REVIEWER: Zutarawasrobbed

FANDOM: ATLA, specifically within the Delicate Subterfuge universe

COUPLE: Zutara

REQUEST: What would have happened if Kat told Zuko she loved him on the burnt couch, smut, yes!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

/This takes place in Chapter 11 of 'The Warrior's Gambit'! The italics are what I had already written, just to re-orient you to the scene :) /

"No, I didn't," Zuko breathed, panting. "And to be honest, my date with Mai isn't what I want to be talking about."

Katara just managed a hum, cut off as his lips dragged upwards, back to her own. She was sort of sitting in his lap right now, facing him, as he sat on a nearly un-destroyed couch. There were a couple scorch marks on it, but other than that, it was in good condition, enough for a pair of lovers to utilize for the hour they had.

Katara lifted her hands to his hair again, scratching his scalp as she tried to press herself closer to him, desperately. She was wearing one of her under-clothes sets and he still had on his day's outfit, and Katara wanted to reduce the number of clothes they were wearing to zero.

In a flash of a moment in which her hands were not connected to her brain at all, it seemed, her fingers began to fumble for the clasps of his ornately embroidered jacket. Zuko's response was to gasp a bit and trail his hands down to the area right above her lower back, pressing his palms against her. It caused her to rock forward a bit, sending a shiver up both of their spines.

"What would you rather be talking about?" Katara asked, tearing her lips away to focus on the tiny and difficult sewn buttons. She managed to get them. Zuko seemed all too pleased to shrug off his jacket. He was still so warm underneath, but it was one step closer to his bare skin against her own.

"I don't really want to talk at all," Zuko admitted, his left hand tracing the laces on her back, the ones that were really the only thing keeping her dress on her at the moment. She wondered if he was gathering the courage to yank it, but one look into his gold eyes told her he was more or less teasing her.

In the end, his fingers strayed back to her front. She wondered if it was truly because he liked to watch her squirm, or if he hadn't been ready for that yet. She certainly knew that from the pair of them, she was the more sexually advanced. Even if he was a boy, he could still be unsure about certain steps. Katara would never want to rush him. She enjoyed this just as much.

Zuko seemed to enjoy it as well; she knew how she affected him. She wanted him to be the one pushing the boundaries, though. She'd let him take the pace.

She'd pretty much agree to whatever he wanted to do, however far he wanted to go.

"Let me…" Zuko mumbled, and before he could finish his thought, he was flipping them so that she was now laying on the couch. He hovered above her for just a second before diving back in for more contact, his mouth frantically seeking hers, his hands gripping her waist. Katara wrapped her legs around his, sighing in bliss as she felt his hips thrust forward just a little bit, enough to give the ache she was feeling a momentary respite.

"Oh, gods," she whispered.

Zuko's nose nudged her jawline, when he exhaled, steam left perspiration on her skin.

"Mhh?"

"I just...I lo-"

Katara paused. She started, so suddenly that Zuko sat up off of her.

It had been like her lips hadn't been connected to her, either. It seemed, in general, when she was around Zuko, her body parts seemed to work without consulting her. She hadn't even known what she was about to say.

That's a lie. She did sort of know, even if she wasn't sure where the declaration was coming from.

"Katara." Zuko pulled her up to him.

"I...whew, can we go back to kissing?" Katara asked weakly.

His fingers laced with hers.

"Please finish that sentence. Please."

He was flat-out begging. The desire and want in his voice overwhelmed her. Not the sexy type, but the desire for her, as Katara, and her emotions to be voiced. She hadn't ever considered until now the weight of any word, but this tiny four-letter one had Zuko completely unraveled, even if it was half-said.

Katara wasn't even sure how she would have finished it. She knew, of course, what Zuko so desperately wished to hear, but had that even been the end of her sentence?

She loved so many things. There was so much she wanted to show gratitude toward. She loved how he made her feel special, even when she knew she was one of a handful of girls he was commanded to date. She loved how he listened to her. She loved how he got sly, or what he thought was sly, and that little smirk that he'd get. She loved the palace. She loved the Fire Nation, despite how her family had told her it was a barren, evil place. She loved how he made her feel, physically.

And any of those could have been what she was about to say. If she was truly looking to be cruel or to frustrate him, she'd say any of those.

But she knew. Oh, Tui, Katara knew what he was looking for.

She pushed her hair behind her ears, biting her lip, looking at the finery of the half-burnt couch. Even marred with fire, it was so stunningly beautiful, so much more and so different than anything she had at home.

She knew her emotions often got the best of her. It was the crux of who Katara was as a person. And once, she'd accidentally told someone she loved them, long before she actually did. In a moment quite like this one, overwhelmed by emotion, it had just slipped out.

Katara had hidden in her family hut for three days before her brother Sokka had to march out and explain that his sister was an idiot and that no, there was nothing further to their exploration on the horizon for the pair. And then her mother had lectured her to high heavens about meaning what you said.

Thus her hesitancy now.

But this was different. This was Zuko, not the boy from the village who had given Katara her first orgasm.

"Please," He asked again, seeing her resolve beginning to crumble.

"I think that I love…" Katara whispered the words in a quiet, half-broken whisper, "You." The last phrase slipped out so quietly, nothing more than an exhale being let free. Zuko heard it, still.

"You think?" He sat back, "I'm sorry I'm not overwhelmed with emotions, Katara, but you think?"

"I don't know what love is meant to truly feel like!" Katara shot back, wishing she hadn't at all if this was how he was going to react, "Would you rather me lie?"

"Yes!" Zuko replied before he really thought about it, then winced, "No. No, of course not." He still maintained a distance between the pair, and Katara thought it would have better to just make an excuse to leave ten seconds ago. Maybe she still could…

"I don't think I can end the competition on a 'maybe'," Zuko said after a long, slow second.

"You shouldn't," Katara said with a sad smile. As much as she imagined the pair of them walking out, hand in hand, announce their engagement! Her responsibilities to her family be damned. They would be married quickly. And they'd be happy together. Or…or they wouldn't, and she'd be that girl back in the hut, wishing she'd just kept her mouth shut.

"Why do you love me? How do you know?" Katara questioned because maybe his answer would shed illumination on hers.

"You're my best friend. I want to tell you everything," Zuko began.

"Oh, should I marry Toph, then?" Katara teased, but truly, it was because she was ashamed she didn't see the difference yet.

"I don't think Toph likes girls, unfortunately," Zuko barked out a bit of laughter, "But I mean, she might be desperate enough to escape her family's choices for marriage…but no, no of course not." He reached her for her hand and rubbed his calloused fingers over the back of her knuckles, and for each knuckle, as he brushed over, he spoke, "You're witty. You're intelligent. You care so deeply. You make me want to be better. You are someone I could always see wanting to be around," He kissed her cheek, "Does that answer your question?" Or, she could see his eyes beg, help answer mine?

"I feel many similar things towards you," Katara agreed, nodding, "So perhaps I…perhaps I do, well, love you." The words felt funny to say. Not foreign, or wrong, just unexpected.

She saw pure bliss cross Zuko's face, but he quickly capped it to manage just a bright, pure, smile, "Perhaps you do," He repeated, giddy on her confession.

"So we tell someone?" Katara gave a long sigh. She should have seen this coming, honestly.

"No, not unless you want to. Do you?"

Katara met his golden eyes, "Is it selfish not to want to?"

"I think…" Zuko pulled her into his embrace, "Until you are sure, we shouldn't overexcite the presses yet," He said.

"You're not angry with me?" Katara asked. Zuko laughed.

"I feel like you're Ba Sing Se's impenetrable wall, Katara. But tonight, I feel like maybe I just found a crack in it. I still wish you were sure, of course, but I am more confident you'll come to the conclusion I came to not so long ago."

"Which is?"

"Honesty to one's self is the most blessed gift you can give. But also, kindness and patience to let yourself figure it out." He kissed the top of her head, "Thank you."

"For revealing to you how utterly new I am to any and all things having to do with love and dating?" Katara groaned, "For admitting I wouldn't know love if it hit me in the side of the head?"

"Yes, I guess for that humor," Zuko agreed, and somehow his acknowledgment of her shortcomings made her feel better. It made her feel seen, it made her feel safe to figure it out, "But for allowing me to push you to that. I know it probably wasn't easy."

"That's what good couples are supposed to do, right?" Katara asked, furrowing her brow.

"I think so," Zuko agreed, "Yes. I would say they do."

Katara sighed, leaning back into his warmth, "One day, I'll make it all up to you."

Zuko squeezed her hand, "I know you will."