Chapter Text
Summer in Ba Sing Se was already much warmer than any other summer Katara had spent. She had turned the AC up as far as it could go, but it didn’t do much to cut through the humidity that had built up in her junky little car. She’d been driving all day, most of it spent in traffic on the Serpent’s Pass bridge. Katara had thought she would save a little money by going that way instead of by ferry, but the three hours she’d spent moving at a snail’s pace and listening to people honk at each other had made her question several times if her frugality had been worth it.
It was evening now, and the denizens of Ba Sing Se were leaving work. The traffic in the city was almost as bad as it had been on the bridge. Katara could see why the recommendation for those who wanted to live there was to take public transportation - an above-ground subway train that ran on tracks elevated above the streets. And even though she was currently stuck in traffic for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Katara couldn’t help but feel excited.
This fall, she would be starting at Ba Sing Se University’s prestigious medical school. She’d spent the last four years working her ass off at University of Omashu, and when she’d gotten the acceptance letter to the program, she’d nearly burst into tears. And the best part was, she already knew someone who lived in Ba Sing Se.
Sokka had just graduated from BSSU with an engineering degree, and claimed to know the area well enough that he was practically a local. He had a well-established group of friends that he was more than happy to share, and the fact that he had very recently become in need of a fourth roommate was all that Katara needed to know in order to make her decision to move in with him. Originally, she’d wanted to find her own place, but apartments in the city were difficult to find, especially ones close to the school and the subway station.
Katara’s GPS indicated that she had reached her destination. Much to her relief, there was a spot on the curb that was very close to the door to the multi-story apartment. While she was certain that Sokka would help her unpack her things, the idea of carrying boxes up and down the street did not sound particularly appealing. After she parked and pulled out her phone to call her brother, Katara felt a sudden jolt of nervousness. While she loved her brother very much and had missed spending time with him, he had been somewhat vague on the qualities of the other two people living in the four-bedroom flat with him.
They were both men, that she knew for sure. While Katara had her reservations about rooming with a bunch of boys, she was desperate enough for housing that she could look past it. Also, Sokka had promised her that she’d have her own bedroom, something Katara had always insisted upon. Apparently, one of the men was the roommate Sokka had met at BSSU his freshman year, and had been best friends with ever since. Katara had never met this guy, but Sokka insisted that he was awesome and knew how to throw a great party. The other roommate, however…
When Katara had tried to ask more about him, Sokka had deflected the conversation to how great the location was, or how cool their neighbors were, or something else entirely. She’d managed to wheedle out the fact that he’d been the original resident of the apartment, and was the one who managed paying the rent and utilities. Apparently, he’d never told Sokka how much the actual full rent was, and instead just asked for a relatively low amount from each of them, and he’d deal exclusively with the landlord. But that was all the information that he’d given her, and until now she’d been okay with that.
Katara shook her head and dialed her brother’s number. She was a big girl, and all the positives that came with this living situation would outweigh the possible downsides. So what if she didn’t know a lot about the other roommates? She’d get to know them soon enough.
“Kat!” Sokka’s cheerful greeting came after barely a ring. “Are you here?”
Katara smiled at the receiver. He sounded so excited. “Yeah! Come down here and help me out!”
“We’ll be down in a sec!” He hung up before she could ask about the ‘we’ part. Katara laughed and shook her head.
She began to unpack her car, pulling out boxes and bags and putting them on the curb. She’d sold most of her furniture in Omashu when she’d moved, as Sokka had promised that there was a bed and a closet in the room she’d be moving into. As she tugged an overpacked suitcase from where it had been wedged between her front and back seats, she heard the doors to the apartment building being slammed open. She turned to see if it was her brother, and was almost immediately swept off her feet by Sokka, who’d come at her with a running bear-hug.
“Katara!” he said, giving her a small spin, before placing her back on her feet. She’d barely had time to adjust to the hug, and had to wriggle out of the tight hold he had caught her in.
“Sokka, you’re crushing me!” she laughed.
“Oh, sorry.” He let her go and stepped back, still smiling. “I’m just really happy you’re here. It’s been a while.” He was right, it had been a while. The last time she’d seen him in person had been the Winter Solstice, over six months before. They were old enough now that there wasn’t much change over that time. Sokka had really grown into himself since he’d been a gangly teenager, and looked more like their dad every day. He still had that stupid ponytail, though.
“Are you just happy to have someone to cook for you again?” Katara asked, teasing. Sokka grinned.
“Well, I can’t say I’m not looking forward to it…”
She was about to swat his arm, when she realized there was another person standing off to the side, politely giving them their space. Sokka seemed to remember him as well, and waved him closer. “Katara, this is Aang. He’s one of my - our - roommates.”
Aang stepped forward, smiling. He was tall and lean, and his face looked young despite the short, dark beard it sported. His complexion was tan, and his eyes were a soft gray. But the thing that immediately drew Katara’s attention was the fact that he was completely bald, with a bright blue arrow tattoo emblazoned on his forehead and arching back down his neck.
“You must be Katara,” he said. He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Katara was taken aback by the sudden touch, but squeezed his hand back nonetheless. It wasn’t as if she was a stranger to friendly greetings - back home people would pull you in for hugs and kisses without much warning. “It’s great to finally meet you!”
“You too,” she said, smiling. Aang leaned over and picked up one of her larger boxes.
“I’ll help you carry your stuff up,” he offered, leaning around the box. “I hope we can make this place your home, Katara.” Without waiting for an answer, Aang spun on one foot and carried the box up the stairs to the building, moving like it weighed nothing at all.
Katara blinked. “He’s...very nice.” Sokka grinned, hefting one of Katara’s suitcases under his arm.
“I know right? I think if a random stranger asked Aang to be the best man at his wedding, he’d do it. That’s just the kind of guy he is.” Sokka picked up another bag of her stuff and began to walk up the steps. Katara closed her car door and followed him, holding a small box and towing her rolling luggage behind her. “When we met on move-in day at school, he’d already made friends with the entire floor. And planned a rager.”
“He seems kinda young,” Katara said. Sokka opened the door to the lobby for her, and she stepped inside. It was a pretty basic area, leading to an elevator and a stairwell as well as a hallway to the ground floor apartments. Sokka moved towards the elevator.
“He’s twenty-one,” he said, pushing the button with his elbow. The button lit up, and the whirring of the elevator coming downwards started. “So, yeah, I guess so. Sometimes it feels like he knows more than me.”
“I don’t think that’s very difficult,” Katara smirked. Sokka rolled his eyes.
“Har har.”
The elevator doors opened with a ding, and the two siblings stepped inside. In hindsight, Katara wasn’t too surprised about Aang’s age - Sokka had spent two years working on their father’s fishing boat before he decided to go to college. For a long time, he’d been dead set on following in their dad’s footsteps and eventually taking over the business from him, but Hakoda and Katara had convinced him otherwise. He seemed much happier now, even if he was older than his graduating class.
Sokka pressed the button for the fourth floor, which was the topmost floor of the building. “I really do think you’ll like it here,” he said, shooting her a smile. “It’s a great city. And the apartment is really cool. Also, we could probably use a little feminine touch.”
Katara rolled her eyes at the last half of the statement. “Maybe try that last part again.”
Sokka coughed a laugh. “Sorry, sorry. How about, we could use a little help from my very organized and mature sister who is the most amazing person in the world and definitely won’t judge me by what’s currently in the fridge?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Is there a single vegetable in the house?”
Sokka scoffed, adjusting her suitcase under his arm so he could gesture flippantly. “Uh, yeah? Aang’s a vegetarian.”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “How long has it been since you touched a vegetable, Sokka?”
The elevator doors opened, revealing a long, neat hallway. Sokka stepped out into it, throwing a look at Katara over his shoulder. “You and I both know that I don’t recognize vegetables as food unless they are smothered in cheese.”
“Oh, spirits,” she laughed, following him down the hallway. They walked all the way down to the end, where a door was propped open. Katara glanced at the number as she crossed the threshold: 408.
The apartment was nicer than Katara had expected. Maybe she had been a little scared of a place entirely taken care of by her brother, but it seemed that had mostly been avoided - likely by the presence of the other roommates. Immediately after walking in, a small hallway opened up into the main living space. To her left was a recently cleaned kitchen, complete with an island and four chairs lined up on the other side of it. The further part of the room had a couch, a loveseat, a coffee table, and a TV. Katara was pleasantly surprised to see a potted plant in the corner, as well as some art on the walls. On either side of the main room were hallways leading off to what she assumed were bedrooms. A weight she didn’t know was there lifted off her shoulders - part of her had been concerned she would be moving into some kind of frat house.
Aang appeared from the hallway to her right, popping his head around the corner to smile at them. “Your room is over here, Katara. I put the box in there already.”
“Thank you,” she said. Aang gave her a thumbs up.
Suddenly, from the hallway on the other side of the apartment, there was a loud, low bark. It made Katara jump and almost drop her box. A large, fluffy white dog padded into the room, tail wagging lazily from side to side.
“Hey, boy!” Aang said. He met the dog in the middle of the living room, coming down on his knees in front of it. The dog immediately began to lick his face, its tail wagging faster. Aang laughed. “Katara, this is my dog, Appa. He’s the goodest boy in the world.”
Appa finished licking his owner’s face and turned his large, dark eyes toward Katara. Katara hadn’t really had a lot of pets, but the large dog looked friendly. It wasn’t an unwelcome revelation to have about her new home. Appa trotted over to her, sniffing wetly at the hand she held out. Apparently deciding she had met whatever dog requirements he needed, Appa gave her hand a slimy kiss.
“Ew,” Katara said, laughing. She wiped her hand on the dog’s head as it panted happily. “He’s very sweet, Aang.”
“Thanks!” Aang said, wiping saliva off his face with his forearm. “I have a cat, too. His name is Momo. He’s probably around here somewhere.”
“Probably hiding in the cabinets waiting to scare me again,” Sokka grumbled. “C’mon, Kat. Let me show you your room.”
The small hallway that Aang had come out of ended abruptly into a partially closed door and branched into two other doors. The one on the left was open, revealing a small room with an unfurnished bed in the middle of it. The box Aang had carried up was sitting on the mattress.
“Sorry it’s not enormous,” Sokka said, dropping her suitcase unceremoniously to the floor. “But at least it has a window!”
That was true. A large window sat facing out at their corner of the city. Katara pressed her face up against it. A little ways below, she could see where her car was parked. Aang was down there, grabbing another box off of the curb. It wasn’t much of a view, but she found that she was already charmed by the apartment and her little room.
“Where’s your room?” she asked, turning to face her brother. “Are you on the other side of the hall? Because if we’re sharing a bathroom again, I need to set some ground rules.”
Sokka ran a hand over the top of his head and down his ponytail, his blue eyes no longer meeting hers. “About that,” he started.
Katara groaned. It was a phrase she’d heard a thousand times before. Sokka would talk her into something and make it seem great, and then drop a bombshell on her. He had joked in the past that the best way to get her to agree to doing something she didn’t want to do was to liberally butter her up beforehand. Like a greased turkey. Katara did not like being a greased turkey.
“Sokka, I swear -”
“It’s really not that bad,” he said, cutting her off. “It’s just our other roommate. He’s the one down there.” He pointed down the tiny hall to the very shut door. “You’re sharing the bathroom with him.”
Katara blinked. “Jeez, Sokka. You made it sound like it was going to be something terrible. Like the toilet didn’t work and I had to use the shower.”
Normally this would make her brother giggle. Instead he continued to avoid her gaze. “I just figured you should be warned. He’s a bit...grouchy.”
Katara let out a bark of laughter. “Like you when you haven’t had lunch yet? I can handle that.”
Sokka threw up his hands in defeat. “Hey, I said I was just warning you. Aang and I’ve been here two years and he still barely talks to us unless he wants to yell at us about something. And, I mean, I’m not saying he’s the reason our last roommate moved out, but he was probably a big factor.”
Katara rolled her eyes, turning away from her brother and the hallway. “Sokka, I appreciate your concern, but I can handle it. How bad could he possibly be?”
It occurred to her almost immediately that that phrase might come back to bite her, but by the time the thought came the words had already left her mouth and it was too late.
...
The three of them had finished bringing up all of Katara’s belongings by the time the sun started to set. When the last of the boxes was placed in her new room, Sokka wasted no time in letting everyone know how hungry he was. Aang suggested ordering pizza. Katara had all but forgotten about her mysterious third roommate by this point. He hadn’t so much as opened the door to greet her or do anything else. She wasn’t even entirely sure that he was home.
“He’s just not good at introducing himself to new people,” Aang reassured her when he caught her sneaking another glance at the closed door. “When Sokka and I first moved in, he didn’t say a word to us for, like, a week.”
“Sounds...delightful,” she said, feeling a pang of anxiety. She tried to instead focus on all of the upsides to her new living situation instead. “What’s the best pizza place around here?”
Sokka and Aang argued about pizza for about five minutes (Sokka wanted meat lover’s, Aang wanted vegetarian) until Katara made them compromise by getting two pizzas. “There needs to be more pizza anyway,” she said. “You’ve got me.”
It was like she immediately filled a niche in the household. Whenever Sokka and Aang would start to disagree about something, they turned to her to take the right side. Oftentimes, both of them were being stupid, and Katara was more than happy to set the record straight one way or another. They ate their pizzas on the couch, laughing and joking and enjoying each other’s company. For a little while, all of Katara’s moving worries went away, and she knew that she’d found her place.
Around nine’o’clock, both Sokka and Aang retired to their rooms for the night. Katara offered to finish up with the dishes. It was when she was almost done doing this that there was the sound of a door opening.
Katara froze in the middle of sponging dish soap onto a plate. It hadn’t come from Aang and Sokka’s side of the apartment - it had come from the room of the mystery man. She was normally not someone who got nervous when meeting new people. If anything, Katara leaned toward aggressively friendly. Maybe it was her brother’s warning that made her suddenly so anxious.
The sound of footsteps padding into the main area made her force herself to put down the half-washed dish and act like a normal person. This was her roommate. She needed to greet them and act polite and not like she had been warned about how awful he was. So, Katara turned around, readying her friendliest smile and greeting. The moment she saw him, the words dried up in her throat.
He was standing in the doorway to the hall, looking surprised and uncomfortable. He was tall and wiry, and stood ramrod straight with his arms stuck to his sides. He had shaggy black hair that fell around his face, almost covering his eyes, which were the color of molten gold. But what struck Katara the most was the scar. It was red and angry-looking, wrapping around his left eye and pulling it up into a squint. The scar continued across his forehead and ear, disappearing beneath his hair.
The man’s singular eyebrow came down over his good eye. He scowled. “If you take a picture, it’ll last longer.” His voice was deep and raspy. Katara blinked, suddenly realizing she’d been staring.
“No, I wasn’t - I’m sorry, I just -” She stopped, took a breath to compose herself, then put on her best smile. “I’m Katara. It’s nice to finally meet you…” She trailed off, hoping he’d offer his name.
He didn’t. Instead, he narrowed his eyes further. “You’re Sokka’s sister.” It sounded more like a statement than a question. “You live here now.”
Katara was certain she’d never had a more awkward encounter in her life. “Um, yes?”
The man was quiet for a moment. He was practically glaring at her. Part of her wanted to tell him to calm down, that he was overreacting and she had just been surprised. Another part of her wanted to just turn back around and never acknowledge him again.
“I take showers in the morning,” he stated. It took her a moment to realize that he was referring to their shared bathroom. “Don’t touch my things, and we won’t have a problem. And if you clog the drain with your hair, you’re going to have to fix it. I won’t clean up after you.”
Katara could feel her proverbial hackles rising. What was this guy’s problem ? “Excuse me?”
The man’s glare didn’t change. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stalked in her direction. For a moment, Katara thought he was going to get in her space, and she reached behind her to wrap her fingers around the handle of the pizza cutter in the sink. Just in case. But he stopped just short of her, opening a cabinet above the oven and reaching up to grab a coffee mug.
“I don’t like being disturbed,” he said, grabbing a piece of pizza from the almost empty box on the counter. “I usually work from home, so don’t bother me.” Katara was so shocked by how rude he was being that she almost didn’t notice he was holding an empty coffee pot out toward her. “Could you put some water in this, please?”
Moving slowly, as if in shock, Katara took the pot from him. She turned around and filled it in the sink. Normally she’d never be so quiet in a conversation, but she had no idea what to say. She didn’t want to snap at him, but everything he said rubbed her in the wrong direction. Katara handed the full coffee pot back to him.
“Thanks,” he said, pouring the water into the coffee maker’s reservoir. She watched him mess around with the coffee and filters for a moment.
An awkward silence settled over the kitchen, broken only by the burbling of the coffee maker. After a little bit, Katara finally found her tongue. “You know, my brother told me that the last roommate you guys had moved out because of you.”
The man stiffened. He turned slightly to face her, the unscarred half of his face in profile. “Really.” The word was terse. A small voice in her head told her to back off, but Katara had never been one to back down from a fight.
“Yeah. Apparently you were rude and insufferable.” Okay, so that was a little mean. But he needed to know that she was not going to be walked all over.
He swung around, his cheeks pinkened with anger. “Listen, Katara ,” he spat, pointing a thin finger at her. “Just because your brother invited you to live here - without my permission, I might add - that doesn’t mean I have to be nice.”
“I’m just saying, you could stand to be a little bit polite,” she snapped back, crossing her arms across her chest. “Here I was, trying to be friendly, and you come in here like someone peed in your cereal.”
The man shook his head in exasperation. He seemed to get easily riled up. “Trying to be friendly? I don’t know you. Who says I want to be friends with you?”
“It’s called being a mature adult,” she said. Distantly, she could tell her voice was rising. “Something you apparently never learned. You didn’t even tell me what your name was, just started attacking me!”
The man opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of the coffee maker finishing its current brew. He spun around, yanking the pot from the maker and causing hot coffee to splash onto the counter. Katara felt all the anger leave her as she realized how stupid this argument was and how childish they were both being. If they kept yelling, they would inevitably attract the attention of Sokka or Aang, and they didn’t need to be involved in this. She returned to finishing washing the dishes, her face still hot.
Her roommate let out a long breath through his nose and he poured the black coffee into the mug he’d gotten earlier. She tried to ignore him. She listened to him start to walk back towards his room, when suddenly his footsteps stopped. Katara took a breath, readying herself for another onslaught of rudeness. She looked up at him and found him staring at her, looking slightly more calm with a mug of coffee in his hand.
“Zuko,” he said.
She blinked. “What?”
“My name,” he clarified, a spark of annoyance in his tone. Then he turned back around and stomped into his room, shutting the door loudly behind him.
Katara dried her hands on a dish towel, turning the name over in her mind. There was definitely one thing Zuko had been right about: they were certainly not going to be friends.
...
“And I just can’t believe he had the gall to immediately start spouting orders,” Katara said, gripping her disposable cup with almost enough ferocity to make it pop open. She was sitting at a table in a tea and coffee shop down the street from her new apartment, directly across from Sokka and Aang. Aang had a very sympathetic look on his face, while Sokka just kept nodding.
She was venting about her experience with Zuko the night before. She had gone to bed feeling shocked at his behavior, and had woken up angry about it. It didn’t help that he had turned the shower on at five-thirty , and the walls had proven to be thin.
“He can be a little...prickly,” Aang said. He looked almost embarrassed for his roommate. “Maybe he was in a bad mood.”
“If that’s the case, then he’s been in a bad mood for years,” Sokka said, taking a gulp of his overly sweet mocha. “I don’t know why you keep making excuses for him, Aang.”
Aang leaned back against the back of the booth, letting out a sigh. “He really does make it difficult, doesn’t he?”
Katara ran her fingers up and down the side of her disposable cup. “Has he seriously been like this to you guys for two years?”
Sokka opened his mouth to say something (probably rude, judging by the look on his face), but Aang beat him to it. “I think he’s had a pretty rough go,” he said, voice dropping almost conspiratorially. “Something really messed him up a while ago.”
Katara thought about the large scar on Zuko’s face. A sudden pang of pity squeezed her chest.
“Okay, there’s that,” Sokka said, waving his hand as if to brush the somber mood away. “But is that really an excuse for being an ass twenty-four seven?”
“Have you ever tried talking to him?” Aang asked, crossing his arms.
Sokka scoffed. “Uh, duh? Just the other day when he was going to the store I asked him if he could get dinosaur chicken nuggets and he told me to grow up.”
Katara snorted. “Okay, I might be with Zuko on that one.”
“What? Dinosaur chicken nuggets are ageless!” Sokka pounded a fist on the table, making his mostly empty coffee cup wobble.
“I meant a serious conversation,” Aang said, refusing to change the subject. “I just think we should all try a little harder to make Zuko feel comfortable. He’s probably lonely.”
Sokka rolled his eyes. “He has that guy that comes over sometimes. That’s gotta count for something. Although I haven’t seen him in a long time…” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “He was much better than that girlfriend he had a year ago.”
Katara took a sip of her tea. “There’s people out there who tolerate him?”
“Barely. I think that guy was just a long-standing hookup. He’d only come over at night and we’d barely see him.” Sokka shrugged. “And Mai was...well…”
“She was just a lot like Zuko,” Aang said, still apparently trying to defend their absent roommate. “They were private people.”
“Their fights certainly weren’t private,” Sokka pointed out. “ Tui and La. I almost wish it was loud sex instead.”
Katara laughed and Aang winced. The bald man was blushing slightly. “Well, Appa seems to like Zuko, and that’s all that matters to me,” he said, desperate to regain control of the conversation.
“I think Appa likes everyone,” Sokka said. He threw back the last sip of his coffee, making a loud slurping sound as he did so. “The real test is Momo.”
They continued talking for several minutes, mostly about things that weren’t revolving around Zuko. Katara learned that Aang had double-majored in history and education, which Sokka immediately said was a small workload compared to engineering. The two had a group of friends they had met in college and still often hung out with. In fact, two of their good friends lived in the same building as them.
“We should invite them over to meet you!” Aang said excitedly. “It can be a welcoming party!”
“They’ll love you, Kat,” Sokka said. “They’re super cool.”
Katara felt excitement bubbling up inside her at the thought of meeting more people. She definitely liked Aang so far, and Sokka was generally a good judge of character. Plus, she really needed some friends in the area. “Okay! What are they like?”
“Their names are Toph and Suki,” Sokka said. His voice softened when he said ‘Suki’, and he seemed to melt a little bit. Katara raised an eyebrow at him.
“Suki you say?” She gave him a cheeky grin. Her brother was incredibly easy to read when he liked someone. While he was a huge flirt, Sokka rarely fell for people. But when he did, he fell hard .
“Yeah,” he said, sighing dreamily and resting his chin on his hand. “She’s so cool.”
“Toph’s really cool, too,” Aang said, giving Sokka a gentle elbow to the side. “But Sokka’s been in love with Suki since day one.”
“I can’t help it. She’s the coolest person I’ve ever met.” Sokka still had that dreamy look on his face. Katara laughed.
“Wow, Sokka,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “You must really like this girl.”
“And yet, he won’t ask her out.” Aang shrugged. “For some reason.”
“I’m waiting for the right moment,” Sokka said petulantly.
They eventually came to the agreement that they’d ask Suki and Toph to come over for dinner to meet Katara. They walked back to the apartment, and Katara set to work on unpacking more of her stuff and setting it up in her room. She’d already unpacked the important stuff, like her sheets and toiletries, but her clothes were woefully spread across the room. So, she put on music and began to organize.
By the time the girls were supposed to come over, Katara had unpacked pretty much everything. Her bed was made, complete with a thick fur blanket from home. She had hung up pictures on the walls of home and Omashu, with enough space for new memories. Her clothes were hung up neatly in the closet, in which she had found a small, forgotten desk. The desk was now sitting next to her wall-mirror, adorned with candles and a few notebooks. She strung up lights around the perimeter of the room, giving the whole place a very soft atmosphere. Katara looked at her handiwork and smiled.
An extremely loud knock on the front door brought her out of her organizational haze. She turned and stepped out of the room, smoothing the flyaways back into her braid. While she didn’t think they would judge her for it, Katara had always liked to make good first impressions.
“I got it!” Sokka yelled, hopping up from where he had been sitting on the couch. Appa came lumbering after him, barking at the knocking. Katara heard greetings exchanged at the door, and tried to crane her neck to see them down the small hallway. Then, all four burst out into the main room.
Leading the way was a small woman with a large, messy bun of black hair. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt that said “world’s worst husband” and sweatpants. She had no shoes on. The woman was also carrying a white cane, which she held more like a monarch with a staff and less like a person with blindness. Her eyes were a pale, milky green, focused straight in front of her. To Katara’s surprise, the woman walked directly up to her.
“I’m Toph,” the woman said, extending the hand that wasn’t holding the cane. “And you must be Snoozles’s sister.”
Katara took the outstretched hand. The woman had an extremely strong grip. “Uh, Snoozles?”
“You know,” Toph said, gesturing over her shoulder vaguely. “Your brother.”
“I fell asleep in class one time …” Sokka muttered, exasperated.
“And yet, you’ll carry that with you forever.” The other woman who had come in stepped forward from where she’d been standing next to Sokka. She was almost Toph’s polar opposite. She was tall, and her chin-length auburn hair had been carefully pinned out of her face. She wore a flattering blouse and slacks. Her handshake, however, was just as strong. “Hi. I’m Suki.”
Katara could see how her brother had been so taken with the woman. Suki commanded presence and radiated confidence. Not to mention that she also happened to be very pretty. “Hi,” Katara said. She caught her brother’s eye and sent him the barest hint of a grin. “Sokka’s told me so much about you.” From behind Suki’s shoulder, Sokka gave her a look that could only be described as murderous.
The light tan of Suki’s cheeks turned a delicate pink. “Oh! Good things, I hope.”
“Literally when in your entire life have you done something bad?” Toph said, planting herself on the loveseat and spreading out. “Tell me, Suki.”
Suki rolled her hazel eyes. “I’ve done things, Toph. Things that would make you blush.”
Toph scoffed. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“How’s job hunting going, Suki?” Aang asked. He was currently at the stove, pouring a sauce onto the stir fry he was making.
Suki made a pained expression. “Could be better. The firm I interned at said they might hire me when one of the partners retires, but I think he’s planning on staying there forever. What about you?”
Aang shrugged. “Subbing for now. They’ll call me when they need me.”
“Ugh, do we have to talk about jobs?” Toph said, letting her head fall over the side of the loveseat. “When will you guys just let me pay for everything?”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “What do you do, Toph?”
Toph shrugged. “Whatever I want. My parents have more money than anyone has any right to have.” She reached out a hand in the general direction of the kitchen. “Let me be your sugar momma!”
Suki laughed at her roommate. She looped her arm through Katara’s and pulled her to the couch. “So, Katara,” she said. “Tell me about yourself! Sokka said you’re going to be a doctor?”
“That’s the plan,” Katara said, settling into the cushions. “I moved here to go to the medical school at BSSU.”
“That’s awesome!” Suki squeezed her arm. Katara got the feeling that she was a touchy person, which wasn’t unwelcome. “I went to the law school. Where was your undergrad?”
They continued to talk while Aang finished dinner. Sokka came and joined them on the couch, laughing a little too loudly at Suki’s jokes. Toph interjected from her spot on the loveseat whenever she felt it was necessary, which was often. Katara already found herself comfortable around these people, and relaxed almost right away. Sometimes Suki was a bit strongly opinionated, and Toph was definitely crass and didn’t care much about being polite, but these weren’t traits that turned her off to their friendship. Not like…
Katara glanced at Zuko’s shut door. Now that time had passed and she’d cooled down from their fight, she was starting to feel bad about how their first meeting had gone. Sure, he’d been rude, but she’d stooped to his level almost right away. She should have deescalated the situation, instead of throwing gas on the flames. She hadn’t seen Zuko all day, and now she couldn’t stop thinking about what Aang had said earlier: He’s probably lonely .
She was distracted from her thoughts about her roommate by Aang announcing that dinner was ready. Everyone began to crowd the kitchen, happily taking the proffered bowls of tofu stir fry. The only one who wasn’t excited for the meal was Sokka, who pushed around a piece of tofu with a disgusted look on his face.
“We meet again, meat impersonator,” he grumbled.
“You don’t have to eat it, Sokka,” Katara chided. “Get some leftover pizza out of the fridge.” Turning to Aang, she smiled. “I think it’s great, Aang.”
“Thanks!” the man said. He was sitting cross-legged on the counter, his bowl in his lap. “I’m much better at baking, though. I’ll make you a pie sometime.”
By the time they’d finished the meal, Sokka had already convinced everyone to have a round of beers. Towards the end of the second round, Katara was starting to feel fuzzy. She’d always been a lightweight. At one point, while Aang and Sokka were arguing over the best hypothetical way to survive a zombie apocalypse (a well-tread conversation, judging by the increasingly intricate points being made), Katara turned to Suki and Toph. The words were out of her mouth before she had time to consider them: “What do you think of Zuko?”
“Other roommate Zuko?” Suki asked, which prompted Toph to sarcastically mutter “Is there another Zuko?”
“Yeah,” Katara said, swirling her mostly empty beer bottle. “Have you met him?”
Suki pursed her lips. “A few times,” she conceded. “He doesn’t talk much. I think I said hi to him once and he completely ignored me.”
“I met him last night,” Katara said. Her gaze had traveled to that shut door again. “It didn’t go well.”
“Did you piss him off?” Toph asked. She’d finished her third drink, and barely seemed affected. “Please tell me you did. It’s so much fun.”
Katara frowned. “We both got a little rude,” she said. “I feel bad about it.”
Suki leaned forward and put a hand on Katara’s knee. “Honey, don’t. That guy has some serious issues. Did Sokka tell you about the time Zuko made him climb the fire escape because he lost his house key?”
“That was hilarious,” Toph said. “He’s the most unapologetic asshole I’ve ever met. I want to be his friend so bad .”
“His friend?” Suki knocked back the rest of her drink. “Good luck with that, Toph.”
“Maybe he needs some friends,” Katara murmured, mostly to herself. Apparently, those words were all the encouragement Toph needed, because the woman stood up, unfolded her cane, and began to make her way towards the closed door of the man in question.
Katara stood up quickly, wobbling a little as she did so. “Toph!” she said, an edge of panic in her tone. “What are you doing?!”
Toph confidently strode up to the door, stopping only when the end of her cane hit it. “What does it look like?” she said. “I’m making friends!”
Suki sighed and leaned back, apparently already resigned to the situation. By now, Sokka and Aang had become aware of what was going on, and watched warily as Toph began pounding on the door. “Hey, Zuko!” she called. “Why don’t you come out and join us?”
Silence. Katara took an anxious sip of her beer.
“Toph, I don’t think -”
“Hellooo?” The woman continued her assault on the door. “Anybody in there?”
Aang grimaced. “You’re gonna make him mad…”
But there was nothing from the closed off room. Katara would have expected at least some sort of angry response - Zuko didn’t exactly seem like the type to calmly ignore such an aggressive plea for his attention. Toph stopped knocking. “I don’t think he’s home.” Katara let out a breath of relief, which was immediately negated by Toph’s next words. “I’m gonna go in his room.”
“Toph!” Suki hissed. “Don’t you dare.”
Toph put a hand on her hip. “Don’t be such a killjoy, Cherry. Don’t you guys want to know what’s in here?”
“You’re invading his privacy,” Katara pointed out. But her heart wasn’t in it. She couldn’t help but be curious as to what was in his room.
“I won’t touch a thing,” Toph said, crossing her heart. “But...it would be helpful if someone could describe it to me. Otherwise, who knows what havoc I’ll cause…” She trailed off, tapping her cane on the ground.
Katara, Suki, Sokka, and Aang all shared a look. “I’m definitely not going in there,” Sokka said. “I don’t need another reason for him to hate me.”
“Me neither,” Aang supplied. “He already got mad at me this week for Appa’s hair getting in his laundry.”
“Don’t look at me,” Suki said, taking another swig of her beer. “I don’t want to know what’s in there.”
All eyes fell on Katara. She swallowed nervously. It wasn’t like it would hurt anyone, and maybe she’d be able to get some insight on her new roommate. “Okay. I’ll go with you.”
Sokka raised his eyebrows. “You’re kidding me. Do you want him to hate you more?”
Katara crossed her arms defiantly. “He’s not home, Sokka. He doesn’t have to know. And Toph’s going in no matter what.”
“That’s Toph’s problem!”
Toph cackled. “I’ve brought her over to the dark side, Snoozles! You can’t save her now!”
Before she could lose her nerve, Katara strode forward and grabbed the handle of the door. One last, desperate wish for the door to be locked crossed her mind. But it opened inward with barely a complaint. Toph smiled and led the way inside.
The room was surprisingly tidy. It was roughly the same size as her room, but without the window. A neatly-made bed was diagonal from the door, looking like the soft sheets had never been used. The door to his closet was slightly ajar, but it was too dark inside for her to be able to see anything. Directly next to the door was a rather large desk that showed the only signs of human habitation - a dirty coffee cup and several scattered pieces of paper with notes scribbled in sharp, clear characters. There were a few paintings on the walls, of places that looked warm and tropical. Above his bed were two framed swords, crossed over each other. The only light in the room was a lamp on the desk, which had apparently been left on when Zuko had left.
“So?” Toph asked, bringing Katara back to the current situation. “What’s the vibe? I’m imagining an evil lair.”
“It’s not an evil lair,” Katara said, walking further into the room. She crossed to a nightstand and ran her finger along the top of it. “It’s...clean.”
“Huh,” Toph said. “It smells like coffee in here.”
It did. There was something else too, like a faint hint of smoke and cinnamon. Katara wondered if he used tobacco. “There’s a coffee cup on his desk,” she said, only half paying attention. There were exactly two small, framed photos on the nightstand. One was of a younger Zuko getting a side-hug from an older, bearded gentleman. The man had a wide, sweet smile. Young Zuko was scowling. The other picture was of a woman with long, dark hair and delicate features. She was looking down and away from the camera, her hair falling over part of her face. Katara picked up the frame, a strange feeling coming over her as she scrutinized the image. The picture had the look of one that had been taken years ago, before cameras were digital. Without really thinking about it, Katara began to fiddle with the ring on her necklace.
“See anything interesting?” Toph asked, impatient. She was apparently already bored with the room. “Any incriminating objects?”
Katara put the frame back down on the nightstand. “Nope,” she said. “The sheets look really nice.”
Toph walked over and ran her hand over the made bed. “Oh, these are super nice. I bet they’d feel really good to sleep in.”
Katara narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare.”
“Don’t worry, Sweetness,” Toph said, grinning devilishly. “The only bed I’d ever want to sleep in is my own. You think he’s got money?”
Katara blinked. “Uh.” Now that Toph mentioned it, the furniture in the room did look on the higher end. And the computer on his desk was nothing to sniff at. “Maybe? But why would he live in an apartment with roommates?”
Toph laughed. “Probably the same reason as me: company.”
Katara hummed in vague agreement. There was a book on the nightstand as well, flipped upside down. It was well-worn, with the edges of the pages curling. Katara carefully turned it over, and raised her eyebrows when she saw the cover. “‘The Cave of Two Lovers’?” she said, half to herself.
Toph snorted. “Classic romance literature? Can’t say I was expecting that.” Katara thought it was sweet, but decided not to voice that. “I think I’ve had enough of this boring-ass room. Let’s convince the others to do some shots.”
Katara placed the book down exactly how it had been. “You want to do shots ?”
Toph gave her that feral grin again. “I bet I can outdrink you, Sugar Queen.”
...
Toph could definitely outdrink her.
In fact, Toph could outdrink all of them .
Katara tapped out around the fourth shot, on account of the fact that the room wasn’t staying still. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten so drunk. She could vaguely remember watching Sokka challenge everyone around him to an arm wrestling contest, which both Suki and Toph beat him at. Aang went to his room and pulled out a deck of playing cards, which he then proceeded to mess up several magic tricks with. At the time, it had been absolutely hilarious. Towards the end of the night, Katara was falling asleep on the couch up against Appa’s fur. At some point, Suki and Toph had gone home, and she could only remember this because Suki had leaned down and kissed Katara on the forehead. Sokka was already snoring on the loveseat. The only reason why Katara woke up again at all was because Appa suddenly got off the couch, almost sending her onto the floor.
“Sorry!” Aang said, his blurry frame in the doorway of his room. “Bedtime!”
Ah, yes. Bedtime. That sounded wonderful.
Katara pushed herself off of the couch. The room was beating in time to her heartbeat, and moving her feet was difficult. She reached out and grabbed the wall of the hallway entrance, guiding herself toward the open door and the oh-so-cozy bed that awaited her. When she finally collapsed onto the soft mattress, she didn’t even bother pulling the blankets around her. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought about how strange it was that her sheets smelled like cinnamon.
An unknowable amount of time later, Katara was woken up by a hard shove. She sat up, still somewhat drunk, and for a second wondering if she was back in middle school and Sokka was waking her up because she was late. But when she opened her eyes, the sight that greeted her made her sober up significantly. As it turned out, she was not in her bed.
She was in Zuko’s.
The man in question was standing above her, his face a dangerous shade of red. He had obviously been out - he was still wearing a leather jacket, despite the warmth in the apartment.
“Great, you’re awake,” he said, his teeth gritted. “Now, would you like to tell me what the fuck you’re doing in my bed ?”
How could she possibly explain? She scrambled into a sitting position, so embarrassed that she felt like she could combust at any moment. “Zuko, I didn’t - I mean, I wasn’t trying -” Her tongue was thick in her mouth, and forming any words, let alone something coherent, seemed close to impossible.
“Just get out!” he snapped, pointing stiffly to the door. “ Get the fuck out! ”
Katara nearly fell in her haste to get out of the bed. She was definitely still a little drunk, but managed to avoid any of the furniture as she stumbled across the room. When she reached the doorframe, she grabbed onto it like it was a life preserver in rough ocean waters. Zuko was standing with his back to her, still staring at the bed. His fists were clenched so tightly that the grasp he had on his keys looked painful.
“I’m sorry,” she finally got out. He didn’t answer, but his shoulders tensed to the point where they were almost up next to his ears. Katara turned away and went to her own room, trying to ignore the slam of Zuko’s door behind her.
She fell onto her bed, face down into the pillows. She’d never been so embarrassed in her entire life , and that included the time her freshman college roommate walked in on her half-naked with someone. There was no question that Zuko was furious, and why wouldn’t he be? He already wasn’t fond of her, and she’d crossed so many boundaries that she may have permanently landed on his shit list.
Katara groaned into the pillow. If she had ever wanted to try and have a civil relationship with her roommate, that chance was gone now. The bridge was thoroughly burned, there was no coming back. Zuko did not seem like the forgiving type.
At least his sheets had been soft.