A/N: I'm yours for reviews.

The College/University is a US/UK hybrid just like the world this takes place in.

Disclaimer: I think we all know I do not own any of these characters. I own the narrative.

Nose

If someone had told Katara at the start of the day that by dinner time she'd be sitting in the campus coffee house with a bland latte in front of her and her first love- who she hadn't seen in two years- to the left of her, she'd probably have thought that person was digging inside her head, looking into her deepest fantasies or she'd have hit Sokka for being a total ass.

But it had happened and no matter how hard she'd tried to wipe the smile from her face, she couldn't. He was there, sitting right next to her, she could feel the familiar heat of his body, hear the rasp of his voice and smell the smoky scent of his cologne. She'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't happy about it either.

She allowed herself a glance at him out the corner of her eye, despite his initial apprehension with her friends he didn't seem to be hating being with them. He hadn't refused to hang out with them so far and he didn't seem to mind Toph's suggestion of them all going to Uncle Iroh's new tea shop as a group. She wasn't blind though, she could tell there was some friction between Sokka and Zuko, but she hadn't really expected it to be anything else. Sokka still treated her like his innocent baby sister even though she was eighteen years old and the evidence that she wasn't as innocent as he thought she was sitting a foot away from her.

The thought brought a blush to her face. She wasn't that innocent at all, Zuko had been her first and even during her time with her Ex she had never forgotten how safe and secure she had felt with him. How he'd never pushed himself on her or forced her to do anything she didn't want to do.

Zuko always had a way of making her feel that way, even when he was blowing up about some argument that was so very important at the time but seemed far less important now. He never made her feel like he was a danger to her or that he'd hurt her in any way. And if she was being honest she was just as guilty of having a temper as he was. On more than one occasion they'd devolved into a screaming match that had resulted in one of them storming off but they'd always come back to each other in the end.

The thought occurred to Katara that maybe that was how it was with them, She and Zuko, that maybe they would always find their way back to each other. The silly romantic in her practically glowed at the idea but the practitioner in her told her to behave, running into him like this had been a happy coincidence. The logic side won out, and she decided to push the thought from her head. Even if she was to wake up tomorrow and realise this had all been temporary, she'd be happy. At least she got to see him again, talk to him, breath in his scent…

"Isn't that right sis?" Sokka's sudden addressing of her pulled her out of her thoughts. She pulled her eyes from the latte she'd been gazing into for the lion share of whatever story Sokka had been regaling the groups with. Truth be told she had not been listening and if she knew her brother, and she did, whatever he was asking her to agree too was probably something embarrassing or something she would sorely regret.

"I don't know Sokka, I wasn't listening" She replied honestly, much to the snickers of the group. Suki gave her a smile that told her she'd managed to sidestep a bullet.

"You're no fun" he mumbled as he pawed at the wrapping of the muffin he'd breathed in not five seconds after it was placed in front of him. She rolled her eyes, good, Sokka's idea of fun and Katara's idea of fun hardly ever lined up. She felt herself blush when she caught Zuko watching her from the corner of her eye.

"Are you okay Katara? you look all red" Aang spoke.

"What? I'm fine Aang" Katara sputtered as she turned her eyes on the teenager, she found herself silently begging for him to take the hint. Clearly, she had offended some god because Aang didn't seem to catch the silent beg for mercy.

"But you're all red? Are you too hot maybe?" he pressed. Katara covered her cheeks with her hands as she tried to avoid Zuko's, and just about everybody else's, golden gaze. she wished the earth would just hurry up and swallow her so she could flee.

"I'm fine!" she hissed as she took another sip of the latte that tasted more like burnt milk than it probably should have, Toph had been right campus coffee sucked.

"So Sparky, whatcha' studying?" Toph asked Zuko to move the conversation along. Katara once again felt grateful towards Toph. Not only because she had spared her from further embarrassment, but she also seemed to be the most on board with the idea of having him around. Sokka mostly tried to dig a hole in his head with his eyes, Suki liked the idea of teasing him to tease Katara, Aang had, for the most part, been uncharacteristically quiet and Yue was just quiet.

"Business" Zuko offered plainly. She felt relieved that he was answering questions, however vague or one-worded his responses were. Katara had learned to keep all questions limited to him and not about his past. She knew he had one, a painful past he didn't want to talk about, but she'd never gotten the chance to ask him about it. Maybe now she'd get that chance, just not today. Today was too soon, she only prayed her loud-mouthed friend or dense brother wouldn't venture too far either. She knew all too well how that would end, and she wasn't ready to lose him again.

"Any reason for that choice there, Sparky?" Toph pressed. Katara stiffened, that seemed too close to the personal questions he despised. She slid her eyes to him hoping he wasn't thinking about leaving.

"Nothing particular" He replied with a shrug that did more to ease Katara's nerves than any words could have. She let out the breath she hadn't realised she was holding, maybe Toph would take the hint and back off.

"You?" Zuko asked. Katara felt a warmth spread through her chest. He didn't tend to ask questions, he didn't like being asked questions so he'd extended that courtesy to everyone else he seemed to meet. It had taken Katara a good amount of groundwork before he'd even started returning questions.

This was good, she felt. He seemed calmer than he did two years ago, perhaps he had matured. She had so why wouldn't he have done too? And maybe that meant he was warming to Toph, that was also good. If he liked her friends at least a little it meant she wouldn't have to separate her time between them… not that she didn't want him all to herself sometimes.

Already thinking about alone time, Katara? The voice in her head snickered, it had sounded suspiciously like Suki. She drew her mouth into a line, she did not doubt that if Suki could have read her thoughts at that moment she would have said exactly that.

"Archaeology, my folks run a bunch of museums but all that seems stuffy and boring to me. I'd rather be digging up the bones than tellin' everyone about them" Toph said with a beam of pride as she leaned back in her seat.

"Wouldn't that be a problem?" Zuko asked, Toph had managed to pique his interest it seemed.

"Why cause I'm blind?" She asked as she threw a pointed glance his way.

Katara didn't even have to be touching him to know his whole body had seized, the silence was drawn out as all eyes on the table fell on Zuko. He shuffled, ever so slightly, under their stares. He turned his golden eyes to Katara, she resisted the urge to giggle at his panicked face- he looked so innocent, even the harsh lines of his scarred skin seemed to soften as he pleaded for her help with his eyes.

"Relax Sparky! I'm just playing with you" Toph cackled as she slapped the table with enough force to rattle all the cups and plates scattered about.

"It would have been like 80 years ago but with lidar technology now I only need to be able to hear a beep, to know I've found something cool" she added as a grin slid across her face.

"Right, sorry, I should have guessed" Zuko grumbled as his fingers were in his long hair again. Again, Katara found herself grateful to Toph.

"As if, she just wants to play in the dirt!" Sokka added as he drew Toph's attention his way.

"Maybe I'll find you a brain while I'm playing in the dirt!" Toph hit back. The pair continued to hurl lighthearted insults at each other to the enjoyment of everyone within a ten-foot radius of their lively table.

"If you didn't ask that, Sokka would have" Katara spoke as she leaned in a little closer to Zuko, she dared to rest her hand on his folded arm.

"That makes it worse" he replied as he also leaned in just a little bit closer to her, not so they were invading each other's personal space but so only they were privy to their conversation. The soft scent of jasmine wafted in his direction and curled its way around his senses. It was Katara's scent, she'd taken a liking to it when she'd worked for his uncle. Coincidentally, jasmine had been his favourite tea- not that it had many contenders- he liked it just a little bit more when she started using jasmine scented soap.

She replied to his dry response with a giggle that made his heart leap, he wondered if she knew her nose crinkled when she laughed or sometimes the tip would twitch when she was angry. He'd noticed it for the first time when she'd affectionately told him to 'deal with it when he'd first thrown a hissy fit about her working with his uncle and again in the library when she chastised Toph. It filled him with an odd sense of nostalgia.

"Maybe, but you said it with more tact," Katara said softly, her blue eyes still sparkling with the remnants of her laugh. He felt that pride well in his gut again, he'd never been funny. A sense of humour didn't come all that naturally to him, he was more sarcasm and dry remarks that would often dance the fine line of offensive, but at least he could make her laugh. That was enough for him.

"Still, sharing a thought with Sokka concerns me" He spoke in that smooth rasp only he could manage. Katara nodded in agreement, she loved her brother dearly, but sometimes his train of thought baffled her.

A comfortable silence fell over them, neither of them retreated from their newly established distance. Even if it was probably a little bit too close for friends, neither could summon the energy to care, anybody who saw them would probably just assume they were flirting, and again neither of them cared. She offered him a bright smile which he returned.

She wondered if he knew his nose lifted a little when he smiled, even when only a ghost of a smile was present on his lips his nose would lift the smallest amount and that's how she could tell he was smiling even when it wasn't visible.

Later that night Katara lay in bed thinking about the events of the day and trying to decide if it was okay for her to feel this happy. Her heart had practically leapt from her chest when she'd first realised who those beautiful golden eyes belonged to, if she hadn't been so shocked she'd probably have leap straight into his arms.

Those arms that were so much leaner and more sculpted than she remembered them being, she'd felt his muscles ripple under her palm on the few occasions she'd mustered up the courage to chance a touch. Her smile only widened when she remembered how he hadn't detracted from her touch but instead leaned into it. She found herself wondering what it would feel like now to be held in his strong arms, being wrapped in his warmth and crushed against his broad chest. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks, she let out another soft giggle, hoping Yue couldn't hear her.

"You sound happy" Yue's soft unassuming voice floated across the distance between them. Katara mentally cursed for getting all giddy where she could be heard, it was too soon to be feeling this way again. She'd only just seen him again after two years, who knew how much he'd changed or what had happened to him in those two years. She felt a sudden burn of shame as she thought about what she'd been doing in the last two years.

As much as she wanted to know what Zuko had been up to, she wasn't ready for him to know what she'd been up to. She still sorely regretted ever involving herself with her Ex, who turned out to be exactly like what all those other people had said about Zuko. She felt a twinge of anger bubble in her gut, she was not at all ready to let Zuko hear about that dark part of her past yet. She still had to reconcile it with herself before she was ready to chance anybody else reconciling with it.

"He's handsome," Yue added. Katara hadn't realised how long it had been since Yue had first spoken, she felt a little guilty for waking her and then ignoring her.

"He is, painfully so" Katara sighed as she resigned herself to this conversation with Yue. She turned herself to her side to meet the dazzling blue eyes of her roommate and friend, even with just the moon bathing the space between them Katara could see how breathtakingly beautiful Yue was. She hadn't blamed Sokka for becoming speechless around her, even Zuko seemed to react to her beauty. The thought made Katara's heart sting.

Zuko didn't seem to know just how beautiful he was, even with the scar taking up a fourth of his face, he was breathtaking. Hair so black that even the sun could only shine against it, skin so perfectly pale and clear that it looked glass-blown, long sharp tiger-like eyes that rounded when he was happy or confused, a perfectly long and straight regal nose that hooded medium-full lips, high cheekbones and a defined jawline that ended in a not too pointed chin. It made her chest ache thinking about it.

"I think you look beautiful together" Yue spoke as she yawned in a way that could only be described as Princess-like, not a sound leaving her mouth and her long languid hand covered the slightest contortion of her face. Katara wished she could be that graceful.

"We do?" Katara asked in almost a whisper as if she was afraid to ask the question.

"Yes. You compliment each other well. I'm a little envious" she giggled in a light-hearted manner. Katara blinked at her in disbelief, Yue had nothing to be envious of Katara over.

Yue, not only was she gorgeous; but she was soft-spoken, well-mannered and she also had a comforting and calming effect on people. Katara was the envious one, she tried to be some of those things but failed miserably at being well-mannered and soft-spoken. She had a temper that would rival hellfire and Sokka always managed to bring out the absolute worst in her in five seconds flat regardless of who was listening.

"You have nothing to be envious of Yue, You and Hahn look great together too" Katara grumbled suddenly annoyed with herself for being jealous of Yue. The girl had been nothing but nice to her since they'd started a few weeks back, a model roommate and had even helped her with her first day of school outfit.

"What if… I… what if there's someone…" Yue trailed off as if her train of thought had given her pause. Katara caught the inflexion however and leaned on her elbow.

"Yue?" She asked softly. Yue was silent for a moment before her soft exhale of breath alerted Katara to Yue still being awake.

"Never mind, we should sleep now Katara, it's getting late" Yue's voice seemed to have regained the softness she'd lost only a few minutes prior. Katara watched as Yue turned her back to her to face the wall. Katara could tell something was bothering her just by the slump in her shoulders, but she knew better than to pry where she wasn't wanted. She made a mental note to ask Yue about it soon.

Turning over, Katara also faced the wall, Yue was right it was getting late and she had an early class in the morning. Letting her eyes flutter shut, she allowed herself a smile as Zuko's smiling face entered her head and pulled her into a comfortable sleep.

Zuko wasn't so lucky. By the time he'd arrived back at his dorm, there was a sock on the handle, he cursed to himself as he scowled at the offending sock, part of him wondered if he glared hard enough at the closed door could he set his arrogant roommate on fire?

Annoyed but too tired to walk anywhere he decided to park it outside his dorm, he prayed his roommate would be done soon, given that he'd been at this all week he was hoping his stamina had all but depleted and he'd eventually kick the unlucky girl out. He sent a silent prayer to the universe for him to at least open a window this time and then made a silent promise to himself that if his roommate hadn't opened a window he'd be the next thing out of it.

Leaning his head against the wall he sighed, at least something good had come out of today, he let the smile spread across his face, no one was in the hallway to see him smiling to himself anyway. Katara. He'd ran into Katara and she was just as beautiful as he remembered, more so even.

He allowed his mind drift for a moment as the phantom smell of jasmine ghosted over his senses, he'd been so shocked to see her standing in front of him that for a moment he'd thought that maybe he'd finally snapped, then she'd spoken his name and he realised he wasn't just imagining her. His heart had slammed into his chest bone so hard it had taken him a moment to remember how to breathe. He had missed her every day after she'd left and nothing in that hellhole town felt remotely warm anymore.

Even when Song had come back for the summer and tried to start up their fling again, he just wasn't interested. The first time the preacher's daughter had shown him interest was because he was some fabled bad boy and that was all too enticing for a girl who grew up with rules and he had been happy a pretty girl had shown interest in him, but after Katara left, after knowing what a real interest in him felt like he just couldn't summon up the energy to put up with Song's teenage dream fantasy any more.

For some reason he couldn't fathom either, once Katara had moved away, people just seemed to give him a wide berth, maybe it was the constant scowl fixed to his features or maybe some of them felt bad for him- he didn't care. At that time in his life, his temper had been even thinner and more volatile than it had been. He was angry and hurt and wanted to lash out but he had no one to lash out on.

He couldn't blame Katara, she had no choice, he remembered the way she looked at him. Her blue eyes had been swimming with more than tears that day, she'd been heartbroken and she had clung to him like she'd break, he'd clung to her knowing he would. The memory brought a painful lurch in his stomach. Even now the memory of their last kiss brought him as much pain as it did warmth. She'd been crying, her tears had soaked everything, her cheeks, his shirt, her mouth, his hands, the pillows under her head and his hair that brushed against her tear-stained cheek as he held her for what he thought would be the last time.

He couldn't even blame Hokoda, he was just doing what was right for his kids, he resented the man but he didn't blame him. He couldn't even blame himself, in all his self-deprecating and self-destructive ways, he had no control over Katara leaving. He had nothing to do with that choice and he had zero faults in it, but that just made him even angrier and confused. He wanted to hate something, he needed to. His whole life he'd been taught to hate and resent, but in this, he just couldn't. So he chose not to feel and that was probably his worst mistake.

He heard the crack of his dorm room opening, he could hear the giggle of whatever poor girl had been seduced into bed this time. He scoffed at the promises his roommate made to call her and felt a wave of displaced anger burn his gut when he listened to them kissing.

He hated guys like his roommate the most, the unashamed players who didn't seem to care who they hurt along the way. Zuko didn't know these girls but he still felt for them, his roommate seemed to have a type, the nice girl. From what Zuko could gather from the few girls he'd had the misfortune of crossing in his dorm room doorway was that a lot of the girls seemed to genuinely like his roommate. They all left with their eyelashes brushing their cheekbones and a faint pink blush on their faces.

He spied the current girl out of the corner of his eye, petite, pretty, studious, kind face, large eyes, plump lips… the same type as all the other girls. He glowered thinking about it, he hated this type of guy.

They look like Katara. The thought hit him in the gut like a freight train. Maybe not physically like her but they all seemed to have similar features and if he thought back to what Katara was wearing today then yeah, he supposed, any one of these girls could just as easily be Katara. His Katara.

He pushed himself to his feet once he was sure the girl had left and shoved his way into his dorm. He didn't even bat an eyelash at the sight of his roommate parading around in his boxers. Short and stocky, he had no idea what all these girls found so irresistible about this dude.

"Roku," his roommate greeted, his voice full of pride. Zuko returned his grin with a glower before he stomped past him to open the window, the air was too thick with the stench of sweat for Zuko to even entertain his arrogance right now.

"Someone's in a mood" he prodded as he threw himself down onto his bed, the putrid smell of perfume, cheap cologne and sweat assaulting all of Zuko's senses.

"Don't talk to me" Zuko hissed as he collected his things for a shower, he'd hoped by the time he'd returned from cleaning himself off the stench of his roommates night would have disputed enough for him to sleep.

"Y'know you'd have better luck with the ladies if you didn't scowl so much" he called after Zuko's retreating back.

"I don't need your advice" Zuko growled.

"Yeah, sure you don't" came the mocking laugh of his obnoxious roommate.

"Go straight to hell, Hahn" Zuko spat as he slammed the door to their shared bathroom behind him.

He did not see why so many girls liked that guy, he was an arrogant ass.

A/N: don't mind me just laying the groundwork for the drama.

Please R&R