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Katara lounged on the beach next to Suki, bending the salty ocean water out of her hair. Sokka and Toph were still in the surf, playing some complicated game, and Aang and Zuko were down the beach, doing some firebending katas. At least, Zuko was trying to get Aang to do the katas, but Aang kept looking down the beach, obviously wanting to join the others.
“Hey Katara, would you braid my hair?” Katara tore her eyes from examining Zuko- not because he was shirtless and hot, because she was analyzing his disciplinary techniques, thank you- and smiled at her friend.
“Sure!” She knelt in the sand behind Suki. “Do you have anything specific you want in mind?” Suki shook her head.
“No, I don’t mind what you do. Just something to keep it off my neck please, it’s so hot here.” Katara laughed.
“It is the Fire Nation.” She pointed out as she began skillfully separating Suki’s hair into even halves, tied off one half, and started separating the other into smaller sections.
“So…” Katara’s eyes immediately narrowed at Suki’s tone. She could practically hear the sly smile on Suki’s face. “I couldn’t help but notice how you couldn’t seem to keep your eyes off of a certain shirtless firebender all morning.” Katara felt her face flush, and was grateful that Suki couldn’t see her face from that position.
“I was just keeping tabs on Aang’s training, that’s all.” She lied. Suki gave a disbelieving hum.
“So it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s super hot?”
“Suki.” Katara gave her hair a playful tug, and Suki laughed.
“What? I may be off the market, but I can still admire the goods.” She tried to tilt her head to look at Katara, but Katara held her head firmly in place.
“Anyways, you guys seem a lot closer lately.” Suki pressed.
“Yeah, I guess we are. He’s really good about helping out around the camp, and it turns out we get along really well when I’m not yelling at him.” She said, eliciting a laugh from Suki.
“You two do make a good team.” The older girl told her as Katara finished up the first braid. “And, I did happen to notice him checking you out earlier. He turned bright red when I caught him.” Suki giggled. Katara’s fingers froze in her hair, but before she could question her, Sokka was running over to them.
“Braid train!” He shouted enthusiastically, shaking his head like a wet polar dog and plopping down in front of Suki.
“Will you do my wolf tail? You’re so good at it!” He exclaimed, smacking a wet kiss on her cheek while Suki giggled. “Toph, you get over here too! I can make that mop of yours into a work of art!”
“Yeah yeah, I’m coming.” Toph said, heading towards them up the beach. “Not that I’ll be able to see your masterpiece-”
“You can feel it!” Sokka waved her question away. “Besides, everyone likes having their hair played with. Come on!”
Down the beach, she could see Aang questioning Zuko- he loved braid train- before sprinting over to join them. Zuko loped over as well, looking somewhat awkward.
“Zuko, you can braid Katara’s hair, and I’ll do yours!” Aang offered enthusiastically. “I’m always the caboose, since, ya know.” He rubbed his bald head and laughed. Zuko’s eyes widened at the suggestion.
“Oh, that’s okay, I don’t actually know how to braid.” Zuko admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Was that sunburn on his cheeks, or blush? Was he really that embarrassed to not know how to do something?
“Me either!” Aang and Toph replied together brightly.
“I always get to be the front.” Toph bragged.
“And I just play with her hair.” Aang told him. “Like this.” Aang started trying to separate her hair out, immediately catching his fingers in a tangle and yanking.
“Oops, sorry Katara.” He said sheepishly.
“It’s fine.” Her mother and father were always gentle when braiding her hair, but Gran Gran pulled tight, ensuring that almost nothing would knock the braids out. Besides, Katara had naturally tangled hair, so she was used to painful tugs.
“Here Zuko, you go.” Katara heard the sand shifting behind her, and felt Zuko’s aura of warmth at her back when he took Aang’s spot behind her.
Zuko’s fingers were much more hesitant, but he gently pulled the tangles in her hair apart painlessly. His fingers were undeniably clumsy, and she heard him quietly sighing behind her each time he dropped a strand.
Katara finished Suki’s hair quickly, and patiently sat still while Zuko worked. It did feel really nice. Relaxing. And the comfortable warmth of his hands calmed her more, made her want to melt into him- Katara blushed.
Luckily, Suki finished soon after her, saving her from her imagination. Sokka was too distracted constructing his masterpiece to beg Suki to keep playing with his hair, so the train was slightly disrupted as the two girls chatted. Unfortunately, due to their company, they couldn’t keep the conversation they’d been having going. After a while Zuko gave a quiet sigh.
“I think that’s the best I can do.” He said, self-deprecating. Katara ran her hands over the two slightly misshapen three-strand-braids he’d come up with. They were looser than she would have done them, but he’d been so delicate, clearly afraid of pulling her hair, that she wasn’t surprised. She gave him a soft smile.
“Thanks Zuko. It feels like you did a pretty decent job.” Suki nodded her agreement.
“It’s pretty good for your first time. Aang’s been at it for a while now and he hasn’t picked it up yet.” Suki said, giggling at the short, wonky braids sticking out of Zuko’s head at odd angles.
“Zuko’s hair is extra hard because it’s so short and slippery.” Aang pouted.
“Ahem.” Sokka’s loud cough took their attention, and he presented Toph to them.
“Do I look like an idiot?” She asked bluntly. The others just blinked at her for a few moments.
“It’s certainly… complex.” Suki offered. Toph’s hair was in a pile of twisted, many-stranded braids. Unfortunately, many of the strands were slipping out, making it look like she’d been caught in a windstorm. Sokka scowled.
“I should have done it on Katara. I’m used to hair with more texture, not all this slippy nonsense!” He defended himself.
“You’ve been able to practice with Toph’s hair for months.” Katara pointed out, making him scowl even more.
“Nothing this complex! Here, let me try it on you.” He reached out for Katara, but she squeaked and scooted away.
“No! Zuko just finished these, I want to keep them in!” Sokka went after her, which began a chase along the beach, which quickly devolved into a game of tag instead.
Somehow, despite all of her running that afternoon, Katara’s braids held until that evening, when she undid her hair. Tucked high in one of the braids was a little spray of baby’s breath. Katara smiled softly at it, twirling it in her fingers. She hadn’t even realized he’d put it there. They had been sitting up at the top of the beach, near the vegetation, so it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to reach out and grab it. Still, the thought that he’d done so gave Katara a warm, fuzzy feeling in her stomach.
Katara lounged on the sofa in Zuko’s office, reading over a scroll as she waited for him to finish up his paperwork and head to dinner with her. Since becoming the Fire Lord he was often absent from meals, so they all took turns barging into his office to pressure him into taking breaks. Dinner wasn’t for a while yet, but Katara liked sitting in comfortable silence with him. And Zuko didn’t seem to mind that Katara’s turn kept coming up so often, or that she hung around all afternoon, rather than just showing up to drag him to dinner like the others usually did.
A small huff of frustration caught her attention, and she looked up from her scroll to see Zuko brushing his bangs back from his face, behind his ear. A moment later it slipped down again, and Zuko brushed it back in frustration. Katara watched this happen a few times with growing amusement before she finally spoke.
“I could braid it back for you if you wanted.” She offered.
“Huh?” Zuko’s head whipped up to look at her, eyes wide as though he’d forgotten she was there. Katara giggled.
“I said I could braid it for you.” He continued gaping at her, so she shrugged. “Only if you wanted. It seemed like it might be in your way.” She explained, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Zuko stared for another moment before a light flush rose on his cheeks.
“Sure, if you don’t mind. That probably would help a lot.” He admitted, shoving his bangs back just for them to swing into his face again. Katara laughed, making her way over to stand behind him.
“Can’t have a few stray hairs keeping our Fire Lord from getting the job done.” She teased. “You can keep working, I used to braid Sokka’s hair when we were growing up, so I’m used to a squirming target.” Zuko scoffed.
“I don’t squirm.” Katara just hmmed in response, and he shot her a playful scowl. Unable to wipe the silly grin off of her face, Katara undid the tie that only succeeding in holding some of his hair back, carding her hands through the loose, silky strands.
“Wow Zuko, your hair is so soft.” She couldn’t see his face from her angle, but the tip of his unscarred ear turned bright red.
“Oh, uh, thanks Katara.” He said awkwardly. After that, they lapsed back into comfortable silence, Katara’s deft fingers twisting and plaiting his hair while Zuko read- though he did seem to be going more slowly than before. Must be a complex law or something.
Katara quickly determined that skinnier braids would work best in his hair, and set to work creating something both functional and- if she did say so herself- regal.
When she finished, she gave her work a satisfied little pat, smiling at the result. She had an almost overwhelming urge to lean forward and kiss the crown of his head- but that would be crazy.
“All done!” She exclaimed, taking a step back to stop from embarrassing herself. Zuko patted the top of his head, tentatively feeling the braids.
“Thanks Katara.” He turned in his chair, giving her a smile that made her stomach flip. “You’re much better at it than I am.” She flushed deeper, but tried to cover it with a confident smirk.
“I’ve had more practice.” She deflected his compliment, gesturing to her own hair. Zuko grinned.
“Yeah, no kidding.” He reached out and lightly tugged one of her braided hair loopies. For some strange reason, the motion made Katara gasp.
“Oh, sorry!” Zuko drew his hand back, looking embarrassed. “Was that too hard?”
Unthinking, Katara grabbed his hand to stop him from pulling away.
“No! It’s fine, I was just surprised.” She said in a rush. He was staring at her wide eyed, and Katara felt even more heat rush to her face, and released his hand. Why had she done that??
“Sorry!” She squeaked. We’re just too close together. She realized. I’m too close to him, so now I’m getting heatstroke, and doing stupid things.
Before she could step back though, the door to his study flung open.
“Guys-” Sokka cut himself off when he caught sight of them. “Ugh, can’t you find time to stare into each other’s eyes when we’re not waiting on you for dinner?” He asked, rolling his eyes ostentatiously. Katara’s face truly must have been on fire at this point.
“We weren’t-”
“It wasn’t-”
“She was just doing my hair!” They stammered. Sokka gave them a disbelieving look.
“Whatever. Are you coming to dinner or not?”
Years after the war ended, Katara found herself lounging on the beach outside the Fire Lord’s Ember Island once more. This time though, her head rested on her husband’s shoulder, as they watched their children splash in the waves. Kya, who was only just figuring out waterbending, was using her gift to clumsily splash both of her siblings. Baby Iroh- who was almost three, and wouldn’t be the baby of the family for much longer now, was delighted by this. Izumi however, was not.
“Kya, knock it off!” She grumbled. “You aren’t even doing a real move.”
“Says you.” Kya stuck her tongue out at her older sister. “You don’t even know waterbending.”
“I’ve seen Mom do it, I know it!” Izumi quickly figured out that splashing her sister and claiming “she could bend water too” irritated Kya to no end. Predictably, this devolved into a splash fight between the girls.
Happy, giggling little Iroh joined in too, though his splashing was much less directed. The fight settled into something more playful, then Kya spotted a fish, and set about trying to catch it with her waterbending. Izumi was much less interested in this, and left her younger siblings behind while she marched up the beach.
“Daddy, will you braid my hair? It’s in my face.” She called out. Kya lost all interest in the fish at this, whipping her head around.
“Braid train!” She called happily, starting to run up the beach as well.
“Don’t forget your brother!” Katara reminded her. Nodding seriously, Kya turned back, clasping Iroh’s hand in hers before heading up the beach again- at a much slower rate this time.
“Daddy can braid my hair, and I’ll braid Mommy’s hair, and Mommy can braid Kya’s hair.” Izumi announced, dropping herself on her father’s lap. By the age of seven, she had become what Kya called bossy, and what Katara and Zuko called a Fire Lord in the making.
“What about me? I want to braid Daddy’s hair.” Kya yelled, still towing Iroh along as she got to the final few steps to her parents.
“You can braid your doll’s hair.” Izumi told her. Kya pursed her lips, but dropped Iroh’s hand to pick up her doll.
“Alright. Only because Daddy’s hair never does what I say.” She acquiesced. Izumi was the only one who hadn’t inherited her mother’s textured hair- though hers still wasn’t quite as silky smooth as Zuko’s.
“And you can braid my hair little buddy!” Zuko exclaimed, scooping up baby Iroh and settling him on his shoulders.
“Braid train!” Iroh cheered, giggling.
Katara bent the water from her children’s hair to make it at least slightly easier to work with, and settled into her spot in the train. Her bulging stomach made getting at her younger daughter’s hair slightly more difficult- the fact that Kya was constantly wiggling around didn’t help either- but this wasn’t her first rodeo, and she was soon twisting her dark locks into something resembling a hairstyle. It wasn’t as though it would last very long on the five year old anyways.
Katara’s main objective was to keep her own head very still, as Izumi took her braiding very seriously- and she was pretty good at it too. When they were finished, they all compared braids. The braids on Izumi’s head were by far the best- Zuko had vastly improved since the end of the war, and Izumi was much better at keeping still than Kya. Besides, by the time everyone else was finished, Kya was already back in the water, her hair half-falling out of the fishtail braids her mother had done.
Zuko looked silly with his hair sticking up all over the place- and Katara winced to think of how many times Iroh had likely yanked painfully on his father’s hair- but the look of utter adoration on his face as he complimented his daughter on the plait she had done on her mother’s hair filled Katara’s heart with pure joy.
How had she ever not known she loved him? She wondered, still bewildered at how long her younger self had denied her feelings. If she had ever known that this could be her future… Katara was generally a happy person, but this was happiness beyond belief.
She scooted back up to Zuko’s side, leaning her head on his shoulder and squeezing her son’s chunky little leg, making him explode in a fit of giggles. With the agility of a pig-monkey, Iroh clambered down from his father's shoulders, settling himself across both of his parents' laps for a well deserved nap.
Katara gently pushed the hair back from his round little baby face, sighing contentedly against her husband. Zuko pressed a kiss to the top of her hair.
"I love you."