Avatar - Transference P4

Title: Transference - Part Four
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender (AU)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,687

It was raining the following day, thick heavy sheets of water that found their way --with the help of strong winds-- under every overhang and soaking through every outdoor hangout, as well as turning the usual lunchtime patch of grass into a bog of mud. Needless to say, the the group was forced to take their lunch indoors.

Lucky for them, Sokka's history teacher was a trusting sort of man who spent his own lunches in the library and felt no qualms about allowing small handful of students to 'keep an eye on things' for him. His classroom was small and crammed full of strange paraphernalia, but it was warm and dry and better than sitting in mud.

Sokka was already crouched in front of Mr. Zei's convenient space heater in an attempt to get his pant legs dry again when Aang and Toph arrived, no less damp, but marginally more cheerful.

"Isn't it great?" Aang was grinning. "I hope they don't cancel P.E. today. We've got dodge ball!"

"Great," Sokka repeated incredulously, any sense of optimism watered down heavily with the rain. "We have a gym, you know. They'll probably stick you in there."

"Somebody's a mister grumpy pants today," Toph remarked. "Aang, is he soaked to the bone or is he just on his period?"

"Shut up, Toph!" Sokka protested in a whine, scowling down at his soaked jeans with mud soaked into the cuffs. "These are my favorite pants!"

"Aw," Aang was continuing, heedless of the exchange between his friends. "I hope they don't put us inside... Dodgeball is way more fun in the mud!"

Toph laughed and Sokka scowled, but neither of them had a chance to respond before the door opened again and Katara slipped inside, closing her umbrella and shrugging out of her heavy, fur-trimmed coat.
"Wow, it's really coming down out there!"

"I know!" Aang bounded up to greet the other girl. "Isn't it great?"

Toph was flopping down beside Sokka with an elbow nudge. "Clothes do dry, you know," she commented as she started in on her meal.

Katara meanwhile grinned at Aang's enthusiasm as she let him lead her to the table they were sharing in the otherwise empty classroom. She gave one glance at Sokka and immediately knew his story. "You know, if you didn't wear your pants so long, this wouldn't happen."

"Okay, enough about Sokka!" the oldest of their group snapped, hardly in the mood for his sister's criticisms. "Oooo, you guys are right! I love the rain!" he agreed with them in faux sweetness and took a
violent bite of his sandwich.

Even Aang cast his older friend a concerned glance. Sokka wasn't usually so easy to goad into annoyance. "Maybe Mr. Zei will lend you an umbrella?" he suggested, trying to fight off the sneaking suspicion that wet clothes weren't the full source of Sokka's mood.

Toph raised an eyebrow. "What's eating you, Cupcake?"

"Nothing," Sokka said irritably.

"He's been trying to convince Suki to come visit for spring break and she doesn't want to," Katara said and when Sokka choked and sputtered at her, she continued, "What? You were gonna tell them eventually."

"Isn't Suki your WoW girlfriend?" Toph asked, tossing a dried pea into the air and catching it in her mouth with uncanny accuracy.

"Why doesn't she want to come?" Aang blinked, starting to breathe a little easier now that he was sure Sokka wasn't mad about him bringing Zuko to dinner.

Sokka blustered, embarrassed but he answered, giving his sister dirty looks which she shrugged off. "I don't know! She just doesn't! She said it's too soon and it's too expensive even though I offered to pay
for half the ticket."

"Sounds like she's just not that into you," Toph offered with characteristic bluntness.

"That's not true! We've been talking every day for like six months!"

"'Talking' and 'sharing experience points' are not the same thing," Katara pointed out. She'd never entirely approved of her brother's love of the game, or the people he met there.

"I bet 'Suki' is really like... 300 pounds and balding and a 45 year old dude," Toph nodded sagely and ate another pea.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE, EITHER!" Sokka shrieked, nearly choking on his sandwich. "She's sent me pictures! She's really cute!"

"It's okay, Sokka!" Aang piped up. "We'll do something really fun for spring break."

Sokka sighed but didn't argue. He just suspected that Aang's idea of fun didn't include bikinis or french kissing.

Toph sensed that a change of subject was in order, and though she didn't exactly -sympathize- with Sokka, she didn't much care for the awkward silence that his issues had brought to the room. "So..." She began, reaching out with a toe to poke Aang in what was supposed to be his shoulder and ended up being his ear. "Where's this cake you promised me? The best cake ever? Made with love at the hands of a genuine deliquent? You've got my expections up, Twinkle Toes. Time to deliver." She held out her hand, palm up.

"Oh!" Aang started, hurrying to dig in his bag for the last piece of his and Zuko's cake which had been saved for Toph. "I forgot," he apologized as he handed the container over to her.

"I wonder if that guy got in trouble for coming over," Sokka mused idly as he licked mustard off his fingers, grateful for the momentary shift of topic.

"I can't believe you guys did that without me," Toph said in as close to a pout as the girl ever came. "Inviting a hardened criminal into your home and not even letting me witness the death match between him and your gramma."

"He's not a criminal!" Aang protested, frowning dramatically though the expression was wasted on her. "He's really nice! And he was very polite to GranGran, wasn't he Sokka?" Despite his words, Aang carefully avoided meeting Katara's eyes.

"I think he was just scared of her," Sokka drawled but when Aang shot him a Look, he ammended, "But he was pretty polite. I mean, more than I thought he would be."

"I dont know WHAT you two were thinking," Katara suddenly snapped. "Now he knows where we live!"

Aang pouted visibly, looking desperately to Sokka for support. "He's not a bad guy! I keep telling you! I can tell! Besides, he told me that the rumor about breaking a kid's arm wasn't true!"

"What's wrong, Sugarqueen?" Toph snickered. "Afraid he's gonna break in and steal your dollies?"

"He could tell you anything!" Katara protested, ignoring Toph's prodding. "He could tell you he feeds babies at orphanages on the weekends, would you believe that?"

"He did tell me that the Hitler shrine rumor wasn't true," Sokka put in helpfully.

"Oh my god. He heard my rumor? I am so awesome," Toph exulted.

"He doesn't feed orphans or cure cancer," Aang cried. "I'm not saying he's a hero! I just think he's a normal kid like us and no one is even giving him a chance!"

"Is he ugly?" Toph piped up. "I bet he's ugly. Katara only trusts cute guys."

"He's actually pretty good looking." Everyone stopped abruptly to stare at Sokka. "What?! I mean, if you look at him like this." He used a hand to shade the side that Zuko's scar was on and turned his head in profile.

Katara had been about to protest Toph's assessment of her character, Aang had been about to object at Toph's harsh language. Toph had sat back and waited for the sweet, sweet sound of Katara's high decible shriek of rage. And Sokka's words had brought all of it to a halt.

"Y-yeah!" Aang recovered first. "I mean no! I mean... there's nothing wrong with his scar!"

"I bet it makes him look rugged and imanly/i," Toph contributed with a smirk. "Don't you think? Sokka?"

"I guess so?" Sokka replied, his brows quirking with confusion and thoughtfulness. "I dunno, I think it's kind of cool."

Toph couldn't handle it anymore and started laughing hysterically.

Katara palmed her face.

"WHAT?!" Sokka demanded with exasperation.

Aang was looking equally confused, though relieved that Sokka, at least, seemed to be on his side now, even if Katara was still annoyed about the day before.

"Oh-- oh-- oh my god," Toph choked out between fits of laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes as she tried to rein in her mirth. "Stop, just-- just stop, I can't take it. It's too good. Oh-- oh fuck."

"Toph!" Katara scolded. "Don't swear!"

"No-- no wait," Toph held up a hand, took a breath and grinned. "I'm curious about something, Sokka. On the side of his face that's all messed up... is his eye still green?"

"Huh? Green?" Sokka repeated. "Actually -- they're kind of gold. Same for both... it's pretty unusual."

Toph screamed with laughter all over again and by now, Katara was becoming embarrassed for her oblivious brother and gave the other girl's shoulder a shove. "Knock it off, Toph. It's not that funny."

Aang meanwhile leaned close enough to cup his mouth and whisper to Sokka, "Girls are weird." The older boy nodded sagely.

"Au contraire," Toph was saying to Katara, clicking her tongue and shaking her head haughtily. "I find it remarkably amusing. Maybe we can find this guy a mask and he can teach Sokka to sing. Oh! Do you think we can get your brother into one of your dresses? I bet he'd fit, he's pretty scrawny..."

Before waiting for Katara's answer, Toph jumped to her feet, sliding smoothly to stand beside Sokka's chair and, covering one eye, she reached for and took his hand, bringing the boy's tanned knuckles to her lips and kissing the air above them reverently. "My dearest," she intoned, dropping her voice to a ridiculously deep octave. "Won't you... help me make sweet music of the night?"

Sokka offered a pained and confused look at his sister. "Katara, what the hell is she talking about? AND HEY! I'm NOT wearing a dress, Toph, we've been over this before!"

Katara groaned, dragged Toph away from her brother and sat her, giggling and clutching her stomach, back down. "Do you even hear yourself when you speak?" she turned back to Sokka, palms spread helplessly. When he only stared blankly at her, Katara pinched the bridge of her nose and took a steadying breath. "Sokka, you're talking like you ilike/i the guy, okay? My god, how can you possibly be this embarrassing," she added, muttering.

"What!" Sokka yelped, nearly pitching his chair over backwards. "No I'm not! I was just stating facts! Girls talk about how pretty other girls are all the time!"

Even Aang had to stifle a giggle at the irony of that statement.

"Well you're definitely the prettiest girl -I've- ever seen," Toph said, with complete sincerity, reaching over to pat Sokka's knee.

Sokka scowled at her deeply and Aang piped up, trying to break the tension. "How's the cake, Toph?"

"It's pretty good. But not as pretty as Sokka..."

"OKAY ENOUGH ALREADY!" The blind girl was grinning as Sokka shoved the contents of his bag back into place in a temper-trantrum like manner. "I'm outta here!" Sokka was perhaps not at the peak of his maturity when he threw his bag over his shoulder and stormed out of the room in a huff.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Toph quipped and innocently took a bite of her cake.

Aang blinked as the door slammed shut behind Sokka and then turned back to the girls. "'Like' as in ilike/i, like?" he asked, clearly confused.

Katara groaned and flopped across a desk, face pressed into her arms in defeat.

"I'll... berightback!" Aang stood suddenly, grabbing his own bag and bolting out the door.

By the time he made it to the hall though, Sokka was out of sight and he hurried around a corner. No luck. After trying two more corners, he spotted their new friend in the sparse students still wandering the halls during lunch break and jogged to catch up with him. "Hey! Hey Zuko!" he called and managed to catch the older boy's sleeve before he could duck into a classroom. "Have you seen Sokka?"

Zuko searched Aang's worried face with a disinterest. "No," he shook his head. "Seems like he's too loud to lose though. Kidnapped?" he guessed, face unmovable stone despite the humor in his words. "Did that sister of his beat him up?"

"No," Aang answered, paused. "Not yet. Where are you going? Did you eat yet?" he asked. Apparently whatever reason he needed Sokka wasn't that important. Or the boy just had an extremely short attention span.

"Mm," Zuko nodded. "I ate." Since it didn't seem likely he would easily shake Aang from his shadow, Zuko turned to face him fully and hefted his school bag higher on his shoulder. "It's dry and quiet in the music rooms," he explained, not entirely certain why he'd shared this with the younger boy.

"Oh." Aang blinked up at him for a moment and then grinned broadly -- Zuko was really opening up already. "Do you play an instrument?" he asked.

"Not for a while," Zuko answered, his steps already moving again, intent on getting out of the chill and into a warm room. "Cello, piano, a little flugal horn. My father made me learn." He broke off abruptly, his pace quickening as the music room door came in sight.

Aang had been following him, just a step behind but he hesitated a little for a moment before he caught and tugged Zuko's sleeve. "Is it okay if I come with you?" he asked and when he was able to catch Zuko's eye, there was an understanding there. As pushy as Aang was, he was able to understand the desire to be alone sometimes.

Zuko blinked, startled by the question, not expecting it from Aang. "Y-yeah, it's fine," he heard himself say, his hand on the door handle, even as the words left his mouth, wondering why he was saying them. Had he fallen so easy for the kid's wierd sort of charm?

Shaking his head a little, he let them into the room, still and quiet, with cabinets full of instruments and a wide open hardwood floor with scattered chairs and sheet music stands for practice. He closed the door behind Aang and watched the younger boy look around. "The music room," he announced, needlessly.

"It's nice," Aang said as though Zuko were letting him into his own house. He flopped down into a chair. "Did you give your cake to anybody, Zuko?"

Zuko joined him shortly, crossing his arms over the back of the chair he straddled and looking quietly thoughtful. Even with the chatty kid's presence there was something about the peaceful quiet of the room that was immensely comforting. "My uncle," he answered at length.

Aang blinked once and then grinned again. "That's cool. I don't have any uncles -- or anything like that. But Katara and Sokka's family are sort of like that to me." He was talkative but nothing like the afternoon they'd spent together before -- his words didn't race haphazard from his lips. He paused to breathe and for breaks of silence. "Everyone really liked it -- the cake, I mean. Sokka and Toph and Katara all tried it."

Zuko nodded, recognizing the boy's praise, but clearly not used to taking genuine compliments. He rubbed idly at his neck and looked around the room as though searching for instructions on small talk.
"So... why were you looking for Sokka?" he tried, eyeing the curves of a tuba case in the corner.

"Oh -- I just wanted to talk to him cause he was all mad. Toph was teasing him and he's having a bad day, I think. Toph thinks his online girlfriend is a guy." Aang was shaking his head.

Zuko almost laughed at this, but managed to steel his expression into only mild interest. "Online girlfriend, huh?" he wondered, with something like relief. "I wouldn't have pegged him as the type." He couldn't quite keep his lips from quirking faintly.

Aang shrugged. "Katara says it doesn't count because all they do is play World of Warcraft together -- and they've never actually met. She bugs him about trying to date people in real life. Do you have a girlfriend or anything, Zuko?"

Zuko shook his head, pushed the thoughts of Mai from his mind. The events surrounding his expulsion from Hakan had driven a wedge between them, starting a rift that only widened with the difficulty in finding time to spend together and Azula encouraging, nursing the conflict between them. Ultimately he'd decided that a break up was the best thing for everyone. And then at Arbor, there'd been Jet. But Zuko didn't know what that had been, what to call the time he'd spent in Jet's company. There hadn't been a name for it then, and there certainly wasn't now. Except maybe 'mistake'. 'Learning experience' if he was feeling generous.

"No," he finally said. "No girlfriend or 'anything'."

Aang fell silent for a long moment, thoughtfulness clear on his face, along with hesitation. Then he added, "Sokka had a 'real' girlfriend. She died. She had cancer."

Zuko seemed surprised by this, forgot to keep his face unreadable. His expression hardened perceptibly. "Maybe he's not ready," Zuko considered. "To 'date people in real life' again."

"Maybe," Aang agreed quietly but then his voice rose to normal conversation, easily leaving behind the heavy topic. "Besides -- we're just teenagers! Why should we have to hurry into all that?! I mean -- girls are great but it's not like we have to date RIGHT NOW... right?" There was something resembling hopefulness on his features.

A brief silence and a raise of the brow followed Aang's sudden outburst and Zuko watched him for a moment before answering. "Yeah, of course. I mean, you're what... 13?" Zuko shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Besides, she'll come around."

Aang stared at him for a long moment, blinking as his face flushed a bright pink. "Y-Yeah!" he stuttered finally in agreement and then grinned as though Zuko had given him new hope for the future. Then, as though to return the favor, he said cheerfully, "At lunch, Sokka said you were good-looking."

If Zuko had been eating, he would have choked on his lunch. As it was, he managed, somehow to choke on a swallow of air. During the brief ensuing coughing fit, he tried to imagine what could possibly be going on in the brain of Aang's taller friend. One minute he had a dead girlfriend, the next, he thought Zuko was 'cool' and ... 'good-looking'. "Excuse me?" Zuko finally managed. A pause and a deep breath and Zuko was looking faintly suspicious. "He said that." The skepticism in his voice was evident.

"Yeah," Aang said easily with a nod. "It's part of why he was getting teased but I mean..." He trailed of with a shrug. He didn't see what was so funny about it, himself. Sokka was just being nice. He tried to remember the details of what Sokka had said -- after all, Zuko had it pretty rough and Aang thought that it only fair and kind for him to hear if someone said something nice about him. "I think he likes your eyes," he concluded.

"My -eyes-?" Zuko stared. Internet girlfriend, dead girlfriend or whatever aside, if this guy kept saying stuff like this... Zuko rubbed at his temple, rested his chin on one arm again. If Aang was right-- Zuko was already exposed to plenty of confused sexual identity issues with Jet; he didn't need or want to deal with -more-. "Does he... usually say stuff like this? About other people?"

Aang had to think about that for a moment -- Sokka wasn't usually mean or anything. He could be pretty critical and tended to be suspicious of people before he got to know them. Aang saw him as a person who took his time getting close to others but was very loyal when he did. "I guess not," he said at length, then paused. "Oh! Except about wrestlers."

"...Wrestlers," Zuko intoned and --not for the first time since letting Aang talk to him in Home Ec-- wondered what he had gotten himself into.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Aang seemed to agree. "It's all fake, everybody knows it!" The bell chose that moment to ring.

Forty minutes later, Zuko was staring at the back of Sokka's head, only half-listening as Mr. Zei exalted on the topic of Mayan architecture. Though he usually sat near the rear of the classroom, today he'd slipped into the seat behind Sokka. He didn't think the other boy noticed, or if he did, he was steadfastly ignoring the silent attention.

It wasn't that Zuko's -pride- would have minded exactly, were the strange boy attracted to him. Practically, it might have been an inconvenience and he wanted nothing less than a replay of his tryst with Jet. But what really -bothered- him was how impenetrable Sokka seemed. It was impossible to get into his head, to figure out if he was just a normal guy who liked wrestling and shopping or if the things Aang had repeated meant something other that the obvious: that Sokka was just an oblivious idiot. And if so, what then? How to avoid Jet, Take 2?
With a quiet groan of frustration, Zuko ran his hands through his hair and tried to concentrate on Mr. Zei's lecture.

His eyes were drawn back though to the boy in front of him with the movement of his head -- he was nodding. Then he jerked slightly, sat up straighter. Shifted, restless -- propped his head up. The ridiculous ponytail at the back of his head bobbed again and Zuko watched as his frame slumped, weight falling onto the cheek resting in his palm against the desk. Sokka seemed to be an expert at falling asleep in class.

"Before monday," Mr. Zei was saying, as cheerful and overly enthusiastic as always. The way he spoke sometimes was as though he were teaching six year olds instead of seventeen year olds. "You and your partner will need to visit the Human History Museum -- you will receive a disposable camera and a vocabulary sheet. I want you to photograph examples of the items on your list -- one photo per item. You'll also include a two page paper based on the photograph of your choice. Please use the rest of our class time, students, to pair up and make your plans."

Zuko groaned; Mr. Zei was overly fond of group-work. He glanced around the room, and remembered, gratefully, that there was an odd number of students in the class, so all he had to do was wait for everyone else to find a partner and then he was free to pursue the project on his own.

"Hey," he called quietly, reaching out to poke Sokka in the spine with the end of his pencil. "Wake up. Go find a partner. Hey."

Sokka grumbled quietly, his free hand waving feebly, nose wrinkling. But when Zuko poked him again, it sent a chill up his spine and he fell off his propping hand. Zuko could hear the THUMP as his forehead connected with the desk. Slowly he sat up, groaning miserably and rubbing his bruised face. "What the hell?" he grumbled, looking over his shoulder at Zuko.

"Go find a partner," Zuko repeated, more slowly this time and pointed at the white board where the words 'Human History Museum Adventure!' were happily scrawled.

Even from a class nap, Sokka was slow to wake and it took a moment of rubbing at an eye to comprehend the words on the board. Finally he said, "Oh..." And gave himself a shake before looking around the room. But by then, everyone had settled into talking in pairs around the room. Mr. Zei caught his eye with a smile and approached Sokka.

"Sokka," he began, "I know Haru has had the flu. I'm going to exempt him from the museum part of the assignment, but I know he lives in your neighborhood so perhaps you could allow him to use one of the photos that you and Zuko take for his paper?"

"Uh." Sokka stared up at the teacher. "Sure?"

"Excellent!" Mr. Zei said cheerfully and gave Sokka a clap on the shoulder and Zuko a friendly smile before returning to his desk. Zuko stared after him for a moment before glancing around the room as though to confirm the teacher's words. One missing... He palmed his face in disbelief. Without Haru, it was an even number and with Zuko avoidant and Sokka napping, it made them the last two.

"You do realize that you're supposed to sleep at, you know, night time," he mumbled to the boy in front of him.

"I know that!" Sokka grumbled, then sighed and shifted his chair around to face Zuko's desk. "This class gets really boring, is all," he muttered. "I've already read all the material he's going over. Anyway, I guess we're going to a museum?" Ugh, a whole afternoon alone with this guy? Maybe he could convince Aang to join them. Or send Toph in his place. Zuko surely wouldn't notice.

"Yeah," Zuko answered, equally unenthused. "Are you free this afternoon?" Might as well get the whole thing over with as soon as possible, he decided. Luckily the park was only a short distance away, and the museum just beyond that. A ten minute bus ride at most according to the sheet Zei had given them. Zuko frowned at the idea of public transportation, but it was better that than let Ji tell his father he was 'hanging out' with the kid from the 'ghetto', school project or no.

"Sure, I guess," Sokka said and gave a tiny sigh as he got out his phone to text Katara so that his family would know he'd be late getting home. "You usually do these things alone," he remarked as he punched at the keys. Zuko's tactics for avoiding group work were so obvious and he knew that part of Mr. Zei's smile for him was that they were working together. "Are you going to be able to play well with others?" he asked, glancing up at the other boy with a lifted brow.

"Are you going to do your part and not slack off?" Zuko answered easily, returning the look.

"I'm not a slacker," Sokka said defensively. "Just because you saw me fall asleep in class doesn't mean I'm lazy." Loftily snapping his phone shut, he added, "In fact, you're a lot better off working with me than anyone else in this class."

"Maybe," Zuko allowed. "I guess we'll see." The faint hint of a smirk taunted Sokka as Zuko began packing his things away, the bell to signal class's end only a handful of minutes away. When all that was left on his desk was his notebook and a pen, Zuko picked up the latter and wrote something down while Sokka looked on suspiciously. "It's my number," Zuko said simply and pushed the scrap of paper to the edge of his desk. When his explanation was met with a blank look, Zuko elaborated. "You know... so we can get in touch to meet up after school?"

"Oh -- right." Sokka glanced at the number and then shoved the paper into his pocket. "See you then, I guess," he said as the bell rang.

"Right," Zuko answered vaguely, lifting his hand in a half-hearted wave. "See you."

While Sokka grabbed a camera and booked it out of the classroom, Zuko lingered, gathering his things and glaring at the way Mr. Zei had dotted the 'i' in "history" with a smiling star. He didn't remember which of his classmates was the kid named Haru, but as far as Zuko was concerned, the guy had definitely not made a good first impression.