Another installment of the 100 Themes Challenge, Zutara Style

Love Stories already had a few watchers, so yay for your support! I just want to ask that I keep getting more reviews. Reviews= Luff :]

Hopefully you all understand that this isn't a collection of oneshots ((Oneshots are okay, but I think that working themes into a continuous storyline takes a bit more work))

~DragonMaster65

PS- I don't own, nor do I claim to own Avatar: The Last Airbender © Bryan and Mike

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Love:

Zuko glanced over at the clock to begin his countdown to freedom. He was surprised. Rather than having at least twenty minutes left of the miserable class, there was barely three left. How had he lost track of time so fast? He knew that, sure, the first class of a new class always seem shorter because of all the usual formalities you must go over, but Mr. Hops had only taken barely five minutes to say them all.

Katara was looking at the clock, but her thoughts were of an opposite vibe. Three excruciatingly long minutes left of this foolish job left, she thought. After her brother had gone, the rest of the class's stories had faded into a boring blur.

Hops gave her the nod for her to give her speech about how to contact her with questions, and yes, she did in-fact actually take this class, so it is possible to survive and continue with life. As she talked, she couldn't help but notice the only pair of eyes that seemed mildly interested in her speech. Only when she said her phone number did any other people perk up, and most looked like jack-asses anyways. One wolf-whistled when she said that since she had a single dorm, a midnight call wouldn't bother any roommate.

Mr. Hops gave a menacing glare about the room, while simultaneously managing to continue doing whatever it was on the computer. The class died down again for a second until the bell rang.

With an exasperated sigh, Katara waited for the mob to leave, giving a playful smack on the head to her brother. He cringed and moaned, "Go bug Aang for a while. Or even Toph. She could use some abuse." His spiked "wolf's tail" bobbed out of the class and Katara's retort died in her throat. Sensing a presence behind her, Katara turned around, plastering a grin on her face.

"Yeah? Oh, hey Toph, Aang." She broke out into a real smile and gave the short, spunky girl a hug. Aang shifted shyly from side to side. She laughed and gave him a quick hug as well. "Did you think I'd forgotten you, Aang? Come on now, who do you take me for, Sokka?"

The short kid wormed his arm back to Toph's shoulders and he laughed, "No, I didn't think so, but then again, Toph is more huggable than I am. I seem to just fall through the cracks when we see Suki and them." Katara ruffled his short, brown hair and sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm glad you guys are in my class though. I can't imagine Aang trying to take a course without bugging the T.A. every other day. Now at least he can just ask you when we come over to torment you." Toph said, trying to dislodge Aang's arm from her shoulders.

Zuko, observing this scene as he tried to pack his messenger bag, scowled fiercely. He finally managed to have his things in order and he sat up, hitting his head on the desk above him. "Dammit!" he swore, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. He saw the group of friends turn in his direction, the short boy bringing his apparent girlfriend closer in a seemingly innocent gesture. They turned back to the T.A. and returned to their conversation as though nothing had occurred.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but that girl, Katara, seemed a bit more distracted for the next few seconds.

Zuko smoothed the scowl away from his face and tried to walk through the aisle without disrupting them too much. The young boy, not hiding a sneer, snorted, "Common Toph, we've got better places to be. Katara, I'm sure we'll see you around."

Toph, seemingly oblivious to the older teen behind her, gave a final shrug to Katara and wrapped herself around Aang, and they half floated, half snuggled their way out. Once they had cleared the first corner, she gave a low whisper in Aang's ear.

"I know you think you're all Mr. Tough-stuff, Twinkletoes, but seriously, don't get jealous over a guy I can't even see. Geez." Toph couldn't see anything in her peripheral vision and she was legally blind at night, thus she could only hear that someone had been behind her, but not who.

Katara shifted to let the taller boy through and waved to Mr. Hops. She had thought that he, that Zuko kid, had waited to speak with the professor, and she wanted to get out of the way. Being a T.A. didn't mean she needed to deal directly with everyone's problems if Mr. Hops was available.

However, Zuko didn't stop at the professor's desk. Instead, he jogged to close the four or five feet between him and Katara and he breathed a rough, "Hey."

She gave him a wary smile as she recognized his golden eyes. "Hey, you're Zuko, right? I liked your monologue, and so did Hops. He might not show it, but when he says something's decent, that's a pretty big compliment. I mean, well, uh." She blushed, brushing one of her strands of hair out of her face. "I meant to say that it's a hard class and you're doing great."

Zuko blinked in surprise. "Oh," he said, the compliment having stopped his train of thought completely and caught him off guard. He gave a small shake of his head to return to what he had meant to say. "Well, uh, thanks. I was actually gonna say the same thing about yours. Well, not the same thing obviously since I haven't a clue as to what goes on in the Prof's head but, uh, yeah." He stopped suddenly, ruffling the back of his hair nervously.

Katara's cheeks flushed a little and she too nervously started running her fingers through her hair. "Oh, thanks. It wasn't really, I mean, it was kinda rushed and I'm not used to speaking or reading in front of the class. I mean, I didn't know if they would think that it was good or that I was being a good example."

"I thought it sounded fine, though I haven't taken a creative writing class since San's class back in Junior year." Zuko glanced over at the T.A., trying to read her expression. Was he being too open, to obnoxious? Would she ditch him as soon as possible?

Katara's eyes widened and she blurted out, "The fat, crazy lady who raised salamanders? Ohmygod, I didn't realize anyone else besides me and my other friends had gone to Roko Private Acadamy!"

Zuko barked a short laugh, relieved that she hadn't run away yet. "Yeah. I was part of that unfortunate graduating class that had to take her "creative writing" class." He made quotation marks in the air.

Katara laughed too, but hers was more musical, softer and flowing. It made Zuko's sound harsh and loud. He felt uncomfortable, but in a strange, pleasant way, and he was aware that she had closed the space between them to only about two inches. "Yes, but then our class got stuck with that exam with one essay question, that's it! "Describe in detail what true love is." Ugg, and everyone had a different question too, so we couldn't cheat." She sighed, remembering her years in high school.

Zuko stopped short, having nixed his decision to try and end this conversation. "You were the one who wrote that essay? The one that won a scholarship here for free for four years? Wow. I guess I'm not surprised that you're a good T.A. for Hops' class."

Katara stopped also, her smile creasing into a slightly more confused one. "Yeah, how'd you know?" She hadn't realized first of all that anyone else had remembered so much about the essay. Hell, she didn't even really remember all that many details about it, except that it had taken her the entire exam time and it didn't have a single grammatical error.

Zuko internally cursed himself and shrugged apologetically. "It interested me, so I asked crazy San if I could read it. She just gave it to me, not even telling me who had written it. I meant to go ask one day but it just…never happened. I guess it's just kinda been nagging me for a while."

"Oh. Okays. I guess that makes sense." She tried to give the Junior a bright smile. "I guess I should be happy that anyone even remembers the stupid thing." She looked at her watch and sighed. "I have a class in about five minutes, but it was nice talking to you. Really," she added seeing that he had seemed a bit more crestfallen when she gave him the overused I'm-just-going-to-leave-now-without-any-other-real-desire-to-contact-you phrase. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked tentatively.

Zuko nodded, feeling at least a bit more situated in the underclass class and a bit less out of place. "Sure." He walked away with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Stupid, he thought, you should've gotten her number. He wistfully looked back for a second, but she was already power-walking off towards the science department. He wished for a second that he could hear her delicate laugh again, but he shook off the though, thinking instead of a line from that essay.

Well he was just hanging around, then he fell in Love. Just hanging around, then he fell in Love. In the middle of Summer.