Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Title: Commencing Combat
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: FNG
Author: Hakuryu08
Rating: T (for future chapters. This chapter should probably be rated K)
Genre: Angst/Friendship
Characters: Sokka & Zuko
Disclaimer: I still don't own ATLA or Sokka or Zuko. If that ever changes, I'll let you know.
Summary: Modern AU. This is in the "Another Battle" series that I started. Three years after Zuko's mother died Sokka moves to Zuko's school. This is the friendship (and trouble) that follows.
Author's Note 1: FNG is a acronym used in vietnamn that means "fuckin' new guy" (omg, I typed it! Does typing a curse count as cursing?). I found it researching war terms to use as chapter titles. Please let me know if I got that wrong.
Author's Note 2: The classes that Sokka and Zuko have are based on my own when I was in that grade. I don't know what school is like now.

Commencing Combat
Chapter 1: FNG

Lunch, Sokka thought, is definitely the most intimidating part of school. The lunch room was crowded with kids, all with their own group of friends. Sokka looked around nervously, not sure where to go. He wasn't used to interacting with kids his own age. Being the son of an ambassador, he had spent most of his young life traveling and being homeschooled by his mom.

Unfortunately, that wasn't a possibility anymore. So, here he was trying to fit in at a normal school. He had been fine in his classes. It was easy to ignore the way the other students looked at him when he was busy paying attention to his teacher. Now he wasn't sure what to do.

Sokka glanced to the side and noticed a boy about his age sitting at a table by himself. He had his books and notes spread out around him, his lunch untouched. With a shrug of his shoulders, Sokka began to make his way to the mostly empty table. At least he and this guy seem to have something in common.

___________

"Is it okay if I sit here?" Zuko looked up at the voice to see a boy, despite the question, already sitting himself at the table. The boy gave Zuko a wide smile, his bright blue eyes glancing at Zuko's work before looking at him expectantly.

Scowling, Zuko gestured to his work. "I'm a bit busy here as you can see," he said, hoping the intruder would take the hint.

"Yes, I can see that," the boy said, his smile still in place. "What'cha working on?"

"Schoolwork. What does it look like?" Zuko bit back.

The boy rolled his eyes before responding, "I meant what class."

"Does it matter?" Zuko asked.

"Not really," the boy stated. "I'm Sokka, by the way. What's your name?"

Zuko glared at the boy, trying to be as menacing as a thirteen-year-old boy could. When Sokka just blinked at him, Zuko sighed heavily. "Zuko," he stated shortly, not bothering with anything else.

If possible, Sokka's smile got even wider. "Cool." Sokka glanced down at Zuko's work again, "You must really like to learn."

"I need A's," Zuko said, this time not even looking up from the equation he was working on.

Sokka looked at the equation and frowned. "That's not right," he stated.

"Who asked you?!" Zuko seethed angrily.

"You're the one who said you needed A's. I'm just trying to help." Sokka reached across the table, pointing at a part towards the beginning of the equation. "That should be a negative," he stated, confidently.

Zuko looked at where the boy was pointing and realized, with great annoyance, that he was right. He groaned audibly when he noticed how much that simple mistake affected his answer. There was no point trying to fix it; it would be easier to rewrite the whole problem.

Looking up, Zuko glared at the boy. "You tend to pay more attention to the big picture, don't ya," Sokka said, his amused voice betraying his now-sympathetic smile. "That causes you to lose track of the smaller details. I do that a lot. When I get an idea I just go for it, but it doesn't always work out the way I planned. Mom always said that it's good to look to the future, but if you don't focus on what you're doing now, you'll have trouble getting there." Sokka gave a sad smile for an instant before he laughed it away, flashing Zuko with his huge grin once again.

Zuko stared, puzzled by this strange boy. After a moment he stated, "You look younger than me," to which Sokka's eyes grew wide and his smile actually disappeared for a brief second.

"I'm twelve," he answered the strangely asked question, smile back in place, if a little smaller.

"I'm thirteen," Zuko stated, still confused, "You're taking algebra?"

Sokka gave him an odd look. "Am I not supposed to be?"

"Most seventh-graders aren't," Zuko answered.

Sokka shrugged. "I took a placement test when Gran Gran first enrolled me and they put me in eighth-grade classes." He shrugged again, looking away in thought. "That explains why I've been getting odd looks in my classes all day. I thought it was just because I was the new kid. Do I really look younger than everyone else?"

This time it was Zuko's turn to shrug. "You didn't notice you were a grade above where you should be?" He asked, curious at how the boy could miss such a thing.

"This is my first time in a regular school," Sokka answered, "It was just me and my sister when I was homeschooled."

"Why aren't you being homeschooled anymore?" Zuko couldn't help but ask.

Sokka paused at the question, considering how to answer. "Mom used to teach us, but she… can't anymore." His smile had turned sad again and he took a breath before continuing, "Dad… wasn't really prepared to handle two middle school kids on his own, so he sent us here to live with Gran Gran. And she decided that we need… What were her words?" Sokka looked at the table, hand on his chin. Then he snapped his fingers saying, "Oh right! 'You need social interaction with children your own age.'" At this, he pointed his finger in the air as if imitating his Gran Gran, his original smile back in place.

Zuko marveled at how many different smiles this boy seemed to have and how quickly he changed them. He could now associate Sokka's sad smile with the boy's mother and, judging from Sokka's words, it wasn't hard to figure out why.

Zuko was also beginning to realize that he wasn't going to get rid of the boy anytime soon. For whatever reason, Sokka seemed determined to sit with him. Although, Zuko reasoned, this may be a good thing. Sokka talked a lot but was obviously intelligent and had already helped him with his homework. Math wasn't Zuko's best subject and, as much as he hated the idea of asking a boy he just met for help, he really didn't want to face his father if he brought home another B.

"So… you're good at math?" Zuko asked, hesitantly.

Sokka's smile widened again as he nodded. "I love math!" He stated, enthusiastically, "It's my favorite subject. Next to science, but they go hand in hand."

"Right…" Zuko said, still unsure, "So, I guess you probably understand this stuff better than me." Zuko gestured to his work in case it wasn't clear what he was talking about.

"I don't know about that. I don't know how good you are at math. Did you need some help?" Sokka didn't even wait for an answer before he darted to the other side of the table to better see what Zuko was working on.

Zuko jumped at the quick movement and blushed at how close Sokka suddenly was. Sokka's head was directly over his shoulder, a hair away from touching his own head. Personal boundaries were obviously a foreign concept to the boy. Before Zuko could say anything about their closeness, Sokka jumped right into the world of mathematical equations, pointing out mistakes and explaining how to fix them and why. By the end of the lunch period, Zuko actually felt like he had a better grasp on the material.

___________

When the lunch bell rang, signaling the need to get to their next class, Zuko began gathering up his things while Sokka moved back to the other side of the table to get his bag. The sudden awkwardness of the situation swept over them as both boys remembered their own lack of experience with other kids their age. Sokka hadn't been looking for a friend when he decided to sit here; he just did not want to sit alone. Now, he realized he actually liked talking to Zuko but wasn't sure how to proceed. Deciding not to draw it out they each said their own "goodbye" and "see ya" before heading to their respective classes.

___________

The next day, Zuko gave the lunchroom a quick glance before sitting at his normal table and looking around again. He didn't see Sokka anywhere and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Shrugging slightly, he began pulling out his work for the day. It wasn't long before he heard a voice across from him. "Are you going to eat that this time?" the voice asked, breaking Zuko's concentration away from the history report he was looking over. Glancing up, Zuko saw Sokka already seated and gesturing to Zuko's lunch, which he hadn't bothered to open.

Zuko sighed, but found himself smiling a little despite the annoyance. Sokka wasn't that bad after all. He was actually interesting and he seemed to genuinely want to spend time with Zuko, maybe even be friends. Zuko wasn't sure if he could allow this to go that far, but he decided he could allow himself to enjoy the other's company, just this once.

I'm alive! And I wrote a story! I'm so sorry this took so long. All I can say is school sucks. I wrote the first half of this months ago but couldn't find time to get back to it. Unfortunately, this is only the first chapter. I'll write the next chapter as soon as I can but I can't promise it will be up before the summer (the end of the semester is always the hardest). I'll do my best. Until then, review please!