Beach Bums, Part Two

Summary: Toph and Katara stalk Zuko when he left to meet someone from his past. Technically a future chapter for one of my ongoing fics, but written for Zutara Month 2018 Day 20, "Meeting the Family."

A/N: This is going to be a chapter for my Modern AU fic, "Thinking Out Loud," and since I've been neglecting my ongoing stories for Zutara Month, I thought I'd hit two birds with one stone. There's not much context needed for this chapter, just that the characters are aged up by around ten years. Things will be explained throughout the story, and there's nothing too spoilery about this one coz TOL's really just shameless Zutara lol. If you wanna give that fic a read, please do! It hasn't caught up to this chapter yet, but I still hope you enjoy it!

Of course they followed Zuko. These were Toph and Katara, after all. Nothing could really stand in the way of a meddling, mischievous blind girl and a nosy— no, not nosy, just curious— Mom Friend. Especially not after the phone conversation they heard through his door.

"Think he's meeting with that knife-throwing ex he told us about?" Toph said, cracking her knuckles as they followed a safe distance away, keeping to the shadows of the stalls that lined the beach town's boardwalk.

"Maybe," Katara muttered, idly examining sunglasses on display as she watched Zuko from the corner of her eye. "Isn't he dating that girl from the tea shop, though? Jin?"

Toph shrugged blithely. "Well, he's not married."

Katara opened her mouth to retort when Zuko stopped. She flung a hand out and dragged Toph into an alley, away from the young man's line of sight.

"What? What?" The blind girl squawked. "What's going on, Sugar Queen?"

"He stopped by the tea shop," Katara replied, peeking around the corner. Yep, there he was, sitting at one of the outdoor tables, facing them and fiddling with his phone.

"Jeez, Sparky," Toph snorted, tucking her hands behind her head as she leaned against the wall. "We drag him away from Gramps' place for a vacation and he still ends up in a tea shop."

"Oh, there's someone approaching!" Katara tugged on her companion's sleeve and pointed at the brown-haired newcomer, forgetting Toph can't see. "She looks way too young for him…"

"Ya never know, Sweetness," the blind girl grinned deviously. "Maybe Mr. Hotpants likes shopping in the juniors section. We are near Ember Island U."

"Remind me again why I wanted to apply for a masters degree in a party school." She batted her friend away and narrowed her eyes at the stranger sitting across Zuko. "Too bad I can't see her face— from here, she looks barely legal. Or maybe she's just small, like you. I don't know. Toph?"

Toph pushed past her and swaggered into the street.

"Toph!"

"You really wanna know, Fussy? Let's just go ask him." Toph trudged on casually, and waved about four feet shy of Zuko and his companion. "Heya, Sparky!"

Zuko slapped a hand to his forehead and Katara resisted the urge to do the same. She groaned and tried to hold Toph back from Zuko's table sheepishly, trying not to be too obvious as she appraised the girl he was with, who had turned around at their approach and was regarding them with wide olive green eyes.

She was young, young enough to be a college freshman, or a high school senior. Katara narrowed her eyes. This couldn't possibly be his knife-wielding ex.

Zuko cleared his throat and stood up, muttering a few words to the girl, and met Katara and Toph before they reached the table. He scowled in greeting.

"I told you not to follow me," he reproached, arms crossed.

"Since when have we ever done what you told us?" Toph pointed out with a grin. "C'mon, Hotpants, introduce us to your date."

"She's not my date!" Zuko scrubbed a hand down his face, the tips of his ears reddening. "Look, I let you guys drag me here for this field trip, so just— let me have a little privacy, alright?"

"Of course," Katara snagged Toph's sleeve, ready to pull her back to their rented beach house, but the petite girl stood her ground.

"All privacy's gone out the window when you agreed to be my roommate, Sparky," she reminded him, milky eyes gleaming. "Whatcha hiding?"

Zuko sighed and turned back to his table. Toph cackled triumphantly and clutched the back of his shirt, pushing him forward eagerly. Katara sighed and followed them.

"Kiyi," Zuko called out as they approached, "These are my… my friends. Toph and Katara."

"Oh! This is so cool!" The girl beamed at them excitedly, hands clasped. "I've never met Zuzu's friends before!"

"Zuzu?" Katara laughed and turned to Zuko, who pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down without answering.

"Nice to meet ya," Toph saluted in the girl's general direction. Then she elbowed her way to the table, feeling around for a chair and plunking herself down. "How'd you know Sparky?"

"He's my big brother!" Kiyi replied enthusiastically, bouncing slightly in her chair.

"You never told us you have a sister," Katara said, sitting between Zuko and Toph. Zuko's scowl lightened a smidge.

"I do, but Kiyi's actually my half-sister," he said, and Kiyi rolled her eyes.

"Mom always said 'halfs' don't exist when it comes to family," she chirped, tucking her short brown hair behind her ear.

Zuko's face softened into that expression that Katara saw before he'd left the beach house earlier, that expression that prompted her to agree with Toph and stalk him all over the island.

"Isn't it enough that I prefer you over my actual sister?" He attempted to joke with a slight grin, but Kiyi's face fell into a pout.

"Hey, Azula's mean, but she can be nice when she… calms down," the young girl awkwardly traced patterns on the table. "I haven't really gone to visit her after…"

"I know," Zuko nodded and sipped his tea, and the two lapsed into silence.

Katara squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, silently cursing Toph for talking her into intruding on Zuko's private life. She glanced around for a way to break the tense pause, but Toph beat her to it.

"No wonder you didn't want us to follow ya, Sparky," she chortled. "Hell, when Gramps said your family was complicated—"

"So, Kiyi," interrupted Katara, "Tell us about yourself. Do you live around here? Zuko didn't tell us he had family on Ember Island, otherwise we would've had an easier time convincing him to come."

"Oh, no, it was just great timing," Kiyi grinned cheekily at her brother. "I'm just here scouting colleges. Dad's an Ember Island alum, and Mom and Zuzu studied at Roku's Academy, so I wanted to check them out for myself."

"Wow, that's great! I'm actually here to apply for their graduate program," Katara said, leaning forward in her chair. "We can check out the campus together, if you'd like, since Zuko already graciously agreed to show me around Roku's."

"Only because you were hopeless!" Zuko rolled his eyes and addressed Kiyi. "Don't follow her example if you want to get into Roku's. She wanted to bring the dean cookies and yell 'honor' in her interview."

"I told you I was just kidding," Katara crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not that hopeless! I know how academic bureaucracy works. I graduated top of my class at the Northern Institute!"

"You got your undergrad at Northern?" Zuko's brows raised to his hairline, and Katara smiled with vindication. "I thought… there were reports of professors favoring— I thought they didn't treat girls fairly there."

"They didn't," she said with a grim smile, "Until I forced them to."

"No wonder you chewed me out on our date," Zuko said in quiet realization. "Remember? I tried to pay for dinner—"

"And you didn't even ask me if I wanted to split it with you even though we both ate, all because you assumed that all girls just pretend to reach for the check." Katara let out a bark of laughter at his guilty expression. "Right after you made fun of my low-paying job."

Kiyi clucked her tongue at her brother. "That wasn't very nice, Zuzu."

"Sorry," Zuko rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. "You were right, calling me a sexist jerk."

Toph laughed deviously. "Sweetness can give sexist jerks the ass-kicking of a lifetime," she punched a fist into her palm, rare pride seeping into her tone. "Back at Northern, she just went all the way up against the old guys and proved how much better she was than the dudes. They had no choice but to give her the grades she deserved. It was awesome."

"Thanks, Toph," Katara said sincerely, but Toph rolled her head lazily in her direction and killed the moment.

"Yeah, but you're still a huge nerd for wanting to study again. We had to bring in Sparky here to calm down your obsessive school-hunting."

"It's not obsessive," Katara muttered under her breath, and Zuko coughed disbelievingly beside her.

"You did apply for four schools." He said flatly, and Katara threw her hands up in frustration.

"I wanted backups in case I didn't get into Roku's!"

He just raised his eyebrows at her. "You seriously doubt your abilities after you fought your way through the Northern Institute?"

She frowned at him and didn't respond, because yes, she still doubted if she was good enough to get into her dream school, and it was unfair that he was the one to point that out.

Kiyi leaned her elbows on the table and cupped her face in her hands. "Your girlfriend is so cool, Zuzu."

Zuko and Katara both flushed scarlet.

"She's not—!"

"I'm not his—"

"Why does this always happen?" Zuko groaned into his hand.

"Like I'd know!" Katara cried out indignantly. "I get it when it was Bo and Mako 'cause they're kids, but—"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kiyi waved her hands frantically at the two while Toph laughed in the background. "I just thought— you mentioned a date—"

"It was just one date!" Katara said, her voice several octaves higher. She pointed an accusatory finger at Toph, who was still laughing. "Toph set us up on a blind date! I didn't even want to go—"

"Me neither," Zuko said, glaring at the grinning blind girl.

"Aw, it's such a shame, though," Kiyi said, glancing between the two. "You guys seem really great together."

"Oh, um, we're friends now," Katara inched away from Zuko discreetly. "But we don't always get along— I mean, your brother's not as big of a jerk as he could've been, but— but the date was a disaster and— um, he went through my stuff!"

"You're still on that?" Zuko rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "I told you, I had to make sure that binder was yours— you never forget stuff so I wasn't sure— I wouldn't have read your essays if I knew you'd be so—"

"Calm down, Sparky, she's just looking for things to be mad about 'cause she doesn't wanna admit she was wrong about ya," Toph interjected, and Katara bristled.

"Okay, fine! I was wrong, you were right, you win." She glanced at Kiyi, who was looking at Zuko reproachfully. "I'm sorry. Your brother and I just started off on the wrong foot, but he's really sweet and helpful and he'd do anything for his friends."

"Well, I'm glad!" Kiyi bounced in her chair a little. "Zuzu's never had a lot of friends. Mom was really worried about him. But I knew he'd be okay! It's just really sad that she didn't get to meet you guys."

Toph tensed beside her and a memory surfaced in Katara's mind— she and Zuko, making frozen margaritas for Toph and Sokka and Suki, complaining about cleaning up after their drunk friends, Zuko laughing for the first time around her, asking her why her mother put up with Sokka's sloppiness.

"We lost our mom in an accident when we were kids."

"Oh. I'm sorry. That's something we have in common."

"I'm sure she would've been happy to meet all of us," Katara told the young girl earnestly. "And I'm sure we would have loved her."

Kiyi smiled shyly at her and Katara smiled softly back. Zuko cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Uh, it's getting late…" he started apprehensively. "Is Ikem going to pick you up?"

"Naw, Dad's probably fallen asleep at our cottage in this heat," Kiyi giggled.

"Do you want me to walk you there?" Zuko stood up, hands in his pockets. Kiyi shook her head merrily.

"You go on ahead! I wanna check out some souvenirs first before heading back." She stood up and swung her backpack over her shoulder. "Besides, you'll have plenty of time to walk me around when you give me and Katara a tour of Roku's Academy, right?"

Zuko smiled and shrugged. "Alright then. I'll just text you where to meet us. Don't call again, these two like to eavesdrop."

"Hey! We weren't eavesdropping!" Katara shot up from her seat, hand on her hip. "We were— we were just overhearing!"

"Oh, give it a rest, Sugar Queen, we were totally eavesdropping," Toph said, stretching as she got up. "Led to pretty fun stuff though, I gotta say."

"Yeah!" Kiyi pulled the two girls into a hug, and to her credit, Toph only squirmed a little. "I'm really glad I met you guys!"

"Us, too, Kiyi," Katara laughed as she pulled away. "If you get into Ember Island or Roku's, we can hang out more."

"I'd love that!" She bounded over to Zuko and hugged him tightly from the side. "If you're here, I'd get to see Zuzu more often, too, right?"

Zuko patted her hair bemusedly. "Of course. I promise. I'd visit all the time."

"Yay! See you guys around!" She squeezed him one last time and ran down the boardwalk, disappearing into the crowd.

Toph smirked at Zuko. "Your sister's so precious, Zuzu."

He groaned and trudged back to the direction of their beach house. Katara fell into step beside him.

"For the record, I'm sorry we followed you," she said quietly, so Toph wouldn't protest her sentiment, "But I'm really glad we met Kiyi. She really looks up to you."

There's that soft expression on his face again. Katara wondered if she had to bring up his half-sister every time just so she could see it.

"I wasn't close to my sister— Azula— when I was growing up. Not like you and Sokka. We took sibling rivalry to a new level, and I wasn't a good big brother," he said softly, slowing down so they could keep an eye on Toph, who was confidently walking down the road like she could see where she was going, "I just want to do right by Kiyi. I only reconnected with her when Mom was already gone, but it didn't stop her from treating me like I was really her brother and like we'd grown up together. She trusts me completely, and I don't want to ruin that."

"You won't. I know you won't," Katara took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. It was warm and calloused, but not unpleasant. Quite the opposite, really, but Katara decided not to deal with that thought. "You're already a better big brother than Sokka, anyway. He locked me in the fridge once because he wanted 'intel' on what the inside looked like when the light's out."

Zuko's laugh rasped around the edges, and Katara realized she still hadn't let go of his hand.

"Well, I'm glad you met Kiyi," he said before she could do anything, "Now she can bug someone else besides me."

She finally let go of his hand to cross her arms over her chest. "Hey! I'm a little sister, too. Bugging people is how we show affection."

"Hey, slowpokes!" Toph yelled from a ways away. "C'mon! I'm starving. And tired. Sparky, carry me to the house."

"Does that make Toph my little sister, too?" Zuko muttered, and Katara laughed.

A/N: Thanks for reading! It's a bit hard to characterize Kiyi, since we saw only a bit of her in the comics. Please tell me what you guys think! Were some of their backstories confusing? Did it make you want to read Thinking Out Loud? Hehe. I'd love to hear from you guys!