WE BACK.

I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Chapter 11: Prying Eyes

"So did you work everything out with my sister already?"

"Yes." Zuko responded plainly. He rested his cheek on his fist and watched as their girls swimming team gathered around each other into a team huddle, probably having a pre-game pep talk of some sort. Talking about things that involve team spirit or "trying their hardest", something he didn't care much for.

Teo started back up again, "Well I'm glad you did, and honestly I'm surprised you guys were able to make up by today." He chuckled, "I thought it would take a week at least before you guys would be on good terms again." Teo glanced over at Zuko and noticed that he didn't seem to be paying much attention to what he was saying, his eyes focused on the other side of the pool.

"Yeah. True." Zuko said dryly. He sighed to himself, he didn't mind Teo all that much, in all honestly, he liked the kid, but he sure as hell doesn't know how to take a hint. Zuko's eyes wandered back towards the girls and squinted, where was Jin? She was one of the team's captains, shouldn't she be leading their huddle? His question was answered shortly after he asked it when she suddenly came out of the girl's locker room.

Zuko watched as she walked towards her team, swim meets were one of the only times when she showed any skin as her wardrobe mostly consisted of oversized sweaters and blue jeans so he always made sure to appreciate the view when he got the chance. Zuko shifted in his seat as he felt his hormones getting the better of him and prayed to the spirits that Teo didn't notice that he was getting a hard-on from looking at his sister. He sighed through his nose, he had told himself he would take it slow with Jin, but the fact that he was only at first base with his very pretty girlfriend was frustrating to say the least.

"Zuko."

They've been dating for what? A month now? Maybe they could do more than just kiss for less than 5 seconds. Zuko scrunched his eyebrows together, but at the same time he knew that she was very innocent and the fact that he was her first boyfriend cemented that fact, but damn did she make it hard as hell to stay strong.

"Zu-Ko."

Zuko angrily turned his head, "What do you wa-" He felt a finger poke into his cheek and was met with Aang's face a couple of inches from his own with a cheeky grin on his face.

Aang held his face close to his and asked, "Hi Zuko, what were you thinkin' so hard about?" Zuko flinched and recoiled backwards slightly, bumping into Teo's shoulder.

Zuko turned his head towards Teo, "Sorry about that." Teo nodded in response and turned his attention back towards the pool. Zuko looked up at Aang and sighed, "And nothing by the way." Nothing he had to be worried about that was for sure he said to himself. He brushed himself off, "Where's Katara, I thought girls and boys soccer ended at the same time."

Aang moved Zuko's backpack from next to him and sat in its place, "Yeah we do but she's getting something from her car and she told me to go ahead of her." Aang's phone vibrated in his pocket and Zuko watched as he pulled it out and began to text whoever had texted him.

Zuko looked at him curiously, leaning over to try and see who it was, "And your girlfriend?" yup, Katara. If this was a month ago he would have used this opportunity to tease him but lately, Aang has been weirdly moody, taking jokes he normally would brush off personally and his temper seemed to have shortened quite a bit. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was still some tension between him and Ty Lee but he knew better than to bring it up.

Aang hadn't noticed Zuko's creeping and continued to tap on his screen. He replied without looking up from his screen, "Huh? No idea." Zuko leaned forward and saw Katara come in through the main entrance to the pool also with her eyes glued to her phone.

Zuko nonchalantly waved at her and she returned his greeting with a smile, "Hi Zuko!" She gently tapped Aang on the head with her phone, "Are you gonna say hi to me or what?"

Aang pouted, "Sorry Katara I was busy answering the text you just sent me," Katara rolled her eyes as he rubbed the spot on his head where she had hit him, "What did you get from your car anyway?"

"Hm?" Katara put her bag down and sat next to Aang, "Oh I had to get my portable, my phone was about to die- spirits is it just me or is it really cold in here?." Well if you're in here in only a t-shirt in the middle of November no shit it's going to be cold Zuko said in his head. He watched as Katara blew into her hands and rubbed her shoulders, all the while Aang looked at her with his usual look of concern whenever she needed a knight in shining armor.

"Yeah, it's pretty cold in here." Aang said in response, he tugged on the collar of the sweatshirt he had on and his eyes wandered from her to back down to his hoodie. Zuko closed his eyes and sighed in his head, if he did some corny "here's my hoodie" shit he would never let him hear the end of it. Zuko bit his lip, though he didn't have any right to make fun of him for doing something like that. If he was gonna be honest he was pretty sappy whenever he was around Jin, but in his defense she loved it when he did it. He watched as Aang fidgeted in his seat battling with himself internally. Zuko sighed, at least when he didn't do it in public.

Aang cleared his throat and nervously asked, "Do you want to, uh, borrow my hoodie?" Katara raised an eyebrow at him, as if she was waiting for him to take back his offer.

Katara clucked her tongue, "Oh you're serious," She smiled and tugged on Aang's sleeve making him blush, "aw that's sweet Aang. Yeah, I'd appreciate that, thanks." Aang awkwardly took off his sweatshirt, making Katara put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.

He handed his shirt over to her, "Uh, here."

Katara slipped into his hoodie easily as it was a few sizes too big for her, "Warm." She pulled the collar to her nose, "It smells like you." They both froze and locked eyes, cheeks turning bright pink.

Zuko rubbed his forehead, "Spirits you guys need to get a room."

Katara glared at him, "I've seen you with Jin, you're a lot worse Zuko."

Zuko snorted and shot back, "Yeah, well, we're dating. You guys aren't." He crossed his arms and met her glare, almost taunting her to say that he could do this all day.

Teo turned to his side to see Aang looking helpless in the crossfire between the two and decided to save him, "Guys let's quiet down, the meet is about to start soon."

Zuko pushed his tongue into his cheek and relaxed back into his seat, "Yeah you're right Teo." Katara shot Zuko one last glare before reluctantly turning away and mumbling something unintelligible from her side of the bleachers. Zuko looked over at the two of them, sitting a bit too close and a bit too happy together. He shook his head, he couldn't even begin to imagine the look on Aang's face if Ty Lee happened to walk into the pool.

Teo tapped his shoulder and interrupted his thoughts, "Zuko do you know what race she's doing?"

Zuko answered without hesitation, "Butterfly and freestyle." He watched as she stretched on the other side of the pool, "I hope she sets another PB today."

Katara scoffed, "You actually come? Wow. That's surprising."

"What do you mean." Zuko replied with a deadpan voice.

"I mean I wouldn't expect you to come."

What is that even supposed to mean?

Zuko clenched his jaw, "Just because you had a shitty boyfriend, doesn't mean that everyone has one too."

Aang's eyes widened and he put a hand on his shoulder, "Zuko, relax. You didn't have to come at her like that, are you good?"

"No, I'm not," Zuko brushed his hand off of him, "Maybe it's because I see you being all lovey-dovey with her, meanwhile you have no idea where your actual girlfriend is." Both Teo and Katara both leaned forward in their seats and stared at him in disbelief. Aang slowly retracted his hand from him and fell silent.

Katara looked from Aang to back to Zuko, switching from worry to anger in milliseconds "Zuko?!"

Teo finally recovered from his trance and bit his lip before speaking, "I mean he's not entirely wrong…"

Zuko blew a strand of hair from out of his face and leaned back, "Thank you, finally fuckin' someone else sees it."

Katara took her eyes off of Aang and practically yelled at Zuko, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Zuko shook his head and laughed, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? He has a girlfriend, and I don't know how you're able to do it, but you're acting like it's you."

Katara started, "But I mean-"

Zuko interrupted her sentence, "I mean what? you guys are quote on quote best friends? Bullshit. I wouldn't describe you two as best friends, but there's a certain other word that would perfectly describe what you are-"

"Zuko." Aang's eyes met his, the grey in his eyes were dull and cloudy stopping Zuko in his tracks.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before finishing, "Fuck this. I'm out of here, Teo I'll be back for you and your sister when this is over."

"Oh. Uh, Ok." Teo sputtered out, "Um, you don't have to worry about me, Aang was gonna drive me home."

"Cool. See you later Teo."

Zuko stuffed his hands in his pockets and got up and wordlessly walked past Aang and Katara, he could feel Katara's glare burning into his back but he could care less. He pushed his fists deeper into his pockets, they couldn't even say he was wrong, everyone saw how they were acting, as innocent it was, it was wrong- and even fucking Teo knew it for spirit's sake. He used his shoulder to shove open the exit doors and felt the cold autumn air crash into his cheeks, causing him to instinctively reach into his pocket for a cigarette.

He silently cursed to himself when his hand came out empty, Zuko rubbed his hands together to attempt to generate a little warmth as he made his way to his car. The parking lot was strangely empty, his car and three others being the only ones left in the lot, and as Zuko dragged his feet towards the end of the parking he glanced into the back window of a parked car as he passed by it. It was too dark to clearly see inside, but the foggy windows were enough to paint a picture of what was going on. Zuko snorted and thought to himself, not even five minutes off-campus, and kids are fucking like rabbits, get a grip. Although barely visible, the girl inside of the car rose up from the shadows and took off her shirt, and as she slipped it off her head and tossed it off to the side her head froze in his direction. Zuko's eyes snapped forward and he nonchalantly scratched the back of his head to pretend he hadn't seen anything.

When he got a good distance away he said to himself, "Close." Zuko let out a small chuckle and fished out his keys from his pocket and unlocked his car.

He opened the door and slid into the driver's seat, and as he settled in so did the guilt and regret he was trying so hard to suppress. He put his hands around the steering wheel, tapping on the rim as he had a silent first date with his consciousness. Zuko gritted his teeth and angrily shoved his keys into the ignition, "I don't care I know I'm not in the wrong here," He shook his head, "This is why I don't listen to my conscious, I start talking to myself." He backed out of his parking spot and turned into the main road, "Nothing a drive around a town won't fix."

Jin leaned her cheek against the door window as she waited for Zuko to come and pick her up. As she looked out the window the familiar white corolla pulled into the curb in front of her. She stared at it, refraining from instinctively walking out the door and greeting it with a small smile. She reminded herself, she was mad with its owner, she had to be angry, annoyed, upset. She waited a few moments before taking a deep breath and finally pushing the door open with her left hand, clutching the binder she had her other arm tightly as she made her way towards the car. As she walked towards the car her eyes met with Zuko's through the passenger window, no words were spoken, but the tone of the incoming car ride had been set, the tension in the air already thick enough to drown in.

Jin's eyes moved away from Zuko's, though his remained on her, and she carefully opened the passenger door, slipping into the seat and put her backpack at her feet. Zuko opened his mouth for a second and Jin glanced at him with a small shimmer of hope in her eyes, but he failed to make any words and regretfully let his mouth closed and turned away from her, instead letting his eyes fall onto the road in front of him. As Zuko pulled into the street he decided that the unbearable silence had gone on long enough and mustered all of his courage to finally speak, "Jin I know what you're going to say," He sighed, "I was completely out of line for what I said to Aang, but hear me out-"

"Are you an idiot?" The car came to a halt at the stoplight and Zuko turned towards Jin in shock, she shook her head, "Zuko I don't care about what you said to Aang, you guys are family it's none of my business-" Jin bit her lip and interlaced her fingers, "I shouldn't say that I do care-" She shook her head and turned towards him, "How the heck could you leave?"

Zuko froze up, still a bit taken back by her sudden outburst, "I don't know, I- I just had to get out of there-"

Jin tightened her arms around her binders and felt her shoulders begin to quiver, "You just had to get out? That's your excuse, you just had to get out. So when things get tough you just get out? How about you just get out of this relationship while we're at it?"

At those words Zuko pulled into an empty parking lot and parked into the first spot he could find. He turned off the car and turned towards his shaking girlfriend, "Jin, look at me what's wrong."

Jin refused to look in his direction, she was mad, she had to get her point across, but seeing the concern she knew had filled his eyes would stop her in her tracks, "Nothings wrong, I'm just stating the obvious." She shifted in her seat trying her best to maintain her composure.

Zuko pleaded with her, "No something is wrong I know there is. I've never seen you like this before." she fell silent, though she couldn't stop her body from trembling, "Jin, c'mon please."

She burst out, "I saw you leave! And you had this- this -this angry look on your face," Jin pointed at herself, "You've never seen me like this, but I've never seen you like that!" She pulled her textbook closer to her chest, "And you left without saying anything, you didn't text me or anything!"

"Jin, I don't see how that was a big deal-"

"What do you mean you don't see how Zuko?!" She screamed out, eyes falling to her lap, "We just had a fight- our first fight, and we barely just made up the other day and now you're acting like nothing ever happened- but something did happen, and I don't know if it's just me, but since then I started to feel like you are going to leave me any second now." Jin sputtered out, practically choking on her words as she finished her sentence. She closed her eyes to gather her thoughts and was blind to Zuko's hand slowly traveling towards her face, "Going to leave me like everyone else in my-"

Zuko's hand finally made its way to her cheek, he gently let his fingers graze her face and used his thumb to wipe away the tear that had fallen from her eye, "Jin, c'mon I'm an idiot but I'm not stupid enough to leave you. Take a couple of deep breaths." She listened to him, letting her chest heave in and out, "Now talk to me."

Jin let Zuko lightly move her chin towards his face, "I've just been scared, it's just that-" She bit her lip, "No. No, I'm overreacting. I shouldn't be getting this upset over this. I'm sorry."

"No, you're not in the wrong. That's my bad for leaving without saying anything, especially after a fight I should have been more considerate towards your feelings. C'mere"

Jin hesitated at first, but eventually let him wrap his arms around her. She couldn't help herself from burying her face into his chest, feeling the pent up stress and anxiety she had filled herself with exit her body. She pulled away from him slightly, looking up at him from his chest and frowned, "We shouldn't be hugging. I'm supposed to be mad at you for leaving me and you're supposed to be mad at me for throwing a tantrum over it."

Zuko chuckled and a small smile formed on his lips, "Well how about you let me hold you and we'll call it even."

Jin opened her mouth in protest but quickly let it fall shut and engulfed herself in Zuko's embrace, "Ok."

Zuko took a deep breath before pushing his key into the lock and trying his best to quietly unlock the front door of their apartment and creep inside. The lights were off which made him come to the conclusion that everyone in the house was fast asleep, he carefully took off his shoes and slipped into his indoor slippers, making sure not to make any noise. He poked his head into the living room to check if Aang or his Uncle were knocked out on the sofa, and to his luck it was vacant. The empty room put his mind at rest and gave him the confidence to walk past the kitchen and towards his room, but just as his foot was about to touch the first step of the stairs he heard someone callout to him.

"How could you?"

Zuko turned around to see a feminine shadow leaned against the kitchen table with its arms crossed, he could barely make out a distressed look on its face through the dark of the night. Upon realizing that the figure was Azula he sighed and walked into the kitchen and pointed at the switch for the main lights, "Is confronting me in the dark supposed to make me feel worse or scare me?"

"Weren't we just saying how we love and appreciate him?" She walked over and flicked lights on, jerking the switch upwards with unnecessary force before turning towards him, "And you go out and fucking make a mess of him for what reason exactly? Because you don't like how close he is with Katara?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, she clearly didn't get it, "I wouldn't really describe it as 'close' Azula."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Ok, he's close with someone of the opposite gender. What's your point Zuko."

Zuko raised an eyebrow, a bit taken back by her aggression that was fueled by not annoyance, but rather passion. He quickly regained his stance, "It doesn't bother you that he acts all lovey-dovey with her? Even when it's right in front of Ty? It doesn't annoy you that he's doing something he shouldn't but no one says anything, because, oh, he's Aang so you can't hurt him-"

Azula clucked her tongue and tapped her foot, "Oh that's what it is. It's your self-righteousness, got it."

Zuko shook his head, "Fuck. The hell. Off. You know that's not why I would call him out like that."

Azula nodded her head in sarcastic understanding, "No I get it. I really do. You feel like no one is listening to your right opinion, so you have to go out and make his brain go crazy and consider if he's been emotionally fucking cheating on his girlfriend since the day he started dating her."

Zuko finally started to feel the guilt from his actions consume him, and struggled to muster a response without admitting defeat, "Listen, no one was gonna say it, and if he's going to be a little depressed for a couple of days because of it, so be it."

Azula took a step forward and shoved her face in front of his, "A little depressed- A little depressed?! You're telling me the kid that was on antidepressants since he was twelve is going to be a little depressed?!"

Zuko's eyes went wide and he stumbled backward, "Azula, c'mon. We're 17 now he'll be fine relax-"

"How am I supposed to relax Zuko?" She shot back, "How am I supposed to relax when he's acting just like when-"

"Azula it won't happen again, it's-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Her voice echoed through the house, they had been arguing at a hushed tone up until that point and her scream made Zuko quickly peak up the stairs to see if she had woken anyone up, "Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Zuko watched as Azula crouched down on the ground with her hands over the back of her head, "You can't say anything about that day, you can't say shit. You don't know- you won't ever know what it was like to see his limp-"

"Azula it won't ever get to that aga-"

"Just stop already," She whispered, keeping her head tucked low, refusing to look at him, "Go upstairs, your room, something- just leave me alone I don't want to talk to you anymore."

Zuko sighed, "Alright. I'm gone."

Zuko walked up the stairs towards his bedroom, each step echoing throughout the house. With every creak and his foot felt heavier as the weight of actions began to weigh into him making his journey to the top of the stairs feel like an eternity. Once he reached the top he glanced towards Aang's room and peeked inside. He saw his body barely hanging onto his bed and his face facing down. Zuko felt his heart nose dive out of his chest and gripped on the side of the door, begging for Aang to make any sign of movement. He gave himself ten seconds before he would check on him, he counted down from ten as slowly as possible, praying to the spirits he was just overreacting.

Ten.

There was no way right? He said he felt better than he ever has before, there was no way he would now.

Nine.

They had just reunited with their childhood friends from so long ago and he knew how much he missed Katara and Sokka and he would never leave them.

Eight.

Uncle was doing good, we were at a good school, we haven't had any fights or any incidents at school, our shop is doing great, or apartment is nice-

Seven.

Zuko's eyes began to scan his body for any signs of anything, any signs at all. His eyes darted towards his bedside table and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary or anything that would suggest it.

Six.

Aang's arm slumped, hanging, dead on the side of the bed.

Five

Zuko's eyes began to water as pleaded, pleaded that he hadn't just lied to his sister.

Four.

Zuko's knuckles whitened on the door frame.

Three.

"Aang please don't make it my fault."

Finally, Aang's chest heaved, finally giving Zuko the peace of mind he needed. He slowly closed his door and put his back to the wall, he slowly breathed in and out before letting himself fall to the ground.

"What did I do."

School sucks but I officially finished my third semester in college and covid has made being motivated to do things that aren't at the top of my priority list extremely hard but oh well. Also, these past chapters have been really hard for me to write cause I'm trying to make them as good as I can. Also sorry if you were looking for fluff there isn't going to be much of that for a while probs. Might start doing fluff practice or something just for practice and stuff. Anyway hope you enjoy, next chapter out in a week or two.