☆ yellow ☆ (zukka AU)

chapter 4

zuko's POV

since sokka accepted to be a waiter at my uncle's tea shop a week ago, we've been spending loads of time together.

i've gotten closer to every member of the gAang and i'm also getting more comfortable around them. i now sit with them at lunch and sometimes they come by the tea shop to see me and sokka at work.

he makes this job a lot more bearable. he constantly jokes around and the clients love his outgoing personality, contradictory to mine.

--

i'm sitting in the back of chemistry class, staring at the boy with golden skin that is chilling in the opposite side of the room.

the teacher made him change his seat because we were talking too loud, but even from this distance, we can still communicate just by locking our eyes.

i can only see his back and a part of his profile. he is paying attention to the teacher, but i can only concentrate on him.

i grab my backpack from the floor, take out my sketchbook with colorful stickers on its cover and start drawing him. i sketch out his strong jawline, so sharp that i'm afraid it might cut my finger if i touch it, his broad shoulders, his strong, yet not bulky arms and his hair.

he never wears it any other way, but in that silly ponytail that he calls a 'warrior tail' and i wonder what he looks like with his hair down.

the bell rings, breaking me from my thoughts and i close my sketchbook quickly so nobody can see i was drawing my friend.

"spirits, this lesson seemed to last forever!" sokka complains as we're walking down the hallway. "do you want to do that stupid project together, or what?" he asks me.

i glance at him in utter confusion.

"what project?"

"in chemistry? the one the teacher just told us about? did you not pay attention at all?" he sniggers.

i pinch my earlobe and pull it lightly.

"um, no. i couldn't really focus" i explain.

"you're so cute when you're clueless" he says grinning.

i instantly blush. he called me cute.

it should be illegal for him to hold so much power over me.

"we have to do a project about some stupid metals for next week" he clarifies. "i guess i'm stuck with you, i can't let you fail this class just because you're head is in the clouds, can i?"

"well, it looks like you don't really have a choice. you can't seem to get rid of me" i smirk.

i elbow him and he returns the favour, pushing me a bit harder and we're chuckling together.

"hey, um-" he says. "i was wondering if you could possibly help me with my maths homework, cause i don't understand shit and you have good grades at everything, so..."

extra time with sokka? damn right i'll do it.

"of course, that's why we're friends, right?"

"oh, so we're officially friends now?" he taunts me.

we haven't known eachother for a long time, but you know, there are some people that come into your life and you just click instantly, as if somehow your souls were already connected in a past life.  that's how it happened with sokka, it all came naturally, like it was meant to be.

"shut up" i bump my fist into his shoulder and try cover my smile with my hair, but he tucks it behind my ear.

"you're really pretty when you smile, you shouldn't hide it"