Chapter Text
“Are you sure there’s absolutely nothing left?” Zuko asked again, his voice tight. The young man at the front desk gave him a tired look, clearly tired of being harassed.
“Please, if you could just take one more look, we would really appreciate it,” Katara chimed in, trying to smooth things over. “We’ve tried every hotel in the area, we just need somewhere to sleep. Please.”
“Look, I’ve already told you that we’re booked to full occupancy. This is a busy time of year, and the blizzard cancelling flights has pushed us to the limit,” the man sighed, staring back down at his computer screen. “I’ll check again but it’s going to be the same answer as it was half an hour ago.” He clicked through a few times, the blue light of the screen highlighting dark circles under his eyes.
“Just as I told you earlier, we’re all—oh.” The man paused with a look of surprise.
Katara and Zuko looked at each other, then back at the man, hope in their eyes. Katara leaned in closer. “Oh? What’s that mean?”
“We… We have a room available. Someone must have just cancelled at the last minute,” he explained, his eyebrows furrowing. “That’s so bizarre,” he said in a low voice, clearly not intending for them to hear. He looked back at them and schooled his face into a polite expression. “It must be your lucky day. Perhaps the spirits of the winter solstice are looking down favorably on you two,” he said. “I’ll get the booking started, I’ll just need an ID and a credit card for payment and to keep on file for incidentals.”
He’d barely finished his sentence when Zuko slammed his credit card and ID down on the desk. The receptionist and Katara both looked at him in surprise, Katara’s mouth already opened to complain about him paying, but Zuko held a hand up. “We’ll talk about it upstairs.”
Her mouth shut with a click and she narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing. The receptionist resisted the urge to roll his eyes, having already seen his fair share of stressed out couples arguing today. He snatched up the cards before either of them could change their mind and started the process of checking them in.
“There’ll be a charge on the card, but it’s just a pre-authorization, if you don’t purchase anything, the charge will disappear in a few days,” he said coolly, swiping the credit card, and activating their key card.
“Oh, thank you so much…” Katara’s eyes drifted down to the name tag above the receptionist’s lapel, “Yong. We really appreciate all the help you’ve given us today, I know that you must’ve been swamped.” She gave him a warm smile.
“It’s no problem, ma’am,” Yong replied. He stuffed the key card into an envelope and wrote their room number on it. “Your room is 314, on the third floor. Here are your things, Mr. Sozin. We hope you enjoy your stay, please don’t hesitate to call the front desk should you need anything,” he said, his expression clearly indicated that he’d really rather they wouldn’t.
Zuko took back the cards and mumbled “thanks,” nodding at Yong before grabbing the handle of his suitcase. “Thank you, Yong!” Katara said cheerily, following not far behind. Yong gave them a polite smile until they were out of sight, letting out a deep sigh and shaking his head.
—
As soon as they stepped onto the elevator, Katara pounced.
“Zuko,” she hissed, swatting at his arm. “Did you have to be so rude? The poor guy was just doing his job!”
“Ow!” he winced, rubbing where Katara hit him. “It’s not my fault he was being a prick!”
“Ugh,” Katara rolled her eyes. “He’s tired and probably had to deal with about a hundred people coming in here looking for a room because of the storm. You could stand to have some empathy, you know.”
The elevator dinged for their floor and they stepped off, following the signs to their room number.
“Katara, I know what it’s like to work in customer service, if you’ve forgotten,” Zuko said, looking at her over his shoulder as he walked ahead of her. “And he was absolutely being a prick.”
“So he wasn’t the nicest,” Katara admitted grudgingly. “But it’s the holidays, you could have at least tried to be understanding instead of getting huffy right away.”
Zuko shrugged, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation. He came to a stop in front of a door. “Here we are,” he said, a beeping noise and the sound of the door unlocking followed the press of the key card. They rolled their suitcases in, turning the lights on as the door clicked shut behind them.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Zuko said, taking in sight of the room. It was a perfectly standard room for a mid-scale hotel, with all the usual furnishings: a television, a nightstand with a lamp, a small table and two chairs, ensuite bathroom, and finally— one comically small bed.
“Wow,” Katara said. “Um, aren’t hotel beds supposed to be a lot bigger than that?” She looked at Zuko with an eyebrow raised. Zuko’s face was blank, but he was having a full blown internal panic attack. Despite Yong’s assumption, Zuko and Katara were in fact very much not together.
They had been best friends since they were teenagers— an unlikely friendship at first, but one forged through many tear-inducing talks, secrets shared in the safety of darkness, and leaning on each other through hard times. Now, a decade later, they were still as close as ever, despite no longer living in the same city as each other. Neither distance or the fair share of relationships both had throughout the years had done much to rid Zuko of his enormous crush on Katara. For years, he told himself it was nothing more than a boyhood crush on a pretty friend, but the feelings lingered. And now, here he was—stranded in a strange city the day before a holiday, stuck in a room with a too-small bed and the girl he’s lov—had a crush on since he was seventeen. He groaned.
“Zuko, are you okay?” Katara asked, placing a hand on his arm, her blue eyes looking at him in worry.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “Yep. I’m fine,” he ground out. “Let me call the front desk and see if they can do anything about this.”
“I really don’t—” Katara started, but Zuko cut her off.
“Let me at least try.”
He walked over to the phone, punching in the number from the directory.
“Hello, Mr. Sozin, how can we help?” It was the tired voice of the receptionist at the front desk. He resisted the urge to yell, and instead very calmly tried to explain the issue.
“Hi. we just checked in but I think there was a mistake, there’s only one bed? Maybe there’s another room—”
“Mr. Sozin, as I explained earlier, you took the very last room in the entire hotel. There are no more rooms available,” he cut in sharply.
“Right, but there’s two of us, and only one bed, are you sure there’s—”
“Mr. Sozin, sir, with all due respect, I do recall you saying that you would take ‘anything,’ did you not?” The receptionist’s voice was starting to rise, clearly at his wits’ end. “It’s not my fault that you and your girlfriend can’t stand to stay in the same room as each other!”
“She’s not my—”
“Now, if you don’t need anything else, I’m going to hang up now. Thank you, Mr. Sozin.” The line went dead, and Zuko pulled the receiver away from his ear and stared at it in shock.
“Well?” Katara asked expectantly, raising an eyebrow at Zuko, who was still standing dumbfoundedly by the phone.
“He said there were no more rooms. Then he started yelling at me,” he explained with a grimace.
“I told you, you should have been nicer to him. You totally deserved that,” she said with a shrug.
Zuko huffed and slumped down into one of the chairs, scrubbing a hand down his face. Katara sat down at the foot at the bed, facing him.
“I guess I’ll sleep on the floor or something, maybe they have a cot we can borrow…” He trailed off.
“Zuko, don’t be ridiculous. We can share the bed, it’s not a big deal,” she said easily. “It’ll be just like old times, remember? When we used to have sleepovers at my house with everyone back in high school.” She smiled at the memory.
“That’s obviously different, Katara. We all used to just pile a bunch of blankets on the floor, not sleep in the same bed,” he said.
“What, are you scared of sleeping next to little old me?” she teased, eyes sparkling in amusement.
Yes, he thought, his heart beating just a bit faster.
“No,” he lied. “I just don’t want to put you out, that’s all.”
“I’m telling you it’s fine. Besides, don’t think I haven’t forgotten that you paid for the room.” She put both of her hands down on the bed and pushed herself back up to stand. “Let’s talk about this some more later, okay? Are you hungry? I saw there was a restaurant attached to the hotel while we were coming in.”
“I guess I am,” he said, mulling it over. “Maybe we can go grab an early dinner.”
“Perfect. You settle in, I’m going to shower to get the airplane smell off of me, then we’ll go downstairs, sound good?”
Zuko nodded at her dumbly, watching as she started unzipping her suitcase and gathering her things.
—
All freshened up, they made their way back downstairs for their meal. The restaurant Katara mentioned was on the ground floor of the hotel, with a side entrance through the lobby that gave guests easy access. They passed the front desk again, Zuko’s eyes wandered the lobby until they locked gazes with the surly receptionist again. Yong’s eyes narrowed into a glare, his lips pursing as if he meant to say something, and Zuko quickly looked away.He took hold of Katara’s arm and hastened their pace across the lobby, wanting to get out of Yong’s sight as soon as possible.
“What are you grabbing me for?” Katara asked, squirming out of his grip and looking at him reproachfully.
“It’s that front desk guy,” Zuko hissed, his eyes darting back to the desk, where Yong was still glaring at their retreating figures. “He’s looking at us weird. I have no idea what the fuck his problem is.”
Katara rolled her eyes at his behavior. “Again, do I need to remind you that you were being a complete asshole earlier?”
“He started it!” Zuko said defensively.
Katara ignored him and continued, “Now he’s going to remember our faces and your name and room number and we’re not going to get any help at all if we call the front desk, and all because you couldn’t be nice to some poor overworked receptionist for five— oh.”
Her tirade was cut off with a small gasp as they reached the side entrance to the restaurant. Zuko came to a stop beside her. “Woah,” he said quietly.
The restaurant was sectioned off into dining seating with table service, and a bar area that resembled a tavern, complete with a fireplace and comfortable looking couches around it. Everything was wood-paneled, in contrast with the more modern look of the hotel lobby they had just walked out of. What gave them pause, though, was the decor— floor to ceiling was furnished with decorations for the winter solstice. Colorful lights were strung all along the ceiling, and garlands and wreaths of holly and fir adorned with silver and gold ribbons hung wherever possible.
A touch obnoxious if you asked Zuko, but he knew that Katara would love it. Sure enough, she turned to him with a smile playing at her lips and a delighted twinkle in her eyes. He couldn’t help but smile back at her, a feeling of warmth settling low in his stomach at the sight of her smile.
“Isn’t it pretty?” she asked, her voice wistful.
“Yeah, it is,” he replied, but his eyes lingering on her face. He let his gaze linger a moment too long before he coughed and looked away awkwardly. “Uh, wanna go get that food now?” he said, changing the subject. He shrugged a shoulder towards the dining area.
She nodded and they sat themselves at a table, where a waitress quickly came over to serve them, launching into a spiel as soon as she reached them.
“Welcome! Here are your menus, I’ll let you two look over them, but we do have some chef’s specials tonight if you’re interested, stewed komodo chicken with sea prunes and rice, a lobs—”
“Wait, I’m sorry for interrupting, but did you just say komodo chicken and sea prunes?” Katara stopped the waitress.
The young woman stopped, clearly thrown off her rhythm, and looked at Katara with a confused expression. “...Yes?” she replied.
“Like… in the same dish? Together?” Katara asked again, an eyebrow raised. The waitress looked to Zuko, confusion written across her face, but he only shrugged helplessly at her, himself not knowing where Katara was going with her line of questioning.
She looked back at Katara nervously, “Um, yes…” she trailed off.
“Very strange,” Katara said, brows furrowing in thought.
“I’ll leave you to look over the menus and be back soon to take your drink orders,” the waitress said in a rush, quickly taking her leave before Katara could ask any more questions.
“She didn’t even finish telling us the specials,” Zuko said, frowning. He looked at Katara, who still seemed to be puzzling over the dish. “Why did you keep asking her about the chicken?”
“Didn’t you hear her? Komodo chicken and sea prunes? Have you ever heard of those two things being cooked together?”
Komodo chicken was a staple of Fire Nation cuisine, usually roasted or sauteed and heavily spiced. Sea prunes were a specialty of the Southern Water Tribe, and were part of one of Katara’s favorite foods— sea prune stew. Zuko himself had tried it a few times out of politeness when he’d stayed over Katara’s for dinner during high school, but he wasn’t a fan of it, finding it overly salted and the texture strangely mushy, yet chewy. He tried to reconcile the two foods in his mind but found himself gagging.
“See!” Katara said triumphantly at his look of disgust. “Doesn’t it sound weird?”
“Yeah, I wonder what’s the deal with that…”
“I’m going to order it.”
“Katara.”
“Zuko.”
“Why would you order that after just convincing me how gross it is?” He gave her a skeptical look.
“Well, aren’t you curious? When else am I going to be able to eat something like that?” she said conspiratorially, leaning closer to him over the table.
Zuko rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and then you’re gonna find out that it’s as disgusting as it sounds, and end up eating my food instead while I starve.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Katara said with a grin. “But you know me so well.”
Zuko huffed and looked over the menu, taking a mental note to order an extra side for Katara to steal from.
The waitress came back and took their orders before scurrying off again. Looking around the restaurant, he noted that there were quite a few more people dining than one would expect, especially the night before a major holiday, no doubt travelers stranded by the storm like themselves.
“Shit,” Katara said suddenly, interrupting his train of thought.
“What happened?”
She fiddled with her phone, “I forgot to update Sokka on what’s going on, he and Suki are blowing up my messages right now. I’m going to facetime them before the food comes so they know we’re still alive.”
Zuko snorted but realized that in their preoccupation to find a place to stay, he’d also neglected to give his uncle any updates on his whereabouts. “I’ll call Uncle while you do that,” he told Katara.
She looked up from her screen with a smile. “Tell him I said hi!”
He nodded before dialing. To his surprise, the phone rang for much longer than he would’ve expected, before his uncle picked up, greeting him boisterously.
“Ah! My dear nephew, is that you?” he yelled. Zuko could hear what seemed like several people chattering in the background, and some music.
“Hi Uncle, yeah, it’s me. Are you busy right now?”
“For you Zuko, I am never too busy,” he said earnestly. Zuko couldn’t help the small smile that crept on his lips.
“I’m just calling to let you know that Katara and I found a hotel and we’ll be staying the night in Selin. The storm should be cleared out by tomorrow morning, and we’ll be heading back to the airport for our new flight,” Zuko explained.
“That is wonderful to hear. It must have been difficult to find a place on such short notice.”
“Yeah, we got lucky. We booked the last room in the hotel.”
“Oh?” His uncle’s voice perked up. “Room, you say? Are you and Katara sharing?”
“...Yes,” Zuko said hesitantly, not liking where the conversation was headed.
“Two handsome young people sharing a hotel room the night before the winter solstice—”
“Uncle—”
“—how very romantic, I hope you remembered to bring some protection!” he said cheerfully, laughing to himself. “Or perhaps not, you’re already twenty-se—”
“Uncle, if you don’t stop, I’m going to hang up,” Zuko hissed, feeling his face heat up instantly. “Are you drunk?”
“Of course I am, nephew. I am drunk on life itself!” he exclaimed suddenly, and Zuko heard a few cheers from the background. “Though, yes, I must admit that I have indulged in a glass or two of soju tonight,” he added sheepishly.
Zuko rolled his eyes. “Alright then, I’m gonna go now.”
“Please do say hello to Katara for me!”
“I’ll text you tomorrow, goodbye Uncle,” Zuko said, ignoring his comment and hanging up. He pinched the bridge of his nose, while Katara’s voice filtered in.
“—talking to Iroh right now. Oh, wait, he just got off the phone. Do you guys wanna talk to him?”
Zuko looked up at this, and Katara met his eyes briefly before her gaze shifted to something behind him. She focused on her attention back on the phone, “Actually, we’re about to eat, so I’ll just tell him you said hi. I’ll keep you updated through text. Yep. Love you too, bye!” She said, waving to the phone screen, before hanging up and putting her phone down, as the waitress arrived with their food.
The waitress set down their dinner before them, offered a brief “enjoy!”, and then scurried off leaving them to themselves.
Katara made a soft noise of surprise at the sight of her dish. It didn’t really look like what Zuko had imagined komodo chicken and sea prunes cooked together would look like, but then again, he hadn’t really been able to imagine anything at all. Her meal looked edibleat the very least — it looked like a plate of braised meat and vegetables in a tomato-y broth with rice. Whether it was as edible as it looked was anyone’s guess.
Zuko had decided to stick with a basic hot sandwich and an extra side of fries for Katara’s inevitable ransacking of his dinner.
He started digging in without a word, his hunger getting the better of him. He saw Katara start to eat and paused for a second, waiting expectantly for her reaction. She took a bite and her eyebrows furrowed.
“Well?” Zuko asked.
She ignored him and went for a second bite, as if to confirm what that initial forkful had told her.
“Zuko…” Katara started slowly. “This is actually amazing.”
He regarded her skeptically. “Is it really, or are you just too stubborn to admit that you ordered something gross?”
“No! It really is good,” she said between bites. “Do you wanna try some?”
Zuko made a face. “You know I don’t like sea prunes.”
Katara snorted. “Right, I forgot that you’re the weirdo that pretends to like sea prune stew for years without saying anything.”
“Oh come on, it’s been years, and I was just being polite!”
“Zuko, that was literally just last year. The only reason we even found out is because Sokka outed you to Gran-Gran!”
“Shut up,” he said, feeling his ears heat up.
“Just try it. It doesn’t really taste like how sea prunes usually do anyway, it’s really good,” Katara said, gesturing towards her plate.
“Alright,” he agreed, knowing that she wouldn’t let up. He went to pick up his own fork to take from her plate, until he heard her say “here.”
She had some food already lined up for him, leaning over the table slightly to reach him, and her other hand cupped under a spoon so that the food wouldn’t spill.
“Oh, um—” he started awkwardly, but Katara kept going until the spoon hovered right by his mouth. He opened it and reached over a bit so that he could meet her, and one of her fingers brushed the bottom of his lip. His eyes met hers across the table, and they both froze for just a second, before she broke the moment by pulling the spoon away.
In all his years of knowing Katara, and over possibly hundreds of meals shared together, she had never fed him directly like that. The gesture, combined with the barest touch of her hand, felt strangely intimate in a way he couldn’t quite describe.
“So? What do you think?” her voice broke through his thoughts. She was looking at him with an excited smile now, waiting for his answer. “Good, right?”
Zuko, too preoccupied with what had just happened, had gone on autopilot and chewed and swallowed without even tasting the food. He simply nodded. “Yeah, uh, it was good.”
She beamed. “I knew you would like it too.” She looked back down at the food thoughtfully. “Who knew that Fire Nation and Water Tribe food could go so well together?”
He gave it some thought. “Honestly, it’s a little weird that we’re trying Water Tribe and Fire Nation fusion food for the first time in some random Earth Kingdom city.”
“Is it?” she asked, her face still thoughtful. “I mean, after all, we met in the Earth Kingdom didn’t we? How come we never thought of something like that before?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Bringing together our two cultures. Why haven’t we done that before?”
Zuko had the distinct feeling she wasn’t talking about food anymore, but also did not know what in spirits’ name she was on about. So he shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Katara looked at him curiously but shifted her attention back to her food again. “Hmm,” she said, and left the conversation at that.
Zuko didn’t quite know what to say and he was very hungry, so they finished the rest of their meal in silence.
They paid for their food and Zuko stood to leave. Before he could make his way to the lobby, Katara stopped him with a gentle hand on his forearm.
“It’s still early, do you want to have some drinks before bed?” she asked with a hopeful smile.
Grateful that she broke the semi-awkward silence, he nodded, his own lips quirked up in a tentative smile back. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
The bar area of the restaurant was now busier than it was before, but not overly crowded. He scanned the room and was surprised to see an empty sofa by the fireplace.
“Katara, why don’t you go grab that couch and I can get us drinks?” he suggested.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you paid for the room.” Katara said, giving him a look. “Go sit and I’ll get this round, okay?”
“But—”
“Zuko, let me,” she said, and he felt her soft touch on his arm again. “Please?”
He sighed.
Katara didn’t need him to say anything to know she’d won this argument. “What do you want to drink?” she asked, practically preening.
“Just get me whatever,” he shrugged.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, squeezing his arm lightly.