Don't Play With Fire | Zuko x Sokka

11 | No Time

"That was cheesy," Zuko stated. Sokka rolled his eyes and Zuko smirked, dropping his back to the floor. Sokka looked down at him, the two locking eyes. Zuko furrowed his brow.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"You look. . ."

"Gorgeous? Incredibly handsome? Like the human embodiment of a god?"

"I was gonna say stupid." Zuko sat up, not planning on admitted what he was really thinking. He leaned to Sokka's face and reached behind his head to pull out his ponytail. Sokka closed his eyes as Zuko ran his hands through his hair. "Now you look slightly less stupid."

"You know, you have every day in your life to be a jerk. Why not take a day off?" Sokka joked, tilting his head. Zuko snorted.

"You're stupid."

"That your favorite word or something?"

"It just describes you really well." Zuko smiled slightly as Sokka opened his eyes. The fire prince laid down again. Sokka leaned down a second later to lay next to him, his hair dangling in the prince's face for a moment. They laid across the sleeping bag spread out like a blanket. For a while it was silent, they both seemed to be lost in thought in their own minds. The two seemed to have a habit of ignoring issues and pretending like nothing happened, though they were both well aware that the other was thinking the same as they were.

"Do you regret it? That night?" Sokka asked slowly as if he wasn't sure he really wanted to know. Zuko thought for a moment.

"Sometimes." He felt Sokka tense beside him. "It's not like that, it's not your fault. It's just. . ."

"Just what?" Sokka asked. Zuko shook his head. "You can't just. . . just do stuff without thinking. If you're not gonna tell me why you did something, don't do it," Sokka said. He wouldn't admit it, but over the past week all he'd thought about was his Dad and Zuko. Well, having sex with Zuko.

"It's not that easy."

"It's not that easy for me either. Don't you realize that what you do hurts other people?"

"Yeah, and that's why I push people away, that's why I shut them out. I'm just trying to keep you from getting hurt. And I don't want to get hurt either. But I always just end up hurting other people anyway. And then I get angry at myself, angry at everyone because I'm so fucking SELFISH! WHY CAN'T I DO ANYTHING RIGHT?" Zuko's voice got louder and louder. He was sitting up now, clutching his head as he radiated heat. Sokka was sitting up slightly, looking a bit scared. Zuko looked back at him, and seeing his expression, his anger melted away. He got up quickly and walked out, mumbling a "sorry" under his breath. Sokka was stunned for a second. He sat up. So he does care.

After he'd regained his composure, Sokka was deciding between giving the fire prince some space and going to find him. He chose the latter. Sokka stood up and left his tent, noticing Aang and Toph still sitting at their circle. He ignored them and walked to Zuko's tent, opening the flap. He wasn't there. Sokka went quickly back over to Toph and Aang.

"Did you see-"

"Zuko went that way," Toph said, pointing towards the side of the clearing, the one that led up to the cliff. At least he knew where Zuko was. The water tribe boy quickly made his way in that direction. He pushed through the branches and trees along the narrow path as he trekked upwards towards the cliff. He stepped into the clearing, immediately met with Zuko sitting near the edge, holding his dagger in his hands.

"Zuko," Sokka said. The prince's head whipped around. He quickly put the dagger down with his hand on top of it. Sokka walked slowly over to Zuko, sitting down and placing his hand on the other boy's on top of the dagger. Zuko leaned his head into Sokka's chest, which surprised the other boy a bit, but he gently placed his hand at the back of Zuko's head. Zuko gritted his teeth.