You are Everything that I've Been Searching for ~ a Zukka Fanfic

Chapter Eleven, Another Late Night Conversation

Chapter Eleven, Another Late Night Conversation

The following two days were some of the best days Zuko had ever experienced. They had gone walking, hiking, surfing, boogie boarding, body surfing and all manner of water activities. And when they weren't on the beach or on a cliffside walk, they were at the house hanging out, eating good food and drinking good alcohol. The two days passed Zuko more quickly than he would have liked.

It was a night like any other, it was a night like nothing before. Zuko was currently lying on his blowup mattress on the floor, counting his tired muscles and listening to Appa snore. Zuko checked his phone, it was 11 o'clock at night. He was supposed to be getting a good night's sleep, they were leaving early in the morning, back to normal boring uni life.

Only Zuko couldn't sleep. He didn't want to go home, it made him sad to think about leaving tomorrow, he wished that this trip could last forever.

After rolling around on his mattress for a while Zuko decided that he would go and get a drink of water. He got up as quietly as he could, although he could have been stomping around shouting, nothing would wake Aang when he was this tired.

As Zuko went to leave the room Appa's eyes opened and he looked at Zuko. Zuko raised a finger to his lips.

"Shh, I'm just going to get a drink of water," he whispered.

Appa rested his head back on Aang's chest and let out one of those big heavy doggy sighs and then he shut his eyes again.

Zuko quietly closed the door behind him and walked down the carpeted hallway to the lounge. The wooden floorboards were cold and smooth on his feet as he tip-toed across them.

"Hey," a soft voice called.

Zuko looked up. The sliding door that led onto the deck was open, Sokka was leaning against it. He was half-naked, wearing only grey shorts. His hair was down, it was longer than Zuko had thought, and it came down to his chin. He looked like a completely different person with his hair down.

"Whatcha up to?" He asked.

Zuko took a minute to find his tongue. "Couldn't sleep, getting a drink of water," he said.

Sokka nodded. "Ah." and he turned his head back towards the backyard.

No doubt looking at the restless sea in the distance. It was a dark night, big dark grey storm clouds shut out the night sky. The moon was trying to break through these clouds but with no luck, you could only see its outline through the cloud.

Zuko continued his mission to the kitchen, he found a glass and filled it up at the sink. He gulped down the water, water always seemed to taste better at night, a lot more sweeter. He rinsed out his cup and left it in the sink.

He was going to walk back to his and Aang's room but he paused on his way. He stopped to look at Sokka. Sokka had his back turned to him, he was still watching the night and the dark grey ocean, white caps peaking here and there and rolling into shore.

Zuko watched him for a moment before going over to him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

Sokka shrugged. "Just the sea and the sky," he said, pointing at the general direction of the dark storm clouds. "Looks like it might rain."

Zuko nodded. "Probably," he said.

Sokka straightened up and stretched. "I'm gonna go for a walk," he said.

"At this time of night?" Zuko asked.

"Yep, care to join me?" Sokka asked.

"Umm..." Zuko said.