a/n: this will be slash, so don't read if that's not your cup of tea. To the people who have been waiting like, half a year for me to update that Naruto fic — I'm really sorry. I don't think it will be updated any time soon, but it will be finished some day. For now, there's this.

Loosely based on the events after episode 3-12. I say loosely because I haven't watched it in a while and can only sort of remember what happened. Oh, yeah, and I completely forgot about Haru, Tao, and the Duke, so...they're gone. If you like you can pretend they're just being very, very quiet.

In the end, all of Sokka's logic and reason had been overruled by a (hundred and) twelve year old boy.

They had accepted the firebender into their group.

Sokka, too, was forced to relent, but if he had to give up his victory, then he was going to go down kicking and screaming. As was his usual way. Nobody ever said he had to be nice to the fancy hotpants.

But still, it was weird.

"Here's your, uh, room."

"Thank you?" The fire nation prince said, more as a question than anything. Sokka's hospitality apparently confused him. It confused Sokka, too. Wasn't he saying how he wouldn't be nice to the firebender just a few sentences ago? Things just happen than way. He couldn't be outright hostile, that wasn't his way. Besides, the guy was teaching Aang firebending, and that's...a good thing, right?

So, Sokka supposed, the problem was that this guy was a jerk and yet he was being helpful. It was a paradox. Then, he was confused because he didn't know how to act around the prince.

He decided, in the end, to being his usual self.

"I am so sick of eating fruit!" Sokka sighed and flopped down onto the blanket spread over the cold stone of the air temple, one hand curled around his waist. "It does nothing for me."

Katara hmpfed.

"You reap what you sow, Sokka. This is the best that any of us - including you - could find, so now we have to accept that and stop complaining."

The firebender looked up from the peach he was about to bite into and said, almost meekly (but not meekly, because there was no way that stuck up fancy royal firepants could be meek), "I can try to find something else."

Sokka looked at him from his awkward angle on the ground. What was this? Fancy hotpants was doing the...being helpful thing again? This was unbelievable.

"Don't bother." Katara snapped at him, with rage in her voice that made her response seem ill-suited to the prince's offer of help, "It's too late for that and besides, some people need to stop acting so spoiled." Katara had a lot of pent-up anger these days, mostly directed towards one person. Even after Sokka had given up really trying to antagonize the firebender (intentionally, at least), Katara had never really let it go. On a bad day everyone would feel her wrath.

But that person was already standing up and reaching for his sword.

"There's a lot of game that only come out late in the night. Batfrogs, for instance...I saw a huge nest of them on my way here."

"I said—"

He was already walking away.

"Hey, yeah, actually." Aang butted in with a thoughtful expression on his face, "I didn't go out a lot at night, back at the temple, but sometimes we'd sneak out and—"

"HEY! You're not listening to me! Oh, hold on one second Aang, I'll be right back." Katara rushed after the firebender. Sokka did not envy him right now.

"Oh boy," Aang sighed, showing a weariness beyond his (one hundred and) twelve years. He tapped Sokka on the shoulder and then stood up, "I'm gonna go after them. I'm afraid Zuko is going to get hurt."

"You do that." Sokka said rather unenthusiastically. Too lazy to get up, he craned his head so that he could see Aang following after the others. Haha, everyone was upside-down.

Well.

Now it was just him and—

"Heeeey Toph. What's going on?"

A rock came hurtling towards his head. He dodged it with an unmanly squeak.

"What was that for?!"

"If my complete and utter SILENCE for the last half an hour or so didn't tip you off, maybe the fact that I'm sitting away from the campfire, in a sleeping bag would have given it away? You think?"

"Oh. Sleeping, right? Gotcha. Sounds good to me. I'm probably gonna catch a few Z's myself in a moment or two, depending on if anyone comes back with more food—eek!"

This time, it was a rain of tiny pebbles, which was just as bad and ten times harder to avoid.

Katara returned with Aang by her side not a few minutes later.

No fire lord's son was anywhere to be seen. Sokka wondered if they'd find the body floating upstream tomorrow morning.

"He disappeared." Katara said in her best "do-not-mess-with-me-sokka" voice.

"Well, he is a ninja. Sometimes." Aang said helpfully. Katara gave him a pained smile.

"Anyway, he can't just do whatever he feels like." Sokka sat up, settling in. He could feel it. One of her tirades against the firenation was about to get underway. "Does he forget that he's only here because of your goodwill, Aang? You, god forbid, trusted him and allowed him to stay with us when he had nothing else! Nothing! And he could easily go back to nothing! And if he thinks I'll forgive him for all the crimes the firenation has committed in the past just because he brings back a little extra food—well, he can forget it!"

"I...don't think he's expecting that to happen," Aang said.

"Well anyway!" Katara announced, apparently having run out of things to say but not the need to say them, "Let's all just get some rest."

"What about Zu—"

"It's late. Let's sleep." Katara said, her voice taking on that firm, mothering quality. Well, whatever. Sokka was fine with any plan right now.

"But, he's going to come ba—" Aang was cut off again.

"SLEEP. Please?"

There was a stretch of silence and then—

"Are you all really done talking?" —from Toph's corner. There was no immediate response, and several more moments of quiet. "Thank GOD."

When Sokka woke up because of a prickling feeling on the back of his neck, he couldn't tell if minutes or hours had passed. The campfire had burned away to nothing more than a few pathetic cinders. Everybody else was fast asleep. Except—

The firebender wasn't anywhere to be seen. Curious, Sokka got up to check in the 'room' they had given the prince. But that too was empty.

"Huh," said Sokka aloud. And then an unusual yet familiar smell wafted through the air. Sokka sniffed. "That smells like...meat."

He followed the smell up to an alcove near the perimeter of the air temple. As he walked, he began to notice a glow on the walls he was coming up on, reflected back from firelight. Then he turned the corner and there was the prince, sitting in front of a campfire. He had a number of batfrogs skewered on sticks, sitting near the fire but not in it. The heat was probably causing them to cook very slowly. The firebender had one of the batfrogs in his hands and was eating it, absently. He looked up at Sokka's approach, unsurprised.

"Hello, Sokka," he said quietly, and Sokka was momentarily taken aback. He wasn't even sure the firenation prince knew his name, and now to hear it spoken without a hint of malice or anger–

"Uh, hi, Zuko," Sokka replied, and was finally forced to concede that yes, Mr. Firenation fancy hotpants prince did have an actual name. "Um, can I—?" He gestured to the ground.

"Go ahead," Zuko said, and handed him one of the batfrogs-on-a-stick.

"Thanks," Sokka said, and unashamedly dug into eating with all of his usual energy. Meat, glorious meat! His stomach was thankful. "Um, what are you—?" he asked, seemingly unable to form full sentences.

"It's for the others," Zuko replied in a halting tone.

"Oh."

"'Cause it's going to be dawn soon. They'll be ready when everyone else gets up."

"Don't you sleep?" Sokka asked him, incredulously.

"Not lately," Zuko said, unable to keep the trace of melancholy bitterness out of his voice. He curled up his knees to his chest and rested his chin there, eyes closing shut.

"...Oh," was all Sokka could think so say. "Well, you should try to. It's great."

"I can imagine."

"Nightmares?" he inquired.

"How did you know?" Zuko's eyes snapped open and he looked at Sokka, unbelieving.

"It's all over your face," Sokka said, "Besides, we all have them. Even Momo, I think. But it's hard to tell with him."

Zuko (to Sokka's extreme shock) smiled faintly and went back to resting his head on his knees. They sat in a strange, amicable silence, with the only noise coming from the crackling of the flames. Zuko was the first to break it.

"You're...different from how I expected you to be," he sounded pleased by this fact. Sokka smiled.

"Yeah, well. So are you."

Having eaten his fill (at least for the moment) Sokka leaned back and rested. The stone felt warm for some reason. Yaaawn. He'd just close his eyes for a bit.

Zuko smiled.

When Sokka woke again it was to the bright light of the late morning. People were talking above him — or next to him? Somewhere near him, anyway. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

"We should move him," that voice was Katara's.

"No, no, please don't. I need to see the look on his face when he wakes up like this," that was Toph, "Well, not see exactly, but you get the drift."

Apparently they hadn't noticed he was awake.

"C'mon guys, this isn't any way to start off a morning," that was Aang, ever the peace maker. What on earth were they talking about? "Oh, but I didn't mean that, Zuko. Thanks so much for the breakfast!"

"No problem," Zuko said, his voice oddly close. Okay, what was going on? Groggily, Sokka tried to sit up, supporting his weight on the warm, soft, stone floor. Or, the stone floor's leg at least.

Wait.

Back up just a tiny bit.

"Nyrgh hem herrag?" Sokka asked. He looked up.

"Good morning," Zuko replied.

"Uh, 'morning." Sokka said, vocal chords finally agreeing with him. A pause.

"Okay, you want to get off his lap now?" Katara said, hands on her hips.

"Lap?" Sokka looked down. He patted the surface he was resting on. Strange...stone floors weren't supposed to squirm, were they?

And then, Sokka really woke up.

"Yeeeeeeeeeah!" he jumped off Zuko's lap like a cat who'd had its tail stepped on.

"That was it! That was what I was waiting for!" Toph said, and her evil cackle echoed in the empty air temple.

Sokka stood, trying to catch his breath after being surprised. "Um..." he looked over at Zuko, who seemed strangely unperturbed. What happened to the bad-tempered firebender who'd been chasing them all this time?

"You fell asleep. I didn't want to wake you," he said, not meeting Sokka's eyes.

"Oh. Uh, thanks."

"If we're all done with that, can we please get on with our day?"

Everyone turned to look at Katara.

"Aang, you have some firebending to learn. Toph, you and I can go scout out the surrounding area—"

"You want to take the blind girl to help you scout?" Toph said in frustration.

"—Sokka, see what you can do about our defenses. Azula's still out there, searching for us."

Sokka groaned. And he thought he was a taskmaster. Zuko's level voice interrupted his thought.

"When Azula wants to find us, she will. And we won't be able to stop her."

"What did you say?"

"I know my sister. She's toying with us right now."

"You severely underestimate the power of this group if you think—"

"I'm just telling you what I know!" A streak of old stubbornness had worked its way into Zuko's voice, and Sokka was almost pleased to hear it.

Aang placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"How about that firebending training?" Sokka hated to say it, but the kid was getting kinda good at the whole keeping the peace thing. Except where it involved Katara, of course.

"Uh, sure. I found an ideal place to begin, last night. We can get started right now." Aang grinned as he pulled Zuko to his feet.

"Lead the way, Sifu Hotman."

"What did you call me?"

CHAPTER 1 END

Ta-dah! I couldn't wait to put this up. I've got some idea of where the next few chapters will go, but I'm still working out the overall plot. As usual, I've no idea what is going to happen. Oh well, you're all reading this for the slash anyway, right? Please review and let me know what your thoughts are.