Chapter Text
Before Zuko opened his eyes, he knew it.
It wasn’t that hard to figure out, of course. The cold gave it away.
Here we go again.
Blinking his eyes open, Zuko took the phone on the nightstand and saw that it was Saturday.
Thank the Spirits, no school.
He decided to take a look around the bedroom since he was in a calmer state of mind than the first time he had been here. He left the bed to inspect the trinkets on the high shelves on the wall opposite to the bed, the pictures on the bulletin board below the shelves. Zuko felt a phantom sadness take over him when he noticed that there were empty spaces between the photographs ticked on the board where other pictures must have been taken down.
Looking away, he locked gazes with a pair of striking blue eyes. Zuko took a deep breath and tried not to look away from the reflection. It wasn’t as terrifying this time around, knowing that tomorrow he would be back in Ba Sing Se.
He could remember waking up on Tuesday with the strangest feeling nagging at the back of his consciousness. The whole day would have slipped from his memory like one of those dreams that disappear from your mind the second you open your eyes, but then Zuko saw the opened notebook sitting on his nightstand.
“ Hello Zuko,” the note read , “I assume that if I spent a whole day being you, you must have spent your day all the way down at the South Pole. I can only hope that you’re a fan of colder weather.” He wasn’t, when Zuko arrived at the top of the Cliff of the Freezing Winds where the school was, he spent the whole day in the foulest of moods, face buried inside Katara’s parka and with the hood covering his whole face.
“ I’m writing this note to let you know that you’ll have a chemistry test on Thursday and Suki and Toph want to train at the dojo tomorrow… Spirits, I hope that tomorrow we will get back to our bodies, otherwise Suki will beat me to a pulp. She knows that something weird was up today, so I’m sorry if she’s extra tough on you, I heard that that’s the only way to get you to open up.
...Sorry if that was noisy, but going back to Suki and Toph feeling like something was off, I think that’s so nice! I mean, sure it was stressful for me, but it’s nice that they noticed and were worried about you. Even though Toph is a scammer and Suki encourages her… But anyway, I find it cute that those two are your closest friends, meanwhile Sokka sometimes says that he can’t hang out with Aang and I because he has to go out with *da boys*, which is just sooooo lame, right? I mean, it's productive when he goes out fishing with Tarek’s family but ugh I swear the fish doesn’t taste as good when he retells the same two stories over and over again over dinner.
But if we’re talking about nice people, your uncle gets the cake. And that reminds me, you owe me SO big Zuko! I am in my dream city and I couldn’t go out and about because you skip classes too much?! C’mon man! You’re lucky that your uncle made such a good impression over breakfast that I didn’t want to upset him *sigh*... Maybe we will body swap on a weekend and I’ll be able to go sightseeing to my heart’s delight.
You know, Zuko, in truth, I’m writing this -- now very long -- note because it feels so strange to have spent all day in your shoes without ever having met you, not even once. I can’t keep trying to convince myself that this is a dream, because it is very clear that you are real, and so is your cute uncle, your weirdly nice friends, your classmates,... hell, you even have a coworker who has a crush on you.
My point is, Zuko, that I don’t know why the Spirits have pulled us together into this strange situation, but I hope we can figure everything out.
Have a nice day now that you’re back in your body, and stop skipping classes!
- K
The note had left a warm feeling in Zuko’s chest. Sure, a part of that warmth came from embarrassment due to the comment about Jin, but in truth, Zuko was relieved. Of course, he was as clueless about Katara’s character as she was about his, but the fact that she had taken an intimate look at the little life that Zuko had managed to put together, after breaking his previous one into smitterings, and she had approved? Zuko felt the ever-present weight on his shoulders ease up a little bit at the thought.
The feeling of ease was replaced quickly, however, when he thought back to the more serious part of the note. He was as sure as Katara was, after spending a full day as her, that it couldn’t have been a dream. But ever since he felt so many years ago that the Spirits had turned his back on him, Zuko had done the same. So the only answer that he could give, as to why this was happening to them, wouldn’t be very optimistic.
Putting these anxious thoughts aside, Katara’s note had left him feeling lighter than he usually was. So now that he would be spending a full day as her, again, he would take it as a way to repay her kindness.
(He would also leave her a note too, because he felt extremely guilty and self-centered for not doing as much.)
So, with that in mind, Zuko looked at the Task app on Katara’s phone, deciding that he would start with lightening her workload for the coming week. However, just as he was sitting down on the desk, someone knocked on the door and opened it after a beat.
“Oh, Katara, you woke up by yourself this early? I was coming to wake you like you asked.” It was the elderly woman, Gran-Gran. She ran a hand down Zuko’s hair before speaking again, “Well, don’t start on your homework without a good breakfast. Now come, the food is all ready.”
Biting the inside of his cheek, Zuko followed the woman out of the room. Silence hadn’t helped him much last time, Katara seems to be more talkative than him, something he gathered when the bold, energetic kid asked him why he was so quiet on Monday and if something was wrong. However, silence would just have to do. It was better than saying the wrong thing.
He ate with Katara’s grandmother in mild silence that was only interrupted by the television. The newscaster was mentioning something about a comet, but Zuko wasn’t paying much attention.
“Dear, your father called today.” The woman said solemnly. “He said he’s making his way back already so he’ll be home in time for dinner.”
The lingering gaze of the woman made Zuko tense up. He didn’t know anything about Katara’s dad, but by the warning tone of the news, Zuko could only assume the worst, knowing very well what that could look like.
“... Okay.”
Katara’s grandmother deflated, her eyes closing as she sighed, “I know you’re still upset about the rehearsal, but let’s try to keep the peace, okay? Your father only has early breakfast or really late dinner here, and that’s only when he isn’t coming and going from one village to another. You know that if he could have, he would’ve been there at the rehearsal, but it's only the first one, there will be plenty of time. Let’s have a quiet dinner, yes? I’m sure Sokka will be happy to know that Hakoda is coming.”
Well, that was another thing Zuko was familiar with. The sibling that doubled as the shitty dad’s number one fan.
Not trusting himself to speak, Zuko merely nodded and finished his breakfast. Walking briskly back to Katara’s room when he finished doing the dishes.
He sat at the desk again but he could only glare at the black screen of the laptop, his brain reeling with a hurricane of memories and emotions. He closed his eyes and exhaled, willing his mind to settle down.
After a few deliberate inhales and exhales, he blinked his eyes back open and his sight settled on the tan, slender hands that reminded him that today he was not Zuko. Although he only had her grandmother’s comment to go by, he felt sad for Katara. Even if her dad didn’t follow Ozai’s brand of shit parenthood, it must be bad enough if the older woman asked him not to make a scene.
Zuko shook his head, resolved to continue with the plan of taking care of Katara’s workload. And if at dinner her dad put one foot slightly out of line, then he would take care of that too.
By mid-morning, Zuko heard a knock on the bedroom door.
“Kataaaaraaaaaaaaa.”
Zuko glared at the door, it must be Katara’s brother. He suppressed the desire to tell him to go away.
“... Come in.”
The boy stepped inside, carrying a bundle of clothes under his arm and throwing it haphazardly on the bed. “Hey sis’, just wanted to leave this to you.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?!”
Sokka stared at Zuko in bewilderment, “What do you mean, aren’t you going to do the week’s laundry? These are the clothes I need to wash.”
Zuko scrunched his nose, oh yes, he could tell now that the clothes were dirty.
“I’m busy, Sokka. I have all this homework to do and three papers I have due next week. Do your own laundry!”
Katara’s brother stared at him for a second and then laughed, “C’mon, sis’, it’s nothing, just put it in the washing machine. It’s not like you have to do it by hand. Plus, I have my physics project and my report for organic chem. You know, when you get to senior year you’ll see that that’s when the real hard work starts!” And with that he walked out of the room.
It had been some time since Zuko had felt so angry that he had started to grind his teeth together. After almost a year living with Iroh, he had begun to forget how disgusting it felt to be so easily dismissed.
He directed his glare back to the pile of clothes. For Agni’s sake, they weren’t even inside a basket or a linen bag.
Zuko’s eyes shifted to the window behind Katara’s bed and his scowl turned into a smirk.
By eleven, it was Katara’s grandmother the one knocking on the door.
“Dear, I need you to help me out with lunch.” She said, peeking her head through the door.
Zuko considered asking her to tell Sokka, but it didn’t sit right with him to be so rude to the old woman. He saved his work and followed Katara’s grandmother to the kitchen. Once there, he considered that maybe he should have tried to throw this responsibility to Sokka.
Zuko’s abilities in the kitchen had developed during his stay with his uncle, but he had never prepared Southern Water Tribe’s dishes. Even though it would be a simple lunch, he had to quickly memorize a recipe online behind the older woman’s back.
His attempt at not calling attention to his cluelessness was interrupted as Katara’s brother came screaming down the hallway.
“You must think you are very funny, huh?!”
Sokka was standing at the kitchen’s threshold holding the clothes he had given Zuko hours ago. Except now some of them had little paws imprinted on them. Zuko had to bite the inside of his cheek so as not to laugh.
Katara’s grandmother looked from Sokka to Zuko, settling her gaze on the latter and sighed, “What happened?”
Zuko would’ve been delighted to answer, but Sokka beat him to it.
“She took my laundry and THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW! IT WAS ALL OVER THE BACKYARD AND SOME RACOON-RABBIT WAS TRYING TO TAKE MY SWEATERS!”
At this point, Zuko was surprised that he wasn’t tasting blood from biting on his cheek so hard.
The grandmother directed a deadpan look at Zuko, “Why did you throw Sokka’s clothes out the window, Katara?”
“Well, I have assignments for five different subjects and three papers due next week and he just barged in, threw his dirty clothes on the bed and left. You know, Sokka, you only have to throw them in the washing machine, it’s not like you have to wash them by hand.”
“Oh, c’mon! You always do the laundry on Saturdays. Don’t make me the bad guy, that’s just your thing!”
“Enough, you two! Sokka, go and put the clothes in the washing machine, but leave out the ones that have too much dirt. I’ll fetch my laundry too and take care of it.”
Once Sokka left, the older woman turned to look at Zuko, “If you were so busy you could’ve asked me, there was no need for that.”
“Why do you have to take care of his laundry? It’s the stupidest chore, anyone can do it, and what is he gonna do, live with you and Katara forever?!”
“... I didn’t know you talked about yourself in third person, is that some meme or some other internet thing?”
Zuko’s cheeks burnt with embarrassment. He fisted his hand to ease off his frustration, he needed a clearer head or he would just end up making trouble for Katara. “It-it’s nothing, Gran-Gran. Anyway, you know what I mean. Why do I have to interrupt my studies to clean his dirty socks?”
“Well, Katara, it is like Sokka said, you have taken care of the laundry in the house for years now. Ever since your mother left us, you have taken on more and more responsibilities. If that phase has gone away, it’s fine, but throwing a tantrum without first calmly asking your brother isn’t going to get him to suddenly want to help out with chores.”
“What?! I literally told him that I was too busy and he shrugged me off! And what does it matter whether he wants to help out or not? He lives here!”
“Well, he has learnt a lot with Bato about taking care of the car, so he does that, and any other repair that we need around the house. We saved some money when he repaired the kitchen sink by himself.”
“But that isn’t an everyday job! It’s not like while he asked me to do the laundry he was doing anything useful, I heard him walk back to his room!”
“If you want your brother to help, ask nicely… Spirits, who understands you, dear? First you wanted to take everything on by yourself, now you are screeching over no one helping you. Please, finish with lunch, I'll go take care of the laundry.”
Zuko watched as Katara’s grandmother walked out of the kitchen. It was all so unfair, so much so that in the heat of his anger he hadn’t paid attention to one important detail that the old woman had said.
“Ever since your mother left us…”
So Katara has lost her mother, too.
Zuko suddenly felt as if his chest was being crushed, making him take slow breaths in and out, he laid a hand over his chest and felt the rapid beating of his heart.
Calm down, breathe in… and out.
But the memories wouldn’t stop pouring in, and at the same time, it seemed like he couldn’t remember clearly. The sterile air of the hospital, the constricting feeling of the tie around his neck at the funeral…
… The sound of rumbling thunder when the full truth was spit out at his face; it all came in messy pieces, with big chunks missing.
Breathe in… and out… in… and out.
Zuko focused on how the voice inside his head that tried to center him wasn’t his own but Iroh’s. The realization seemed to do the trick, as he slowly found his way out of the emotional whirlwind that was threatening to break him apart. It had been months since the last time that it had felt this strong. He really wasn’t expecting this many similarities between Katara and him.
Looking back at the boiling pot with the numbness that normally followed the torrent of feelings he had just endured, he felt his earlier resolve solidifying even more.
I’ll take care of this, Katara.
During a very uncomfortable lunch, Zuko was trying to come up with a way to settle things with Sokka that would ease up the pressure on Katara. Sadly, Zuko was confronted with how short he was coming up on his diplomacy. From the events of this morning, Zuko’s impression of Katara’s brother had suffered a bit, but the first time the body swap had occurred, his interactions with Sokka lacked the nasty element that predominated Zuko’s interactions with his own sibling. In fact, the other teen had even been concerned when he saw how clueless Zuko was about trivial things of Katara’s everyday life.
He concluded that Katara’s problems with her brother weren't as bad as his. With this in mind, and not wanting to create any more drama, he was going to proceed calmly. But he also didn’t want Sokka to go back to dumping all household chores on Katara.
However, it seemed that he wouldn’t have to make any speech. Just as he was going to the kitchen to do the dishes, his mental ramblings were halted by the blue eyed boy.
“Hey, sis’,” Sokka was looking at the window behind Zuko, his jaw clearly clenched, “I know how much is on your plate, even though you never say anything, but look at how weird you acted on Monday… I told you that you had to take a step back, and when you tried I was dick about it. Guess I grew too comfortable with you doing everything that Mom used to, huh?” He looked down now, scratching his head, “I guess, what I’m trying to get at is that I’m sorry to have put more pressure on you, if you want me to help you out, just tell me, yeah?”
Zuko looked at the other teen, not knowing what to say. He didn’t expect it to be so easy.
“Oh, c’mon. I know I’m not the biggest fan of chores but don’t look at me like I grew a second head… Am I that much of an asshole to you?”
Well, I can’t really say, buddy.
“Uh, no, I guess I--”
“You guess?!” The horrified look on Sokka was so comical that Zuko couldn’t hold back his laugh this time.
“Oh, now I see what’s going on, let’s mess with Sokka in retaliation, huh? Real nice, Katara.”
Zuko tried to reply through his laughing fit, “You know, that face is the same deadpan look that Gran-Gran had on this morning. Has she looked at you like that so many times that you’ve copied it?”
At the comment, Sokka’s jaw practically fell to the floor, and Zuko almost fell down with it with how hard he was laughing at the other boy.
“That’s MEAN, Katara. One comes here, humbly apologizing and offering a helping hand, and what do you do? You practically spit in my face…” Sokka exhaled and looked out the window with his fist on his hips, “One gets no kindness around here…”
Zuko rolled his eyes at the other boy’s antics. He figured it would be better for Katara to decide where she wanted Sokka to help her, “Alright, alright, why don’t you deal with the dishes now that you’re here. I’ll think about how to divide the chores, yeah?”
“Fear not, little sister. I will leave these dishes spotless!” And with that, he walked to the sink and turned the water on.
Zuko stood behind him just looking. He really was relieved it had been much easier than he thought it would be, and he felt delighted to know that he had truly help Katara out.
Though, maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was. Going by what her grandmother and brother had said, maybe Katara was taken on more than she could handle. Maybe it was her way of dealing with…
Shaking his head, Zuko focused again on Katara’s brother. Though he couldn’t keep the drop of jealousy away after seeing what a healthier sibling relationship could be like, he felt relieved for Katara that his experience wasn’t the norm.
“Thank you, Sokka.” Zuko muttered. The other boy looked back with an easy smile on his face.
“Anytime, sis’”