Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I hope this chapter is likeable enough… I'm not used to getting reviews so early on, it's a tad bit frightening and intimidating! Thank you though, really. You keep me motivated. Still, I own nothing of the Avatar world! In case you had forgotten. On to the tale!

Sokka was not one to listen to orders from anyone, especially not a suspicious fire bender with a scar that was all too familiar for comfort. And in fact, Zuko was not at all surprised when he looked up from organizing leaves for Iroh to discover Sokka had taken residence at the same table he had the day before. He cleared his throat, still stuck with illness, and huffed. "So much for peace," he uttered, grabbing a menu but knowing it would not be necessary. Sokka was just there to pry. Still, he had to act like an upstanding citizen and waiter. Again, he slid the menu in front of Sokka and crossed his arms over his chest. "What can I get for you today?"

Sokka made a show of looking over the paper thoroughly. He scanned words with his fingertips and squinted at the menu as if he were losing sight of the words. After a few overdrawn moments, he looked up at Zuko. "Nothing today, I'll come back tomorrow."

Zuko hesitated, holding back the urge to grab Sokka's arm and leave a permanent reminder of his hatred for the boy on his dark flesh. "I thought I asked you not to come back."

Sokka smirked. "Oh, you did. See you tomorrow, Zuko." The name slid from his throat, rough and taunting.

Zuko cringed and watched the man disappear through the doorway of the shop.

…

Again, Sokka was there to torture Zuko. Oh, Zuko wanted to tear his head from his shoulders, wanted to sear his flesh from his bones. Instead he brought another menu and returned to Iroh with Sokka's order.

The tea was hot as it slid down Sokka's throat. He sucked in a quick breath trying to ease his esophagus when Zuko sauntered over and promptly sat across from Sokka. "Stop coming back here. You will find nothing. I am trying to be normal, Sokka."

The way Zuko uttered his name, as if a secret, as if the most important secret in the universe, spread over decades of glossy words hidden behind teeth, infuriated Sokka. "You need to understand Zuko," and he spit the name back with so much venom he half expected Zuko to flinch, "I will be returning here until I've got you pegged. Until I have you figured out."

Zuko threaded his fingers in his hair. "There's nothing to figure out!" A scrape sounded across the floor and Sokka glared as Zuko stood.

"There's always something to figure out about you."

Zuko pushed his chair back in and turned away. "Not this time."

…

The next day was no different. Sokka showed up and Zuko grew annoyed. He grew so annoyed in fact, as the days went on, that finally he reached a plateau and stopped feeling anything at all.

…

Of course, he was unsure of when he'd taken his first step down from the plateau; when Sokka's eyes began smiling at him as he entered through the front door of the shop instead of narrowing with suspicions. But it had happened.

Zuko was less hostile when handing the menu to the water tribe boy, who'd technically had the thing memorized from his third visit onwards. It was only one page and he only liked a few of the teas advertised. Zuko too had memorized something. Sokka liked green tea. So, even as the menu left his fingers for those dark hands, he knew Sokka's lips would curve up and utter "green tea, please."

And so he brought the green tea. And he sat at the table. It occurred to Zuko that perhaps it was friendship, the thing that had formed between the two of them. Or maybe he was misjudging, maybe Sokka was still trying to harvest information from him about his plans. But, no, he was trying to change his ways. He was trying to trust more.

Funny, how fast things had changed.

…

"That cough still isn't gone, Zuko," Sokka notes, sipping his hot tea gingerly.

Zuko waved dismissively, fighting the itch in his throat. "I'm fine. Just a bug, it will pass."

Sokka poked his tea across the table and on to Zuko's hand. "Here, finish this. I have to get going anyway." Sokka stands and stretches. "Get better, okay?" For a second, he feels odd telling a past enemy to feel better, but the oddness dissipates just as quickly as it had appeared.

Zuko nods and glances down at the tea. "Thanks." And from under the legs of the chair Sokka lazily left pushed out, Zuko watches the boy's legs disappear. He takes the cup in both hands, blows gently on the steam, and takes a sip.

His lips graze a texture he is unsure of for merely a moment, and then close around it anyway. Next time Sokka offers him tea, he'll remember to wipe the saliva from the cup before he drinks. He finishes the tea and tucks both chairs back in under the table.

…

"Sokka, where do you go off to every day?" Katara demanded, threatening eyes looming under knitted brows.

"For tea," he answered simply.

"Tea?" Aang asked.

"Tea." And he was out the door again, boomerang at his hip.

"He's not lying, just in case you're wondering," Toph suddenly announced.

Katara huffed.

…

"So when do you get out of here?" Zuko looked at Sokka, a question on his eyebrow. "When do you get off?"

"At night, I suppose," Zuko answered.

"Zuko, I did not mean when you relieve yourself. I meant when are you done with work?"

A very undignified blush swept itself across Zuko's cheeks. "Yeah, at night, you know, after working hours."

Sokka smiled. "Are you off tomorrow?"

Without hesitation, "I can be."

Sokka nodded and finished his tea. His visits to the shop seemed to be getting shorter and shorter. There was a question here, a smile there. Zuko wondered if Sokka was growing bored of him and then, "So we can go somewhere tomorrow, then? I found this really great place on the outskirts of town…"

"Sure," Zuko responded, swirling the tea around in his cup.

"See you bright and early." He left with a wave.

The trek home was light on Sokka. He was smiling, and for the first time since they had entered Ba Sing Se, he felt good. And then he rounded the corner to find a pile of rubble where the house had been.

His eyes widened and his fingers instantly fled to his boomerang. "Guys?" his voice croaked. For hours, he searched the remains. Nothing was left. Nothing. Though he was certain of their escape- evidence of earth bending was left a few houses down, and the was an oddly placed trail of melting ice shards all over the side of an old building that look uninhabited. After working it for a bit, Sokka managed to pry the door of the home open and slip inside. He shut the door behind him and settled into the corner of what must have been a family room. He felt guilty. Had he been there, might the attack have been prevented? Stupid, he had been with Zuko! Zuko of all people! That Fire Nation prince who'd been banished at such a fragile age, who'd hunted him and his friends for months. But he could not blame Zuko for this. He could not blame Zuko for how he had neglected his friends. He could only blame himself. As he settled in for the night, cold settling over him in wispy tendrils, beckoning him toward freezing, frustrated tears littered his eyes.

…

Still, the following morning, Sokka walked back to the tea house and settled in at his regular seat.

Zuko was in the back, shaking out his hair when he saw Sokka walk in. Something was wrong- it was visible in how the once confident man sat with his shoulders pulled forward, slouching against the table.

Zuko stepped out and made his way over to Sokka silently. "Ready to go?"

Sokka looked up, his eyes very evidently exhausted. Clearly, he had not slept well. "Sure." A half smile fluttered at the corners of his lips.

Zuko looked at him, so worn, his only friend. "Are you okay?"

"Today will make me okay. Something happened- I'll tell you along the way, I suppose. I just don't have it in me right now." He stood and immediately slapped his hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn.

"Okay, you can take your time."

Sokka looked back at Zuko lazily. "Thanks."

And then Sokka forgot entirely about what was bothering him, even if just for that moment. Because for the first time in those few weeks of becoming such fast friends, Zuko smiled.