Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Zutara week is here! So here's my collection for the week.

Slam. "That's it. You're going to tell me why in La's name you act differently when there are other nobles around rather than when its just your friends," Katara growled angrily.

Zuko looked at his irate girlfriend and tried to think of a good way to explain this to her.

"Uh," he fumbled while rubbing the back of his neck. "Well…"

"He has to," Mai answered for him. While Katara still felt a little uneasy with the fact that Zuko was still friends with his ex, seeing the two interact more like siblings rather than former lovers made her happy. Plus Zuko had very few friends.

"Why?" She asked.

"He's the Fire Lord. He has to show indifference to everything around him, especially those who are close to him. Mostly this is to continue the mystique of the throne but its also a little bit of protection for those around him," Mai said nonchalantly as she sipped her tea.

"Protect those around you?"

"If I openly show more preference to someone or that that person may have a way of controlling me then that leaves said person open to attack from those who wish to gain power," Zuko sighed. "I didn't believe that really happened until Mai told me about all the people who approached her in the beginning of my reign."

"I managed to threaten enough of them so they stopped," Mai actually smiled as she said that. Katara counted herself lucky that Mai really was over Zuko. "Plus I think some of them were scared of me in general, what with being friends with Azula and everything."

"So you're just going to keep treating me like I mean nothing to you when there are other people around?" Katara glared at Zuko.

"When you put it like that it sounds bad. It really is for the best," her glare intensified, "not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself around these people! It's just…what I'm trying to say is that I know you like to help people. Everyone knows you like to help people. They'll appeal to your kind heart and tell you sad stories. Most of them will be lying."

"You don't know that! I'm sure they really want to help people-"

"Katara most of the people that approached me wanted to get Zuko's ear to try to convince him to restart the war. They thought that since I helped conquer Ba Sing Se that I would think like them."

"Did they stop?" Maybe Katara could pick up some tips from Mai.

"Yeah but only after they realized that my polite bored responses didn't actually mean I was telling Zuko anything. It was one of the few times I was glad that my mother always made me be quiet and courteous."

"Could you teach me?" Katara asked hopefully as Zuko spit out the sip of tea he had in his mouth.

"Why would you want that?" He asked.

"Because I like when we get to walk arm in arm. I like when you'll just kiss me for no reason and I kiss you for no reason and I don't want to have to care where we are. If I have to be snotty and indifferent to people sometimes so be it. I'm not going to promise I won't come to you when I think there is a real need for help but I'll try to pick out which ones are real and which are not."

"Nothing I say will stop you, will it?" Katara could hear the hope in Zuko's voice.

"When have you ever known me to stop when I set my mind to something?" With a resigned sigh Zuko just shock his head. She turned to Mai. "Can we start now?"

"You're eager about everything, aren't you?" Katara nodded. "All right, first lesson: don't smile so much. Keep a straight face until whoever is speaking is done and then, when they ask you to pass on the information, smile a little but not too much." Katara immediately stopped grinning and moved her mouth into a small smile. "Good, that's what you need to do."

A short time later Katara, having practiced her small smiles, left to go practice her bending. As soon as she was gone Zuko turned to Mai and groaned. "I'm going to be hearing about every little problem everyone is having aren't I?"

"At least she's going to try to dissuade them. But yeah, you're going to hear about every little problem in the Fire Nation not only from reports but also from your girlfriend."

"At least when she tries to convince me to do something it's a lot more fun then when my advisors try to convince me," he said with a smile.

"That was something I never, ever, had to know," Mai drawled.