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Sokka hated the Fire Nation. But he never hated the people there. Loving your country was not a bad thing for him, he felt the same towards his Water Tribe. This want to protect his people, his traditions, their philosophy. He was never particularly curious for the world behind the snow walls or the iced water, but he had never wanted to conquer any place either.
Their tribe moved with the seasons, followed the animals to always have enough meat and fishes to live. Fire Nation was… Something, far away.
They had destroyed the Air Temples, but surely their next target would be the Earth Kingdom. Or the other Water Tribe. Sokka had heard it was way bigger than theirs. So why would their small village, which was barely even one, interest them ?
The trip he went in with Katara, Aang, Toph, and Zuko in the end, had forged him. But even now, as an adult, he still had troubles seeing anything related to it. He had learned to accept the colours of ash grey and red, even if he sometimes felt his heart beating faster when he saw them from afar. Of course now he was not a target… But still.
When he saw that uniform, he was thirteen again. Young, scared, defenseless.
“Urgh. Zuko, it is not an official meeting. Could you take that off,” he grimaced as his friend sat across from him.
Zuko knew it was a lot to ask from Sokka to join him in the Fire Nation’s castle. The man never looked at ease here, but Zuko could not really leave the castle for a few days either.
“Sorry. Thank you for coming.”
Zuko took off the crest crown off his hair. He searched for a place to put it, first on the table, then realised Sokka probably would not want to see that next to him, so he rolled it at his feet under the table.
No need to have a symbol of royalty between them.
“No problem. Just do not go on me talking all… Political.”
Sokka observed Zuko as he spoke. He had seen his evolution, since they were teenagers but seeing how attractive the Fire Lord had gotten was… Well, Sokka thought it was a bit infuriating. He had talked about it with Aang and Katara one time - arguing that it was unfair that Zuko got to be the best good-looking of them five, after everything they had done together. They had just looked at him weirdly, and he had not understood why. Saying your friend was attractive was nothing weird right ?
He still kept his gaze above the Fire Lord’s eyes, looking at the little stray of hair that was now falling on his forehead.
Zuko’s scar had healed now, it was a pretty red like a strawberry, getting more peachy as it got closer to the skin. His black hair cascaded down his chest, on the Fire Lord’s coat on his shoulders, now more adjusted…
“Take it off,” Sokka said in the middle of Zuko’s sentence.
“W-what ?
-Your coat. The Fire Lord coat. Take it off.”
Sokka knew he was not in any place to require anything from the Fire Lord himself, but he also knew that Zuko was his friend, and that he probably would.
Zuko looked a bit stunned, but he finally took it off.
“Hum, here. Is it better ?”
Sokka nodded. No, it was not better, but seeing his friend wearing clothes that he was so easy to take off just because he asked, made something stir in him that he did not like.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Sokka tried to calm himself, but he could not help the anger coursing through his veins.
It was not directed towards Zuko, because he knew him. But Sokka could not help but hate what he represented.
He spent the rest of the meeting listening to Zuko while also thinking about how easily he had stripped for him.
And how much he could push for more, to see until where he could go to feel more secure in the room with the friend that had destroyed his village.