A/N: Must. Resist. Urge. To. Write. Ahead…

My apologies for the late update.

I own nothing.

Heart

No one could have dampened Katara's mood when she awoke the next day, not the early morning alarm she'd forgotten to turn off the night before, not the fact that she'd ran out of her favourite shampoo and had to borrow Yue's or even the fact that she'd managed to spill her juice on her breakfast that morning. Katara was floating, and she only had one person to thank for her sunny mood. Zuko.

Their not date had been about as close to a real date as any other real date she'd ever read about, albeit she didn't know of many other dates that involved breaking into government-owned premises, almost as if it had been written for one of the romance films Yue was always asking Katara to watch with her. And just like one of those scenes, her night had ended in a kiss. Or several kisses.

So even when Aang, once again, asked her if she was too hot because her cheeks were red or when Toph whined endlessly about not wanting to go on a girls day even though Suki had already relieved her of the obligation, nothing could ruin her mood.

And despite her original reservations about a shopping trip with Yue and Suki Katara had found she was enjoying herself. Suki had managed to convince Katara into buying what she called some wardrobe staples; a pair of denim shorts, two camisole tops in pastel colours, a denim skirt and a pretty white summer dress with frills and with Yue's eye for a bargain, Katara hadn't spent anything that would disrupt her budget too much.

By midday the girl's had sat down at a small bistro-style cafe that had a small outdoors section next to the street, the girls chatted aimlessly about Katara's purchases until a handsome waiter came to take their order. Both Katara and Suki noticed the waiter's interest in Yue, but she never said anything if Yue did. Suki however had a face splitting grin that gave Katara the impression she was planning something. Katara didn't push the topic knowing Yue had Hahn and was fiercely loyal.

"So, Miss Tara, I believe you owe me details" Suki spoke as she wiggled her eyebrows at Katara.

"Yes, please. How did it go?" Yue added.

"It was… nice" Katara replied sheepishly as she unsuccessfully tried to stop the smile from spreading across her face.

"Just nice huh? With that smile? Nuh-uh Katara Kuruk, I want details" Suki chided with a wag of her finger and the arch of her brow.

Katara couldn't help the smile or the blush that crossed her face as she found herself relaying the details to her friends. She found herself enjoying the girly chat more than she thought she would and the more she spoke about her not date with Zuko the more she found herself smiling. Yue and Suki listened carefully offering a few questions here and there and laughing along with her.

"And…" Suki spoke as she rolled her hand as Katara finished relaying the story, an expectant look in her wide grey eyes.

"And what?" Katara asked, tilting her head in question. She recanted all the details back in her mind trying to remember if she'd left anything out, mentally ticking off the checklist as she went.

"Did you guys kiss?" Suki all but cried as she somehow managed to widen her eyes more. Katara didn't need to reply as her face turned the same shade as Yue's favourite ruby lipstick before she suddenly found interest in her soup spoon.

"I'll take that as a yes" Yue giggled behind her hand as she exchanged a look with a thrilled Suki who squealed at the prospect.

"Yes, Tara! All of the yes!" Suki laughed as she practically came out of her seat. Katara felt another smile crack her face as the memory of Zuko's warm lips against hers came back to her. She could still remember what it had felt like to be held in his strong arms or to feel the rumble in his chest as he laughed at something she'd said or even that sparkle of mischief in his Amber eyes as he led her across the wall, the one that when coupled with his grin lit her on fire.

"I'm glad. Zuko seems like one of the good ones" Yue added as she placed a hand on top of Katara's, Katara turned to smile at Yue but felt it fade when she saw the look in Yue's eyes.

"Yue?" Katara asked softly before turning to Suki for help. She felt relief knowing it wasn't only her who had noticed the sudden shift in the mood.

Katara worried at her lip, Yue was often quiet and reserved preferring to observe a situation as a whole before speaking on it. The conversation the roommates had shared two nights ago drifted back into Katara's mind, Yue had been so full of compliments then too but the moment Katara had returned one she fell silent. Distant. She felt a twist in her stomach as she thought back into Yue's words. She hadn't said much about what was bothering her, not that Yue ever did, but it was what she didn't say that was eating at Katara.

"It's nothing. So tell me did Zuko ask you out again?" Yue spoke as she snapped out of whatever trance she had fallen into, her distant sad eyes sparkling with the same joy they had been during Katara's tale, a pretty smile forming on her plump lips.

Katara looked back to Suki who was giving Yue the same stare she had been, her lips puckered and her cheeks puffed as if she was in deep thought herself. For a handful of seconds, Katara watched as Suki's face swapped from concern to acceptance before she gave a deep sigh and turned to face Katara, giving her head a subtle shake, Katara giving an equally as subtle nod in reply. Suki and Katara wouldn't push the topic now, but they were both in an agreement that they would ask later.

Katara wanted to push, to ask why her friend seemed so sad all of a sudden, but she was a novice to this. She'd never had girlfriends before and didn't know how to approach a subject. The only experience she'd had with approaching friends after a sudden mood shift was with Zuko when he'd get annoyed at something and that usually ended with one of them storming off. While she didn't think Yue would storm off in a huff, she didn't want to push too hard and hurt her more. So on this, she'd trust Suki.

"He did. He's taking me to the lake tomorrow" Katara replied as she tried to even out her smile.

"Sounds like you need new swimwear then" Suki chimed in as she turned her attention back to Katara, the look in Suki's sparkling eyes caused Katara to flinch. She knew she was in for a world of hurt.

Zuko's day started the same as every other day, waking up to the ungodly snoring of his roommate at the crack of dawn, part of him had hoped Hahn would have stayed out the night before or at the very least fell in a ditch. But Zuko knew he was never that lucky, instead, he'd walked into Hahn and his hahnlings making themselves right at home. He noted there was more than usual and they were all side-eyeing him. A normal day would have had him snapping at them but even Hahn and co couldn't have made a dent in his mood. So rather than deciding which one he would be physically thrown out first he ignored the lot of them and took a shower.

He made another mental note to check on his request, he doubted it had changed much from the last time he checked, the day before, and he could tell the usually jovial receptionist was getting annoyed with his constant asking but she didn't have to live with Hahn full time and his minions part-time.

It was only when he decided to go for his morning jog, the campus would be full of last night's mistakes, hurrying to their dorm rooms and trying to avoid eye contact, that he had realised he couldn't find his phone. At first, he had thought Hahn had hidden it to get him back for scowling at his friends until they left but thought better of it when he remembered he never actually put it on charge. And the more he thought about it the more he realised the last place he remembered having it was inside the pizza restaurant.

He let out a long deep sigh as he checked the time on his laptop, it wasn't even eight AM yet, he doubted highly that if he called the restaurant anyone would pick up, not that he could call without his phone. In his desperation, he thought about using Hahn's phone but pushed the idea immediately from his head when he realised he did not want Hahn to have his number, not that he'd let him use his phone anyway.

Rolling his head from left to right to release the knots in his neck he decided there wasn't a lot he could do right now anyway, he didn't use his phone much but liked having it in case his uncle needed him or in case Katara did. He'd managed, with no great struggle, to get Katara's number the night previous and wondered if it was then that he'd lost it.

He jumped into the shower, he could go to the restaurant in person and ask if someone had handed it in and while he was at it he could search his car. He at least knew he didn't drop it in his uncle's tea shop so that at ruled one place out. He sighed again before letting out a groan. Nothing in his life was ever easy.

Zuko huffed as he slid back into the driver's side of the Camaro, running his hand over his face in mild annoyance and frustration, So far he'd searched his room, his car, the restaurant and all the possible square footage in between and still hadn't managed to find his phone. He had all but decided to give up the search and go buy a new phone when the thought occurred to him.

The Palace Museum. The idea brought both a slight panic to him and a warmth. Despite what he'd said to Katara the night before, he very much did not want to be caught breaking into the old Palace at night, he reasoned, with his phone being dead and no real information on there, he wouldn't be.

Nevertheless, he made the drive, the upper ring was always busier during the day, despite the only real tourist attraction being the museum or the designer brand shops, most students tended to give it a wide berth for that reason, so he felt fairly confident he could just search for his missing phone and leave, Those that could afford to shop designer tended not to live on campus anyway. He found himself silently praying that if he had dropped his phone that it was at least outside the wall.

He found himself surprised when he did, in fact, find his phone, dead, on the outside of the wall. Despite the two-hour-long search, he breathed a sigh of relief. For once something had gone his way.

He scanned his surroundings, the memory of hauling his ex-soon-to-be-girlfriend up an eight-foot Palace Wall in the middle of the night brought a smirk to his face. It only widened further at the image of her wide-eyed panic when she realised where they had been.

I wonder what she'd think if she knew that was only the second time I'd done that?. He thought to himself.

During the daytime the car park was open and to get there Zuko had to pass the gates, it was by passing the gates that he spotted beanie boy or Aang, as Katara calls him, sitting on a bench looking dejected. He eyed him for a moment wondering if he could just slip past the kid and not have to interact with him. For reasons Zuko didn't understand himself, he found the kid annoying, he wished he could say it was because this kid had a hard crush on Katara, at least then he would know it was pettiness- but it wasn't. He knew beanie boy didn't have a chance with her, she babied him, but still, he irked him.

And yet something about the slump of his shoulders and the way he kicked at the floor with the toes of his worn sneakers made Zuko feel bad for him. He let out a groan as he shook his head, he could at least see what was wrong with him, no one else around seemed to be bothering to.

"Bean- Aang are you alright?" Zuko chanced, part of him had been telling him to mind his own business, but the part of him that had been raised by his uncle was telling him he was only a kid. And while he couldn't remember the exact proverb, something about solving your problems by helping others, he knew it was the right thing to do.

"Oh, it's you" came Aang's reply as he passed his large wide grey eyes over him before returning them to the ground. Zuko scoffed, suddenly feeling a little less bad for Aang.

"Let's try that again. Are you alright? You look like someone's kicked your dog" Zuko's voice was flatter, his eyebrow arched.

"No, they won't let me in without an adult" came his huffy reply as he shot what Zuko assumed was supposed to be a glare at the building behind him. Instead, he managed a cross between a pout and a furrow.

"Oh. How old are you?" Zuko returned, mostly out of his curiosity. Aang was the youngest out of Katara's friends, the way he spoke, dressed and acted gave him the impression Aang was an early admission.

"Sixteen" Aang replied another kick of his shoes against the gravel. Zuko had thought he was younger, he was fairly tall and lanky, a lot like how Sokka had looked at about that age, but his happy-go-lucky attitude and his lack of social cues made Zuko think he was a preteen.

"I see. Don't you have anyone to take you in?" He offered lamely.

"No. Sokka says museums are stuffy and boring and he's the oldest person I know," Aang cried throwing his hands in the air. Zuko nodded, that seemed like a very Sokka brand thing to say.

"Eighteen counts as an adult. You just need someone eighteen or older" Zuko offered again getting a distinct sense of where this conversation had been headed.

"I wanted to go with Katara but she's busy today" he mumbled, giving Zuko the side-eye. Zuko returned it with a flat face, this kid was testing his desire to be nice to him.

"What about all your other friends?" He asked with a sigh, his arms folded across his chest.

"Suki and Yue are with Katara, Toph isn't old enough either… plus I'd rather not spend an afternoon with Hahn" Zuko nodded in agreement. That was fair, neither did he.

"I don't think Hahn has ever seen the inside of a museum," Zuko grumbled.

"Wait! Zuko, how old are you?" Aang asked, suddenly excited. Zuko groaned, he knew this was where this conversation had been headed.

"I'm Twenty, Aang" he winced at the joy that filled the boy's eyes. He cursed his Uncle and his proverbs as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Can you take me in? You just have to be with me when I buy my ticket!" Aang chirped his smile ear to ear.

"I don't think that's how it works Aang" Zuko groaned again, there were times in his life when Zuko wished he was that psychotic rumour Zuko. That guy would be able to say no to spending a day at a museum with a kid he barely knew and didn't particularly like that much. But he wasn't him and beanie boy seemed a lot less sad than he had five minutes prior.

"Please! They have this really cool exhibition on myths going on and I wanted to write about it for my history paper" Aang asked again, his fist balled in excited anticipation.

Should have snuck past. He thought to himself. Zuko groaned. The look in the kid's eyes was eating away at his resolve, he supposed an afternoon in a museum could be an interesting way to kill the day. And Aang had said he wanted to find a topic to write about, so how much can he talk while he's studying?

Zuko found out rather quickly that Aang could talk quite a lot, and endlessly without any gaps in words or so much as a warning before he changed the topic. Despite that, however, Zuko did enjoy listening to Aang's little anecdotes or facts, almost all of which weren't included in the exhibit.

Guess, I know why he was early admission. Zuko thought to himself as he watched Aang continue his tour of the exhibition, at some point they'd acquired a crowd of people who were also listening to Aang's lectures. Some of which even asked him questions or asked him to explain something in better detail, to which Aang did with glee and patience.

"Have you picked a topic for your paper yet?" Zuko asks as he took the seat next to him. They had decided to eat outside in the sun, it was less crowded and noisy.

"I think I'll write about the Avatar!" Aang piped as he shovelled whatever green leafy lunch he was eating into his mouth.

"My uncle told me that story as a kid" Zuko spoke as sipped the water bottle he'd bought.

"Yeah, I kind of like the idea of being able to manipulate elements" Aang continued, his grey eyes scanning the outside area of the museum.

"Sounds like something out of a video game to me" Zuko spoke distracted by the two workers unfurling a banner for the next exhibition.

The four nations? Uncle would like that. He thought to himself absentmindedly,

"Yeah, I suppose so. But I've always figured when people have those kinds of saviour figures, it's because they needed it at the time" Aang spoke with no less enthusiasm.

For a moment Aang reminded Zuko of his uncle, that wise look in his eyes as if he'd lived several lives and could recall them all. He also found Aang annoyed him less than he had done earlier too, even if the kid didn't have a mute button.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean there was a war going on at the time. People weren't educated than either so I guess the idea of Superman ending the war would have been appealing" Zuko added as he turned his head back to Aang. Despite himself, he was enjoying the conversation.

"The Avatar would have been more like a religious leader, like the Monk Gyatso, offering charity, hope and wisdom to those that needed it" Aang spoke with a thoughtful nod of his head.

"Or he could have been a con man, like those people who lie about being psychic" Zuko replied.

"Maybe, he would have had to convince people he could move earth with his mind" Aang nodded in agreeance. "But I think the people believed it then because they wanted to. One hundred years the old nations were at war, then one day it suddenly stopped. People needed to believe in something greater than settled by four old men in a room" Aang continued with the shake of his head.

"Could have all been propaganda too. Unite people under an ideal, that way when the second war hit it was the Avatar that got the blame. They created a scapegoat out of a man who might not have even existed" Aang turned to eye Zuko for a moment, his face in thought before he nodded.

"You're smarter than you look!" Aang chirped, a few hours earlier and Zuko might have been offended by that but after spending the day watching the kid unintentionally manage to stick his foot in his mouth with a receptionist and tour guide, he realised the kid just didn't have many social skills at all, a side effect from being a child genius he supposed.

"Thanks, Aang," Zuko replied his face flat

"Do you want to go back in?" Aang asked a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Sure. You can tell me all about those life turtles" Zuko spoke as he started to walk back into the building with Aang on his heels. Zuko reminded himself to pick up a pamphlet on the four nations for Iroh.

It wasn't until almost dinner time that Zuko could finally convince Aang they needed to leave, Aang had spoken for so long about the old spirits that he'd completely missed his bus back to campus, not that Zuko wouldn't have offered him a ride back anyway, but the minute Aang had gotten into his car he'd started lecturing Zuko about the emissions. At one point Zuko had debated pushing Aang out of the car but thought better of it when he realised Aang probably would snitch to Katara, so he switched on the radio instead. only for Aang to start singing. loudly.

"I don't care what Sokka says about you, I think you're a good guy!" Aang chirps as he unbuckled his seat belt.

Why am I not surprised Sokka is talking shit about me? He sighed inwardly before he offered Aang a dry smile and wishing him luck on his paper.

Heading back to his dorm Zuko found himself pleasantly surprised to see that Hahn wasn't anywhere in sight, Zuko had yet to decide if the boy was spending more time in his room to annoy him or if he had become self-aware and realised people didn't like being around him, from the suffocating cloud of his cologne and deodorant, Zuko could tell he hadn't long left. Opening a window to alleviate the Hahn smog, he placed his phone on charge before booting up his own laptop. All the talk about Aang's paper had made him want to work on his paper for his finance class, not that the 'The local economic impacts of high-speed railways: the lower ring' was as interesting to write as a fire breathing saviour.

It was only after several hours that Zuko decided he was done with searching through copious amounts of archived journals and essays on the college online library that he stopped. Leaning back in his chair he ran his hands over his face to try and relieve the itch that had begun in his scared eye. Ever since he'd been injured his eye had never been the same, the surgeries had saved his sight but the after-effects of the burn never subsided.

Sometimes it was an itch that wouldn't subside, sometimes it was unrelenting dryness that felt as though he had sand caught under his lid, in cases of cold weather, it was a tightness that felt as though the skin around his eye would snap, sometimes it was the beating of heavy rain on his face that caused the phantom pins and needles as if the feeling had returned to the damaged skin, and rarely it was the twitching of the muscles that had been partially damaged as if they were trying to use the lame part of themselves.

But it was never the psychical side effects that bothered him. He'd been fourteen when he'd been burned, fourteen when he'd spent months inside a burn ward half his face bandaged and slathered in topical antibiotic cream to stop the charred skin from gaining a secondary infection. He was fourteen when his life had changed completely. Fourteen when his father had…

It was the sound of his phone vibrating against the wood of his bedside table that pulled him from his thoughts. Lifting himself from his desk he crossed the room, he wondered if it was his uncle calling him to rope him into a shift at the tea shop, the thought immediately leaching from his head when he looked at the caller ID. Katara. He felt a spark in his chest as he answered the phone.

"Heard you had a busy day" Her sweet voice floated down the phone.

"Yeah. I guess you could say that" he replied as he took a seat on the end of his bed.

"Aang seems really excited about his new friend" she giggled, he could hear the smile as spoke.

"He's a good kid. Talks a lot though" he sighed, running his hands through his own hair.

"A rogue with a heart of gold?" Katara teased.

"You're right. I guess I'll have to go start a fight to save my rep" he felt the heaviness slipping from him the more they spoke.

"Or we could just break into another government building?" She chided, he didn't have to see her face to know her brow would be arched or the corners of her mouth would be curved upwards, her nose twitching a little with her laugh. He wished she was in front of him.

"Lake first" came his raspy reply, his own mouth curved into a small smile.

"I'm looking forward to it" her voice was light and airy, it sent a shiver down his spine like it had been the day before when he'd ran into her outside of her class. He could tell she was tired, her voice had taken on the slightest haze.

"Me too. Be ready at twelve?" He asked.

"Okay. Sweet dreams, Outlaw" came her soft reply. He could see the soft sparkle of her azure eyes or the way she'd be worrying at her plush bottom lip. His heart picked up its pace as he thought about how much he wanted to place a gentle kiss on her lips, or stroke her soft hair as she drifted off to sleep in his arms. Like she had done two years ago.

"Night, Kat" His own voice a shade above a whisper, as he heard the sound of the beep.

He leaned back against his bed, throwing his arm behind his head, closing his still itching eyes. His heart dancing in his chest, no matter where his thoughts went or how dark they got, Katara always managed to soothe the chaos. He wondered if she knew what she did to him. He didn't dwell on it, it didn't matter. He planned to show her.

A/N: Still building on that drama, stay with me on this thread ;)

The next update will be a long one.

Please R&R