Sokka considered bringing up the subject of Jet that afternoon, to demand what had happened. But when his path crossed with Zuko's at the end of the day, he found the other boy distracted and somewhat irritable and Sokka's confidence regarding the subject drained. Instead, he trained his voice into something casual and brought up the subject of Zuko's uncle's patio.
He found that he really liked this whole plan of helping out at Iroh's. He didn't really care that it canceled his afternoon plans to play online with Suki (who was in a time zone 3 hours ahead) which somewhat surprised him. But it had been a long time since he'd built anything -- not since before his father got the job up north.
Iroh had turned out to be just as awesome as Sokka had anticipated and had given him a signed copy of his book which Sokka stammered over with delighted embarrassment. The first afternoon at Iroh's had mostly been taken up by Sokka talking to Zuko's uncle excitedly about their shared interest while Zuko and Aang exchanged confused looks.
The second afternoon after the run in with Jet, Sokka showed up alone. "Aang has a jiu jitsu class," he explained as Zuko let him in.
Zuko nodded distractedly and closed the door behind him. Iroh had drinks and a plate of sandwiches ready for them even though Zuko had insisted that he didn't need to go out of his way. Iroh wouldn't have it though, insisting that the meager wage he was paying them to help build the patio could only be made up for in snacks and iced tea. Zuko indicated the plate as Sokka followed him into the kitchen.
"There's roast beef and turkey," he explained. "And tea of course. Uncle is already in the garden."
"Ah, cool," Sokka said, sinking down at Iroh's kitchen table. He was never one to turn down a free meal -- especially one that involved red meat. He too was distracted though, watching Zuko carefully, quick to notice the way that the other boy avoided his eyes. He'd only met Zuko barely a month ago, but when they were around each other, he found himself strangely attuned to the other's moods. "Hey," he said after a thoughtful bite, having weighed his options, and knowing that if he was overstepping any invisible boundaries, Zuko would tell him so. "Are you okay?"
Zuko blinked and shook himself as though he hadn't noticed he was behaving in any way to make Sokka ask him such a question. "Huh? No-- I'm fine." He even smiled a little to prove it. "Just a little..." He trailed off, not finishing the thought.
Sokka frowned faintly. He had to wonder if Zuko had even noticed him when they'd almost collided in the restroom. "I had a tousle with Jet in the bathroom the other day," he said quietly. Iroh was outside -- they could see him from the window at the far corner of the garden and Sokka knew they wouldn't be interrupted. "Were you guys fighting?"
Zuko seemed surprised, or at least his brow lifted in that way he had. He didn't say anything for a long while though, instead following Sokka's glance outside before he looked at him again. "Y-yeah," he said, finally. "I guess so. Kind of." He picked up a sandwich, turkey, and nibbled at one end. He wasn't really hungry, but it seemed impolite not to eat at least a little.
"He's such an ass," Sokka growled, taking an angry bite. "I told him to leave you the hell alone," he added, reflecting on the words Jet had thrown at him about Zuko. "He really seems to have it out for you though."
"He's not really a bad guy," Zuko shook his head, uncertain why he felt this sudden, bristling need to defend Jet. "He's just-- it's complicated." He paused then, took a sip of tea and risked meeting Sokka's eyes. "Don't worry about him."
Sokka met his gaze uncertainly, frowning, but he had the distinct feeling that it would be a bad idea to push the subject further. He silently filed the conversation away in his memory and made a note to himself to keep Zuko away from the bully as much as he could. The thought startled him somewhat -- when had he decided he was going to 'protect' Zuko? Even Jet himself had pointed it out that afternoon. Maybe it was just Aang's enthusiasm rubbing off on him. But now that Zuko was settling in with them, and even Katara was grudgingly accepting his presence, it seemed like it would be a shame for him to be drawn back into whatever trouble he and Jet had experienced together. Zuko claiming he 'wasn't a bad guy' was rather disquieting but Sokka didn't point it out. Instead he moved on.
"Hey," he said, changing the subject and his tone to a much more cheerful one as he polished off his sandwich. "Guess what."
Zuko blinked, only slightly thrown by the sudden change in tone and topic. "Um, what?" he asked, pulling apart his sandwich to get at the meat and cheese and cucumbers and leaving the bread uneaten.
"I'm getting a car," Sokka said proudly. "I've been working on weekends ever since I could get the permit and I've finally got enough for it. I just -- I know that your dad took away your driver guy. So I thought, if you ever need to get somewhere..." He shrugged.
The bite of turkey Zuko had just swallowed seemed suddenly harder to get down, but he found himself smiling anyway, threading a hand awkwardly through his own hair. "That's... really awesome of you," he said. "I mean, congrats. On getting the car. Well, almost getting it." He didn't really understand why Sokka was being so nice. Or even how a few weeks ago he'd spent all his time avoiding people like Aang and Sokka, determined not to make friends his father would disapprove of. It still worried him and made him nervous, but he felt, somehow, that everything would work out.
"Come on," Zuko nodded, indicating the window. "We've got a patio to build."
"Ah, right," Sokka said with a grin.
Iroh greeted them heartily and Sokka thanked him for the snack before they settled in to work. The project was simple enough and Iroh had invested in all the materials and tools to do it with, though the older man admitted that this sort of thing was never exactly his specialty. Sokka thought it might run in the family, judging from the way Zuko held a hammer. Luckily, for all the guff that Sokka took for not being the perfect picture of masculinity, he had background in working with his hands enough to offer guidance and some level of skill on the project.
Hence when he glanced over at Zuko, who was sawing some planks, he had a minor panic attack. "Whoah!" he protested, scrambling up and choking back a laugh. He took Zuko's hand which had been bracing the plank in such a way that he inevitably would have sliced off a thumb. "If you really don't want to work on something, just say so, don't cut off an extremity for it," Sokka grinned, though his teasing was strangely gentle as he repositioned Zuko's grip.
Zuko flushed faintly, embarrassed, but didn't pull away as Sokka moved his hands into something that, in retrospect, seemed infinitely more intelligent. "I'm not very good at this sort of thing," he admitted, beginning to saw at the bit of wood once more, having a somewhat easier time of it now with Sokka's advice.
A strange, muffled sound caught his attention and he shot a glare toward the house as he caught his Uncle wandering past the door, hand over his laughing mouth.
"I don't think I would be either if I lived on the hill," Sokka said with a quiet laugh as he returned to his own work. He let his voice rise over the sound of the drill he was working with. "My dad taught me what I know -- Aang said your mom taught you about cooking. That's really cool. I'm not even allowed in the kitchen at home because things spontaneously combust."
Zuko fell quiet, thoughtful, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah. I guess it's cool." He wasn't sure that it was really cool for a seventeen-year-old boy to be better at cooking than putting things together, but it had been something he shared with his mother and thus, he couldn't discredit it offhand. He wondered what she'd think if she saw him now, outside, sweaty and smudged, getting bruises and splinters and building a deck with someone he actually might be able to call a friend. His father would have thrown an utter fit if he'd seen it. Zuko thought maybe his mother would only smile and maybe worry a little when he smashed his thumb under the hammer for the umpteenth time. "Here," he said, passing Sokka an armload of the boards he'd cut.
"Thanks," Sokka said, taking a moment to wipe his brow with the back of his arm. Spring was settling in and the days were getting much warmer. "As long as it's not sewing," Sokka continued in the same train of thought as he dug through the hardware Iroh had purchased in search of a couple of brackets. "Now that's just for girls." He paused for a long moment, then added, "Don't tell Katara or Toph I said that."
Sokka's words, and his tough-yet-immediately-cautious attitude made Zuko laugh and he set aside the saw for a moment, settling onto the side of the frame they'd managed, somehow, to get up without much incident. His hair was already sticking to his brow and the sides of his face and he pushed at it ineffectively with the back of his hand. Despite the waning afternoon, the sun still reached the yard and in combination with the physical labor, Zuko found himself regretting even the thin cotton tank he wore. "Do all the women in your life want to beat you up or what?" he asked, the teasing in his voice surprising, but obvious.
"All except the one on the other side of the country," Sokka corrected sheepishly. He paused then with a faint frown. "And..." He trailed off, then quickly busied himself again with moving some of the boards. When he returned, he dug into his pocket and offered Zuko a hair tie with a vague smirk. His own hair was pulled back into a tight tail, keeping it thankfully out of his eyes.
Zuko accepted gratefully, wondering at first about Sokka's hesitation, then remembering what Aang had said about Sokka's first girlfriend. The one who'd died. "The one across the country?" he asked, hoping to distract Sokka from any unpleasant thoughts. "I dunno, Aang says she kicks your ass at WoW like every day. I think that counts." He grinned mischievously when Sokka looked his way, then lowered his hands from the hair he'd mostly, sort of, kind of managed to get into enough of a tie to pull it from his eyes. Unfortunately it also sort of, kind of made him look just a little ridiculous.
Sokka blinked a few times, his lips quivering as he looked upon Zuko with the ponytail more or less right on the top of his head. "That's very becoming on you," he said with a sage nod. "AND -- WoW doesn't work like that! We work together, not against each other. We're on a team together for going on missions. So no, she doesn't kick my ass!"
"But I bet she like... kills more stuff than you. Or something," Zuko continued, clearly knowing nothing about how the game worked but enjoying how easy it was to rile the other boy up. "Protects you from... wild winged boar or whatever. I bet you're an elf," he added, smirking. He didn't know much about it, but everyone knew elves were the pansies of fantasy.
"I'm NOT an elf!" Sokka said hotly, painfully easy to bait. "And that's a stereotype that all elves are gay, by the way! My character is a Draenei WARRIOR." Sokka leaned close then, poking a finger sharply into Zuko's chest. "If you're so interested maybe I'll make you play it sometime."
"Haha, no thanks," Zuko lifted his hands, shaking his head. "I already said I'd think about giving Pai Sho a shot again. I'm not gonna touch WoW for you." He smirked a little. "Even though I would totally kick your ass at it."
"You wouldn't -- that's not how -- augh, you're impossible!" Sokka snarled in frustration, shoving Zuko off the saw horse he was perched on and into the soft grass.
Zuko took the fall with surprising grace, rolling to the side to land on his back, then crossing his arms under his head and propping an ankle onto one knee, the picture of casual relaxation. "Thanks," he teased. "I wanted a break anyway." Then, before Sokka could answer or move away, he flicked out a toe to grab at the other's heel, toppling him easily. "Oops."
For his part, Sokka ended up in a much less graceful heap, ending the spill with a palm slapping over his own face in irritation. But then he sighed and sagged into the warm grass beside Zuko. "It's gonna take us until summer to build this thing at this rate."
Zuko said nothing for a while, just stared up at the shifting clouds and the clear sky in between. "I don't mind," he finally admitted, looking nowhere except up.
Sokka looked at the dark-haired boy from the corner of his eye for a long moment before he grinned and turned his own gaze skyward. "Yeah, me neither. But your uncle might kick our butts."
"Uncle's a very patient man. But yeah, I guess we should get back to it." Still he didn't move to sit up again. "Look/" He pointed up, indicating a particular cloud. "A cat."
This earned a glance over at the other boy -- he was surprised . Zuko had been so severe, so closed off the first time they'd crossed paths. Actually, he had been was downright nasty. But this person... Sokka twisted his body, moving closer to Zuko until their shoulders brushed, Sokka's head resting in the curve of Zuko's neck. From here he could see Zuko's perspective and spotted the cat immediately. "So it is. I like the steak better though."
With Sokka so close --touching, even-- Zuko tensed immediately. It was different when they were shoving or punching each other like friends, but this... this reminded Zuko of Jet. Of how they'd been at first. And it was hard to tell himself that Sokka was different, that he wasn't looking for anything from him. Wasn't dependent or sad or pushy or... angry. And slowly, he forced himself to relax, to avoid the urge to roll quickly away. "Yeah," he said finally, pointing again. "A steak. I see it."
Sokka laughed, somehow not feeling compelled to move away immediately. "You do realize that next time my sister says something about you being a cold-blooded killer, I'm going to tell her about you looking for kitty cats in the clouds, right?" He tried to looked over to see Zuko's expression but from the angle, he couldn't see the other's face at all.
"Oh no," Zuko moaned in monotone mock-agony, "My reputation! How will it ever survive!" Then, chuckling quietly he added, "It's cool. Toph will invent at least three more horrific rumors about me to make up for whatever you tell your sister. Which she won't believe anyway."
"Aw," Sokka said snickering. "You know she only abuses you because she likes you -- Toph, that is. I mean, not LIKES likes you but you know. At least I don't think so..."
Zuko raised a brow and turned his head to the side, ending up with a face full of Sokka's hair for his trouble. He huffed a startled breath and sat half up, propped on one elbow to look down at the other boy. "Sokka. You're rambling. Also, Toph's like twelve." He snorted faintly. "Don't worry. Even if she did --which would be weird-- I promise not to take advantage of your friend."
Sokka looked up at him with a funny expression, contemplative as he stared into the other's face. At first, it had been a little weird -- with that scar, there was an instinctual sort of feeling that he shouldn't look at Zuko's face, like he was being rude. But now it was natural and he didn't see the scar, he just saw Zuko whose hair had fallen out of the tie and was now very messy. "She's your friend too," was all he said.
Zuko blinked, stared at Sokka as though surprised by the words. "Yeah. I guess she is," he answered, but there was a strange little almost-smile at the corner of his mouth and maybe Sokka was imagining it, but he almost sounded... grateful.
The other boy then sat up, shoving Zuko back to the grass offhandedly as he did so. "C'mon, let's get back to work."
