[Rewriting) Keeping the fire close [Zuko × Sokka]

How long have you been here?

Aang and Katara had left the Northern Water Tribe a couple of months ago on Appa, they wanted to explore the earth kingdom to try and find an earth bender that could teach the young air nomad that was desperate to learn.

The two had been recommended a tea shop called the Jasmine Dragon and they wanted to try it out, they were just around the corner of the building whenever Aang's stomach started to growl. "Looks like someone's hungry," the young water bender giggled a little, "we're almost there, we can see if they have rolls or soup for you. Maybe Momo and Appa could have something too."

Aang nodded his head in agreement, resting his hands on his stomach while leaning his head that the flying lemur was sitting on, back "pleeeaaasee" he whined playfully, "I'm starving," the two burst into a small fit of laughter as they walked into the Jasmine Dragon.

They looked ahead and saw a short old roll of a man smile and turn around to face them, folding his arms across his chest gently, smiling with his eyes closed "Greetings, welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, please have a seat and I shall be with you soon."

The two youngsters nodded and walked towards the table to the left as soon as they walked through the door, thinking that it would be easy to enter and leave in case something bad happened in the village.

Once the two were settled and having a small conversation about what they wanted to have Iroh walked towards them and had his signature old man smile on his face, "What would you two like to have today? May I recommend some Ginseng or Jasmine tea?" His head rotated between the two young ones, he saw them together, saw how nice the young girl's hair was and thought that they were out on a date. This caused him to lean forward a little and lower his voice "and how about a discount for the lovers?"

The confusion caused Aang and Katara to freeze, looking towards each other, a small cloud of blush crept across their faces. The water bender shook her head and looked towards the tea shop owner "n-no, we're not dating, we're just exploring"
"Oh, I see, my apologies. The discount still stands," the shop owner winked and chuckled a little before standing up, his attention being drawn to the entrance of the shop when he saw two men walking into shop. His nephews.

"Ah! Lee, Sokka, welcome home." Iroh was very pleased to see his nephews back from their date, even if it was a little later than he would have preferred.

Hearing that name was very alarming to the two travelers, they leaned forward so they could see the door, their hearts reaching quickly, Katara's eyes starting to fill up with tears. She jumped out of her seat and ran to her brother, it doesn't matter that it was a small distance, she had missed her brother and held him tightly whenever their bodies slammed together. The force of her run knocking them both to the ground.

"Sokka!?" Aang's face was absorbed in his smile, he followed in his teacher's footsteps and ran towards the siblings that were hugging and sobbing on the ground, "How long have you been here!?" The 113 year old got on his knees and hugged Sokka's head, pulling it to his chest, almost smothering the ex warrior.