Chapter 2: Mutually Beneficial

"Hi. Am I… interrupting something?" Mai asked flatly, clearly noticing her roommate's lack of clothing.

"No, not at all," Azula answered. "What did you forget this time?"

"Just my sketchbook." She walked over to her desk and pulled it out of one of the drawers. "Got it. Continue doing… whatever it is you're doing."

"We're not doing anything – " Azula insisted, but it was too late. Mai had left.

"Mai," the brown-eyed boy whispered.

"Are you okay?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow. But it didn't take her long to put the pieces together. The way he was staring at her, the warmth in his eyes, the softness of his voice. She remembered he said that he was distracted by a pretty girl when he hit her with the frisbee… a mischievous smirk spread across her cheeks. "You like Mai!" she said tauntingly.

"What? N-No I don't."

"She was the girl who distracted you, the one who caused you to hurl a frisbee into my espresso and ruin my outfit and my day. It all makes sense."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Wow, you really aim high. She is so out of your league."

"Gee thanks," he muttered, chewing angrily at his blade of wheat grass.

"So what is it about her that you like, hm?" she continued to tease.

"I don't – " He stopped himself and sighed. "She's intriguing, okay? I'm generally bored by most people I meet, but… she has this 'fuck the world' attitude I find appealing. She seems like someone who's quiet and introspective yet carries around a great deal of sadness and depth."

Azula was impressed by his answer. She had always prided herself on her uncanny ability to read people without knowing much about them, and it seemed her new acquaintance had somewhat of the same intuition.

"Also, I like tall girls."

She rolled her eyes. This comment shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did.

"So… what's her deal? Is she, like, single?"

"Are you really asking me for intel?" she laughed. "My, how the tables have turned."

"Oh, come on. You and me, we're in the same boat. You like my roommate and I like yours. Look… I know we got off on the wrong foot, but how about we put that behind us and work together?"

"Hmm…"

"I could talk you up to Sokka and you could talk me up to Mai. Let's help each other out, what do you say?"

"Well, I suppose it would be mutually beneficial…"

"So do we have a deal then?" he asked, extending his hand.

She cautiously shook his hand. "Deal."

"The name's Jet by the way."

"Azula."

"Azula… I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship," he grinned.

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"So Mai and I actually knew each other before we came to college," Azula said before sipping her coffee. "We've been best friends since we were children."

"No way."

"Yeah, our fathers were in the same political circle." She chuckled. "At least they were until they both went to prison."

"Wait… what?!" Jet questioned with disbelief.

"You probably heard about it in the news – it was just about everywhere…"

"Who are your dads?"

"Ozai and Ukano."

His mouth fell open. Of course he had heard the news. It would have been hard to miss. Jet almost felt bad for rooting for their downfall. Almost. "I had no idea – "

"We try to keep a low profile. Mai's always been much better about staying out of the spotlight than I. Still… the paparazzi always finds their way." She sighed.

He knew Azula looked familiar when he first saw her. Now he knew why. He must have seen her in the news.

"You wouldn't have even recognized Mai," she continued. "She completely changed up her look when she got here. I think she's trying to find herself outside of her strict, oppressive parental control."

Jet pulled out his phone and started digging.

"You're looking for pictures of her, aren't you?" Azula asked with a smirk.

He shrugged. "Guilty." Azula was right. Mai was completely unrecognizable. Her hairstyle was similar minus the long pigtails, but she used to dress in very conservative, old-fashioned, preppy clothing, probably by force.

"So what else can I tell you about her," she thought out loud. "Let's see… she's quiet, rarely emotional, prone to boredom, loves to draw, paint, sculpt – "

"Has she ever had a boyfriend?" Jet interrupted.

"One. In high school. Didn't last long. His name was Ruon-Jian. Friendly guy, not too bright, a bit of a party animal. He pretty much worshipped the ground she walked on."

"Attractive?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"More attractive than me?"

Shrugging, she gave him a playful smile.

"Did they… you know, hook up?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" she laughed. "But truth be told, I have no idea. Mai's very secretive. It's funny… I've known her for so long and yet, sometimes I feel like I don't know her at all."

He nodded, disappointed by the lack of information.

"I always kind of thought she had a thing for my brother," she added nonchalantly.

Jet's stomach knotted. "You have a brother?"

"Mmhmm, he goes here actually. He's in your year."

"Who is it?"

"Zuko…"

"Zuko?! I-I know him! We're on the fencing team together. With Sokka too – your brother and Sokka are actually really good friends, I'm surprised you didn't know that already – "

"That could be a problem," she huffed. "My brother and I, we're not close. I was… fairly cruel to him growing up, always rubbing my success in his face and teasing him relentlessly."

"Isn't that just what siblings do to each other?"

"Yes, but… I took things too far. I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"For what it's worth, I've never heard Zuko mention anything about having a sister. Also, I vaguely remember him saying something about his father being a man named… I can't remember, but it definitely wasn't Ozai."

"Iroh?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"That's our uncle. Father kicked Zuzu out of the house when he was thirteen."

Jet knew it was wrong but he couldn't help but snicker at the nickname. Zuzu. How ridiculous.

"They got into some awful fight. I still don't know what it was about, though I have my guesses."

"Is that how he got his…" Jet brought his hand to his left cheek. Azula looked down at her lap, so he dropped it and changed the subject. "And what about your mom? Couldn't he have stayed with her?"

"She abandoned us when we were young."

"Oh, I'm… I-I had no idea."

"For the longest time I thought she was dead. But no, she just left us. One morning she vanished, all traces of her gone. Turns out she had rekindled her relationship with her high school boyfriend, got married to him, and had another kid. A daughter. Can you believe it?"

Jet could tell Azula was deeply wounded by her mother's disappearance, even if she recounted the story in a matter-of-fact way. He had no idea all the loss she had endured. His first impression of her had been way off base. She probably adopted this tough exterior to keep people from getting too close to her, in case they left.

She laughed softly under her breath. "I didn't mean to bore you with all these stupid family details."

"I-I don't mind – "

"You came here to talk about Mai."

He figured she was changing the subject to cover up her hurt feelings about her childhood and didn't want to press her more on it, so he went along with it. "Why do you think she has a thing for your brother?"

"They've just always been close, though I doubt they've even seen each other since Zuko was kicked out. I figured they'd pick up their friendship now that they're both in college together, but perhaps I underestimated their antisocial tendencies."

Jet wasn't threatened. Even if she did have feelings for Zuko at one point in her life, it was simply a childhood crush. Fleeting.

"So." She took a sip of her beverage. "What can you tell me about Sokka?"

Throughout the week-long study period before finals, Azula and Jet continued to meet in secret to exchange info on their respective crushes. Often they'd meet in the café in the student center, where Jet would buy Azula a double espresso at her request. Other times they'd meet in the dining hall and share a meal. Students began to gossip about how close the two had become and speculate about the nature of their relationship, gossip they were quick to adamantly shoot down.

Azula already knew Sokka was outgoing, charismatic, and insanely smart – well, Jet had described him as "nerdy" – based on their limited interactions in physics labs, where Sokka served as the teaching assistant. Not to mention he had a smile that brightened the room and blue eyes that made her melt. Thanks to Jet, Azula learned that in addition to being on the fencing team, Sokka enjoyed practicing boomerang tricks, he loved to eat, especially anything with meat in it, he was sarcastic, somewhat of a pessimist, and didn't have a lot of respect for people who didn't believe in science.

Jet also mentioned that Sokka was a bit of a flirt, but as far as he knew, Sokka wasn't crushing on anyone. He assured that the key to Sokka's heart was food. Not having much experience cooking or baking, she set out to bake one of the only recipes she knew: chocolate chip cookies. The perfect snack for students cramming for finals.

With a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in hand, Azula knocked on Jet and Sokka's door, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Azula!" Jet opened it, feigning surprise to see her. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"Well, you know, I was just baking some chocolate chip cookies, but I accidentally made too many, so I thought I'd just – "

"Hey, Azula! Are those cookies I smell?" Sokka asked excitedly, leaning back on his chair to poke his head into view of the hall.

"They are," she smiled, nodding nervously.

"Azula just brought us a plate – wasn't that kind of her?" He took the plate from her.

"Wow, really?!" Sokka nearly fell over but managed to find his balance. "I mean, I-I can have some?!"

"Yeah, I… They're for both of you…"

"Oh, I just assumed since you two are dating that they were just for – "

"Whoa, back up a second" Azula cut in. "We're what?!"

"Y-Yeah. Azula and I are not dating," Jet insisted.

"No," she laughed, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, no. No. No. Definitely not dating."

"Eight noes. Nice," Jet said sarcastically.

"We're just friends."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Sokka said, chuckling. "It's just that I know you two have been spending a lot of time together lately and he keeps talking about you and how great you are – "

"We've just been studying together," Azula lied.

"And Jet doesn't usually just study with pretty girls, if you know what I – "

"Okay," Jet cut him off. "We can just stop there."

Azula gave him a look, raising her eyebrows at him, surprised and yet somehow unsurprised to learn he was a womanizer.

Jet shook his head dismissively.

Meanwhile, Sokka had gotten up, snatched the plate of cookies away from Jet, and started digging into them. "Mmm. These cookies are delicious," he said through a full mouth.

"I-I'm glad you like them," she smiled, blushing.

"You can bring over your extra baked goods any time you'd like."

Her blush deepened. "Extra baked goods for some extra credit on the physics exam, perhaps?" she joked.

"Hah, good one."

"Speaking of…" She walked closer to Sokka. "…with the physics final right around the corner, I was wondering if you'd, umm, perhaps be open to, uhh, tutoring?"

"Like a group thing?"

"I-I was thinking in a private, one-on-one session – I'd pay you of course – "

"Ah, I wish I could, but teaching assistants aren't allowed to give private tutoring sessions to their own students. Since I know everything that's going to be on your exam and I'm going to be the one grading it, it just wouldn't be ethical. I could lose my job if the school were to find out."

"Oh." Her heart sank. She'd have to find a new way to spend one-on-one time with him.

"I could recommend another physics tutor to you if you'd like, but I really don't think you need one. Between you and me, you have the highest grades in the class."

"Thanks, I… I just get umm – "

"Test anxiety?" Sokka finished for her.

"Sure." Yeah right.

"I understand that. But don't worry, you're gonna do great. It'll be a piece of cake. For you. Not for the other students." He began to laugh, somewhat cruelly. "They're gonna struggle."

She chuckled.

"Hey, well since you're here and we have about an hour before fencing practice, why don't we play some videogames?" Jet suggested. "You can take a study break, right Sokka?"

"Yeah sure." He turned to Azula. "What would you like to play? Street Bender 6? Five Nights at Hama's? Overcooked 3: Revenge of the Cabbage King?"

Knowing how competitive she gets, she decided a co-op game was probably best. "Overcooked sounds good."

"Great." Jet walked over to the TV. "I'll get it set up – you two, get comfy."

"Full disclosure," Sokka said, sitting down on his bed, "these games aren't ours. We're borrowing them from a friend."

"Zuko!" Jet blurted. "That's right, Sokka, I completely forgot to tell you. Azula is Zuko's sister."

"No way! Well now that you mention it, I can totally see the resemblance."

She wasn't sure if she should take that as a compliment or not. She also wasn't sure where she should sit.

"Your brother is the best! We didn't get along at all last year, but now we're besties."

She started to take a seat on the floor, but Sokka stopped her.

"Hey, you don't have sit on the floor!" He patted the mattress next to him. "There's plenty of room up here."

Her stomach somersaulted. "Okay." She sat down next to Sokka. On his bed. She had never been so close to him before.

"All set up," Jet said, handing everyone a controller before taking a seat next to Azula, forcing her to sit even closer to Sokka.

"Thank you," she mouthed at Jet.

"You owe me," he mouthed back.