Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Sugar and Spice ❯ One-Shot

Insired by helium_lost's latest chapter of The Bear and the Phoenix, and the fact that my mom bought me an entire bag of Warheads.

 

Sugar and Spice

 

“What is it?” Katara asked suspiciously, still not completely unconvinced Zuko was trying to poison her.

 

Zuko frowned, popping one of the small candies into his mouth. “Uncle sent them from one of the Northern provinces. They're actually rather sweet. I know you aren't a fan of spicy things, and I thought you might enjoy this.”

 

She peered at him as she lifted one up. Anything from the Fire Nation, she'd learned, would usually burn her mouth, and the last time she'd tried anything by someone's suggesting, she hadn't been able to taste her food for a week. Yet Zuko was having little trouble with the candies, and they were eating from the same bowl. They couldn't possibly be that bad, could they?

 

A second after putting one carefully on her tongue, Katara remembered that Zuko had a much higher tolerance for sour and spice than she did.

 

It burned. She gasped, refusing to spit the thing back out as Zuko watched her from the corner of his eye. The sour kicked up a notch, though, and she squealed, slamming her fist down on the table. The roof of her mouth was going numb, and she leaned back, begging whatever spirit was watching over her to get back to its duties.

 

And in an instant, the sour disappeared, replaced with a sweet taste of berries. She reached madly for the water, downing her cup in a gulp. She finished her little tantrum and leaned against the table, swallowing the last bit of the candy and glaring at Zuko. He was covering his mouth with his hand, and she could hear suppressed chuckles attempting to escape.

 

“I—I told you.” He snickered, trying to keep his cool and failing miserably. “They—they're—” He lost complete control, falling into roars of laughter. Katara's face went red. Defiantly, she reached for another candy.

 

Toph sighed from where she was sitting across from them, between Sokka and Aang, who both were looking at the two teenagers strangely.

 

“This is why we never eat in public anymore.”