Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. I wish I did.
Sokka and Zuko slumped down on the stone floor of the Air Temple courtyard, each breathing heavily. Their morning sparring session had gone pretty well, Sokka thought. He'd actually managed to land a couple of hits on his more experienced partner. For a guy who'd only had a couple of day's worth of official swordplay lessons, Sokka thought he was doing pretty well with it.
Zuko would agree, but would not think of voicing it aloud. In fact, he had to admit that he was a little jealous. Sokka was going to be very, very good—probably better than him and the thought galled him. Zuko had been trained in swordplay since he could hold a tiny practice sword. No less would have been expected for the crown prince of the Fire Nation. He'd learned fast and could handle himself in a fight, he believed.
But Sokka was just a water tribe nobody. It wasn't fair. Azula could always out firebend him and shortly Sokka would be beating his tail all over the courtyard. He sighed. Maybe he could learn wisdom from Uncle Iroh and outwise his opponents. Nothing else seemed to be going his way.
Zuko looked at Sokka, who was sitting with a wet towel over his head. "Hey, Sokka, good job," he managed to say. After all, if you can't say something nice . . .
"Thanks," Sokka replied, his voice a little muffled under the towel. "I think I'm catching up to you."
"Well, you are doing pretty good--for a kid," Zuko responded. He just couldn't let Sokka catch up to him yet.
"I'm not a kid," came the angry retort. "You're not that much older, bud."
"Well, I may not be that much older," Zuko answered, "but I've done more."
Sokka looked out from under his towel with a glare in his eye. "Done more?" he asked with acid in his voice.
"Of course. I've traveled the world," Zuko retorted.
"Chasing us! Which means that I was there first," Sokka answered triumphantly. Let's see him get out of that one.
"I've hunted big game all over the fire nation with my uncle when I was growing up."
Sokka threw off the towel and prepared to play "one-up." "I fought three days with a giant whaleshark in a small fishing boat with my dad. It dragged us a hundred miles off course and waves swamped the boat three times before we finally hauled it home. It was so big that it fed the entire village for three months." He pointed down to his boots. "We made these by tanning the skin into leather."
"Very nice," replied Zuko. "Waterproof?"
"Of course."
Zuko thought for a moment. "I've visited every Fire Temple, Air Temple, and Water Temple on the planet."
Then Sokka took a moment to think. "I've visited every Air Temple and Water Temple, one Fire Temple, and was held captive in the spirit world by an enraged spirit for an entire day."
Zuko stopped to think. Where to go next? Then it came to him. "How many girlfriends have you had?" When Sokka started to answer, he jumped in to clarify. "Real girlfriends—like actually kissed girlfriends—and not on the cheek or something."
"Two. How many have you had?"
Zuko had to be honest. "Two." Being on the road since he was thirteen hadn't given him much time for girls. But what kind of girls could Sokka have met? He decided to brag a little. "My ex-girlfriend was the daughter of a very powerful Fire Nation governor."
"Yeah," said Sokka wryly. "We met. She tried to give away her little brother in Omashu. He spit up on me." Sokka couldn't help but play his trump card. "My ex-girlfriend is now the moon spirit," he concluded proudly. "What about your other girlfriend?"
"She's a girl I met in Ba Sing Se. My uncle fixed us up on a date," Zuko answered. "She was really nice, but--you know. What about your other girlfriend?"
"Suki is a Kyoshi Warrior," Sokka answered, then looked into the fire.
Zuko noticed Sokka's downcast look and couldn't resist teasing a little. "So, she dumped you and is back on Kyoshi Island with some new guy."
"No," Sokka answered sadly. "Your sister has her in prison somewhere in the Fire Nation. She and the other warriors were captured in Ba Sing Se." Zuko could hear the anger in his voice.
"No thanks to me," Zuko answered gloomily. This conversation couldn't be going any worse. Here he was trying to make friends and his stupid past still managed to screw things up. It was like trying to crawl out of a deep hole in the ground. He just kept sliding back in. "I'm really sorry, Sokka. We'll get her back. I promise."
Sokka glanced at the boy across from him. Zuko looked completely miserable. To his surprise, instead of feeling angry, he felt sympathy. "Yeah, we'll get her back," he answered. Then he stood and walked over to Zuko, offering him a hand up from the floor.
Zuko looked up at the water tribesman. "I'm really sorry," he repeated.
"Don't worry about it. Water moves on," came Sokka's easy reply. He held out his hand again and this time Zuko allowed Sokka to pull him up from the floor. But before releasing his grip on him, Sokka looked him in the eye and said, "Just don't call me 'kid' anymore."
"No. I won't," Zuko replied with a smile. "I wouldn't dream of it, junior."