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

Mark of Friendship

Zuko leaned against the wall that separated him and Sokka, wishing that the walls were thin enough to talk through, without yelling that is. He didn't want the guards to know that he was getting all buddy buddy with a prisoner who knew what the Avatar was like. Now that he thought about it...they didn't talk about the Avatar much anymore, they mainly focused on each other..strange. The banished prince shrugged that thought off and sighed a little, since he was alone his hair was out of its annoyingly high ponytail. He wished he could grow it out again, but because of his lack of honor, he needed to keep it like it was, shaving himself almost completely balled each week with a lightly dulled blade he kept under the bed in case anyone on the ship was a traitor, then he could use it to protect himself, seeing as fire bending would be useless agaisnt a fire bender.

On the other side of the wall sat Sokka, leaning his head against the wall while he sat in his fire nation attire, which was just big red puffy pants, a slightly tattered red shirt, and a small little fire nation symbol branded on his arm. All of the prisoners on the ship got one, how quick they got it was depending on if they were able to be found. Sokka's was still a little fresh, irritated, slightly scabbed over and bleeding because he kept peeling up the scabs, more so that night than any other because he was nervous. He didn't like storms, especially not liking them now that he was on a boat, in the middle of nowhere. He got his last due to being so close to the prince, Zuko didn't want to hurt his new friend, so he branded the slightly younger of the two quickly then gave him an ice cold cup or water to pour it onto his burning flesh.

                  ~Flashback~
"Alright.." Zuko shuffled around in the kitchen, filling a cup with ice, setting it off to the side on the counter while Sokka sat in the dining hall, nervously chewing on his nails. "Are you almost done in there?" He leaned forward to look at the doors leading to the kitchen, wondering what his friend was up to.

"Yes, I'm almost done...I'm just going to wait til the ice starts to melt before I heat up the branding iron", Zuko raised his voice a little, not wanting any guards who might be awake at the midnight hour to here them.

The brown haired boy nodded and continued to chew on his fingernails, quickly switching to chewing on the inside of his mouth, seeing as the young prince would scold him for chewing on his nails, which annoyed him very easily.

Zuko saw that the ice had started to the melt, that was his que. And with that he grabbed the branding iron from ontop of the spice cabinet, making a fist and controlling all of the heat and energy to flow through his hand, even making angry faces to try and make the fire strong, yet weak enough to heat up, and only heat up the iron. Once said iron was bright red, he grabbed the cup of ice water and walked out of the kitchen, seeing Sokka on the floor in front of the table, his right sleeve rolled up, exposing his shoulder that had been washed just a little bit ago.

The prince made slow and hesitant strides towards his friend, quickly pushing the iron into the younger man's arm, keeping it there for a couple seconds then pulled it off and poured the freezing water onto it.

                  ~Present~

The whole process earned a couple "ows" "fucks" and tears to fall from Sokka's eyes. He knew Zuko didn't want to do it, he knew it had to happen. But he remembered the first couple of nights that they had known each other, all of the beatings, all of the yelling. He had gotten over most of it, now understanding why Zuko was so angry, and violent. And Sokka was pretty sure that if he was in that same situation, being the unappreciated brother, the one who worked so hard but got no recognition, spoke up against his father...he would be the exact same way.