Accidental Avatar 3: Totally Lit

School!

Aang and Mangetsu stumbled slightly as they were both shoved into a classroom, dozens of students staring at the newcomers in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Oh!" a middle-aged woman with a severe expression. "Are these new minds ready for moulding?"

"That's right," Aang said cheerfully, knocking his head to indicate emptiness. Mangetsu snorted and rolled his eyes, his hands folded in his large sleeves. "Let the moulding begin!"

The officers that had brought them turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" the teacher said, eying the boys critically. The officers stopped mid-step and turned to stare hard at them. "You're not from the Fire Nation!"

The woman approached the two, a critical eye fixed on the fair if scruffy hair that Mangetsu sported and the way neither boy looked like the typical Fire Nation child.

"Clearly, you're from the colonies," she said.

"Yeah, the colonies," Aang breathed. "Of course. The Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom."

"Your etiquette is terrible, to say nothing of your surly friend there," she muttered the second half mostly to herself. "In the homeland, we bow to our elders. Like so."

She demonstrated the way to bow, tapping him disapprovingly when he got it wrong. Aang looked around desperately, a girl in the front row catching his gaze. She demonstrated the correct motion, and Aang smiled gratefully. Once Aang had accomplished the task, the teacher became aware that Mangetsu was still standing with a scowl on his face. She gave an irritated cough, and Aang nudged the scowling boy in the ribs. Despite his glare, he grudgingly repeated the motion.

She then tapped Mangetsu's shoulder with her stick thing.

"Where is your uniform, young man?"

"I don't have-"

"He has some really bad scars. They're super bad looking," Aang cut in before Mangetsu said something to get them into trouble. "They said it was okay, so long as he looked neat and wasn't disruptive."

"Hmph," the teacher seemed to accept that, though whether she believed him was debatable. "We don't accept head coverings indoors."

Mangetsu grumpily removed his, his hair falling into his face messily. Aang laughed nervously.

"I... also have a scar," he pressed a hand to his forehead. "Mine's really embarrassing."

"Very well," she sighed heavily. "What are your names? Or should we just call you "Mannerless Colony Slobs"?"

"Just "Slobs" is fine," Aang chuckled. When no one else reacted favourably, he quickly backtracked. "Or, uh... Kuzon."

Aang turned to the class with a huge friendly smile. Mangetsu was the opposite, refusing to turn and face the class or smile. Aang kicked the boy's ankle.

Mangetsu sighed, turning to the class with an indifferent grunt. "Mangetsu."

Hours later, a bell rang, signalling the end of the school day. As the kids streamed out, Aang and Mangetsu paused near a fountain. Aang peeked down at the lemur hiding in his jacket.

"We made it through the day, guys," he breathed. "And... it was pretty fun!"

Mangetsu rolled his eyes, jumping at the sudden voice behind them.

"Don't let the headmaster catch you with that monkey."

Aang shoved Momo back into his jacket and spun around with an innocent grin. 

"What monkey?"

"Don't worry," she giggled. "I'm not a tattletale. My name's On Ji. I like your hair, by the way."

She addressed the last part to Mangetsu, who blinked at her, his surly expression becoming bashful for a moment before he scowled and looked away.

Before Aang could nudge a polite response out of the boy, someone jostled the two from behind. Pure fury flashed in Mangetsu's eyes as Aang tapped him on the shoulder to calm down.

A tall Fire Nation boy threw an arm over On Ji's shoulders. She looked extremely unhappy about the situation.

"On Ji, you don't have to babysit the new kids," he said contemptuously.

"Wow," Aang said amiably, bowing to the boy. "You must be one of those popular kids I've heard about."

"That's right," he sneered. "Now listen, friend... I know you're from the colonies, so I'll say this slowly."

He started enunciating slowly, getting closer to the two boys as he did. "On Ji... is... my... girlfriend. Don't for- hey, what's so funny?"

Aang stared at Mangetsu wide-eyed. He was snickering and seemed to be unable to stop.

The boy was getting increasingly upset and reached out to grab Mangetsu, gripping the smaller boy's robes in a fist. In a flash of movement, Mangetsu had grabbed the boy's wrist, twisting it until he was on his knees, barely able to cry out as Mangetsu had his free hand pressed over the other boy's mouth.

"Try and touch me again; I'll break your wrist, understood?" the boy nodded, tears in his eyes.

"Mangetsu, stop. You're hurting him!" Aang cried.

"Shut up," he snapped, turning his attention back to the boy. "First off. On Ji doesn't need your permission to talk to other people. Second off. I don't need your permission to talk to her. If she really is your girlfriend, trust that she cares enough not to betray you. Otherwise, you shouldn't be in that relationship."

Mangetsu released the boy and stepped back. The boy rubbed his arm, scampering away with a confused and ashamed face.

"You really shouldn't let dirtbags like that tell you what to do," Mangetsu said to On Ji. "Honestly, don't ever let anyone do that."

"Thank you," On Ji smiled softly.

"If you ever need help..." Mangetsu let it hang in the air, probably because the girl was a light tinge of pink.

"I didn't mean..." he stammered, going bright red.

Aang grabbed Mangetsu's collar and pulled him away before he could dig his hole any deeper. "You are terrible at flirting," he groaned.

"Like you're any better," Mangetsu slapped his hand. "At least I don't swoon like a dove every time Katara comes in the room. Besides, that's not even what's going on here!"

"I don't!" Aang pouted.

"I don't believe it!" another kid rocked up to the small argument, effectively stopping the two boys. "You beat him up. Well, kinda, but you got him to leave you alone, and you didn't get beat up!"

"Uh... right," Mangetsu said, his cheeks turning a darker shade of pink.

Aang snickered, only to get whacked upside the head. "Ow, hey!"

"We're on our way to play hide-and-explode," he continued, smiling at both of them. "You wanna come?"

"Uh-"

"YEAH, SURE!" Aang said cheerfully, grabbing Mangetsu's wrist.

"Ow, quit pulling!"