So this is going to be a multi-chap Zutara fic based in a Modern Day College - Four Nations. Original, huh? Anyway, this is my first Zutara fic but definitely not my last considering how much fun I had writing this chapter alone. If you want a overwhelming reading experience, I recommend reading the text with each song I reference at various points (just have Like A G6 and Panda at the ready). It's what I listened to while writing, so trust me, it'll make this slightly more bearable. Enjoy!
"Trust me, sis." Her brother had said. "College is gonna' be the best time of your life. The freedom, the parties, the sex—wait, no scratch that. No sex till you're fourty, at least!"
Truth be told, she's not sure when it will kick in.
She knows it's supposed to be fun, exciting even. In the capital, on her own (barely, with her brother living two blocks away), the world right outside her window to go out and experience. Except, she can't seem to find the energy to do any of the "fun" things college had to offer, not with worries of her dad being alone plaguing her mind, or the "fun" fact that she had the whole stress of pre-med to look forward to the next few years. God, she's pathetic.
She was genuinely ecstatic when her acceptance letter came in the mail. Really, she was. A scholarship too, for heaven's sake. Everything she had been working for had settled in her lap and she had no idea what to do with it.
So now, lying in her freshly made bed staring at a ceiling with slight cracks at the corners, Katara's sure she's doing this all wrong.
It's almost nine on a Saturday night, and she can hear the droning bass of the music through the wall. To be fair, the guy did have the courtesy to knock and invite her. But of course, she is the girl who says no, who opts for hours of organising her books onto her shelves instead of being awkwardly pressed up against strangers in a cramped room.
Her phone is still warm in her hand from the call she just had with her dad. He says he's okay, gran-gran's okay, "everyone is okay, Katara, shouldn't you be out having fun?". Tragic. Even her own father is confused at her lack of life.
Maybe she should go join the party.
Two minutes of internal convincing later, she yanks her door open to find Suki there, fist raised to knock. She's so effortlessly pretty, Katara notes. Her chin length hair hangs in loose waves around her friendly heart-shaped face. The turtle neck she has on, ends just above her belly button, and her ripped jeans are snug and rolled up at the calves. She exudes au natural athletic beauty. Katara's surprised she didn't hear the clicking of her heels up the hall, they look far too uncomfortable.
"Katara!" She beams, pulling the younger girl in for a tight hug. Suki's been dating her brother for about a year now, but they've only met a handful of times. It's not enough to have a proper opinion, but she has liked her ever since the girl mentioned she had a black belt in karate over dinner last Christmas. "Welcome to Four Nations. "
"Thanks, Suki." Katara laughs when Suki finally lets her breathe again, then slips into her room. "I've been in need of a welcoming party."
"Speaking of parties," Her brother's voice cuts in; there's a beer in his hand she's sure he just got from next door. Sokka's always been good with people. He's funny, outgoing, and always down for a good time. With his hair shaved at the sides, the top grown out long enough to pull into a topknot, piercings on the curve of his eyebrow and a sabre tooth necklace on display against his worn out The Boomerang Guy t-shirt — he even looks like the fun sibling. "Why are you here and not next door? They have a killer keg."
"Good to see you too, Sokka."
"Get in here, Kat." He holds his arms out, and Katara sinks against him. The top of her head reaches his chin, to her bemusement, and he abuses the height difference to ruffle her hair. Katara breaks the embrace with a squeal.
"I was on my way there, actually." She lies. She was never going to actually go in, let's be honest.
Suki shakes her head disapprovingly just as Sokka closes the door with a kick behind him. She's got her feet up on the bed, which her boyfriend nudges away to settle down next to her. Katara drops into the desk chair. Suki takes a quick sip of his drink, "No, no. Never mind that. There's this sweet party at the Sozin's guest house we just have to go to."
Katara worries about what she means when she says "we".
Sokka groans, tipping his head back against the wall. "Pass."
"There'll be lots of alcohol." Suki says cheerfully, wiggling her fingers in front of his face as if to bewitch him into agreeing. Katara laughs, rolling her eyes.
It seems to work. He suddenly grins widely at her, kissing her fingertips. "Fine," To Katara's horror, her brother turns to her. "Come on, Kat. Up and at 'em. "
Katara stares wide eyed at them for a minute but all she gets back are two blank, expectant faces.
She looks down at herself in search of an excuse. Her blue sweater and white skirt stare up at her. "I—uh, I'm not dressed for a party."
"Don't be silly. You look hot." Suki argues, jumping off the bed and eyeing Katara in approval. She nods, bounds over to the closet and throws it open, rummaging around for something. "With those long tan legs and those big blue eyes, guys won't be able to keep their eyes off you all night."
"Hey!" Sokka protests, arms flailing. "Big brother sitting right here, thanks."
"Shush, you." His girlfriend retorts, throwing shoes at Katara's feet, clearly not in favour of the fluffy fish-faced slippers she already has on. "Your hair, you should let it out more. It's beautiful."
Katara blushes deeply, fingering the end of her braid, contemplating.
Sokka notices her hesitation, pushes off the wall to lean forward. "Cmon, Kat. One night out won't hurt you. Please." He extends the last word, even pouts, the prick. Damn him.
Her fingers tug at the band holding her braid together on their own accord. Her thick brown hair falls in loose curls down to the top of her ass, tickling the sliver of skin on display above her skirt. Sokka slaps his hands against his knees in a drum-roll.
Taking a steeling breath, she stands, fish slippers squeaking weakly. "Fine. Let's go."
.
He gets tired of her tongue in his mouth.
It's not that Mai's not a skilled kisser, hell, he taught her himself. He's just not in the mood right now. Pulling back with a chaste, disinterested kiss, he leans back against the wall.
"You should get back to the party." It's his way of telling her to fuck off, and she gets the hint. But Mai doesn't care, not when she gets to have all of him once in a while. She gives him what he wants, and he keeps up appearances that they're dating once in a while, for her sake. They have a good deal going, he thinks. It also helps that she's as dry as the desert, during a drought, on the sun. There were no feelings when he was twelve, and none now, seven years on.
His eyes close to shut out the sight of horny, drunk teenagers grinding against each other to Like A G6. He's not drunk enough for this. Coming tonight was a mistake.
His forehead is flicked, and a cool bottle slips into his hand. His eyes open to find his sister slide next to him, freshly opened champagne bottle in hand. Smiling slightly in thanks, he sips his Stella, feeling it slide down his throat.
"You need to get laid." Azula tells him, and chugs the thousand-dollar drink like it's water and she's been parched for days.
"I am getting laid." Zuko tips his beer at her in a belated 'cheers'. "By your best friend, no less."
Azula rolls her eyes, shoving the bottle into the hands of the nearest bystander, who whoops and hollers in excitement, running over to the crowd to share. "I meant by someone who actually gets you hard."
He grimaces. "Gross, Azula. Don't talk about my dick."
"All I'm saying, Zuzu, is you've been making out for fifteen minutes and little Zuko is nowhere in sight." She says over the music, and he groans, annoyed. Well, she's not wrong. "You know, I think dad has viagra somewhere, if you need it—"
"Go fuck yourself." Zuko growls under his breath, then downs his entire bottle in a single gulp.
She laughs, cheers in his ear at his path away from sobriety. He rolls his eyes, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He's about to threaten to snitch on her and her party, when a flash of blue catches his eye. Azula follows his gaze to the three people who have just entered. Zuko recognises two of them, the football player and his girlfriend. But the girl with them…all big blue eyes and tan skin, long—jesus, long—hair. She looks good enough to eat.
Azula glances at him in amusement, "Looks like your little blue pill just walked through the door." She whistles lowly, and he tears his attention away to raise an eyebrow at her. He can't even remember what she said, let alone swear at her.
"You invited them?" Zuko asks, eyes drifting back to follow the girl's hesitant movements, and his throat is dry even though he just drank a whole bottle of beer mere seconds ago. The guy murmurs something in the girl's ear and she laughs, but it seems forced, nervous.
"Yeah, Suki's hot." She shrugs, eyes darting from her brother to the new girl across the room. She clicks her fingers in front of his face, and he flinches before scowling at her. He's probably staring like a fucking idiot. It's like he's never seen a girl before, for fuck's sake. Get it together, man, he says to himself. She's not that special.
It takes more willpower than he'd like to admit to keep his eyes on his sister and away from the mysterious girl. "I'm telling Ty Lee you said that."
"Good, maybe she'll finally agree to that threesome."
Zuko sneers in disgust, "I did not need to know that."
"And I do need to go get smashed." She says, pushing off the wall and shoving him in the shoulder. "So are you just gonna' eye-rape the girl all night, or talk to her?"
"Who?"
"Cute." Azula smirks, raising an eyebrow. At his purposely blank expression, she rolls her eyes, then cups her hands around her mouth to yell. "Where's the fucking weed?!"
The crowd cheers wildly in response, the sound ripping at Zuko's earbuds. His sister disappears in an instant, in search of a joint no doubt. He searches for the girl again. The crowd is too big, there's arms flying to dance to the music, and he can't find her — not standing here at least.
He pushes his way through the crowd, trying to hunt her down. Girls cling to him, pressing against his crotch in attempts to halt him, but he doesn't have time for this. His mood is already sour, and spending his night chasing after Gone Girl doesn't exactly help.
He really isn't drunk enough for this. As if his prayers are immediately answered, Ty Lee appears in front of him, sticking her tongue out. He half expects to see an ecstasy pill lodged on the pink surface, but apparently it's not that kind of party. Thank God, he wouldn't know what the fuck to do with an OD-d teenager on Sozin property. Azula is too smart to let that happen.
He's dragged all the way to the bar, where they're doing shots. His sister is perched on the counter, vodka bottle in hand, and shakes it in his face. There are rolled up joints to her left but Zuko doesn't want to get high, not in front of so many people he wants nothing to do with. Mai loiters to Azula's right, always by her side, and gives him a suggestive smirk.
Ty Lee lines up three shots for him, and three for herself. "Ready?" She says—shouts, over the music. They have an unspoken competition to see who finishes first. Zuko wins. Ty Lee pouts, and Azula sticks her tongue in her girlfriend's mouth as consolation.
There's another flash of blue in the corner of his eye, and suddenly this party gets much more bearable.
.
"Careful," Katara hears what sounds like Suki's amused voice slide into her ear. "You're drooling."
She snaps out of it, ripping her eyes away from the bar. The room falls back into focus and her ears register the music over the pounding of her blood and it's like she's been yanked back into reality. "Wha—what?"
Suki raises her eyebrows, grinning with glee. She hands Katara a red cup that reeks of beer, and sips at her own. Katara blinks at her confusedly, till realisation dawns when she follows her friend's eyes to the bar, which he's leaning against. Staring right at her. A blush blossoms in her cheeks and she can't help but stare back.
The first thing Katara notices is his scar.
It's red and covers his entire left eye, from the centre of his forehead across to just below his sharp left cheekbone. The skin looks raw, even though the burn is clearly old, and it has ripples surrounding his permanently narrowed eye. She knows she should look away out of politeness, but she can't help but stare and her fingers twitch at her sides, eager to touch it.
The second thing she notices is—fuck—he's beautiful.
His raven black hair, silky and long, falls into his eyes. His fingers thread through it but they fall back in place. Bright, golden eyes stare at her curiously, and she can't help but shiver. Long eyelashes kiss his high cheekbones every time he blinks, and she's sure the cut of his pale jaw could grate cheese. The sleeves of his slim-fit dark red shirt are rolled up to his elbows, exposing a tattoo along his forearm Katara can't quite make out, and his shirt stretches around his profusely toned chest as his elbows rest on the counter behind him. But it's clear, with his shirt tucked into well-tailored slacks and an air of superiority around him, he's loaded.
Sokka reappears, dropping an arm across her shoulder and pulling her in. She doesn't have to look up to know it's him, he smells like the sea, freshly wet grass — that Sokka smell. "What're we all looking at? Is someone streaking again?"
But Katara is too occupied to reply, so Suki grips his chin and directs his head towards the squad loitering by the bar.
The girl, the ridiculously gorgeous girl sat on the bar beside him, ruffles the guy's hair playfully. Her long legs are crossed over one another, causing her already short skirt to ride up her milky thighs. She's wearing a tight top with "fuck you' across the breast pocket and her yellow eyes are bright through wisps of stark black hair falling across them from her bun. She's got a face like an angel, but the curl of her crimson-painted lips suggest otherwise.
For a stupid, illogical moment, Katara's chest tightens when she suspects they're dating. But that fleeting thought soon disappears the second another beautiful girl bounds onto the scene, pulling the other down for a long kiss. Oh.
Embarrassment has her cheeks reddening, and the guy has the audacity to slowly smirk, eyebrow raising as if he's been reading her mind.
"Ah, those pricks." Sokka drawls, removing his arm and stealing a sip of Katara's drink she entirely forgot about. She finally turns to him, eyebrows raising in question at the distaste in his voice. "The Sozins are a waste of time, Kat. Especially that brooding one, Zuko. You need to stay away from him. Got it?"
Zuko. The named seem fitting, somehow. Wait. Zuko Sozin. As in…
"She's a big girl, Sokka. She can choose her own—"
"Sozin? As in the Sozin Empire?" She hadn't realised earlier, too nerve wracked with the idea of her first college party. But if these were the kids of the Ozai Sozin—the man who her mum had worked for ten years, only to die in a "laboratory explosion". She hadn't believed that for one bit, especially since the whole case was thoroughly covered up, and every lawyer her father found had conveniently afforded a one-way ticket to Maui soon after being hired. The entire thing was a scam. They'd killed her, because she knew something she wasn't supposed to—Katara was sure of this. Sokka, however, refused to ever talk to her about any of her conspiracy theories.
"The one and only. Evil Empire reincarnated, I say." But Katara wasn't listening to what her brother was saying anymore, whipping her head away from the guy—Zuko Sozin's gaze—and frantically planning her escape. "Yo! This is my shit! Why are we standing around anyway, it's a party." He grins, breaking into a dab just as the beat drops in Panda. He yanks Suki into the swarm of dancing teenagers, and she latches onto Katara's hand to pull her along too.
Slipping away, she attempts a meek smile. "I need some fresh air. I'll catch up with you guys later. "
Before they have any chance to protest, she disappears into the crowd, wanting to get as far away from this place as possible.
She shoots Sokka a text when she finds the hallway leading out, 'sorry, was feeling sick. On my way home, will see you tomorrow'. When she realises she couldn't care less how obvious the lie is, she hits send and pockets her phone.
"Leaving so soon?" A low, deep voice drawls from her left, and she jumps five feet into the air.
.
"Sorry," Zuko smirks again, amused beyond words at her skittishness. The look on his face makes it clear that he is in fact, not sorry. He pushes off one of the railing of—one of the the two, unnecessary—spiralling staircases and walks towards where she stands in the middle of the foyer. "Didn't mean to scare you."
Her hand is flat against her chest, feeling the pounding of her heart, when she pins him with narrowed eyes. "That'd be much more believable if you didn't just appear out of a dark corner to sneak up on me—Jesus Christ."
He raises an intrigued eyebrow that comes off condescending, "You caught me. I was fulfilling my lifelong goal to scare the shit out of a stranger in my own house."
"Yes, well, congrats." She bites back, unable to look at him any longer. Sozin. A goddamn Sozin. Countless guys in the world and she had to go and get the hots for a fucking Sozin? No, not if she had anything to say about it. Her breathing evens out and she makes a move to leave. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go—"
She makes it to the double doors, pulling one open only to jerk back as he secures it shut with a gentle thud, palm flat against the wood. She turns to him incredulously,
"You just got here." He says flatly.
She rolls her eyes, suppressing a blush at his insistence for her to stay. "Do you keep track of all your guests so thoroughly?"
"Only the ones that undress me with their eyes for five minutes straight." He says with a cocky smile, and she wants nothing more than to slap it off.
"I didn't, I wasn't—undressing—-!" She sputters weakly, before her hand fists at her side and she inhales deeply. "Get out of my way."
He doesn't know how to react to this, to her. He's sure he doesn't know her but the way she looks at him makes him feel like he's ran over her puppy. Her childhood puppy, if the scowl on her face is anything to go by.
He tilts his head, sizing her up as if trying to recall her face. It's just for show, though. There is no way he would not remember this face, this girl. "Did I have sex with you then never call?"
"Excuse me?"
"Just trying to figure out why it is you hate me so much." He shrugs, leaning against the door she tried to open, sliding his hands into his pockets.
"Maybe you just have that effect on people." She doesn't hesitate in quipping back, and it gets him almost giddy, working to keep up with her. It's the most fun he's had in months.
"You're probably right. I would have definitely remembered sleeping with you."
"Funny, I can't say the same for you." Katara smiles as patronisingly as she can, stepping up to him as an attempted show of confidence. Confidence that soon faltered when he pushes off the wall, and only a sliver of air separated them. His eyes narrow in mock-offence and she does an internal triumphant cheer. Suddenly, she's spirited to keep goading him. "What? Can't believe something isn't being handed to you on a silver platter for once?"
"You don't even fucking know me." Anger flickers in his eyes.
"Yes, I'm sure you have a lot of angst about how small the yacht daddy got you is—"
"Watch it." He growls, irritated at the mention of his father. She doesn't know one damn thing about him, who is she to criticise him like this? Who the fuck does she think she is? Temper rising, he sneers at her. "Know your fucking place."
"How dare you—"
"So this is where you went off to." Azula glides in, careful to choose her moment to interrupt. She's been at the edge of the foyer for five minutes now, and was quite frankly enjoying it till now. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Zuzu?"
"You know I don't like to mix with the help, Azula." Zuko tilts his head, letting his anger take over in the form of cool, collected indifference. "Actually…I'm sure charity work looks good on a résumé—,"
Azula winces, just before Katara straight up slaps him right across the face. The sound resonates across the empty place, the doors to the party closed off so only the bass thrums through. Azula's mouth drops in shock, and he turns back to the girl slowly, eyes ablaze. His thumb swipes at his mouth, where there is a trickle of blood from the force of the slap.
Katara seethes, opening her mouth to speak, but thinking twice about it, before yanking the door open and slamming it shut behind her loud enough to rattle the glass.
Zuko moves to furiously follow her, but Azula digs her freshly sharpened nails into his forearm. He whips his head in her direction, only to see that her lips are pursed to contain a laugh.
"What?" He shrugs her hand away angrily, but she only smirks in response.
"I like her."
Let me know what you guys think, I'd love some feedback! Expect a chapter update soon enough, depending on whether or not everyone hated it or nah lmao (i need validation y'all)