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A/N: This was mildly hit with the crack stick, but it could not be helped when I saw the prompt. It was just way too perfect. As I was writing this, I couldn't stop thinking of Indiana Jones.

"Shut up, you are going to get us busted," Zuko hissed to Aang.

A light turned on and a voice called, "I think you are already busted."

"I told you," Zuko said giving a glare back to the laughing boy.

"Do you care to explain to me why my two best friends are breaking into my house in the middle of the night?" Sokka asked.

"There is a perfectly good reason for it, Sokka," Aang said still quietly laughing.

"And I'm sure you were planning to tell me all about it. Come on, lets go hear it," Sokka replied.

Sokka ran his hand through his draped down hair. His blue night robe billowed behind him as he walked showing the blue pajama pants underneath. He led the way into a room with a cluttered desk with several over flowing filing cabinets. The desk was piled with various files that had paper spilling out of them and was stacked inches high. The only clear spot on it was where a blue and white boomerang sat in a stand. Sokka sat behind the desk and gestured to the two chairs on the other side. He used to only keep one chair, but after Aang made it a habit of showing up with Zuko, he learned it was easier to just keep a second one.

"Now, let us discuss this breaking and entering habit you guys suddenly seem to have formed," Sokka said.

"Hey, it was just entering, there was no breaking involved," Zuko pointed out.

"Yeah, you really should keep your windows locked, Sokka," Aang added.

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose. He had guessed that something fishy was going when he had been frequently visited by the duo together and apart. It wasn't unusual, but normally when they came, they were dragging along some new discovery that they wanted him to research and figure out. He was always working with some new place and some old relic these days. The two of them had made him a rather profitable business.

In all honesty, it was really Aang. Aang had showed up on his doorstep with some dusty old temple relics. Sokka had been working with his sister, Katara, who just happened to be the leading expert at the time. Katara still worked these days doing temple studies while Sokka had expanded and began studying pretty much anything he could get his hands on, which usually happened to be whatever Aang brought him these days.

It was only a short time after Aang's first appearance that his friend and adventure loving coworker had finally had enough of the papers and wanted more field work. Zuko had taken off after Aang and hadn't sat behind a desk since. Sokka knew that the both of them were trustworthy people given their long history and was ready to believe that this had to be some practical joke given the way the younger boy was laughing so much.

"How about we get to the point and you tell me what you are really here for."

"We came for your boomerang," Zuko replied back to which Aang nodded.

Sokka stared at them as if they had lost their minds. His boomerang had been a gift from his father when he was only a boy. The desire to know more about it had been what had initially gotten him into learning so much about various histories and the artifacts that came with it. It had finally turned into a pet project of his. He had searched all over till he finally came upon a little country that seemed to make them as a child's toy. He had to admit it was almost enough to make his give up the business, but Zuko and Aang's attitude helped to keep him around.

"Why?" Sokka asked flabbergasted.

"Because its the key into a secret temple underneath an old tribe that could potentially hold enough treasure and relics to make us all so wealthy we would have to keep the money in rooms of its own," Zuko deadpanned.

"Great joke guys, but how about the truth this time," he responded.

"He is completely serious. Since we found the place and heard the rumors, it sounded just like your boomerang. We wanted to make sure since we know how important it was to you. We didn't want to come in here and get your hopes up and have it turn out to be false. After we finally figured everything out, we decided to come here and get the boomerang and go back to the temple..." Aang trailed off.

Barely contained laughter danced across Sokka's face. His eyes were filled with it and he seemed to be ready to burst at any point. At the look of confusion on Aang's face, he finally couldn't hold it back any longer and started laughing till tears practically ran down his face.

"That is great guys! Seriously, I really needed that. How long did it take you guys to come up with that?" Sokka asked in amusement.

Aang managed to say, "But Sok-"

"You got us. You just seem so down recently since you discovered that it was just a kids toy. I know that something like that can be really hard on someone. When I was working here, you used to go on about it a lot. It really is a shame that it turned out like that. We are still here for you though," Zuko said.

Aang glared at Zuko, but Sokka seemed not to notice. He looked at them with a big smile on his face.

"Thanks guys for trying to cheer me up. It's great to know I have friends like you guys. Next time, be sure you bring back something good to really cheer me up. Just don't break in next time," Sokka said.

"About that, we really were coming to see about borrowing your boomerang, but we just wanted to test the legend about it," Zuko said.

Sokka looked at it and then at his friends and handed it over.

"I've tested it a million times. Its true, it really does come back," Sokka answered before rising from his chair.

"We just want to see for ourselves," Zuko said reassuringly.

"Just return it when your done, but this time, through the door and not the window. I'm heading back to bed, you guys should be considering sleep yourself some time soon."

"Sure thing and thanks Sokka," Aang said.

They rose from their chairs and made their way toward the front door and promptly left with Zuko carrying the boomerang. Aang turned to him and glared again.

"You shouldn't have lied like that. Sokka is just going to keep thinking its some kids toy now," Aang admonished.

"I barely lied. I told him mostly the truth. Besides, it's his own fault. He let those people trick him and didn't look any further, because he was so upset. He should have realized the toys were simply plastic, but his is made of something else. Its obvious enough when you hold it. The dummy should have realized it. We can prove it enough when we give it back to him with the rest of the treasure," Zuko said with a smile as they walked off into the night.

FN: Prompt: Childhood toy turns out to be secret artifact (#10 of 50)