A/N So if you're here after Chapter 14, SURPRISE this is not the promised Day 15. It is also a year and half late. I hope you like it anyway. In case it isn't clear this one is another real world AU. Enjoy xx
Party like It's 1999
Sokka had never been very superstitious. He believed in science and technology (as most engineering majors would). So when hype began about the start of the new millennium and people began losing their minds worrying planes would fall from the sky and the world as they knew it would end he found it ridiculous.
Katara had always believed in a higher power. She knew that there was something bigger than her and some things were written in the stars and destined to happen. Who was to say that Y2K wasn't going to bring catastrophic events? Everything happens for a reason and if Aunt Wu (her psychic…yes she had a psychic… Sokka teased her about it too) said it would be best for her to get out the city that day then who was Katara to argue?
Zuko had always found life complicated. He wasn't sure if any of it mattered or if it all mattered too much. He felt like his life was a joke to whatever higher power was out there. His Uncle would say that with every trial one faces and overcomes, their soul is strengthened. After the last 3 years he'd had, Zuko was pretty certain his soul was as strong as they come. He had gotten friends out of it all though. The kind of friends that almost make up for the 18 years he lived feeling as if he was undeserving of kindness and that affection was weakness. Now, at 21 years old, he was driving with a packed car, full of people that mean the world to him, on his way to an old beach house for new years with his best friend's family. His Uncle was seated beside him, having given up on trying to talk after Zuko repeatedly (at Toph's request) turned up the volume of the cassette.
Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls was blaring and Toph was singing along loudly and off key, thrusting her fists in the air and narrowly missing punching Katara in the face. In his rear view mirror, Zuko could vaguely see Aang attempting to converse with Katara and passing her a cassette tape.
Just as the song came to an end Katara's clear, "I don't think Zuko wanted to listen to N*SYNC Aang", rung out.
Toph laughed as Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers started, "Sorry Twinkle Toes, I don't do boy bands."
Aang pouted and looked out the window at the trees flying past. "It isn't just N*SYNC there is some TLC and Ricky Martin on there…" he mumbles but this just makes Toph laugh again.
Zuko pulled up behind Hakoda's car. Bato had drawn the short straw and had sat between Sokka and Suki the whole way. The moment the young couple got out of the car they were together again, drawn to each other like two grossly affectionate super magnets. Frankly a crowbar would be necessary to separate those two now.
The beach house was actually around 200 metres from the ocean but its back patio had a totally unencumbered view of where the grass gave way to sands leading up to the water. It was a weathered old timber building with a path of almost too smooth stones (no doubt worn down over the years). One of the house numbers was missing but it was still recognisable due to the colour difference against the sun-bleached wood.
They would come here as a family when she was a kid Katara had once told him. Before… the incident…her mother…
When he was a kid his family would fly to a beachside villa on a highly exclusive private island.
He decided, listening to the soft sigh the plywood let out as he climbed the steps, that he liked this place better. So even if the world ended tonight, it wouldn't be the worst place to go.
Zuko glanced back, seeing Katara laugh at something he didn't hear and absent-mindedly going to help her Gran Gran up the steps – only to be swatted away.
No, it wouldn't be the worst place at all.
They spent the rest of the day exploring the old house and the surrounding area. It was a mild day so all but Aang decided to save swimming for another day. Sokka's sand Suki more closely resembled a sea monster but he had been so proud of his effort.
Zuko had put himself in charge of setting up a bonfire, searching the surrounding brushland for kindling.
"a solid foundation is paramount." He would say, raising a finger and nodding before returning to his self-appointed mission.
Toph thought the idea of building a fire (anything destructive really), sounded wonderful and decided to try and help him by finding some rocks to encircle the flames.
Despite being mostly blind (She was able to make out some features within a metre or so from her), she enjoyed self-sufficiency and Zuko liked the company.
They spent that night, the day before New Year's Eve, enjoying a bonfire night on the beach. Iroh led them in a chorus of campfire songs, they made s'mores and Gran Gran told a ghost story that made even Hakoda blanch. She smiled when she noticed her son's particularly dark eye bags the following morning. He humoured her of course, while the story was unnerving his night had been more palpably plagued by his own ghosts.
Zuko sat beside Katara on the beach. She teased him incessantly about his preference for entirely burnt marshmallows. He liked it when she teased him. She'd always have this particular look; a mischievous glint in her eye and a neutral expression other than the faintest hint of a half-smile.
She didn't talk to the others the same way - didn't tease them like that or as much.
Zuko dared to hope that it meant something.
When the fire started to die off and the group had one by one returned indoors to get some sleep she'd shuffled closer to him until it was just them left with fingers almost painfully close to touching by a pile of smouldering wood.
There was a slight sea breeze and she shivered.
"Are you cold?"
He didn't give her the chance to answer properly because he's awkwardly shrugging off his black denim jack and motioning to pass it to her, balled up. He wished he was suave. He'd seen Sokka sling a jacket over Suki's shoulders countless times and it always looked romantic.
He un-crumples the jacket and reaches across her back, slumping it over her shoulders and hitting her in the face in the process.
He turns red and his eyes expand.
"Uh, sorry…"
"No it's fine," she says rubbing her eye for a moment and then looks at him and smiles almost shyly. "Thank you," when he looks confused she lets out a breathy laugh, "for the jacket."
"oh," he scratches the back of his neck, "don't sweat it."
She relaxes into the oversized denim, curling it around herself and covering the lower part of her face with it.
It's quiet for a moment, then she lets out a soft hum,
"It smells like you."
"Huh? Oh, uh sorry."
"No, I didn't mean that as a bad thing! You smell good! Not that I've been smelling you… or anything." She groaned and buried her face in his jacket. He looked confused.
"I think I might turn in… Goodnight Zuko." She's aggressively mumbling as she walks away but he can't quite make out the words.
He's so confused; sitting alone on the sand and staring out at the ocean. He was tired, he hadn't realised how much so until she left. It was like he didn't really have a reason anymore to stay up. Knowing his body clock he'd probably be up again in a few hours.
He reluctantly gets up and stumbles inside, thoughts blurred with blue eyes and laughter. Before he passes out he wonders if he'd made it too obvious that he liked her. Like really liked her.
Almost everyone slept in on New Year's Eve so Zuko and Iroh had a peaceful morning, sharing a cup of lovingly brewed jasmine tea. Kanna is up next; she joins them and playfully swats Iroh for his shameless flirting. Slowly but surely everyone emerges from their rooms. After 10:30 it is decided the fact neither Suki nor Sokka are up is highly suspicious and Kanna goes to investigate.
When Katara comes out she is wearing Zuko's jacket, which receives a raised brow from Iroh but no comment.
"It looks kinda good on you," Zuko says awkwardly as she sleepily makes herself some breakfast in the small kitchen.
"What?" she looks down and blushes, "I was really tired…I totally forgot I had it on…" she slides it off her back, folds it and passes it back to him.
He decides not to think too much about the fact that it was only slung over her shoulders the night before.
"thanks for lending it to me."
"My pleasure," He doesn't look at her. If he did he would've know she was also avoiding eye contact.
Hakoda and Bato go fishing. Toph decides to follow them under the pretence that she might be allowed to kill any they catch with a rock. Iroh and Kanna play Pai Sho. Sokka offers Suki a tour of the surrounding land and Aang misinterprets the circumstances and tags along. Katara decides to go for a swim. Zuko decides to sketch, sitting on the sand and doing quick studies of the surrounding brush and rocks and her.
He's deep in concentration, when she emerges. Her wet braid is swinging and a fat drop lands next to his charcoal conch shell as she admires his work.
"Is that me?" She asks, pointing at the opposite page full of various quick doodles of a braided figure splashing around in the ocean. He goes red and snaps the sketchbook closed.
"They're just roughs…" he mumbles as he gets up and stomps back inside.
They don't spend too much time together for the rest of the day, Zuko not trusting himself not to say something and ruin their friendship because now he can't talk to her without stuttering or blushing.
He spent the rest of the day 'meditating'.
If the world was going to end tonight, how would he want to see it out?
The final minutes of the 20th century were upon them.
Even Sokka was oddly sombre as uncertainty took hold of the room. He'd pulled Suki closer, her head resting in the crook of his neck as they whispered to each other small words of love and promises meant only for each other's ears. Hakoda and Bato where drinking beer on the patio, staring into the stars and talking about the wives they'd both lost. They were rather nonplussed about the prospect of the end of the world… in some ways their worlds' ended years ago.
Toph had been quiet for 20 minutes, utterly out of character, as she drank a beer she'd pinched from the fridge.
"I'm going to see my parents."
Her small voice broke the silence. 9 sets of eyes turned to look at her. Her blind ones stared glassily.
Had it not been such a revelation, Sokka would've been overjoyed to point out that she was blind and would be unable to see them anyway.
"…Once this is over… this world ending or whatever. I'm going to meet with them."
Katara lays a supportive hand on her wrist which Toph was quick to wind into her hand, give a quick (almost painful) squeeze, and then releases.
The TV is on, the volume is low and the signal isn't great so it's crackly, almost reminiscent of the sound of their bonfire the night before.
"I'm going to open my own tea shop." Iroh says before placing his hands on his round stomach, "and maybe start exercising again."
Toph snorts in a gross manner and the mood lightens slightly.
"I'm going to make a new boomerang. One even better than the one I lost."
"I'm going to find my mother." The room sobers again. Hakoda can't help but look at the boy with pity. The finale minute of '99 has arrived and Zuko goes to leave the room but Katara grabs his hand and stops him.
"I'm going to help you." She says, looking in his eyes. She goes to let go of his hand, conscious of the fact all their closest friends and family are in the room, staring at them. He grips her hand, interlocking their fingers.
"Katara… um… listen, just in case the world ends in the next minute… I have to tell you…" he looks away, clenching his jaw, the veins in his neck jutting out.
"Zuko, what is it?"
The countdown has started, the screen flashes with numbers as the last ten seconds of the millennium slip away.
10.
"I -"
9.
"I think…"
8.
"Katara,"
7.
"SPIT IT OUT ALREADY"
6.
"SHUT UP SOKKA"
5.
"You were saying Zuko?"
4.
"I just-"
3.
"Come on Nephew"
2.
"Just say it Sparky!"
1.
"I want us to be together… If you'd like to…"
There is a heavy moment of silence.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
And she just kisses him.
Fireworks are playing on the screen.
Fireworks are going off outside a few hundred metres away over the water.
Fireworks are going off inside their heads.
The room erupts with sound; people hugging, Suki shutting up Sokka's oogies with a New Years kiss of their own, the group gathering on the patio to watch the fireworks.
There was no great apocalyptic moment. Planes didn't fall out of the sky. But it almost felt like the end of something. It was the end of an era of hardship and struggle in Zuko's life. It was the end of his concept of the world as hostile and cruel.
Aunt Wu was right, it was for the best that they'd gotten out of the city.
This is how the world ends... not with a whimper but a bang.
A/N HELLO READER! Long time no update. If you're reading this I just want to say thank you. Obviously this is super late and not even the correct day but I have been wanting to post something for so long and I've had some serious writers block for day 15. I actually finished this instead of doing a university essay but this is far more overdue so I can possibly justify it to myself.
The cover image for this story is a drawing I did years ago now, it was initially going to be a short comic thing but unsurprisingly I didn't finish it. It isn't really finished either but I am reasonably happy with it as is (it'll probably be altered aswell).
I really hope you enjoyed this (and the little play on the immortal line from T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men that it finished with).
I was only a baby when Y2K happened but I heard there was a lot of concerns about what might happen and thought it might be a cute idea for an AU.
I hope everyone who celebrates it has a happy and safe Easter.
I still want to finish this months worth of short stories, even if it is unbelievably late.
Until next time xx