Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of its characters.

...

The sun beat down through the dense foliage of the forest roof. It created an oven effect inside, so that the air was stagnant and wet with the hot humidity of far too much moisture, accompanied by far too much heat.

Zuko bent over to grasp the pack with the contents spilling out of its open maw. As he reached for the metal dagger glinting in a patch of light, several strands of his hair fell into his face. He huffed and brushed them behind his ear, before returning to his task.

A badly muffled snicker resounded behind him.

Sighing, Zuko straightened back up and turned toward his friend. Sokka had the back of one hand pressed against his mouth and the other shoved underneath his armpit. His shoulders were shaking.

Zuko's eyes narrowed dangerously,

"What is it?" he demanded. Sokka just shook his head vigorously, and squeaked out,

"Nothing."

Zuko's eyes became virtual slits of golden wrath,

"What are you laughing at?!" he roared, hands clenching into fists at his sides.

Sokka shook his head, though this time in a pitying manner, and turned back to his own packing. The others had gone off to gather supplies and practice bending, while Sokka and Zuko had been left behind with the job of "packing", as the "girls went and had some fun", as Toph put it.

Aang had put up a weak fight against this proclamation, defending his masculinity with the sleepy half-heartedness of a man barely woken up, even as he was shuffled along by Toph and Katara amidst Sokka's protests.

"Nothing, man," Sokka chuckled, "But…" here, he laughed again, and Zuko felt his patience wane just that much further.

"Sokka…" he warned threateningly. The water-tribe boy threw his hands up in surrender, though he was decidedly unintimidated when he spoke, eyes sparkling,

"Alright, alright!" he said, "It's just that…I would consider cutting your hair as soon as possible."

Zuko forcibly kept his hand from instinctively reaching for the unruly locks that he had begun to grow somewhat used to…not fond of, of course.

"Why? What do you mean?" he questioned, and both he and Sokka decided to ignore the slight cracking desperation in the last note of his exclamation.

Sokka shrugged, and closed his eyes, quirking his lip noncommittally as he did,

"No reason in particular. You've just been, well, picking up some habits."

"Wha-?"

"Unmanly habits, that is."

Zuko felt his face flush as the heat crept up his neck, and his palms began to sweat,

"What do you mean, unmanly?" he cried angrily. Sokka quickly waved his hands, as if wiping away his previous statement,

"Oh, no, don't worry, I don't think that!" he retreated, eyes going slightly wide, before his shoulders fell, and the laughter returned to them. He crossed his arms and smirked, "I mean, it's not anything that you're doing on purpose, I don't think."

Zuko was beginning to get annoyed, now.

"What are you talking about?!" he practically raged, stepping forward. Sokka quickly danced backward, and his grin grew,

"Well, like just now!" he mimed Zuko's action of putting his hair behind his ear, though Zuko was sure it hadn't looked quite as girly as that, "And, you know, other things," he shrugged again, and Zuko had the sudden urge to asphyxiate his friend into submission.

"You just do little things to make sure it's out of your way, all the time. Like, you'll run your fingers through it, or pull it back and hold it in your hand, and sometimes you'll even, you know, toss it," he chucked his head back in an overly dramatic fashion, adopting a whimsical expression as he did, and Zuko's fingers twitched in the direction of his throat.

Sokka seemed to notice his companion's expression, which was becoming rapidly more murderous by the second, and swiftly tried to amend his mistake,

"Look, it's not your fault! Just give it a trim, and you won't have to worry about any more, uh, feminine ticks. Here, I'll do it for you right now. Just hand me the knife, and-"

"Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"You have five seconds to run."

...

Well, this is my first debut into the Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction fandom, so, please be nice. ;) Drop a review, and tell me if you liked it!