Zutara Week 08 - Day 1 - Denim

From the day Zuko had walked into homeroom freshman year wearing a black t-shirt with the sleeves torn off and the faded blue jeans ripped at the knees, no rest was given to the guy from day one. If it wasn't his gorgeous body that attracted the ladies, is was his position as the head guitarist of his band, "Banished Prince" or the mysteriousness that emanated from him. All of this, strangely, was never bothered by the large scar over Zuko’s left eye - if nothing else, it added to his appeal.

Despite Zuko's popularity with the female population, he had had few girlfriends throughout high school - although there was a time when most of the school thought he and Mai would go steady after high school until their sudden break-up early senior year. Yet, throughout the entire school, there was one girl who didn't drool over Zuko every spare moment. Katara; a girl who wore jeans with everything she owned, was the best swimmer on the swim team, and among the top ten percent of the class. One could easily see why her priorities were above obsessing over a guy who likely didn't have any interest in her, despite her own small crush on the young man.

During the normal course of a day, Zuko and Katara didn't often cross paths except in the halls or in the lunch line. However, when Katara discovered she was three hours short of the requirement needed for graduation, she knew she needed to choose a project quickly. Little did she know her decision would lead her to learn more about Zuko than she ever dreamed.

To fill in the needed hours, Katara chose working in the set shop for the theatre department to finished painting the sets for the spring production of Little Shop of Horrors. Of course, the one person she didn't expect to see when she walked in the auditorium's back entrance was Zuko, already at work pouring white paint into the paint trays.

Zuko glanced briefly at Katara as he heard her approach, but quickly returned his attention to his work in order not to spill any paint. "I take it you're here to help out?" he asked as he switched to another paint tray.

Katara nodded. "Yeah," she responded as she placed her purse on the drama teacher's desk in the back of the shop."Where's Mr. Chong at?" she asked, noting that the drama teacher was absent.

Zuko sighed hugely as he replied, "Mr. Chong went out to buy his coffee. He ran out last night and forgot to pick some up on his way home."

Katara giggled remembering freshman year drama class. "That doesn't surprise me at all. Anyway, what do we have to do now?" she asked.

Zuko replied by handing her a paint roller. "All that's left is painting this last set's walls, making sure all needed props are in the prop room, and that Audrey II is working right."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Audrey II?" she asked as she carefully took one paint tray to the nearest set wall.

"The man-eating plant of the production."

"Ah."

"We should probably get to work before Mr. Chong gets back though," Zuko suggested; Katara nodded in agreement while she dipped her roller into the tray and Zuko took his own paint tray to the far set wall.

Less than five minutes later however, the set shop inexperienced Katara found herself unable to reach the top foot of the wall. Not wanting to seem like a little girl who needed help, Katara tried several times to get the top of the panel by holding the bottom tip of the paint roller, but ended up dropping it several times (the last attempt a near miss to her hair).

Zuko, stifling a small laugh, paused painting his wall a moment to ask, "Would you like some help or would you rather I let you continue until you end up with white painted hair?"

Katara flushed as she hastily replied, "Y-y-yes, please," and avoided eye contact as best she could. Zuko then crossed over to Katara's painted portion of the wall and, using his right knee to balance on the wall, carefully reached up to the portion Katara struggled to reach. Katara's eyes widened when she noticed Zuko had leaned against the wall. "Wait! You just got your..." Katara trailed off as she noticed all of the other paint stains on his jeans. "Whoa... I take you've been helping in the shop longer than just this one time, right?" she asked.

He nodded "Yeah. My father never liked that I had started my own band, but he hated when he found I liked to help out Mr. Chong with the Theatre Department." Zuko shook his head, not wanting to think of the threats he received from his father on multiple occasions. "Besides, each show requires a new coat of paint on something and I think these jeans have seen many shows through my helping out. I kind of like that, you know?"

"It does feel good!" She happily agreed.

Zuko smirked. "By the way, there were roller extensions over there," he added as he nonchalantly pointed over to the cabinet where other paint rollers were located in case other people decided to show up.

Katara's jaw dropped before she used her paint roller to add another paint stain to his jeans before giving him a playful glare. "You know you could have told me that earlier."

"True, but I like helping you out more."

Katara quickly turned away again, another bout of blushing hitting. "A-anyway, let's get back to work."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Zuko agreed, heading back to his wall of the set to continue painting.

It was the start of a ride neither one would forget.