Big Changes

"Katara! I don't understand this!"

Zuko looked desperately at his eight month old son, entirely mystified. All he wanted to do was change his diaper, but little Kurzu decided to make this a task of epic proportions. It wasn't that Zuko was entire inept at changing diapers; in fact, to make sure he knew what he was doing, Katara had borrowed people's babies and made him change their diapers. Then, for the first two months—the poopiest of the months—Zuko had been on sole diaper duty.

So, no, it wasn't that Zuko didn't know how to change a diaper that was making this task insurmountable.

Kurzu was, at the moment, lying perfectly still, obedient and waiting to get a new diaper, but the moment Zuko reached toward him, the infant started wiggling and laughing. Zuko pinned him down with one hand, but the baby started swishing from side to side like a live fish caught on a hook, blue eyes staring at his father in mockery and amusement.

"Dammit Katara, he's a baby! Why the hell is he so strong? I need more hands!"

"I would think that's a good thing," Katara called from the bathroom, where she was finishing her bath. "And don't curse in front of the baby."

The more frustrated Zuko got, the more Kurzu laughed, and the more he wiggled. Finally, Zuko stopped trying, and regarded the baby with crossed arms.

"Ok. We need to come to some sort of agreement, here. It's clear you don't want to be on the bed getting your diaper changed, and it's clear that I'm getting frustrated."

"Are you trying to reason with him?" Katara asked, a little laugh in her voice.

"This diaper changing is mutually beneficial," Zuko continued, ignoring Katara. Kurzu was busy shoving his fist in his mouth, but he seemed to be listening. "Good. I don't want you running around the palace naked, you don't want to be running around the palace naked. Let me put a diaper on you, and we won't even have to bother with the clothes. You can run around like that. It's fine."

"Zuko…"

"I'll probably put some clothes on you when you take a nap, though."

Katara was laughing, and he turned to glare at her, but it wasn't a terribly effective glare because she was only in her underwear, which was a nice sight. Then it hit him.

"You don't do this to your mother," Zuko said, poking his son in the stomach, causing the baby to giggle and smile. And because that adorable little smile was contagious, Zuko smiled and poked the baby again, prompting more giggles and smiles. "It's because she's pretty, isn't it. Oh, I see. Please the pretty ladies, huh?"

Katara flopped back onto the bench by in front of the vanity, not even bothering to hide her laughter. She leaned back, crossing her legs. This wasn't just laughter. This was a guffaw. Zuko turned around, and this time he did glare, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes as Katara threw her head back.

"No, please," she said between laughs, "don't mind me. Continue your negotiations."

"As I was saying…" Zuko reached for the child again, and this time he was more cooperative. "You'll need to learn about effective negotiations as you get older. No one's going to take you seriously, though, if you're not wearing pants."

"I take you seriously even when you're not wearing pants," Katara chimed in.

"Yeah, but that's not an appropriate conversation right now."

Kurzu allowed his father to diaper him, and true to his word, Zuko didn't try to stuff the child into any clothes.

"There," he said, picking him up and hugging him. "That wasn't so bad." He kissed Kurzu's forehead, and bent to set him on the ground.

Kurzu pulled his feet up so they wouldn't touch the floor. Zuko blinked dumbly before holding the child further off the ground. Down went Kurzu's legs. Closer to the floor. He pulled them up.

"Oh hell no."

Katara, of course, found this hilarious.

A/N: The inspiration for this short came from a diaper commercial about the struggles of parents to change diapers on active children. Rather than go through that whole rigmarole of the Velcro on the sides, you just pull these on, and send the little one on their way. Katara borrowed children from her friends among the nobility, and encouraged people to bring children to the Jasmine Dragon so Zuko could get some practice. People did it for the lulz of watching the Fire Lord be disgusted at it ("Why is there so much poop?"), and for the prestige of being able to say the Fire Lord changed their child's diaper. So here is some unapologetic fluff.

Lol, Incognito, yeah that's fixed now. Wasn't wearing my glasses and missed that one!

SamYouAre: Thanks for the praise. It wasn't exactly my intention to make any reference to Ozai's Vengeance at all, though. I came by the name Kurzu through one random name generator/name search/something like that a while ago, and actually had to go through Ozai's Vengeance to figure out that the name had been used. Just to be clear, my Kurzu is Zuko and Katara's biological first child. He's a firebender, paleish skin, big blue eyes like his momma. And the cutest curls in his hair.