Phew, it's been a whiiiiiiile!

Alaska swallowed me and wouldn't let me go!!

Now I'm back in Berlin, with regular Internet, and hopefully I can get this fic back on track... I really want to!

All right, let's try this out.

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Need

The Pai-Sho board was unattended for once, Iroh and the ship advisor concentrating on their tea and feeding the brat. Zuko had laid out his maps in front of him, but his thoughts were a few rooms away, with the frightened eyes of the Water Tribe boy.

Was it possible? Zuko had never heard of a man having a child, but there really was no other explanation. There had been no girl with him, but that didn't have to mean much... Then again, he enjoyed sex with men, there was no mistaking that.

Zuko hissed. It wasn't really important, anyway, was it? The kid was there to kill the pain, nothing else. He didn't have to worry about anything else to do with him, except any knowledge he had about the Avatar. Though even the prince was starting to believe the kid had no idea about the Avatar's whereabouts.

"Zuko!" Iroh said. "Hato-chan has been fussy all day. Can't you take him to the boy?" His eyes were twinkling in the kind of way that meant he was up to something. And Iroh's schemes usually ended up being irritating.

Zuko snarled under his breath, about to tell his uncle that there was no way that the kid was going to see the baby. But then he remembered the way the boy's eyes had pleaded with him, and got up from his seat.

He was not doing this for the kid, no... he was...

Ah, fuck.

He took the squirming, whining brat from Iroh with an annoyed grimace. "Fire curse this."

Iroh just smiled benignly up at him, that infernal twinkle still in his eyes. He turned back to his tea and said in an amused tone, stopping Zuko on his way to the door, "And do let that boy out of your room once in a while, Zuko... it isn't healthy."

Zuko groaned inwardly, fighting down an embarrassing blush. Of course his uncle would have found out that the kid was in his bedroom... hells.

He stalked out the door and down the corridors. Thankfully there weren't too many men around; it was almost sundown over the cold sea, and the sailors were all eating dinner.

The pain had been calm since the last time he'd seen the boy, which meant that he could avoid any contact for a while to mull over what the hell had happened that afternoon. The kid's scared eyes had stirred something inside the prince, he wasn't sure what.

He had been keeping the fact that the child was his own from Zuko, and pretty well, too. Though it would have been quite a leap of the imagination for Zuko to guess that he was the child's... mother?... anyway.

The brat was still whining, squirming irritatingly in his arms. Zuko looked down at it skeptically. If Sokka was its 'mother', then was there a father? How the hell did this male mother thing work?

He was going to have to, oh horror of horrors, ask Iroh about this.

Zuko pushed open the door of his chamber. The kid was curled up on the bed, and looked asleep from here. Zuko closed the door and muttered, "Wake up."

The kid uncurled from his almost fetal position and sat up slowly. "I am up--" he started, eyes widening when he saw the brat in Zuko's arms. He stretched out his free arm. "Please, can I..."

Zuko tsked in annoyance and handed the baby over to him. The brat cooed happily as the kid cradled him to his chest. Blue eyes met Zuko's, and a little blush spread over dusky cheekbones as the kid murmured, "Uh... could you..."

"What?" Zuko asked, exasperated.

"Could you turn around!" The kid snapped, blush darkening.

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "Why should I?"

"Because..." the boy's voice trailed off, and he mumbled something under his breath.

The prince let out an explosive breath and turned his back to the kid on the bed. The brat was whining softly and after a few moments it quieted down. Zuko swallowed hard. The sounds of suckling seemed loud in the quiet, dim room.

This was insane. He risked a glance over his shoulder.

The kid was cuddling the baby to his chest, and the brat's mouth was latched onto one brown, soft nipple, big green eyes closed tightly and its little fists curled in the boy's hair. The sharp blue eyes were watching the baby happily, a little smile on soft lips.

Crap.

From now on, the brat would be here almost all day, Zuko decided, because it shut the kid up. Not, of course, because that smile was beyond cute.

Of course not.

Zuko envisioned a big, metal-armored fist in his face. He was hopeless. This fucking kid was going to drive him nuts pretty soon, and not in the good way.

Oh no, he seemed to have finished the job already, driving him nuts the good way. Otherwise that damn smile would not be catching his eye.

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Sokka stroked the baby's soft head gently. The hair had grown, the dark hair curling softly by now. The eyes seemed even brighter, and the child was losing some of his extra roundness, limbs starting to lengthen towards toddler size.

He was almost four months old now; he really needed a name. A name better than 'Hato-chan'.

Honestly, what the hell?

The child's feeding was steadily taking the aching pressure away, and Sokka breathed a quiet sigh of relief and switched him to the other nipple.

Zuko was silent, still standing with his back to him. Sokka wondered what the hell had possessed him to all of a sudden bring the baby down; after this afternoon, he'd expected some new interrogation, some more using the child as leverage. Now that the Fire Nation teen knew about... all that...

"So..." Sokka muttered, hesitating.

Zuko turned to look at him, eyes skipping over the baby, and Sokka hissed, "Hey!" He hadn't ever fed the baby in front of someone else; it felt weird when he knew someone was watching him.

The Fire Nation prince made an exasperated sound and turned back around. "What?"

"Um... I... thanks, I guess." Sokka didn't really know what to say. The simple fact that his baby was back in his arms after almost three weeks was so amazing and wonderful, he could even say thank you to Zuko. That had to be a big deal.

Zuko twitched one shoulder. "Can I turn around yet?"

As if on cue, the baby stopped suckling and cuddled closer to Sokka. Sokka pulled his tunic back down and nodded. "Sure."

Zuko turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. "You can keep it here, unless..." He glanced away, almost blushing.

Sokka nodded and couldn't keep back his chuckle. "Well, obviously—I mean... thanks."

"Don't. It was my uncle's idea."

Yeah fucking right. That was a definite blush right there. Sokka chuckled again. He'd never thought that Zuko could actually be... cute.

Zuko gestured towards the kid, a hesitant sort of movement with one hand. "So that's... yours?"

Well, sort of cute. Really... 'that'?

Sokka grimaced. "He is mine, yeah."

The prince nodded, ignoring Sokka's frown, and they were quiet for a while, both at a loss for words.

Zuko sat down on the bed, Sokka scooted back, made space. The baby was falling asleep, eyelids fluttering. Sokka smiled down at him. His son! How he had missed him...!

"Hey."

Sokka looked up, straight into narrow golden eyes. "What?"

"What's your name?" The prince's eyebrows were furrowed, as if he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to ask that.

Sokka stared at him, open-mouthed. "You... you don't know my name?"

Zuko shrugged slightly. "No."

The Water Tribe teen closed his mouth, opened it again. "My name's Sokka," he muttered.

Zuko hadn't known his name? How weird was that? Sokka had to laugh a little to himself. That was so Zuko. Not knowing his name, and not caring, either...

Damn, he was a real asshole, wasn't he?

Sokka chuckled under his breath and reached out, punched the prince's arm lightly without even thinking about it. Zuko's head whipped around to face him. "What the hell?"

Sokka bit his lip. Oops. Maybe that had been a bad idea. "Uh, it's a friendly punch? It's, uh, something friends... do..."

Something friends do? What was wrong with Sokka?

Not much, he realized. He'd just gotten used to Zuko by now, obviously.

Zuko stared at him, then looked away again.

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Haha, well, it wasn't that great, but it only took me like half an hour to write it, so... go easy on me!

Next chap: the kid will Bend by accident, Zuko will get jealous, and Iroh will scheme!

REVIEW PLEASE!