keep the paper lantern lit

jealousy

welcome to day one of zutaraang week 2020, put together by zutaraangtastic on tumblr! y'all don't know HOW excited i am for this. i've had everything written for like,, two-three weeks lol. all of the oneshots in this collection take place post-series; for most of them, aang is 20, katara is 21, and zuko is 23 (i'll mention in my a/n if something is different). aang is 20 not 19 mainly because i always imagined him as a year a half younger than katara, so 12 at the beginning of atla but 13 by the end of the show's run. my oneshots center around zutaraang with aang in the middle (e.g. kataang and zukaang; aang has two hands!) and platonic zutara, but you are of course free to interpret their dynamic however you'd like! i hope you enjoy :)

n.b. i do not know when they actually worked on cranefish town in canon. forgive me

~*~

jealousy: talk shit (try not to get hit)

"This is the first time he's been back to the Fire Nation in months and what does he do? He lets himself get mobbed by fans," Zuko grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a manner that Katara assumed would probably be considered childish for someone of his royal status. "I feel so loved."

She snickered at his pouting. "As if you didn't expect this to happen. Aang doesn't know how to turn them down without accidentally hurting their feelings, so he just deals with it."

"Easy for you to say," Zuko muttered, rolling his eyes. "At least you've been travelling with him for the past few weeks. My only company for the last month and a half has been politicians."

Katara grimaced. It was true that her position in the South Pole allowed considerably more flexibility within her schedule than Zuko could ever dream of having as Fire Lord. "Right. My bad."

Zuko sighed, dropping his arms to his sides. "It's fine. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's not your fault that Aang is the Avatar and he's always busy with a million different responsibilities to each nation. Or, worse, in the rare moments that he's not busy, there's always a million fangirls draping themselves over him."

Katara snorted. "Hey - don't forget the fanboys."

Zuko's eye twitched. "Yes. Fangirls. Fanboys. Fan-people. All of his fans. I don't think Aang realizes how much they constantly work my nerves."

There was something uniquely hilarious to Katara about seeing Zuko get jealous. Not that she was in any place to criticize, of course. One time a girl had flung herself at Aang and tried to rest her head on his shoulder while wrapping her arms around his waist, and Katara had gotten so pissed that she'd accidentally burst a pipe running through the wall behind her.

Oops.

But the look on the girl's face had so been worth the property damages she'd paid. Worth the lecture Aang tried - and failed - to give her afterwards, too.

Regardless, both she and Zuko knew their boyfriend didn't care about the attention he received, and again, it wasn't his fault that he was the Avatar and everyone adored him more than they loved their parents. Even if that adoration was incredibly annoying.

"Look - who does that guy think he is?" Zuko complained, pointing across the room to where a man with brown hair had his arm around Aang's shoulders and was laughing boisterously. "We should be the ones standing with him right now. Not some stranger."

Katara normally would have snickered at Zuko's whining, but she herself was not liking the way a petite girl was caressing Aang's arm while smiling coyly up at him. In fact, it kind of made her want to burst another pipe. Or two. And then use the water from those pipes to yank Aang towards her - away from that bimbo - for that matter.