Prom Night (Original link)

Author: Kirschreich
Rating: K+
Characters: Zuko
Genre: Angst

He watches his ex-date dance and laugh with someone else, with him of all people. She knows how much they hate each other.

It's a low, low move on her part and he really ought to be out there making a scene or something (at least it feels like he should be), but instead he leaves. He isn't entirely sure how he is supposed to feel (hurt? confused? insulted? lonely? sad?) and to cheer himself up, he thinks of Katara.

He tries to envision her here, in the gym right next to him, dressed in some frilly or glittery thing, flowers pinned to her hair. He fails miserably (Katara and a dress just doesn't mix) and instead his mind conjures the image of a twelve year old Katara in a shirt that is a tad too big, those jeans shorts she'd swear she'd be buried in and her knees scraped open and he knows she'd probably make funny faces or try to buy him with a twinkie or a dozen. (What would she say if she knew he'd overcome that addiction in a rather painful way?)

She'd probably march right up there and tell Lian just where she could shove that prissy attitude of hers. She might feel tempted to introduce the other girl to the punch bowl, too (she's done it before, he remembers, on his birthday party, the last one before he got sent away). And afterwards she'd rant about how stupid he was taking Lian to the prom in the first place. The thought makes him smile. It also makes him feel a whole lot better.

"Zuko, hey. I heard what happened. You ok?" Yosuke asks him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turns slightly, smiling at Yosuke and his date.

"I'm fine," he says. "A friend helped me sort things through," he murmurs and reaches for the proffered cup of punch, wondering what Katara is doing now.