A/N: Thank you so much for the support. I was so nervous publishing this story, I'd read so many great fics that I wanted to challenge myself too.

Eyes

Zuko was never really one for loud groups of people or any kind of people. He could sum up the people he genuinely liked on one hand or two fingers. He liked his uncle Iroh when he wasn't forcing him to listen to old jazz records or taste-test his newest concoction of tea - most of the time it just tasted like boiled water with some added scent, a statement that often received a shocked gasp and hurtful expression from his uncle - and Katara.

And it was only because Katara took up half of that very exclusive list that he had even agreed to say hello to her brother. A person he remembered as seventy-five percent sarcasm and dumb jokes, fifteen percent overprotective big brother and ten percent brains. To say he liked Sokka would have been a stretch, occasionally he'd make a joke that managed to dig up his funny bone and promptly tickle it but other times he was glaring at him and giving him the world's least intimidating threats. Sokka's personal favourite insult was the eloquent jerk and he'd replaced Zuko's name with it on more than one occasion, most of the time Zuko was in the room when he did it too.

Given the fact that Sokka was the only person in Katara's family trio who even half-believed the stories about him meant the kid had heart and Zuko at least admired that. Even Zuko didn't know if he would have threatened bad boy Zuko, the guy sounded like a complete psychopath, and if he was being honest with himself he was just a little bit curious to see how Sokka had grown. Especially since Hokoda was a verified tank of a man and Sokka had been a certified weed of a boy.

So when he approached the round table with about five people sitting around it, two thoughts occurred to him. One, he hated loud groups of people and two, the tanned boy with his back to him definitely wasn't the Sokka he remembered. He could still see the man-bun at the back of his head that he had been adamant about looking cool, in Zuko's opinion he was still wrong, and he noted Sokka still had a pension for wearing sleeveless shirts, today's offering was a blue hoodie with a wolf print on the back.

At least now though Sokka had gained enough muscle mass so that his arms didn't look like two breadsticks poking out of spaghetti. Zuko felt a sense of male pride when he saw that his arms were still bigger than Sokka's, although he was a year older than him he doubted twelve months would have made much of a difference anyway.

"Katara! You're here!" A young kid with a yellow beanie and an orange hoodie shouted, he was waving his arm with such force Zuko was surprised the kid hadn't taken off yet. He could tell from the grin plastered across his face that this kid liked Katara, he hadn't so much as glanced at him standing next to her or even acknowledged Suki. He found he wasn't in the least bit intimidated by this kid, because he looked just like that. Like a kid.

"And Suki" he added after a moment seeming to realise he hadn't acknowledged her yet.

"Yeap. Found her in the stacks with tall, dark and mysterious" Suki said as she leaned over and placed a kiss on Sokka's cheek.

"You found her with who?" Came the voice that Zuko found still granted on his nerves. He may have built himself up but it was clear whatever protein he was on hadn't done squat for that annoying voice of his.

"According to Tara, he's your friend," Suki added, throwing Katara and Zuko a look. Katara huffed beside him.

"He is" Katara replied, the exasperation in her voice clear. Zuko resisted the urge to laugh at the flush of red crossing Katara's face, if her arms weren't folded over her chest then Zuko knew at least one of her hands would be pressed to her face. She always did that when she was annoyed, he liked it that way it meant he never had to guess when she was getting annoyed and had a clear warning to back off a topic. Which teenage Zuko very rarely did.

"I'll be the judge of- Zuko!? No way? You're alive?" Sokka spoke as he rose to his feet. And kept rising. Zuko felt that spark of male pride diminish as Sokka stood at least three inches taller than him.

"Sokka! Can you not be a total ass for once in your life?" Katara hissed from his right. Sokka's blue eyes flicked to his sister who was no doubt giving him that hard stare, before landing them back on Zuko.

"Good to see you too Sokka" Zuko mumbled "I'm glad to see you haven't changed. At all" he added with the cock of his eyebrow and the tilt of his head.

The boys glared at each other for a moment neither one of them taking their eyes off the other as if they were both sizing up prey. The muscle in Zuko's jaw flexed as Sokka raised his chin ever so slightly.

Katara watched as her boyfri- ex-boyfriend squared off against her overprotective brother, she sighed thinking about how she'd seen this exact scenario before, only then each boy was roughly half a foot shorter and there was less hair on both of their heads. Still, she welcomed the sudden rush of nostalgia, it brought her back to a time when she was more naive and innocent.

"Surprised you're here actually, I thought you and your uncle still lived in Crystal Bay" Sokka was the first to break the silence but not the Mexican standoff the pair of them were still locked in.

"Nope. Moved here during the summer right after I transferred" Zuko spoke his raspy voice gaining that hard edge it often did whenever he would speak to Sokka.

"Convenient you transferred here. To BSSU when GU would have been closer" Sokka insinuated, the glimmer in his blue eyes taking on a new hue.

"It would have. But I didn't go there either" Zuko spoke, his golden eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Even Katara caught the ridiculous insinuation in Sokka's words, there was no way he would have known she was attending BSSU, she never posted it on any social media and the only people she'd have cared to have told were her brother and her father so there was zero possibility Zuko would have known. Besides, BSSU was a pretty good school second only to Caldera, and even then the rankings were constantly changing.

"Sokka, don't you ever get tired of being such a meathead?" Katara sighed.

"Tara is right babe, you're making those leaps in that head of yours" Suki chided lightly as she gave him a gentle nudge of her elbow. Sokka dropped his eyes to his girlfriend before letting out a sigh.

"Sorry, I guess you're right," he said with a gentle smile, Katara would have found it sweet normally if she wasn't ready to tear the stupid goatee of Sokka's dumb face.

"Suki isn't the one you should be saying sorry too" Katara cut across as she shot her brother a fiery glare, any other man would have flinched at, But Sokka was Sokka and had been getting those stares his whole life.

"Fine, Zuko, I'm sorry. I guess sometimes I take being the big brother too seriously, y'know?" Sokka said with a grin and a light laugh. Zuko didn't know. He didn't know at all, his little sister was the spawn of Satan and he'd have given her away to any person who asked with a semi-nice enough tone. The thought made him laugh inwardly, he could never imagine any boy coming within ten foot of Azula, if Ozai wasn't enough of a deterrent then her sharp biting tongue and thousand-yard stare would have done the trick.

But he knew from experience, when it came to Katara, how hard it was not to be overprotective. She was nice to almost everyone she'd meet and tended not to see the bad in people until it was too late, he decided long ago that was the main reason he'd managed to get close enough to date her. But it also meant other guys could get too close too, he loved her for her kindness and empathy but he'd worried on more than one occasion that it would also get her hurt.

So, on that alone, he could understand Sokka. They had made unlikely allies before, Katara was beautiful after all and some guys didn't always take no for an answer. Some guys took a scowl and a threat to back off.

"Yeah, man. It's fine. I get it" Zuko replied as he grabbed Sokka's outstretched hand.

"Great, now that that's settled. Who's your grumpy friend Sweetness?" A female voice came from around Sokka and Suki.

"His name is Zuko, Toph" Katara responded before Zuko had the chance to fully comprehend being called grumpy.

"He's hot" The girl named Toph replied. The table laughed, much to Zuko's confusion. He flicked his eyes to Katara and felt a twist in his stomach to see her laughing too, didn't she used to tell him he was handsome?

Katara turned to him, a smile still on her face. She seemed to catch the confused look on his face before she placed a palm on his arm in a reassuring gesture. She tried to ignore the sparks that shot through her arm as she did, touching him had always felt that way.

"Toph's blind," She said sweetly as she turned her blue eyes in the direction the voice had come from. His golden gaze followed Katara's and sure enough, he was met by the distant glassy stare of clouded green eyes. At first, he was taken back by how the girl seemed to know exactly where he was standing even if her eyes weren't focused on him. And then secondly he realised the girl looked to be about the same age as the beanie kid.

Didn't know this college ran a daycare he thought to himself before realising he'd probably been silent a little too long after Katara had spoken.

"Right, I see" Zuko responded dryly.

"What's that like?" Toph replied without missing a beat, another laugh erupted from the table. Zuko felt his cheeks burn, he never liked being the centre of attention for anything, it made him uncomfortable. He felt a sudden urge to turn tail and run, but the need to be around Katara grounded him. A few jokes from a kid wouldn't make him leave her side so easily, not when she was smiling at him like that or touching his arms that way.

"Sorry" he mumbled before once again his fingers were in his hair.

"Not so bright are ya' Sparky?" Toph responded with a cock of her petite head, If Zuko hadn't just been told this girl was blind then there was no way in hell he'd have believed it. She seemed to manage to stare at him and through him at the same time.

"Toph!" Katara hissed as she glared at the girl, it must have occurred to her that her efforts were wasted before she huffed and turned her blue eyes back to him.

"Ignore her, she has a habit of giving out nicknames and she doesn't let up once she has" Katara spoke her face flat but her eyes full of the affection she had for the small girl who despite being blind seemed to be made of rock.

"Damn straight, Sweetness, your boyfriend there will be known as Sparky," Toph said with a pointed finger and a cackle that gave Zuko the impression she liked to make people feel uncomfortable. Five minutes into the girl's presence and he had realised she didn't mean any of it maliciously, she had a way of teasing that was unoffensive. He guessed he'd let it go, no point in getting wound up over teasing that everyone seemed to get from her.

"B-boyfriend? He isn't your boyfriend is he Katara?" The beanie boy turned his big grey innocent eyes their way.

Zuko decided he didn't much like this kid, even if he did seem to be nursing a monster crush on Katara, whatever their relationship status was, was honestly none of this kids business. He debated scowling at him but thought better of it when he realised this kid must be about twelve, at least socially.

"He's her Ex-boyfriend they broke up like two years ago," Sokka offered. That did earn a scowl from Zuko and a not so subtle hip bump from Katara, causing him to spill the water he'd been drinking.

"Katara!" He sputtered without looking at his annoyed sister, as he wiped at the front of his hoodie. Toph let out a cackle that sounded like a cross between a hyena and a bird.

"You should be more careful" Katara spoke in a mock tone. Zuko allowed the faintest smile to cross his lips, Sokka was another one who should mind his own damn business.

"Oh, I see" The beanie kid spoke dejected, effectively wiping the infant smile off Zuko's face. He wanted to roll his eyes at him but thought better of it, he felt bad for the kid on one level, he'd walked in those shoes himself, but on the other hand, he was annoying.

"I don't," Toph offered to another round of laughter. This time Zuko allowed himself to smile. He'd decided he could add Toph to the list of people he didn't hate, not as exclusive as the like list of people he likes but it was a good stepping stone.

"Anyway, that's Aang" Katara spoke as she pointed to the beanie boy. Instantly he felt himself relax. So beanie boy is Aang? That made sense. That solved that problem fairly quickly, now he knew this wide-eyed child was the curious Aang, he didn't feel so wound up at the idea of this kid liking Katara. He knew technically he had zero right to her but that didn't mean he would be okay with any other guy trying either. She was still the girl he loved, and that meant any other guy would have a fight on their hands.

"You've met Toph," she said, continuing her introduction's.

"Sup, Sparky" the girl replied with a wave of her small hand.

"Don't call me that. It's Zuko" He said, half annoyed half resigning himself to the fact that as long as this girl breathed he was going to be referred to by that ridiculous nickname.

"Noted Sparky" she replied nonchalantly as she flung her feet up on the desk and reclined in her chair.

"You've met Suki and you know Sokka" she replied gesturing to the back of her irritating brother's head and his girlfriend who was without a doubt too pretty for that overgrown weed.

"And this is Yue, she's my roommate" Katara spoke as she pointed to a girl who hadn't spoken a single word yet. Zuko hadn't noticed the girl was sitting at the table, he didn't see how he failed to notice her considering she had hair the colour of the freshly driven snow. He was also surprised that when the girl looked at him, she had bright blue eyes like Katara and Sokka, the same tanned skin too. He wondered if they were related.

"Nice to meet you all" he offered lamely.

"Yeah, you too, I guess" Aang spoke still sounding dejected, Zuko resisted the need to roll his eyes at him. Beanie boy was acting like someone had kicked his puppy and not told him that the girl he so obviously liked had a boyfriend two years ago. What kind of image of Katara did this kid have?

Imagine what his reaction would be if he found out I did more than kiss her, he pushed the traitorous thought from his head. That was definitely nobody else's business and he would never betray Katara like that.

"Or if you'd prefer Sparky. Twinkletoes snoozles girlfriend, snoozles, ice princess and of course you already know Sweetness" Toph offered, introducing them in the same order Katara had.

"Hey, why am I just Sokka's girlfriend? Don't I get a nickname too?" Suki replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I haven't thought of one yet that defines you as well as snoozles girlfriend" Toph replied as she stifled a yawn.

"Well, what's your nickname then? Baby-mean-fists?" Suki scoffed.

"How about you leave the nicknames to me, okay SG?" Toph grinned.

"Whatever. I thought we were studying anyway?" Suki mumbled as she began to dig in her bag.

"We are. Are you joining us Sparky? I'm sure sweetness here would really like you too" Toph asked as she once again turned her glassy gaze on Zuko. He flicked his eyes back to Katara who had already turned a shade of pink, he really wanted to spend more time with her and he didn't really have anything planned other than sitting in his dorm room and hoping his obnoxious roommate wasn't in there.

"I guess. If that's... okay, I mean" He was speaking directly to Katara. She peered at him through her lashes, her lip once again between her teeth. He wanted so badly to gently remove it so she wouldn't break the skin, but when she looked at him like that it did funny things to his chest.

"I don't… I mean, if you want to that is" She spoke softly. If the other five on the table were watching them, and he was willing to bet whatever was in his wallet that at least a pair of grey eyes and a pair of blue eyes were, then they didn't register to him. All he cared about was the cerulean eyes holding his own gold eyes. He just nodded in reply offering her one of his rare smiles.

She felt her chest thump at the sight, he really was so very handsome. She returned his smile with one of her own before offering him the seat next to Aang. He didn't really want to sit next to the beanie boy, but the petty part of him also liked the idea of blocking his view of Katara, and if he was to measure up his other options then beanie boy seemed to be the lesser of the moderately annoying. So he sat, and Katara took up the seat next to him.

Once they had sat, the chatter at the table started up again. Zuko wasn't listening too intently, he would just offer a word or two not be rude or answer a question about himself in the vaguest of ways, not that any of them asked anything even remotely personal anyway. He found that, despite his distaste for large loud groups of people, being a part of one wasn't so bad. He wouldn't exactly call them friends or say he particularly liked any of them, besides Katara, but he wouldn't say he downright hated them either. They all seemed like decent people, even Sokka who was making it his mission to get squarely under his skin or beanie boy who wouldn't peel his doey eyes off Katara.

Either way, Zuko didn't hate studying with them, even if almost no studying got done. Especially if he got an unobstructed view of Katara's smiling face, that alone made being in this loud group worth it.

"I could use a coffee" Sokka groaned, lolling his head back, as he let his arms fall loosely at his sides.

"I could too" Yue spoke finally breaking her self inflicted vigil, Zuko had been surprised enough to hear her voice that he flicked his gaze to her, he'd been half convinced she was mute.

"The campus coffee sucks though" Toph groaned.

"I'd say my uncle's tea shop but it closes in an hour" Zuko offered, looking at the time on his phone. He was equally as surprised to see he'd spent three hours with them, times flies when you're being pestered by a blind girl with no filter.

"Man, that's too bad your uncle is a cool dude. Shame about his nephew though" Sokka replied as he rolled his head to face Zuko. Zuko replied to his jib with a flat face, he had wanted to offer him a scowl but didn't want to waste the energy it would take to summon one to his face.

"I'd like to see uncle Iroh again too," Katara sighed.

"You call sparky's uncle, uncle too?" Toph quipped.

"Well yeah, he insisted" Katara replied defensively as she shot a glare at Toph before once again remembering the wasted effort.

"Katara worked for my uncle for a while," Zuko offered, also feeling the need to defend Katara referring to Iroh as an uncle.

"For like two minutes" Sokka scoffed.

"You've never had a job, you can't comment" Katara spat.

"Being your brother is already a full-time job" Sokka returned.

"Being your brother is already a full-time job" Katara replied in a mock tone that made Sokka cheeks puffed in anger.

"I do not sound like that" he gasped as he threw his hand to his chest in an act of the utmost drama.

"Sweetness was pretty close there Snoozles" Toph cackled.

"Whatever. Are we getting coffee or not?" Sokka asked, throwing his arms in the air in only a way Sokka could.

"Fine. But campus coffee sucks. Shame about Sparky's uncles inconvenient closing times" Toph spoke as she began to gather her things with an efficiency a blind person probably shouldn't have been able to achieve, again Zuko wondered how she was doing that.

"It's more tea anyway" Zuko offered, not really sure why he felt the need to reply to Toph.

"I love tea, we should all go sometime" Beanie boy piped from over Zuko's shoulder. He felt himself inwardly groan, this boy really did annoy him and he could not understand why, he was harmless.

"That'd be cool. Next session at Sparky's uncle's tea shop" Toph declared. Zuko wasn't sure exactly how he felt about that, on the one hand, this many people would be good business on the other hand he didn't want his uncle getting any ideas about him being friends with this group. He wasn't sure how he felt about this group.

Before he could even answer, the ragtag group had pretty much cleared the table of their things and were beginning to file out of the library.

"Zuko? You coming?" Katara asked, pulling her too straight hair behind her ear. This girl could twist him in knots with the simplest of actions.

"Yeah, let's go. I prefer coffee anyway" He replied before falling in step with her.

Maybe, being with this group wouldn't be so bad after all.

A/N: More Zuko-centric this time, but it felt right considering he was meeting the Gaang.

Please R&R