Title: Four Steps to Flirting

Author: Haikoui

Summary: The rest of the group, Zuko learns, is not good at flirting. He tries their ideas anyway, because it isn't like he'll have time later. Set at Ember Island before the play. Zutara.

Disclaimer: ATLA belongs to Nickelodeon.

Notes: Hopefully somewhat funny! Enjoy.

Four Steps to Flirting

When Sokka catches Zuko talking to himself the night they get to Ember Island, he thinks it's pretty funny the firebender is beet red. He hears the prince muttering to himself about "gift" and "nice" and "this is going to be so embarrassing" and "she's going to have my head" and Sokka finds himself imagining a certain knife-throwing gloomgirl threatening to chop her boyfriend up after he presents her with a bouquet of flowers.

"The key, my young sir," says Sokka, striding into Zuko's room and holding his head up high as the firebender jumps, "is to surprise her with a weapon."

"A weapon?" says Zuko weakly.

"Yes!" Sokka proudly whips out his boomerang and shoves it close to Zuko's face, his voice dropping to a dramatic whisper. "Give her something she can use! Give her something to remember you by—like a set of throwing knives with your name engraved on them, or something." Sokka thinks about Suki and her fan. "Actually, I might just do that. Sokka, you genius, you. Nice talking to you, buddy." And he leaves Zuko in complete confusion, who is mumbling to himself, "Where am I supposed to get a…"

Later, Zuko is sitting on his bed with patches of leather and a carving knife as he hollows out a nice batch of wood. He doesn't engrave his name on it, but he does encase it with a nice mahogany leather that resembles the fire nation more than anything else. He cuts his fingers a few times in the process—a couple of splinters get into his palm but he hopes it'll be worth it.

When he finds Katara, she's sitting on the beach and staring out across the ocean. "Hey, Zuko," she says, turning her head and smiling when he sits down beside her.

"Here," he says, shoving the waterskin in her hands as she fumbles with it for a moment. "This is for you."

"Wow," she says, holding it up to her eyes. She takes a closer look at it. It looks ridiculous. Zuko has to admit it to himself. He's no artist and it has certainly shown, but she laughs. "This looks like it came out of a komodo dragon's rear end. No offense."

She's right, because it's maroon and almost the color of dung. He doesn't take any offense, though, because immediately after, she says, "Thanks, Zuko. I needed a new one."

He flushes to himself and tells her no problem, it was his pleasure, and he's glad she likes it.

When Suki finds out from Sokka that Zuko likes someone, she can't help it but tell him she knows so he won't screw it up. "Be considerate," she tells him the second she finds him training outside. "Tell her you'll always be there for her. Girls appreciate that kind of thing." Even girls who don't seem to appreciate anything, she thinks to herself, the image of Mai popping into her head.

"Uh—" Zuko, who is in the midst of handstand fire kicks, stares at her from where he is upside down on his hands. "Thanks, Suki?"

"It helps," says Suki, nodding. "Trust me. When a girl is a powerful fighter like yours, you've gotta be like a rock. We might say we don't need the help but internally, we'll be really grateful for it."

Zuko, whose face is slowly turning red from the blood flow going to his head, repeats, "Thanks, Suki."

"And take her out for dinner or something," Suki adds, the thought coming to her quickly. "But it's not like you can do that now."

The firebender coughs and says, "G-got it. Thanks. Are you—?"

Suki hurries away, assuring him that she's finished, and he proceeds to fall over to his stomach while coughing.

Later, Zuko finds Katara in the kitchen, waterbending the dishes clean. "If you need help," he tells her when everyone else is done with lunch and out training, "I'm here."

"I don't think cleaning dishes is that hard," she tells him, amused. "But thanks."

"And, uh—" He clears his throat, which is scratchy with nervousness. "I can cook, too. You know. Fire… and everything… I can cook some stuff, steam some things… I've had my fair share of cooking…" He trails off, seeing Katara's eyes smile at him from over soap suds. "Or I could take you to this nice place on the other side of the island, but I'm just letting you know I can cook dinner sometime."

"That'd be a nice change," she says. "Maybe."

"Uh—only for you, though," he says. "I won't cook for anyone else, yet, at least—I'd like your approval before I singe their throats on accident, or—"

"Okay, okay! Whenever you want. We can try it out, if you're sure you won't burn the place down."

He smiles in relief, offers to dry plates, and she graciously declines and says he'll have to prove his worth cooking first before he can touch the dishes. When he leaves the kitchen, he can't seem to wipe the smile off his face.

When Aang finds Zuko the next morning, training or doing whatever he does best, Aang rushes to help Zuko out with any girl trouble the prince may be having. He's heard all about it from Sokka, who can't keep his mouth shut in any way, and decides if anyone's to help Zuko out with girl things, it's the avatar.

"Give her flowers," says Aang excitedly. He's thought this all out: he's sure all girls like flowers. It can't be too hard. "All girls like flowers. And maybe a poem." He thinks of Katara in a meadow of spirit daisies and turns bright pink. "Even your crazy knife one likes flowers. I bet you she likes flowers and poems."

Zuko, who is in the middle of practicing his dragon's breath, raises his eyebrow at the monk and continues fueling the fire coming out of his mouth. It's his daily routine—it helps him maintain his breath capacity as well as warm the fire in his veins and he's just getting started feeding the fire.

"And after that," continues Aang, still thinking about Katara, "give her a big, big kiss!"

Zuko chokes on the fire that is escaping his mouth and cuts it short, heaving and clutching at his throat, which is probably splintering on the inside, and he catches the rest of the dragon's breath deep inside his stomach before it swells and blows up inside of him. He tries, unsuccessfully, to cover up the burst of fire that will escape as a result, but the fire pushes out of his mouth anyway as a rather unattractive belch. It sputters to Aang, who puts it out easily with a puff of wind.

"Yeesh," says Aang. "It was just a suggestion." He flies away on his glider, leaving Momo behind to poke at the singed embers on the ground.

Later, Zuko gathers several salamander tulips around the area—he wishes he could've found some panda lilies or something—and wraps them together with a red ribbon. He finds Katara, who is waterbending on the beach in her small clothes, and walks up to her before he can change his mind.

"Roses are red," he says, and he can literally feel the tip of his good ear turning pink, "violets are blue. Your skin is as brown as Ozai's hair in the sun, too."

Katara blinks at him.

"Which is actually kind of nice," he says in his defense. "And—uh—these are for you. Here."

She smiles, then giggles, then downright laughs, and the water at the beach moves with her mirth. He smiles, too, because she's beautiful. She takes the salamander tulips from him and thanks him, telling him they're very nice and she appreciates it, and that she really appreciated the poem, but next time, leave it up to an actual courier to come up with something.

He doesn't give her a kiss because his throat is actually still sore from his mishap earlier but he does give her a hug, and she hugs him back, saying it's nice to be able to do this sort of stuff even though they are where they are, and he tells her no problem, anytime.

When Toph finds him after Aang's training, he's sitting with his eyes closed under one of the trees in the courtyard of the house. She stomps him off the ground and he lands face down a second later, groaning.

"Tell her how you feel, Sparky," she says, plopping down next to him under the tree as he turns his head to the side and stares up at her, still lying on his stomach. She bonks his head back down to the ground in response to his movement. "She feels the same way."

"What—?" His mouth is full of dirt. He spits as much as he can out.

"Gosh," says Toph, frowning. "It's like you all forget I'm good at this stuff. Just tell Princess how you feel."

Princess is Toph's name for Katara. Zuko has learned that quickly after joining their group in the Western Air Temple. "How did you—"

She shrugs. "Call me intuitive. Sparky, your heart goes crazy around her. It's actually pretty annoying. But it doesn't help when it happens with her, too, and then I can't sleep at night when each of you thinks about the other because I can feel it. It's really annoying," she adds. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in a while."

"Sorry," says Zuko, moving to a planking position on his forearms.

"Just tell her," says Toph. "Don't be all flowery and girly and weird about it. In other words, don't be Aang and don't be Sokka. Be yourself. If you don't do it by the end of the day today I'll do it for you."

"No," says Zuko hurriedly, "No, I've got it. Thanks, Toph."

She slams a fist onto the ground next to her, and he's up in the air again. When he lands, he's on his back, staring up at the leaves of the tree. Beside him, Toph cackles. "That's for all the sleepless nights." She punches him on the arm. "And that's some encouragement."

"Thanks, Toph," he repeats, seeing stars.

Later, Zuko finds Katara in her room, getting ready to sleep. She's sitting on her bed and running fingers through her hair carefully to make sure it doesn't get so tangled in the morning. Beside her bed in a vase are the salamander tulips. She looks over and smiles. "Hey, Zuko," she says.

"Hi," he tells her. He folds his hands in front of him, before unfolding them and placing them on his hips, before folding them again, before sighing and just leaving his arms at his sides. "Hi," he says again.

"It's getting late," she says, looking out the window of her room. The sky is dark, now. "Did you need something?"

"Um—" Just tell her, comes Toph's voice in his head. He's pretty certain his racing heartbeat is driving Toph insane by now. "I like you."

"I like you, too," she says, still smiling.

He's confused for a moment. "You—okay, let's try this again," he says to himself out loud, before returning his intense look at her and saying, "I like you. I mean—I like you… more than I should probably like you… but I like you and I think it'd be nice if—you know, if you feel the same way, and maybe we could try it out after the war, or—well. I like you." He pauses, seeing Katara watching him, and then adds, "Romantically."

"I like you, too," she repeats. She waits a moment, before saying, "Romantically."

He isn't sure he heard her right. "W-what?"

"I like you," she says again. "I can tell you again, if you want, but I don't think your hearing is that bad."

"You—" He's entered a kind of shock silence, before he goes, "Really?"

"Zuko," she says, exhaling, "I thought it was pretty obvious, with me taking and using every gift you've dumped on me in the past three days." She smiles again. Zuko loves that smile.

He's almost ready to burst into sparks, he's so happy. "Can you say it again?"

"I like you," she says.

"I like you, too," he says to her, smiling, unable to stop smiling. "Sorry for the poem."

"It's alright," she tells him, "but you need to come up with some different flirting techniques. Or you just need to learn how to flirt." She stands and hugs him. It's a different hug than the one he received the day they came back from finding the man who murdered her mother. He feels all warm inside now, happy, and he can't let go of her now that he has her.

"I like you," he says, his hands in her hair, breathing her in. "I like you a lot. I've always liked you a lot."

There's a giggle that emerges from where her head is on his tunic. "Got any better words other than those?"

"I—yeah, I think I do."

She makes him promise to tell her those words after the war, preferably while learning how to flirt.

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