Hi, I'm really sorry this took me so long. I thought I'd have this finished earlier, but I actually pay more attention to my other fan fiction "Love of Fire and Water" (you should check it out) and am mostly writing this one on my mobile phone when I'm in the tram or in the bus. But I didn't use public transport that often last week, soo... yeah, that's why this took me so long.

Just a small warning: There will be hints at adult topics in this chapter. I hope it's not too much, but I'm really thinking about changing the rating, because the characters are already adults, and since I want to keep it realistic, I'll write them like adults with adult language and stuff. It's especially really hard to keep an adult Jet child-friendly. But I'll tell you when or if I'm going to change the rating.

Please enjoy, I hope you like it and if you do, then please review!

I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters.

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Chapter Three

It wasn't that difficult to sneak into the registrar's office as Zuko had thought. Okay, he wasn't sneaking, he was breaking in. In high school he had once helped Jet sneaking into the administration office, while they had had a break. Jet had been talking to the secretary, distracting her, while Zuko had sneaked into the file room. But he had a feeling that this wouldn't work with the way larger registrar's office at the university.

But with some equipment he had gathered over the years it wasn't that big of a deal. He knew that burglary wouldn't exactly boost his father's population either, but he was confident not to be caught.

The file section was divided into subjects and number of semesters. Zuko looked only into medicine, law, physics, engineering, mathematics, biology, geography, psychology, chemistry, history, politics and economy. It was still a lot, though. And he wanted to look into other subjects, if he wouldn't find anything here.

These groups were sorted alphabetically after the students' family name. Zuko only looked into the files whose family names sounded as if they were from the south or the mountains.

His eyes narrowed when he came to the family name Qinu within the subject of law. But he was curious and opened it nonetheless. But except for her enrolment number and the number of her semester he didn't really read anything new about Katara. But he still found it strange that he hadn't seen her here, although she had been at the university for three semesters now.

He quickly put back her file and continued searching for other southern sounding names.

But he really didn't find any. And no girls from the mountains either.

After four o'clock in the morning he roared angrily and nearly threw the last file on the ground. But then the file would look dishevelled and then somebody would probably know that someone broke into the registrar's office.

It was really difficult for him to contain his anger, while he tidied up and quietly left the place, closing and locking every door behind him. Only after he'd run to the parking lot and inside his car did he allow his anger to wash over him.

He slammed the door shut, threw his mask off his head on the passenger seat and banged his fists on the steering wheel.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Aaarrrggghhhhh!" His teeth gritted and he felt desperation come over him and only stopped hitting the steering wheel after he accidentally honked. He flinched, totally not expecting this loud sound and sighed, his forehead leaning on the wheel.

"Weeeeell," a voice from the passenger seat drawled. "I guess it didn't go so well then."

"Shut up!"

Jet shrugged, picking Zuko's mask from his lap and threw it on the back seat.

Suddenly Zuko straightened, glaring daggers at his friend. "What are you even doing here? You were supposed to wait outside the office to call me if there was someone coming!"

Jet rolled his eyes. "I can see the registrar's office from here just fine. So I chose to stay here. It's friggin' cold out there and I'm already freezing in here!"

Zuko groaned in annoyance, because he couldn't even shout at his best friend for a good reason.

"Sooo... coffee shop?" Jet asked, his grin obvious in his voice.

Zuko really, really much wanted to punch his stupid grin out of his face.

oOo

Relief and happiness rushed through Katara, as she saw her brother waiting outside the indoor pool.

After having got the third rejection from a job she grew more and more desperate. She didn't even know why she had been rejected. It was true, she didn't have much experience with being life savers or working in a theme park, but how difficult could it be to sell hot dogs to children? Well, she probably shouldn't have said this to the boss of the theme park, but she had still been so pissed at how Aang had behaved earlier that day. She really needed to get a grip on herself. Her being pissed at Aang had nothing to do with this job.

"Sokka!" she called, jogging towards him and hugging him tightly.

"Hey, easy there!" Sokka complained, as she nearly crushed his ribs. "Whoa! What got you so worked up?"

Scowling she let him go. "Some stupid brats."

Sokka lifted an eyebrow. It was really unlike Katara to get angry at children. She normally fuzzed over them, telling them how cute they were and totally changing into the mommy behaviour.

She sighed. "They were really provoking me and being mean on purpose. After I had given them their hot dogs, all of them let them fall down and demanded new ones with chocolate bars and then they walked away, only to come back later with their parents who shouted at me for putting chocolate bars in buns! It was what the children wanted! But they only snickered and always feigned innocence when their parents looked at them. And then the boss of the park came over and he witnessed everything and when he said goodbye to me, it really sounded as if I would never get a job there." She grabbed her brother's coat. "Why do I have so much bad luck right now?!"

"Oh, wow, Katara, come on. I bet it wasn't that bad," Sokka said, tapping her back awkwardly. He really loved his sister and wanted her to feel better, but normally she was she one comforting him, not the other way around. What would she do?

"It was worse," Katara mumbled, putting a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Wanna go drink a hot chocolate?" Sokka asked, because he really wanted one, but also because he remembered that their mother always made hot chocolate for them when they were feeling sad because of something. Furthermore, in this one coffee shop close to the university he had seen a pretty girl with short auburn hair pretty often and hoped she would be there again.

Katara's mood lifted immediately at the prospect of hot chocolate. "Yeah, let's go to Coffee Cups." It was one of her favourite coffee shops, probably because it looked so ancient and more like grandma's living room than a coffee shop. It was no chain and it always gave her a feeling of home and warmth. Probably because they also had a fire place in there. "I'm so cold."

Sokka frowned, not liking how his sister intervened with his plans. "Didn't you shower after swimming?"

Katara shrugged and started to walk in the direction of Coffee Cups. "I did, but the shower was cold."

Sokka made a short shivering motion. "Oh gods, how can you do this?"

Katara shrugged again. "It revives my spirit and lets me think clearer." But it hadn't really worked this time. After the horrible interview and trial work she had directly gone to the swimming pool, hoping to clear her mind and get the desperation out of her mind. But no matter how many rounds she had swum, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about her current predicament. How difficult could it be to get a new job?

"Okay. Well, I kind of wanted to check out this coffee shop at the university. Friends told me their hot chocolate was even better than the one from Coffee Cups," Sokka told her nonchalantly.

Katara raised an eyebrow, not believing one word. "Oh, yeah, this one coffee shop at the university. Your friends are right, it's really good."

Sokka scowled at her. "I don't know what's it called, I only know where it is."

"Do we have to, Sokka?" Katara asked, actually close to whining which shocked Sokka a bit.

But he insisted. "Come one, they also have pancakes and waffles! You know how much I love those!"

"Your year in the United States clearly changed you," Katara replied.

Sokka's eyes brightened. "Katara, I saw the world. Through the USA. And I saw waffles. Lots of waffles."

"You know they originally come from Belgium, don't you?" Katara asked, raising one eyebrow.

Sokka shrugged. "Yeah, just like chips. Or french fries, like the Americans say."

Katara rolled her eyes again. After Sokka had come back from the USA everything with him had always been "in America that", "in America this", "the Americans do that, and they do this". She also felt a little bit envious, since there were a few things she'd like to see there, too. But Elementia was already so great, why did she need to leave to some other country just for fun? In Ethiopia she had helped people, that was something else.

"Fine," she relented. "Then let's go to that waffle coffee shop of yours." Her voice sounded a bit annoyed, but she wasn't in the mood to argue. Dealing with those stupid brats and swimming had worn her out a bit.

"Have you talked to Aang lately?" Katara asked Sokka cautiously.

Sokka flinched and Katara knew she was right.

"What did he say?" Katara asked.

"Uhm... not much. We just decided to stay friends, no matter what happens between you two," Sokka explained, feeling uncomfortable. "And I made it clear that I don't take anyone's side."

Katara frowned. "This is not about sides, Sokka! Aang and I are not together anymore and I would love to stay Aang's friend, too, but I will have to wait until he accepts this. And if it were about sides, you should definitely be on mine! I'm your sister!"

Sokka held his hands up, not wanting to have to deal with an angry Katara. "I'm not on anyone's side! And of course, Katara, I'll always support any decision you make!" he assured her and laid an arm around her shoulders.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Yeah." Then she sighed. "I wish this was easier. Why can't we go back to how it was in High School?"

Sokka sighed wistfully. "Yeah, high school was a great time!" Then he grimaced. "Except having to deal with Jet, this guy was the worst!"

"Hey! He wasn't that bad!" Katara protested. "Azula and Zuko were the worst," she murmured.

"Fortunately we didn't have to deal much with them outside of school."

"Yeah," Katara agreed. "I've seen Jet at the university lately, actually," she admitted.

"WHAT?" Sokka exclaimed, gasping at Katara with utter horror in his eyes. "You have seen who at the what?"

"Jet. On the campus."

Sokka faked some gagging sounds, actually pretending to strangle himself.

"Oh my gods, Sokka! This is so childish! Will you stop that?" Katara barked at him, feeling embarrassed, because the people on the street were already staring.

Sokka, of course, didn't stop. He continued, until his eyes rolled back and he pretended to have died.

Katara quickly pulled him closer to her, before he walked against a street lamp.

Sokka didn't even notice it. "This is exactly how I will end, if you ever end up with this guy again," he explained seriously to her. "So if I mean anything to you, please don't."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to. I just saw him and we talked to each other." She hurried to make it over the street while the green light was still on. Sokka jogged beside her.

"Why was he at the university? He's not actually studying there, is he?" Sokka wanted to know, his voice sounded doubtful.

Katara furrowed her brow. "No, he isn't. He was waiting for Zuko there," she said, nearly spitting out his name.

Sokka grimaced. "Seriously? They are still friends? What an idiot!"

Katara shrugged. "I don't care. Jet was a mistake anyway, so I don't care at all with who he's hanging out with. Except it will be the son of the next president, then I'm gonna puke!"

Sokka laughed a little. "Yeah, that would be sooooooo terrible. But I don't think the population will be dumb enough to vote for someone as evil and egocentric as Kasaishi Ozai."

Katara grinned. "You're right. He doesn't have a chance. By the way, next week is a demonstration in front of city hall from the southern province community against having Kasaishi running for president. Wanna come?"

"You need to ask?" Sokka grinned at her.

Katara grinned back.

Soon they arrived at the coffee shop and sat at a table at a window. This coffee shop had nothing warm and cosy about it. The tables were of metal and the chairs of hard and squeaky wood. The walls were of a dark wood with thousands of pictures hanging everywhere, showing all the most different things. Landscapes and children laying laughing on the grass.

Katara looked disapprovingly, but she didn't need to say anything, Sokka knew this look pretty well. He tried to ignore it.

They both ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream and Sokka asked Katara if she wanted to have waffles, too, but she refused. She would just steal one from him.

Sokka told her about his new courses for engineering and that he was close to invent the greatest invention of all time. Katara knew that he was just exaggerating and trying to show off. It was so obvious. First, because of what he talked about and second, because he was glancing at a group of girls in sports gear the whole time to see if they paid attention to him. They did, but they were actually making fun of him. Not that Sokka noticed. Katara felt second-hand embarrassment, but didn't know if she should feel sorry for Sokka or just laugh with the girls. And then third, Sokka started talking about all the hours he spent in the fitness centre and how well his muscles had developed and what he already had managed to achieve there.

Katara tried to hide her smile while spooning her whipped cream.

She was actually a waiting for Sokka's waffles since she felt a bit hungry.

When Katara had the feeling Sokka was talking about his great manly instincts and his admirable hunting skills (although it might have been something else, she wasn't listening anymore), she placed a hand over his and squeezed it.

"Sokka," she said smiling. "The girls of the capital aren't looking for men who will protect and take care of them. They are not like the girls back home," she explained.

Sokka looked really taken aback, but he quickly got a hold of himself and chuckled. "You always were really perceptible, Katara."

She just rolled her eyes. One of her favourite actions when dealing with her brother.

"But Katara, I'm fine! I can perfectly handle myself in front of some girls. I know what they want," he said confidently, taking a sip of his drink and getting a cream moustache from it. But he was aware of that and wiped it away. "They all want the same thing. At home, they wanted someone who was strong and could hunt, someone whose fireplace would never be cold. Here, they want money. So a guy only needs to have a great career. If he looks good, even better. If he's muscly, then he's perfect."

Katara got more and more annoyed with Sokka. "Are you serious? Not every girl wants that! These are not important things!"

Sokka smirked. "Of course, they are, Katara. It is biology. Women want to be taken care of."

Katara was now hot with anger and really needed to control her urge to shout at Sokka and maybe toss her hot chocolate in his face. But the hot chocolate was way too good to be wasted on such a sexist idiot like Sokka.

"Sokka, you are embarrassing yourself. Haven't you noticed that it's the 21st century? Women have more rights and definitely want more in their life than just a rich, good-looking man!" she hissed at him.

Sokka just shrugged. "Maybe that's what you want. But I'm talking about women in general. And whatever anomaly has come over you, normal women want to be taken care of."

Katara decided not to argue with Sokka anymore. He would notice he was wrong one day anyway. Maybe a woman would break his heart, although he had taken care of her, or a woman wouldn't want him, because he was a sexist. Either way, Katara would tell him "I told you so!".

When Sokka's waffles arrived Katara was almost salivating, but frowned, noticed that they had bacon on top of them. She grimaced. "Sokka, what did you do?"

He took a large bite of a waffle with bacon. "What?"

"Bacon? Seriously?"

"That's my lunch! I need meat for lunch!"

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon!"

"It's my lunch, because I had breakfast at eleven."

Katara narrowed her eyes, finding it truly unfair that Sokka got to sleep in so long and she didn't. Well, he had placed his courses well this semester.

Katara reached over to Sokka's plate and tore a piece from the waffle without bacon.

"Hey!" Sokka protested, but wasn't fast enough to get the waffle piece back.

Katara just grinned, but her smile quickly vanished, when she caught sight of a tall, lean boy with tanned skin, despite the dark winter, and brown messy hair. He looked confident and smirked, when his eyes found her.

Sokka noticed Katara's changed expression and turned around, frowning suddenly.

Katara nodded, tried to smile and continued chewing, hoping that Jet would leave them alone. She didn't need a provoking/testosterone match between him and her brother right now. Or at any time.

But her prayers were unheard. She stifled a groan, when Jet made his way to them, grinning.

"Hey, Katara!" he said, standing in front of the chair next to Sokka. "Mind if I sit down, Sokka? I'm not gonna stay long."

Sokka scowled and looked at Katara who shot him a glare which meant 'Stay friendly!', so Sokka shook his head. "No, I don't mind!"

"Thanks!" Jet exclaimed and sat down. "It has been a long time, Sokka. What are you doing?"

"Studying engineering," Sokka replied and kept eating, using it as an excuse not to have to talk so much.

"Wow, that sounds great. I bet you're doing well. You were always good at sciences and stuff in high school," Jet said, but looking at Katara who drank from her hot chocolate, glancing at the boys.

"Mhm," Sokka hummed.

"Jet, what is it exactly what you're doing?" Katara asked. "Are you... studying here?" She looked cautiously into his eyes.

Jet's grin spread and he chuckled. "No! I'm not that intellectual kind of guy. I did study at a military academy after high school and noticed that it's not really my thing. I'm learning to become an estate agent."

Katara couldn't help but chuckling. "Wow, I guess except for pharmaceutical representative this is the best job you could ever get. It really suits you."

Jet's grin didn't fade for one second, but he also didn't quite get why Katara was saying that.

Sokka nodded. "You're right. Someone as smarmy as Jet here will always convince people to buy things they don't need or want to have. Hey, wait, didn't you already practise this in high school?" Sokka asked beaming with wide eyes and a clear sarcastic tone to it.

Katara frowned. She would have known if Jet had ever done that.

(She hadn't known, although it had been right before her eyes the whole time.)

Jet only raised an eyebrow and suddenly grinned cockily. "Sure, but it was never about buying, just making people aware of what it was they really wanted." He moved his eyebrows suggestively.

Sokka was there with the gagging motions again and Katara rolled her eyes, but felt her cheeks heating, remembering certain things from their relationship very well.

When Jet beat Sokka's back slightly, Katara noticed that Sokka wasn't really faking gagging sounds, he was just choking on his waffle. He drank something to clear his throat and leaned on his rest, taking huge gulps of air.

Katara just watched him flatly.

"Uh, hey," someone from her left suddenly said.

A tall lean young man with short, back-combed black hair and pale skin stood at their table, looking uncomfortable. He wore dark jeans and a brown wool coat with a red scarf.

His eyes were narrow and his eyebrows dark, forming a flat triangle, giving him a stern, but also pretty look together with the straight nose, high cheekbones and angular jaw.

He looked great, really handsome, but also somehow rejecting. His features were smooth, no stubble, no scowl, he actually looked nice, but something about him made Katara's skin crawl with unease. And it was not just because no matter how good he looked and how hot he had become after high school, she still couldn't stand him. She had always felt this rejection radiating of off him, even in high school. It was if something inside him never wanted people to come close.

Instinctively she wanted to narrow her eyes, but quickly let it be, when she noticed that he didn't look sulky. Her narrow eyes had always been a reaction to his facial expression, which had most of the time been sulky.

Jet grinned up at his friend. "Hey Zuko! Look who I just found!"

Now Zuko scowled at Jet, and Katara thought he was a jerk for scowling at his friend. Friends didn't do that to each other, so Zuko was clearly not appreciating friendship the way a sane person would. Because she never scowled at her friends. Never.

But Zuko's expression quickly changed when he looked at a scowling Sokka and a narrow-eyed Katara. He looked cautious and wary, and a bit tensed, too.

"Hi Sokka, hi Katara! It's nice seeing you again," he said, his voice raspy and he quickly cleared his throat and then rubbed his neck. He was a bad liar.

Seeing him so uneasy really pleased Katara. His sister was nowhere to be seen, so she didn't have to worry about being pushed in the hallway or having her clothes stolen from her locker or getting a ball kicked at her head, just because saying something nasty to Zuko. But now she could say to him everything she wanted to.

/

Answers to reviews:

To uchihaNaruto247 (: Uh... No, it's not. There is no harem in this story, for no one. I despise the practice of harems. I'm actually quite confused and worried how you got this idea, because if you got it, it means others could get it, too, and I don't want anyone to think there will be a harem in my story. So what made you think of a harem? (So that I can rewrite this part to make it clearer for the readers.) :)

To Guest: Thank you very much! I hope I'll be able to keep it that way.:)

To (other?) Guest: Here, I did it! And again, sorry it took me so long! I really liked your review, though, I totally had a laughing fit! :D