Chapter Text
Zuko’s jolted out of his somewhat zoned-out state (because honestly, when you’ve been sitting in a mandatory class for an hour and 25 minutes, nobody wants to concentrate) when Professor Kuei claps his hands.
Oh no.
Professor Kuei only claps his hands when a.) he announces something bad, like group projects, b.) when he’s handing back tests, or c.) when there’s going to be a “special treat” (read: a guest lecturer) next class, so Zuko isn’t expecting much. Nevertheless, he straightens up and fixes his gaze on Kuei, hoping that his eyes aren’t too glazed over.
Professor Kuei announces, “I wanted to let you guys know about your midterms. I was going to assign you all a group, where you’d work together on a few essays, but-” he smiles as a handful of people groan. Zuko finds himself cringing as he remembers the beginning of the semester, where Kuei had been giving them a group assignment every two weeks. “Since you all seem to hate those so much, I’ve changed it.”
Zuko’s shoulders lower a bit. All he has to do is write a few essays by himself? That’s fine; Zuko’s pretty good at essays, especially analysis ones. But then Professor Kuei starts talking again, and Zuko’s shoulders are up even higher than they were before.
“You guys are going to work on your essays in pairs! A welcome change, don’t you think?” He chuckles. “I’ve assigned the pairs already and will read them out loud. Please keep your partner’s name in mind.”
Kuei starts reading off the pairs, and eventually Zuko hears his name called. It’s followed by… Sokka’s.
Zuko actually doesn’t know much about Sokka, despite having shared at least one class with him for nearly the past two years.
What he does know, however, is that Sokka is kind of ridiculously handsome. Dark skin paired with the bluest pair of eyes Zuko has ever seen, with cheekbones to die for and a constant smile on his face. Not to mention an incredibly passionate, warm-hearted, kind person.
Zuko doesn’t necessarily have a crush on him, but he can acknowledge that the guy is good-looking, and he wouldn’t be opposed to going on a date with him. As if someone like Sokka would even look your way, he thinks to himself with a self-deprecating snort, slumping over his desk again.
Now done with reading out all the pairs, Professor Kuei says, “Starting next class, all of you will have to sit next to your partners in order to bond and get to know each other better.” The bell rings, and he ushers everyone out. “Class dismissed!”
Zuko can’t help but think dryly that he’d much rather bond with a guillotine as he shoves his earbuds in his ears. The opening riff of I’m Not Okay (I Promise) starts playing as he flips his hood over his head. MCR, huh? He thinks with a sigh. Oddly fitting, though he doesn’t particularly need a reminder about his unfortunate emo phase.
As he walks back to his dorm, Zuko cranks up the volume, intent on ignoring the fact that he somehow not only got partnered with the single person in that class who he thinks about in a positive light, but also has to spend a lot of time with that person over the course of a few months.
Fuck.
~!~
Zuko’s the first student to arrive at the classroom next class. Professor Kuei notices him in the doorway and smiles.
“Zuko! Come in! Lovely to see your face today.”
Zuko smiles back, taking out an earbud. “Nice to see you too, Professor.” He looks around the room, fiddling with the strap of his bag. The desks have all been rearranged into pairs. “Are there assigned seats? You said we have to sit next to our partners last class.”
“Nope,” Kuei says, pushing up his glasses. “You just have to sit next to each other.”
Zuko nods and moves towards his usual seat at the very left of the classroom, striking up a conversation. “How are you doing today, Professor?”
“Pretty good, actually! There aren’t too many things to grade for once, and a break is actually in sight.” Kuei chuckles, leaning back in his chair and stretching. “Thank you for asking. How are you doing, Zuko?”
“Good,” Zuko hums as he shrugs off his coat and drapes it over his chair and sits down, though he keeps his hood up. “I had time to finish all my homework last night and got a good amount of sleep, which is always nice.” He doesn’t bring up the fact that he’s been stressing out about this class because his midterm grade basically depends on being able to talk to Sokka without looking like a complete and utter buffoon. (His mind had conjured multiple nightmares where Zuko had failed his midterm because Sokka had hated him and refused to work together.)
“That’s wonderful!” Kuei enthuses, and Zuko smiles, nodding.
The professor turns to greet more students, and Zuko takes out his earbuds with a miniscule sigh, dreading the beginning of class and the moment Sokka sees his scar.
Speaking of Sokka, he usually would have arrived by now. Zuko looks around the mostly-filled classroom with a slight frown, but he sees no telltale flash of the blue color that Sokka always manages to incorporate into his outfits.
Sokka doesn’t rush into class until two minutes after class has officially started, when Professor Kuei has just started to wrap up his intro to today’s class. He pauses to raise an eyebrow at Sokka.
“Good to see you, Sokka,” he says in an extremely mellow voice.
Sokka looks a bit sheepish. “Sorry I’m late, Prof.”
“Happens to the best of us,” Kuei says with a quirk of his lips. He nods towards Zuko. “Your partner’s Zuko, if I remember correctly?”
“He is,” Sokka says, his body beginning to turn towards Zuko. Zuko looks away at that point, spine ramrod straight and staring down at the grain on his desk as he hears footsteps get closer and closer.
“Hey,” comes Sokka’s voice from his right side. Zuko steels himself and raises his head with a half smile, nodding at Sokka.
Sokka hasn’t sat down yet, and he has an unreadable expression on his face, eyes flickering over Zuko’s face.
Zuko looks back down, wincing inwardly and pretending that Sokka’s reaction hadn’t hurt. At least he hadn’t stared outright at it. “Sorry,” he mutters, just loud enough for Sokka to hear, brushing his hair over his scar to hide it. “It’s a lot to take in.”
Sokka looks surprised for some reason, but he shakes himself out of it relatively quickly and gives Zuko his trademark smile. “I just thought you were really cute,” he blurts.
Zuko immediately turns bright red and stares at the desk again. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a similar blush on Sokka’s cheeks, though it’s nowhere as obvious as his own. (It’s almost as if he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.) Thankfully, they’re interrupted by Professor Kuei, who’s looking over at the two of them.
“No talking during lecture, boys.”
Zuko can only focus on what Sokka said, mind whirling. I’m not cute, he grumbles to himself, glaring down at the wood of his desk while he tries furiously to ignore the heat in his face.
He hears Sokka drop his bag onto the floor with a heavy thunk (what the hell does that guy carry around? Bricks? And how does he carry that around all day?), and out of the corner of his eye, sees the chair next to his own get pulled out. With a slight wince as the legs screech against the floor, Sokka spins the chair around and sits on it backwards.
Zuko quirks an eyebrow at Sokka, who just grins before resting his chin on his hands, eyes focused on Professor Kuei. Zuko allows himself two seconds of gazing at the side profile of the other before tuning back into the lecture himself.
Professor Kuei is just finishing up his explanation on what he expects from each pair for the midterms. Nothing too important, Zuko realizes. All the information is on the paper that had been on everyone’s desks at the beginning of class.
“I’ve decided to go easy on you guys today, so this class will be a work period. Get to know your partners, hash out a plan of attack for those essays. You guys have got this in the bag. Good luck!”
As chatter fills the room around them, Sokka turns to face Zuko, a pretty smile on his face. “So what’s our plan, partner? Are we working on these individually, or together?”
“Um.” Zuko tries not to short-circuit at the fact that he’s kinda ridiculously close to the guy that he’s been admiring for the past semester (for purely aesthetic purposes, thank you very much). He pushes down his gay freakout feelings for the time being and focuses on the paper in front of him instead, looking at it critically. One of the points on the scoring rubric is “establishes a strong relationship with the assigned partner,” and Zuko points to it. “Probably together.”
Sokka nods after reading the passage Zuko had pointed out. Eyes skimming over that entire row, Sokka makes a face. “We’re being graded on our ability to socialize? What’s the point of that?”
Zuko flashes Sokka a glance. “Are you bad at that or something? Because you don’t seem like you are.”
Sokka shakes his head, still frowning at the rubric. “I’m not bad at talking to people, no. Pretty much the opposite, in fact.” He looks up briefly to smile at Zuko as he scratches the back of his head. “But this is kinda…” he trails off, then takes a deep breath. “I just think that people shouldn’t be graded on their ability to speak. They could have brilliant ideas but just have trouble getting them across, whether it be because of a speech impairment or something like social anxiety, you know?”
“...Oh,” Zuko says. Fuck, Sokka’s more compassionate and kind than he’d expected.
Sokka’s eyeing Zuko warily, a bit judgmentally. “I didn’t scare you off, did I?”
“No!” Zuko says quickly, eye widening a bit. God forbid. “I just… I haven’t met anybody who’s said anything like that. Who’s so considerate of others and their issues.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Man, that’s kinda fucked. There should be more people in the world who actually care about others instead of being egotistical dickheads.”
Zuko huffs out a laugh. “Tell me about it,” he mutters, various people’s faces flashing through his mind. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and refocuses, taking a few breaths and resettling his heartbeat. “Okay, how are we doing these essays?”
Sokka’s face lightens up, and the two of them segue into a conversation discussing the most efficient way to write the essays, eventually getting started on the first one, falling into sync easily.
It barely feels like 30 minutes has gone by when Professor Kuei lets them all go, ten minutes before the scheduled end of class. “No more work periods after today, though!” He warns them, waving as his students leave the classroom.
As soon as they’ve closed the door behind them, Sokka has his phone out and is tapping away on it. Zuko doesn’t know why he’s hurt by this - it’s a fucking assigned project. It’s not like Sokka’s obligated to become best friends with Zuko just because they got a decent amount of work done.
Zuko turns away and starts striding towards his dorm, shoving his earbuds in as he hits ‘play’ on his phone. Before The Amity Affliction’s even been blasting for more than 20 seconds, though, he feels a hand grab his left shoulder none too gently.
His heart rate spiking immediately as adrenaline starts pumping, Zuko whips around and has the person’s arm pinned behind their back before he can register the already-familiar wolftail and blue jacket.
“Whoa!” The person all but shrieks, holding extremely still in the way that only prey can. “...Zuko?” He asks.
Zuko forces his hands to unclench, taking a silent deep breath before letting go of Sokka, both of them taking a step back.
“Sorry,” Zuko offers, eyes on the ground, heart slowing down. Shit, has he fucked this up already?
“No, dude, you’re good,” comes Sokka’s reply. “No worries.” Zuko chances a look up, and Sokka’s smiling, something in his eyes that’s calculating. They’re not cold though, like how his father’s (and later Azula’s) always had been. More curious, like Zuko’s something- someone that Sokka might want to get to know better.
There’s a brief silence afterwards, and Zuko finds himself talking in order to try and fill it. “It’s just kinda instinct. Better safe than sorry, my uncle always says.”
Sokka hums in understanding, then seems to debate something. “Is it… because of your scar?”
Zuko’s taken aback slightly. Most people never bring up his scar, probably thinking that it’s nicer if they don’t. Truth be told, it doesn’t bother him much as long as they’re not super intrusive questions; the glances of pity that are constantly sent his way are bounds worse.
“Shit, sorry.” Sokka is quick to apologize, eyes wide. “That was way out of line. I’m really sorry.”
This time Zuko’s the one to reassure the other. “It’s fine. I was just surprised.” He isn’t really sure of whether he knows Sokka well enough, but he seems trustworthy, so fuck it. “And to answer your question, yeah. I can’t see much out of my left eye, and my hearing in my left ear is impaired. Looking at me, I’m obviously an easy target, so I learned self defense.” He grimaces. “I didn’t hold back because I thought you were a mugger. Sorry if your arm hurts.”
Sokka waves a hand around flippantly with a grin, seeming to know that Zuko doesn’t want to touch upon the topic of his scar much. “Toph has done worse to me. Come to think of it, so has Katara.”
“Katara?” Zuko asks. He’s heard of the fierce environmental sciences major, whose reputation precedes her. Apparently she’s incredibly protective and motherly, not to mention stubborn and quite the feminist. Zuko’s quite frankly a bit scared of her. (So how does Sokka know her? Girlfriend? Together, the two of them are likely to be unstoppable, and she seems to match Sokka’s passion.) (Zuko pretends to not notice the pang of envy that rushes through his chest when he thinks about Sokka having a girlfriend.)
“Yeah,” Sokka confirms. “She’s my sister, which is apparently synonymous to ‘person who yells at me a lot because I make bad jokes.’ Toph is a friend of mine, and she claims to show affection through punches.”
Zuko’s startled into laughter, still reeling over the fact that Sokka and Katara are related - which explains their similar drives a lot, come to think of it - and Sokka grins. A beat later, he holds his phone out, which is open to a ‘new contact’ page. “I almost forgot to mention that the reason I risked being late and chased after you in the first place was to get your number. We should probably plan a time and place to meet again.”
Zuko takes the phone and types in his information quickly, passing it back to Sokka when he’s done. Sokka looks down at the screen and raises his eyebrows, flicking a glance at Zuko.
“Hinote? Are you Japanese?” He pronounces Zuko’s surname correctly, which is surprising.
Zuko just nods, at a loss for what to say.
“Cool,” Sokka says with a grin, tapping something on the screen. A second later, Zuko’s phone starts buzzing, and Sokka taps again on his screen. The buzzing stops. “Now you have my number too!” He winks, then checks his phone and winces. “And now I’m late. Smell ya later, Zukes!”
And with that, Zuko’s left standing 30 meters away from the English building, a single earbud in his left ear as he admires the human hurricane that is Sokka Sikuliaq. With a quick exhale, Zuko inserts the other earbud and walks to his dorm with a lightheartedness that only comes with getting an attractive person’s number.
Maybe this project won’t be so bad after all.
~!~
Sokka texts Zuko a day later, asking if he’s free on Saturday at noon.
Zuko checks his calendar and realizes with a sinking stomach that he has lunch with an acquaintance planned, then realizes that he can just cancel it - it’s not like the two of them are too close. So he cancels with no small bit of relief, claiming that an incredibly important event has come up. (Hanging out with his crush is important, okay?) The acquaintance seems to believe it, and thankfully hasn’t made any moves to reschedule.
Zuko texts back after an hour (a whole hour!) of waiting that he has no plans after 11 am, except for maybe homework.
Sokka’s response is basically instantaneous, and makes Zuko glad that he’d turned off read receipts for their conversation immediately after he’d first opened Sokka’s first message. Sokka asks for Zuko to come to his ‘humble abode’ on Saturday at 12 PM, sending an address as well. When Zuko reads that message, he hides his grin even though nobody’s in the room with him, pretending that his heartbeat hasn’t gotten faster.
~!~
On Saturday, Zuko gets to the address Sokka had given him, and frowns at the paper down in his hand. Why is he at a house? Does Sokka live here by himself? Or is this some kind of prank?
Sokka doesn’t seem the type of person to purposefully mislead people (well, not really), so Zuko takes a deep breath and knocks on the pure white door.
Someone he doesn’t recognize opens the door partway, wedging her body between the doorframe and the door. Yelling and laughter pours out from the house, and Zuko can’t help but think for a moment that being a part of that mess might be nice.
The girl narrows her eyes at Zuko for a second, then seems to realize something, sticking her head back into the house. “Sokka! Your classmate’s here!” She assesses Zuko then. Seemingly satisfied, she opens the door all the way, nodding at him. “I’m Katara, Sokka’s sister.”
“Zuko.” He nods back a bit awkwardly at her, fiddling with his backpack strap. How had he not noticed the similarities between her and Sokka before? Same dark skin, same bright blue eyes. Sokka’s better looking, he thinks for a second before he stomps that thought down.
Just as Zuko’s gotten that thought out of his head, there’s a thunk upstairs with the yell, “What’d you say, Katara?”
Katara snorts and turns around to go into the back of the house, leaving Zuko in the doorway.
Sokka comes thumping downstairs, and Zuko awkwardly raises a hand to wave, dropping it almost immediately. Why’d I do that? He groans to himself, just barely managing not to facepalm.
“Zuko!” Sokka’s face brightens and he descends the rest of the stairs quickly. “Hey man, come in. We have snacks!”
“...I thought it would only be the two of us,” is all Zuko comes up with.
“Disappointed?” Sokka winks, walking towards Zuko from the staircase. “I can get us a room if you’d like.”
Zuko swears all the blood in his body rushes to his face as he starts spluttering. Is Sokka like this to everyone he meets? He finally manages to choke out, “Not like that! I just wasn’t expecting… this many people to be here.” He cringes as something falls inside the house.
Sokka grins, having reached the front door by now. “The gang’s having a study session! I figured it would be easiest to introduce you to my friends this way.”
Zuko frowns. “Why do you need to introduce me to your friends?”
Sokka looks decidedly shifty for a second, but he shrugs soon enough. “Why not?” He raises an eyebrow, a smile on his face. “Scared of my friends?”
Zuko crosses his arms, shifting his weight into his left leg. “No,” he says shortly. “Just unsure as to whether or not I actually want to meet them.” He looks at Sokka, as if to say See? when there’s another crash inside the house.
Sokka laughs. “That’s just Toph. She isn’t that scary. Now, come on. You’re letting in all the cold air!” He reaches out, and Zuko’s dragged over the threshold as the door closes behind him. Sokka starts down the hallway, towards what’s presumably the living room and also the cause of all the noise that Zuko had heard in the foyer.
“Nice house,” Zuko says, his mouth moving without his permission. “Very… cozy. I like the decorations.” And he really does; the walls are covered with various ocean-related paintings and artifacts, along with photos of what look like younger versions of Sokka and Katara.
Sokka glances over his shoulder at Zuko, a somewhat surprised look on his face. “Thanks. GranGran chose them.” He faces forward again as the pair enter the living room, spreading his arms wide. “Sup gang! Meet the guy I told y’all about.”
Zuko cringes as every head in the room turns to look at him. He recognizes Katara sitting next to a wide-eyed boy in a bright orange beanie. There’s a girl sprawled on the ground in front of them, various things scattered around her. Zuko feels like he should recognize her, for some reason.
“Hi!” The boy chirps, flashing a friendly smile at Zuko. “You’re Zuko, right?” He barely waits for Zuko’s nod - how much has Sokka told his friends about Zuko? - before he goes on to introduce everyone. “I’m Aang! This is Katara, that’s Toph” - he points to the girl on the ground - “and- Oh. I guess you’ve already met Sokka.”
Zuko blinks. “Um. Yeah. He’s- We were paired together for a class project.”
“Cool!” Aang looks extremely happy to be studying, Zuko thinks.
Thankfully, Sokka jumps in before things can get any more awkward. “Well, let’s get started on those sexy essays, yeah?” He grins at Zuko.
“I. Yeah. Sure,” Zuko gets out, unable to get over Sokka saying the word ‘sexy.’ His face feels unnaturally warm.
“Great!” Sokka grabs Zuko’s arm, seemingly unaware of how every single one of his touches short-circuits Zuko’s brain. Zuko stumbles over to a spot on the floor that Sokka’s apparently chosen. “Move your butt, Toph,” Sokka orders, though a smile is obvious in his voice. He still hasn’t let go of Zuko’s arm.
“You’re making the blind girl move?” Toph complains, though she moves her stuff.
At those words, something clicks in Zuko’s mind and he can recall a gala he’d attended where there had been a girl standing next to her parents, clouded green eyes focused on nothing, a black lab sitting patiently by her side.
And as Toph looks up, Zuko recognizes those same eyes, though the girl in a light green dress with gems in her hair seems a far cry from the one in a plain green hoodie and jeans, sprawled on the ground at his feet.
“Beifong,” Zuko greets as he sits down, his belt chain clanking.
As the night had progressed, Toph’s parents had sat her down in a chair near Zuko’s, since he’d been the only one there who had been even remotely close to her age. (Azula hadn’t been there for some reason. Zuko can’t recall why.) From there, conversation between the two had flowed surprisingly well, but neither of them had exchanged contact information. At the end of the night, Zuko had almost been saddened by the fact that he’d missed a chance to keep a new friend. Then the girl had gotten shoved to the back of his mind with everything else he’d deemed unimportant after he’d… moved out.
But here Toph is, her face angled up at Zuko with a raised eyebrow. Slowly, a grin starts taking over her face. “Holy shit. Sparky? Thought I’d never hear your voice again!” She punches Zuko in the arm.
Sokka’s looking between the two of them, an unreadable expression on his face. “You two know each other already?”
“We’ve met,” Zuko says, rubbing his arm. Jesus, Toph hits harder than he remembers.
Sokka seems to accept that as an answer, though he looks at Zuko with a smirk as he sits down. “Sparky, huh? What’s the story behind that nickname?”
Zuko buries his face in his hands with a groan as Toph cackles next to him. “Nothing you want to hear,” he grumbles.
“It’s a hilarious story!” Toph hoots, but Zuko bonks her lightly on the head before she can get into it, face turning slightly pink.
“It is not,” he insists stubbornly.
Sokka snorts next to him, but seems to take pity on Zuko and opens his computer. “I’ll make sure to ask Toph for the story later,” he smiles as Zuko rolls his eyes, biting back a smile of his own.
The two of them get to work, and it’s way easier and painless than Zuko had anticipated it to be. Before he knows it, three hours have passed, and an alarm on Sokka’s phone goes off.
Sokka straightens and jumps off the floor. “It’s three! Boba time!” he all but yells.
Zuko blinks at Sokka, hands still poised over his keyboard, but Sokka just smiles.
“Put everything away, Zukoboy! We’re getting bubble tea!” Zuko watches, bemused, as Sokka starts dancing.
“...We are?” He finally asks.
“Yep!” Sokka beams. “It’s a tradition the four of us have. After each of our study sessions, we go get boba.”
Ah. It’s a friend group thing. Sokka’s telling Zuko he should leave, albeit in a subtler way than most people would.
Zuko nods and begins packing his things into his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. “I’ll leave you four to it. See you Tuesday, Sokka?”
“What?” Sokka’s expression turns from confused to mildly panicked in one second. “Wait, no, don’t go! Don’t you want to come with us?”
Zuko balks. “I don’t want to intrude,” he starts uncertainly, flicking his eyes towards Aang and Katara, who are leaving the room already.
“You won’t be! I promise!” Sokka insists. “Please come with us. Please?” He elongates the last word and gives Zuko a pleading face, and- God. That face should be illegal.
Zuko crumbles. “Fine,” he finds himself muttering.
Sokka’s face brightens considerably, and Zuko has to pretend that he doesn’t find it cute. “Yes!” Sokka crows.
“Are you coming or not, Captain Boomerang?” Toph yells from the front door. (When had she gotten over there?)
“We’re coming, we’re coming!” Sokka calls back.
“Captain Boomerang?” Zuko asks, incredulous.
Sokka, for his part, looks a bit evasive. “That’s not important. Come on, Zuko, we’re going to the best boba place in the whole world.”
In retrospect, Zuko shouldn’t be surprised that they’re at his uncle’s tea shop. The Jasmine Dragon is Iroh’s pride and joy, and becoming rather popular now that Iroh’s added bubble tea to the already extensive menu.
The owner himself had been helping serve the customers, so he spots Zuko quickly.
“Zuko!” he greets, face breaking into a warm smile as he pulls his nephew into a hug. “Good to see you! And with some familiar faces as well.” He turns the smile onto everyone else.
“First Toph, now Iroh?” Sokka asks, gaping at Zuko. “Man, you know everyone!”
“Not really,” Zuko mumbles as the group is ushered towards the counter.
“Sure as hell seems like it,” Sokka returns, smiling easily. He turns to place his order before Zuko can respond, but when he reaches for his wallet, Zuko offers,
“I’ll pay. For all of us.”
Three surprised pairs of eyes land on him. “Really?” Aang asks.
Zuko shrugs, willing his cheeks not to color. “You guys let me join you. It’s the least I can do.”
“Hell yeah! Free drinks!” Toph cheers. “Thanks, Sparky,” she says as she pushes past him.
Zuko smiles slightly, stepping back to let the others order. Sokka elbows Zuko with a grin. “Cute and a gentleman. What’s a guy supposed to do?”
Zuko flushes, but he’s saved from responding by his uncle.
“The usual, nephew?” Iroh asks, smile a bit too knowing. Zuko narrows his eyes at his uncle but only gets a calm smile in return.
He sighs and nods, resigning himself to a morning full of questions about his love life the next time the two of them have brunch. “Yes, please. Thank you.”
With their orders placed and everything paid for, the group finds a booth to sit at.
“Have I ever mentioned how much I love that there are pride flags hanging up all over the place?” Sokka asks as he leans back. “It makes the whole place seem really inclusive and homey. I like it.”
Zuko hums. “Uncle is a very accepting person. I think he put them up because I came out to him.” His heart starts pounding like it always does when he mentions his sexuality, but nobody in the group reacts poorly. Not that he’d particularly expected them to, but… he’s had bad experiences.
“That’s really nice of him,” Aang pipes up. Zuko smiles and nods.
“Hey, that’s my flag!” Sokka says after a brief silence as he points to the bisexual flag hanging in the window.
Zuko decides to play along, “That one’s mine,” he says, pointing his chin at the classic rainbow flag, faded from years of being in the sun. “It was the first to go up.”
The group continues their conversation, though Zuko mostly remains quiet, wondering if he’d imagined the look of relief that had passed over Sokka’s face. Why would Sokka care about his sexuality? Zuko chalks it up to his lack of social skills and ability to read people’s faces, listening to the conversation that’s going on at the table.
After a few minutes, a server shows up and places their drinks on the table, along with a plate of cookies.
“On the house. They’re from Iroh,” she tells them with a friendly smile before whisking away.
“Thanks for paying, Zuko,” Katara says with a smile.
Zuko looks in her direction, surprised that she’d mention it, when Sokka says, “A toast! To Zuko and his willingness to buy shit for us.”
He raises his drink, and everyone follows suit. Zuko turns bright red, unsure of how to react.
“I- thanks? It was really no problem. Thanks for letting me tag along.”
Sokka laughs, bumping his shoulder into Zuko’s. “You’re stuck with us now. We like you too much to ever let you go.”
Zuko turns an even brighter shade of red somehow, and he opens and closes his mouth, unsure of how to react. He sees Katara raise an eyebrow at Sokka out of the corner of his eye, but can’t figure out what it means. Before he can attempt to puzzle it out, though, Toph punches him in the arm. (Again. Jeez, he’s going to have permanent bruises if he’s to hang out with her.)
“Sokka’s right, Sparky. You’re stuck with us from now on.”
Zuko, having recovered from his blush, relaxes a bit. “If you’re sure you want me there,” he says a bit meekly.
“Of course we do,” Katara says warmly.
Aang nods earnestly. “You should come by to our study sessions more often! It’ll be fun.”
Zuko dips his head, pleasantly surprised and a bit flattered that everyone seems to like him enough to invite him to their study sessions, which are obviously pretty important to them. And after only knowing most of them for a mere three hours, too.
“Thanks,” he says, not looking up yet. “I’ll, uh. Yeah. I’ll do that. Come around, I mean.”
“Good!” Zuko squeaks when Sokka slings an arm over him, the arm a new (but not unwelcome) weight on Zuko’s shoulders. Sokka continues, oblivious. “Besides, we still have a shit ton of our project to get through. You’re coming over, whether you want to or not.”
Zuko pulls a face. “Don’t remind me. We barely got anything done today.”
Sokka tilts his head, looking at Zuko. Zuko, finding his face a lot closer to Sokka’s than he’d expected, only registers the pure blue of Sokka’s eyes before he’s looking away again. “I think we got a decent amount done. Even if we hadn’t, we still have plenty of time until the due date, Sparky.”
“Hey!” Zuko splutters as everyone at the table starts snickering. He mock-glares at Toph. “This is your fault,” he grumbles.
A loud burst of laughter is her only answer, and Zuko shakes his head, though he’s smiling. He could get used to this feeling of warmness in his chest as he listens to everyone laugh, Sokka’s arm around his shoulders.
~!~
After a month or two, Zuko realizes that he’s somehow been inducted into the gang without noticing.
He always gets a greeting from everyone whenever they see him (or hear him somehow, in Toph’s case. Zuko’s still not entirely sure how she manages to do that), and he starts waving at them when he sees them first, which is always received well.
Even Katara, who had been lukewarm at best when first talking to him, seems like she genuinely enjoys his company, even going as far as to buy him a Monster Energy drink when he’d been studying at the Jasmine Dragon. Upon looking up, Zuko had seen the can with the note, “I’m not giving you more than one at a time because that amount of caffeine has to be unbelievably bad for you. That being said, good luck. -Katara.”
(He’d smiled, cracking it open, and texted Katara a thank you. Her reply had come half an hour later, reading please don’t tell me you’ve had more than one can today. He’d responded with ok. i wont tell you that, and had received a bottle of water with a glare the next time he saw Katara. He’d grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes.)
When he eventually realizes that everyone in the gang genuinely does like him, Zuko stops declining invitations and instead starts accepting them whenever he can.
He brings it up to Sokka one day, when they’re doing homework in the library together.
“Do I count as part of your uh, friend group?”
“Hm?” Sokka looks up from his work, then stares at Zuko as if he’s dense. “Duh. Why else do you think you’re invited to literally all of our meetups?”
“...Our project?” Zuko offers weakly, even though they’re done with all but one of their essays at this point.
Sokka snorts and shakes his head. “Nah, man. You’re a part of the gang now, like it or not. Everyone likes you.”
Huh, Zuko thinks to himself.
And if he starts treating everyone a bit more like friends rather than classmates from then on, nobody mentions it.