Author's Note- Possibly OoC, and I am terribly sorry if it is. Set between The Western Air Temple and The Firebending Masters
Of all the things that Sokka had been through, this was without a doubt the weirdest. And- having seen some pretty weird stuff during his travels with Aang- he felt like that was saying something. It was just . . . Zuko? He couldn't even seem to wrap his mind around the fact that Zuko was helping them now. Six months ago, he was attacking them at every chance he got and now . . . This was just too weird.
Sokka's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of somebody approaching him from behind. Casually looking over his shoulder, Sokka saw Zuko approaching him from behind. "Hey, you're up a little early, aren't you?" Sokka said, in what he hoped sounded like a friendly greeting.
"It's a firebender thing." Zuko replied as he reached Sokka and sat down next to him.
"Right." Sokka said, unsure of how to respond to that, as he truthfully didn't know a lot about firebenders in general.
They sat in silence for a long time, and Sokka find himself almost wishing for the days in which Zuko and him were enemies. At least then there wouldn't be any awkwardness between them.
"So . . . you are going to be training Aang now." Sokka said as he dragged his boomerang across the stone floor of the temple, hoping to break the silence.
"Who?" Zuko asked, looking at Sokka with genuine confusion.
"Oh, come on you know who Aang is." Sokka said, grinning, as his boomerang slipped from his fingers and landed with a small clatter on the floor.
"No." Zuko said, glaring at Sokka.
"But you would have to know who is. I mean, you chased after him all around the world for months." Sokka said.
"The Avatar? His name is Aang?" Zuko said, his eyebrow raised slightly.
"Yes. You seriously did not know that?" Sokka asked, barely able to contain his surprise.
"No." Zuko said, his brow furrowing.
"You mean to tell me that you tracked us all over the world for months and months on end and you never found out his name?" Sokka said, the grin on his face becoming increasingly wider with each second the passed.
"It wasn't my top priority!" Zuko said in defense of himself.
"Yeah, but I still can't believe you spent all that time and you never learned his name. I mean we figured out your name not long after you first attacked us." Sokka said, laughing.
"Yes, but . . . " Zuko said, feeling as though he were grasping at straws as he tried to think of way to explain why he had never learned the avatar's name over his months of tracking him. Frustrated when he couldn't figure out one such reason he tried to lead the conversation into a slightly different approach. "So . . . uh . . . what's your name?"
"Well Zuko, my name is Sokka, and it is officially nice to meet you in a way that does not threaten me or my friends's safety." Sokka said, holding out his hand.
"Right, uh, thanks, Sokka." Zuko said, as he -albeit somewhat reluctantly and awkwardly- took it and shook Sokka's hand, letting go very soon after handshake had begun. "So . . . what are the rest of your guy's names?"
"Are sure you want me to answer that? Don't you want them to tell you their names themselves?" Sokka said.
"No." Zuko said in all seriousness.
"Okay, fine, I guess." Sokka said as he began to tell Zuko the names of all of the people that were there, making a mental note to tell somebody about this, as this was just way to funny to keep to himself.