A/N: I recently saw the new "West Side Story" and was inspired to write some Zutara. "West Side Story" is one of my favorite musicals. I've seen it twice on stage: once on Broadway in 2009 and at a local performance venue called The Northshore Music Theater here in Massachusetts.
I was inspired to write this by the Zutara Smut Week 2021 day one prompt: "But Someone Might Hear You." Unfortunately, there's no smutty goodness in this.
Katara noticed the boy with the burnt face across the crowded gymnasium. He stood apart from everyone else and watched the dancing with detached interest. Even if he weren't all alone, we would have stood out due to the burns that covered one of his eyes.
Katara couldn't help but be intrigued by him. Despite his scars, he still had a strange sort of beauty, like a damaged statue of an angel. The gym was filled with pretty girls just itching to dance, and he could probably ask any of them and get a yes. So, why was he by himself?
His gaze met Katara's. The music dimmed, and the light blurred, but he came into sharper focus. Everything that wasn't him faded into irrelevance.
Katara's first night out in Ba Sing Se had gotten off to a rough start, with a squabble about the dress Suki made for her. She'd refused to show up in powder blue with a neckline almost to her collarbone, looking like a little girl, and insisted upon borrowing one of Suki's dresses. But, Suki kept shooting her down until she was forced to put it on for lack of anything else to wear.
"Baby blue for a baby," Katara had grumbled as Suki did up the zipper. But then, she caught her reflection in the mirror, and her opinion of the dress changed.
Deep down, Katara had known that Suki's dresses, with their plunging necklines and big, flouncy skirts, wouldn't suit her. She didn't have Suki's lush, womanly curves. Her own figure was more slight and delicate, and the simple, diaphanous blue dress flattered it better. She could be an ethereal water nymph if she couldn't be a voluptuous earth goddess like Suki.
Things were going well with Aang; the friend Sokka had invited to come to the dance with them with the understanding that he would be Katara's date and keep an eye on her when Sokka couldn't. Aang seemed like a sweet guy, though heaven only knew why he hung around a bunch of punks like Sokka and his friends. He spoke to Katara as if she were a person in her own right instead of just Sokka's little sister. And he was a great dancer.
"Do you want some punch?" Aang said. He and Katara were sweaty and breathless as a song was winding down.
Katara nodded, and Aang dashed off like an obedient hound. While she waited for Aang, she watched what was happening on the dance floor.
As much fun as everyone was having, battle lines were drawn. The Dragons on one side, the Polar Bear-Dogs on the other. Tensions simmered beneath the surface.
The overly chipper social worker running the dance, Joo-Dee, made a well-intentioned but futile attempt to bridge the gap with a game.
"The boys," Joo Dee said. "form a circle on the outside, and the girls will be on the outside. When the music stops, each boy dances with whichever girl is opposite."
All Joo Dee got for her efforts was a chorus of groans until a Dragon girl in a figure-hugging red number, and her glossy, dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail stepped forward and beckoned to her date.
Sokka answered this challenge. He led Suki to the dance floor as if he were escorting a queen. Suki was resplendent in an emerald-colored dress with yards of tulle petticoats. As Sokka spun her around, her helmet of curls bounced and swayed.
Joo Dee clapped her hands to regain everyone's attention. "Gentlemen to the left," she said. "Because the ladies are always right."
The music struck up. Boys went to the left, girls went to the right.
"Round and around and around she goes. Where she stops, no one knows."
Of course, Dragon boys ended up with Polar Bear-Dog girls, Dragon girls ended up with Polar Bear-Dog girls, and everyone reverted back to their original partners. The light-hearted game Joo-Dee had intended degenerated into a cut-throat dance-off.
Dragons and Polar Bear-Dogs couldn't help but fight whether on the dance floor or on the streets.
Katara stood at the edge of the dance floor, cheering on Sokka and Suki as they faced off against the Dragon girl in the red dress and her date. Across the gym stood the boy with the burnt face. The smoldering looks he gave Katara made her feel flushed.
The boy walked toward the green bleachers. He nodded to Katara, inviting her to follow him. Katara could get underneath the bleachers without any problem, but he had to duck his head and stand under the highest bench to fit.
Katara giggled. "You're so tall," she said.
"You're not." Her head barely reached his shoulder.
The music changed from a loud, rambunctious mambo to a soft, delicate cha-cha. Katara made the first move in the dance, and the boy followed her lead. But, unfortunately, he was a terrible dancer. As stiff as a mannequin when he moved, unlike Aang, who wasn't called "Twinkle Toes" for no reason. Still, the closeness of this boy's body gave Katara a hot and fluttery feeling that Aang's did not.
"You haven't mistaken me for someone else?" The boy said.
Katara twirled and snapped her fingers. "How could I with that scar of yours."
"Have we met before?"
"No, we have not."
He furrowed his brow."You aren't playing some kind of joke?"
"I haven't yet learned how to joke like that." Unfortunately, Katara's experience with men wasn't extensive enough to be skilled with such coquettish games.
Katara reached over to stroke the scarred part of his face. "So soft." She had expected his scar to feel rough, but it was like velvet under her fingers.
"Your hands are cold." He put his large, warm hand over her small, chilly one.
Standing on the tips of her toes, Katara touched her lips to his. He rested his hand on the small of her back. Fortunately, he kissed better than he danced, though Katara didn't have much to compare it to. She was left gasping and had to steady herself by grabbing his arm.
"What's your name?" The boy said.
Wouldn't Katara's mother be ashamed of her? Kissing a boy without telling him her name first or even knowing who he was.
"Shhh." Two shadows blocked out the light coming through the cracks between the bleachers. "Someone's there. They might hear you."
"Katara, have you seen her?" Sokka said. Whoever he'd asked just shrugged.
The boy put a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Who is that?"
"My brother."
Katara slipped out from under the bleachers and pulled the boy out after her. Sokka swooped down from the bleachers like a bird-of-prey. "What were you doing down there with my sister?" He shoved the boy away from Katara.
"Sokka!" Katara said.
The boy's face turned red. "Sister?"
Aang, Suki, and the Dragon girl in the red dress came over to see what all the common was about?
"Can't you see he's one of them?" Sokka pulled Katara to him. "There's only one thing a Fire Nation ash-maker like him wants from a Water Tribe girl."
The boy's black hair, pale skin, and ember eyes spoke to his Fire Nation heritage. He moved towards Sokka, either to plead his case or slug him. The Dragon girl tried to hold him back.
"Really, Zuzu? Now?" she said. Lieutenant Long Feng and Officer Yon Rha, who were there to make sure no funny business happened during the dance, were close by.
Zuzu, Tui, and La, that couldn't be his real name, grumbled. "But out, Azula."
Sokka handed Katara over to Aang. "It's time you took her home now," he said. Then, he turned to the boy... Zuzu...whatever his name was? "And, you. Stay away from my sister if you know what's good for you."
Merry Christmas dear readers