AUTHORS NOTE:

This is my first fic ya'll! I'm still getting used to the formatting, so please bear with me! Any reviews/comments/pointers/critics/anything is appreciated! Hope you enjoy

"I think your uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us? That's hard," Sokka said.

It was genuine, which made Zuko feel even more awkward.

"It wasn't that hard," was the only thing he could think to reply with as he continued blasting fire into the war balloon.

"Really? You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?" Sokka asked

"Well, I did have a girlfriend. Mai." He looked away and smiled just a tiny bit.

"That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" Sokka questioned, amused that his new sulky friend was capable of having a relationship.

"Yeah. Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor. I couldn't drag her into it," he stated as casually as he possibly could, but the tragedy of the situation rang through.

Sokka paused for a short moment, wondering how to show his sympathy without being weird. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon," he offered.

It would have seemed like a joke if he didn't sound so heartbroken when he said it.

Zuko paused for an even longer moment.

"That's rough, buddy."

"Hey, could you come over here real quick? I could use your jerkbending to get this fire going."

"I can't. My jerkbending won't work if it's to help people. Sorry, Sokka."

Sokka grumbled as he continued to rub a stick against the firewood. He'd been at it for minutes now, all while Zuko stood behind him and watched. Aang and Katara were over by the ocean, practicing their waterbending. Katara was preoccupied with Aang, so she insisted that Sokka made himself useful and got dinner started. Except he couldn't get dinner started without a fire.

He jumped when the wood suddenly burst into a flame. "I did it! Hah! I don't need your jerkbending after all, loser!' he pointed at Zuko

Katara giggled as she walked up to the pit. Her eyes glowed and her mouth beamed. "No, but you needed Aang's," she teased as she looked over at Aang, whose hand was still pointed at the fire.

"...Oh. Thanks, Aang." Sokka said defeatedly.

"You should've just had Zuko light the fire in the first place," Katara told her brother, while looking at Zuko. Now that she had finally stopped holding her grudge over him, she actually acknowledged the firebender as part of their team.

"Yeah Sokka, all you had to do was ask," Zuko insisted while giving him a smirk.

"Oh, like you weren't standing behind him watching the whole time," Katara responded.

"Hey, I was just enjoying the show. Sokka didn't seem to want my help. I didn't want to interrupt," he said.

Katara sighed. "Welcome to my life."

The smell of food filled the air, which brought Suki and Toph to the fire pit. Suki greeted Sokka with a peck on the cheek, while Toph went straight for the food. Everyone chattered and ate as the sun set on the ocean.

That night, Sokka peaked his head through Zuko's tent. "Hey, do you mind if I come in for a second?" He asked.

Zuko was sitting in front of a lit candle. The flame grew larger and smaller with his breathing. He nodded at Sokka, gesturing for him to go ahead.

"So, I just kind of wanted to thank you."

"For…?"

"Welp, Katara hasn't really seemed like herself since we invaded the Fire Nation and got our butts whooped, but she looks a lot better now," Sokka explained. "Y'know, since you guys came back from your little field trip to kill a man."

"We didn't kill him."

"I know. But it seems like she got some kind of closure, one that she probably needed for a while, so… Thanks."

"Your sister's terrifying, so I'm glad that she doesn't hate me anymore."

"Really? She's all talk. She wouldn't actually hurt anyone."

Zuko thought back to when he saw her face the man who they thought was her mother's murderer. "She bent a man's limbs," he said. "Never saw anything like it before."

Sokka's eyebrows furrowed.

"I mean, she thought it was the guy who… killed your mom. Turns out it wasn't. She stopped when she realized."

His face relaxed as he understood why she did it. "Well… She has her moments when she's super pissed, I guess."

"I'm just happy I don't have to worry about her doing it to me anymore."

"Welp, that's all I really wanted to say. Goodnight, jerk."

"Hey, Sokka?" he called just before he left the tent.

"Yeah, jerk?"

"Are Katara and Aang like… A thing?"

"I'm not sure if it's considered 'a thing.' Why?"

Zuko shrugged. "Just… Curious." his cheeks turned slightly red.

Sokka smiled as he raised his eyebrows at Zuko.

"That's rough, buddy."

"You know my dad's the chief of the Southern Water Tribe?"

"So?"

"So, I'm basically a prince too. You should really respect me more."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "We have so much in common."

"I mean, my family doesn't own a cool abandoned beach house like this," Sokka said. "And my dad isn't trying to take over the whole world, but those are small differences."

"My family is nothing like yours, Sokka."

"Hey, hey, hey! I just kept seeing you walk around here, rummaging through drawers and stuff. Thought maybe you were homesick."

"No."

"Then what were you looking around for?"

"Nothing. Just seeing if there's anything left of this place."

"Hey man, I get it. Being a prince makes you feel out of place in the cold, hard world," Sokka mused. "It's just part of life for us royalty, you know?"

"You're not funny. Me and Azula burned everything in here not too long ago. I was just seeing if we missed anything."

"Jeez, you two monsters sure know how to have a good time… Why'd you burn everything?"

"To blow off steam, I guess."

"Why?"

"We were angry. Well, I guess I'm mostly the angry one."

"Why?"

"Because I'm always angry"

"Why?"

"That's complicated."

"Why?"

"Are you just trying to annoy me?"

"No! I genuinely want to know why you're always an angry jerk!"

Zuko glared at him.

"Just kidding. About the angry jerk part. I really am interested."

The scar that covered Zuko's face made him good at deflecting personal questions from strangers, but Sokka was his newest friend. Possibly one of his only. He was also persistent.

"Everything has changed since the last time I was here with my whole family. Azula said this place was depressing, so I threw everything into a fire."

"What do you mean everything's changed?"

"It's a long story."

Sokka looked at him.

"My father became Firelord. My mother left," he said in a monotone voice.

"Why?"

"So my dad wouldn't kill me."

"Hah. No, really."

"My uncle was the heir to the throne, but my cousin died in the war. So my father asked my grandfather to revoke his birthright and my him the next Firelord, since Uncle had no other children."

Zuko took a breath. He then continued. "My grandfather didn't like my father's suggestion. He was livid, actually. For disrespecting the loss of Uncle's son, he ordered him to kill his own first born child. Me. He wasn't going to have much of a problem with complying, either."

Sokka's stomach turned, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to keep listening. Zuko went on anyways. "I'm not entirely sure what happened next," he admitted. "My mother came up with a plan for him to take the throne, on the condition that he wouldn't take my life. The next day, my grandfather passed away. My father took his place… And my mother was gone."

Zuko explained the whole story clearly, as if he had lived through it a million times. Now that he was finished talking, he wore a scowl on his face. Every time he exhaled, short bursts of flames came out of his nostrils as he looked away from Sokka and towards the setting sun.

Sokka suddenly understood Zuko in a new light. All of his rage and anger fell into place. He couldn't fathom what kind of father wouldn't have an issue with hurting his own child, let alone murdering him. Zuko had just told him the story of his past, but Sokka knew that there were many details of his childhood that Zuko had to leave out. If it wasn't for Sokka's sake, it was for his own.

Sokka concerningly approached him. "I… I'm sorry, Zuko. You were right. Your family is nothing like mine… I shouldn't have joked around earlier."

The flames stopped. "It doesn't matter anymore. Just know this, Sokka," he said as he looked straight at him. "My father is a bastard who needs to be taken down. If Aang's too weak to do the deed, I'll kill him myself."

"Zuko?"

"What?"

"That scar on your eye. It's not a training accident, is it?"

"No. It's not."

Sokka frowned and looked towards the prince, who turned and started walking away.

"I'm sorry, buddy. That's rough."