Standard disclaimers apply.

Sokka and his dad didn't manage to sneak in without waking anyone. Zuko did his part, drifting down to the courtyard beside the one where the group slept on warmer nights, and letting the two off with a silent handshake for Chief Hakoda and a quick hug for Sokka. The two water tribesmen were not without skill in stealth and under most circumstances they could have made it to a sleeping spot near enough the group to not be accused of hiding from them in the morning. Normal circumstances did not include The Duke having just woken up for a midnight bathroom break and yelling "Sokka! Did you catch a lot of fish?"

Then Toph shot a rock up under the boy and said "Quiet down, Snoozles and Sparky can tell us in the... Wait, that's not Sparky!" and with a yell of glee, slammed her fist in to the ground to propel Katara still half asleep into her father's arms. At which point father and son exchanged a rueful glance and accepted that they had gotten all of their sleep for the night.

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Hakoda sighed as the glowing water ran over the back of his scalp. "Thank you so much, Katara. Though I'd say I got off fairly light for throwing the whole plan out of order."

He winked at Sokka, who laughed and, forgetting his audience shot back, "At least Zuko threw his swords instead of a fireball, ask Toph about her feet sometime." Then he realized his mistake.

"Zuko hit you?" The waterbender's eyes flashed with rage. "Where is that bastard, I'll show him to mess with my family again, he won't know what-"

"Katara, calm down!" The chief looked to his son in concern as he gently pulled his daughter down to sit beside him. "Like I said, I messed up Sokka's plan quite a bit, you see I didn't actually know I was being rescued. The boy couldn't exactly yell 'no wait, I'm not a pirate' after the two of them did all that shopping, now could he?"

The group laughed and Teo said cheerfully, "Maybe you two should start at the beginning, this sounds like one crazy rescue!"

Katara was still grumbling. "Still sounds reckless to me, I mean he threw his swords? What if he cut your head off instead of knocking you out?"

Sokka held back the desire to defend Zuko, he had separated himself so that the group wouldn't have to take sides, after all, but his dad responded again with a laugh. "Somehow I don't get the impression that him messing up with those blades is a major concern." He surveyed his wrists ruefully. "Considering he broke my shackles off in less than a second, without scratching me and barely even looking at me! That confused me when I woke up; I never would have even considered the possibility of him being a bender with that kind of weapon skill."

Aang grinned and leaned forward, "Oh man, Chief Hakoda, I know exactly how you felt! Zuko broke me out of prison once and he did almost the same thing with the swords and the chains, I was all 'Augh I'm gonna die, wait I'm free, am I still gonna die?' It was even scarier because he was wearing that Blue Spirit mask..."

"Now wait, how did you not know you were being rescued if he broke your chains off?" Haru was trying to keep up with the thread of the conversation. "Teo's right, let's hear this story properly!"

"Well, okay," Sokka smiled, happy for an opportunity to show off his planning skills and pleased that Katara had settled down some. "So it all started when we saw Hawkie Two the other day..."

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"...and I certainly wasn't going anywhere with a pirate, so not knowing any better, I punched the poor kid trying to rescue me in the gut!"

Hakoda paused to have a sip of the soup Katara had warmed up for them as they talked, and Teo interrupted. "Oh, like he even felt it with those abs!" The group was distracted from responding by Sokka choking noisily on his own soup. "What?" the younger boy said with a blush, "he trains with his shirt off, it's hard not to notice that the guy is ripped!"

"No, it's... cough it's not that, I um, just said pretty much the same thing when Zuko complained about Dad hitting him. He says my dad hits hard." He added the last bit with a proud grin at the older water tribesman and the group laughed.

Sokka took another drink of soup, glad that his prior mouthful had blocked the irate cry of "Hey, back off, those are mine to admire!" that his hindbrain had tried to make without consulting the parts of his brain that kept his private life private, particularly from his dad and little sister. And anyway, he scolded his brain, I said the others could look, didn't I? So don't get all stupid and jealous when someone notices how mindbogglingly lucky I am to have friendship perks with a sex god! Not that they would notice the perks, since that's his private life, but they could notice the sex god part and he should just be quietly smug, not filled with a desire to go...

"Hey, you know speaking of Zuko's stomach, I should bring him some soup. I mean, he was going to go right to sleep since he was up the whole time fueling the balloon," except for a little break on the sleeping bag, but he wasn't resting then either, "but we didn't really have a full meal while we were gone, so I'll at least drop it off in case he wakes up and wants something..." Babbling semi coherently, he gathered up a large bowlful and made his escape.

He tried not to notice Toph's knowing look or Hakoda's contemplative one.

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Zuko was asleep when he made his way around to the other pagoda, but didn't seem cranky to be woken up by Sokka's entrance. "Hey, that smells good, wha- ahrge lugh AH wha?" he finished thoughtfully as the other boy left the bowl on the side table and leaped into the bed to trace the lines of his stomach muscles with his tongue.

The water tribesman glanced up with a slightly feral grin and said cheerfully, "Just marking my territory," as he licked up the prince's chest and nipped his chin before crashing into a passionate kiss. He felt Zuko laughing into his mouth as he returned the gesture and was unsurprised to find himself flipped onto his back by the time their lips parted.

"Dare I ask what brought this on? Hmmm... not that I'm complaining, but I'd resigned myself to giving you some space for the next few days so you could spend time with your dad." Pale fingers made quick work of the lacings on Sokka's fancy 'pirate' shirt then ran lightly over his collarbones.

"Heh, maybe not," he responded with a slight blush, "I don't know if I'm allowed to get dumb and feel all possessive over something like this." He felt the warm fingers still, but when he glanced up nervously, golden eyes were dancing happily as they looked down at him.

"You're allowed to feel whatever you want, Sokka. Just, you know, keep me up to date on where I stand and I'll be satisfied."

"Hrmmm... satisfying you standing, now that's not a bad ide-" WHAP! "Hey, what did I say about stealing my schticks!" The two wrestled for control over the pillow and soon tumbled out of the bed, laughing.

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Later, after they untangled themselves and Zuko had reheated his soup, he pulled Sokka over for a quick kiss. "So what's this about feeling jealous?"

"Heh, it was kinda dumb, Teo made a remark about how built you are and some stupid hormonal part of my brain went grrr, mine! but luckily I was eating and couldn't make a fool of myself."

The prince laughed and elbowed him. "That is a little dumb, I mean, that's just a fact of life, it's like being jealous of someone saying I have gold eyes."

"Hrm, I do like your eyes, so if I was sufficiently tired and irrational at the moment I might..." He scowled at Zuko's chuckles. "Well at least I can make you laugh."

"Mmmmm, you can, it's nice, usually even when I think something is funny I'm too embarrassed to laugh... And for the record, I like your eyes, too." He finished off his soup and set the bowl aside. "So shouldn't you be getting back before people start getting suspicious?"

"I should, but it's really warm and comfy here. Would, um, would you mind if I stayed?"

He was rewarded with a broad smile. "Not only wouldn't I mind, I think I'd like that a lot. It's a little too quiet in this part of the temple."

Sokka grinned as he snuggled into his friend's side. "Well, I'll definitely help with the quiet part... So you don't think it's weird I got jealous when I was all insisting I didn't want a relationship?"

"Actually... to be honest I was arguing with myself the other day about whether I had the right to ask if you would be sneaking into any other bedrooms for however long we decide to keep this up. So if you're weird, I am too."

"Hmmm, no. I mean, not no you don't have the right to ask, no, even if there was anyone else here I was interested in, it would feel wrong to be doing that, at least not without telling you about it and giving you a chance to break things off if you didn't like it. Besides," he leaned up to kiss the other boy's cheek, "I think you've ruined me for other warriors. I... I don't think I'll be giving up these perks until I'm ready to carve a necklace and start repopulating the Southern Tribe."

He could almost feel the smile as Zuko nuzzled into his hair. "Sounds like a plan to me... I'm hoping to be your friend for a good long time." Sokka smiled too as he drifted off, wondering vaguely what his chances were of finding a girl who wouldn't mind him visiting a really good friend in the Fire Nation once in a while...