Author's Notes:

(1) Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Katara are college freshmen. Jet, Sokka, and Zuko are sophomores. Suki is a junior. Aang and Toph will not be in this story since they would have been too young.

(2) Possible ships include Jetmai, Sokkla, Jetzula, Maiko, TyLokka, Sukka, MaiLee, JetLee, Maitara, Zukka, Jetkka, and Jetara.

(3) There will (likely) be one explicit chapter toward the end of the story – I will give a content warning ahead of time.

Thank you so much to silversandwichbites for the beautiful artwork! What a talented artist!

Chapter 1: Crash and Burn

Her father had once said she was born lucky. More often than not, she believed it. Of course, her father's words meant very little to her now that he was locked away in prison. She had spent so much of her life defending him only to find out that he was very, very guilty of just about every white-collar crime imaginable. And just like that, he was gone and out of her life, and she was left to fend for herself.

So her homelife hadn't been great, but at least college was going well for her so far. She was just about finished with her first semester at Ba Sing Se University, and everything was going swimmingly. She was acing all her classes, socializing, staying in topnotch shape, and, thus far, nothing embarrassing had happened to her. With the sun shining down on her on this abnormally warm day on the brink of winter, her 3-hour long physics lab behind her, and a piping hot double espresso in hand, today was one of those days when Azula felt lucky.

That was until a frisbee came soaring across the quad and smacked right into her coffee drink, causing it to spill all over her and her physics notebooks, which she promptly dropped onto the grass, sending her papers flying every which way.

Jet should have been studying for finals, but the sun had beckoned him to come out and play. It never took a lot to convince Jet to procrastinate. He was a straight B kind of student anyway. He did just enough to get by and that was good enough for him.

Being the social chameleon that he was, he joined a bunch of students he didn't know for a rousing game of frisbee in the quad, students he knew he'd never talk to again once the game ended. That's just the kind of guy he was. The kind to blend in with a group, get something out of it, and leave without ever actually becoming close to anyone. If growing up in the foster care system had taught him anything, it was that nothing was stable. Nothing lasted forever. That included friendships.

He had just caught the frisbee when suddenly everything changed. That's when he saw her. It was like he had just been pierced by the Love Spirit's arrow. He was not one to be easily rattled, but he had never seen anyone quite like her before. Tall. Jet black hair. Pale, almost translucent skin. All-black attire that screamed "I hate the world". He wanted to hate the world with her. She made him go weak at the knees.

That's probably why he didn't even realize it when the frisbee left his hand. It took him half a minute to realize he had struck someone on the other side of the quad, and from the look of it, the frisbee had hit her hard. And boy oh boy, did she look pissed.

The girl he hit was on the shorter side, but she had this intense vibe about her. The look on her face let him know he had messed with the wrong person. She looked familiar, though he couldn't figure out why. He was quite sure he'd never met her before.

His first instinct was to run, to run far away and let her deal with the mess on her own, but… she was quite attractive, even if she wasn't his type. No, he could tell by the way she carried herself that she was very much someone with a type A personality, someone who liked to be in control, probably neurotic. It was also evident from her outfit and accessories that she came from money. Definitely not his type, however, he couldn't just let a pretty girl suffer in silence. So he rushed over to her side and started to help her collect her scattered papers.

Great. This was just fucking great. Her outfit was stained, her papers were all over the place, and students in the quad were all staring at her. Some were even snickering. The audacity. She wanted to light all their smug faces on fire. But instead, she took a deep breath and rationalized that if this had happened to another student, she'd probably laugh too. No, she'd definitely laugh.

The tall, handsome student responsible for this mess was on his hands and knees picking up her papers. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically, handing her a stack. "Clumsy me."

"Aim better next time, dumbass."

He seemed amused by the remark. "Sure thing, princess."

"Don't call me that."

"What should I call you then?"

"Nothing," she scoffed. "Just give me my papers and go."

"Okay, geesh, I said I was sorry. It's not like I was trying to hit you, I-I was just distracted by this pretty gir – you know what, the details aren't important."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"What can I do to make it up to you?" he asked, pleading with his warm brown eyes.

She noticed he was chewing on a blade of wheat grass. He probably thought that it made him look cool. It really made him look like he was trying too hard.

"Can I at least buy you another coffee?"

"No."

He collected the last sheet from the grass and was just about to hand it back to her when suddenly he stopped.

She watched his eyes affix to something on the paper. When she realized what it was – her crush's name "Sokka" enclosed in a heart – she felt all the color drain from her face. She looked back up at him, instantly mortified.

He smirked.

"You saw nothing, you got it?" she demanded, snatching the paper from his hand. "Tell anyone and you'll regret it."

"Are you threatening me?" he chuckled.

"Let's just say it would be in your best interest not to get on my bad side."

"Okay," he shrugged, still smirking. "I won't poke the dragon. Although… nah, I shouldn't tell you."

She glowered at him. "Tell me what?"

"This Sokka guy… I know him. In fact, he's my roommate."

Her jaw clenched. WHAT?!

"It would be a shame if he were to find out about this, wouldn't it?" he teased.

"You're lucky the university has a 'no bending' policy or else – "

"Ooh. Firebender I take it?"

"Ergh! Just – just leave me alone. We never met. This never happened." She stormed off to her dorm, cursing under her breath. She hated him. She hated him, whatever his name was. And she hated that he got under her skin like that. She was usually able to maintain composure in tense situations, but he knew just the right buttons to press to provoke her. He had caught her in a moment of weakness. No one knew about her crush, not even her best friend. Spirits help her if she ever saw his sorry face again. She just prayed that this humiliating nightmare was over.

Jet didn't know what possessed him to try to make amends with the sharp-tongued firebender, perhaps he was still putting off his studies, but alas he found himself doing the right thing, a rare occurrence indeed. He went to the student center to buy a new coffee, loaded it with cream and sugar assuming that's how all girls liked it, and found his way to her dorm to apologize. It didn't take long to find her room – he gathered she was a freshman since she looked young and he'd never seen her on campus before, and also because her physics notebook was for an intro physics class. There were only two freshman dorms on campus, and by treating other students as NPCs in a roleplaying game he was able to get the information he needed to track her down. He knocked on her door. It opened.

"What do you want?" she snarled, standing in her doorway in nothing but a burgundy bralette and a black high-waisted skirt.

"Uhhh… is now a bad time?"

"For you, any time is a bad time."

"Were you changing or something? I can come back later – "

"Of course I was changing, you idiot! It's almost like some asshat spilled coffee all over me or something!"

"Why did you open the door then?!"

"I thought you were my roommate forgetting her keys again! Now let me repeat the question, what exactly do you want?"

"I just – "

"Wait." She cut him off before he could answer. "How did you find my room? Did you follow me?!"

"N-No! I just asked around. For the short, bitchy firebender." Jet couldn't help himself. Why did he always have to be such a dick?

She stared daggers into him as she started to close the door in his face.

"Wait, wait, wait – I was just kidding!" He wedged himself in her doorway, extending a coffee cup in her direction. "I come with a peace offering."

She released an exasperated sigh and opened the door, taking the coffee from him and sipping it. "Blech," she groaned, recoiling from the taste. "What's in it?"

"Cream and sugar…"

"Coffee shouldn't be sweet."

"I should've known you drink it black – "

"And I prefer espresso."

"Noted," he smiled. "Look… I just wanted to let you know that I'm really sorry I accidentally hit you with the frisbee and that your secret's safe with me. I won't tell Sokka that you love – "

"Don't you dare say it out – " Just then, the door swung open. "Oh. Hi, Mai."

Jet's eyes went wide. He couldn't speak. It was her! The hot goth girl from the quad! Mai… Mai must be the firebender's roommate. The hostile firebender who he'd hit with a frisbee and who now hated his guts. Well shit.

Author's Note: This story is heavily inspired by Toradora.