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

Relax

Even though Sokka had said he wanted to have his hair cut, he put it up in a man bun like he normally wore it, he would wait until the storm was over, maybe even until he trusted Zuko with a weapon around him a little more, yes he trusted his friend to not purposely hurt him, but once again, he was beaten for the first couple of months and didn't want to have bad memories flooding back into his mind and ruin their time together. He finished shaving Zuko's head, wiped any blood that had gotten onto it on his pants, the red body liquid blending in with the color of the fabric, which he enjoyed because then the young prince wouldn't know any different.

Zuko got up from the floor and put the knife, aswell as his mirror away after looking at his head, smiling at how much of a good job Sokka did. "So, I'm guessing that you're going to sleep in here tonight?" To which the tanner of the two nodded quickly, pointing to the door "I don't wanna go out there and get washed away, I'm staying in here!" The 15 year old acted scared, but the two bursted out into laughter, but had to quiet each other down, causing them to laugh even more, laying on their backs on the bed, looking up to the ceiling with teary eyes whenever their laughing fit died down. "Jeez, this ship is boring" Sokka spoke out, making Zuko turn his head to look at him, having an eyebrow cocked upwards "you think it's boring? I've been on this ship for a long time my friend" that was the first time he had ever called the other his friend out loud.

"Yeah, I mean. All we do is sleep, eat, train, we don't play games, unless Iroh is awake and you excuse me from training because you make me 'clean the bathrooms, the boiler room and the deck' " he used air quotes, it was a fact that just to have some more alone time with the shorter boy, Zuko would say Sokka was in trouble, and as punishment he would have to clean multiple areas of the ship with the prince watching over his shoulder, even though they would just go back to their rooms and talk, mess around and get to know each other more. They even took a couple naps in the same bed, absolutely exhausted from the days, even weeks before.

"Yes, but that's all we can do here, there's not much else, no women, no entertainment" Zuko sighed, hearing himself say the 'no women' part was surprising to them both, neither of them thought about women that much, and if they didn't it was their mothers. "On second thought, scratch the no women part" Zuko said, making them both chuckle "Yeah, who needs em?" Sokka rolled onto his side, using his arm to prop his head up, looking down on Zuko, smiling a little, his arm pulling his mouth into a slightly bigger smile.