Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He opened his eyes to a void. Looking around, he saw that he was supported by what looked like... ¿a spider web? The boy slowly began to look around the web, spotting what looked like a lump of silk. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was rather large. Slowly approaching, he held his hand out to try and investigate the silk cocoon. However, before he could reach it—

Sokka jolted awake to the sound of his blaring alarm. Needless to say, he was disoriented, both from the dream and his less than pleasant wake-up call. Groggily, he sat up, rubbing the sleep dust out of his eyes and stretching. He sneaked a peek at his digital alarm clock mid yawn, nearly choking on air as the drowsiness in his eyes quickly turned to panic.

The alarm read 7:50 A.M. He was an hour and a half late for school.

He scurried out of bed, losing his balance he fell off his bed onto his back before quickly standing up and scrambling around his room to find clean clothes, and hopefully a few of his textbooks. Deciding on a pair of jeans and a navy blue shirt, he ran out of his room and to the hall, where he snatched his bag, which was previously discarded on the floor the day before. He bolted out of the front door, slamming it shut in his way out before continuing his sprint all the way to his school.

He had barely managed to make it through the gateway before security caught him and made him sign a document. He did so while panting. Finally, he got inside the school, the air-conditioning blessing his skin with coolth.

He hurriedly made his way to his second class, Biology. He hated biology, but not for the reason you'd think. The subject itself was interesting, but what made him despise it was the teacher. The old hag did not believe in mutual respect, and she thought that she could get away with tormenting her students.

He didn't have time to sigh as he barged into the classroom, interrupting one of her rants about respect. She glared at him in disbelief before directing her rant at him.

Looking around the classroom, Sokka saw an open seat, which was lucky since students always had to borrow chairs (and/or tables) from other classrooms. The teacher, Hanna, excused Sokka to sit down, which he gladly did. However, he did not notice who was sitting next to him. He looked over, only to spot the person he least wanted to see.

Zuko, who had been peacefully sketching and ignoring the tyrant on her rant, looked up, only to see Sokka sitting down next to him. He barely contained a cringe, forcing his eyes to go back to his sketchbook.

The day could have gone by in peace, of course, but Hanna had to assign group projects. It was in her nature to be unforgiving to those who didn't comply.

"The project is that you get into pairs, make a presentation explaining the upcoming chapter, and explain it to the class." She said, eyes scanning over her pupils.

"Ma'am, but when will it be do?" A student asked.

"You may feel free to submit any day before Thursday." She waved the student off.

Sokka wanted to gouge her eyes out. She had given them one of the hardest chapters to explain, no prior intel about the chapter, and expected them to turn it in before three days?!

He sighed, looking around for anyone to partner up with. To his utter dismay, it looked like most of the people in the class had already chosen their helpmate. The only person who didn't look like they had someone was the one sitting next to him. Sokka willed himself not to wince as he turned to face Zuko.

"Hey, uh, would you mind partnering up?" The former all but spat out. The latter looked around the classroom, coming to a similar observation before sighing and nodding. "Yea, sure." Zuko closed his sketchbook. Before they had a chance to discuss anything, the bell rang, and Sokka had to thank the spirits for that.

He and Zuko did not have a complicated past. They just disliked one another. For instance, when Sokka was about to go up to present in Chemistry, Zuko had accidentally spilt some chemicals on the floor before he went up, making sokka slip, fall and destroy many of the lab equipment.

And since then, Sokka had sworn to himself that he'd rival Zuko till the day he dies.

The students all left Hanna's classroom, each going to their own locker, friend group, et cetra. Sokka was making his way to his own locker. As he was walking, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, only to find Toph aiming her fist at him. He barely had time to react before the blow landed. He yelped as Toph snickered. "Where in the hell were you?" She questioned after a moment. He shrugged, "I set my alarm wrong."

Tooh paused for a moment before continuing. "Katara's on a war path for you." She explained gravely. Sokka nodded, shrugging sheepishly. "I'd be surprised if she wasn't."

Toph jabbed at him before continuing to her own locker. The other turned to face his locker. He took out his book and notebook for the upcoming class, algebra. Although, since he was in the honours society, he had a different course book than most students. Sokka took out his supplies, putting the previous contents of his bag into the locker. He was just about to head to class, as most students were.

The hall was nearly empty aside from him. Keyword; nearly.

As soon as he turned, he saw a very lost looking zuko reading the classroom labels. The former was curious, to say the least. He couldn't help the question that followed.

"Are you skipping class?" He half snorted. Zuko turned around, an offended look on his face. "I would never!" The shorter protested. "Though, I wouldn't question you doing it." He sneered, going back to whatever the hell he was doing.

"Are you... lost??" Sokka snorted.

"That's none of your concern." Zuko brushed past him, most likely to look at more classroom labels.

"Seriously, you've been here nearly a year, and you still don't know where the algebra classroom is?" Sokka jeered. He was about to say something along the lines of calling Zuko stupid before he got interrupted by the latter.

"I got moved to another algebra, half-wit." He barked.

"You got demoted??" Sokka said, an irkingly joyful tone to his assumption.

It took everything from the other not to deck him then and there. "I said it's none of your business. And I got promoted. There's no way in hell I'd be as stupid as you are." Zuko turned back on his heel.

"So you're looking for honours algebra?" Sokka questioned, making Zuko halt.

"Yes. Problem?" The latter hissed through gritted teeth, turning slightly, just to glare at the other.

"Geez, I was going to help you, out of the goodness of my heart, but with your attitude, I'm rethinking my decision." Sokka put a hand to his chest, gesturing to his heart in a sarcastic manner.

"Oh, please, like you of all people would know." The scarred one remarked.

"You wound me." Sokka jokes. "I very much do know where it is, since I'm top of the class." He bragged.

Zuko turned, a genuine scepticism marking his face as he looked to sokka with his brow furrowed. Sokka studied his features for a second before adding; "Do you seriously not believe me??" He dropped his act just for a moment.

"I really, really don't." Zuko nodded.

"I'm many things, liar ain't one of them." He waved his hand at Zuko, making his way to the classroom. "If you want to miss your first class, then by all means, stay here. I, however, will be heading to honours algebra because I am a student." Sokka emphasised the last bit. "Feel free to tag along." He added.

Zuko sighed, desperation taking its toll on him as he began to walk after the other, who smirked to himself as he led the way. Oh, how good it was to be right.

The pair had finally made it to their now shared classroom. Zuko paused at the doorway, surprised to see a nearly empty classroom, all but 3 students in the middle of the room chit-chatting. Not even the teacher was anywhere to be found.

None of the students seemed phased at the absence of a teacher, so he just took a seat in the far left corner of the class, taking out his sketchbook to pass the time.

Whereas Sokka took a seat in the far right corner, deciding to check his phone for the first time that day. Unsurprisingly, he found quite a few notifications. What DID surprise him were the 37 missed calls from his sister. He swallowed, checking the messaging app they used to check what she'd sent him.

In conclusion, he was fucked. Katara had not-so-kindly left (death threats) questions as to where her brother was, with colourful language, of course.

Around half the classtime passed before someone walked through the door. He looked... wacky, to put it politely. His hair was grey, forming a type of umbrella shape around his head. He had a beard, which was also grey, and his clothes consisted of a hawaiian themed shirt and jorts. To say that Zuko was shocked that he was the advanced algebra teacher was an understatement.

As soon as the teacher spoke, the buzz of chatter halted abruptly. "What's poppin', pupils?" He started, plopping down on the faculty chair. He began talking, and to Zuko's dismay, it wasn't anything curriculum related. Instead, the teacher went on and on about 'vibes' and auras and whatnot.

The rest of the class went as it did, no algebra mentioned whatsoever. The lunch bell rang, and the few students in the class walked out. The teacher waved goodbye to them.

And so, Zuko began his way to the cafeteria.

Sokka, on the other hand, was much more reluctant. His sister would be waiting there. That was enough reason to not go at all, but he hasn't had anything to eat since he had woken up.

Deciding what was more of a priority, he began to make his way to the cafeteria as well, praying to the spirits that Katara would be held up at cheer practice.

But of course, like clockwork, as soon as he entered the cafeteria, his sister was at the lunch table, glaring at him with a look that could(would) kill. Aang was also there, along with Toph, the three sitting at their usual table.

Wanting to delay the confrontation as long as he could, Sokka all but sprinted to the lunch line, snatching a tray from the pile. The line progressed slowly, which was advantageous to Sokka.

Finally, it was his turn. He picked whatever looked good. (Good is farfetched. Whatever looked edible.) And then, came his time. He slowly walked back to the table, a very furious Katara practically fuming from her ears was waiting for him. Before Sokka could get a chance to even set down his tray, the yelling began. "WHERE IN THE FUCK WERE YOU?!" It was loud enough that the surrounding tables heard. Turning heads went back as they saw the usual occurrence.

Sokka sighed, sitting down next to Aang, who was the only one attempting to de-escalate the situation. It was a losing battle.

Bickering went back and forth with Sokka explaining how his alarm is broken, Katara said that he's a disgrace and would never graduate this year, and so on.

Eventually, the banter died down. The table sat in silence, as if a family had just gone through a fight on Thanksgiving.

Sokka let his eyes wander around the cafeteria. He noticed an unusual pair chatting. To say his interest was peaked would describe the situation pretty well.

There, in the distance, was Zuko, his arch nemesis, chatting with Jet. The latter had done nothing to him, but his sister. What could the two possibly be discussing?

Meanwhile,

Jet had arrived to the cafeteria. He spotted the new student in his algebra class sitting alone. A mischievous glint in his eyes sparked as he began to stride over to the all but empty table.

Zuko barely noticed the approaching figure, his attention fixated on the almost finished piece in his sketchbook. It needed one more addition, but for the life of him, he couldn't get what it was. The boy was frustrated.

"That's a nice drawing." Zuko's train of thought got interrupted by a foreign voice. He looked up to see a sun-kissed boy peering down at him. The boy had light brown hair, messily ruffled. He also had a toothpick between his teeth as he smirked at the former, whom recognised him as one of the students in the advanced algebra classroom.

"Thanks?" He nodded, skepticism lacing his tone.

"You're welcome." The other sat across him. "What's your name?" He asked, elbow on the table as his face rested in the palm of his hand, staring Zuko down.

Zuko answered in a curt manner, to which the other laughed. He continued on to say his name. Zuko learned that the boy was called Jet. A strange name indeed.

He and Jet talked, surprisingly finding a lot of the same interests. It was a pleasant conversation, which Zuko was not expecting to have with him at first glance.

They got to know one another more before the bell rang. The next period was physical education, taught by proffesor Pakku. To say that it was torture would've been trivialization.

Finally, the last bell of the day rang, excusing the students to go to their homes, extracurriculars, and what not.
Sokka, however, had to meet someone. And so, he embarked on his mission to the meeting point.

Chapter Text

Sokka made his way out of the school gates, the afternoon sun beaming down at him. He sighed, wiping the sweat from his eyebrows. 'Does summer always have to be this ruthless?' He thought. He had already begun making his way to his meeting spot. It was 3 blocks away.

Making his way through the buildings and street shops, he walked somewhere rather empty, contrary to the usually buzzing city. This town was long abandoned, and Sokka's favourite place of venture. He'd always find himself here when he's tired of the constant headache of things. The town was small. Only a few houses are still standing. Those said houses were overgrown with vines and other weeds. Sokka let out a content sigh at the smell of fresh air. His gaze fell to the woods bordering the abandoned community.

He began to make his way there, intruding the forest's lone habitat. The trees were tall, standing proud and blocking most of the sunlight from landing to the ground, which was a relief for the boy, as it gave him a chance to cool down in the shade of leaves and branches. He walked further into the forest, stepping over a few large roots and mud piles. Finally, he had made it to his destination. The cave was of decent size. It had moss growing above it, and the base of the cave was slightly lower than the ground level of the forest. Sokka eyed the entrance carefully before he went inside, looking around the dusty cavity. The cave started off relatively narrow. He made his way through the hallway like passage. Finally, he was in the centre of the small cave, where there was an electrical lantern, two old bags, and his childhood best friend.

"Took you long enough, Jackwad." She snorted, her feet propped up on the coffee table.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Sokka started sarcastically. "How about you try walking in the sun for 3 blocks, asshole!" He retorted.

The other snorted, taking her boots off the table and crossing her legs. "Y'know, you can use this invention called 'sunscreen'. It's really cool. it keeps your body temp down." She waved her hand at him. The latter sighed, exasperated, and plopped down on the bean bag in front of his old friend.

"So how's it been at your new school, Suki?" Sokka asked, finally breaking the playful banter. Suki hummed in thought, gaining the words to describe it. "Well... It's all been fine, though there's this girl I like. I think she hates me." She sighed out, throwing her head back.

Sokka couldn't help but crack up at the pickle his friend found herself in. "That must be tough. Not having the charisma that women oh-so desire." He bragged, hand coming to his chest to exaggerate.

"Please," She waved her friend off. "The only thing women want from you is to leave. Remember the girl who moved to a whole other country right after the both of you became official? Doesn't seem like a coincidence to me." She huffed.

Sokka gasped. "How dare you bring up Yue, you witch!" He playfully insulted the other as she cackled. "Well, what about you? Is anything interesting going on?" She said after a moment of silence. Sokka pondered for a moment. "There's a new kid." He began. However, he didn't have the chance to continue before his friend yelled. "You have a crush??" She nearly stumbled off the beanbag.

"The guy's an ass. He's always nonchalant about everything." Sokka rolled his eyes, recalling how Zuko always managed to stay calm in panic inducing situations. (He was not, in fact, calm. He didn't know how to express his nervousness.)

"So, you find him annoying?"

"Yea." Sokka nodded before adding; "And now, him and Jet are friends or something along those lines. This is not gonna end well, trust me." It was his turn to throw his head back, his ankle propped up on his other leg's knee.

"Well, aren't you dramatic." Suki snorted.

A silence fell upon the pair, neither uttering anything. Since they hadn't talked in so long, the atmosphere was heavier than their usual lighthearted conversations.

Suki's phone dinged. She took it out of her pocket, looking at the lockscreen. "Oh, gramps just called. Same time next week?"

"Let's hope. Don't go kicking our asses at the sports festival." Sokka snorted, waving goodbye to Suki, who was already on her way out.

A few minutes later of staring up at the ceiling of the cave, Sokka got up as well. He made his way out of the forest, taking a detour to his house to stop by a tea place. He heard some friends talking about it, deciding to give it a try. Sokka finally made it to the building. It was a two story, having a big sign on the front that read "The Jasmine Dragon."

Walking inside, he noticed the place had picnic tables in columns, leading to the front desk. There was no cashier, which he thought was odd. 'Maybe doing something in the back?' He shrugged, deciding that it was best to wait up at the counter so he'd be able to order as soon as the batista came back.

Sokka heard some rustling inside, where it was out of view. He heard an eerily familiar voice talking, but it was incoherent. As the voice neared the counter, Sokka couldn't help but feel white hot rage rising from the pit of his stomach as he began to recognise said voice.

"Oh hello, how may I help-" Zuko's amber eye(s) widened when his gaze fell onto sokka, his expression unreadable. "-er, you." The boy pressed his lips into a thin line, walking up to the register. The other sighed, taking a final glance at the menu before deciding on an iced black tea.

"Will that be all?"

He nodded, looking to the side. Zuko went to the back and began brewing the tea. A few minutes or so later, he came back out, handing Sokka his drink. As the latter was about to leave, Zuko interrupted him. "Uh, Sokka, can you like- not tell the school?" He inquired.

Sokka paused. "Ohh, that's right, you can't have part-time jobs as per the school policy." He turned back to Zuko, a mischievous smirk planted on his face.

Zuko sighed. "Look, i just help my uncle out with the tea shop. It's not technically part-time." He explained, his arm now planted on the desk as he leaned over. His other arm was resting upright on the desk, going back and forth as he talked.

"Chill, I won't snitch on you, I'm not a VILLAIN." Sokka puffed, his smirk still present.

"Wouldn't put it past you." Zuko shrugged, snorting as Sokka sent him a glare before taking his leave.

Sokka arrived home, halfway through his drink. He creaked open the door to the penthouse, throwing his bag into its usual place and making his way to his room. The house was oddly dark.

He blindly made his way to his bedroom, stumbling over a few objects out of their place. As he finally opened his door, he was relieved to find that there was an open lamp he must have left in his hurry to get to school.

The boy sat down onto his bed, placing his drink onto the nightstand for now as he dug into his bag for his laptop.

Suddenly, he felt a sting in his palm. He quickly retracted his hand from the backpack, inspecting the wound in dim lighting. "Is this a spider bite? Ew, what the hell was a spider doing in my bag." He spoke to himself, taking his bag and flipping it upside down. Sure enough, the spider scurried across his room as it hit the floor along with his notebooks and astray pencils and whatnot. He turned up the brightness of the lamps now chasing the spider, which eluded him time and time again.

He sighed in exasperation and went to get some bug spray from the kitchen. Tin bottle in hand, a shoe and dust pan gripped in the other.

He entered his room once more, flipping on the light switch. He saw the arachnid taken off to under his bed. Sokka put down the dust pan and shoe, now looking under his bed and clutching the bug spray in his hand. As soon as he saw movement, the sickening odour took over his room. He coughed a few times before reaching for his phone to see if the spider was truly dead. Shining the flashlight, he observed under his bed, a few crumpled papers and lots of dust, and a now dead spider on its back.

Exhaling in relief, Sokka stood back up and grabbed the dust pan, scooping up the spider. He opened his window and threw it outside. For the girst time, he looked to the bite on his finger clearly. It was swollen and red. He clicked his tongue and went to the hall once more to use the med kit.

Meanwhile, Zuko was finally done with his shift. He walked upstairs to his uncle's apartment, stumbling on a few stairs as he did so. He entered the penthouse, going straight to his room after greeting him.

The boy took off his uniform, changing into patterned(and mismatched) pajamas and collapsed onto the bed. His room was already dark, so he hooked his phone onto the charger before falling into. A deep sleep.

Everywhere was dark. Something was surrounding him. He was being suffocated. He was dying, dark and cramped, and everything he hated all at once. He couldn't help the tears that began to roll down his cheeks as his heart rate quickened. Where was he?

He heard a faint sound from the outside. A bit of light now came through what he recognised as some type of thin, strong material, maybe silk?

A tall figure shadowed over him. If he squinted, he could see bright blue eyes. They terrified him. It did not help that they were staring right through him, sending shivers down his spine.

His stomach was flipping in place as he tried not to let a single noise escape. He squeezed his arm to his mouth to stifle his panicked breaths. He could not help the sob that escaped on impulse. Would that thing kill him?

It came closer to his utter dismay. Glowing cerulean eyes, looking straight at him. The face, if you could even call it that, was horrific. It had spider like features on a larger scale, mixed with human ones, making it all the more difficult to contain his urge to yell out.

Suddenly, arms were squeezing him through the silk encasing his form. He yelped, making the creature on the other side let go and back away. That did not last, however, as it came even closer this time. To his chagrin, it began trying to tear at the cocoon, if you will.

It was surprisingly strong, but just as it broke enough to tear-

Zuko jumped at his alarm, a cold sweat glazing his face. His breaths were uneven. He sighed as he got up, shivering hands reaching for his prepared change of clothes and towel. He went into the bathroom, showering off his stress.

He scrubbed in the shampoo, rubbing his scalp as he tried to explain the dream, because, by all means, what the fuck was that?

The boy sighed as he moved onto body wash, squirting a bit onto his loofah and cleaning off the sweat and grime from the previous day.

He rinsed off the foam, and walked out of the shower, drying off with his towel and putting on the clean clothes, he headed out, taking his backpack from the place with was now designated for it. He was so busy with attempting to decipher the dream, he entirely forgot about his phone.

And so, he made his way to school.