Once Upon a Teashop

"How are you?" Sokka asked, plopping down onto the ground next to where Zuko sat curled up with his arms on his knees and being rather pathetic-looking. They'd reached Chameleon Bay a couple hours ago and met up with the Water Tribe warriors once more. It'd been a hectic evening, the escape from Ba Sing Se, and he'd been surprised when Appa had shown up with Zuko and Jet as extra passengers, though that had been quickly overshadowed by Aang's inert body and Katara's desperation. The ride away from the city had been silent and tense, with Katara doing everything she could thing of to heal Aang – and then remembering her Spirit Oasis water, thank the spirits – and Jet glaring at Zuko the whole trip like he wanted to murder him. Which he possibly did. Katara's quick rundown of events, including the recap of Zuko joining their side, showed that the cat was out of the bag. Aang waking up had been a relief, cutting through the tension that permeated the open air above the bison, but the biggest relief had been landing. Sokka took it upon himself to work things out with his dad, explaining the situation, and everyone had dispersed around the camp. Zuko had all but disappeared.

It had taken Sokka a whole hour and a half of searching to find Zuko when he was finished with his dad. He'd stopped in briefly to try and see about Aang, but Katara was still busy and shooed him away so he moved on to his next priority. Unfortunately, as small as the camp was, the prince was insanely good at making himself scarce when he had to. He'd found the most remote, hidden, and darkest corner he could find and stuck himself there, far away from everyone.

"How's the Avatar?" Zuko asked instead of replying. "Aang," he self-corrected after a second.

"He's alive," Sokka said. "Which is definitely the best we can hope for right now, so that's good. But I asked you first, and then I answered first, so now you have to answer. Those are the rules."

"Whose rules?"

"'Whose rules', he says. The rules, Zuko. The rules of the universe!"

"You're making those up."

"You're trying to avoid the question which, as I just pointed out, as against the rules."

Zuko, who had been kind enough to look at Sokka this whole time, turned his eyes away and rested his chin on arms. "It's not important."

Sokka wasn't here for that kind of answer. He sighed and leaned against the boulder they sat behind. "Zuko," he said pointedly. "Seriously. Are you okay?"

The firebender let out an irritated huff and curled up a bit more, glaring at the ground. But he answered, so Sokka took the win. "No," he admitted. "I'm not."

"Yeah, I didn't think so," he said quietly. And not just because Zuko looked miserable and down-trodden. From Katara's recap, he'd had a hell of a day. "Your uncle," he tried, focusing on what he felt was probably itching at the other boy the most. "He's tough. I'm sure he'll be fine. And if Jet's getting to you, don't let him. He's kind of an ass; you know that." Sokka kindly refrained from slipping any kind of 'I told you so' into the conversation. Zuko clearly felt bad enough as it was without rubbing his face in it.

"It's not that," Zuko said quietly. "I mean, yeah, it's kind of those a bit. But Uncle probably will be fine; he's still royalty. And Jet…" Here he trailed off and sighed. "It's not Jet," he finally said. "It's that…I just…I think I might've just killed my sister," he finished, voice growing more pained with each word.

Oh.

Yeah, that would do it. Sokka hadn't thought about that really. Or at all. Sure, he'd gotten that quick rundown, but that blip about Zuko taking out Azula had just let to a rather throwaway "good" of satisfaction in his mind that the princess had gotten her comeuppance. So even if she was dead, he wasn't exactly mourning. But Sokka could definitely see how that would possibly be a bummer for Zuko. Even if the girl had tried to kill her brother before. On multiple occasions. She was still his little sister.

Sokka put on the best upbeat, comforting voice he could muster. "I'm sure she's not dead – she's tough like your uncle. Like your whole family, really. Annoyingly tough. Like I wouldn't even think you guys were real people if I didn't know you. I think she's probably impossible to kill, actually. And, hey – Aang's still breathing."

"Yeah, barely, and only because your sister has magic spirit water and healing abilities."

That was a fair point. Sokka tried a different tactic. "That's just because your sister is a crazy good bender." And now Zuko was full out glaring at him and the poor watertribesman realised what he'd just implied. "Not to say you're not! You are. You're a great bender, Zuko. Even though I've, uh, never actually seen you bend lightning like she does. But – oh! She had time to aim and you didn't, right? So she's probably fine. Probably walked it right off." Unfortunately.

Zuko still didn't look comforted. Sokka decided it was probably safest to change the topic of conversation entirely. When words offered no peace, distraction was the name of the game.

"You don't have to sit over here by yourself," he said.

"I'm not by myself," Zuko shot back. Sokka paused, surprised.

"Was that a joke? Like a for real joke, that was actually kind of funny and not morbid in any way? I'm impressed. Didn't think you had it in you."

Now Zuko was glaring again, but it was an embarrassed glare as opposed to 'you just insulted my very existence', so more or less his usual face.

"Seriously; come on and let me introduce you to everyone."

"Is that really the best idea?" And that's when Sokka figured out the other thing that was bothering Zuko. He was uncomfortable and didn't know what to expect from anyone. Understandably. Jet's whole Jet-ness probably wasn't helping matters at all.

Sokka was glad he'd inadvertently prepped his dad for the firebender now. "It's a great idea. My dad really wants to meet you. I, ah…might have told him about you already. He's got this weird idea that I have a crush on you which is just, hah, crazy, right? Totally ridiculous."

"Yeah. Crazy." Did Zuko know how to sound enthused about anything? Sokka would give it to him today because he'd clearly just gone through some serious emotional upheaval, but in general. That was point number one in his newly formed list of totally legitimate reasons why Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe did not, in any way, have feelings beyond the soft gooey friendship ones for the newly reformed former Prince Zuko. He had to remember to write that down. He was going to keep the list tucked away and present it to his father in the future as definite proof that the man was wrong. And then they could read it to Toph for good measure.

For now, though, it seemed as if Sokka's supposed crush on Zuko had gone a long way to impress the older boy's inner goodness on Hakoda. So Sokka would be magnanimous and let his dad's very wrong belief slide.

"I'm fine where I am," Zuko protested. He was determined to not move, it seemed. Sokka was done playing around here, though.

"Yeah; not buying it. Come on." He refused to let Zuko sit here and mope. Or be scared away from bonding with people by his own insecurities – or Jet's general bad attitude. Sokka was quite pleased when Zuko didn't protest being dragged around by the arm, up and over to the center of the camp where everyone but Katara (and obviously Aang) sat outside by the fire. Including Jet, who glared at them the moment they appeared. Sokka ignored him – though by the way Zuko darted his eyes away, the former prince sure hadn't – and marched them right past the Freedom Fighter and up to where his dad sat talking to Bato.

"Dad," he announced loudly, much to Zuko's consternation, "this is Zuko. Zuko, my dad."

Sokka paid no mind to Hakoda's not nearly quiet enough whisper to Bato, "It's like meeting my future son-in-law," and the ensuing laughter that comment garnered. It probably hadn't been the smartest move talking to his dad about how nice Zuko smelled, but, oh well. The damage was done. And for the record, Zuko did continue to smell very nice.

Not that Sokka was paying attention to that at all.

Zuko didn't have Sokka's discretion or charitable ability to look the other way as he turned bright red and flustered. "What? No! I'm not - we're not – Sokka – no! I have a—," boyfriend, Sokka was sure he almost said, but caught himself at the last second and went right back to frowning and looking depressed.

Hakoda pulled himself to his feet and laughed.

"Relax, son," he said. "I'm just teasing Sokka."

Which Sokka was totally cool with and unbothered by because he did not like Zuko like that and therefore had no reason to get defensive.

"I've heard a lot about you, both good and bad. It's good to finally meet you. It can't have been easy turning against your family like that, but all of us here, we appreciate the way you helped the Avatar today. And I personally appreciate the way you've helped my children. So thank you." Zuko flushed even more and nodded.

"Uh, it's, uh…it's nice to meet you, too," he said lamely, blowing off the thanks. Sokka snorted.

"Well, okay, so that's my dad, this is Bato," Bato waved, "you obviously already know the Earth King and Toph," and Sokka continued, dragging Zuko around from person to person to make sure he knew everyone until Zuko had more names in his mind than he would possibly ever remember. They finally stopped when Sokka's stomach growled loud enough to remind both boys they were hungry, and Sokka enthusiastically grabbed them something and they sat down to eat. Then it came time to divvy up sleeping quarters and bedrolls and Sokka volunteered to share a tent with Zuko before anyone could even say anything which way.

Zuko was by now staring at the brown-skinned boy like Sokka had a crazy Zuko was afraid of catching and Jet hadn't stopped glaring at the two of them even once. Sokka ignored any and all faces Toph and Hakoda might have been making because being nice to someone – to his friend, no less – in no way meant anything. About anything.

There was just something really nice about Zuko being on their side now. For real.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Zuko demanded when they got settled in their tent that evening. It was Sokka's turn to pin him with a weird look, one eyebrow arched.

"Why wouldn't I be nice?"

"Because the last time we talked, I treated you terribly." That was true. None of their last few conversations had gone well.

"The last time we talked you actually had freed Appa and returned him to me, which on the long list of things you've done to me and my friends is actually close to the top in terms of goodness level. Let's be honest here."

Zuko didn't find comfort in that, even though Sokka had said it with what he considered to be a rather convincing, relaxed grin.

"Which adds to my point," he replied.

"You have serious trust issues, you know that?" Zuko just glared. Sokka huffed and crossed his arms. "You also have no concept of friendship. Yeah, you were completely an ass, and you definitely owe me an apology," it was to Zuko's favour that he didn't offer up even a micro protest, "but your world kind of imploded on itself today, and you're still my friend even if you don't think I'm yours, so I think it's probably not great for you to be alone right now. I know I wouldn't want to be."

"Oh," Zuko said lamely. And then moments later, "I'm sorry I said we weren't friends. I didn't mean it. And that I called you an idiot. And a peasant. Even though you're kind of both those things. This is a terrible apology."

"It's cool," Sokka said, giving his friend a shrug and a reassuring grin. "You have no social skills. I understand."

"Things were good with Jet, though," Zuko said, voice imploring. "The past few days were nice. We went on a date." Sokka did not want to think about Zuko and Jet on a date. "I got sick: he helped. We talked. Peacefully. He wasn't weird. Things were good. Are, if he ever forgives me."

And that was a problem right there. That kind of thinking. Sokka would listen to Zuko stress about Jet, but he wasn't willing to listen to that.

"Forgives you for what?" he demanded. "For being you? This is down to Jet and his weird, deluded issues with the Fire Nation. You actually didn't do anything wrong here for once. Except maybe sleeping with and subsequently choosing to date him. I still maintain that was a stupid decision."

"I thought you were being nice to me."

"No, I'm being your friend. And, hey, what can I say: friends are here to tell it like it is. Those are the rules."

"Rules of the universe," Zuko snorted in disbelief.

Sokka grinned wide. It seemed the prince was catching on. "Yup. The universal rules governing friendship. You ought to learn them."

Zuko rolled his eyes and then let out a huge yawn. "Sure, whatever. But, uh…thanks. Sokka. For, um. For what it's worth." It was worth quite a lot, Zuko's thanks. It was good to know they were on good terms again. "I'm going to sleep."

The firebender tucked himself into the bedroll with a tossed out 'goodnight' and was out before he knew it. Sokka waited until Zuko's breathing evened out then rolled onto his feet. He wasn't quite ready to sleep yet tonight. But Zuko was probably up past his bedtime given he woke up at the crack of dawn. The water tribesman was more of a night owl himself. And besides, he was overdue for another check up on his sister. Katara still hadn't emerged from the self-designated healing tent she'd disappeared into hours earlier to work on Aang. With any pending Zuko drama put on hold for the moment it was time to go make sure his little sister didn't kill herself trying to keep Aang alive.

Although, Sokka really needed to learn not to jinx himself because karma always came collecting. And the Zuko drama was clearly not put on hold because who did Sokka run into but Jet, glaring death and spitting venom around his stupid wheat stalk (and where had he even gotten one from around here?).

"You must be so proud of yourself," the taller boy spat out when he stepped directly into Sokka's path.

Sokka scowled, but chose not to respond. He tried to step past Jet, but the taller boy stepped with him, blocking his way. He moved again, but same result.

"Get out of my way," he said mulishly. Jet ignored him, stepping closer to tower over Sokka as best he could. It probably would have worked better if Sokka ever felt anything other than annoyance to the other boy. Intimidation wasn't something he was willing to put up with.

"It must have been a real joke to you, watching us. Knowing what he was the whole time."

"Move out of my way, Jet," the water tribesman repeated lowly. He refused to engage in this.

"Did you go home laughing at me every night? Maybe with your little blind friend?"

"No one's laughing at you, Jet – I told you to leave him alone." Jet was delusional, as usual. Sokka just really wanted him to move out of the way so he could get to Katara.

"Yeah, I'm sure you were watching out for me," he scoffed.

"I couldn't care less about you," Sokka snapped back. "But I was definitely looking out for him. Not even Zuko deserves to have to deal with you."

Jet shoved Sokka hard, causing the shorter boy to stumble back before he caught himself. Once steadied, he straightened up, but didn't retaliate. Not yet.

"You disgust me," Jet said. "Almost as much as he does. I thought you might have had a thing for him in the city, but tonight, going everywhere with him, sharing a tent – the thing with your dad. You're sick, you know that."

"You sound jealous," Sokka retorted. "Afraid he likes me better? That'd be unfortunate, given he's your boyfriend." The crush accusations weren't worth responding to. Jet was angry and irrational and needed the reminder that if he wasn't happy with his situation, he had no one but himself to blame. Jet didn't take kindly to that reminder, though, and shoved Sokka again.

"At least when I had a go at him, I didn't know he was one of them! Yu see the filth that he is and still want a turn. Well, I hope you enjoy my leftovers."

There was much to be said about being the better man, and taking the high road, and not engaging with Jet's ridiculousness. Some things, though, were much better said with fists. Sokka punched him. It was the only appropriate response. The crack of Jet's nose under his fist was entirely too satisfying, and the water tribesman would savour that feeling for as long as he could. Jet, predictably, hit back, fist landing on Sokka's cheek, and the two descended into a brawl in the middle of camp, only stopping when they were forcibly pulled apart by some of the other water tribesman. The noise of angry shouts and collapsing tents had alerted them to the fight.

When it was clear that neither boy was going to take another swing, they were let go. Sokka stomped over to stare Jet down nose to nose.

"You think you're too good for him, but it's actually the other way around. And if you have a problem, you can leave – because guess what, Jet, we need him around here more than we need, or eve want, you. So have fun sleeping on that tonight."

And then he stormed off to visit Katara and hopefully get his sister to heal his bruised face up before he woke up in the morning and Zuko started asking questions. Sokka was just honestly glad, and so very grateful, that Zuko hadn't been awake to see this.

TBC…

I had a false alarm where I thought I had lost half of this chapter, but I found it! So here it is! Til next time~ :)