A/N Wow you guys! Thank you so much for the reviews! I'll mention all of your names in the note at the bottom :)

I really appreciate the favourites and alerts, they sure do mean a lot!

There are hints of Zutara, Sukka, Taang and one-sided Kataang in this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Pffft I wish I owned Avatar. But sadly, all the credit belongs to Bryan and Mike. :'(

When Zuko woke up that morning, he had a bad feeling. It started with the knowledge that it was the day he would most likely meet his roommates. The fact that he woke up much later than usual had something to do with it as well. He enjoyed waking up early, so he could watch the sunrise and have a little time to himself before the day really began.

With a slight frown on his face, he got out of bed and opened the door. His destination was the kitchen and it was a bit of a walk from his room to there.

He travelled almost silently across the wooden floors. The hallway was illuminated with golden light, thanks to the floor length windows running across the walls.

When he arrived at the door to the kitchen he heard the sound of the refrigerator opening. Thinking it was Sokka looking to stuff his face, he entered the room rolling his eyes.

The person standing in front of him was definitely not Sokka. (although they did look like him)

A girl around his age stood before him. Her big, blue eyes were wide with surprise. A mass of brown curls fell haphazardly around her slim, caramel shoulders.

Zuko stared back, not sure of what to say.

"Hi." She finally spoke. "I'm Katara, Sokka's younger sister. You must be.. Zuko?"

Zuko nodded. "Yeah."

She bit her lip, then turned back to the stainless steel fridge. "You guys have nothing! This won't do, we'll need to go grocery shopping." Then she paused for a second, thinking. "Actually we should probably do some furniture shopping too…"

"Okay," Zuko said, hoping the 'we' didn't include him. He moved to the pantry, reaching for a box of cereal. Katara handed him the milk with a smile, and Zuko thanked her quietly.

When Zuko was seated at the island with his cereal, he hoped the girl would leave. Instead, she took a seat next to him.

"So my brother told me a bit about you, you went to St. Agni's Academy with him right?"

Zuko nodded, swallowing his cereal.

"And your other friend, Aang. He's here too?"

Again, Zuko responded with a nod.

Katara sighed, running her hands through her messy hair. "My friends Toph and Suki are living here too."

"Sokka told me about Suki." Zuko said, smirking lightly.

Katara's azure orbs widened. "Did he say that he liked her or something? Because I'm staring to suspect that!"

Zuko didn't want to give away his friend's secret. "He didn't out rightly say it but it kind of seems that way."

He turned his head to face the girl beside him, just in time to see a bright smile. He realized suddenly that she was quite pretty. Her smile lit up her entire face.

"Well that's great, because Suki seems to have a thing for him too! I can't imagine why though.."

Zuko shrugged, finishing his cereal. He got up to wash the bowl and put it away.

"So uh, I guess I'll see you later.. Katara." Zuko said awkwardly.

But Katara's ever-present grin only grew larger. "Okay, bye Zuko!"

The frown that previously coloured his face was gone. Zuko walked back to his room with a tiny smile.

"Why do I have to share a room again with you?" Toph asked, frowning at Katara.

Katara stood in the centre of the room, looking around and trying to decide what could make it better. "Toph, there's five rooms in this house. Two people had to share."

"I know that Sweetness, I just don't understand why it's me with you."

Katara sighed and finally faced her little, dark-haired friend. "Toph come on, don't make this difficult. So! Today I thought the six of us could go shopping for stuff for the house and groceries and things, oh and paint! What colour should we paint the room?" Katara hoped giving Toph the choice would make her feel better about having to share a room.

Toph taped her chin. "I say.. Green and black horizontal stripes!"

"What? That's terrible! No way!"

Toph cocked her black-haired head to the side, frowning in mock confusion. "But sweetness… didn't you just ask me what colour I wanted?"

Katara crossed her arms over her chest. "Look. This is both of our room, why don't we pick something more.. Neutral? How about blue?"

Toph made a face. "No! Besides, blue is NOT neutral. How about.. Tan?"

The other girl thought about it. "Hmm.. Okay. Fine."

"Yay!" Toph cheered, lying back down on the bed.

Aang quickly realized that he quite liked his new roommates.

First there was the chestnut haired, violet-blue eyed girl: Suki. She was just as friendly and interesting as Sokka promised her to be and he was glad that he now had her as a friend.

The small girl that always had a smirk on her pretty little face was a tiny bit intimidating, but Aang also found her fascinating and funny sometimes.

And then there was Sokka's sweet, beautiful sister. He thought Katara was amazing and he loved how she was always kind and thoughtful.

Now said girl was standing in front of him (and every one else) with her hands on her hips and a determined look on her face.

"There is practically no food or furniture in this house, except for the stuff we all brought with us. So.. I was thinking we could go on a shopping trip!"

"Lame." He heard Toph say.

Katara's smile faltered. "Toph, if you don't with us I'll pick everything for our room by myself.."

"You little blackmailer you. Fine!"

Katara laughed. "Okay so, I found some good stores for us to check out in the Middle Ring." She lifted up a print-out.

"I guess I might as well go. I need to stop by Jasmine Dragon anyway." Zuko said from behind Aang.

"Great!" Katara smiled at him, making Aang a tiny bit jealous. "We'll do that."

And that was how the six of them found themselves in front of Zuko's black SUV, arguing.

"I don't understand why I can't drive!" Sokka exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Because It's MY car!" Zuko reminded him.

"I'm sitting in the front Sugar Queen!" Toph insisted.

Katara stared down at the girl. "No, I need to sit in the front because I need to tell Zuko where to go!"

"Don't you mean 'tell Sokka?' Because I'm the one driving Katara!" Sokka told her.

His sister rolled her eyes. "No you're not. This is Zuko's car."

"Thank you!"

Aang and Suki stood in the back ground awkwardly, not sure what to do.

"Sokka stop being a baby and get in the back." Toph demanded.

"Fine, I will when you do!"

"Fine!"

Toph stomped to the car and got into the very back. Sokka blinked.

"Well?"

With a reluctant sigh, he climbled into the middle row.

"Well. That was easy." Zuko muttere, getting into the driver's seat. Katara grinned triumphantly, sliding into the passenger seat. Aang got into the back next to Toph and Suki sat in the middle row with Sokka.

"Next stop, Jiaju furniture!"

"So Suki.. How's it goin'?" Sokka asked.

From the front, Katara bit her lip to hold in her laugh.

"Great, I'm so glad we're finally here!"

"Me too," Sokka replied. "Are you still doing sciences?" Katara could hear the hopefulness in his voice.

"Yeah I am! I'm guessing you are too..?"

"Yeah definitely! I guess that means we'll have some classes together again."

"Yup, that'll be great." Katara heard the smile in her voice.

A slightly awkward silence filled the car for awhile.

"Hey emo man when are we gonna get there?" Toph asked from the back.

Aang stared at her with wide, grey eyes. "Do you mean Zuko? You should probably call him his real name or he'll get really mad at you."

Toph grinned evilly at the boy beside her and her grin only grew when his eyes widened even more. "Well that's the purpose, isn't it?"

"My name is Zuko!" Zuko exclaimed angrily. "And we should be there soon."

Toph tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Really? Well, I think 'emo man' suits you much better."

Zuko gripped the steering wheel hard. "I'm not emo! I'm a very… content person."

Aang nodded. "Yes, Zuko has a great personality Toph!"

In response, Toph simply rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, he's got quite the personality. Very fiery and exciting. Ooh ooh! Why don't we just call you Sparky?"

When they stopped in traffic, Zuko turned around to shoot the grinning, petite girl a glare. "Fine with me. But I think you deserve a nick-name too, how about shrimp?"

Just as Toph's mouth dropped open, Zuko flipped back around. "WHAT? I am not a shrimp! I'm not even that short!"

Her outburst was met with silence.

Suki looked back and smiled at the fuming girl. "You're not short you're just… height challenged."

Toph gripped the back of Suki's seat hard. "I hate you." She muttered.

"I love you too Toph."

Zuko groaned. The whole roommates things was getting worse and worse with every minute. "Is she always this infuriating?" He asked Katara, glaring out the window.

Katara laughed. "Oh yes, but you eventually grow to love her."

"We'll see about that." Zuko muttered.

The six of them stood in front of a tan, suede couch.

"Well, I quite like it." Katara decided. "Me too." Aang quickly agreed, beaming at her. Toph nodded. "Yeah it's okay. What do you think Sparky?"

'Sparky' smirked. "I also think it's okay, shrimp."

Katara turned her attention to Suki. "What about you?"

"Well I-"

"Guys look at this!" Everyone looked towards Sokka, who had managed to sneak away. He stood with a huge smile on his face, pointing at a fluffy silver couch.

"Eww Sokka, it's tacky and gross!" Katara told him matter-of- factly.

Toph walked over and sat on the couch. She was promptly sucked into it's fluffy surface. She reached out a hand and Zuko helped her out.

"Thanks Sparky. And no way, it's a safety hazard! People can get lost in that thing!"

"We almost lost Shrimp to that ugly couch Sokka, it's too dangerous." Zuko said wryly.

"It is not!" Sokka argued.

"Nobody likes the freakin' couch! Get over it Sokka!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAVE BAD TASTE!"

"Sokka be quite, people are staring." Katara hissed.

"Let's choose something more neutral." Zuko quickly spoke up. "Like that one over there." He pointed at a dark red leather couch.

"That couch is awful!" Katara said.

"That's not called neutral. That's called UGLY."

"It was just a suggestion!" Zuko yelled at Katara and Toph, his anger building.

"Calm down Zuko! I didn't get mad when people didn't agree with my suggestion."

Katara was met with silence.

"Well whatever!"

Aang watched the drama unfold. People around the store were staring and whispering. He smiled at them nervously. After watching the group argue for a little longer, he started to slip away quietly.

"Hey where are you going you sneaky little twinkle toes? Get back here."

Aang sighed. Toph had caught him. "Uh.. Why don't we just get the original couch guys?" He asked, staring at all of them with hopeful grey orbs.

"Yeah everyone likes that one." Toph agreed.

Suki bit her lip. "Well.. I didn't like it that much."

"Everyone but Suki." Toph corrected herself. "But she doesn't matter!"

"Toph! I matter!" Suki exclaimed.

"Yeah Toph!" Sokka backed her up.

And then everyone was arguing again, except for Aang.

"You know what? Let's just take the tan couch!" Suki finally ended the argument.

"But you don't like it!" Katara said, frowning.

Suki smiled reassuringly at her friend. "Well I just wanted a leather couch, but suede is okay too. I don't mind it that much anymore."

"See? There was no need to whine Suki! Problem solved!"

Everyone rolled their eyes at Toph.

"No, I won't do it!" Toph said, stomping the ground with her foot.

In order to fit the two beds, paint, groceries and other items that they bought (the couch, coffee table and chest of drawers were getting dropped off at the house by

Jiaju furniture in a couple of days) the back seats of Zuko's SUV had to be collapsed. So somebody had to sit in the middle of Sokka and Suki and another person had to sit on someone's lap.

That person was, of course, Toph.

Zuko rubbed his temples, more than a little irritated. "You have three choices. Sokka, Aang or Suk-"

"I will not sit on Suki's lap!"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Sorry. So you have two choices, Sokka or Aang."

Toph played with the zipper of her dark brown hoodie. "It's not fair! Why do I have to sit on someone's lap? Suki could sit on Snoozles lap. We all know they would both love that."

The two mentioned automatically blushed.

"Because." Zuko said, trying to keep his temper down. "You're the smallest."

Toph yanked her hood up. "That is always you people's excuse, every single time!"

"JUST DO IT." Katara and Zuko yelled.

"Ugh okay! I'll sit on Snoozles' lap. Kidding.. Gross." She climbed over Sokka and sat herself on Aang's lap.

"Can you handle all this muscle?" She asked him, grinning.

Aang blushed. "Uh.. Yes?"

"Good!"

The drive to home turned out to be a pleasant one because for once, nobody was arguing.

It was pretty late and nobody had energy left to yell at each other anymore. Sokka and Toph were asleep and Suki looked like she would pass out any second.

When Zuko made a turn, Toph swayed in her sleep. Aang quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her in place. She nuzzled her face in his shoulder, causing him to smile. Aang decided that he quite liked Toph when she was asleep. She was much more quiet and peaceful and not intimidating at all. He hugged her a little tighter, making sure she didn't fall over when Zuko turned again.

"The six of us don't get along very well, do we?" Katara sighed.

Zuko sighed as well. "Not really. But I think we're a good group, we kind of balance each other out."

His soft-spoken words caused Katara to smile. She noticed the way he deliberately spoke quietly in order to avoid waking up the sleeping people in the back.

"Zuko… I'm really sorry." She swallowed nervously.

They passed by a streetlight and it lit up the car just long enough for her to see his tiny smile. "It's okay. I'm sorry too."

Katara crossed her denim-leg clad legs. "It's stupid, how we argue over the most pointless things. Maybe once we all get used to living with each other, it'll get better?"

Zuko nodded. "I'm sure it will."

She leaned her face to the window, closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of the cool glass on her cheeks. They drove through the dark, quiet Upper Ring neighbourhoods.

"When I woke up this morning I had a really good feeling. And despite everything that happened today, it's still there. So I think you might be right Zuko."

She sat up in her seat when he drove up to the house and parked the car.

Zuko ran his hands through his shaggy, dark hair before catching her eye. At that moment, he decided that Katara looked more than a little attractive under the moonlight. When a smile brightened her face, he found himself smiling back.

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

A/N Well what do you think? Will it get better? I guess you all will just have to wait and see! ;)

Thanks to my reviewers:

Tell me what you thought about chapter 2! Thanks for reading.

-Tk.