Sokka sat cross-legged on the porch looking out in the courtyard of the firelord's house. The walls were covered in vines and weeds sprouted up everywhere, but that was no concern for the firebenders at work.

Aang and Zuko moved in perfect sync together, shooting flames out of their fists and feet into the warm air. Sokka watched them while polishing his prized space sword, feeling mixed emotions of awe and slight jealousy at their artful display. He watched Aang, commenting in his head how smoothly his training seemed to be going, but the real site was Zuko.

For the millionth time, Sokka wondered how he kept his skin so pale when he spent so much time in the sun. He wriggled around, trying unsuccessfully to force thoughts of the fire prince out of his mind. It had been like this for a while; with Zuko training Aang and Sokka spending his days with his own training and planning out the attack on the Firelord, the two boys rarely spoke. For Sokka, Zuko was the first boy he had met that was even close to his age; for Zuko, it was guilt at attacking Sokka's friend and sister and tribe and . . . the list went on.

Strangely, even though they didn't talk, Sokka still found himself thinking about Zuko all the time. Except for when he ate. Other than that, it was, I wonder what Zuko would think, or, would Zuko like this? Or something along those lines. It pissed Sokka off to no end; he'd mentally beaten himself up after he had his first wet dream about Zuko, asking why Suki wasn't in them anymore, why he almost never thought about Yue.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the fire in his vision died and he saw Aang and Zuko walking towards him, towards the house where fresh water would be waiting for them.

Sokka really didn't want to face a sweaty, shirtless Zuko, so he got up to go quickly before they saw him when:

"Hey guys!"

Suki, Katara and Toph were standing in the clearing, Suki and Katara wearing happy faces, Toph's looking rather down.

"We've decided to go to the spa today!" Suki announced, grinning ear to ear. "Yeah," Katara said, "We figured a girl's day is what we really need to relax for a bit."

Zuko came back out and took a swig of water, a small towel hanging around his neck. Sokka noted he still hadn't put a god-damn shirt on. "Which spa were you thinking?" Zuko asked, gulping down the rest of the water.

Sokka didn't listen to Katara as he watched the muscles in Zuko's neck work to bring down the water. He felt a shiver run up his spine as he saw a drop trail down his jaw line until he raised a snowy hand to wipe it off, giving Sokka a beautiful view of his abs. Then he flicked ebony locks out of his eyes with one swift finger movement, causing ripples in Sokka's stomach when he subconsciously ran his fingers lightly through his hair. Suddenly Zuko flicked his eyes over to Sokka, making Sokka physically flinch when those fierce amber eyes met his cerulean irises.

He looked away, cursing the blush that started to cover his tan skin, and noticed everyone looking at him with confused expressions. Everyone, that is, but Toph, who seemed to smirk happily in an evil way.

"Um, sorry, what?"

Katara sighed. "I said if you wanted to come along with us and Aang that would be fine." What? Aang was going? How long had he been spaced out?

"No, thanks," he said quickly, "I don't really want to hang out in a girly spa. You girls have fun. Oh, you too, Aang," Sokka added as he hurriedly turned and left.

As the girls said their goodbyes, Sokka noticed Toph whispering into Zuko's ear, but he hurried to his room to escape this feeling of paranoia that had plagued him.

As he was getting his gear together to take a small hunting trip, he felt another presence in his room and turned to find Zuko leaning against the aged door frame, an intense look of curiosity and nervousness crossing his face.

"Um," he started, not waiting for Sokka to give a greeting, "I'm sorry if asking this feels weird, I mean we never talk to each other, so . . . Sokka, why do you, uh, stare at me all the time?"