Chapter Three

Panic flew through the young water tribe boy as he frantically moved around in his own little space, trying to figure out what to do about the guy on the floor. The Firelord on the floor.

    First, he needed to calm down. After a few calm breaths, he focused on what he should do. Walking over to the limp body on the floor, he checked to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere. He was breathing evenly and when Sokka put his ear on his chest, he heard an evenly beating heart. Sitting up, he heard a soft snore leave the Firelord's lips and he felt himself smile a little.

    Now that the panic was over, he found himself admiring how peaceful the teen looked. Sokka lifted him up by the shoulders in an attempt to pick him up to put him on the bed, but he flinched and he got a little scared at the thought of him waking up. So, he sat with a cushion in his lap, and lay Zuko on him.

    He took off his gloves and ran his fingers lightly through Zuko's dark bangs. His hair was soft and there weren't any tangles. He took the Firelord headpiece out of Zuko's bun and let his hair fall across the mahogany pillow. A tiny smile edged Zuko's sleeping face, leading Sokka to subconsciously widen his.

    They sat there for a while, Zuko moving a bit every now and then but never waking up. Sokka stroked his hair and looked from his face to the window and back again. It was peaceful, like they were the only people in the entire world.

    About an hour later, a soft knock was heard on the door and Suki popped her head in. Before she could say anything, Sokka held a finger to his lips and then pointed to the sleeping boy in his lap.

    "Why is Zuko in here?" Suki whispered, walking in and closing the door behind her.

    Sokka shrugged, turning back to watching his lap. Zuko's eyebrows twinged a bit but then settled back into sleeping peacefully.

    "I've been looking for him. He's requested in the war room," Suki noted, leaning over Sokka's shoulder. "But this is the first time I've seen him sleep so peacefully. How long has he been out for?"

    "I'm not sure, he was passed out when I got here." Sokka replied, rubbing Zuko's cheek softly.

    The sleeping boy lifted his hand and held Sokka's to his face, snuggling into it. The water tribe boy blushed furiously, thanking the dense makeup he was wearing for hiding it.

    "So he's been sleeping for 2 hours?" Suki confirmed, arching a brow at the scene before her.

    "I guess so..." Sokka shrugged, his thumb sliding across Zuko's cheek subconsciously to the edge of his lips.

    "Alright, he needs sleep, so I'll have to ask them to delay the meeting. Do you want anything to eat or drink?" Suki asked, walking back over to the door.

    "If you could just slide my bag over, that would be great." He shot her a smile, which she returned.

_

    Zuko woke up feeling refreshed. He hadn't slept like that since before he had clear skin. The sun was starting to set so he'd been out for a while. Looking around, he quickly realized that he was on the floor and also in someone's lap. Two blue eyes came into view, along with the Kyoshi warrior makeup.

    "Hello Firelord," Sokka said softly, pitching his voice up again. "I hope you don't mind, I didn't want to wake you up so I just put your head on a pillow in my lap so you'd be more comfortable."

    He didn't answer, still a little sleepy. Sitting up, he took a closer look at the dimly lit face in front of him. It looked familiar but that was understandable since he'd been surrounded by Kyoshi warriors for weeks now.

    "Thank you... But... Who are you again?" He muttered, still inspecting the warrior's face.

    "I'm Meng," They answered, smiling. "I just arrived here this morning."

    "Right... Sorry." Zuko nodded, running his hand through his hair.

    He realized that the headpiece was gone and started to panic. Sokka grabbed it from beside himself, quickly figuring out that Zuko had realized it wasn't in his hair. He handed it to him, smiling again.

    "I thought it might be uncomfortable for you to wear it while you were sleeping..." He mused, scratching the back of his head.

    "Thank you..." Zuko nodded awkwardly.

    They sat in a slightly awkward silence until Sokka stood up and brushed himself off. He held out his hand to help Zuko up. The Firelord reluctantly took it and hoisted himself back up onto his feet.

    "Well, I guess I'll be going now." Sokka nodded, giving the other teen a little grin.

    "Me too." Zuko mumbled back before following the other out the door.

_

    The next morning Zuko was actually feeling pretty ok. He'd finally gotten some good sleep, so he was ready to face life's problems. He randomly thought back to the day before with the Kyoshi warrior. He found himself smiling a little bit.

    Sokka woke up to find that Suki and some other warriors were getting ready to leave. He washed his face and then pulled his girlfriend into his room.

    "Where are you going?" He asked softly, glancing at the door every now and then to make sure no one would walk in.

    "Yu Dao, why?" Suki replied, lightly pulling out of Sokka's grasp.

    "Can I go with you? Katara and Aang are apparently there too."

    "Alright, are you going as a warrior? Or as Sokka?" She huffed, crossing her arms.

    "I'll go as me." He chuckled, tucking his boomerang into it's holder.

_

    They took two air balloons so it was easy for Sokka to go undetected by Zuko. They arrived at the earth kingdom within an hour and Sokka went off to find Aang and Katara.

    He found them outside the city gates talking to Smellerbee. Aang noticed him rather quickly but Katara didn't see him until he was beside them. Both looked confused to see him there.

    "Sokka weren't you with Toph?" Aang asked.

    "He was, but then he ran off with his girlfriend." A voice announced from behind them.

    The trio turned to see their favourite earthbender standing nonchalantly with her hands on her hips.

    "Toph!" Aang exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

    "Easy now twinkletoes, it's only been a few days." Toph chuckled, patting his back.

    "So what's with the riot outside the town?" Sokka asked Katara.

    "They're protesting against Zuko. There hasn't been any movement on the fire Nation moving out." Katara replied, giving her brother a worried glance.

    "I'm sure he has a good reason." Sokka defended, shrugging slightly.

    "Well, he and Aang had an agreement..." Katara sighed.

    "I guess we'll have to talk to him," Aang butted in, opening his glider. "Coming sweetie?"

    Katara nodded, taking his hand. He pulled her in and she wrapped her arms around his waist. They flew up and over the wall.

    "So oogy..." Sokka commented, raising his eyebrows.

    "Well, what about you? Wanna get a view of the action?" Toph grinned, pounding her fist into her other hand, a grin spreading across her face.

    "Sure." Sokka shrugged.

    "Great! I've been working on my rock slides."

    Before he could protest, Sokka was lifted into the air on a pedestal of rock and onto the wall where he was then pushed down a rock slide by Toph who happened to be right behind him.

    "I thought you meant you were going to tunnel under it..." Sokka grumbled, lying on his stomach.

    "Sokka? Toph?" A very familiar voice asked.

    Sokka looked up to see Zuko standing there. It seemed like he'd run over because two Kyoshi warriors were currently catching up.

    "Hey sparky!" Toph grinned, whacking the Firelord's shoulder.

    "Agh," Zuko smiled with a wince, patting the area where she'd hit him. "Good to see you Toph."

    Sokka stood up slowly, feeling multiple pains all over him. He was going to have a lot of bruises later. As soon as he stood up, Zuko was giving him a hug.

    "Good to see you buddy!" Zuko smiled, nuzzling into Sokka's shoulder a bit.

    "Great to see you too!" Sokka smiled, hugging him back, his face heating up.

    Zuko let go, still giving the water tribe boy a huge grin. He had his hands on the boys shoulders. Not that Sokka necessarily minded all the physical contact he was getting, but Zuko was acting a little bit strange.

     "So, if you guys are here, then are Aang and Katara here too?" Zuko asked, finally breaking eye contact to look around.

    "Yeah they should be close by." Sokka nodded, copying Zuko's actions.

    "They're over there." Toph pointed over to where a commotion was starting up.

    Zuko rushed over whilst Toph held Sokka back. He looked down at her, confused.

    "What was that about?" She asked before Sokka could question her.

    "What was what about?" He replied.

    "You two, did something happen with you in the past two days? And why did he say good to see you like you haven't been living with him for the past day and a bit?"

    "Nothing happened, what do you mean?" Sokka answered, but then thought to when Zuko was sleeping in his lap. "And also, the only reason he thinks that it's been awhile is because I've been dressed as a Kyoshi Warrior for the time I've spent at the palace."

    "Well it doesn't take a blind person to notice that you two were acting weird with each other." Toph huffed.

    "Weird how?"

    "Oh please, you were hugging for like 2 minutes and your hearts were beating faster than anything I've ever felt before."

    Sokka flushed.

    "Well that's just because he's really warm."

    Great, he was trying to defend himself and now he just sounded creepy.

    "Oh sure Sokka. I believe you." Toph chuckled sarcastically.

    By the time they'd actually reach the commotion, it was all over. Aang and Katara didn't look any more satisfied then they had been a few days ago. It seemed like whatever decision Zuko had made, he was keeping it.

    Aang flew off in a huff, leaving Katara behind. Sokka jogged over to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder.

    "Everything ok?"

    "Yeah, he just needs to think. We're going to go talk to the earth king, he wanted to see us," Katara informed, scratching the back of her neck. "Are you coming too?"

    "I'm ok, I'll stick with Toph." Sokka lied, gesturing to the earthbender beside him.

    "Okay... I guess we'll see you later then..." Katara shrugged.

    Toph huffed, knowing that Sokka was lying but keeping her mouth shut. There was definitely something going on between him and Zuko so who was she to try to stop them from being together. Even if Zuko had no idea it was him.

    Across the town, the first air balloon took off.

    "Well, it was great seeing you sis, but before we go off, I'm going to go grab something to eat on the way back to Toph's school." Sokka excused, walking towards the second balloon.

    Once he was out of sight, he looked around the corner to see Toph giving him a tiny wave and a smirk. He rolled his eyes and put his hand in the dirt, waving it into the earth. Was that too cheesy?

    With a huff, he ran off towards the blimp, trying not to be tempted by the various meat stores in the town.