A/N: Hello. It's me. I have another chapter for you, my dear readers.
I do not own A: TLA. If I did, he-who-should-not-be-acknowledged would not have gotten his hands on the rights to the film we don't talk about.
Edit: I did not realise how sloppy this chapter was written until I reread it. I have edited it now and cleaned it up, I apologise for my laziness. deadlines have my head spinning.
Chapter 16
Katara was quickly realising that Tuesday was her least favourite day of the week, not only because it came after Monday making it only the second day of the week, but because she and Zuko were on opposite schedules. He had morning class and she had afternoon class which meant that she'd only get the chance to spend any time with him after six.
Her one consolation on that particular Tuesday was she did run into him during the cross-class rush or more of a cross-class amble, she had learned most college kids weren't in any particular hurry to get to class and some would even walk at a snail's pace, she'd have been massively irritated by the zombie-paced boy in front of her if she wasn't so impressed with his mop of unruly ginger curls. Part of her had wanted to inquire about his hair care routine as she'd never seen such tightly coiled glossy chaos before, she'd decided against it when she remembered she no longer had wild hair.
She and Yue had gone to get their hair chemically straightened in the first week of school, Yue had said she often did it to contain the frizz her hair would take on in the heat, laughing that a born Northerner like her wasn't built for such dry weather. Katara had initially gone with Yue out of boredom but found she liked the glossy white sheet of fresh-blown glass that was Yue's hair once the wonderfully camp hairstylist had finished. Katara had spent a few days mulling over the idea of having her hair straightened too, it was a harder choice than she had realised.
On one hand, she had loved her hair, loved how it was one of the traits she had inherited from her mother, loved how Gran-Gran would braid it and rebraid before school, or even how Zuko used to brush his fingers through it while they cuddled, but on the other hand, Jet. He had liked her hair too, he'd often told her how he liked it balled in his fist when he'd beg his 'babe' for one of his favours or how much he liked to bury his face in her hair to muffle his sounds so his uncle didn't hear them or other lude comments she'd had taunted at her by random boys from her high-school after Jet had disclosed the more intimate nature of their relationship. Needless to say, she'd had it straightened.
She had her mother's blue eyes and her Gran-Gran's strong will anyway so she could let the curls go if it meant she wouldn't be reminded of Jet every time she dragged a comb through her hair. And yet she was a little angry at herself for it, part of her felt like Jet had won some victory over her but the bigger part of her knew she needed to leave him and his brand of 'love' behind and that started by getting him out of her hair. Plus, Yue had been right, it was easier to manage now and she didn't have to use as much product, a deep condition twice a week seemed to give her that glossy sheen.
She'd all but lost herself in thought when she'd felt a warm hand slip into hers, long fingers curling around hers and that unmistakable snap of electricity that buzzed up her arm whenever he would touch her. She didn't have to turn to know she'd be met by two deep pools of honey, but she wanted to, a smile forcing its way on her face when she did.
"Zuko" she breathed, the tension from her awkward breakfast leaving her shoulders as she flexed her fingers around his hand. In the more reasonable corners of her mind, she knew Toph wasn't completely wrong, she had been willing to accept that she and Zuko would always be one-sided and she had been dumbfounded when he'd kissed her all those years ago, but those corners also knew Suki was equally as not wrong.
She didn't have eyes for anyone else, not after her oceanic eyes had met his fierce tiger eyes, so maybe, just maybe she would concede that she was not as attuned to the affections of others as Toph had suggested. But in the same vein of thought, Toph had called her dense and that had annoyed her greatly, so Katara wouldn't admit to being not right just yet either.
She also had another reason for not wanting to concede so soon either, if she agreed with Toph on her lack of attention to detail, it meant she'd have to admit that Toph was right where Aang was concerned and that didn't sit right with her either. She saw Aang like a little brother, someone who she cared for and worried for but not someone she could see romantically. He was just so young, yes he was intelligent, fiercely so, but he was also so… sixteen.
Maybe a fourteen-year-old Katara would have felt giddy and excited at the idea of the positive, intelligent, nice boy finding her pretty, maybe she would have dated him. He had an infectious puppy charm that would have endeared him to her in her earlier teens, but that fourteen-year-old Katara hadn't met Zuko yet.
And once she had not even the boyish charm of someone like Aang would have torn her away from the absolute wildfire that was Zuko. Even the first day they'd met when he'd bared his teeth at her like he was some wild animal, she'd felt something stare in her gut like she'd been hit by a lightning bolt.
She hadn't even noticed his scar until he was yelling at her, the first thing she'd noticed was how uniquely stunning his eyes were. She'd never seen someone with golden eyes before, like the colour of the horizon just before the sun would set, it had taken her a moment to catch her breath and when she had he began shouting at her.
"You with me, pretty girl?" His husky voice floated in the distance between them, she smiled at his affectionate use of his pet name for her. He wouldn't use it often but she preferred it to any other pet names she'd been called in the past. and the way his voice was so low and raspy, like everything he said carried weight, curled around the vowels in such a way that sent heat to her cheeks and belly.
"Where else would I be, Handsome?" She said sweetly as she brushed her fingers against his sharp jawline, his warm, smooth skin underneath the pads of her fingers sending little tickles through her own.
He returned her affection with a smile, not a bright warm toothy grin like Aang would or a leering grin that Jet would have given her or even that sarcastic smile Sokka would wear whenever he felt he'd won an argument, but a small barely there Zuko smile that lifted the tip of his regal nose and pulled the corners of his mouth upwards. The kind of smile that he reserved for her, the one that would set her heart thumping in her chest.
"Is this your girlfriend Zuko?" She heard a voice come from behind him, the voice had a cheery, upbeat tone that reminded her so much of her brother.
"Yeah, This is Katara" Zuko replied to the disembodied voice, as he threw a glance over his broad shoulder. Katara found herself craning her neck to see over him, but found it fruitless considering Zuko was easily half a foot taller than her. She didn't have to wonder for long as a green-eyed, pale-faced boy popped his head around Zuko, Katara wanted to laugh at the sudden appearance; it reminded her of how a ferret would stand on its hind legs to look over the dunes.
He looked familiar, but from where, she couldn't place. Possibly someone she'd walked past in the halls, or in the cafeteria during one of the many trips she'd been there or possibly even something as simple as a face in a sea of faces when multiple classes let out. Either way, it didn't bear thinking too much on, he seemed nice enough and Zuko wasn't barking at him so she figured he was good.
"Hello," Katara said with an amused smile, she had gathered since Zuko had his finance class this morning and he wasn't scowling at the boy, that this was the not friend Zuko didn't hate from his class. She chastised herself for not remembering his name, she was sure Zuko had mentioned it. Maybe Toph had a point and her lack of romantic analytics dripped into her social density also. She had to start remembering people's names.
"Hi, there! I'm Bolin" he replied with a wide toothy grin, his eyes closed when he smiled and she could see from the way he had one hand on his hip and the other behind his head, he had an easy-going, goofier personality.
So he doesn't just sound like Sokka. She mused.
"It's nice to meet you, Bolin. Zuko hasn't stopped talking about you" she spoke as she snaked her arms around her boyfriend's middle, he didn't hesitate to throw his arm over her shoulders.
"I'll bet, how do you get this guy to stop talking?" Bolin grinned as he threw a thumb in Zuko's direction. "It's just non-stop" he added with a laugh that was filled with joy and warmth. Katara decided she was going to go ahead and like Bolin.
"Honestly, I have no idea, but when you figure it out let me know," Katara teased. "I can't get a word in edgeways" Zuko gave her a flat-faced stare but she just returned it with a bright smile, she knew she'd won when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch.
"You're the one with the silence deficiency" Zuko grumbled, turning his signature flat mask on Bolin, Katara laughed as she passed her eyes over the unlikely pair. She liked this, liked seeing Zuko getting along with other people. It warmed her. She shuffled herself in a little bit closer, enjoying watching them interact.
He's like Sokka without the sarcasm. She thought to herself.
A pout, a soft kiss and a promise of a text later, Katara was on her way to class, her mood had improved massively by the time she'd arrived. Taking her seat at the front, determined to pay attention this time, she pulled out her notebook ready to learn.
Zuko should have known his good fortune and reprieve from the marginally annoying wouldn't last. He'd been fooled into thinking it would when he'd arrived back at his dorm to find Hahn had yet to return, the absence of the usual deodorant-laced-cologne smog cloud coupled with the fact that their dorm was still clean had lulled him into a flash sense of security. So much so that he had thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to make decent headway on his section of the group report Professor Varrik had assigned.
He'd gotten halfway through a rough outline when a knock on his door had shattered his hopes for a good day. He hadn't let them slip through his fingers so easily though, he had been more than willing to ignore the perpetrator but the persistence of the rapping had granted his nerves enough for him to fling the door open.
Zuko had felt the growl brewing in his chest, he had intended it to accompany his default scowl but felt them both melt into his less-hostile-but-no-less-annoyed stony-faced glare.
"Sokka," Zuko said, not much of a greeting but it felt right given they didn't like each other. At this point, they were just putting up with the others' existence.
"Good, you're in" Sokka replied, his arms folded over his broad chest. "We need to talk"
Zuko groaned inwardly he had expected the traditional Sokka threat when he ran into Katara again, he knew it was coming but that didn't mean he was mentally prepared to deal with it.
Knowing there was no avoiding this dance Zuko sighed, moving aside to let him in.
He watched with interest as Sokka eyed the two sides of the room, Zuko finding himself, to his ire, grateful to Hahn for cleaning up after himself. It made a nice change for both sides of the room to be clean for the first time after a bad room inspection. Especially since he'd had to sit through the disciplinary meeting too.
"I wouldn't sit there," Zuko warned. As he watched, to his amusement, Sokka chose Hahn's bed.
"What? don't want me sitting on your bed?" Sokka hit back. Zuko groaned inwardly, why did every conversation with Sokka have to be a testosterone-fueled wrestling match? He felt the headache already brewing behind his scarred eye.
"Not my bed. And I wouldn't sit on it if you don't want to get stuck to it" Zuko replied calmly as he took a safe seat on his clean bed.
"What-?" He watched, with great satisfaction, as the realisation dawned on Sokka's face. The tan boy paled as he shot off the bed and frantically wiped at the back of his pants.
That's still a risky move. Zuko thought as he bit down hard on a laugh, struggling to keep his face impassive.
"Dude!- why didn't you say something sooner!? not cool" Sokka cried as he split his attention between examining his jeans, praying they were clean, and the offending bed.
"Like you'd have listened, to begin with," Zuko replied with a tilt of his eyebrow, his face a mask of impassivity belaying the clear amusement in his amber eyes.
"Still! You could have tried to warn a guy!" Sokka fumbled as he scanned the room for a safe place to sit. His bright cerulean eyes falling on the desk chair Zuko had vacated, pointing to it with an arched brow. Zuko nodded and Sokka tentatively took a seat.
The silence between them was long and lingering, the two eyed each other, both waiting for the other to speak, Zuko stared at Sokka expectantly and Sokka reciprocated.
"Can you just threaten me already so I can get back to studying?" Zuko snapped the silence finally getting to him.
"What makes you think I'm here to threaten you?" Sokka replied, his voice slightly higher than it normally was as if the very thought had caused him some great offence.
"Because that's what you always do? I couldn't even breathe in Kat's direction without you threatening some form of bodily harm" came Zuko's flat-faced reply, he was already annoyed with the conversation.
"Well, you deserved it! You were always sniffing around her" Sokka replied, his arms folded, he looked more like a child being told no for the first time instead of, what Zuko imagined, was supposed to be somewhat intimidating.
"She came after me if you remember?" he replied.
"You didn't say no!" Sokka cried.
"Why would I?" Zuko returned as if that was the only reasonable reply to that statement.
She's amazing. He didn't add. Of course, he didn't say no, Katara was not only beautiful, but she was caring, intelligent, stubborn and she challenged him. In what world would he have turned her down? And not that he'd admit it to Sokka, but he had kissed Katara first.
"Yeah, well. I'm not here to threaten you" Sokka mumbled.
"Then why are you here, Sokka? I doubt it's a social call" Zuko sighed deeply as he buried the heel of his palm in his left, aching, eye. He could feel the forming headache growing the more the conversation dragged on.
"Katara is… she said…" Sokka sighed, taking a minute to gather his thoughts before he spoke again.
"Katara is my baby sister. You know that as kids we didn't have a lot of friends…? so Katara is also kind of my best friend and I… I just worry about her, Okay? Isn't that what big brothers do?" Sokka huffed as he leaned back in his chair, his arms thrown over his chest again. If it wasn't for his height and build, Zuko would have sworn Sokka was more than a year younger than him, he looked like a teenager throwing a tantrum.
"I wouldn't know, I don't talk to my sister" Zuko spoke, breaking the silence that has settled between them.
"I just don't want Katara to get hurt again, not if I can help it" Sokka huffed.
"Neither do I," Zuko agreed.
"I want to believe you but I think about your reputation and I can't-"
"Sokka, that's complete bullshit and you know it. Do you think Katara would have gone anywhere near me if even half of that was true?" Zuko sighed exasperated, he had long grown tired of that stupid reputation, he'd never asked for it. He never wanted it, he wanted to be left alone, he never wanted to be some romanticised bad boy who slept his way around the town. He wanted to be Zuko, not his scar. Just Zuko.
"You'd think that but Katara has a type or had a type I guess" Sokka mumbled.
"You mean that Ex?" Zuko's voice was low and thick with timbre, his face deepened into an almost feral snarl as the thoughts of that faceless boy entered his mind. The mention of him made him murderous, he'd wring his neck if he ever got the chance.
"She told you?" Sokka asked, his brow raised.
"Why wouldn't she?" Zuko replied, more cocksure than he had any right to be.
He honestly couldn't have said whether or not Katara would have told him if it wasn't for her panic attack, the way she spoke about herself made him think she was ashamed of it. He wanted to believe she would have, eventually, but there was still so much he didn't know about her past and so much she didn't know about his.
"I guess. I just… Tara doesn't know I know and I couldn't... I wasn't there to protect her" Sokka sighed running his fingers over the base of his skull.
Zuko could relate to that. No matter how irrational the thought was, he felt the same. He'd seen the effects the Ex had on her, he knew them well, like an old, worn blanket that offered no warmth. Sokka was at college and Zuko was halfway around the world, neither of them could have stopped what was happening to her, but that didn't mean that thought didn't creep in.
"Sokka-"
Before the two of them could continue, Hahn had burst into the room, making as loud an entrance as humanly possible, as per usual, he had his minions in tow. Zuko offered him his scowl, a greeting Hahn had assuredly come to expect.
"You know there's an entire city out there?" Zuko snarled, his amber eyes locked on the bleak blue eyes of his hated roommate. He was beginning to think this loser was a recluse, it was becoming rarer to find Hahn outside of their room and even less so without his gaggle of goons.
"You're only like that because you can't make any friends with that scowl on your face" came Hahn's response, his minions snickering behind him like they usually did. They didn't even have names as far as Zuko was concerned, like flies to shit.
Zuko offered him the scowl Hahn loved so much, glaring at him. so often Zuko wished he had the piercing gaze of his sister, the thousand-yard-stare that could freeze the blood inside veins. He knew what he had meant and scowl wasn't it.
"Listen here you slacked-jawed moron-" Zuko started, his teeth bared and tone heavy with the unused growl he'd been brewing earlier before Sokka interrupted him.
"Hahn?" Sokka gasped as he flicked his wide eyes between the world's most unlikely roommates. "You guys are roommates?"
"Not by choice" Zuko spat.
"Kuruk? didn't know you and Roku were friends now" Hahn purred, his cronies snickered in the doorway behind him. Zuko didn't understand why, nothing Hahn had said was ever even remotely funny.
"Yeah" Sokka replied. As he watched Hahn, linger in the doorway, through the side of his eye.
"Thought you hated him for dating your sister?" Hahn spoke his drawl grating the nerves of both Sokka and Zuko simultaneously, his brows lifted as he flicked his blue eyes between them.
"I have to say though Roku, I am impressed. Didn't think you had it in you" he purred.
"Little out of your league don't you think?" He continued, Zuko's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed.
He was walking a very very thin line and he didn't want to know what would happen if he dared to dip a toe on the wrong side of that line. Zuko hated his old reputation, but it hadn't been completely unfounded. He had a temper. A few others who'd danced the line and happened to fall on the wrong side of it found out very quickly that he was more than scowls and glares.
"Watch. it" Zuko spat as he fixed his hard eyes on Hahn.
"I'm just saying, Katara is a beauty. No shame in admitting that man to man" Hahn shrugged as that ever-present, smug grin slid across his mouth.
"That's my sister," Sokka warned, equally as ready to stand comrade with Zuko on that line.
They had done so before, some boys didn't like Katara's rejection of their advances, those boys were far more inclined to take the no when they'd been met with a not so thinly veiled threat or a scowl that promised the same.
"I know. Seems odd to me you'd let a guy like him near her" Hahn said, his grin widening as he stared directly at Zuko's scar.
Zuko's hands balled, how long had he itched to wipe that stupid grin off that smug face of his? He imagined how cathartic it would be to knock him off his feet. Show the little bastard who he was messing with… his fingers ached from the force he'd clamped them with.
It would be so easy… Zuko thought to himself.
"Well, I'm feeling a walk. You coming Zuko? The air is getting a little hot in here" Sokka spoke as he stared at Zuko pointedly. Zuko didn't miss the tightening of Sokka's jaw or the flexing in his fingers.
"Yeah. Right. Let's go" Zuko nodded as he stood up, grabbed his jacket and phone, before following Sokka out.
"Looks like Roku is dating both the Kuruk siblings" Zuko heard Hahn say to his friends as he closed the door behind him.
"I really hate that guy" Sokka spoke first as he shot a glare over his shoulder, the taut muscles of his jaw had yet to release themselves from their vice-like grip.
"Try living with him, the guy's an absolute pig," Zuko spat, his fists shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket.
"I'll bet- wait what did you mean by I'd get stuck to his bed?" Sokka gasped as a sudden realisation dawned on him.
"What are you like, nineteen? I'm not giving you the talk" Zuko scoffed.
"What? No. Gross. You're the last person I want to hear that from-" Sokka sputtered.
"Then figure it out yourself. The guys an animal" came Zuko's flat reply.
"Yeah, but he's also dating Yue," Sokka all but cried, his hands flailed in the air.
"Yue? The white-haired girl? And he says I'm dating out of my league?" Zuko all but laughed as he threw his eyes back over to his dorm room door.
"No! I see your point, but- we have to tell her" Sokka gasped.
"I hardly know her, you tell her" Zuko responded.
"She might not even believe me," Sokka insisted.
"Who says she'd believe me? I've met her once and we didn't even speak a word to each other" Zuko reasoned.
"Then we need evidence"
"No, you need evidence. I'm not getting involved" Zuko spoke as he started to walk away.
"Can you imagine how good getting revenge on Hahn is going to feel?" Sokka asked as he raised an eyebrow. Zuko stopped in his tracks before letting out a deep sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose, Sokka was right. The idea that Hahn would finally be made to answer for being the world's worst roommate and boyfriend was too great an itch not to scratch.
"Fine. How do you propose we gather this evidence?" Zuko spoke, levelling his eyes at Sokka.
"Leave your laptop camera on?" Sokka offered.
"That's illegal and I don't want Homemade Hahn porn on my laptop" Zuko spoke flatly.
"Okay. Okay. We could ask the girls?" Sokka insisted.
"What? You want to just walk up to random girls and ask them if they slept with a guy named Hahn? We'll get arrested for sexual harassment" Zuko replied, his brow arched. "Then neither Kat or Suki would speak to us again," he added, folding his arms over his chest.
"We could maybe pay a girl to..."
"That's prostitution and that's also illegal" Zuko replied.
"No! Not like that I just meant to record him admitting to it"
"That's also illegal Sokka. Your ideas are going to get us locked up" Zuko spoke, Didn't Katara say her brother was the smart one?
"-Then I'm out of ideas! Yue just needs to hear the truth" Sokka huffed, the puff of his cheeks, the look in his eye, There was something more to this than justice for Yue, Zuko could see it. He made it a habit not to get involved in other people's business, he'd gotten pretty good at it too. So good that most of the time it didn't even register to him. But, as irritating as Sokka was, he was still Katara's brother.
"Well, recording it isn't going to work," Zuko sighed.
"I got it! Yue just needs to hear it! We could just get Hahn to admit it out loud while Yue is there"
"You're just stating the obvious" Zuko cried exasperated with the whole endeavour already.
"No, look, the day after tomorrow is a study day anyway and we're supposed to be going to your uncle's tea shop. We just get Yue to invite Hahn and trick him into admitting it" Sokka spoke excitedly.
"I suppose that could work. As long as it's only Yue who hears his confession" Zuko conceded. "I don't want a massive scene in my uncle's shop"
"Great! Now let's get food and think about a plan" Sokka spoke, hitting his fist into the palm of his hand with a slap. "I'm starving"
Definitely something more to this. Zuko thought to himself.
"I'm not getting food with you" Zuko called after Sokka's retreating back.
"What else are you going to do today?" Sokka called over his shoulder, with a wave of his hand.
"Fine" Zuko huffed as he fell into step next to Sokka.
The whole thing sounded like a bad idea, and his gut was telling him it was. But he'd do it, not only for Katara or because the allure of watching Hahn get his karma was too great a pull to resist, but because he did feel somewhat bad for Yue. No one deserved to be cheated on.
A/N: Please R&R