Hey! These are all from stories where Aang does not have a good time. They're all AUs, but they're bunched together because they're slightly longer and are slightly less fun for Aang. So thus it is. Each one will have a little description up here.
So. In this one, called Friends, Aang and Zuko are friends. They're in the same grade and are both abused (not very fun), so they connect. The entire school hates Aang because idk, and things are bad. Um. People think Aang and Zuko are a couple, but they're not. But for a while they have to pretend to be so they don't get beat up. Doesn't really make much sense I know, but I wrote it, and it's a thing? In this one, Aang's in, like, 5th grade. The project they refer to is the one that makes Zuko and Aang really meet each other for the 1st time. Idk. Just a thing :)
Ms. Rhoster sighed and looked at the clock. If today wasn't a terrible outlier, Aang was done with his math, and had been for at least ten minutes. He was still staring at his paper, but she couldn't tell if he was working or not. More likely than not, he was hiding it from people who might potentially be cheating. She didn't want to bother him, but she did need to talk to him before the school day was over, and now was as good a time as ever. "Aang, will you come speak with me, please?"
He looked at her immediately, his face the pale it always was when she addressed him directly. Or just… always. "Yes." He stood and walked towards her, keeping his face down - not because, Ms. Rhoster realized as a foot stuck out and he carefully stepped around it, he was scared of her, but because he wanted to arrive in one piece.
When he got to her, he looked up right to the side of her head. He did not meet her eyes, but he was still looking up, at least. She smiled. "Please step out in the hall. This will only take a moment." He nodded, but did not necessarily look reassured. She did not want to frighten him, but as she closed the classroom door to talk to him, he looked like he was frightened.
Hey, she reminded herself, this is going to help him not be so afraid. This will give him the chance to find a friend. Ms. Rhoster was not a teacher who doubted herself. She knew what she was talking about and why it was important. She was used to kids who talked back, kids who vandalized, and kids who bullied. And yet, she had never before seen a kid so broken. It was already November, and if he didn't have anyone by Mid-Season, she worried he wouldn't have one by the end of fifth grade.
So, she was taking initiative. Maybe then, he wouldn't have to hide his math textbooks anymore. But it was hard to tell. "Aang," she said, "as you know, we have a storytelling assignment coming up."
Aang didn't know why he was out in the hall. Ms. Rhoster didn't seem mad at him and he didn't know if he had done anything wrong, or if he was going to have to transfer classes like he had in third grade, or what. If he was transfering classes, that wouldn't be too terrible. Hahn and Jet were both in the class, but there were other kids who liked to hurt him in other classes, too.
Still, he was getting good grades in math, which meant she probably wouldn't transfer him, which meant… he probably had done something wrong. He looked at the floor and hoped she was fast. "Aang," she said, "as you know, we have a storytelling assignment coming up."
No, he didn't say, I didn't know that. Will I have to stand in front of the class? How long does it have to be? What if I get sick on the day of? He looked at the floor.
"For this particular assignment, I'm going to put you in partners.
No, he didn't say, please don't do that. Then I might get put with Jet, and he'll punch me, or Hahn, and he'll draw on my stuff. We won't get anything done and I won't stand up in front of the class. Please? Please, I don't want to be in a partnership. He looked at the floor. She seemed to be waiting for something, but he didn't know what it was, so he just… didn't give it to her.
"Aang, I would like you to choose your partner."
And the world froze. He didn't know what to say, or if he was supposed to say anything, and she was going to be mad at him, and he was scared, and the world was frozen. He tried to smile, or look up, or anything, but his body was frozen and he couldn't, so he didn't, and he didn't know what to do. He couldn't choose. He couldn't. He wasn't smart enough good enough cool enough anything enough to make this decision.
"Who would you like to be your partner, Aang?"
Hahn, his brain shouted. He immediately shut it down, and looked at the floor, but she needed an answer, so he tried to think of people in his class. Jet was in his class. No. He knew there were other people. She was waiting for an answer, and he didn't have it for her. "Um," he said quietly, so she knew he was at least trying to think, "um, I'll go with - " Jet - "um," please who was in his class - "I'll go with - " he knew there were people he knew please I have to remember - "Zuko," he finished. "Can I be partners with Zuko?"
He looked at the floor. She was probably angry - he could just picture the way her eyes would narrow, and the way she would sigh, and the way she would be… mad. Zuko wasn't… wasn't… Well, he was smart. He was really intelligent, and he knew what he was talking about, and he was smart, and cool, and didn't talk to Jet and Hahn, and they didn't talk to him, and he had this smirk when he knew he was right but he was really good at hiding it and was right all the time and if Aang could do one thing, he'd be like Zuko, but he couldn't be like Zuko, and really didn't deserve to work with him.
But… Ms. Rhoster didn't yell, or anything. "Yes, you can. I'll set that up. Thank you - you can go ahead and return to class now."
And that was almost worse. Zuko was practically perfect; now he was stuck being his partner. Soon, Zuko would hate him, too. He breathed and walked back to class and watched the floor and wasn't tripped and got to his backpack and checked for his textbooks (which were actually there, which was a plus) and looked anywhere (which was to say at his desk) that wasn't Zuko. He could not believe he had said his name. He was one of the few who didn't outwardly hate him; that was about to change.
He hated group projects and he hated himself and he hated school and he was just… just… just… Hahn poked him in the head with a pencil. Twice. He didn't cry.