Standard disclaimers apply.

Warning : non graphic attempted rape. And absolutely no lemon this chapter.

Sokka wasn't going back to the prison cells. He wasn't. He was just taking a walk. People took walks, right? He had taken a walk just the other evening with a pretty girl named Kirima and kissed her while looking out over the newly repaired main wall. And if, that night, he'd dreamt about kissing someone with golden eyes instead of blue, well, gold would be an exotic, pretty color for a girl's eyes.

But the point was that he wasn't going back to the prison. And if he was, it wasn't to look in on the prisoners. And if he looked in on the prisoners it wasn't any in particular. And if he looked in on one in particular, it was only to make sure that he wasn't pulling anything sneaky with his undisclosed firebending, not because Sokka had been having wet dreams about him for the three nights since he last saw him.

Which he hadn't.

And if he had, well, that wasn't so strange was it? You get the best blow job of your life, you're going to have some wet dreams. And you find yourself angry that having had the best blow job of your life now meant that blow jobs were pretty much Ruined Forever by comparison, you might have some angry dreams. And if it felt a little like the smug firebending bastard who you thought you were finally getting a turn to humiliate had somehow managed to dominate you while on his knees with his arms bound, well you might end up having some angry, wet dreams about how to establish a little more clearly who was in control now.

Not that any of that had anything to do with what Sokka was doing right now, because he was just taking a walk.

Into the building where the war prisoners were kept.

Straight to the area with the non bending soldiers.

With a few silver coins in his pocket.

Not that that meant anything...

The coins really didn't mean anything, because there was no guard there when he got to the main entryway. For a moment he hesitated between getting caught (not that he was here for anything that he could be caught at, just checking up on things) and the chance to see Hahn get his ass kicked again (and wow but the prince was fun to watch move when you weren't the one taking the bruises from it) when he heard a faint thump and a hissed command.

"Hold him, curse it!" Fuck. Hahn might have one more friend than Sokka would have given him credit for.

When he got close enough to see into the cell, he realized Hahn had two more friends than he'd given him credit for, though one was sitting on the floor holding his ankle and cursing softly under his breath. The other, though, was holding Zuko by the hair and pressing his face into the wall while leaning against his shoulder. Hahn himself was pinning the prince's legs with his own as one hand held his shackles and the other worked at getting the other boy's pants off without giving him enough room to struggle or kick.

Contrary to popular belief, Sokka was self aware enough to realize that the hot flash of anger and disgust that went through him at the sight was completely hypocritical. It was just that he didn't care right then. He drew breath to yell something - he wasn't sure what would have come out - as he yanked open the cell door, but the sound of his entrance was enough to distract Hahn's uninjured friend.

And it turned out that being distracted wasn't a great idea while trying to keep a very angry Fire Prince pinned to a wall - even if the Fire Prince in question wasn't using his fire lately for some reason. Zuko yanked his head to the side, ignoring whatever pain it shot through his scalp and bit down hard enough that Sokka saw blood on the other man's forearm as he pulled away in shock.

Another bad idea. The prince slammed his head back into Hahn's face to get some room to move, and sent a side kick into the retreating tribesman's stomach. Then he grabbed hold of the hand still on his shackles and he was bending under their joined hands and spinning, in a way that almost reminded Sokka of a turn that a couple might do as they followed a trail of other laughing dancing couples. Unfortunately, Hahn apparently didn't know that dance and completely failed to twist and spin along, which led to a sickening popping noise and a scream of pain that might bring a guard from the next section if he wasn't lucky.

The southern tribe teen had made it all the way into the cell by then, grabbing the bleeding Hahn-friend and pushing him towards the door, and shooting the limping Hahn-friend a quick glare and shake of the head when he tried to move towards the struggling pair. Zuko had released Hahn's hands and turned to kick him in the face, sending him to the floor. Then things started to get very bad, when the prince stepped forward, planting one foot on the wrist of the Northern Tribesman's uninjured arm as he slipped his other into the angle of jaw and neck, and Sokka couldn't see Zuko's face, but he saw the terror on Hahn's and knew this wasn't just a threat.

"Stop!" The firebender froze, and now Sokka was far enough in to the cell to see his face, the molten hate in his eyes, and, well, really couldn't blame him, but if Zuko killed the Chief's future son-in-law he was dead, and he wasn't willing for Zuko to be dead until he'd taken care of some unfinished business. "Let him up. Now." He was surprised at the steadiness of his own voice, the command, and the angry, resentful look the prince shot him was nothing compared to the fact that he obeyed, stepping away from both of them into a ready stance.

"I'm gonna kill that ungrateful little bitch..."

Sokka yanked Hahn to his feet, wondering if the jerk would ever figure out that he was outmatched. "What you're going to do is take your two asshole friends to the healing hut and make up an excuse to get yourselves fixed up. Then maybe you should start trying to figure out a way to get your kicks that's a little less life threatening. I'm not always gonna be here to call him off, you know." The fact that he had entered the cell initially to stop the tribesmen didn't seem worth bringing up at the moment.

From the anger on Hahn's face, he might have guessed, or he was still just pissed at the 'southern rube' for having power where he didn't. Either way, he gathered his minions and left with little grace, leaving Sokka not entirely sure what to do. After a moment he realized that Zuko's face had been bloodied by his rough treatment and he obviously wasn't going to be able to do anything about it himself.

"Hold still," he said calmly after he had stepped into the hall to wet the end of his scarf. The prince obeyed, looking past Sokka as he was cleaned up. "So you do know that if you had killed Hahn, a quick execution would be the best you could hope for, right? Justification really doesn't matter when a prisoner offs the Princess's fiance." Zuko continued to look somewhere past his left shoulder which, well, really wasn't acceptable.

"New rule, pretty prince," he growled as he grabbed the other boy's chin and forced him to meet his eyes. "When I speak to you, you will look at me and you will respond." He traced his fingers over the edge of the scar, enjoying the way Zuko flinched but tolerated it. "So, were you really planning on getting executed for that jerk?"

"I wasn't thinking about the consequences at that exact moment." Was the quiet response. Golden eyes looked down then met his again. "I probably wouldn't have gone through with it."

Sokka softened his grip, stroking the bruised face more gently. "You have a long term plan here, Zuko? Cause I gotta tell you, you've got a real problem. And you could solve it by either telling who you are or just doing some firebending, but you seem pretty determined to just sit in this cell and wait until Hahn gets some more competent friends or manages to bribe a guard into drugging your food." He didn't enjoy that flinch. He also didn't enjoy thinking of the prince being hurt, which was ironic and a little confusing.

Zuko was still looking at him, and took a breath and answered, obviously unwillingly. Of course. Because Sokka told him to respond when spoken to. "I killed Zhao." The water tribesman blinked a couple of times. It made sense, Zuko had gone after him out for blood and the admiral hadn't been among the prisoners or seen organizing the retreat, but still... "Some of his guard probably survived and there were other soldiers who saw us fighting. If I'm ransomed back to the Fire Nation, individually or with the firebenders, it will be to stand trial for treason. And that asshole aside, this place beats the Boiling Rock."

He looked down. "Non-bending soldiers are disposable to the current War Council." Something about his tone held pain at the admission. "If I'm considered one, it will be a long time before I'm ransomed, and I might be able to slip through the cracks and be released without being recognized."

"So Fire Nation prison or trying to survive Hahn, huh?" Sokka petted the stubble on the prince's scalp, which had grown long enough to have a hint of softness, and ran his fingers as best he could through the tangled remains of the topknot. "There's a third option, you know." He liked the feel of Zuko's hair. It would be better if the firebender was allowed a bath, though. It would all be so much better if he was clean and safe and unbound, but still submitting to Sokka's touch, to Sokka's orders.

He curled tan fingers under the pale chin and looked into the prince's eyes again. "The chief knows he might be stuck with the non-benders for quite a while, so he's offering some the chance to swear service to the Water Tribe rather than sit around the cells. You're not exactly on the well behaved list," he ran his fingers down a bound arm to the shackles, "but me and the chief get along pretty well, and from what Hahn said, the healers will vouch for you being a good boy when you're treated nicely."

He let his hand linger over the muscles of Zuko's stomach and chest as it came back up to caress his chin again, then run over the scar, wondering if he would ever tire of the thrill of power that came when the prince submitted to a touch he would so obviously kill anyone else for. His voice turned cocky as he added, "And with Katara and Aang staying with the other bending students, our apartment is getting an empty feeling. Not to mention a mess."

Golden eyes met his, a mix of anger and hope and pride. "You think you're any better than him?"

He'd wondered that himself, but introspection wasn't his strong point. "A better person? Sure, but that's not hard. A better option?" Sokka kept his touch gentle but possessive. "That's entirely up to you. I won't tell who you really are if you say no, I'm just giving you a third choice. Not for me to decide if it's better than your other two."

An overly loud whistling heralded the return of the guard Hahn had bribed. "I'll talk to the chief while you think about your options," he said quietly and stood on his toes for a moment to kiss the ruined skin above the prince's eye, then whispered in his ear, "I hope you say yes. I've always wanted a pretty pet prince."

As he walked away Sokka smiled at the jumble of emotions that had crossed Zuko's face and allowed himself to think that just maybe one of them had been desire.