A/N: I've found that I enjoy the dynamic between Zuko and Sokka. A lot.

Aang had been used to Zuko longer than he had hoped he would be by this point. He wasn't quite sure that it was within what he should feel comfortable doing with Zuko, but really, he didn't want to wait much longer. So he went to Sokka.

"Sokka!" Aang shouted up to the tree Sokka had been sitting in. Had being the key word. At Aang's shout, Sokka jumped, lost his balance and failed to find something to grab onto, falling right in front of Aang.

"Hello Aang." Sokka said, not quite able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. But Sokka didn't really mind. After all, he was the sarcasm guy.

"Sokka. I need your help."

"Well, Aang. I would have assumed as much by you scaring me out of the tree." Aang grinned sheepishly. "But, I'm not surprised. After all, I'm a helpful guy. So, what do you need my amazing expertise in?" Aang rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Well, you see, I want to ask Zuko about something really important, but I don't want to do it so I want you to ask instead, and pretend like I'm just there to keep the peace. It'll be easy, because, you know, I'm the avatar, so I'm supposed to make peace even if I wouldn't actually need to help keep peace if it weren't for the fact that I needed help with something that risked keeping peace." Sokka took a brief moment to revel in the fact that he was smart enough to follow that train of thought. And then indulged in a little frustration that Aang hadn't really wanted Sokka's expertise after all. He only wanted Zuko's expertise. And a lot of confusion at what could be so important that Aang had to ask, but didn't want to ask, not to mention that Zuko had the ability to help when he, Sokka, could not.

Sokka allowed a long sigh, just to let Aang know that he was lucky he was the avatar, and that Sokka probably wouldn't be agreeing if he weren't.

"Why can't you just ask me?" Sokka asked, as a last ditch attempt at avoiding the angry jerk.

"Because, Sokka. Iroh told me that Zuko has a girlfriend! So Zuko can help me!"

"I have a girlfriend too!" Aang paused.

"But… I don't want to ask you." Sokka tried to figure out what strange kind of logic Aang had gone with to conceive this plan, seeing as to ask Zuko, he'd need to know the question anyway. As he was about to point this fact out, he saw Katara across camp. Her expression was read clearly enough. Whichever of his stupid plans you're about to burst, don't do it. Sokka was proud to say he was exceptionally brave. He wasn't afraid to fight, he wasn't afraid of magic water, or any of that freaky spirit stuff. There was very little he was afraid of. However, his sister happened to be one of those things.

"Okay then. What do I have to ask the Angry Jerk?"

"Thank you Sokka! Okay, now I'll come with you. You just have to ask him for girl advice." Sokka choked.

"What?!" Aang smiled sheepishly. "I am not going to do something that would degrade me so far as to ask the Angry Jerk—" Katara's glare once again silenced him. Damn his sister and her slightly terrifying temper. Sokka sighed.

"Okay Aang. Lead the way."

Sokka was, as he had anticipated, regretting agreeing to this. Zuko was more of a moron than Sokka had given him credit for, and more of a dweeb than Sokka would have believed. It was enough to make Sokka wonder how the guy had gotten the girlfriend that had apparently cause him to be the instructor in this talk. "You're beautiful when you hate the world." Sokka was not quite sure he'd heard anything less romantic in his life. And Sokka had heard many non-romantic things in his life. Occasionally involving his sister's complaints about his socks. And Aang was sitting there, face rapt with attention. And seemed to be under the impression that this was good advice. Sokka once again suppressed the urge to hit himself with his boomerang, because supposedly, he was the one who wanted to hear this.

When Zuko moved on to even more stupid things he'd said, (Though supposedly, they were romantic, according to him.) Sokka resolved to ask Iroh if Zuko was joking or if he was making this girl up. Or if there was the slight chance that there actually was a girl stupid enough to go out with a dweeb like him.

"Dinner!" Sokka heard Toph shout. Toph was the loudest shouter, so instead of helping make food, she yelled when it was ready. Sokka could only assume they got out of helping because Katara wanted Aang to be able to follow with his stupid plan.

"Thank Yue!" Sokka muttered as he stood up. "Well, thank you, Zuko. Time for food now. Bye." Aang stood up and hugged Zuko and Sokka decided that the expression on Zuko's face made the whole experience almost worth it. Almost.

At dinner, Sokka was eating when he heard Aang.

"You're so beautiful when you hate the world." Aang said to his baby sister. Sokka clenched his fork so tightly it snapped in half.

"But… I don't hate the world…" Katara said, looking severely confused, at best. Sokka looked around. Toph was also confused, but he could see her suppressing a laugh. Iroh was watching the exchange with some mix of pleasure and amusement. And Zuko was giving Aang a thumbs up. Sokka stood up.

"This is why you wanted me to ask that?!" Sokka shouted. "I sat through an HOUR of this IDIOT because you wanted to flirt with my baby sister! Because you are the avatar, you get a ten second head start. I recommend running." Aang did not hesitate to obey. Katara still seemed confused, but everyone else was laughing. Sokka muttered something under his breath, and though none of them understood, Toph thought she heard him say something about a fictional girlfriend.