AN: I am so sorry... I had to though... I just had to.
In the late evening. Zuko and Sokka had done a bit of sword practise together as they walked back to camp and was drawn to one of the campfires where loud noises were to be heard, there was even singing and a bunch of laughing.
Sokka recognised the voices immediately as he ran forward. "GUYS!" and true enough, what Zuko and Sokka arrived at was a bunch of men from the southern water tribe…. Plus Zhau-Li.
Thing about them though was that they all had red cheeks and seemed more merry than usual. Then Zukos eyes fell on a suspicious sack that seemed to have been making the rounds.
"SOKKAAAAA!" A young man grinned. "Come sit down boy! Join in! Tell us some stories!"
Sokka grinned as he sat down and then without even thinking. Someone handed Sokka the sack and Sokkas eyes widened.
"You… You do realize you just gave me the elder berry wine right?" Sokka asked in a whisper.
"So?" Another young man asked. "You are fighting in a war now right? You're a man aren't you? Bato even told us you passed the ice dodging test! You're officially a man!"
Sokka gasped. "That's true… I am a man." he barely even dared to whisper. Then, with shaking hands he uncorked the sack and carefully sniffed.
Immediately Sokkas eyes watered, but he put up a brave fight to pretend that wasn't the case while all the water tribe man snickered and then at last Sokka took a healthy swig.. Only to end up coughing afterwards. "Tastes great!" Sokka grinned with a forced smile. "Love it!" and he took another swig just to proof his point.
Zuko looked at Sokka wondering what the other boy was trying to proof only for Sokka to give the sack to Zuko.
"What? What do you want me to do with this?!" Zuko asked bewildered.
"You gotta join us Zuko! Seriously." Sokka said. "This is a mans night! We gotta join!"
"Erh… I don't think." Zuko said.
"Are you scaaared?" Sokka asked as a red blush started to creep over his cheeks.
"No." Zuko huffed. "I just… My uncle always told me not to drink."
"Do you always do what your uncle tells you?" Sokka asked.
"No… But I probably should have." Zuko pouted.
"Come on your highness!" A water tribes man grinned. "You're going to be fire lord soon right? You'll be expected to drink fine wine with all of those fancy folks. It'll be rude of you to refuse so… Get some training in."
Zuko halted… That was actually a good point. All of the most important people would always be drinking at their most fancy meetings and dinner parties. Uncle had even said that the most important decisions in history were always made after a few drinks…. And Zuko wasn't thirteen any more. He was sixteen. The age where it was normal for fire nation youth to be drafted and well… Drink.
Zuko swallowed and finally he put the sack to his lips and drank a heavy swig before tearing the sack away and gasped for air. All the water tribes men though cheered. Including Sokka and Zhau-Li.
"Now sit down!" The water tribes men cheered. "Let us hear of your adventures!"
"Totally!" Sokka exclaimed. "So what do you want to hear about first? When we stopped a volcano? When we freed earth benders from a prison ridge? When I, Sokka! Saved an entire village from a flood created by the freedom fighters!"
"I wanna hear about when Prince Zuko breathed fire like a dragon!" A water tribes man grinned.
"Oh come on!" Sokka exclaimed. "Everything is always about Zuko! Give some love to Sokka!"
"The Orange lord." Zuko replied.
The water tribes men looked at Zuko.
"You you have my interest. What's that about?" A man asked.
"Oh come on Zuko! If you're going to talk about me at least tell something cool!" Sokka complained.
"Sokka is the orange lord because he always thinks of insane plans no one else could ever come up with." Zuko said. "like hiding in the fire nation itself and make a whole theatre production to make the fire nation soldiers believe the painted lady is a real spirit or cut down the support beams inside of this massive drill to make it collapse."
Sokka grinned. "I should have known you totally have my back. Cause you're a total brother like that!" he said as the sack arrived at Sokka again and he took a swig to hand it over to Zuko who repeated the motion before sending it off and then the stories continued.
Thing neither of these kids knew about drinking yet, it easily accumulated. The sack of booze was just casually handed around in the circle and everyone was taking swigs without even thinking about it.
Neither Sokka or Zuko really thought about it either as they were just joining into their stories which got wilder and wilder, and more and more merry as the sack was emptied… re-filled and emptied again.
"And then… And then Zuko said." Sokka slurred as he was tipping back and forth. "That's a fire cracker! HAAAA HA HA HA!"
Normally Zuko didn't find Sokkas jokes funny at all, but somehow they were hilarious right now and he joined into the laughter as he dried his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Zuko?"
Zuko turned his head to see two girls who had approached them. Mai and Katara. It was Mai who had spoken up.
"Hey! Katara… Hi." Sokka grinned his entire face red.
"Are you guys… Drunk?" Katara asked wide-eyed.
"It's a mans night." Sokka said. "Just telling our awesome war stories Katara. You wouldn't understand." and as if to proof his point the sack had returned to Sokka and he drank.
"You're going to regret that in the morning." Katara informed with a lifted eyebrow.
"No way." Sokka said. "I'm a manly man! I can handle it."
Mai wrinkled her nose.
"Hi Maaai." Zuko grinned. "Look guys! It's Mai! Can you believe she's my girlfriend? She's so pretty."
Mais eyes widened.
"And cool." Zuko continued. "I got the coolest girlfriend ever. She can like… beat a battalion just using a knife."
"Coolest?" Sokka said. "No way! Suki is waaaaay cooler!"
"Guys seriously?" Katara asked.
"Wait." Mai held up a hand. "I want to see where this is going."
"Suki could whoop Mais ass in a second no problem." Sokka said.
"Nuhu." Zuko shook his head. "Mai can hit a fly with her throwing knife, ten meters away."
"Well Suki can throw men three times her seize down on the ground!" Sokka said.
"Pfff. That's nothing." Zuko said. "Ty Lee can do that too. Face it Sokka, my sister could take you down."
"My sister could take you down!" Sokka exclaimed.
Katara lifted an eyebrow. Right this moment that probably wouldn't be that hard. Then she sighed. "Seriously guys? You let these two drink this much? Neither of them have ever drunk before!"
At least the water tribes men had the decency to look slightly ashamed as they looked down.
"And Zhau-Li seriously? I thought you would always be looking after Zuko." Katara sighed.
"Errhm…" Zhau-Li hesitated. "I didn't really think that…" and he was lost for words.
Now Zuko had gotten to the sack of alcohol and was just about to drink before Mai snatched it away from him.
"Maaaai." Zuko complained.
"I think you had enough for tonight." Mai simple said. "You'll thank me later."
"Hahaaa! You got schooled by your girlfriend!" Sokka laughed only to be smacked over the head by Katara.
"You got schooled by your sister." Zuko pursed his lips.
Mai sighed. And then took a swig of the alcohol she was holding.
"Seriously?" Katara asked.
"What? I needed it." Mai said.
Katara sighed deeply as she held her forehead. "Come on. Lets get these two idiots to bed." she suggested.
Mai nodded as she put the sack on the ground and grabbed Zukos arm. "Come on Zuko. To bed. You have another long day tomorrow. Whether you like it or not."
"You're so pretty." Zuko sighed deeply as he leaned into Mai, which unfortunately meant his breath got a little to close for comfort.
Mai looked out in the air… She had enjoyed napping while either holding Zuko or let herself be held by Zuko. But that wasn't happening tonight. No way, no how.
"Are all men idiots like this?" Mai asked outlet as Katara was struggling with getting Sokka into the right direction.
"Pretty much yeah." Katara sighed deeply.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
The next morning Zuko experienced something he had never experienced before. Like always he woke up with the sunrise. But the light from the sunrise hurt his eyes and he just wanted to shut them close.
Then something else that had never happened before happened. Aang was the one to wake Zuko up! "Hey! Hey Zuko! It's time for sunrise meditation isn't it? In fact we are overdue. I can't believe you were still a sleep."
Zuko groaned as he grabbed his pillow and pressed it over his head. "Go away." he asked.
Aang gasped. "Zuko? Are you sick?" he asked. "Katara! KATARAAAA!" Aang screamed horrified which just made Zukos head ache intensify.
Finally Katara entered. "What is it Aang?"
"Zuko is sick." Aang sniffed. "He's always up at sunrise! And now he's not! How do we help him?"
Kataras eyes fell on Zuko and she smirked. "So Zuko. Have we learned something today?" she asked.
"Drinking… baaaad." Zuko groaned.
Aang blinked. "You have been… Drinking?" she asked.
Zuko groaned.
"Are you serious? I was super worried and you had just been drinking?!" Aang exclaimed. "I can't believe this!"
"Please." Zuko groaned and Katara rolled her eyes.
"Erhm… Can we do something to help him?" Aang asked.
"Just water and food to absorb the alcohol." Katara rolled her eyes. "Salty food should work particularly well. But only for some people. Nothing beats water though. Don't worry, he'll be fine."
It took a while but finally Zuko managed to get outside, he still felt like crap though. And then Mai was there, looking entirely unimpressed.
"So erhm…" Zuko hesitated. "About last night. I think you were there… I don't remember so much. If I said something stupid I… I'm sorry."
Mai lifted an eyebrow.
"I shouldn't have been drinking like that. I was stupid." Zuko muttered.
"So I'm pretty am I?" Mai asked then she kissed Zuko on the cheek. "You're rather handsome yourself." she said and Zukos eyes widened. "Next time though, stop before you loose your filter!"
"Oh… okay." Zuko nodded. "Sure."
"And go take a bath you stink. You also need to brush your teeth! Seriously!" Mai said.
"Right… I'll go do that. Thanks." Zuko nodded as he finally left, unsurprisingly finding an equally miserable looking Sokka at the bath. And yeah… He smelled too… A lot.
"Sokka just so you know. I'm blaming you." Zuko commented dryly.
"Yeah that's fair." Sokka sighed deeply. "Suki is still prettier though."
"In your dreams." Zuko rolled his eyes.