Monster

As far as Zuko was concerned, this was the perfect way to end a good day. He was lying in bed next to a hardly clothed Katara, and their family was all gathered in the Fire Nation like they hadn't been in ages. They'd finally taken that big step that they talked about for so long, but always danced around. They were engaged. They were going to be married. She was going to be his wife. Zuko snuggled up closer to Katara, pulling her flush against his body. She giggled.

"You're such a Cuddle Monster, Zuko."

"What?"

Zuko pulled back, resting on his elbow to look at his brand new fiancée. It was no secret between them that Katara had this odd affinity for giving him weird and stupid nicknames, but this had to cross one barrier or another. He could live with it if no one found out about her stupid nicknames, but so far, Toph and Hakoda knew about them, and they were numbers one and two on his List of People Who Don't Need to Know These Stupid Nicknames. Katara lay on her back and reached up to touch him, but Zuko grabbed her hand and pushed it back down.

"I'm a what?"

"Cuddle Monster."

Katara shrugged as if this was some common title, not something she just made up on a whim. Zuko sat up fully and crossed his arms.

"You like to cuddle. Every time we're within touching distance, you want to cuddle me—"

"I do not!" Zuko argued. "I don't have to cuddle you every time you're near me."

"It's not a bad thing, Zuko, relax."

Katara stroked his arm a few times, but Zuko wasn't having it. She was smiling, and Zuko saw that this was going to turn into One of Those Things. A challenge had been issued. Neither one of them was going to back down. Not now.

"Whether this is a good thing or bad thing does not matter. The point is that I'm not always cuddling you."

"You are, too. Just now. You cuddled me."

Zuko rolled his eyes. Bed cuddles were completely different. "That shouldn't count. That's what we do before we go to sleep. We cuddle. It's our thing." He waved this away. "What kind of cuddling are we talking about?"

Katara sat up and scooted back so she could look at him better. Or so he could get the full effect of her disbelieving look. "Is that a serious question?"

"It is a very serious question," Zuko said, matter of factly with a haughty tilt of his head.

"There's only one kind of cuddling. Ok. When I came to your office today—"

"That was not cuddling! Clearly, you don't know what a cuddle is."

Katara had come into his office sometime before lunch interrupting his productive work flow, but it wasn't like he was going to kick her out of the office. So, he'd pulled her into his lap, and she'd fallen asleep with her head against his shoulder. He might have draped his arm around her, but that was for protective purposes. He carefully reviewed his actions. No, he was pretty sure he didn't do any cuddling.

"Ok, look, maybe we should define what a cuddle is," Zuko said. He pointed at Katara. "Someone in this bed isn't quite clear on what constitutes cuddling."

Katara laughed. "Really—"

"The way I see it, you were the one to start any cuddling if it happened—and I'm not saying it did—when you came into my office."

"You were holding me!"

"So you wouldn't fall!"

Katara narrowed her eyes at him, and Zuko met this challenge, too. He would not be labeled a Cuddle Monster.

"If anything, you start just as many cuddles as I do," Zuko tossed out.

"Oh, since when?" Katara asked, huffing and turning away.

"In the garden this morning. I was sitting by the turtleduck pond, and you came and sat next to me. If I recall correctly—which I do—you physically moved me into a proper cuddling position. You put my arm around your shoulder, and you held my hand."

Katara made a face like she'd smelled something bad. Zuko gave a firm nod of his head. If she was smelling anything bad it was the smell of her own imminent defeat. Of all the arguments they had, this had to be ranking up there as one of the stupidest.

"Fine," Katara finally said. "I admit, we'll need to define 'cuddle.' I'll give you the cuddling at the turtleduck pond."

"I propose that all bed cuddling be struck from the record."

"Whatever," Katara said, rolling her eyes and making a dismissive hand gesture. "That's just because the bed is your favorite place to start cuddle sessions."

Zuko let out a little laugh. "I'm pretty sure you decided we should have night cuddles sometime during the war when we were on Ember Island."

"I had a nightmare!" Katara yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "You can't fault me for that."

"But you came to me. There were other people you could have gone to see that night."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "You really expected me to venture into Sokka's room? I could have been scarred for life. Life, Zuko. In my brain." She pointed to her head for emphasis.

He was probably the only one who knew Sokka and Suki didn't have as much sex as people thought. As part of his and Sokka's friendship, though, he wasn't supposed to say anything. It was Law. Back on Ember Island, the only reason Zuko even intervened was because Toph kept complaining about all the sleep she wasn't getting, and dangerous mental images and her poor, childish innocence being ruined. She'd sighed and moaned and went 'woe is me' until Zuko finally agreed to do something about it. This counted as some form of Toph hazing or payback for some wrong she made up just so she could harass him. It was one of her favorite pastimes.

Chances are, Katara would have gone in there and found her brother and his girlfriend cuddling, fully clothed, and asleep.

"Ok. So cuddles involve embracing for longer than a hug, possible hand holding, and sitting down," Katara said, checking off her criteria on her fingers. "You can't really cuddle standing up."

"Agreed," Zuko said, nodding. "Right, so—"

"And we're not counting those early days. That was cuddling with a purpose."

Zuko smirked. "Yeah, you wanted to get in my pants."

Katara made a few indignant noises, but that was spoiled by the deep blush on her cheeks. Feeling cheeky, Zuko leaned forward, his mouth by her ear.

"I knew you wanted me," he said, his voice low.

He kissed her neck, and when Katara leaned back, he followed her until she was on her back, and he was hovering over her. He was leaning down to kiss her when she jabbed him in the shoulder.

"You're trying to cuddle me, now!" she said.

Zuko raised his eyebrow at her. "Yes. I'm trying to have a naked cuddle."

"Still counts as a cuddle. And you're just trying to distract me because you know you'll lose."

Zuko sat up, sighing. "Fine. You've cuddled me twice, I've cuddled you once. So far today, you have also initiated cuddles in the bath, after lunch—"

"No, that was groping."

Katara moved so that she could lay her head in his lap. Smirking, Zuko lightly ran his fingers through her hair.

"Three. Who's the Cuddle Monster, now?"

Katara shot upright, fully ready to justify how this wasn't a cuddle, but Zuko only forced her down against the mattress and snuggled up to her. He pressed her face against her chest, running his hand down her back in long strokes.

"Come on, Kitten," he said soothingly, "I've got an early meeting tomorrow." He kissed the top of her head.

"That should count as a bed cuddle," Katara grumbled.

"It's ok, Cuddle Monster." Zuko kissed her head again, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger. "I'll keep your secret safe."

A/N: Pure fluff, pure stupidity. Thank emlettish for the idea; it came up in a PM conversation we had. Thank Incognito because it was written during our word war (get two friends, see who can write the most in a given period of time). I also apologize for overusing the word cuddle. The more I used it, the funnier it became.