concoursec | backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

Entry tags:

backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

Character(s): Katara, Zuko
Location: Katara's dormitory
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Unbeknownst to Katara, it's the night of the lunar eclipse-- and her body isn't responding well.

Katara, to put it lightly, was feeling horrible.

She wasn't sure what had happened to make her fall into such a state-- she had been perfectly fine just the day before, showing absolutely no symptoms of sickness. When she woke this morning, though, she couldn't even manage to muster enough energy to get out of bed, her body completely drained of energy. She'd grown up in the cold so the change in setting to the northern continent certainly couldn't have contributed to the change in her physical well-being. But at the moment, she was curled up in her bed with the covers drawn up to her chin, her body shivering with fever-chills and limbs aching from fatigue. But as tired as she was feeling and as much as she closed her eyes to try and rest herself to recover from her illness, sleep wouldn't claim her.

Katara shifted onto her side to try and find a more comfortable position, her hands drawing the blankets up over her head completely in a futile attempt to warm her freezing body.

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"Then why don't you stay and take care of me, then, if you're so adamant that someone has to?" Katara suddenly snapped, tired of having to argue with the firebender. She had already said over and over again that she was fine, hadn't she? She knew, though, that Zuko wouldn't bother to remain by her side for the duration of her illness, and had only made the suggestions in the hopes of finally getting him to leave.

"Hey! I offered to go and find your precious Avatar, didn't I?" the firebender snapped back, anger now replacing the unease from earlier. He curled his hands into fists at his sides, glaring down at her.

The chicobo gave a frightened 'bbbrrreeee-!' and hurried to hide behind Katara's pillows near the wall.

"And I told you I don't need him!" Katara snapped back just as fiercely, though she had to pay when the throbbing in her head increased. Closing her eyes then, she shifted so that she rested on her back, her hands pulling at the covers in a futile attempt to find some more warmth as another bout of chills attacked her.

"I don't need anyone to take care of me, alright? So you can just go now."

What was she talking about? Everyone needed someone to care for them at least once in their life. But there was a part of him that understood her obstinacy, he was the same way.

"I don't need your permission, thanks." What was this, a snapping match? A match of tempers?

Zuko sent her a sneer, still glowering, and turned on his heel to proceed with storming out on her (clearly he wasn't wanted ... or something to that extent, but what did he care?); that was when the chicobo popped out from behind the pillows to stare with big black eyes, following Zuko's retreat with a sharp 'kweh!' of protest. It hopped over the pillows, stumbling on Katara's blanket as it tried to follow, hopping off the edge of the bed to get himself up into the air to fly after his male caretaker.

It took effort to fly after the firebender, almost missing his broad shoulder in landing, Zuko's strides were that long. The chicobo 'bbbreee'd into his ear and nipped at his jaw with his little beak, chicobo claws dug into the hoodie for balance. But Zuko ignored it -- until the chicobo got his earlobe caught in his beak and tugged not so gently.

Katara could only let out a loud 'huff!' in response, rolling onto her side so that her back now faced Zuko. She didn't notice the chicobo retreating from its hiding place, though, nor the attack the small bird made on the male caretaker to go back and take care of Katara.

Noticing how Zuko reacted to the tug on his earlobe, the chicobo tugged all the harder, its small beak snapping at the lobe before releasing it only to latch itself onto his dark hair, tugging insistently on the ebony locks to force him to stop from walking out and to instead turn around.

"Ow-- Okay!" Zuko abruptly snapped at the chicobo when it tugged particularly hard on his hair. "Knock it off already--!" He turned back around to face the bedroom. The chicobo gave another tug, not happy yet; it wanted him inside the bedroom and near the waterbender.

Muttering to himself about getting a cage for the little bugger, Zuko stepped back towards the room, making his way back in. He saw that Katara had turned her back to the door and he grit his teeth, muscle in his cheek flexing, glaring at the bundle of blankets. He folded his arms over his chest.

Stupid Avatar, stupid Sokka, stupid Toph--

The bundle of blankets, however, was shaking; the cold had become so unbearable that instead of coming in passing chills, her body wouldn't stop shuddering. Her body was curled and huddled against the wall, the blankets cocooning her in an effort to provide some warmth. She hadn't even noticed that Zuko had reentered her room, having assumed that he had left as soon as she had turned her back to him.

He can only imagine how hard Sokka would try to kick his ass if he turned and left her the way she was now, visibly trembling in her blankets, in need of help, pressing to the wall as much as she could in the hopes that it would help keep her warm. Damn friendships. Damn them all. And damn him for caring and damn his feelings.

Zuko said nothing and walked over to the bed. One knee pressed into the mattress caused it to dip beneath his weight as he reluctantly leaned over her. His arm curled over her waist and he pulled her away from the wall, bracing himself for her to struggle and resist. The chicobo hopped down and waited, standing on the nightstand. Zuko didn't think about it as he laid down behind her, making sure most of the blankets were piled on and around her, his arm tightening to pull her back against him.

He was a firebender, he could warm his hands, he could warm any part of himself. If he did that he could help her, right? But how high would he have to go in heating himself up first in order to get her warm through all the blankets? There was no way in whatever hell existed in this world that he would slide under the blankets with her. Hell no.

It was better to warm the blankets and then warm her, or at least that was the best option in Zuko's mind, which is what he did, awkwardly sliding his other arm under the pillows to settle in behind her, his other tightening around her in reflex.

The struggle was weak, practically nonexistent; there was only a small gasp of surprise and a brief wriggling of her body before even Katara couldn't muster up enough energy to shake him off, nor did she exactly want to after feeling the heat that emanated from his body.

She gave a small, shaky sigh of contentment as she twisted in his arms to face him, an unconscious movement that she was barely aware of. All she knew that she was cold, cold cold, and his body was the only source of heat that managed to finally seep into her clammy skin, reaching her aching muscles and finally soothing out the tremors of her body. Her head tilted forward to rest her brow against his collarbone, her body curling beneath the blankets to press as close to the heat as she could beneath the layers and layers of fabric.

"Warm," Katara murmured in a small voice, the single word a signal of her acceptance of his help.

At first Zuko was fine with holding her - he was only doing it out of the goodness of his heart (read: his friendship with Sokka) and because she really, really seemed to need it, the heat. But then she turned around to face him. That was when everything got weird for him.

He found himself growing more and more conscious of how close she was, the way she was breathing against his chest and how his hoodie blanketed most of it, her hair soft but tickling his jaw and chin. How her body was so close to his; all of this didn't help the fact that he was a sixteen year old male teenager, nor did the blankets wrapped around her help much either.

Zuko held his breath when he heard her utter that one word, cheeks heating up, his body unbelievably stiff.

What was he supposed to do now? he wondered, heart beating a notch faster than usually against his ribcage.

But Katara picked up on none of the subtle changes in Zuko's body that the change in her position brought, a sudden heaviness in her eyes as her mind started to drift. It was a wonderful feeling, this alluring warmth that was radiating from beside her, breaking through the freezing cold that had been consuming her body all day. It was unconscious, how her body scooted closer to try and absorb more of the heat, enough to warm her up completely.

With the warmth came sleepiness as well, something she welcomed with open arms; despite her sluggishness and lack of energy, she had been so restless with her illness all day. With a soft sigh of contentment, she let her fatigue descend upon her completely as her eyes fluttered shut, her lips parting as her breathing evened out and she fell into a light, but comfortable sleep.

It wasn't until he knew that she was completely out when he relaxed, finally. His arm weighed heavily draped over her side, hand unconsciously pressing to her back between her shoulder blades.

Agni ... what now?

Zuko swallowed heavily and forced himself to take a deep breath; a big mistake, the scent of her shampoo filled his nose. He wrinkled it, making a face (not that it was unpleasant, just strong). He tilted his head back against the pillow and sighed to himself, the chicobo hopping around with a quiet peep to check on Katara. It nudged Zuko in the forehead and hopped up settle and snuggle down near his arm.

"Great..."

It was going to be a long evening.

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backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

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/kills typos before you can see them....