Zutara-week, prompt one: Denim
This is how Katara beats Zuko.
Not with words, though she’s tried. Every carefully placed insult, even the most harmful one (Your father doesn’t love you), is met with a skillful ability to ignore her most personal verbal abuse in a way that reminds her, just slightly, that he is a little older than her.
Not with her actions, either, though she’s tried that, too. Every well-aimed punch is met with a skillful dodge or a sudden counter-move in a way that reminds her, just slightly, that he is a little older than her.
No, Katara beats Zuko with a pair of low-riding jeans, a lacy blue thong and a pair of her favorite furry boots.
And when he looks (because he will look. Because he is a boy before he is a gentleman. Because all boys look, according to Gran-Gran.) she will be ready. When he turns his head just so, when his eyes meet the place where her skin and the denim touch, she will be prepared.
When he stops, when he looks, she’ll take the opportunity to land her favorite furry boot straight across his face.
When he gets out of the hospital (they thought he had a concussion, then they didn’t, then they decided to keep him there for a while just to be sure), everything is back to normal. Baggy sweatpants and granny panties and blue furry boots, typical summer wear. Nothing extraordinary.
What surprises her, what makes her drop her guard, is that the next time they fight, he still looks, like there is still something there to see.
And that makes it harder to fight him than ever.
XXX