Innuendo

“Where have you been? I’m starving!” Sokka wailed.

“Here,” the prince grabbed something from Katara’s basket and chucked it at the Water Tribe boy’s head. “Have some cheese with that whine.”

And Katara actually laughed.

It was a quiet laugh; more of a giggle, really, but it didn’t escape big brother’s notice. The fact that Zuko was incapable of making jokes also put the Firebender under suspicion

While Sokka sulkily noshed on his hunk of cheese, Katara set to work preparing dinner. Toph and Aang were away practicing their Earthbending. The stuck up douchebag, who had until now gone off on his own to meditate while Katara cooked, actually stayed this time and muttered an offer of help. She graciously accepted and that, in and of itself, was weird: normally, the two would be fighting about how bad her cooking was, or something like that.

Sokka watched the two benders from the shade of a tree. They weren’t making eye contact, but once or twice, he could have sworn he saw their hands touch as they reached for something, their fingers flinching back as though they’d been burned.

“Sorry,” Zuko murmured, the corners of his mouth tight.

Sorry? That jerkwad was never sorry about anything!

Katara smiled wanly, rummaging through the loaded basket for ingredients for tonight’s stew. The Water Tribe money they'd been given had afforded them a lot of luxuries, including an abundance of food. By the looks of it, his sister was cooking up quite a feast tonight.

That’s when things started getting really weird.

Katara pulled cucumbers, carrots, and aubergine eggplants from the basket and languidly starting washing them in the basin of water they had brought from the river. Her hands seemed small compared to the size of the vegetables. She took up a knife and slowly peeled away the skin, taking long strips off the length of the carrots.

Zuko crouched there, watching her intently, mesmerized by the motion of her delicate hands. The Waterbender looked up at him and smiled.

“Have you seen the breasts?” she asked suddenly.

He looked startled. “Huh? What?”

“The chicken breast meat we bought.” She grinned.

“Oh. Uh…right here.” He produced a cloth-wrapped package.

“Great. I need you to take the skin off the breasts and pound them.”

Zuko cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Any other meat you want me to pound?”

She didn’t flinch. “No, but if you can stew the sausages until they’re firm, that would be great.” She went on peeling vegetables, the barest of smiles curling the corners of her mouth.

The prince furrowed his brow. He went through the basket and produced a piece of fruit.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m hungry. I’m having a peach before dinner.” He breathed on it and wiped it on his shirt.

“I thought you didn’t like peaches.”

“I changed my mind.” Zuko turned the fruit over in his hands, contemplating it. “It’s a lovely blush colour, don’t you think? And the flesh is so soft and sweet.” His voice turned husky, dropping to low whisper as he brought the peach to his lips, gently brushing the fuzzy surface. “It’s ripe and ready to be eaten. If I don’t eat it now, it’ll only get softer and juicier and then we won’t be able to take it anywhere.” He sank his teeth into the flesh, the juice spreading over his lips, dripping messily down his chin. He murmured appreciatively, almost moaning, his eyes closed.

Katara stared at him hungrily, lips parted in a pant, cheeks flushed. She gasped as the prince held the peach out to her. “Would you like a bite?”

“Okay, that’s it.” Sokka got up. “You two. Leave. Now. Take a hike, go into the woods, and rut like bunnies.”

“Sokka!” Katara gasped. Zuko looked equally as startled, as if the boy had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

He held up a hand. “Please. Katara, Zuko, just go. You have my blessings.” He added, shuddering: “Ugh.”

“Sokka…” Katara tried again.

“Don’t talk. Just go. You’re completely ruining food for me.”

The two benders looked at each other, shrugged, stood, and walked away, hand in hand. Zuko left the fruit behind.

"Perfectly good waste of a peach, too." Sokka muttered, tossing the prince's snack into the bushes.