Not About Angels

Secrets

Sokka and Suki decided to hang out after school at the grill.

His text notification went off once again, but he didn't bother to check it. He already knew who it was.

"You gonna get that?" Suki asked.

Sokka groaned and shook his head.

"Nope. I️ already know it's Zuko," he explained.

Suki furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and nodded her head slowly.

"And that's bad...?" she asked cautiously, trying to catch up.

Sokka sighed.

"Yes. Because unless he's willing to offer up an explanation, I️ don't wanna hear it," Sokka explained.

Suki was still equally confused, if not even more.

"Okay, and what exactly is he explaining?" she asked.

"Why we never told me he had a sister. Like, now that I️ think about it, I️ feel like I️ barely know anything about him. Does he not trust me?" Sokka ranted.

Suki shrugged.

"I️ mean it could be worse. He could have mommy issues or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues," she offered, trying to lighten the mood.

"Suki, this is serious," Sokka whined.

She didn't reply. Instead her attention went toward the front door. This caused Sokka to look behind him to see Zuko approaching. He then whipped around quickly and slumped in his seat, hoping the other didn't see him.

Zuko approached them, much to Sokka's dismay.

"Hey," Zuko said sheepishly.

"Hi," Sokka replied tightly.

He then turned his attention toward Suki.

"Is it okay if I️ steal him for a minute?" he asked.

Suki nodded.

"You know what? I️ actually have that thing that I️ need to do, so take all the time with him you need," she said, beginning to get up.

Sokka rolled his eyes.

"What thing?" he asked.

"You know. The thing," she said, putting extra emphasis on it.

There was no thing.

She then said goodbye before making her exit, and Zuko sat down in the booth across from Sokka.

"You haven't answered my texts," Zuko remarked.

Sokka shrugged.

"Can you blame me?" he asked.

Zuko sighed and gave a resigned nod.

"That's fair," he admitted.

"How did you know to find me here?" Sokka asked.

"Your sister told me where you were," Zuko answered.

Sokka nodded.

"You never told me you had a sister," he said, deciding to stop beating around the bush and cut to the chase.

Zuko's muscles tensed as they approached the subject. He really didn't want to talk about Azula, but he didn't really have much of a choice. She just had to pop up back into his life at the worst time. It was almost as if she'd managed to do it on purpose somehow. Just as he was happy, just as he had a good thing going, she just had to come and ruin it. He supposed she did promise an eternity of misery, after all, and he couldn't really blame her. He could never possibly expect her to forgive him for what he'd done.