Chapter Text
There was no way in hell Sokka was going to rot in a cell and await his rescue. He paced the metal floor, taking in the room. It was empty besides two beds pushed against the walls, and a fire nation banner hanging on a wooden rod above everything else. The door was heavy metal, but it wasn’t locked from the outside. It was obvious that Zuko hadn’t been prepared to take prisoners. The room looked like a bunk room. They had to push a heavy metal machine in front of the door in place of locking it. They’d tied Sokka to one of the beds, but he’d wriggled free of the rope hours ago.
It was useless to try to force the machine out of the way. They’d have him tied to the bed again before he managed to get a toe out of the room. There were no windows, so Sokka decided he would have to wait for them to open the door on their own. Zuko had locked him in the room a long while ago. Someone would be by soon to bring him water or interrogate him.
Without windows, there was no way to measure time. Sokka waited for what seemed like hours, eventually falling asleep on one of the beds.
He awoke to the sound of the metal being pushed away from the door. Quickly, he scrambled to the floor, pretending his hands were still tied to the bed. Just in time, Zuko appeared at the entrance, slamming the door behind him. He had a small canteen in his hand. He looked disheveled, tense.
“Where is the avatar?” Zuko demanded.
“How am I supposed to know?” Sokka spat. His voice was cracked, and he realized how thirsty he was. “I’ve been locked in here. I last saw him when you did, flying off.”
Zuko snarled. “He should have been here by now, to rescue you.”
Sokka shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”
Zuko’s eyes narrowed. “I know you worked out of your bonds. You can stop pretending.”
That caught Sokka off guard. He slowly let his hands come around his back to rest in his lap. He swallowed, but his throat was dry. He eyed the canteen Zuko still held in his hand. Zuko noticed. He sighed and threw the canteen in Sokka’s lap, and then he promptly sat cross-legged in front of the door.
“Even if you manage to get out of this room,” Zuko said, “and you defeat the guards on the way to the deck, what are you going to do? We are days swim away from land now.”
Sokka popped the top off the canteen and took several long gulps. He wanted nothing more than to drink it all, but he was unsure when he would get another drink, so he carefully tucked the canteen behind him.
“I’ll figure something out,” Sokka said flippantly. “I always do.”
Zuko snarled, slamming his hands down on the floor. “This is no game!”
Sokka watched Zuko with what he hoped was ambivalent indifference. Zuko had too much on the line. He was emotionally charged, and when he was charged, he got reckless. Sokka had no chance of escape with that machine over the door. He reached into his pocket and grasped Aang’s bison whistle. If he was going to escape, it was going to be when Zuko was in the room. And if he was going to beat Zuko in a fight, he was going to have to mess with him first.
“Sure it’s a game,” Sokka teased. He got up and started pacing the floor. He slid the whistle deeper into his pocket and walked closer to Zuko. “There isn’t a prison in the world that can hold a water tribe genius.”
Zuko shot up to standing. His hands were open and twitching, and Sokka could tell that a fire blast was eminent.
“I worked out my escape ages ago. I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. It’s only polite.” Sokka ducked just in time to avoid a shot of flame. He danced around the room, eyeing the door. He needed a weapon.
“Oh, that’s no way to treat a guest!” He goaded. Zuko stepped forward and kicked a wave of fire that Sokka had to roll to avoid.
“I thought princes were raised right! Well, I guess you were banished after all,” Sokka prodded.
Zuko bellowed in rage and directed four quick fire blasts towards Sokka, who barely managed to dance out of the way in time. He landed right in front of the fire nation tapestry. Quickly, he reached up and pulled it down, catching the heavy wooden rod as it fell. He ducked again, avoiding another blast, and dove behind Zuko. He tore the tapestry from the rod and threw it over Zuko’s head. With a triumphant yell, Sokka swung the rod as hard as he could.
Zuko’s hand shot out and caught the rod at the same time he pulled the tapestry off his head. He looked furious, nostrils flaring with hot fire, eyes wild.
Sokka regretted not drinking the whole canteen, his throat suddenly dry. The rod burst into flame where Zuko held it, quickly turning into charcoal and falling to dust on the floor. Sokka stepped backwards and tried to pull the rod from Zuko’s grip, but Zuko simply grabbed it with his other hand. He worked his way towards Sokka, walking his hands up the rod, turning the whole thing into charcoal until Sokka held nothing but a useless hunk of wood.
Sokka rolled behind Zuko again, dropping the wood and thinking fast. He slid to a bed and quickly tossed it on its side, taking cover behind it from a blast. Maybe making Zuko angry hadn’t been the best approach. He had underestimated Zuko’s focus in battle. He’d have to try to rattle him some other way.
Zuko pushed the bed away, looming over Sokka. Sokka quickly stood up, aiming a fist at Zuko’s stomach, but Zuko caught it easily. On instinct, Sokka kicked out Zuko’s legs, pulling his arm back, throwing Zuko off balance. At the same time, Zuko grabbed Sokka’s shoulder, pulling him down too. Sokka wrestled Zuko under him, but Zuko’s hand was already curling, and Sokka knew that if he didn’t do something, and fast, he would be knocked out and tied to the bed again in no time.
So he bent down, and kissed Zuko hard enough to bruise. Zuko’s fist paused inches away from Sokka’s temple. Sokka fought a sigh of relief. His hands snaked up Zuko’s chest to cup his face, deepening the kiss.
This was working, at least for now. Anger might have made Zuko twitchy, but confusion seemed to have immobilized him. At least, that’s what Sokka thought. Suddenly, Zuko grabbed Sokka’s hands and pulled them away from his face. Sokka pulled back from the kiss and tensed himself to fight again, but Zuko flipped him over and pinned his hands over his head with one hand.
He grabbed Sokka’s chin with the other hand, kissing him hard. He ground his ass against Sokka’s thighs.
Sokka felt a deep flush appear on his cheeks as his cock hardened. He bit back a whine, trying desperately to stay focused. He might be a water tribe genius, but he was human, and Zuko was built.
Zuko moved to bite at Sokka’s chin, and then licked a hot stripe up his neck before he began to suck on the skin there. Sokka glanced around the room, moaning. Zuko’s mouth felt amazing, but he had an idea.
He moaned again, louder. “Fuck, Zuko!” He breathed. He bucked into Zuko’s lap, feeling that the other boy was as hard as he was. Zuko groaned and let go of Sokka’s arms, slamming Sokka’s hips back down to the floor instead.
Sokka let out a moan that he hoped was as sexy as he thought it was, pretending to fight Zuko’s grip against his hips. His hands, now free, slid up Zuko’s shirt to feel his abs. Sokka was shocked at how easily he fell into this role. He wasn’t even sure how much of his performance was an act, and how much was real.
“Zuko, please,” Sokka moaned. He glanced pointedly to the other bed in the room, that was still right-side up.
Zuko followed his gaze, and when he looked back at Sokka, his pupils were blown. He slid his hands to grab Sokka’s ass, and pulled him up into his arms like he was a sack of flour. Sokka had to stifle a real moan at that motion, more turned on than he had ever been in his life. Zuko carried him to the bed and tossed him onto the mattress, crawling back on top of him, pushing his hard cock against Sokka’s. Sokka’s vision went white with pleasure, and he bit his lip and thrusted back against Zuko.
He surged up and caught Zuko in another kiss, shoving a hand between them to cup Zuko’s erection over his pants. Zuko made the most enticing, low keen Sokka had ever heard in his life. He almost felt a physical pain of loss as his free hand grasped the charred hunk of wood next to the bed. He pulled away from Zuko’s mouth, looking him in the eyes.
Zuko stared back, expression unreadable, and Sokka slammed the block of wood as hard as he could on the side of Zuko’s head.
Zuko’s eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he fell in a heap on Sokka’s chest, knocked out. Sokka pushed Zuko off of him, standing up. He moved towards the door, the bison whistle in his hand.
He glanced back at Zuko, where he was slumped in a strange position at the edge of the bed. Sokka felt a strange emotion sweep through him--regret, pity--something else he didn’t have a word for. He stepped back to the bed and arranged Zuko in a more natural sleeping position. He may wake up with a killer headache, but at least his neck wouldn’t be cramped.
Sokka ran out of the room, not looking back. He managed to outpace the the guards he met on his way up to the deck, their heavy metal armor making them slow. It took only a second for Appa to soar out from behind the clouds when Sokka blew the whistle, landing on the deck with a mighty roar. The guards scrambled away from the beast as Katara and Aang jumped down onto the deck in fighting stances. Sokka ran towards Appa, climbing quickly into the saddle. Aang and Katara jumped in after him, and Appa took off into the air, soaring away from the ship before Aang even finished saying “yip yip.”
Sokka collapsed against the saddle, breathing heavy.
“What took so long!” Katara exclaimed. “We were about to come get you, whistle or not! What happened?”
Sokka sat up, running a hand through his hair. He peered out over Appa’s saddle, to where the ship was already quickly fading in the distance.
“Nothing happened.”