[Rewriting) Keeping the fire close [Zuko × Sokka]

Washed Away

Sokka smiled and waved as he saw the fire prince walk off, he looked back towards the ocean and sighed a little. Stepping closer to the deck before leaning his arms on it. He tapped a foot agaisnt the steel gently, he didn't really need shoes on the ship, unless they were in the dungeon and training, but even then he didn't really like to where shoes. He sighed once more before pushing himself off of the railing and walked back towards his room, scratching the back of his scalp that would need to be trimmed once they reached Ba Sing Se.

Once back into his bedroom Sokka closed his door gently and walked towards his bed, sitting down on his bed gingerly, laying down while listening to the rustling of the sheets as he moved them back and then over his body.

Next door in Zuko's room, the banished prince had just gotten comfortable in his bed after taking his hair out of its high pony tail and brushing through it gently. Leaving it alone after letting his hair fall over his face and the back of his head, it felt weird, having his hair up for so long then releasing it after who knows how many days. He sighed as he picked up his handheld mirror, moving his hair out of his face to observe that scar he hated so much, but couldn't hide no matter how hard he tried. Zuko set the mirror down quickly, he felt heat rushing to his hand, knowing that if he still held the mirror it would melt and the glass would shatter. He absolutely hated that scar, but that night, when he was talking to Sokka, he didn't see the water tribes man's eyes float to it, not even once. Probably just trying to be polite he scoffed the pulled the blanket off of the bed, only to lay down and drape it over himself. Resting a hand under his cheek, his other hand in the pillow infromt of his face, his eyes closed while his foot gently patted agaisnt the bed, as if to create some sound that wasn't the boat to fill his mind as he slowly fell asleep.

As the next several months went by Zuko and Sokka got to know each other, sneaking challenging glances at each other while training, during meals, Sokka would even tease and test the banished prince by complaining about every little thing, yes it would anger the prince. But he did nothing about it, he knew that the water tribe warrior was just trying to mess with him and have fun, and that's what they did. They had fun together. During the day they would act like they hated each other, threaten each other in front of the other warriors, at meals, even while walking to their rooms when guards were around. But at night, when everyone else was asleep, other than Iroh who just sat in his room drinking tea, they would sneak onto the deck of the ship, lay down and look up at the stars.

Unlike most nights, it was raining, heavily. Thundering, lightning, a full on storm. The boat was shaking and rocking, waves were crashing onto the deck, and all the two could do was sit in their rooms, or risk getting swept away by a nasty wave that could kill them, that could take them to an island, or even have them staying afloat for maximum two days, then die from lack of food, hypothermia, and lack of clean drinking water.