A/N: apologies for the late update; motivation, creativity and free time have been in short supply recently.

Chapter 6

Katara

"Well?" Demanded Sokka as he suddenly appeared directly in front of Katara as she was exiting the school.

"Yeah, do we have to put Teo in witness protection or something?" Haru asked, punching his fist into his other hand in what Katara assumed was an attempt to look menacing.

"And let me guess, you're going to be the one doing the protecting are you?" Katara asked with a raised eyebrow and put her hands on her hips.

"Hey, I can earthbend, Suki teaches Kyoshi style and Longshot and Smellerbee are pretty badass. I think together we can protect Teo from anyone in this school!"

"Haru, no offence dude," Sokka said as he slung his arm around Haru's shoulders, "but you've only been going to your amateur Earth Rumble class, or whatever it is, for like, two months? And Zuko apparently beat up a whole bunch of guys at once." Sokka raised his eyebrows questioningly at Katara, clearly asking what she had been able to find out.

Katara scowled. "I don't know, neither of them would tell me anything," she replied, before brushing past the pair and heading over to where Suki and Smellerbee were standing waiting for them. She ignored Haru's grumbling about Sokka not knowing anything about fighting unless it involved swords… Katara really wasn't in the mood to indulge Haru's pettiness.

"That doesn't really explain anything," Sokka complained as he hurried to catch up with his sister, Haru not far behind and still grumbling to himself about how the others weren't benders and clearly didn't know how to fight and if Zuko ever tried to get to Teo through Haru, the result would be a lot different.

Katara huffed as they reached Suki and Smellerbee. "Apparently Teo promised he wouldn't tell."

"Has the definition of the word explain changed in the last five minutes?" Sokka asked.

"No, and I'm pretty sure the definition of the word promise hasn't changed either," Katara retorted bitterly, putting her hands on her hips.

"What's going on?" Suki linked her arm with Sokka's and looked between the scowling siblings.

"Katara won't tell us whether her literature partner is a psycho or not," Sokka accused.

"Because I don't know!"

"Who's not a psycho?" Aang piped up suddenly behind Katara, causing her to shriek and whirl on him.

She stopped herself from giving Aang a piece of her mind at the sight of his large eyes brimming with naive innocence and earnestness. Instead, she merely scowled and grumbled, "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Oops! Sorry, Katara!" Aang chirruped, his buoyant mood barely dented by Katara's admonishment.

"It's fine," Katara muttered, resisting the urge to poke a metaphorical needle into Aang's little bubble of wilfully determined (and at times against all reason) cheer, "shouldn't we start heading over to the bowling alley before all the lanes get taken up?" she continued, raising her voice to address the whole group.

"Good point, shall we?" said Suki meaningfully as she steered Sokka down the street.

Haru and Smellerbee followed behind the couple pretty quickly, leaving Katara with Aang.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Nothing," Katara grumbled and set off after the others.

"Was it about Zuko and those rumours?" Aang persisted as he bounced along beside her, "The rumours are pretty horrible. I can't believe someone so violent would be allowed to stay at the school."

"You'd think," Katara murmured half-heartedly. "Maybe Sokka's right, maybe his dad does bribe the school to stop them from expelling him..."

The milkshake shack they visited midway through their journey was a cosy place only a few minutes walk away, between the school and the town centre. There were a couple of tables set out in the small tiled square that passed for a seating area in front of the counter. They bypassed the cheap metal chairs whose dismal padding was covered in thick, blue faux leather, and went straight to the counter to order their regular Friday indulgence before moving on to the bowling alley.

The alley, to nobody's surprise, was busy and rang with the sound of groups of families and students alike having fun. It also smelt of feet. But this was also unsurprising and was a facet of bowling that everyone in their friendship group had long since accepted.

Katara sat on the bench, which was only slightly tacky, and watched the game begin. Even though she had tried to put the events of the day out of her mind, she couldn't help but worry about Teo, he had declined to come out with them even though he absolutely loved bowling. It was obvious that Zuko had some sort of hold over Teo, and despite Teo's reassurances, Katara was sure that there was some if not a whole heap of nefariousness involved on Zuko's end.

"Hey Katara, watch this!" Aang crowed, jolting Katara from her reverie as he stepped up to the mouth of the lane, turned his back on the line and swung the ball through his legs, eventually knocking over seven pins.

"That's great Aang," Katara replied with a smile.

"I think I'm getting good at this game!" Aang cried as he flamboyantly completed his turn and successfully knocked down the remainder of his pins.

"You are, you'll be a master bowler before you know it," Katara replied indulgently.

Aang wasted no time before bouncing back over to the seat next to Katara.

"This is really fun!" He enthused. "Although I think doing anything with you would be fun," Aang continued with uncharacteristic shyness.

"Well we do try to have fun when we go out, no matter what we're doing," Katara replied, a little of the pride she felt for her friendship group shining through in her tone.

They looked over as Sokka suddenly let out a deafening whoop of joy and saw that he had scored a strike. They watched Sokka revel in his victory for a moment before Aang spoke again.

"That's not quite what I meant," he said quietly.

But before Katara could formulate an answer and enquire what exactly Aang did mean, Sokka was dropping into the seat on the other side of her, laying an arm over the back of her chair and saying, "Who's the greatest bowler on earth?"

"I don't know," Katara said as she immediately turned to face her brother, "but if I ever do meet them, shall I tell them you say hello?"

"Katara," Sokka whined at her teasing, putting her in mind of a three-year-old and she couldn't help but giggle fondly at her brother's immaturity.

They turned to watch Suki take her turn and prove over again that the inherent badassery of being a Kyoshi-style master and teaching her own class most emphatically did not translate to any skill on the bowling alley as she guttered the first ball and then managed to only knock one pin down with her next ball. She laughed bashfully at herself and returned to her seat at Sokka's side and accepted his commiseration and comfort enthusiastically.

Katara would have thought the pair sweet if Sokka hadn't been her brother, a fact which biologically compelled her to find the sight utterly disgusting.

Smellerbee and Haru took their turns before Katara and then she found herself sitting next to Suki watching bemusedly as Sokka and Aang stood by the lane discussing the finer techniques of what Katara was tempted to remind them was essentially rolling a ball along the floor.

"I wonder how long this will go on for," Katara muttered instead as she turned to face Suki, but she stopped short at the sight of Suki's pensive face staring into nothing.

"Hey, you ok?" Katara asked, turning to face Suki fully and putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Suki sighed in a way that utterly failed to convince Katara that she was telling the truth.

"No Suki," Katara insisted, leaning forward to maintain eye contact with her friend, "tell me. Please."

"It's nothing, just..."

"Suki. It's not nothing if it means you can't enjoy bowling on a Friday night with your friends."

Suki opened her mouth to answer but hesitated and instead bit her lip as if that would keep all her worries inside. Katara kept quiet as she watched Suki's internal deliberation until she eventually decided to speak. "My studio rent has gone up again," Suki said quietly.

"Studio rent? Oh. You mean at the gym where you teach," Katara replied just as quietly.

"It's the third time this year and I can't put my prices up again so soon. I don't know what to do."

"Can they even put the rent up that often? Is that even legal?"

"It's their studio, they can charge whatever they like and there's nothing anyone can do about it. But if they put the rent up again, I just won't be able to afford it and I'll have to cancel my classes." Suki replied morosely.

"Oh Suki," Katara lamented as she pulled her friend into a hug. "That won't happen. We won't let it."

"Thanks, Katara," Suki whispered into her shoulder. They squeezed each other tightly before pulling back and Katara was pleased to see the light of hope shining behind her friend's eyes again, even if it was still rather dim.

"Hey Katara," Aang said as he dropped into the seat on her other side, making Katara turn to face his wide, pleading eyes. "Can we play another game after this one?"

"I'm sure we can," Katara replied.

"Awesome! You're the best Katara!"

Katara pushed Suki's dilemma to the back of her mind for the rest of the evening and focused on enjoying the time with her friends. She had the rest of the weekend to worry about everyone's problems, tonight was just for fun.

It wasn't until the next day as Katara, Sokka and Aang were helping Suki pack up after her lesson that Katara had an idea."Maybe you don't have to up your prices just yet, maybe you just need more students," she said as she handed Suki back her fan.

"Maybe," Suki conceded, "but I don't know where I'll get new students from. It's not like there are people lining up outside the door."

"Maybe you just need to do a little advertising?" Katara suggested with a shrug as they exited the studio and made their way down the stairs.

"Maybe," Suki repeated, still not totally convinced by the idea.

"Just think about it," Katara insisted before she quickly extracted herself from the group and made her way to the showers before anyone could protest and potentially cause a scene like last time.

Unfortunately, in her haste to avoid a scene, she had merely delayed what Katara was now realising was simply inevitable.

When Katara made her way from the locker rooms and into the lobby she was surprised to see her brother and friends still there, but not particularly surprised to see the glare her brother was sending Zuko's way and the flat, unimpressed stare Zuko was sending back.

"What's going on?" Katara asked cautiously as she stepped into the room.

"Hey Katara," Aang waved, "we decided we would all head back to your house so we can all study together! Isn't that great?"

Zuko

The bald kid, Zuko decided, was not human. He must have been some eldritch spirit of positivity wrapped up in the guise of a boy. Perhaps the overabundance of effervescence had somehow damaged his hair follicles?

In any event, being trapped between the car door and the abominable happiness factory was not Zuko's idea of a good time. The kid clearly had something against sitting still as Zuko was regularly jabbed by an elbow or jostled by a knee as it (Zuko was leaning strongly towards non-human at this point) chatted eagerly with the driver and Suki, the girl who ran one of the classes in the gym. They chatted about, what Zuko assumed, was the subject of those classes, all the while he was turning between them and Katara to keep her just as involved in the conversation as the rest of them.

The kid - Aang, Zuko had been ambivalent to learn - also very rarely moved only one part of his body when there was a possibility of moving several. Any movement seemed to bounce around the rest of his body from where it originated, stirring limbs and appendages injudiciously as it went.

Zuko had shifted as far away from the sporadically flailing limbs as he could without plastering himself against the door. He desperately hoped the car ride would end soon.

It did end, as all things must do eventually, despite Zuko's mounting suspicions to the contrary. He wasted no time in escaping and stood up and hefted his bag onto his shoulder. He looked around at the neighbourhood, slowly turning around until his gaze landed on the house Katara and Sokka lived in.

It was a neat little house with a bright blue painted door, and awnings to match. The front yard was far from big, and what hadn't been given over to the driveway had been lovingly cultivated into a small square lawn bordered on three sides by blue, purple and white flowers. The flowerbeds had clearly been planted by someone with an eye for colour and a talent for gardening that Zuko had never really aspired to but found impressive nonetheless.

The others ambled into the house, (Aang excusing himself to go to his home, which turned out to only be six doors down the road, for a shower and to pick up his school books) and Zuko followed quietly behind. The inside of the house was much the same as the outside, in that someone had gone to great lengths to disguise the fact that the house was tiny and they had only had moderate success. The walls had been painted white but had been almost completely covered with beautiful, intricate water tribe tapestries with a smattering of clearly homemade (or possibly school-made in some cases) wall hangings displayed proudly and harmonising with the rest of the decorations. Among said ornaments was the occasional photo of various family members and friends, all in all, it created a cosy, welcoming atmosphere.

Even the friendly chatter between the friends as they all called out to some mysterious gran-gran would have been welcoming if Zuko wasn't extremely aware that the only reason he was there was out of bad luck, mistrust and the (desperate, in his case) need for a passing grade in literature.

And if he wasn't so obviously excluded from said chatter.

They went through to the living room, Zuko's shoes sinking deep into the rug that covered a large portion of the hardwood floor as he followed. He hovered halfway between the group and the door as Suki announced she was having the first shower, planted a quick kiss on Sokka's cheek and swept up the stairs, closely followed by Katara who was going to put her gym bag in her room.

This left Zuko in the decidedly uncomfortable situation of being in an unfamiliar house with someone who was clearly intensely wary of him and, by the look on Sokka's face, it would take the intervention of the spirits themselves to change his mind.

Zuko fingered the strap of his backpack where it was slung over his shoulder as Sokka stared balefully at him. The other boy also seemed to have realised that he was suddenly alone with the enemy, and neither of them really knew what to do about it.

Zuko found the nearest seat and quickly perched on the edge. He opened his bag and started pulling out his schoolwork. Zuko had come here for one reason, and it wasn't to make friends.

"Dude, do you wanna quit staring?" Zuko deadpanned when the weight of Sokka's stare became too heavy for his last nerve.

"Well, I'm sorry that it's a little weird to have Zuko freaking Nikko sitting in my living room, okay? It's not every day that the school psy- I mean... The school rich kid comes over to do homework." Sokka finished falteringly after his slip-up.

Zuko clenched his teeth. He knew he wasn't exactly popular, that his social standing was roughly the same as a maggot and the runt of the maggot-litter at that... And it was one thing to hear it from the likes of Azula and her friends, who threw out insults so often and to so many people that their impact was greatly reduced and more of a formality rather than anything personal; but to hear it from the supposed 'nice kids' over and over again...

The feeling of wrongness bubbled up inside him again. He couldn't seem to do anything right.

But what was new about that?

"You're the one that invited me. If you didn't want me here that badly then maybe you shouldn't have insisted I come over," Zuko bit back.

"Yeah, well it was the lesser of two evils," Sokka muttered back and wandered into the kitchen, leaving Zuko free to scowl at his retreating back without having to comment.

After Sokka disappeared from view Zuko went back to organising his homework in front of him. As Sokka came back into the room, sipping on a glass of water, Katara came back down the stairs carrying her own study materials.

"Great, now can we get on with this?" Zuko muttered to Katara as she sat down near him.

Katara gave him a flat look. "Of course. We wouldn't want to keep you here in our lowly little hovel any longer than necessary," she retorted and turned resolutely to her notebook and began making a fuss over finding the right page.

Zuko clenched his fist and was about to make another retort about not inviting people where they weren't going to be welcomed but the sound of Sokka slurping his drink drew Zuko's eye and the expression on Sokka's face seemed to be daring Zuko to get angry just so Sokka could kick him out. So Zuko held his breath for ten seconds, and then he held it a little longer because he was sure that if even a tiny wisp of smoke escaped him, that would be seen as an act of aggression and Sokka, he could tell, would just love any excuse to be rid of him.

His uncle would be so proud.

"Sokka can you grab me a drink of water as well please?" Katara asked absently as she arranged her pens and her research.

Zuko didn't miss the warning look Sokka shot him as he went back into the kitchen and Zuko tried and failed not to roll his eyes.

But once Sokka had delivered Katara her drink, they were finally able to get on with their project. Zuko tried to focus solely on their work but he did notice Suki come downstairs after her shower and then have to persuade Sokka it was okay for him to leave them all alone so he could shower as well.

Then Aang came back and (to Zuko's endless incredulity and frustration) struck up a conversation with Katara about how nice the feeling of being freshly showered was - especially after a workout. The kid seemed to be seriously lacking a basic understanding of the term study session, and completely unfamiliar with the concept of trying to get the work done.

But Zuko was determined to only quietly simmer in the background because he was quickly realising that Aang was this friendship group's version of Ty Lee.

Thankfully Aang's disruption ended, and they were all seated in various attitudes of recline around the room and getting on with their own homework - Sokka included - before too long.

Zuko had managed to forget his earlier frustrations and focus on his work when an elderly woman who must have been the mysterious Gran-gran from earlier, entered the room via what Zuko assumed was a back door, carrying some pruning shears. "Well bless my soul, I have never seen you lot so quiet and focused," she began as she looked around the room and eventually made eye contact with Zuko, "and you must be that Nikko boy."

Zuko fully expected her to just straight up tell him to leave. But he replied anyway, "Hi uh... Zuko here." here

Zuko cringed and scratched the back of his head.

"Will you be staying for lunch Zuko?"

"Uh actually I can't, my dad is expecting me back soon," Zuko replied, glancing at his watch, "Oh crap! He's expecting me real soon. I gotta go."

Zuko hastily packed his bag and swung it onto his shoulder as he stood up.

"Now wait just a minute young man," Gran-gran began sternly, making Zuko instantly freeze and stare at her, "I don't like the thought of a guest in my house going away hungry. If you can't stay to eat, at least let me pack you something to take away."

"Oh um, I can't. But thank you for the offer. I just really need to get going now," he moved towards the door, trying to calculate the odds of getting back in time and coming up with some really disappointing (which in these circumstances was the same as frightening) percentages. "But thank you anyway. And thank you for having me. And Katara I guess I'll see you in literature class on Monday."

Zuko threw out all the pleasantries he could remember as he shuffled towards the door. He was already planning to run all the way home as soon as he got out the door. Well, most of the way home. Once he got to the end of the road.

He did, in fact, end up running once he got to the corner. He had to stop and readjust his bag halfway down the first street, but after that, he didn't stop until he was two streets away from his house.

He walked, heaving, through the door and stalked straight to the kitchen. He barely stopped to dump his bag on the island on his way to the fridge and immediately began making lunch.

He threw a couple of sandwiches together and made his way up to his father's office, balancing a plate in each hand. He knocked on the door, rather awkwardly with his elbow and waited to be called in.

Ozai's stern "enter," resounded through the door a few seconds later.

As Zuko set the plate on the desk, Ozai - with barely a glance in Zuko's direction - began speaking. "I need you to clean up downstairs today for a soiree I'm having with some investors tomorrow, especially the dining room and the reception room. I'm not risking you embarrassing me again so I've hired caterers and once you've finished your shift you're to go straight to your room as quickly and as quietly as possible." Ozai finally turned his gaze - warningly and with heavy accents of disdain - to Zuko, "Do you hear me? I do not want to have to explain you to anyone... Also, there is laundry to do and I think I'll want to show the investors the home dojo as well so you better have that sparkling too."

"Yes sir," Zuko acknowledged quietly.

"Tomorrow needs to go well, Zuko. I hope I'm making myself absolutely clear about that." Ozai threatened.

"Yes sir," Zuko repeated and took the lack of any further instructions (and the lack of any continued acknowledgement of his existence) as a dismissal and went to deliver the next sandwich to Azula.

When Zuko entered Azula's room the first thing he noticed was Ty Lee swaying in front of Azula's mirror and holding up one of Azula's tops to her chest in whimsical contemplation. He also noticed Mai on the other side of the room, lounging on the bed with a magazine. She was lying amongst the profusion of pillows and cushions that Azula kept for no greater reason than aesthetics, (at least Zuko assumed there was no other reason, it hardly looked comfortable,) she was spread out sideways across the breadth of Azula's king-sized bed, just to be contrary. Mai liked being quietly contrary, she had perfected the art of rebelling just enough to annoy her parents but not enough to earn a punishment. She was a connoisseur of the silent victory.

And finally Azula herself sitting at her dresser. She coiled a lock of hair around her finger and heated it with a small sigh. She let the hair unravel and inspected the curl for a moment before apparently deciding she didn't like it and heating her hand again and running it over the hair to smooth it out.

"Zuzu, can't you see we have guests?" Azula said, scowling up at Zuko as he set the plate on her dresser next to her, "We can't be rude and ignore them can we?"

Zuko sighed, "I'll be right back."

He trudged back downstairs on legs that were beginning to feel a little wobbly and made two more plates of sandwiches. He moved quickly about the kitchen and powered back up the stairs through his adrenaline crash, hoping to be back downstairs and eating his own lunch before he really started to feel the effects.

He gave a quick rap on the door before pushing it open and delivering the remaining sandwiches. He set the first plate on the bedside table near Mai and wandered over towards Ty Lee and, after a quick, internal deliberation, put her plate on the dresser next to Azula's.

"You can go now," Azula dismissed as she continued to experiment with her hair, wrapping the locks around two fingers to create a looser curl.

"Thanks, Zuko, you're so sweet," Ty Lee practically gushed, making eye contact with him through the mirror as he turned to leave. Zuko paused in surprise and a little warmth coloured his cheeks.

"Ty Lee, what have I said about being nice to losers?" Azula asked rhetorically, "Don't. It gives them ideas above their station."

"But Zuko is sweet and cute a-"

"Cute!?" Azula scoffed, cutting off the rest of Ty Lee's words, "Puh-lease. When was the last time you had your eyes tested? Or have you not actually looked at my brother's face in the last six years?"

The bashful roses in Zuko's cheeks bled into a flood of humiliation as Ty Lee's eyes went wide and she gaped at Azula. Even the quiet hiss of pages being turned halted behind Zuko as the room stilled for one strained moment.

"Fuck you, Azula," Zuko spat, tiny flames dancing on the tip of his tongue, before turning on his heel and stalking out the door. He could sense the heat radiating out and warping the air around him as he stalked to the door and grabbed the bronze handle, by the time he had fully opened the door the handle had begun to change colour. The paint began to bubble and melt on the door as he brushed past and slammed it shut behind him.

Azula's cackling echoed faintly behind the door as Zuko stormed down the stairs and into the kitchen. He dove into the bread bin and after blackening the handle even further and taking the lid off its hinges and forcing it back into place, flung two pieces of bread down onto the chopping board. He rounded on the fridge next and had to catch a kamikaze punnet of raspberries as wrenched the door open. Zuko growled as he shoved the punnet back onto the shelf only for it to fall out again and again as he hastily tried to replace the fruit before he fumbled for the komodo chicken slices.

Zuko's fingers shook and sparked as he tried to make himself some lunch and by the time he cut the sandwich and put it on his plate, it was somewhat toasted.

He glared at the finished sandwich for a second, his adrenaline was back up and his stomach twisted at the mere thought of digestion and Zuko was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sit still long enough to eat it either. With a roar, Zuko slammed his way to the home dojo.

He switched the cooling system on and set it as low as it would go, (Zuko was still dressed in his cheap, polyester uniform, and that plus a whole lot of heat did not make for a pleasant combination) as he got to the door and practically kicked it down. Once he was safely surrounded by fire-retardant materials, he unleashed a barrage of fireballs. He punched, kicked and bellowed out his fury until he was panting and his inner fire had shrunk to a single, guttering flame. The marble of the wall glittered back at him impassively.

Zuko took a few deep breaths and began going through his katas. His anger, though still strong, was no longer overwhelming and Zuko was able to channel it into proper, respectable forms instead of the wild tides of emotion he had just been releasing.

His legs began shaking as finished the basics, and his arms followed suit only two katas into the intermediate set. His flame began dwindling as he neared the end of the next set of katas and Zuko finally felt exhaustion overtake his anger and humiliation. He sank to the floor and sprawled out on the tiles without even attempting the most advanced set of katas, he could barely get them right on a good day so he was sure to mess them up spectacularly in his current state.

His mind drifted back to the technique Lu Ten started teaching the night before. He tried it again, closing his eyes where he lay and adjusting his position a little, he centred himself and tried to produce the breath of fire… which involved no actual fire, (that was easy, breathing actual fire,) but instead, simply internal heat.

He tried a few times, each time only producing a small lick of flames that flickered at his lips, which eventually guttered into sparks and then simply a tendril of smoke as he used up his chi.

With his inner fire practically gone, he lay there, adrift in his own misery for what could have been hours or seconds, but which was most likely only a few minutes, before his stomach growled with the ferocity of a rabid tigerdillo and seemed to twist in on itself rather suddenly and painfully.

Zuko sighed and laboriously rolled himself to standing and went in search of his forgotten sandwich. He was getting rather chilly as he lay there anyway as the powerful coolers quickly bled the heat from the room, (Ozai took great pride in only having only the best, it was a major part, if not the entirety, of the reason he was so ashamed of Zuko) and Zuko remembered to switch them off just before heading back upstairs. It was only when he saw his father's empty plate next to the sink that he remembered the laundry list of chores he had yet to complete.

"Fuck."

Katara

Katara watched nonplussed as Zuko made the most awkward retreat in human history, and from the looks on everyone else's faces, she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"What a weirdo," Sokka sing-songed from the chair on which he was sprawled.

"Now I know you were not brought up to be so rude, young man." Gran-gran chastised with a reproachful stare as she walked through the living room and entered the kitchen. After a few moments and after the sound of a running tap and some more sounds of general pottering were heard, Gran-gran stepped back into the living room, "Now then Aang, are you staying for lunch?"

"Yes please Mrs Gran-gran!" Aang enthused from his spot on the floor.

"And you Suki? Are you staying for lunch today?"

"Of course she is Gran-gran! Suki can have lunch whenever she wants." Sokka interrupted.

"Sokka one of these days you'll find you've gotten a bit too big for your boots, and then you'll be sorry," Gran-gran warned with an imperious finger pointed in his direction.

"Only if it's not too much trouble," Suki answered.

"Of course not, especially since I'll have Sokka to help me."

"What!?"

"You'll help me with lunch or I'll give your portion to Suki instead."

A staring battle commenced, the likes of which had never been seen before... By Aang. For the rest of the group, such battles were a common occurrence and not much mind was paid to the event. Everyone knew that Sokka would hold out for not even a minute before conceding and then would slump off, tail between his legs, to do what had been asked of him.

Katara looked up at Suki as Sokka slipped away, tidying away the last of her supplies for her literature project. "Hey Suki," she said as she leant towards her friend, "have you had any more ideas about your rent situation?"

Suki sighed and put down her pen. She let her head flop back for a second before turning to Katara and saying a little petulantly, "No. I would love to make up the difference with more students, but I just don't know where I'm going to get them from. We don't exactly live in a big town."

Katara sighed in sympathy, it wasn't an easy situation to be in.

"Oh, Suki," Gran-gran called as she looked her head back into the living room. All three teenagers turned to look at her curiously, "you were right," she said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes and retreated into the kitchen.

Katara looked at Suki in askance and saw that the other girl was just as confused as she was until, with flawless psychic synchronicity, understanding dawned on both girls as Katara's mind flashed back to a conversation between her, Suki and Gran-gran about Zuko's attractiveness.

Suki threw back her head and laughed while Katara groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"What's going on? Why are you laughing like that? What was your Gran-gran talking about? What's wrong Katara?" Aang asked his rapid-fire questions as he looked between Suki and Katara, desperate confusion written plainly across his face.

"Oh it's nothing," Suki said with a wave of her hand, "you wouldn't get it anyway."

"I think I would," insisted Aang, "I'm really good at understanding jokes."

"It's a girl thing," Suki said in another brave attempt at deflection.

"But I really wanna know!"

"Don't you have homework you need to do or something?" asked Suki pointedly with a gesture towards the papers and books spread out in front of Aang.

"Aww, no fair," Aang pouted but turned his attention to his notes.