Behind the Mask- Zukka HeroAU

Chapter 1- A New Project

Hey y'all. A good portion of you reading this know of this from my instagram account. I just wanna say thank you to my writers @mandin_kelly @kitten_dj313 @jake_dion7 @luqical @_moon_princey_ for writing this fic!

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In the locker room after fencing practice, there was a heated discussion going between the heartthrob Junior, Sokka, and the ever prickly Senior, Zuko. This was about none other than the latest news of Sokka's obsession, the hero known as The Blue Spirit.

"There they go again," one of the other boys muttered as he walked in a wide arc around where the verbal disagreement was going on. With how often they fought, one couldn't help but wonder how they were actually friends, but nobody wanted to be caught up in the middle of that by being the poor soul that asked.

"All I'm saying is that the Blue Spirit has to be a young guy! He's about my height and—" Sokka started again.
"Just get over it," Zuko said exasperatedly. "He's probably some random dude in his 30's with too much time and money on his hands," he continued, rolling his eyes.
"No way! He's way too..." Sokka trailed off, unsure how to continue, or even if he wanted to continue.
Zuko raised an eyebrow at him, curious but trying to feign disinterest. "Too what?"
Sokka cleared his throat. "Athletic. He's way too athletic!" he said. That was convincing, right?
Zuko laughed. "Old people can be athletic, you've seen an action movie, Sokka," he replied, his eyebrow still raised at the younger boy.
"Yeah but the way he moves. No way an old guy could move like that!" Sokka continued excitedly. Zuko was trying hard to suppress the blush that he was sure was rising to the surface.

Obliviously, Sokka continued. "Maybe he's even a high schooler..." he said thoughtfully.
Zuko rolled his eyes, pushing down the panic that was rising. "No way, Sokka. He's not a high schooler."
Sokka raised an eyebrow, finally starting to put his clothes on. "How would you know?" Zuko was already dressed, but Sokka always took his sweet, sweet time, only just starting to pull his pants on.

Zuko decided to leave the conversation at that, "It just doesn't make sense, okay?" He threw the retort over his shoulder, leaving the locker room, as well as leaving Sokka to catch up with him. That was the most common way for him to express his annoyance with the other, just leave him behind. Maybe one day he'd take the hint, and stop bringing up things that Zuko didn't want to talk about. Well, in this case, it's more just that he doesn't want Sokka actually using his brain to figure out that the Senior was the Blue Spirit. 'Hopefully, he never does,' Zuko thought to himself. Though he couldn't quite figure out whether it was out of worry for his friend or himself.
Sokka quickly pulled his clothes on and grabbed his backpack, jogging to catch up to his older friend. "Wait up!" he called, finally catching up to Zuko, his uniform slightly askew.

Zuko sighed, "No more Blue Spirit conspiracy theories for at least the rest of the day. Got it?"
Sokka simply nodded; keeping a cool head, and keeping his thoughts inside of it. Zuko looked over and saw Sokka's tie loose. He thought about reaching over to fix it for him, but thought better of it and looked away.
"Fix your tie," Zuko said instead. Sokka grinned sheepishly and adjusted his tie. The two made their way towards the parking lot to Zuko's car.

They'd been working on a history project about how Caldera was founded. Zuko had volunteered to drive them to the Jasmine Dragon, his uncle's tea shop, after fencing practice so they could work on it. Sokka was usually more laid back about his school work, but Zuko couldn't deny that he was brilliant, so he enjoyed working with the younger boy. They walked to Zuko's luxury SUV in comfortable silence. He smiled when he saw Sokka's eyes widen, staring at his car. It didn't seem to matter how many times Sokka had seen the expensive car, he always seemed to be in awe of it. They climbed into the car and Zuko pulled out of the parking lot.

"I brought a poster board for our presentation," Sokka said with a smile, pulling a rolled poster board out of his bag. Zuko kept his eyes on the road, but smiled nonetheless. "I got white, so maybe we could color each corner as one of the nations," the younger continued, still grinning.
"That sounds like a great idea. I know Uncle has art supplies in the back room at the tea shop," Zuko answered.

Sokka's grin got impossibly wider. Zuko saw this out of the corner of his eye and chuckled. Sokka would call himself an artist but... no one else really would. Zuko thought his art was charming, but most people just teased him for his childish style.
"I made some notes for us to copy down last night," Zuko said. "I'll write the words and you do the art?" he suggested.
"Yeah!" Sokka responded excitedly.

Soon enough they'd arrived at the tea shop, as it was only a few minutes away from the school. Zuko parked in his reserved spot at the back of the shop and got out, pulling his backpack out of the back seat. Sokka followed him into the packed tea shop and they went straight to the back room. Sokka waved enthusiastically at Iroh, while Zuko nodded with a thin smile, as always. Iroh sent them each a warm smile.

As they entered the back room, Zuko went straight for his uncle's desk, rummaging around until he found a pack of markers for their project. They walked back out, and Iroh handed them each a cup of tea.
"Jasmine, your favorite, nephew" Iroh said kindly. Sokka happily took his cup and Zuko thanked his uncle as they sat down at a table to start on their project.
Once they were out of earshot in the crowded cafe, Sokka looked at Zuko. "Still haven't told him about your coffee addiction?" he asked the Senior.
Zuko shook his head. "I don't feel like getting kicked out," he said with a chuckle.

The pair started working on their project, Zuko pulling out his detailed notes and Sokka excitedly starting to color the poster board. They'd gotten through the Fire Nation section and the Water Tribe section of their project when they suddenly heard an explosion. 

Startled, Sokka dropped the marker that was in his hand. He stood up from where he was previously sitting, a worried expression on his face. His eyebrows scrunched together, a frown on his face. "What was that?" He glanced out the window to see the fire from what looked to be an explosion starting to die out in the sky; then another was set off. "Katara!" He knew his sister had been somewhere in that direction with some of her friends, and he quickly ran out the door to check on her.

Zuko generally would've gone after Sokka to make sure the hothead didn't get himself in danger, but he had recognized the explosions. This was the work of the "The Blood Diamonds"; a group of minions who worked for the Firelord. He had to rush off in the opposite direction. The Blue Spirit was about to make an appearance.

Zuko turned towards the back room and dashed in, trying to look panicked when he made eye contact with his uncle. A minute later, Zuko had snuck out the back door as the Blue Spirit.