chapter two
Sokka woke up to the sound of a door closing. He blinked a few times before looking around him, not seeing his friends. That must have been them leaving. The next thing Sokka noticed was the weight on the left side of his body. He looked over to see Zuko, holding onto Sokka’s arm and resting his head on his shoulder. Sokka went stiff, blushing profusely.
“hey, Zuko,” Sokka whispered, then in a normal voice, “Zuko wake up, my arm is falling asleep.”
“huh?” Zuko groaned, then came to his senses, quickly getting himself untangled from Sokka, his face turning red. “uh-im sorry, I-”
“hey, its okay, we both fell asleep, and I guess we both needed a good cuddle.” Sokka laughed.
“yeah,” Zuko breathed out, a small smile on his face.
Sokka yawned loudly, standing up and stretching his arms above his head. “I’m gonna head to bed, its late.”
“oh-okay,” Zuko said shyly.
Sokka walked to his bedroom and changed into his pajama pants, before collapsing onto his bed, falling into the welcoming arms of sleep.
Zuko, on the other hand, had changed into his pajamas but laid in bed wide awake, his head racing with thoughts he would never dream to speak out loud. Thoughts of Sokka, and thoughts of self-deprecation. Zuko had been struggling with his sexuality for a while, and Sokka’s physically affectionate personality was not helping. After a few hours, Zuko’s mind became too tired for such thoughts, and he fell asleep.
***
Sokka woke up to loud noises coming from across the hallway.
“Mom!” someone yelled.
What the hell? Sokka thought, sitting up and yawning.
“Help!” the same person yelled.
“Zuko?” Sokka murmured, getting out of bed, and walking to Zuko’s room. The bed was a mess, blankets tangled with Zuko’s legs. The raven-haired boy was tossing and turning, sweat covering his chest. His expression was one of deep anguish, and he seemed to be in distress- He’s having a nightmare! Sokka realized.
“Zuko!” Sokka cried, worried for his friend.
“MAMA! HELP ME PLEASE!” Zuko cried out in his sleep, tears now running down his cheeks, “IT BURNS! PLEASE, IT BURNS!”
“Zuko, wake up!” Sokka called out to Zuko, shaking his shoulders.
“help.” Zuko said weakly, his voice scratchy.
“Zuko, wake up, it’s a dream.” Sokka said, grabbing his friend’s face.
Zuko appeared to wake up, “Sokka?” after Sokka’s nod of confirmation, Zuko began bawling, and Sokka wrapped his arms around the boy.
“its okay, its over. Its just a nightmare.” Sokka said soothingly, running his fingers through Zuko’s long hair.
“but it wasn’t,” Zuko said between sobs.
“what?” Sokka asked, pulling back and holding Zuko by the shoulders.
“it was a memory, of the fire.”
Oh. Oh. Shit.
Sokka didn’t know what to say, so he opted for putting his arms back around Zuko. After finally calming down, his sobs being reduced to sniffles, Sokka pulled back.
“are you okay?” he asked gently.
“not really,” Zuko sighed, “but I’ll survive.”
Sokka frowned at his friend, “I- I had no idea it was this bad, Zuko. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“because I don’t like talking about it.” He said, looking down at the bed.
“hey,” Sokka said, “look at me.”
Zuko didn’t look up, so Sokka grabbed him gently by the chin, forcing Zuko’s amber eyes to meet his blue ones.
“you know you can tell me anything, right? You’re my best friend, Zuko, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I love you, man.” Sokka said, tears of his own beginning to swell behind his eyes.
Of course, this made Zuko start crying again, and he collapsed his head onto Sokka’s shoulder, bringing his arms around his waist. Sokka put his arms around Zuko’s back, and they cried together.
After tears had run out, they let go of one another, and Sokka looked at the alarm clock.
2:30 am.
“hey, we should probably go to bed, its late.” Sokka said, placing his hand on Zuko’s knee, which twitched at the sudden contact.
“yeah-yeah okay.” He said, sniffling and using his palms to wipe away the tears on his cheeks.
Sokka got up off the bed to leave, but Zuko grabbed his hand. “w-wait,”
“hm?”
“can you- would you- can you stay? In here, I mean?” Zuko asked, and after Sokka didn’t respond for two seconds, he panicked, “I just- I don’t wanna be alone, and you don’t have to, of course, I just-“ he was brought out of the rant by Sokka squeezing his hand.
“I’ll stay, Zuko.” Sokka smiled, walking back to the bed.
They laid on opposite sides, and both fell asleep very quickly, nightmare free.