A/N: I don't even write A:TLA stories anymore, but this is a prompt! And who am I to turn down prompts? So this is for 'things you said after you kissed me.' Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.

As Katara sits down on the cushioned couch in his sitting room, Zuko feels the urge to thank her again for coming on such short notice. He bites his tongue, though, because he already knows that she would laugh and tell him that she really doesn't mind, and that he doesn't have to keep thanking her. He knows because they've already had this conversation twice on the way to his room.

"So, um, what do you have so far?" she asks him.

Zuko looks down at the blank scroll in front of him and feels his blood boil in shame. He sets down the paper lest he catch it on fire.

"Nothing good. Nothing that will make me sound like a leader."

Katara presses her hands together and sets them on top of her knees. "Zuko, you are a leader. You're the Firelord. I'm sure everyone will respect what you have to say at the festival."

"Not if I say it wrong!" He says, throwing his arms wide and feeling useless.

He doesn't want to give this speech, not if it means looking like an idiot in front of the entire Fire Nation and proving what a screw-up of a leader he really is. He's barely made it through the past few months, and it was only through the help of his uncle and friends that he was able to make policies that didn't completely suck. He's still worried about the stability of his nation, though.

"Zuko," she says slowly, and her words are like gentle waves lapping along the shoreline. "I know you're nervous. But you've given speeches before this. Remember after the war? That speech that you gave helped bring the nations together. You brought hope after almost a century of fear and pain. You have the power to do it again."

He exhales loudly through his nose, and hopes that Katara doesn't see the wisp of smoke that rises in the air with it.

"People would have clung to anything I said at that time, so long as it was good news. Besides, it was Aang who did all the hard work. I just had to tell everyone what he did."

Katara chuffs a little, a noise close to a snort, but daintier, and Zuko finds himself completely enthralled by it. "You don't give yourself nearly enough credit. Come here."

He quits his panicked pacing in favor of walking over to Katara, who has turned around on the couch and is now sitting on her knees, looking out over his balcony. She looks so young in that position that Zuko can feel the corners of his mouth curling up slightly at the sight of her, though he makes sure to school his expression back into indifference as he kneels next to her.

"The Fire Nation is beautiful this time of year," she says quietly, looking down at the city below them, with all the bustling people going about their lives. He can see merchants selling foreign goods, long lines in front of food stands in the streets, children climbing trees and worried mothers trying to call them down. The summer in the Fire Nation is always the busiest, with the sun at its brightest and the people at their happiest.

Katara speaks again. "I've never seen the capital at this time of year."

"Well, technically you did once, but you were invading it to try and kill my father, so you probably didn't get a good look."

Immediately after he says it he wants to light himself on fire. Smooth, Zuko. Remind her of probably one of the worst days of her life, when their entire mission to protect the world failed and she was separated from her father. Real smooth.

Katara's expression doesn't change. "I did see some of the neighboring islands though, and they were nothing like this. The people seemed so angry most of the time, and underneath that, scared. Even in the Fire Nation's position of power during the war, you could see how uneasy they were throughout their daily lives." She turned to look at him then, her eyes meeting his. "But everything's different now. Looking at this city, at your people, you can see uneasiness slowly dissolving away. Your people don't just look happy, they look relieved. And you helped make that happen."

Zuko's face heats up under the sincerity of her gaze, and he looks down at his hands gripping the back of the couch, unsure what to say. He feels like he never knows what to say anymore.

Katara isn't finished though.

"The Summer Solstice Festival is the perfect opportunity to show how far you've come since then. How far you've all come since then. I'll help you figure out how to say it, but you've proven it with your actions, Zuko. They already know all the good you've done for them."

Zuko isn't entirely sure when his hands loosened their grip on the couch, but he can feel one slipping to the back of Katara's head and pulling her towards him, his lips brushing against hers lightly. He's barely applied any pressure before he's pulling away and gasping at his own stupidity. That wasn't an invitation for a kiss! Just because she says nice things about him doesn't mean he needs to assault her with his mouth!

"Katara–" he stutters, panicked. "I'm sorry–I didn't mean to–You can hit me if you want–"

But Katara's laughing at his dumbfounded expression before he can even get his jumbled thoughts into full sentences.

"You don't have to say anything, not right now," she tells him with a smile. She takes his hand and leads it back to where it was before, in the wavy curls on the back of her head. She leans forward and kisses him back, with more force this time, and Zuko decides that maybe not talking is better, at least for right now.