Heated Swimming Pool

"But you were clever

Always forever in command

It's my house my rules my

Heated swimming pool

And I don't even have to wait for

You to open up their cages

Cause I can see them in the Ivy

And I can tell that they don't like me"

As he walked into his Uncle's house, smelling the familiar scent of his favorite jasmine tea, Zuko had never felt more like he had come home. His first year of college had been fun, but he found himself missing the smell of his Uncle's signature tea more and more often. The small break between the fall and spring semesters had been too short and he was more than excited to have the whole summer to be with the people he loved the most. His uncle, cousin, his mother and especially his friends. They had been keeping in touch, of course, but it was much different to actually be with them in person. He was the last one to return from school and he couldn't wait to see them.

Well, everyone but Katara. He wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing her again, though he knew he'd have to deal with her anyway. He figured that he could look past her icy stares and ignore her insults if he got to be around all of the people he cared about.

He wandered into the kitchen following the scent of the calming tea, forgetting about Katara. His uncle stood at the stove pouring out three cups, his cousin Lu Ten sitting at the table behind him. His uncle turned to him pulling him into a warm hug.

"Hello, Uncle." he said, almost being crushed under the pull of Iroh's arms. He hugged him back almost as tightly.

"Welcome back, Nephew. We've missed you." he felt the vibrations of his Uncle's deep voice in his shoulder. He was released for just a few seconds before Lu Ten threw his arms around him as well. His hug was much shorter, though.

"It's good to see you, Zuko." The older man clapped him on the shoulder and grabbed a cup of tea.

"It's good to be home." Zuko replied, taking his own cup. "Uncle, how is mom doing?"

He watched the man's face grow somber, "Better than usual. She has been looking forward to your visits."

"I have been, too."

"Well, as much as I'd love to catch up with you, I know you're eager to meet up with your friends. We can talk later." His uncle smiled warmly at him and he really was glad to be back. Comfort was not something he had had much of in his childhood, but being with his uncle was always where he felt the most love.

Unfortunately, everyone would be meeting up at Sokka's house. This would be fine if Katara didn't live there, too. They almost all hung out there though, with their father constantly out of town on business and their Gran Gran not around as much as she used to be, they were free to frequent the house whenever they wanted.

He picked up Mai and Ty Lee on his way. The two girls piling into his beat up sedan, Mai taking the passenger seat and Ty Lee sitting in the back.

Mai stayed silent, preferring to nod her hello, while Ty Lee wrapped her arms around the driver's seat to hug him, already chattering on, "Oh, Zuko, it's so good to see you! How is college? It must be so fun. I want to know everything, you have to tell us!"

"Hey, Ty Lee. There's really not much to-" he glanced back at her in the rear view mirror, watching her shift to the middle seat to insert herself closer to him and Mai.

"Oh it's okay we have plenty of time to talk! School has been so lonely without you Sokka, Suki, and Haru. I've definitely missed Haru the most but don't tell him I said that!" Mai rolled her eyes as Ty Lee droned on. Zuko was thankful that she was acting normally.

He had worried that their breakup would have disrupted their friendship but by the time it happened almost a year ago, it was mutual. He supposed he was lucky that their relationship had pretty much gone back to normal. Mai was still herself around him and it made car rides like these more bearable. Especially when Ty Lee forced herself to fill any open silence.

"I'm glad you're back." Mai said in her usual monotone, ignoring Ty Lee who was still going on about Haru.

Zuko smiled, "it's good to be back."

"I wonder if Haru will already be there when we get there? Oh I'm so excited to see him!" Ty Lee went on ignoring their separate conversation.

"Have you talked to Azula lately? She asked me about you the other day." Mai asked quietly, despite Ty Lee's obvious distraction.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened and he tried hard to keep his voice even. "No. I haven't spoken to her since the last time she tried to get me to visit dad's. Honestly, I don't really want to talk to her."

"I get it. She misses you though. She'll never say it but she does."

Zuko resisted the urge to raise his voice, "Until she stops idolizing that monster, I'm not talking to her. I can't handle it."

Mai frowned, "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"It's okay." He muttered, turning his focus back to Ty Lee who hadn't missed a beat. "How was visiting Suki at Kyoshi?"

This perked her up even more if that was humanly possible, "It was awesome! I decided to go there instead of Caldera. All of her sorority sisters are so nice! I really want to join. She told me that they can't let first semester freshmen pledge, but I can still hang out with them. Plus Sokka goes there too so I can hang out with him!"

Mai rolled her eyes, "She has not shut up about Kyoshi since. If I have to hear one more thing about greek life I'm going to vomit."

Zuko smiled, "Greek life isn't that bad. They throw the best parties. I wouldn't join myself but at least at Ba Sing Se they do a lot of community service."

"Yeah in between shots and keg stands?" Mai joked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Actually, there's not as many keg stands as you'd think. I've never done one."

Ty Lee giggled from the back seat, "That's because you're not cool enough, Zuko."

He glared at her through the rear view mirror. He'd been to more college parties than she had. Who was Ty Lee to say he wasn't cool? These were the times that he missed his sister or at least the memory of her before their parents divorced. At least if she had been there his friends, who were really always more hers than his, would be distracted by her commanding presence. He wouldn't have to make small talk with his ex girlfriend and her bubbly friend.

"She's right, you know. You're no frat boy."

"Whatever." He muttered, deciding to focus on driving instead, letting Ty Lee continue rambling.

—-

The group was out back when they arrived, gathered around the pool. It was another typical hangout at Sokka and Katara's, both of the siblings already in the heated pool, splashing at the rest to join them. Ty Lee immediately cartwheeled over to Haru wrapping him in a tighter hug than looked physically possible, and Mai sighed, plopping down next to Suki who sat with her feet in the pool near Sokka. They waved to him excitedly. Zuko smiled. It was great to finally be around people who cared.

Toph and Aang sat in the shade at the edge of the pool talking animatedly until Aang noticed him. The boy stood, grabbing onto Toph's arm to guide her over to Zuko. Before he could do much else, they were both wrapping him into a hug.

"Sparky! I was wondering when you'd show up." Toph said affectionately punching him in the arm. He couldn't help but feel like it hurt more than usual.

"Hey guys. Nice to know your punches still hurt." Zuko muttered, rubbing the tender spot on his arm.

Toph crossed her arms, "It's supposed to hurt! The more it hurts the more I like you."

"Yeah, yeah. At least this time you started with the hugging."

Feeling like he was being stared at, he looked past Toph and Aang to see Katara glaring at him from the pool. Of course, his presence had already seemed to put her in a bad mood. Their rivalry had been a long one and he didn't see her softening around him anytime soon. When he'd first joined the friend group his junior year, she had been a little standoffish, but nothing compared to the daggers of ice she was glaring into him right now.

Just a short few months after he befriended Sokka and Haru, they'd been locked in a closet for seven minutes of heaven. Ever since then, they'd been mortal enemies. She was the one person in their group who didn't like him and it bothered the living hell out of him. He felt himself narrow his eyes back at her and silently cursed himself for even acknowledging her. Zuko knew an insult was coming his way.

"So, rich boy, you here to ruin the party? I was having so much fun until you showed up." she said splashing water at his feet. Sokka splashed water at her in turn and she made a face at him.

"It's great to see you too, Katara. How's your miserable attitude been treating you?" he quipped back, already annoyed.

She smirked, "It's been great actually! I've been a lot less miserable these last few months because I didn't have to see your stupid face every day." He couldn't help holding back a scoff.

"Yeah, trust me I felt the exact same way."

Sokka dunked her head in the water and gave him a sympathetic look, "I swear I told her to be good today." He let her up once she started smacking him, "Can you not be mean to Zuko for one night? You're messing up the vibes, Katara."

"It's fine, nothing I'm not used to. Anyway, I brought the weed. Who wants to smoke?" he asked pulling a plastic baggie out of his backpack.

Sokka practically jumped out of the water, "Me! Definitely me." He snatched the baggie right out of Zuko's hand, heading to a table to pack a bong.

Katara just glared at him from the water, the look on her face far from apologetic. Zuko rolled his eyes, turning to help Sokka.

"I'm sorry that she's being like that. I wish she'd get over whatever stick she has up her ass about you." the other boy muttered as he threw some buds in the grinder.

Zuko shrugged, "I can't say it doesn't bother me, but at this point it's just normal. It's kinda fun pissing her off, though."

Sokka laughed, patting him on the back. "Eh, you're not wrong. It's probably just because it's so easy."

They both laughed at that, Sokka keeping his attention on the grinder, spinning it around in his hand. He watched Haru detach himself from Ty Lee's grasp to join them. "Hey, bud. Good to see you."

"How's Ty Lee?" Zuko smirked.

"Don't ask. She hasn't left me alone since winter break. I've kind of been avoiding her to be completely honest."

Sokka practically snorted, "Yeah, okay. If by avoiding you mean hooking up with her constantly."

"Look, she's great but you know her. It's a lot. I can't always handle it." Haru plopped his head in his hands.

"I've known her since she was six." Zuko said, taking the grinder from Sokka to pack the bowl, "She hasn't changed a bit. You learn to just let her talk and ask questions every now and then. It's always worked for me."

"Okay but you're not alone with her for hours on end. It gets… tiring."

"Do you actually like her or do you just like making out with her?" Zuko asked. He couldn't help thinking that maybe Haru's calm demeanor might perfectly offset Ty Lee's bubbly and erratic personality. The more he thought about it, he could see why the girl was so into him.

Haru sighed, "Of course I like her. I wouldn't just hook up with her like that if there weren't any feelings involved. It'd mess up the whole group dynamic if everything went to hell. You remember how awkward it was when Katara broke up with Aang."

Sokka made a face, "Can we please not discuss my sister's love life? Even if it's non-existent I really don't want to think about it."

"I'd just prefer not to talk about Katara at all." Zuko muttered, blissfully unaware that she was standing just a few feet away, wringing out her hair with a towel.

She marched up to the three, aiming for Zuko, "You guys realize that we're all hanging out together, right? I can hear you from 3 feet away."

Zuko took a hit from the bong, ignoring her, "Whatever, Haru. If you like her, you like her. If you can't handle her, stop before you go too far."

"Oh, so you're just going to keep acting like I don't exist?"

Sokka interrupted, "Katara-"

"If you didn't notice, I prefer to ignore your presence in general." Zuko shrugged, passing the bong to Haru, who took it, happy for the distraction from the imminent fight.

"I swear it's like you only care about yourself. How can you act like everyone's feelings don't matter?" Her arms were folded tightly over her chest and her eyes were back to glaring daggers at him. Haru just handed the bong over to Sokka. He hit it, no longer wanting to be involved.

"Nope, I care about everyone else's, just not yours." Zuko's confidence was inflated by the slight high he felt creeping into his head. He didn't come here looking to argue with her, but she was making it way too easy. The rest of the group was looking over now, knowing that another huge blowout between them was about to start.

"Oh my god you're incorrigible! You can't just talk shit about me and expect me not to care."

He was done. He stood, walking over to her on the other side of the table. "Incorrigible? What, are we using a thesaurus now? I get that you don't like me, but not everything I say is an attack on you personally. Besides, I'm sure you talk plenty of shit about me when I'm not around to hear you!"

"Yeah, well if I do it's because you deserve it!"

Sokka interjected, placing the bong back on the table, "Hey, Katara, chill out!"

"Yeah, cool it, Sugar Queen." Toph shouted from the other side of the pool.

"Oh, I deserve it? I've never done anything to you and you insist on making me feel like an asshole!" They both inched closer to each other with every exchange, getting closer and closer to the edge of the pool. Katara advanced further, pushing him only a few inches away from the water. He held his stance, refusing to shy away from her. She had some sort of innate way of figuring out exactly how to piss him off and he couldn't stand it.

He could tell that she was beyond reasoning with, too. "You deserve it because you are an asshole! I'm just the only one who sees that."

"Katara, have you ever considered that maybe you're the asshole? Maybe your fragile ego just can't handle that."

She responded by shoving him backwards into the pool and stomping away back into the house. Zuko surfaced, shoving his long hair out of his eyes. "Did she really just push me into the damn pool?"

Mai held her arm out to help him out, "I think so."

Suki stood next to her, looking to Sokka. "I think we need to do the thing."

"What thing?" Zuko asked, wringing out his shirt.

"Yeah," Sokka sighed, defeated, "It's time."

Zuko was even more confused now, "Time for what?"

"You go get your sister, I got this one." Suki grabbed his arm leading him into the house, Sokka trailing behind them. He tried to resist, but Suki was surprisingly strong and managed to keep pulling him closer to the basement.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see." And he was promptly shoved down the basement stairs, more aggressively than was probably necessary.