How to Make Tea, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

Okay, people, for the longest time I really liked Avatar: Last Airbender, but then I sort of fell out of it

Okay, people, for the longest time I really liked Avatar: Last Airbender, but then I sort of fell out of it. My sister, on the other hand is obsessed, and showed me the latest episodes on this site she found. After watching that and some others that she told me were cool, like the one called 'Puppeteer' or something, I ended up liking the show again. Also, this reinstated my passion for Zukka, or Zuko/Sokka. An added bonus is that I really like how Zuko's personality had changed since the beginning of the series, so now he's easier to write. Um, there are some spoilers for the most recent episodes like the Western Air Temple and The Sun Warriors but that's it. Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but no flames, please (only Zuko is allowed to do that). I might introduce an OC as well, and for those who are reading my Bleach fanfic Wings of a Butterfly, you can expect an update soon, as I'm working on it. I think I'll update them every other week or two week, alternating or just doing both.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: Last Airbender.

Sokka was, for lack of better word, surprised at the change of heart that the ex-fire nation prince had gone through. After a little bit of prying, they had gotten him to reveal what he had been doing in Ba Sing Se: waiting at Iroh's tea shop. That was what had loosened his hatred of Zuko. The group of them, consciously or not, all respected Irohand the fact that he had worked at a tea shop, of all places, showed that Zuko at least knew what it meant on the lower side of the monetary spectrum. Of course, this meant that Zuko was a natural at brewing tea and he knew what to do with herbs they came across when they were above ground, in the small forest nearby. Having an experienced firebender at hand when they needed to cook or boil water was a great perk, too.

Sokka, dare he say it, was beginning to trust Zuko. The other boy hadn't been releasing any malicious intent and there was no sign that he wanted to harm them. Plus, if he followed them all the way here, then wouldn't the Fire Nation label him as a traitor? Or course, Katara was still cautious, but that was just her way. In his mind, however, she didn't have to be nasty about it. With a sigh, he supposed he would have to talk to her. It would be easy to get her alone, now that they were stationary for the moment. He had to admit, staying at the temple was nice. They didn't have to worry about any other people, and it wasn't as if anyone could find them here, well, at least if they didn't try very hard. Only Azula would do that, however. And he had a belief that they could take her, with some difficulty, and win.

What had come to a shock was that Aang had really taken off with his firebending training after Zuko began to train him. "Just like the first time, with Jyeong-Jyeong, all happy and good, but then Katara got hurt, he thought. He was slightly worried that Katara or Toph would get hurt again, and all of the firebending made him nervous. However, Haru had already voiced his concern, asking the two if they could be a little more careful. Zuko immediately agreed, when, even with his change in personality, he would have protested his skill in keeping everybody safe a little more. Sokka suspected it had to deal with that scar of his.

Either way, Aangs progress was moving forwards in leaps and strides, and, soon, he would be able to firebend as well as he airbended. The young avatar had once told him, in passing: "Fire bending is a lot like really fast, more reckless airbending." That, in itself, made sense, as fire was essentially just a lot of flashy, hot air. It made Sokka happy to see that they were soon going to be able to bring down the firelord. Of course, he still wondered what he would be able to do to him. Throw his sword at him, perhaps?

They had finished techniques for the day, and Zuko was a little winded. Where did that boy get all of his energy? Right now, he was looking for some time to run off to the bath he had found a couple of days ago, for some time to relax. After that would come lunch, and then he would go up top with Sokka or somebody to gather fire wood and/or hunt or forage. Both ways, it was only the mornings that he had things to do, and the rest of the day was spent hanging out and lazing around. It was then he had time to think over things, of how he could have done things differently or what his uncle was up to.

As he was walking along, he noticed Sokka sitting at the edge of the temple courtyard – the one with the working but shattered fountain – looking rather miserable. Frowning, as he did not want any of his new found real friends to be unhappy, he approached the Water teen. "Hey, Sokka, come with me, I want to show you something," he invited. The other boy started at his name, and looked at him, confused. He got up, anyways.

Zuko kept going, walking and talking on his way, "We're stopping at our rooms, so get a spare change of clothes and a towel, if you have one," now Sokka was really baffled. What would they need extra clothes for? And a towel? Zuko talking to him was uncommon, but now he was taking him somewhere?

They were soon at the dormitory area of the temple, where Zuko, Sokka, and the others all had their own rooms. Zuko slipped into his own, and Sokka entered his room. He strode over to the raised, stone bed that looked more like an altar, and dug through his pack, pulling out a fresh set of clothing. He then moved to the closet, where he had found some leftover towels, from when there were airbenders here.

As he shut his door behind him, he turned to find Zuko with his own towel, a deep crimson, and some extra clothes that looked just like the comfortable, loose ones he was wearing now. The ex-prince smiled, "C'mon, we have to get going if we're going to be finished before lunch."

"Finish what?" Sokka questioned. Zuko just sent him a secretive smirk.

Soon, the pair of teens had reached an average door. Sokka could see nothing special about it, and simply followed the fire prince in. Inside were rows of what could be called lockers, and lining each wall was a shallow pool. Zuko took the right side of the wall of lockers, and Sokka the left. Following the older boys example, he began to strip. He chose his locker, and put his clothes in it. He pulled out the hair tie, and put it one top of his haphazardly thrown in gloves and arm bandages. He idly wondered if this was why Zuko always seemed so clean even after it was just after he had been training with Aang, and if anybody else knew about the bathing area. When it was just the gAang, and they were constantly on the move, they didn't have much time to wash up, before soldiers or worse were on to them. He had to admit, it was nice being stationary and not having to campout, but that technicality was taken lightly.

Zuko had folded all his clothes, and stacked them in a neat pile. After all, royalty will always be neat. Even if they were no longer. He sighed, almost sad, then he quickly got over it. He padded over to the wooden drawer, and pulled out some soap, before reaching underneath to grab a pail. He sat down on the chair, turned to face the pool, and scooped up some water. Setting the bucket beside him, he began to scrub, finishing with pouring the water over himself.

Wrapping his towel about his waist, Zuko moved to the real bath part of the chamber he had found. He opened the door, and walked out into a larger chamber that had a slightly raised pond or sorts in it. He went over to the water pump – designed to look like an Unagi – and twisted its tail. Water jetted from it's mouth, and Zuko frowned when he found it cold. He stuck his hands inside, and started to warm the bath up. When steam was filling the area, he stopped, and tested the water with his foot. It felt heavenly. Slipping off his towel, he slid in, immediately embraced by the warmth of the water.

Not a minute later Sokka emerged, looking shy and nervous. He walked over, and then got in so fast all Zuko saw was a small splash. Soon, however, Sokka popped up, flinging his head, and coming to a rest a foot or two away from him. Zuko couldn't help but notice, that, when the Water tribesman had his hair down, he looked almost girly. Normally it was up, and that accentuated his defined muscles, but now, the hair seemed to make his shoulders narrower and his body slimmer. Zuko resisted the urge to fidget, as he felt something between his thighs stirring. It had been three weeks since he had come here and joined the avatar, and in that time he hadn't 'jerkbended', as Sokka might have called it, since. Needless to say, he was very pent up.

"So . . ." Sokka awkwardly broke the silence, "Do you come here often?"

"I come here everyday. Aang certainly has a way to wear people out, even if I'm a healthy sixteen-year-old and a great firebender."

"Oh, don't worry, he's always like that," said Sokka, without much thought on the subject.

"Don't worry? He'll wear me into the ground at his pace! He learns so fast, and is so eager, now that he's not afraid of it, it's scary!" Zuko cried.

Sokka laughed, "Well, duh! Of course he learns fast, he's the avatar! And Aang's almost always that hyper. Don't sweat it."

Zuko rolled his eyes, sighing, "Whatever . . ." Sokka giggled a bit. A peaceful silence hovered over them for a time. It gave the fire prince time to reflect, and Sokka to relax and forget about how un-useful he felt as part of the team. It was now that Zuko began to think about Mai, a topic he generally strayed from, and their brief relationship. As he was taking his balloon after the avatar, he realized she would be crushed at his betrayal . . . then he decided she wouldn't. She never really seemed to care about anything than herself; when she fought, if Ty Lee, or Azula were downed, she would usually just give up, in order to avoid confrontation. A rogue idea had come to mind in the balloon, and he had banished it quickly. He had thought that Mai had only wanted him for his position. However, now that the seed was sown, it had taken root, and had sprung up just a few days ago. After more reflection, he decided that she was more harm that good, and gave up on her. He had come to a decision that he needed somebody who would have nearly no chance of deception on their part, and couldn't find a candidate. What he had found, also, was that he had an attraction to people of the same sex. That Jet guy was an example; Zuko had had wet dreams about him for weeks after they met, despite their being enemies.

The amber-eyed boy glanced over at the blue-eyed one. "Hey, what was all that depression about back there, on the ledge?"

Sokka slowly opened his eyes. He blushed, "Well, um, I sorta think I'm inadequate here. Y'know, with everybody else as a bender. It makes me feel that I can't give much of anything when it comes to fights or even anything else. I made that black sword as compensation, and it worked for awhile, but it still can't compare with magic water or rocks or whatever. Besides, any bender would easily be able to overpower me, anyways. . ."

Zuko frowned, eyebrow rising up. He had never expected that, excepting the fact that when he was hunting them down, he, too, had thought the same thing. Sure, Sokka was the maps and plans man, but he wasn't a necessity. He and Aang talked wile training, and the boy and told them all about their adventures, and was now getting into the part where they were hiding by pretending to be of the Fire Nation. He was just getting to the part where there was some insane Southern Water Tribe waterbender who had been imprisoned in a Fire jail, and there had developed a technique called – gruesomely- bloodbending. It sounded wicked to Zuko, and Katara had the ability to do it. That was what had set him on edge about her. She had given him a death threat, and she easily had the means to carry it out. Anyways, Aang told him about how Sokka had gotten sword training, and how it was boring without him and that everything seemed to be dull. Unfortunately, Sokka was right; against a bender, he would stand no chance. But maybe he could learn to equal them in a different way. He had the brain; after all. Sad thing was he was raised in the Southern water tribe, not Northern. He could have been so much more than he was, which is already substantial. He had planned the invasion, of course.

"Well, maybe we could spar sometime, then hit the bath?" he asked.

Sokka looked over at him, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Then he turned away, blushing, "Um . . . sure. I would like that."

Zuko smiled. Suddenly, a bold urge came over him. He reached over and grasped Sokka's hand. "You know, you're pretty cute when you blush," STUPID! was what Zuko was screaming at himself. Then, he unthinkingly took it farther. He pressed his lips up against the tanned boy's. Seconds later, he pulled away.

"Sorry! I don't know what came over me! Here, I'll leave right now and we can for-!" Sokka cut him off by kissing him back. He gripped his hand harder.

"Don't be sorry, and we don't have to forget," To Zuko, it was as if there was a Fire Nation choir signing Halleluja! Sokka was going to not freak out! Wait . . . Sokka wasn't freaking out. Did that mean . . .?

"You want to go out with me?" he asked stupidly. He internally winced. Sokka just smiled and nodded. He was sure, that Yue would approve of his choice in the new Zuko, and he would deal with Suki later.

They kissed again, and this time both were more responsive. After a few minutes of making out, the broke apart, panting. "You know," Sokka said, grinning, "how about next time, instead of watching, I come and jerkbend with you?"

Zuko merely smirked in response. Iroh always told him: "Water is essential in tea, but it still needs a good fire to instigate it."

A/N: Okay, that was perhaps one of the fluffiest things I've written (even if half the stuff I write isn't ever going to be posted . . .). I'm thinking about a sequel, and'll write one anyways if I can think up a good plotline, or if I get reviews and/or ideas. Please tell me what you think. Also, I tried to keep them in-character, but if it's yaoi, then they're not in-character, because almost no TV character is gay. Sokka is easy to write for me, but Zuko is a little harder to do. (My sister tells me I'm just like Sokka, which is mostly true. We are both sarcastic, love meat, are pretty smart, and even have near the same hair-style. Plus, though I won't admit it, I luvs my sissy to death)

As I said before, please review as I am a review whore!