A/N: My second attempt at ATLA fanfiction. I've never done a 5+1 story before so let's hope this goes well.

I'm trying not to change anything in the episodes to fit the story and I hate re-writing scenes to put in people's POVs, so most of these are gonna be "missing moments" entries.

Warnings: swear words (it's a kids' show, gotta include a warning), and I still haven't read the comics so if I go against any comic canon, oopsie-doodle

Pairings: will not have much importance in this story, but they areAang/Katara, Sokka/Suki, and of course my precious emo warriors Mai/Zuko

Timeline: The Boiling Rock Part 2 to Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, and thus my life is empty

Summary: 5 things the GAang didn't know about Zuko and 1 thing he didn't know about himself

Let the story begin!

One - Zuko feels too much sometimes

After The Boiling Rock Part 2

Katara

She hated him. She hated him she hated him she hated him. She hated his stupid face and his stupid lies and his stupid pretend emotions. Unfortunately, not everyone seemed as convinced as she that Zuko was faking.

"Seriously, guys, his heart is beating way too fast!" Toph yelled, her voice frantic.

"Katara, can't you do something?" Aang asked, flitting around frantically as Hakoda pushed the fire prince's head down between his knees and tried to talk him through some breathing exercises.

"In through the nose, out through the mouth." The chief's voice was soothing and his hand was heavy on Zuko's back.

"Um, dad," Sokka interjected, "he can breathe fire."

Hakoda paused for a moment. "In through the mouth, out through the nose."

Katara ignored her family and addressed Aang. "I can't do anything unless I know what happened. And even then, only maybe." And even then only if I feel like it, she thought harshly, which wasn't entirely fair because even though she wanted to bash Zuko into a wall, she couldn't stand idly by while someone suffered. Even someone who really really deserved it.

"We don't know what happened," Sokka said. "He just collapsed and started hyperventilating."

Aang tried to force the air in Zuko's lungs to follow Hakoda's instructions, which seemed to make the prince's situation worse but did manage to eventually snap him out of his breathing fit and into a coughing fit.

"Stop that," Zuko snapped once his coughing had subsided.

"Sorry."

"So what happened?" Toph asked.

"Nothing." Zuko waved off their concerns and tried to make his way to his room.

"Nothing my ass! You collapsed, Zuko," Sokka said. "How is that nothing?"

"It is nothing, now leave me alone!" He stormed off and - despite the fact that literally anyone there would be more than capable of stopping him - they let him leave.

Jerk.

Later that evening, when Aang came back from checking on Zuko, the airbender asked, "What happened with Mai?"

"Why?" Sokka asked, barely looking up from his dinner.

"When I went to see Zuko, I heard him talking to her," Aang answered. "Well, a picture of her, at least." Aang looked uncertain for a moment before adding, "He kept apologizing."

Sokka paused in his eating, something Katara had very rarely seen, and quietly said, "Mai is - was? - his girlfriend. I think they broke up, but only technically. Anyway, when we were escaping, the guards were ordered to cut the line to the gondola, but Mai appeared out of nowhere and started attacking so we could get away."

But wasn't Azula there? Katara wanted to ask. Wasn't Azula there to see Mai betray her? To make sure Mai couldn't escape, too?

Azula would not tolerate traitors, that was quite obvious. Azula would not let Mai go unpunished. Maybe she wouldn't let Mai go at all.

Katara hated him. She hated his stupid face and his stupid lies and his stupid inconvenient emotions, but at that moment, she was sure Zuko hated himself more.

Two - Zuko has no idea what he's doing, even when he thinks he does

During The Southern Raiders

Sokka

Katara was gone. Katara was off on a vengeance quest with the crown prince of bad ideas and no one seemed to understand the gravity of the situation but Sokka. Toph and Suki were all for hurting the man who'd killed Kya, and Aang, while concerned, believed deep down that Katara would have the restraint to keep herself from doing something she would regret.

Sokka was not so sure.

He had seen Katara angry. He'd seen her sad and determined and cold. He'd seen her at her lowest and watched with awe as she picked herself up and kept on moving forward.

He wasn't sure she ever moved forward from their mother's death.

Sokka had loved their mother - of course he had loved her - but when she had died, Sokka allowed himself to grieve before picking himself up again. Katara simply bottled everything away before slotting herself into the role of caretaker, deciding no one would want for motherly affections while she was around. Until Zuko, no one ever had.

No one knew what Katara was like when she was angry - truly angry. She was never obvious about it like she was with Zuko. She was never sarcastic like she was with Sokka. She was quiet. She brooded. She simmered and boiled until all she felt was hate and rage. It took the world to stop her once she reached that point. As Katara flew away on Appa, all Sokka saw was hate and rage.

Zuko thought he was doing the right thing, Sokka knew that. He wasn't mad at Zuko (much) because he knew Zuko honestly thought this was the best way to fix things. He helps Katara get closure, Katara no longer hates him, and a bad person gets punished for doing bad things. Everybody wins! (except the bad person, who did not deserve to win, anyway) It was awfully shortsighted of him, but not everyone could see all the different possibilities like Sokka could. So Sokka did what he did best; he planned.

What to do if: Katara hurt the firebender, Katara killed the firebender, Katara spared the firebender, Katara did something to Zuko, Katara did something to herself, the firebender was dead before they found him, etcetera etcetera so on and so forth

Zuko didn't think long-term. He didn't do it when he was trying to capture Aang, he didn't do it when he picked Azula over his uncle, and he wasn't doing it now. He didn't understand the future effects her present actions could inflict on Katara. He didn't understand Katara. As justified as she may feel if she hurt the man who stole their mother away, eventually that feeling would fade. She cared too much. She loved too much. She couldn't break someone without cracking, herself. It was like that two-headed snake thing Aang talked about. Katara was going to get poisoned.

Sokka hoped it wasn't fatal, but he would be ready. Just in case.

(In the mean time, he had a Momo to train. They had a 'Welcome Back From Your Zuko Field Trip' dance routine to practice.)

Three - Zuko gets it

During The Ember Island Players

Toph

"The scar is not on the wrong side!" Zuko huffed angrily. Toph heard him yank his hood up and felt his back fall harshly against the wall.

"So... you have a scar?"

"Shut up."

"Just trying to make conversation." Toph shrugged and faced away.

They were silent.

"I do have a scar. It stretches from my left eye all the way back to my ear," Zuko said quietly. "It feels like old leather. It's worst around my eye. It feels more like komodo rhino hide, there."

"Can I see?" Toph held out her hand and Zuko moved his face to her fingers. "Well, I don't know what komodo rhino hide feels like, but I can definitely tell you this feels more like new leather than old leather."

"...Thanks."

"Anytime."

If there was one weird thing Toph had never understood about Zuko, it was that he never seemed to forget she was blind. He never described things using colors, never waved a paper in front of her face and expected her to understand, and never threw something to her without forewarning. Toph knew she wasn't a "normal" blind person. She knew her earthbending made her more capable than many seeing people, so others had a tendency to forget that there were some things she just could not do.

Zuko never forgot.

Toph was sure she had found out why.

"How bad did this affect your vision?"

Toph didn't think he would answer. He didn't for what felt like forever, but after what was probably just a minute or so, he spoke; "Pretty bad."

She felt him close his injured eye and it suddenly occurred to her that this conversation might be hurting him. She should pull her hand away. She shouldn't push for more info. She should crack a one-liner and wait for intermission to be over.

She brought her other hand up to feel his unscarred cheek.

"I had no depth perception for months," Zuko continued. "When the bandages finally came off, it was like my eye had forgotten how to see. Everything was blurry."

Toph carefully compared the sides of his face. His scar felt more and more like scales the longer she traced it. Was that how he felt? Like he was only half-human?

"At one point, my eye completely shut down. My other eye stopped working, too. 'Sympathetic blindness' or something like that. I can't remember what the healer called it. Only she and my uncle knew about it. It lasted almost a year."

Toph had never been able to see. She knew nothing of colors or light or what her name looked like. Zuko had had that. For so long, Zuko had that and then it was taken away.

It must have been terrifying.

"I superheated the air around me so I could tell where things were. Since my ear was injured, too, my senses of touch and smell became almost inhuman. It wasn't as exact as your method, but it worked for me. Eventually, Uncle found a healer that could fix my eye. Things are still a little off from that eye, but I was so relieved I stopped using my fire sight technique. Maybe I should take it up again."

"I'll help you train," Toph offered. She felt Zuko smile.

"I'd like that."

Toph finally took her hands off his face and sat back against the wall.

She smiled, too.

"Ow!"

"You'd have seen that coming if you'd been using your fire sight."

"I take it back. I don't want your help. Ow! Stop that!"

Four - Zuko may prefer swords and fire, but he can and will use words to hurt people

During Sozin's Comet Part 2: The Old Masters

Suki

"So, you were Aang's first firebending instructor, huh? I guess I have you to thank for laying the groundwork, don't I?"

It was an innocent comment. It unleashed a shit storm.

Suki didn't know what had happened. Everything started out so great. They'd found powerful allies to help them, Zuko was reunited with his uncle, and they were going to come up with a plan over breakfast.

Everyone chatted while the food cooked. Sokka caught up with Piando, Katara was updated on the Southern Water Tribe by Pakku, Toph was having a grand old time with Bumi, and Zuko was never more than an arm's reach away from Iroh.

Then Zuko turned to Jeong-Jeong.

"There is no need, Prince Zuko," Jeong-Jeong insisted, shaking his head. "I was not given the time to do much with Aang."

Zuko waved his words away. "Come on, you did plenty. You deserve a 'thank you'."

Iroh looked oddly at Zuko as Jeong-Jeong shook his head again. "No, really."

"You are getting a 'thank you'," Zuko asserted, bowing deeply. "Thank you, on behalf of the Firelord."

Everyone froze.

Suki didn't look for anyone's reactions, but she did see the way Jeong-Jeong's jaw tightened as he looked to Iroh, silently asking if the Grand Lotus was going to do anything.

The Grand Lotus did not.

"Seriously," Zuko continued sarcastically as he straightened up, "from the bottom of my father's heart, thanks. I mean, you accomplished what only Azula has managed to do; you nearly crippled the Avatar. All that talk about fire being only destruction and death had him so terrified he couldn't even maintain an already-existing flame! It takes skill to put that much fear in a person. Way to go." Zuko clapped mockingly.

Suki didn't know what to do. On one hand, she was still kind of pissed at Zuko. She believed he'd changed and she accepted his reasoning from an intellectual point of view, but, well, he did destroy her village. That's hard to let go. On the other hand, if what Zuko was saying was true then Jeong-Jeong had fucked up. Badly.

Sokka had told her about Aang's reluctance to firebend and why, and to an extent, she understood it. She didn't like firebending. She didn't like most firebenders. Suki knew that if she had hurt one of her warriors like that, she would certainly be reluctant to use such an ability again, but even then, she was sure it would take some major efforts to get her to repress her fire.

It would explain a lot that someone had tried to extinguish it.

"He was afraid because he had burned his friend," Jeong-Jeong said angrily, apparently done waiting for Iroh to reign his nephew in.

"His friend who immediately healed herself," Zuko replied. "Every firebender burns someone at some point. Very few firebenders take it as a sign to resent firebending. Even fewer take it as a sign to write it off completely. When you put those two groups together, let me tell you, there is very little overlap."

Iroh just looked resigned to what was happening while everyone else stood in shock. Except Toph. Toph was probably hoping things would come to blows.

"Even you, who hates your gift so much, still use it," Zuko pointed out. "But you managed to terrify Aang so badly he'd never have learned firebending if not for this comet. So on behalf of the royal family, thank you. Thank you so much." He smiled widely and no one said a word. No one moved. Suki wasn't even sure anyone breathed.

Finally, "Food's done!" Bumi announced, skipping to the cooking pot.

"Great, I'm starved!" Sokka said, obviously relieved at the offered escape as he followed after the odd king.

Everyone echoed similar sentiments and headed toward their meals except Jeong-Jeong, Zuko, and Iroh, who Suki - and probably the rest of the camp, if she was being honest - watched out of the corner of her eye.

Jeong-Jeong and Zuko stood still, their postures perfect, and stared each other down. Their face off was broken by Iroh, who tugged on his nephew's elbow and insisted he eat. Were it anyone else, Suki was sure Zuko would not have budged, but the fire prince followed after the Great Dragon, leaving Jeong-Jeong alone.

Suki turned to her meal.

Jeong-Jeong did not join them.

Five - Zuko can't lie, but he sure can act

During Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang

Aang

Zuko was injured. He was very very injured and very very stubborn about not letting people know he was very very injured.

Aang was getting very very annoyed.

All he wanted was for Zuko to stop trying to do so much and relax for a few hours, but the soon-to-be Firelord refused. He had his duties to tend to. He had people to un-banish. He had councilmen to replace and prisoners to secure and "an entire banquet to prepare, Aang, let me work!"

The most frustrating thing wasn't even that Zuko refused to listen to him - frankly, Aang would have been too surprised to dote properly if Zuko had - it was that all of Aang's potential allies were too busy to help him.

Or they didn't believe him.

"He seems okay to me, Aang," Sokka said as he went over the menu for the banquet. A member of each nation was directed to make a list of their people's favorite dishes. Sokka insisted on representing the Water Tribes.

"But he's faking!" Aang insisted. Sokka laughed and gestured to the firebender. Zuko stood straight, his feet firm and his sentences unbroken as he directed the decorators in the ballroom. He didn't flinch. He didn't hesitate. He was perfectly steady.

Aang could see why Sokka didn't believe him.

"Look at him! I've watched Zuko try to lie," Sokka said. "It's sad."

"But-"

"Look, if you're so concerned, have Katara look him over again," Sokka interrupted, rewriting 'stewed sea prunes' below where Aang had sneakily scribbled it out.

"Katara's healing civilians." Aang tried to scribble it out again.

"Then I don't know what to tell you. Now leave my list alone."

Sokka walked away to give the menu to the chef Zuko had hired, leaving Aang to try the next member of Team Avatar.

"Toph-"

"Yes, Zuko's heartbeat is off, yes, he should probably be resting, but no, I can't help you because he said I won't get my life-changing Zuko fieldtrip if I sell him out," Toph said before Aang could continue. "Besides, he's up, he's working, he's doing fine! Don't stress so much, Twinkletoes. You saved the world! Let someone else worry about Sparky."

Let someone else...

"Oh, General Iroh!"

From his place in the ballroom, Zuko paused.

+One - Zuko has friends

During Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang

Zuko

"And now we're friends."

The word echoed through Zuko's head. Friends, friends, friends. Is that what they were? What friends are?

Zuko had never had friends before, not really. There was Uncle, but he was family. There was Mai, but she was more than a friend.

Even when Zuko was younger, before everything went to crap, he didn't have friends. He had been warned against them to prevent becoming close to someone who only stayed for his position. The heir to the Fire Nation throne may not have friends, only allies. Only people who are useful to have around. Worthlessness was not tolerated in the Fire Palace.

Was what he had with Aang friendship? Zuko wasn't sure he would have ever used that word to describe them. Allies? Of course. Companions? Sure. But friends?

Were friends people who helped you? People who tried to cheer you up when you were upset? Who made you want to be improve yourself, not so you could be better than them, but because they believed you could be more, and they made you believe it, too?

Shit, that did sound like Aang. And Katara. And Sokka and Toph and even Suki and Ty Lee to an extent.

So this is friendship, Zuko thought. Putting up with annoying, nosey people for those good moments in between. Is this really something I want to encourage?

"Yeah, we are friends."

Duh.

Zuko had a good feeling about this.

A/N: And there we have it! ATLA fic #2. How'd I do?

Notes for clarification;

On Katara's section: Zuko didn't have a panic attack until later because he didn't let everything register until the group was safely back at the air temple. He tried to make it to his room before breaking down. He obviously did not make it. Also, Katara called his emotions "inconvenient" because she couldn't convince herself he was faking, thus he was so rudely ruining her mental image of him as a heartless pseudo-human.

On Sokka's section: Zuko does think he's helping, but only because he doesn't understand Katara's shitton of compassion for the world. He thinks "she knocks around this dude, maybe maims him, maybe kills him, and moves on with her life" and he is wrong because Katara would feel like a monster for eternity. Zuko thinks he knows what he's doing. He does not. Also, while it does feel OOC to have Sokka so serious, he does have a tendency to get down to business when it involves Katara. Let's be honest about that. I did try to go back and interject some humor, but I'm not too good at balancing funny and serious so I'm afraid it didn't turn out too well.

On Toph's section: I just want them to be bestest buddies, ok! It's a little OOC to have Zuko just spill personal information like that, but I like to think he would share it with someone who understands, especially since he wants her to know that he understands, too. Also, I know fuck-all about whether the things I said about Zuko's sight could possibly be medically accurate. Humor me. Also also, I have found a few stories where Zuko uses firebending to see because he has impaired/no eyesight. I can't remember them off the top of my head and I have no internet to link them here, but if you know one, please send it to me! I love that plotline.

On Suki's section: Jeong-Jeong fucked up. That was the whole point of his character: to fuck up. He said the exact wrong things to Aang about firebending and almost stripped Aang of his will to firebend forever. Someone needed to call him on it, and I like to think Zuko can verbally cut a bitch when the situation calls for it but usually chooses not to because it reminds him too much of Azula. But Jeong-Jeong deserved it. For fucking up. Also, Sokka told Suki about Aang deciding to swear off firebending and burning Katara, not about Jeong-Jeong fucking up.

On Aang's section: I know Ursa was a thespian and I believe (headcanon time!) that Zuko would become one as well out of love for her. Zuko can't lie. We all know he can't lie. But lying and withholding the truth - as well as any evidence to suspect the truth - are two completely different things. Ergo, bad liar, good actor.

On Zuko's section: My precious dragon son! In the flashbacks in Zuko Alone,only Azula's friends are shown, despite the episode being all about Zuko. Conclusion- Zuko had no friends. Either he was too shy or too awkward or just wasn't allowed because reasons of better than everyone. No friends. He had his mother, who is family and doesn't count and also left, his uncle, who is family and doesn't count, and Mai, who he only recently knew for sure would pick him over Azula. He called Sokka buddy during The Boiling Rock Part 1, but I'm pretty sure that was from lack of better things to say and also he probably heard someone else say it and decided that was how humans interact with each other, might as well try it.

Wow, this note got long. My bad.

Review, please!