Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Notes: I swear to God, I will finish this one day. Even if I only post a chapter every two months. I will finish it. I WILL! **burning power of youth** This chapter is kissing in the rain (or, on occasion, other manners of precipitation) which is probably one of the most overused things in movies, ever. And I hate it, because people don't look better when they're dripping wet. (Except Taylor Lautner. Wet Taylor Lautner is sex on a stick. Actually, any Taylor Lautner is sex on a stick.) Plus, COLDS. Holy crap, colds.
Chap: 3/6
the time he doesn't kiss her in the rain
It's the very end of monsoon season on Ember Island. All that's really left of the destructive weeks is a constant drizzle. This is actually more depressing than the monsoons themselves, and everybody knows it. Even Ty Lee, who came this year to see her old friends and had been in irrepressible spirits, was lessened by the miserable weather.
Zuko is pretty unperturbed by the rain. Because Katara likes being constantly inundated with her element, and Zuko is so stupidly in love, he can't bring himself to be grumpy. (Someday, he tells himself, he will find a way to get grumpy at things he should be grumpy at but isn't because Katara likes them. Someday. Maybe.)
Now, it would seem that, as Zuko and Katara are the only people who don't really mind the rain, everybody would be happily cooped up inside the obnoxiously large Summer Palace. (Or, if not happily cooped up, at least contentedly cooped up.) They aren't.
In fact, the entire 'Gaang' is out on the beach, in the drizzle, looking generally miserable and wondering how exactly they were coerced into this outing. It wasn't as if Katara or Zuko had been particularly intimidating (for once) or that either of the aforementioned parties had laid a guilt trip on the rest of the group. No, there really wasn't a single sane explanation.
Which, probably, is why about ten minutes later, Sokka and Suki run off to Agni knows where to do Agni knows what. And, about three minutes after that, Ty Lee disappears for "acrobatics training." And, about fourteen minutes after that, Toph unceremoniously drags Aang off toward the Summer Palace.
The drizzle, Katara, Zuko, and a hell of a lot of sand is all that's left.
"So," Zuko says.
"I'm sorry," Katara blurts out. Zuko glances at her and is surprised to see the tears that are gathering rapidly in the corner of her eyes. "It was a stupid idea, I know. I mean, it's raining for Yue's sake. But I was so sick of the stupid palace and…"
He slings an arm around her shoulders and pulls her to his chest. It's an embrace caught between friendly and romantic, but he's not focusing on the implications of his limb placement right now. He's more thinking about how sad she looks, and how he wants her to smile instead, and how exactly he's going to manage turning that frown upside down, and how exactly she got him so whipped. "It is a stupid idea, but I like it anyway," he says.
She closes her eyes tightly and the big swamp crocodile tears that were threatening to overflow really do overflow. Which, of course, sends Zuko into something only barely short of a full on panic attack.
His arms tighten around her until she's practically crushed to him. He opens his mouth to say something comforting before realizing, sort of belatedly, that he's really no good at comforting. Sort of like the obscure wisdom gene, the comforting gene only seemed to grace Uncle and Mother. Then he berates himself, because why is he contemplating genetics when Katara is crying? Agni above.
"I'm sorry," he says.
Miraculously, she stops crying. Well, sort of. And mostly so she can slap his chest in a rather painful manner. "Stupid," she says. "Why are you always so nice? It was a stupid idea, and you don't like rain, and I'm cold, and my nose hurts from being stuffy."
(Maybe, he thinks, it's That Time. Then again, maybe she's just mad at him.)
"Sorry," he says again. "Well, we can try for another picnic this weekend. Or whenever the sun decides to show. Okay?"
She's still sniffling, and she smacks his chest a bit half heartedly again, but there is a genuine smile tugging at her lips. "Okay," she says finally. She reaches her hand up to roughly rub the tears off her cheeks and wipe at her nose. It succeeds for the most part. "Zuko," she says suddenly, mid nose wipe, "have you ever read a romance scroll?"
Zuko squints at her. He is, of course, not quite sure if he heard that right. But if he says 'Come again?' she'll probably hit him again. Or something. So he just says, "No." Like that. Because the explanation of how he's never read one because he spent much of his formative years convinced that because Azula adored them they could only be evil, evil, evil things is the sort of explanation that would take way too long to, well, explain.
"Why not?" she says, squinting right back at him.
"It's not manly," he says.
"Since when have you cared about manly? You did the dragon dance for Yue's sake. You did the dragon dance and found the meaning of life while surround by a rainbow fire. Those don't scream manly pride," she says.
Damn but she has him there.
"Aang," he says. Because everything in the universe can be explained away by that one word.
The frown she directs at him says:
Damn but he has her there.
"Still. None? Not a single, measly romance scroll in your entire life?"
"No."
That's when she starts to look extraordinarily thoughtful. "Are you sure?"
"Very."
The thoughtful look deepens. Someone passing by might take the expression as that of a philosopher in very deep thought. Not that anyone would be passing by, as the rain had been steadily increasing from a drizzle to fully fledged rain.
"That explains a lot of things, you know?" she says.
Zuko doesn't, in fact, know what that explains. But he does know that they should probably start heading back toward the Summer Palace, because the sky doesn't look very promising of breaking into sunshine. He's about to mention that when she suddenly lights up and starts dragging him toward the Palace.
"So," she says, still dragging him along, "I think it's time that we broaden your literary horizons. Because this is just not right for you to have never read a romance scroll in your whole entire life. Just wrong."
"Um," he says. His wrist is sort of starting to hurt from the bizarre angle she's holding it at. He's not going to say it though, because that would make him a wuss. Zuko is not a wuss. (Except when it comes to Toph, because Toph can kick his ass and make it look like an accident. Damn blind women.)
"Exactly. How are you supposed to woo when you've never read a romance scroll?"
"Um."
"I mean, Mai was one thing, because she was probably the most unromantic being ever. Well, sort of. She did, after all, appreciate Haru's poetry, and the giant statue. But. She told me about the stuff you guys did together."
A horrified squeak catches in Zuko's throat. Dear Agni.
"I mean, picnics in the sunset is all well and good. But you're supposed to appreciate the sunset while making out, not complain about the color orange. And there Mai and I were, thinking that you were just sort of stupid. Actually, I was the only one who thought that. But it turns out, you were just oblivious!"
The horrified squeak is still stuck in Zuko's throat. It pretty much blocks all of his possible attempts at communication. Not that he would know what to say in a case like this. Not that there's really much to say.
They reach the grand front veranda of the Summer Palace just as Katara finishes her tirade about Zuko's apparent obliviousness. He's expecting her to continue dragging him up the steps and presumably to the dusty old library to pour over some stupid romance scrolls. But she doesn't. She stops. Just like that.
"Zuko," she says. Her hand (finally) lets go of his (poor, abused) wrist as she turns around to face him. They are just barely out of reach of the overhanging roof, so the rain is still pouring down on top of them.
In that moment, she really looks like a drowned rat monkey. Her hair is plastered to her head and her face and her neck and her shoulders and her back. It's a dark waterlogged color that's almost black, and it's pretty bedraggled looking. Her eyes are too big, her face is dripping rain water, and her clothing is just as soaked as the rest of her.
He's not attracted to her, right now. He feels no particular desire to kiss her, or hold her tightly to his chest, or throw her on the sand and make love with her. She doesn't look more beautiful for the rain.
(A surprising thought.)
"Katara," he says. Quietly, because he's trying to figure out what to say next. "Katara, you…you look like a drowned rat monkey." Which was stupid, he realizes about two seconds after he says it.
She looks at him a little bit blankly before flushing a dull red. "Oh."
The flush doesn't make her attractive either. It looks odd against her dark caramel skin. Not ugly, per say, but definitely odd.
"Hmm," he says.
Her blush darkens. (It still looks odd.) "In the romance scrolls, the hero always find the heroine most attractive when she's wet," she says boldly. "Especially when it's raining." She peers up at him through her ungodly thick lashes and pouts out her lower lip in a probably-suppose-to-be-tempting manner.
Zuko gets the distinct impression she's trying to tell him something. He's just not entirely sure what that is. "That's nice," he says distractedly.
She blinks at him. Not a little disbelievingly she says, "Zuko, did you really just ignore that?"
"I didn't ignore it," he says defensively, "I just don't get it. I mean, what's so great about you looking like a drowned rat monkey?" Her face turns utterly thunderous. He doesn't particularly notice. He's figured out why he doesn't feel attracted to her like this. "It doesn't suit you. You look like you're some sort of heartbroken, vulnerable princess. And besides, at this rate you're going to catch a terrible cold."
When he refocuses on her face, she looks decidedly amused. "I thought I looked like a drowned rat monkey, not a princess," she says lightly.
"Both," he says semi-diplomatically. "Now, let's go inside before you catch that terrible cold I was talking about."
Katara rolls her eyes, and tells him that she's going to make him read romance scrolls, and launches into a long winded explanation about how Waterbenders don't get colds (she's sneezing because she has a tickle in her throat, damnit). But she also laces her fingers through his as they walk into the Summer Palace, so it's okay.
year three