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Sokka couldn’t sleep. He knew it was most likely to do with the moon that was glinting unapologetically bright above the group of sleeping children. He’d been lying still, hoping that eventually he’d drift off, but it hadn’t happened yet. He was tired of just lying there waiting for sleep that clearly wasn't going to come and wondered if he should go for a walk. Maybe he could go somewhere he could talk to Yue for a bit; it often helped him calm his mind. He was about to get up, when footsteps sounded from somewhere behind him. He flipped himself around to face whoever it was, getting caught up in his blanket. He slumped back down in relief when he realised it was just Zuko. The older boy wore an equally startled expression, frozen mid stride. He took a moment to snap out of it and began to approach Sokka, treading carefully around the others.
“Sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be awake,” Zuko said. His whisper sounded too loud in the still night.
“Shh,” Sokka threw the covers off himself and gestured for Zuko to follow him. As he clambered up off his bedroll, he realised the night air was cooler than he’d thought. A slight breeze glazed its way over his skin, leaving goosebumps behind. He quickened his pace in the hopes that it might warm him up.
The pair remained quiet until Sokka led them through to a clearing a little while away from where they slept.
“What exactly are we doing?” Zuko questioned once they’d stopped.
“I don’t know,” Sokka said, “why are you awake?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“I gathered.”
“What about you?”
“Same here,” Sokka shrugged. He sat down on a large, flat rock and glanced up at the moon. “I thought that you got your energy from the sun or something. Wouldn't you sleep well at night?”
“I do,” Zuko said, “usually, anyway.” He hesitantly sat beside Sokka, making sure to leave a gap between the two of them. Sokka tore his eyes from the moon to look at the other boy. He didn’t think they’d ever sat this close to each other before. At least not without an urge to throttle each other or something. The moonlight doused Zuko’s face in soft shadows, it made his scar blur slightly into the rest of his face. He looked younger.
“I don’t know how you get up so early,” Sokka said.
“It’s just part of the whole Firebender thing, but recently it’s more because I haven’t slept at all. I'm just always awake.”
“I thought you looked more broody than usual,” Sokka teased.
“I’m not broody,” Zuko’s brow furrowed in an attempt at a frown, but it was broken by a sudden yawn. Sokka watched the Firebender’s amber eyes refocus on him. He felt warm suddenly, the previous chill of the night forgotten.
“Keep telling yourself that,” Sokka grinned. Zuko let out a long sigh, but the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. Sokka still found the expression strange on the face of someone he’d thought of as his enemy for so long, but he couldn’t help but think it suited him.
A while went by. Neither boy felt the need to speak, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Sokka mostly watched the moon and the way it lit up the strange surroundings of the Air Temple. Everything seemed so eerily beautiful under moonlight.
“Is it nightmares that keep you up?” Zuko spoke, breaking the quiet. Sokka jumped a little, not expecting the sudden noise.
“No. I haven’t even slept at all tonight,” he looked over at Zuko; the older boy was tracing the face of the rock they were sat on with slender fingers. Sokka watched, it was strange that he knew the destruction those hands were able to cause. He wondered what it must feel like to have that sort of power at the tip of your fingers. “Is that why you’re awake?”
“I guess,” Zuko said. His cheeks mottled with a blush and his fingers stopped their motions. “I try not to sleep, because when I do…” Zuko’s face crumpled and Sokka was worried he was about to cry. He didn’t know whether to reach out to comfort him or if it would ruin this strange moment of honesty.
“Do they happen a lot?” He asked instead.
“Every night,” Zuko nodded, “ever since I left to find you guys.” Sokka wanted to ask what the other boy what his nightmares were made up of, but he knew that’d be crossing a line. Instead he reached out a hand and rested it on Zuko’s shoulder. They'd somehow shifted closer at some point during their conversation.
“You’ll be okay with us, you know,” he felt the Firebender’s warmth under his fingers. “You’re one of us now.” Sokka wasn’t entirely sure why he was saying it, but he meant it. Zuko didn’t respond, but he didn’t push Sokka off either. Sokka began to rub circles into Zuko's skin through his shirt, and watched the tension bleed out of Zuko’s muscles under his touch.
“Are you not scared about what might happen?” Zuko asked after a while. They’d both been sat there deep in thought, their exhaustion beginning to properly set in.
“I think I’d be crazy not to be,” Sokka admitted. Zuko turned his body more towards him and ran a hand through his dark hair. Sokka had found it odd when he’d first seen Zuko with his longer hair, but he’d grown to like the way it framed the other boys face.
“It always feels like you’re so incredibly positive. All the time.”
“Oh, I’m not. I just don’t see how spending the whole time worrying about everything is going to do me any good,” Sokka’s hand slid down from where it had stayed on Zuko’s shoulder and rested on the other boy’s leg instead. “There’s a very real chance that these last few weeks could be our last, I don’t want to waste a moment.”
“I’ve wasted so much time doing the wrong thing,” Zuko spoke quietly and closed his eyes.
Sokka shook his head. “You’ve got to let that go.”
“How?” Zuko’s eyes reopened and his gaze settled onto Sokka’s.
“You’re in the right place now, isn’t that a good enough start?” Sokka said. He hadn’t seen this side of Zuko. It had been so easy to paint him as an emotionless psychopath whose only goal was to ruin their lives. It was hard for Sokka to admit to himself that he’d been so far from the truth. Sokka broke the strange stare they’d been locked in and rolled onto his back, stretching himself out on the rock. He felt Zuko mirror his actions beside him.
“Things always seem easier in the daytime, don’t you think?” Zuko said. He reached his hand out in the dark and found Sokka’s, threading their fingers together. Sokka held his breath. He hadn’t expected Zuko to be the one to initiate any sort of contact, he always seemed so unsure of his actions around them all.
“Maybe,” Sokka said. He looked down at their hands, “some things I feel are better in the dark.” Zuko went very still. Sokka realised what he'd just said and what it might have sounded like he was suggesting, “okay, that’s not what I meant.”
“Well... you’re not wrong,” Zuko snorted and they both dissolved into laughter. It was the first time Sokka had heard Zuko laugh like that and he hoped it wouldn’t be the last.
The pair fell quiet again after their giggles subsided. Sokka watched as Zuko’s eyes began to close a little more with each blink. He wondered if he should shake him awake, maybe he wouldn’t want to fall asleep on the rock. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but there was just something about how peaceful Zuko looked that stopped Sokka. He rolled over onto his side to face the Firebender, hypnotised by the way the other boy's chest rose and fell with each breath. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been just lying there watching, but he began to notice the low sun casting orange light through the ends of Zuko’s long hair. It was almost morning. Sokka was exhausted, but he couldn’t help but feel it was worth it to see Zuko getting some rest. He blinked the rising sun out of his eyes and let himself enjoy the rare peace before something inevitably came along and disrupted it.