Disclaimer: I don't Avatar. If I did, someone would have yelled "TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS" at the end.
"GUYS! GUYS!" Sokka yelled, running into view, flailing his arms like a mad-man. "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO I JUST SAW!" Skidding to a stop in-front of Katara, Aang and Toph, and panting heavily, he started pointing behind him. "Back...in the...forest! It...was...JET. FRICKING JET."
---
"Sokka, I think you're hallucinating." Aang said, eyes shifting uncomfortably between the two girls on either side of him.
"It wouldn't be the first time." Toph pointed out.
"I'M NOT HIGH." Sokka whined, stomping his foot. "I know it sounds crazy, but I saw Jet. With Zuko. And I don't just mean walking next to him or something. I mean WITH him, like WITH HIM WITH HIM. I couldn't make this shit up!!"
"Maybe...maybe we should go check it out..." Katara said, looking up from the ground. It was the first time she'd spoken since Sokka came running back and went on his huge and un-necessarily detailed rant about how he saw Jet and Zuko making out. "Just...just in case."
Aang scowled at Sokka, who just shrugged. It wasn't his fault that Katara's nasty ex-boyfriend was gay with their mortal enemy. Toph sighed, smacking herself on the forehead. It was going to be a long day.
---
"THERE. I TOLD YOU." Sokka hissed, pointing at the two boys about twenty feet in front of him. The other three simply stared, open-mouthed at the sight before them. It was definatley Jet, and he was definatley with Zuko. And they definatley weren't just talking.
"Somebody pick me up, I really don't want to see that." Toph said, who was now standing on one foot and hopping.
---
Toph was the first one to speak when they got back to their camp. "I think I'm scarred for life."
"I think we all are." Aang said, plopping down on the ground next to Appa.
"I wanna know what Jet's doing running around with ex-fire nation princes." Katara mused. "Jet hates the fire nation, we all know that."
"Obviously not all of them."
"Shut up Sokka."
---
"I don't want either of them here. I hate both of them." Sokka scowled.
"Well...we know Jet isn't all bad." Katara offered weakly.
"You just want him around because he's hot." Her brother seethed, turning to glare at the two people who were apparantly experiencing a change-of-heart. He didn't buy it. After no one replied, Sokka realized there were all staring at him with the same 'WTF?' look on their faces. "What?"
"You just said Jet was hot!" Toph yelled, falling to the ground in a laughing heap.
"I DID NOT!"
"Uhh...yeah, you did." Aang said.
"WHATEVER. IT DOESN'T MATTER. I STILL HATE BOTH OF THEM."
Toph stopped laughing long enough to stand up and agree with Katara - Jet wasn't all bad.
"Remember the last time we saw him? He helped us find Appa."
"He was also brainwashed last time we saw him." Sokka argued, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well that's not his fault." Aang said, adding on that he eventually snapped out of it and helped them anyway.
"Okay, fine. Maybe Jet isn't ALL bad, but he's still an asshole. An asshole who makes out with people who are trying to kill us."
No one had anything to say to that. After a few minutes, Aang spoke up.
"I do need someone to teach me how to firebend."
"AGGHH. FINE. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. BUT WHEN THEY KILL US ALL IN OUR SLEEP DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU." Sokka yelled, throwing his arms up and stalking into the temple.
---
Sokka's eyes shot open, flicking to the far wall of his room. He couldn't take it anymore. It was bad enough he couldn't sleep because he was worried Zuko would come in and set him on fire just for the fun of it, or he would wake up and not be able to go back to sleep after another one of those dreams he'd starting having lately that seriously freaked him out. Being woken up by Zuko's goddamn moaning was just too much. No doubt THIS was the cause of his hideously disturbing dreams, he reasoned. He still hated their new ally, after all. His subconsious must have just transferred what he heard while he slept into his dreams. It made perfect sense to Sokka. Growling and muttering almost every obscenity known to man, the now fully-awake teen hauled himself out of bed and grudgingly got dressed, not bothering to tie up his hair. He stomped out into the hallway, banging on the door with who-knows-what going on behind it.
"WILL YOU TWO BE QUIET ALREADY!?"
And he continued to stomp outside, where he stomped around in an aggravated circle, and then flopped down into a tired blob on the ground. And that was where the rest of the gang found him in the morning, asleep. And that was the first time Jet looked at Sokka like he used to look at his sister, and like he looked at Zuko now.
---
"Hey, Sokka."
"Go to hell."
"Well then. That wasn't very nice."
"I don't care."
"Obviously." Jet answered, leaning up against a tree, watching Sokka watch Zuko teaching Aang firebending. "Can I ask you something?"
"No."
"You don't trust me, do you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Sokka turned his attention from the flames shooting from both Zuko and Aang's fingertips to Jet's questioning face. He blinked a few times, as if what he'd just heard hadn't really sunk in yet. Jet waited for an answer only to realize that Sokka wasn't looking at him like he was a moron because of what he said - he was looking at him like he was a moron because the answer was painfully obvious. He just wasn't ever going to, simple as that. Jet groaned in defeat, shrugging. Sokka turned his attention back to the flames, and back to the fingers they were coming out of, and back to the bare arms and chest and back that the fingers were attatched to, and back to the jet black hair flopping messily over the face he was getting used to seeing behind his eyelids at night. Jet smirked as Sokka finally replied.
"I hate you both."
---
Zuko was scowling as he followed Sokka through the forest, looking for food they most likely wouldn't find. He still didn't get why Katara had sent him along, Sokka was a big boy - he could take care of himself. And it's not like Katara trusted him enough to think he'd save her brother if he was dieing anyway. Not that he wouldn't, because he would, but Katara probably didn't think that. Sokka probably didn't think that either. Zuko sighed, drifting off into a nice little daydream where the people he was trying to help actually trusted him and didn't think he was going to burn them to death one day. Unfortunatley, he stopped paying attention to where he was going and smacked right into the back of Sokka, who'd abruptly stopped walking.
"What was that for?"
"Well maybe you could warn me next time you're about to randomly stop right in front of me." Zuko snapped, coming out of his daydream. Stupid Sokka ruins everything, it had been a very nice daydream. Of course, his daydream wouldn't have been nearly as nice if it wasn't for Sokka, but that's besides the point.
"Well maybe you should pay better attention instead of daydreaming about Jet all day long!" Sokka yelled, jabbing his hunting companion in the chest with a finger.
"I wasn't daydreaming about Jet, you idiot."
"Uh huh, sure you weren't."
"I wasn't."
"Then what WERE you thinking about?" Zuko glared at Sokka, and Sokka glared at Zuko. "Well?" Silence. "That's what I thought."
---
"Boo."
"Go to hell."
"Is that how you're always going to greet me?" Jet asked, his chin resting on Sokka's shoulder.
"Yes." Sokka replied, elbowing the boy behind him in the ribs, trying to get him to go away. Unfortunatley Jet just 'oof'ed and flicked him in the side of the head.
"That hurt."
"Good."
"Sokkaaaa...! Why are you so meeeeaaaaan?" Jet whined, wrapping his arms around Sokka's shoulders, and pouting.
"Because I hate you." Sokka answered, but only after he'd shoved Jet's arms away and punched him the face for good measure. Jet sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.
---
Taking previous rejections into account, Jet decided to leave out the physical contact for this attempt at conversation. Instead he sat down a fair distance away from the water tribe boy, who was apparently looking at something extremely interesting.
"What're you looking at?"
"Go to hell." Jet waited. He figured if he sat there long enough Sokka would eventually tell him. He was right. "It's for the invasion. It's a map of the area Zuko drew up for me. Not very well, I might add." Jet smiled, imagining Zuko trying to draw anything. It was a pretty funny thought. Then another thought crossed Jet's mind.
"You don't hate him as much as you hate me, do you?" It appeared as if Sokka hadn't heard him, as he was staring intently at the crudely drawn map for some time before he finally spoke.
"I hate you both."
---
Zuko was once again scowling as he followed Sokka through the forest. Only this time he wasn't scowling because Sokka hated him, and he was being forced to spend time with him. He was scowling because Jet was an asshole. An asshole who was hitting on people right in front of him. He was starting to realize why Sokka greeted him with "go to hell". He probably would to, if he wasn't so damn pretty. Damn that Jet and his pretty face. Zuko groaned in frustration, earning an odd look from Sokka. "What?"
"That's what I was going to ask. What are you so mopey about, anyway?" Sokka asked, turning around to start walking again.
"I hate hormones."
"Yeah, they suck."
"Nice choice of words."
"HA HA. Look who grew a sense of humor." Sokka snapped, smacking Zuko on the side of the head. Not surprisingly, Zuko hit him back. What was surprising was that they didn't get into a big fist fight, they simply kept walking.
---
Zuko was going to go insane. Literally. He couldn't take it anymore. He knew Jet was lusting over Sokka, and let's face it - so was he. And yet, at night they'd still end up making out and many times doing more than that. Why, he had no idea, and it was driving him nuts. The exiled prince was currently laying on the ground next to Aang, who had requested a break in firebending training. It was relatively quiet until both benders shot up, after hearing a rather loud "GO TO HELL" echo off their surroundings. They both looked around, wondering where it had come from, as neither Sokka nor Jet was in sight. That was until Sokka came sprinting out of the temple and dunked his head into the fountain.
"What's he doing?" Zuko asked, after it became apparent that Sokka was rubbing one side of his face vigorously under the water.
"I...have no idea..." Aang said, looking at Sokka with the same blank look on his face that Zuko had. When Sokka finally emerged, gasping for air, he was greeted by Aang and Zuko still staring at him with the same confused expressions.
"What?"
"Uh, what were you doing?" Aang asked cautiously, not sure he wanted to know why Sokka almost drowned himself.
"Washing Jet germs off my face. Asshole might be contagious, I don't want to catch it."
Aang sighed, slapping himself on the forehead. Zuko turned away to keep himself from laughing, just as Toph came running out to meet Sokka. Or rather, to tackle-hug Sokka and knock him over. "THAT WAS FABULOUS! I think you actually knocked him out, dude!"
"Thanks." Sokka replied, spitting a stream of water from his mouth and back into the fountain he was now sitting in. "I think."
"Oh sorry." Toph said, getting up and climbing out of the fountain she'd knocked them into. She was still smiling from ear to ear, though, and didn't look very apologetic.
"No you're not."
"Yeah, you're right. But I do have some manners, you know. If you push someone into a fountain you should say sorry, or they might try to kill you later on."
"Nice."
"Thank you." She said, smiling and skipping off as Katara called her to come move Jet's unconsious body out of the middle of the hallway.
"Are you going to get out, or just sit in there all day?" Zuko asked, staring at Sokka, who chose to answer him by splashing water in his face and getting out, only to be pushed back in.
"What was that for!?" Zuko simply pointed to his dripping hair. "Oh, get over it." Sokka said, letting his hair down and pointing at it.
"Hey, that wasn't my fault."
"Sure it was - indirectly." Zuko stared at him, not comprehending. "It's your fault Jet's here, so I blame you for all my misfortune."
"Oh, pardon me. Sorry for your inconveniance." Zuko retorted, the words lacking any real emotion, as he wasn't concentrating on what Sokka was saying as much as he was concentrating on the fact that he was dripping wet.
"No you're not."
"I know." Which got the firebender pulled into the fountain as well.
"Are you sorry now?"
"Not particularly." Aang sighed and slapped himself on the forehead again. Teenagers were so stupid sometimes.
---
Sokka was sitting on the fountain, watching Aang practice firebending. He pretty much had it down, so Zuko was just standing off the the side, making sure Aang didn't catch anything on fire accidently. Which is kind of ironic because Zuko accidently caught things on fire all the time. Sokka was enjoying sitting around and not doing anything, but that didn't last long.
"Hey." Jet said, sitting down next to Sokka like they were old friends. Receiving no reply, Jet glanced over only to see Sokka was staring directly ahead, pointedly ignoring him. "You're not even going to tell me to go to hell?" Sokka didn't move. "I can't tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing." Sokka still didn't move. "Listen, I'm sorry I, you know, kissed you. I mean, it was just on the cheek, it's not that big a deal." Sokka's head slowly turned so that he was staring daggers at Jet instead of the middle of nowhere.
"Go. To. Hell." And he finally moved, getting up to walk away.
"I bet you'd like me better if I could firebend, huh?" Sokka stopped, shoulders hunched, fists clenched. Jet smirked, standing up and striding towards the visibly angry Sokka. He leaned in close, almost whispering. "Or maybe if I had a cool scar?" Aang had stopped practicing, his and Zuko's attention both focused on the two tanned boys standing not twenty feet from them. Neither one heard what Jet said next, all they heard was a furious scream from Sokka, who was know beating the shit out of Jet.
"Should...should we stop them?" Zuko asked, as Jet started fighting back. Aang debated, watching the fight unfold. Neither was using any kind of weapon, they were just rolling around punching eachother in the face.
"Only if it looks like they're really going to kill eachother." Aang said, wincing as he heard something on Jet crack from a particularly hard hit to the nose.
"If you're sure..." Aang nodded, as the words that were being yelled back and forth became more than curses and I hate you's.
"It's not my fault your a disgusting asshole that doesn't deserve to live!"
"Well it's not my fault you won't give me a second chance!"
"Well it's not MY fault you don't deserve one!"
"Well it's not MY fault you're a stubborn bastard!"
Jet was flinging insults just as well as Sokka was, but he was clearly losing the actual fight. Sokka was currently punching him repeatedly in the face, screaming "I HATE YOU" over and over again, and Aang was about to go over and stop him, because it didn't look like he was going to stop any time soon, but he did. Sokka finally stopped beating Jet, long enough to hiss one last "I hate you."
"I know." Jet said, turning his head and spitting some blood out onto the dirt.
"You know what else?" Jet looked up at Sokka, and blinked in surprise. Sokka looked like he was about to kill him, or something. Jet shook his head slightly, and Sokka leaned in closer, to make sure Jet heard every word he said. "If we're going to have any casualties during this invasion, you can be sure I'll make you the first one." Jet gaped at the brusied and bloodied boy leaning over him, not quite believing what he'd just heard. Not only did Sokka look like he could kill him, he'd just told him he probably would. "And I still hate both of you." Sokka added, as an after thought, as he picked himself up off the ground and walked away, Aang and Zuko looking at him with the same expression as Jet.
---
Later that night Sokka was sitting in his room, doing nothing. He still hurt from fighting with Jet earlier. He had a nasty black eye and a few bruises along his jaw and plenty on his chest where Jet had punched him, and he really didn't feel like moving. He looked up when the door opened, expecting Katara coming in to make sure he was still there again. He raised an eyebrow in question when Zuko came in, closing the door behind him and coming over to sit next to him.
"Why do you hate me?"
"He told you I said that, huh?"
"Yeah."
Sokka glared at Zuko, who held his stare. Sokka looked away first.
"I hate you because you see the way he is around me, you know what he does, and you just let it go! It's like you don't even care he's pretty much cheating on you right in front of your face!" Sokka realized he was yelling, but kept going, turning back to glare at Zuko again. "And I mostly hate you because I...I could do what he does for you, too, you know."
There, he'd said it. And Zuko was still just sitting there looking at him.
"Then why don't you?" Sokka's jaw dropped. He stared at the boy sitting next to him for close to five minutes before said boy sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're pathetic." Sokka's jaw snapped back up, and his surprised stare turned back into a glare. That didn't stop him from leaning in and pressing his lips to Zuko's, though. And it didn't stop his hands from locking themselves around Zuko's neck, and it also didn't stop his hands from stripping off both their shirts, and it certainly didn't stop his hands from making their way down.