A-Z Pairing-Drabble meme!
I wanted to set myself a challenge, and so, I stole this from hollie_alr , and edited it to make it a pairing-specific meme though, because that's what I want to write about =)
The Great A-Z Multifandom Pairing Drabble Meme!
This is how it works:
1. Pick a letter.
2. Pick a prompt that starts with that letter (ex. K is for Keyhole)
3. Pick a pairing (Ulquihime ( Read more... )
The Great A-Z Multifandom Pairing Drabble Meme!
This is how it works:
1. Pick a letter.
2. Pick a prompt that starts with that letter (ex. K is for Keyhole)
3. Pick a pairing (Ulquihime ( Read more... )
Water Tribe’s front-woman scowled with disgust as she looked down at the poster announcing her co-lined tour with that damn, spoiled, selfish, self-loving moron! What was Jun thinking, agreeing with his manager, Iroh, to have the two of them tour together?
This, Katara thought moodily as she glared at the tv screen on which she could see the gyrating, leather-clad hips of Zuko, the being she was going to be forced to spend months enduring, Is not going to end well.
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The first week, she tried to be civil towards him - she was going to be spending god knows how many months in his presence, so it might be the lesser of several evils - but he seemed to skirt around her, which made her almost as irritable as having him right in front of her. That week had come to an end with a vase being thrown in his direction, accompanied by “Stop avoiding me, you jerk!”
The next few weeks were filled with stony silences and glares that made their fellow band members uncomfortable, though the only one to say anything was Sokka. Katara had chewed him out for an hour after he commented “Seems like there’s some UST in the room,” in a stage-whisper to Toph, who had laughed loudly at that, saying even if she wasn’t mostly blind, she would have been able to figure that one out.
By the fourth week, Zuko finally snapped and asked, “What is your problem exactly?”, his fingers quivering with the effort to speak calmly.
Katara didn’t have the same restraint as she snarled, “You, and everything you represent. It’s because of people like you,” she jabbed a finger in his direction, “that teenage girls feel they have to look good for a guy to like them.”
Something within Zuko snapped at that comment, Katara could see it in the way his eyes were suddenly aflame, “And it isn’t because of you and your music that men feel as if they have a heroic mould they have to step into?”
For a moment, Katara thought she was going to hit Zuko - Katara’s songs were about women being able to empower themselves against men, about finding the strength within and not giving up - but then Suki came over and gently reminded Katara she and her band were on in five minutes time. Katara glared ice-daggers at Zuko, huffed loudly and stormed over to the door in which she would run through mere moments later, muttering about stupid jerks up until the point that Toph drummed out the bands intro.
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As the weeks began to grow, Sokka kept his eye trained on Zuko - promising himself that if the scarred-guy made so much as a whisper of a move, he would boomerang-him back to is fancy apartment he was sure to come from - while also trying to keep an eye on Katara - pleading with the universe that she didn’t do anything that would force them to stop touring early, he was enjoying spending time with the sound-check lady, Suki - which was proving more and more difficult as the days went by and he could feel Katara’s growing irritation with his suddenly close proximity.
Eventually, after closing up another show and Sokka still shadowing her every move, with one final eye-twitch, Katara looked at her brother and said very softly, “Sokka. I need space. Back-off,” before she walked through the ‘band-members only’ door she’d stopped outside of and slammed it in his face. “What is his problem anyway? He wasn’t like that before,” she muttered, still looking at the door, before a very girly, “ah?” caught her attention.
Looking up, with a strange amount of dread settling in her stomach, Katara noticed Zuko crammed between two girls - both of which were blonde and wearing as little clothing as possible, while still being covered. Both of the girls had backstage-passes pinned to their chests and Katara sighed, she was so not in the mood to deal with Zuko’s fangirls.
Looking at Zuko, and the way his eyes were fixed to the ceiling, Katara had a feeling he didn’t want to deal with them either. For just a moment, Katara wanted to help him out - surely it was uncomfortable being wedged between them like that? - but then the girls spoke and neglected to lower their voices.
“Hey, Tamina, that’s her isn’t it? The Zuko-hater?”
“Yeah, Katherine or something, right? Why are they even touring together, she’s just bringing our Zuko down.”
Katara looked over her shoulder and glared at the girls, this was her tour as much as it was the precious ‘prince-of-pop’ Zuko’s. The two simply laughed at the look, “Oh, I think we made her angry!”
“How despicable, riding on Fire Nation’s fame,”
As she looked at the two with their painted eyes and coloured lips, Katara could feel her patience begin to snap, she’d spent the last month and a half trying to tolerate someone whom she despised, add to that the pressures of living up to the quality Water Tribe promised their fans and back to back shows - and despite what these girls said, when she looked out into the crowd when she was on that stage, she could see a lot of people wearing the Water Tribe symbol; some on their cheeks, others on their shirts, and others on every bit of skin you could see.
With that snapping patience, these girls words were echoing around Katara’s mind and she could feel harsh words bubbling up her throat, words she knew she shouldn’t say, but her wavering patience was encouraging her to do so anyway.
Just as she opened her mouth, Zuko stood up and looked down at the girls through narrowed eyes, “I think it’s time for you two to be leaving,” he said, his tone cold and callous, and the girls looked up at him with surprise, their mouths in identical pouts.
“Oh, but Zuko,” one tried to plead, her tone petulant and Katara rolled her eyes at the tone.
“Now,” Zuko cut her off, no room for question in his voice, and they both left reluctantly, glaring at Katara as they went as if it were her fault they were being sent away.
For a moment, Katara looked at Zuko, and Zuko returned the gaze, before he sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and made to walk out the door Katara was still standing in front of. Just as his hand was on the handle, Katara found her voice.
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Whether Zuko realised that or not, Katara didn’t know, and just as she offered him a tentative smile, he shrugged his shoulders and asked, “For what?” and the brief feeling of camaraderie she might have felt for him shrivelled up and Katara fought the urge to hurl insults at him as he stepped out the door.
For the next few days, Katara resumed ignoring Zuko to the best of her ability, but at times she thought she could see him watching her, only, whenever she turned to glare, his eyes were locked instead on whoever was talking at the time, or whoever had been lucky enough to get backstage passes that day. She thought it best not to think about it much, until the day she caught him outright staring at her.
Stiffly, she turned around and asked, venom dripping from her words, “What?” She was about to go up for a set and she didn’t want to be in the wrong frame of mind when she was up there, and so the last thing she needed was for her thoughts to be wondering what was with Zuko.
Which meant hearing the next sentence was high on her list of ‘things not to hear before going on set’ - “Katara, I …” he paused, sighed and shook his head, “No. Nevermind.”
Without meaning to, Katara felt her foot take a step forward, she could feel the words tingling on her tongue. Her mind was wondering why Zuko’s eyes looked veiled, as though he were holding something back, but then she heard the cue that meant she was to go on stage and, with a final, curious glance back at him, Katara took off to greet the crowd screaming her name, her mind still curious to know what he’d been about to say.
Later that night, Katara sighed as she pulled herself from the bed she’d been trying to sleep in - she couldn’t sleep with the trailer bumping the way it was, and so she wandered out into the kitchen for a glass of water, hoping that would help soothe her at least a little.
Smothering a yawn with her hands, Katara stumbled down the hallways, holding onto the walls for balance. Once she was at the Kitchen door, her eyes caught sight of a form sitting at the table, completely heedless of the world around him. And, in the darkness, without anyone there to catch her, Katara allowed herself to admit something to herself - Zuko, bathed in the pale light of the moon, in naught but a pair of boxers was - and there was no better word for it - hot. As she stood there, she thought she might be able to see what it was about him that drew the girls to him like a moth to the flame. He was toned, with luscious black hair, and there was an air of melancholy around him that made you want to know him, made you want to understand him, like a puppy looking for someone to love him.
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“Katara,” Zuko sighed, looking up at the moon once more - which, inexplicably, annoyed her. The moon was her symbol of strength, and yet here he was, finding solace in that symbol. “Why do you hate me so?” he asked it so earnestly that, for a moment, Katara almost wondered why she hated him as much as she did herself, he wasn’t playing the part she’d associated him with at all.
But as she looked at him, all she could see was that which she’d nearly lost, “You came along and almost destroyed everything. Because of you … We nearly lost our label,” Katara spat, vaguely surprised she’d told him the truth, but anger and shock draw strange reactions out of people. She glared at him for a moment longer, before beginning to walk back towards her room.
“I’m sorry,” she heard, and Katara whirled around, uncertain. Had she actually heard Zuko say that? All she saw when she looked back into the room however, was his retreating back as he walked towards his own room, his arms stiff by his side as though he had to force them to stay there.
Katara felt her hand move out to reach towards him, to ask why his back spoke of an unknown pain, but she hesitated, her throat locking around the words before they could even form, and then the chance was gone, and Zuko had cast her one last, strange look before entering his room, the door closing with a resounding click that effectively locked Katara out.
Over the course of the next few days, or weeks, Katara couldn’t remember how long it was anymore, it was as though nothing had changed between she and Zuko, save for the fact that she was wondering if perhaps her anger towards him wasn’t misplaced - he hadn’t done anything wrong to her personally, after all - but after so many months of ignoring him as though he’d done her a personal injustice, it wasn’t as though she could simply turn around and apologize for behaving the way she’d had, and so, where did that leave her?
Katara sighed and fiddled with one of her hair-loopies, twirling the bead around her fingers as she looked up at the moon, wondering if it somehow held the answers she needed to know.
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The girl looks at Katara with curiosity, just as Katara stares at her - she doesn’t even realise she’s stood up from the table she’d been sitting on. The girl is almost as pale, if not more so, than Zuko is, with the same lustrous raven hair, and they look so similar that, for an extremely brief moment, Katara wonders if they’re siblings, except for when the girl puts a hand on Zuko’s chest in a clearly intimate fashion.
“Zuko?” she asks, and Katara’s eyes flick up to meet his and realise he’s stopped dead at the sight of her - was he hoping she’d be asleep and so he’d be able to sneak past her or something? Katara almost manages to fight off the incredulous laughter that bubbles up her throat, but it escapes anyway.
Shaking her head, she walks over to where the two stand and push through them, muttering just as she passes by Zuko, “And here I was, beginning to think I’d misjudged you.” She doesn’t even glance behind her as she goes, too eager to return to her room and avoid the thoughts that follow the black-haired girls appearance. As Katara leans on her door, she holds a hand to her mouth, wondering at the strange tearing feeling that’s coming from within.
“What a bitch,” Mai scoffs, watching the brunette as she leaves, Mai knows she’s seen that face somewhere. She should be able to remember, those startling blue eyes combined with the copper skin should be fairly memorable, but Mai’s mind is fuzzy with the alcohol she’d shared with Zuko. Speaking of Zuko, it looked as though a brick had hit him the instant he’d locked eyes on that blue-eyed woman, Who is she to Zuko? Mai wonders, and tugs on Zuko’s arm, intending on asking him just that.
The jerk to his arm seems to bring him back to his senses, and Mai can see that he’s suddenly not as drunk as she’d hoped the alcohol had made him, in fact, he seems bewildering sober considering just moments ago he’d had trouble walking straight.
“Mai,” he says softly, and she can feel it coming, but she still attempts to avoid it anyway. Mai pulls her lips into a flirtatious smile and runs a hand down the middle of Zuko’s chest, drawing a line temptingly close to the edge of his jeans.
“Yes?” she purrs, tracing a pattern teasingly close his jeans waistband.
He pulls in a deep breath at the feeling, and Mai thinks for a moment she’s done it, but then Zuko’s eyes cloud over and harden, “I think it’s best if you leave,” he tells her and Mai’s hand flashes out to slap him before she even thinks about it.
“It isn’t nice to lead women on like that,” she hisses, and her words are sharp as knives.
“I know,” Zuko sighs and Mai can feel her anger lesson considerably as she notices how remorseful he sounds, “But I don’t want to be the kind of guy who uses a girl as an escape because his own life is so confusing. I’m sorry,” he tells her, and looks at her with such regret that Mai can do little more than sigh.
“Silly fool. If it’s her,” Mai jerks her thumb in the direction the brunette walked down, “you’re not doing yourself any favours bringing women back here,” Mai tells him before turning around and closing the door behind her. Outside, she sighs deeply, she’d been so close to being with the famous Zuko too, who would have thought a pop star like him would have had a conscience? With another sigh, Mai pushes off the trailer and wanders back to the bar across the road.
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“What’s with her?” Sokka asked, and Aang got up, his eyes concerned, clearly intending to follow her, when Zuko surprised everyone by almost running to the door, a determined look to his eye. “Oh no, Oh no, Oh no,” Sokka muttered, chewing through the rest of his meat as quickly as he could - he just knew something was about to happen, and he didn’t know if that would be a good thing or not.
---
When Zuko found her, Katara was standing in the center of the stage, her eyes closed as she sang one of her songs, and it was clear in the way her hands moved through the motions of her guitar that she was miles away, and Zuko wished he could follow her, find out where it was she went when she was lost in herself like she was now.
She stopped abruptly however, and spun about to glare at him, her eyes brimming with so many emotions, Zuko wanted to dive into their swimming depths to experience each one properly.
“What,” she spat out, “do you want?”
What did he want? Zuko wasn’t really sure, his feet ran after her of their own accord, he hadn’t stopped to think about the why on the way, he had just followed the want to follow her, make sure she was okay and - Katara stopped his whirling thoughts by laughing derisively,
“You know, I was beginning to think maybe you weren’t as bad as I’d first thought, but then, you turn out to be exactly the kind of guy I thought you’d be - the kind who uses women because they’re there. So, how was she? Was she worth the heartache you probably caused her? Was it worth it, Zuko?”
The way she snarled out his name was almost physically painful, but that was overridden by the anger that swirled up at her assumption.
“I didn’t sleep with her,” he snapped, his hands clenching into fists, “I sent her back, and she slapped me for it. I don’t want to be that kind of guy, Katara. You’d already labelled me as the bad guy before you even knew me.” She opened her mouth to say something then, and by the flash in her eyes, Zuko knew it was going to be another angry retort, but his patience had ran out, he was tired of her treating him like a pariah because of something that was out of his control.
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“I’m sorry about your father, Zuko. But that doesn’t excuse you for being a jerk, arrogant, self-absorbed … You mightn’t have slept with the girl last night, but what if I hadn’t been there? Would you have then? How many others have come before her?”
“None, there haven’t been any others,” Zuko snarled, and his hands came to rest at the wall beside Katara’s head in an attempt to control the frustration that was building inside, but what he was frustrated about was beginning to become hazy. What was frustrating him more? That he hadn’t even considered bringing someone home before Katara came and messed his head up? That he was so close to her, and yet so far away? Or that she believed the worst of him? It was all becoming muddled in a strange ball of frustration that was moving further down his stomach, implying other frustrations he didn’t need to be thinking about right then.
“Why should I believe you?” Katara hissed, but her voice was reedy, almost as if she were short on breath, and her head pushed itself a little further into the wall, her hands coming to clutch at the black curtain that hung there.
“What reason have you to not believe me?” Zuko asked, and vaguely realised the anger had ebbed from his voice, it was softer now, almost down to a whisper.
“What I saw last night, do you really expect me to believe it hasn’t happened before after that?” Katara’s voice was heavier, laced with something Zuko couldn’t place, but the tone of it sent a shiver right through him.
“Nothing happened last night, Katara,” Zuko said, his eyes locking with hers and pleading with her for acceptance. Slowly, he could see as her eyes melted from hard ice into something different, uncertainty perhaps?
“Why?” she asked, and as a slight pink darkened her cheeks, Zuko wondered why that might be. “Why didn’t you sleep with her,” Katara continued, though Zuko could see it in the way that her fingers fiddled with the curtain cloth she was uncomfortable asking, “You brought her back, clearly meaning to,” her eyes had hardened up again momentarily, “So why not do what you meant to do?”
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“I couldn’t do it when I saw you there,” he murmured, and this time Katara’s lips form a word behind his fingers, Why? she’s asking, “I don’t know,” Zuko answers her truthfully, and he can see the scepticism in her eyes, “I think it’s because …” he isn’t quite sure how to finish that sentence, but as his fingertips come to brush against Katara’s lips instead of restraining them, his thumb lingering at the corner of her mouth, he thinks he knows how. “Because I, inexplicably, like you.”
Katara just looks at him for a moment, blinking as she processes those words, and then her eyes narrow, “Is this a joke?” she asks him, and Zuko doesn’t know whether he should laugh or feel offended. “Because if this is, I swear it, I will end you,” and she says with such certainty behind her voice that Zuko doesn’t doubt it, but that’s exactly what he likes about her. That she doesn’t waver, that she’s honest.
Before he knows it, Zuko has his hands on the wall at the side of her head again, and he hears Katara’s sudden pull of breath, he hears her ask, “Zuko, what are you …?” and he thinks he can hear a mild amount of anxiety behind those words, but that doesn’t stop him from brushing his lips against her, tentatively and feather-light - a promise of a possibility, before pulling back just enough to gauge her reaction.
He isn’t really sure what to expect, Katara is about as unpredictable as the rain, but Zuko supposes that’s just another thing he likes about her. He never knows what to expect, and it can be a touch thrilling. But he’s waiting for the hit that her eyes are promising, he catches the way her hand is coming towards him.
What he didn’t anticipate was the lack of force behind it as she places the hand tenderly on his cheek, her fingertips brushing against the scar tissue around his eye, before the other latches around the back of his neck and pulls him back towards her, their mouths clashing together, and it is by no means gentle, or tender. It’s like a battle between the rain and a fire wanting to burn, but because it’s a kiss shared with Katara, Zuko doesn’t think he expected it to be any different.
Acting on instinct alone, his hands close around the back of her thighs and pull her legs off the floor as Zuko steadies her, pressing their bodies as close to the wall as possible, their firewater kiss still raging, and he can feel their heartbeats both thumping against their chests, but that doesn’t matter at all, all that he can think of is how he’s kissing Katara and for the first time in Agni knows how long, he feels right.
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Suddenly there’s a brilliant flash and both singers look over in the direction with surprise. There’s someone standing there with a camera, and they very clearly just snapped themselves a picture of Zuko and Katara’s less-than-decent embrace.
“Shit,” Zuko mutters, vaguely wondering if he should chase the paparazzi-photographer down, but as he feels Katara’s legs attempt to right themselves, Zuko growls and tightens his hold on them so they stay right where they were - resting just above his hips. Focusing his attention back on Katara, Zuko can see the way her cheeks are flushed, and she’s drawing breaths in heady pants that make him anxious to pick up where they had been before the flash alerted them to anyone’s presence. Her eyes, however, are hard once again and that’s the only thing that keeps Zuko from ravishing her mouth once more.
“You realise that’s going to be all over the tabloids by tomorrow, don’t you, and it’s entirely your fault!”
Zuko hums thoughtfully, and envisions it for a moment, and then his mouth breaks into a wide grin, “Not so sure I care about that,” he tells her before covering her mouth with his again, pressing as close to Katara as he can, an action that has her gasping with … something, something Zuko’s looking forward to finding out.
But then a shrill “That’s my sister!!” breaks the moment and Zuko quickly ducks his head as a boomerang comes hurtling in his direction. “I’ll kill you!” Sokka shrieks, running towards Zuko, and Zuko barely has time to set Katara back down on the floor, swoop down and capture her waiting mouth once more with a lingering kiss before he’s forced to catapult off the stage in order to avoid her enraged, surprisingly agile, older brother.
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I hope you enjoyed it, kefiradalila! I had more fun that I realised I would trying to weave key Zutarian moments in, not to mention trying to express how their relationship changes. Well, I hope you're happy with the outcome <3
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Yep, that was great! I know I didn't give you the easiest prompt because I like to make people's lives difficult... and I wanted to see how someone would pull off Zutara + pop star. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
when I first read about Zuko's gyrating leather-clad hips, I straight out giggle snorted)
and I also love Sokka's UST comment :P
I was trying to imagine what kind of music they would play... for some reason I pictured Katara's band as playing ska-type music... with Katara on guitar, Sokka on drums, Toph on key board, and Aang on sax/trumpet/clarinet/whatever wind instrument he feels like at the moment.
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Initially, I had no idea as to what to do ... But then I had an image of the paparazzi scene and was along the lines of "OMG, YES!!!" so, thankyou for giving me an interesting prompt! It was fun to play with!
Ah, yes, I just couldn't resist myself. Zuko, in leather pants? Yeah~ >D
I'm glad you liked the UST comment too, I felt if anyone was going to say anything about the tension in the room, it had to be Sokka XDD
Mmm, it's difficult to say with the kind of music they'd play, because Zuko seems like he's a one-person thing, whereas the others have an actual band. I think - simply cause I love that Stand In The Rain song by Superchick, cause it seems to suit Katara alot - I envisioned them being a girl punk-rock band, with Toph on drums (cause Toph playing drums would be bad-ass) Sokka on Bass, and Aang ... I have no idea. You're right with the wind-instruments, they would definately suit aang. But, I think that thought is influenced by my love of that kind of music XDD
Anyway, I'm glad you liked the ficlet. Thankyou for requesting it - really. I had a lot of fun writing this, the challenge of the setting was good <33
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