting story. It seems that Zuko Agni has moved on from Mai, taken by Jet Rico, to coach the lovely—"
Wow, their interests are really not about the actual games, huh? Katara could imagine her coach, who was standing nearby, rolling his eyes at the backstory banter. She took the opportunity to blow him a rather extravagantly enthusiastic kiss and bet that the commentators were eating that up.
They'd be talking more than mere romance tomorrow.
Stranger (n): one ignorant of or unacquainted with someone or something
Yeah...this is really short. I actually had another idea for this that didn't involve the Olympic AU. But this here is just a short transition drabble of sorts. Tomorrow is the last day of our Olympic journey.
Someone asked if I would continue this as a separate fic out of Zutara Month. I'm not sure if I will. I would like to expand, if I did write it, about Olympics and its trials and not just on Zutara. I'll really have to think about it, but only if people want me to.