"So I heard you got snowed in," Katara grinned, setting the tea leaves to steep in the pot.
"I think you brought winter with you and forgot to take it back to the pole," Lu Ten joked, smiling back at her.
"Yes, we had a really mild winter this year," Katara said. "Only three two-day snowstorms in the whole two weeks."
"Only," Zuko muttered. He was seated at one of the tables teaching Sokka to play Pai Sho. The teashop wouldn't open for another hour or so, but Katara and Sokka had come early to help set up and hang out.
"Zuko!" Sokka prodded. "Your move." He turned back to the game.
"Are you ready for school to start back up again?" Lu Ten inquired. Katara sat down across from him, making a face as she did.
"Not at all," she sighed. "But I don't really get a choice."
Lu Ten laughed, coaxing an answering smile to her face. "At least you're not going back to a military school," he said, in a tone of mock outrage. "You have no idea the tortures I've had to endure - "
"Like what," Zuko said dryly, glancing over at his brother.
"Well," Lu Ten began, "for one thing, they never have any even halfway decent tea in the mess."
"Shame," Zuko commented, turning back to the Pai Sho game.
"And," Lu Ten continued, "they don't have a music night! What kind of establishment doesn't hold a music night?"
"A practical one," said Zuko, not looking up from the board. Katara saw a quick smile flash across his face as Lu Ten spluttered, gone before she'd even quite registered it was there.
"Just trivialize all my problems, why don't you," said Lu Ten, sticking his tongue out at his little brother and folding his arms over his chest. Katara laughed again. Lu Ten shot her a slightly wicked grin, and she felt heat creep into her cheeks.
"I win," Sokka declared. Katara turned to see Zuko staring in disbelief at the Pai Sho board. Sokka had a ridiculous grin on his face.
"Maybe I'm the one that should be teaching this," he added.
Zuko put his face in his hands.
She was staring at him again. She'd been doing it a lot recently. and it was getting rather unnerving. He leaned over to Sokka.
"Jin keeps staring at me," he whispered. Sokka glanced back at the petite, brown-haired Earth Kingdom girl, who was sitting two rows behind them and still sneaking looks at Zuko every so often. A wide smile spread over his face. Zuko frowned at him, confused.
"What?" Sokka snickered and elbowed Katara, who was sitting next to him. She looked up. Her brother jerked his head toward Jin. Katara followed Jin's avid gaze toward Zuko, who was looking very exasperated by this point. She narrowed her eyes, but then grinned widely, matching her brother's expression.
"Seriously, what?" Zuko demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. Sokka waggled his eyebrows and glanced between him and Jin suggestively. Katara still had a grin plastered to her face - it looked a little uncomfortable, actually. Zuko frowned at her.
"Katara, are you okay?" he asked. Her awkward smile disappeared, replaced by a real one.
"I'm fine, thanks," she said. Then she took pity on him and added, "Jin's staring at you because she likes you. I can't believe you're only noticing just now; she's been doing it since practically the beginning of the school year. Frankly, I thought she'd ask you to Homecoming or something." Zuko blinked at her.
"Whaa…?" he finally managed. Katara gave him a tight smile.
"Why are you so surprised? Song likes you too - couldn't you tell? And Mai definitely had a thing for you at one point - not anymore though, I don't think - "
"How do you know all this?" Zuko exclaimed, amazed.
"I think it's that hood that's blocking his vision," Sokka said, reaching over to flick the edge of said hood. Zuko pulled the hood up even farther and scowled at the Water Tribe boy.
"I think you're just as blind as he is," Katara said. Sokka turned to look at her, dumbfounded.
"Excuse me?"
"You're so focused on Yue that you've completely ignored two other girls who like you," she said with a slight grimace, as if questioning their judgement when it came to the attractiveness of her brother.
"Who?" Sokka demanded. Katara shook her head.
"I'm not going to tell you," she said. "But I did think you should know." Then she turned back to her book and continued studying.
"Did you have any idea - " Zuko started.
"Not at all," Sokka said. They both turned to stare at Katara again.
"Do you think it's because Lu Ten's gone now?" Zuko asked in a lower voice. "Maybe that's why she's been so snippy lately."
Sokka frowned thoughtfully.
"You're being really weird today. Twinkle Toes," said Toph at lunch. Katara looked at the airbender again. She had noticed that he'd been acting somewhat shifty over the past few days since they'd gotten back from winter break.
"What? I'm fine," Aang insisted - unconvincingly.
"Did something happen over break?" Katara asked, concerned.
"No," he replied, looking down at his bowl of noodles and vegetables.
"Aang," she sighed.
"Everything's fine!"
"You're lying," said Toph, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. "What's up?" Meng, Teo, Sokka, and Zuko were all watching him with concern.
"Nothing's wrong!" Aang shouted, standing up suddenly. "Just…back off, okay?" He stormed off, clearly upset. The rest of the table stared after him.
"I'll get him," said Toph. "He didn't go far." She left the table and headed for the stairwell at the back of the cafeteria.
"Do you think she's going to finish that?" asked Sokka, pointing at Toph's half-eaten sandwich she'd left on the table.
"Yes," the rest of them chorused.
"Darn," sighed Sokka.
"Yo! Twinkle Toes!" he heard Toph yelling. He didn't reply. Of course she'd come after him.
"I know you're up there!" she called, her voice echoing in the empty stairwell.
"What do you want?" he called back. He heard her solid footsteps on the stairs.
"Seriously. What's up?" she asked, sitting down next to him. "You've been kind of… distant lately. It's really annoying, actually."
Aang couldn't help but laugh. That was Toph - straightforward almost to a fault.
"You know, you can tell me whatever you want," she continued. "If you don't want me to tell anyone else, I won't."
Aang smiled at her. "Okay." He took a deep breath, getting his thoughts in order. Toph let him. She was patient; she could give him some time.
"I… I guess I'm scared," he admitted, finally. "I realized how attached to you guys I am, and if the head monks find out, they could ship me back to the Southern Air Temple. I don't want that to happen. I don't want to lose any of this!" he added, fiercely. "But I have a terrible feeling that they're going to find out anyway…" He hung his head.
Toph was silent for a moment. "You know what I think?" she said, finally. "Screw the head monks. You're here to learn about the other nations, right? So tell them making friends with people from every nation is helping you in that department. Also, you're like the - the glue of our group. None of us would really be friends if you hadn't come here. You're - tell them you're promoting unity - that sounds good, right?"
Aang laughed. "Yeah," he said, smiling. Toph leaned back, sprawling over the steps, looking relieved.
"So you don't have to be weird. There's nothing wrong with having friends," she said. "And if the head monks give you any crap about it, you can always fly here yourself."
"True," Aang said. "Thanks, Toph."
"Hey, everyone needs an earthbender for a grounding influence. It's what we do."
Song of the Chapter! "Polarize" by Twenty One Pilots. (I have a wide range of musical taste :)
A/N: Whoo, done with finals! *sings* School's out/ For the summer!
Sorry it's been so long since I put anything up, I've been super busy. Hopefully you haven't given up on me! Anyway, read, enjoy, and review, s'il vous plait.
Also! I had this awesome idea for another AU (wow, I do a lot of those) - a kind of Star Trek-ish type of space thing. Tell me if that sounds cool!