through the waves (the world remains still)
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/35110162.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: F/F, F/M
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar),
Aang/Toph Beifong
Characters: Katara (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar), Suki (Avatar), Mai
(Avatar), Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar), Aang (Avatar),
Toph Beifong, Original Child Character(s)
Additional Tags: Zutara Dhamaka 2021, Academic Rivals to Lovers, two stories in one,
the k3g au nobody asked for lmao
Language: English
Collections: Zutara Dhamaka 2021
Stats: Published: 2021-11-14 Updated: 2021-11-28 Words: 2,040 Chapters: 2/?
through the waves (the world remains still)
by twinsarekeepers
Summary
Katara Irniq can take a lot of things. With her first year of university starting, her brother
acting like a fool every second of the day, and her father becoming a quiet threat against the
Hinode family's monopoly, she really has to be able to. What she doesn't think she'll be able
to make it through is a Cultural Studies class with Zuko Hinode.
Zuko Hinode's world is a game of chess, with him being a mere pawn and his father being the
master. It is in his fate to inherit a fortune tainted by blood and marry a woman who could
never love him. Those plans are swiftly derailed, though, after Zuko finds something that
finally pushes him to take control of his life and consequently leads to his disownment.
Five years later, Azula Hinode is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to her
family and where her brother is.
Inspired by the Bollywood movie Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham.
Notes
Hi, guys! I'm so excited to start posting this story. It's part of the Zutara Dhamaka 2021
collection (so go check out all the other works AND the art on Tumblr). We've all been
working super hard for the last couple of months to get these stories out to you guys so I
really hope you guys enjoy them!
See the end of the work for more notes
Calm
“Mum!”
Grey light, typical for a London morning, filtered through the blue curtains of the Hinode-
Irniq residence as a young girl ran down the hall, towards her parents’ bedroom. Her hand
skimmed along the polished banister and she stopped every few moments to let her toes sink
into the soft red carpet.
“Dad!”
She threw open the door the moment she got to it, using the momentum she acquired from
running the distance from her room to theirs to slide across the hardwood. Her parents, who
were still lying in their bed, stirred only the slightest from her calls that had rung against the
walls. She smiled at the sudden opportunity and prepared herself for the big leap it would
take to jump on the pile of human limbs and blankets.
“Oh, no you don’t, kiddo,” a low, familiar voice chuckled as the owner of said voice wrapped
one arm around her waist and hoisted her out of the room with ease.
“Uncle Sokka!” she whined, kicking her legs. “Come on!”
“You gotta be more strategic than that,” the man set his niece down and smirked as he
kneeled in front of her. “Waking up your parents on a Saturday morning instead of sneaking
downstairs to watch cartoons and eat junk food? I thought I taught you better than that!”
“So, that’s why the pantry is always low on snacks.”
Sokka cringed slightly at the voice while the young girl lit up at the sight of her father in the
doorway of the master bedroom.
“Dad!” the girl promptly forgot about her uncle. “You’re awake!”
“Yeah, how could I sleep with all this commotion out here, you little rascal?” Zuko chastised
lightly, no actual weight behind the scolding. He leaned down and kissed his daughter’s head.
“Is mum awake yet?”
“Not yet,” Zuko answered, “but why don’t you get some breakfast and we’ll be down in a
few minutes, okay?”
“But, dad,” the girl took her father’s hand and turned to walk back down the hall towards her
room. “I wanted to show you and mum the note the Tooth Fairy left me!”
“The Tooth Fairy!” her uncle exclaimed. “Well, now I’ve got to see this oh-so-magical note
of hers. Tell you what, you show me and your mom and dad will join us later.”
The offer seemed to satisfy her because she took Sokka’s hand in delight and pulled him off
towards her room.
Zuko watched them fondly. His wife’s brother had become his best friend over time. Sokka
had done a lot for Zuko, as did the whole Irniq family. Zuko’s father-in-law, Hakoda, had
given them all the opportunity to build a new life in London. And, Zuko’s wife, the
wonderful woman sleeping soundly behind him with her curly, brown hair in a tangled mess
around her beautiful face, she’d saved his life more times than he could count.
Zuko stared at her in a little bit of a mix of awe and wonder. It still caught him off guard how
much he loved her. In the beginning, before they’d even started dating, he’d been scared of
his feelings, of how deep and real they were, of how he couldn’t escape them even when he
tried. But now, it was comforting to know that he could love someone so much even after
everything that happened.
“You should take a picture, it’ll last longer,” his wife teased, a coy smile slipping across her
lips, eyes still closed. He still blushed when she needled him and she knew it too because she
cracked open one cerulean eye and raised her eyebrows at him humorously.
“Maybe I will,” Zuko shot back a little too late and she laughed. He’d never been particularly
good with flirting, usually ending up tongue tied and that had just got worse after he’d meet
her. She’d always found it rather endearing and charming in it’s own right. “When’d you get
in last night?”
“Late,” she stretched, groaning at the ache in her shoulders. “The office has been overrun
with letters from all over asking for interviews. God, it’s overwhelming. I just wish more
people would be interested in implementing the programs in their hospitals than just …
congratulating–oh!” Zuko wordlessly slipped behind her as she talked and started kneading
her shoulders soothingly. “Thanks,” she sighed, leaning back into his touch and closing her
eyes. “And how was your day and evening? Well, apart from the excited call I got last night
about someone losing a tooth.”
They both laughed. Their daughter had been waiting for her last baby tooth to fall out for
weeks and when it finally happened last night, she couldn’t wait to tell everyone. Since
Katara hadn’t been home when it happened, a phone call had been in order.
“Sokka and I are getting close to negotiating a deal with that one company we really want in
our clientele. Jin called; she invited us to her house next Saturday for dinner. And I wrote the
Tooth Fairy note.”
Katara grinned at the last sentence and turned to kiss him quickly, hands on his shoulders to
balance. She almost lost herself every time she kissed him, even if it was just a peck like this.
It was a little reminder of everything she had–everything she almost couldn’t have. “Let’s go
see this note then,” Katara pulled away, enjoying the adoration in his eyes reserved only for
her.
“Rah!”
The two of them jumped in surprise as their daughter leaped onto them. Their initial shock
dissolved into laughter and giggles as she burrowed in between her parents.
“Where’s your uncle?” Katara looked down at her.
“Aunt Suki called and he had to go, but he told me to ‘interrupt your sappy love fest’ for him,
so I did,” she shrugged.
Her parents looked at each other in humorous disbelief.
“Show me this note of yours before I kick you out and continue this ‘sappy love fest’,”
Katara chuckled, pulling her daughter up so that the three of them could lean against the
headboard comfortably. “Why don’t you read it out so me and your dad know what it says?”
The three of them giggled at the sloppy handwriting that Katara and Zuko chalked up to the
‘Tooth Fairy’ being tired from travelling all night. Zuko and Katara smiled at each other over
their daughter’s head as she read the note, linking their hands together.
They both understood the pride in their partner’s eyes. Their family, these Saturday
mornings, were so incredibly cherished by both of them because if someone had told either of
them only a few years before that this is where they’d be, it would’ve seemed impossible.
Every step of the way they had to struggle and fight, first for themselves and then for each
other and finally for their daughter.
But, they’d done it. They’d built their life brick by brick, despite how everything in the
universe seemed to try and tear it down. And because they never let the other give up, never
let themselves give up, Saturday mornings were good in the Hinode-Irniq household. That
was something to be proud of.
Stirring
5 years earlier
Katara huffed as she set a brisk pace towards her next class. Her schedule didn’t leave much
time for eating and the lines at the Student Center had been longer than she’d anticipated.
Plus, Sokka had asked her to wait in line for his food too while he did whatever he got up to
and then held her up to tell her their father was in the news for being the most successful up-
and-coming small business. And while she was proud and a little bit excited, she still needed
to get to her last class of the day in time.
She broke into a small jog as she neared the auditorium the class was in, hoping she didn’t
look as awkward as she felt. Wearing a sundress seemed like a cute idea in the morning, but,
now, as Katara tried to keep her skirt from billowing up against the wind, she wished she’d
chosen another outfit.
Katara gave the girl who held the auditorium door open a polite smile–too out of breath to
say thank you–and quickly scanned the room for an empty seat. She’d normally have found
one at the front and had ample time to set up her laptop and notebook, but thanks to Sokka
(she was going to kill her stupid brother for making her run in her favorite sandals), here she
was, hastily scrambling between the legs of her peers and trying not to cause too much noise.
She breathed out a sigh when she finally flopped down into a chair. Her heart was still
pounding and her breath was still shallow from her little run. She reached for her water bottle
in the side pocket of her bag and found it was missing. It took a moment for her to remember
where it had gone.
“Sokka,” she murmured as she thumped her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes.
I’m going to kill him, Katara thought for the second time that day.
She was in the middle of pulling her laptop out of her bag when she felt a gaze staring at her
profile. Turning her head to find the culprit, she locked eyes for a moment with a pair of gold
eyes before the owner of them glanced away quickly. But Katara had only needed that second
to identify the boy as Zuko Hinode.
Pro tip: if you have a very unique feature on your face that makes it easy to recognize who
you are, don’t stare at people you’ve wronged.
Okay, she could admit, that was a bit of an exaggeration. He hadn’t wronged her. It was more
like his family had a monopoly on the industry her father had been coming up in and now
they were trying to tank her family’s business.
Well, this day just keeps getting better and better, Katara thought sarcastically to herself,
pinching the bridge of her nose. Of all the things she’d had to worry about, she hadn’t
thought this would be one. If anything, it should’ve been Sokka’s problem since he and Zuko
were in the same year.
Katara resolved to ignore him. This didn’t have to be any different than her other classes. She
just needed to focus on her grades and tune out everything else. There was no way she was
going to let this be a distraction, so maybe pretending he didn’t exist would do the trick.
She snuck another glance his way, finding that he was already typing away rapidly on his
laptop, his nibble fingers flying across the keyboard. Irritation bloomed in her chest. What
the hell was he typing anyway? The class hadn’t even begun yet. It was nothing less than
pretentious. Besides, she could definitely type faster than him.
Internally, Katara scoffed. Immaturity wasn’t something she indulged in often but she
couldn’t help herself sometimes, especially when she wanted to prove a point to pretty, rich
boys who grated on her nerves (even though she didn’t quite know what exactly the point
was yet).
A little more harshly than necessary, she jabbed the power button on her laptop as the
professor lumbered to the front of the auditorium. He was a tall, brown-skinned man with an
old, kind face that almost immediately calmed Katara down from her quiet seethe. (She was
still acutely aware of the boy sitting only a foot from her, because, annoyingly, he was not an
easy person to ignore.)
“Good afternoon,” the professor said—with an accent Katara recognized as South Asian—
and presented a PowerPoint slide on the projector. He introduced himself as Professor Pathik
of Cultural Studies and the way the class was structured.
Katara firmly kept her eyes on the projector, insistent that even if she couldn’t ignore Zuko’s
presence, she would not be distracted. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as she’d anticipated.
The idea that he could get a better grade motivated her to pay closer attention than she would
have in any other class.
Somehow, that irritated her even more.
Suki was definitely going to hear an earful about this later.
End Notes
Something to note about this fic is that it is loosely based off the movie K3G, so even if
you've watched the movie, there will be some twists and turns. Tell me what you think of
what we've got so far and don't forget to check out the other works!
Please drop by the Archive and comment to let the creator know if you enjoyed their work!
