#i wish i could look in his head and study what EXACTLY zuko thinks ab his dad

[mugentakeda]

i maintain that iroh is stupid because im watching 2x01 and “why would he banish you if he didnt care” WHY WOULD YOU SAY THATTTT WHY WOULD YOU SAY TJAT.

[avatarnao]

A Million Dreams CH. 1

Pairing: Zukka, Kataang

Soulmate AU, College AU, Roommates AU

Next

A03

******

There’s a lot of back and forth with Katara and his family, but eventually Sokka is able to convince them to let him move in on his own. It’s sophomore year and he doesn’t need them cramming into a tiny dorm room, taking up more space than necessary, okay? Sokka just wants to get to his room, meet his new roommate, and get unpacked. Maybe run to the dining hall and grab some lunch. Or dinner. Whatever meal is happening by the time he gets there. 

Unfortunately, his plans to meet the roomie are thwarted, the grin on his face and ‘hello’ on the tip of his tongue dying out the moment he opens the door. His roomie’s been here if the immaculately made bed, and almost compulsively organized desk is any indication. Only the room is empty so Sokka can only assume the guy is out and about. 

It’s a little discouraging, but Sokka can live with this. Might be better to unpack on his own anyway. He just hopes his roommate isn’t a neat freak considering the neverending mess that is his room back home. There’s going to be a lot of arguments in the future if that’s the case. Hopefully, some sort of compromise can be reached. 

Sokka gets to work unpacking his things and getting his side of the room set up. He’s sure his roommate wouldn’t appreciate him leaving boxes all over the place to unpack later. The text chime on his phone goes off just as he’s placing a poster on the wall. He checks his phone and finds a message from Yue.

She’s asking if he wants to meet up for dinner. Grinning, he texts her back with a time to meet up and which dining hall. In all honesty, he’d been planning on going alone to try and make some new friends. Having dinner with Yue though is something he can’t pass up. She’s likely to be in the music hall for most of the semester so this might be their only chance to meet up before classes start. 

He has an hour until dinner though, and so he gets to work making his bed and organizing his desk. It’s way more work than he’d normally do, but he doesn’t want to make a bad first impression with his roomie… who still hasn’t returned. 

Zuko. He reminds himself. His roommate’s name is Zuko, and he has got to stop calling him ‘the roommate’. Sokka just hopes they can be amicable towards each other. The last thing he wants is to be living with another Jet. 

Sokka does his best to make his side of the room as neat and organized as possible, then leaves to meet up with Yue.

******

The dining hall is packed by the time Sokka and Yue make it inside. He’s hardly surprised. This is the most popular of the three on campus. They wander through the crowd, looking for an empty table and eventually find one in the back near the windows. Sokka promptly slaps his bag down on the surface and they leave to get food. 

A group of what he assumes to be freshmen watch him go with wide eyes and he laughs a little. They always say not to leave stuff unattended at the tables, but he’s long since gotten over that fear. Nobody in his year or higher seems to care about such a thing and he certainly would never steal someone’s stuff. If someone took his table, though, he’d be fuming. 

Yue goes for the sushi. Sokka settles with loading his plate up with meat kebabs. Sushi is all well and good, but he spent the entire summer consuming Water Tribe cuisine. No… he’s been looking forward to food from the other nations to try out. He takes a moment to chat with some of the dining hall staff, surprised to find Suki of all people working the line. She introduces him to a few new faces before he needs to return to his dinner date with Yue. 

Suki gives him a playful shove, eyes rolling as he walks away from her station. She knows Sokka isn’t serious about Yue. Not like that at least. Yue is gorgeous, for sure, and at one point, he thought maybe there was something there. That was before she confessed to having met her soulmate. The news crushed him a little but they’ve managed to stay good friends and he’s more than happy with that arrangement. 

Dinner passes with them getting caught up and sharing stories from over the summer. Sokka’s summer was full of fishing and teaching some of the younger kids how to hunt out on the ice. Yue taught piano and singing lessons to children of nobles.They exchange schedules so they can plan to meet up at some point in the future, though Sokka knows it’s likely to fall through given their classes. Still, it’s the thought that counts, and they can always meet up for a study session if needed. 

Suki has long since finished her shift and joined them for a late dinner by the time they're leaving. The pair part ways with Yue so she can head over to the music room. He’s not even sure if the academic buildings are even open, but Yue’s pretty dedicated to her music. Sokka and Suki head back to their dorm to relax before classes start on Tuesday. 

“I heard there’s a new tea shop in town,” Suki says as their conversation drifts away from classes. She’s walking along one of those low walls along the sidewalk that people love to sit on. “We should go check it out some time.” 

“The one that opened over the summer?” Sokka asks and she nods. “Yeah, I think Aang was talking about it earlier. Said the tea there was the best. I’d be down for going.” 

“Bring your roommate so we can all meet him?” Sokka scoffs and rolls his eyes. 

“I haven’t even met the guy,” he tells her. 

“Oh…” Suki gets to the end of the wall and jumps down. “Has he not moved in yet?” 

“He moved in before me but he wasn’t there when I arrived,” he answers with a shrug. “Guess he’s just busy… or something.” Only… Sokka vaguely recalls something about Zuko being a transfer student. So… maybe he’s been getting familiar with campus, or making some new friends? He shrugs again. “I’m sure I’ll run into him soon enough since we live together. Maybe he’ll be okay with joining us.” Assuming he isn’t busy with his own stuff. 

“Remind me again why you didn’t just room with Haru?” she asks. Sokka sighs. So… in reality, he and Haru probably would’ve been great roommates. Sokka would’ve done it in a heartbeat but Haru wanted to move off campus and he just wasn’t ready for that. Besides, rooming with a random person just means more opportunity to make new friends, and maybe meet his soulmate, of course. 

“I wanted another year on campus, remember?” Suki hums but still looks unconvinced. She would’ve just moved off campus if she were in his position. Jet would’ve turned anyone off from having a roommate again. Thankfully, Sokka believes in second chances. Also, not everyone is Jet. 

“How’s Katara liking her new place?” Suki asks, and the conversation turns to their small group of friends. 

He invites Suki back to his room which she kindly turns down. Something about needing to finish unpacking. 

Much to Sokka’s surprise, his room is currently occupied. By someone he can only assume is his roommate given the guy’s half-naked appearance. Sokka’s gaze starts first at the towel wrapped around his waist, then follows water droplets up his stupidly toned abs, and obscenely muscular arms to land on his surprised gaze. He feels his face grow warm as they stare silently at each other before Sokka abruptly steps out of the room and shuts the door. 

He stares at the door wondering what the hell he’s doing. This is his room too! They’re going to be living together for the next year, and they sure as hell will be times they see each other half-naked! If he can’t survive this then it’s going to be a long year.

Thankfully, his roommate has gotten dressed in the time he spent outside having a crisis, donning a simple red tunic and pants. Fire Nation, then, Sokka determines, glancing quickly over Zuko’s side. Other than his clothes, nothing else seems to reveal his heritage. Makes Sokka wonder at that but he chooses not to ask. For now at least. He’ll ask when they’ve gotten to know each other better. 

Zuko’s sitting at his desk, headphones on and blaring music loud enough Sokka can hear the lyrics. Okay so… not exactly the best first impression, but he wishes he could at least introduce himself properly. Sokka peaks over his shoulder as he moves into the room, curious over what Zuko is furiously scribbling into his book. He must get too close because his companion freezes and then quickly snaps the book shut, turning to glare at the person behind him. The music cuts off suddenly. 

“Can I help you?” Zoku growls. 

“Sorry…” Sokka steps away from him and over to his bed. Zuko’s still watching him and he finally notices the very large and entirely unmistakable scar on his face. It looks pretty gnarly and he wonders vaguely if Zuko can even see out of that eye but he wisely chooses not to comment. Instead, he flops onto his bed and says, “I’m Sokka by the way. Nice to meet you officially.”

Zuko hums. There’s a long beat of silence where Sokka thinks the conversation may have ended. He groans and Sokka watches his roommate slide down in his chair, hands on his face. 

“Why am I so bad at this?” he hisses under his breath. He’s trying to be discrete but it’s loud enough that Sokka can hear it. Sokka stares at his phone and pretends like he didn’t hear the comment. Zuko mutters something else that he definitely doesn’t hear and then replies, “I’m… uh...Zuko?” 

Sokka snorts. He can’t help it, and he can’t help the tiny laugh that bursts out of him. Zuko frowns, turns back toward his desk, and okay… now Sokka just feels bad. 

“Sorry,” he says, waving a hand in the air. “Didn’t mean to laugh. I just… are you telling me your name or asking?” Zuko huffs. 

“No, I…” A hand brushes through his hair and he sighs again. “I’m just not good with meeting new people…” A beat of silence. “Sorry…” 

“You don’t need to apologize, man,” Sokka tells him, waving the apology off. Zuko turns around again. Sokka gives him a reassuring smile. “I get it. Meeting new people is hard especially when they’re about to spend a whole year crammed in a tiny room together.” The tiniest possible smile Sokka’s ever seen wiggles onto Zuko’s face. It’s gone just a second later. 

“So… uh… what are you studying?” Zuko asks. 

“I haven’t decided on a major yet…” he confesses. “Sort of stuck between a few different options. You?” 

“I’m studying art therapy.” 

“Oh, cool.” Sokka isn’t too sure what to say to that, other than it sounds like a hard major. He’s honestly surprised that Zuko’s studying something so… artsy? Especially considering how… not art-esque his side of the room is. If Sokka had to guess a major, it probably would have been business related or something. Hell, he doesn’t even have any posters on the walls. If it weren’t for his very obvious Fire Nation attire, Sokka’s not even sure he’d know where his roommate was from. Not that it matters, but still... Zuko’s half of the room is as impersonal as they can get. Guy likes his privacy, Sokka supposes. 

He wonders if Zuko’s a firebender.

“What got you into that?” he asks instead, unwilling to pry into that subject just yet. Zuko shrugs. 

“Art really helped me through some… things,” he answers. “So I wanted to use it to help others.” Curiosity makes him want to ask about it but the scar on his face is probably a big indicator of what happened. Also, asking would be rude and Gran-Gran would no doubt scold him for prying into a sensitive subject.

Instead, Sokka directs the conversation to class schedules. They take the time to go over when each of them wake up every day. Surprisingly (or maybe, unsurprisingly) Zuko has a strict wake up schedule of the literal ass crack of dawn. He likes to get an early start to the day regardless of his plans which only means it’ll translate to the weekends as well, much to Sokka’s dismay. Weekends are Sokka’s down days, okay? He likes to stay up late and sleep until noon. 

Zuko swears he’ll be quiet, which Sokka has no reason to not trust so he goes along with it. It won’t be a problem anyways unless Zuko also goes to bed early which he reassures he definitely does not. 

Sokka admits he’s pretty messy because it doesn’t hurt to tell the person he’s rooming with. He promises to be as clean as possible though so it doesn’t disrupt anyone; something Zuko is visibly appreciative of. 

At some point, Zuko moves to his own bed and the lights are turned off. Silences between conversations grow longer until both boys eventually fall asleep. 

He finds himself swimming deep into the depths of the ocean. Something swims ahead, close enough to make out the shadow but too far to distinguish whatever it is. Still, he finds himself drawn to the creature. 

The water grows colders.

It grows darker. 

Still he swims.

Reaching.

Chasing. 

Trying in vain to catch up to something… something he knows, deep down is important. Whatever’s in front of him is the thing he’s been searching an entire lifetime for yet it eludes him.

Remains too far out of reach until its shadow blends into the darkness of the ocean. 

He finds himself alone.