Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sokka had never given much thought to how he would die – though he’d had reason enough in the last few months – but even if he had, he would not have imagined it like this.

He stared across the room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and she smirked back at him.

Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone Sokka loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.

Sokka knew that if he’d never gone to Forks, he wouldn’t be facing death right now. But, terrified as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.

The hunter smiled in a friendly way as she sauntered forward to kill him.  

It was quiet in the car as Nini, their mom’s best friend, drove them to the airport. The windows were rolled down to let in the last bit of heat Sokka and Katara were likely to feel for some time. Sokka tried to enjoy the warmth on his skin, a product of the cloudless Phoenix day, but the mood in the car, and the fact that he was leaving that warmth permanently, made it difficult.

It had been a month since their mom had died – suddenly, in a car accident – and now they were on their way to Forks, Washington to live with their dad. Sokka hated Forks. It was rainy almost constantly in the small town, and there was next to nothing to do. It was nothing against his dad, Hakoda, but he much preferred the Arizona heat. If Sokka was an only child, he would’ve found a way to stay here (despite Katara’s argument that he was only seventeen and couldn’t live on his own). Either way, he’d pushed that he could take care of them perfectly fine.

Katara, who oddly loved the ever-present dampness of Forks and enjoyed their semi regular pilgrimages to visit their dad, insisted that living with their dad would be best for them, that they needed to be with the one parent they had left. After that, she had gotten too choked up to continue, and Sokka knew there was no point in arguing further. He loved his sister more than anyone else on the planet, and she wanted to go to Forks.

So, they were going to Forks.

When Sokka stepped outside to the Arrivals pickup curb at the tiny Port Angeles regional airport, pulling his suitcase and one of Katara’s behind him, he was hit with a blast of cool air and the spray of rain being blown sideways. He backed up towards the door, frowning.

“You knew it was going to be raining,” Katara said, dropping her duffel bag on top of her second suitcase.

“Not immediately,” Sokka groaned, and Katara rolled her eyes.

“Look, there’s Dad.”

She was right – Hakoda was standing in front of his police cruiser towards the end of the curb, waving at them. Yeah – to the people of Forks, Hakoda was Police Chief Swan. Sokka groaned internally, (or maybe it was externally, since Katara shot him a look), as they walked towards the cruiser, pledging to himself that getting his own car would be number one on his list of priorities.

“Katara, Sokka, it’s so good to see you,” Hakoda said, smiling at Sokka over Katara’s head – she had dived right into his chest for a tight hug.

“Hey, Dad,” Sokka said, letting himself be pulled into a one-armed hug after Katara had let go.

“Your hair’s longer,” Hakoda said, after he released Sokka.

“I cut it since the last time I saw you.”

“Oh,” Hakoda said, “I guess it grew out again.”

Hakoda struggled to fit both Katara and Sokka’s bags into the trunk – after a few minutes of suitcase Tetris, Katara was in the front seat of the cruiser, and Sokka was in the backseat – generally reserved for people under arrest – with his suitcase and Katara’s duffel bag squeezed against his side.

“So,” Hakoda started once they were on the highway, glancing at Sokka in the mirror, “I found a car for you two to share.”

“Katara doesn’t have her license,” Sokka said, snorting as she instinctively reached back to smack him and was blocked by the bars separating the front and back seat.

“It’s a truck,” Hakoda said loudly over Katara’s string of curses, “Do you remember Jet? You two used to play with him when his dad and I went fishing.”

“No,” Katara and Sokka answered in unison.

“Well, his dad died a year or so ago,” Hakoda said, “And Jet’s been keeping his truck around, but has no use for it, so when he heard you two were coming back, he offered to sell it to me for pretty cheap.”

There was a long pause, a silence that had started as soon as the words “his dad died” had left Hakoda’s mouth. Katara was facing forward, but Sokka could still tell she was likely close to tears.

Hakoda seemed to figure this out too but, flustered and unsure of how to fix it, continued forward, “Well, it’s an old truck, but Jet fixed it up pretty well – it runs great – and I already paid for it, but I’m sure –”

“I’m sure it’s great, Dad,” Sokka said, saving Katara, who was sniffling, from saying anything, “Thank you.”

The rest of the ride was quiet, so Sokka stared out the window, taking in the entirely alien environment around him. It was still raining, but through the sheets of water, everything was a bright, saturated green. It was beautiful, especially against the darkening evening sky, but Sokka couldn’t help feeling a pang of loneliness. This was a far cry from the hot, brown landscape to which he was accustomed.

When they finally arrived to Hakoda’s, Katara rushed right past the faded red truck in the driveway and into the house. Sokka grinned as he hopped out of the car, pulling his suitcase and Katara’s duffel bag behind him.

“Dad, I love it,” he said, running over to touch the bulky, sturdy truck, “Seriously, thank you.”

Hakoda looked embarrassed but pleased. “I’m glad you like it.” He frowned, looking up as Katara opened her upstairs window. “Is she okay? Should I –”

“Nah,” Sokka said, pulling as many bags as he could towards the house, “It’s just been a long day. Flying and all that.”

Hakoda nodded and said nothing more. It was late, they’d had dinner in between their connecting flights, and the assurance that Katara wasn’t having a meltdown upstairs seemed enough for him to back off the two of them for the rest of the day.

In reality, Katara probably wasn’t okay, but that wasn’t something Sokka felt that Hakoda was prepared to deal with yet.

After Sokka had dropped Katara’s bags off to her room, he went to his, flopping down on the old blue bedspread that had been there since Hakoda traded his crib for a bed. The room hadn’t changed much since then.

Sokka took a deep breath, prepared to let the emotions of the day hit him. He didn’t get very far though, because he heard a knocking at his window and jerked up in surprise.

Katara was at his window, waving him out to the roof. He sighed, grabbed his hoodie out of his carry-on bag – it was still raining – and pushed open the window, following Katara as she carefully tiptoed to the large, flat patch of roof where they’d frequently had conversations that they didn’t want Hakoda to overhear over the years.

Sokka pulled his hoodie on as they settled down, pulling the hood up and frowning at her. “I don’t love having roof talks in the rain.”  

“Well, you’re going to have to get used to it,” Katara answered, and Sokka could hear the traces of tears in her voice.

“Come here,” Sokka said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his chest.

She tried to wriggle out of his grip. “I’m fine, Sokka –”

“It’s forty degrees and raining, and you’re wearing a t-shirt and shorts, I’m gonna cuddle you. You’re going to have to get used to it,” he said, mocking her voice.

She laughed, relaxing her shoulders and leaning into Sokka’s chest. “Fine, but only because this hoodie is so cozy.” A pause. “I’m sorry for freaking out earlier. Everything just kind of hit at once.”

“Don’t apologize,” Sokka said, waving the hand that wasn’t rubbing Katara’s shoulder. “You definitely made Dad nervous, though.”

“What about you?” Katara asked, “Are you nervous for tomorrow?”

Sokka frowned, “Not nervous, irritated that our arrival, in the middle of January no less, is going to be a thing. Everyone in this town knows Dad, and there are only, what, three hundred and fifty kids at the high school?”

“Three hundred fifty-two, now.”

“And they all know each other, and have their entire lives,” Sokka continued, “Whenever we’ve been here, we’ve only hung out with Dad.”

“And Jet, apparently,” Katara added.

“Apparently,” Sokka agreed.

“It’ll be fine,” Katara said, “We can stick together in between classes and at lunch – Dad told me when he called last week that they only have one lunch period.”

“Sounds good,” he said, “Can we go back inside now?”

“Oh, come on,” Katara laughed, elbowing him in the side, “It’s nice, isn’t it? Being able to sit outside without feeling like your skin’s going to melt off? It’s so refreshing.”

“You’re a freak,” Sokka replied, standing up and carefully walking back to his window, “Goodnight.”

“Night, Sokka.”

The first half of their first day at Forks High School went about as smoothly as Sokka could have expected. The ancient truck had started, and the school was easy enough to find (as was everything in Forks – most places were off the same main road).

Their first interaction was an uncomfortable one, with the receptionist who, when Katara identified them as Sokka and Katara Swan, burst into tears and sniffled out, “We were all so sorry to hear about Kya. You know, I remember when she went here, such a sweet girl.”

To which Sokka responded curtly, “Can we have our schedules?”

After Katara assured him three times that she was fine and more than prepared for comments like that throughout the day, the two of them split off to their separate first hour classes – English for Sokka and World History for Katara.

Sokka found the classroom fairly easily – it wasn’t a big school. After handing the slip the receptionist asked him to get each of his teachers to sign to the English teacher, Mr. Mason, Sokka walked up to the only open seat available, next to a girl with short brown hair half tied up in a bun on her head. She had her phone out and her feet up in the open seat.

“Can I sit here?” Sokka asked.

“Sure,” she answered, not looking up from her phone, but moving her feet.

Sokka unzipped his jacket, dropping it on the back of the seat and sitting down as Mr. Mason shouted, “Phone away, Suki!”

Suki, apparently, gave Mr. Mason a sarcastic salute and dropped her phone into her backpack, turning to Sokka. “You’re Sokka Swan, aren’t you? Chief Swan’s son?”

God. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Cool,” Suki said, “Your dad’s let me off with a warning before.”

Sokka laughed at that. “For what?”

“Getting high in the park,” Suki said with a shrug.

“How’d you manage to get out of that one?”

“I argued that I thought legalization applied to everyone, including fifteen-year-olds.”

Sokka decided to be friends with Suki.

“So, who were you texting?”

“That’s forward,” Suki said, but answered, smirking, “My girlfriend, Yue. What other classes do you have before lunch?”

Sokka pulled out his schedule. “Government after this, then Calculus.”

“Sweet,” Suki said with a grin, “Yue and I are in Calc too. You can sit with us.”

Yue was very different from her girlfriend – quiet, but incredibly sarcastic in a way that complemented Suki’s loud, quick wit.  She had long, white hair that Sokka had to assume was dyed. Suki and Yue sat at the back of the Calculus classroom, so the three of them chatted – or, Suki told story after story about hilarious and cute things Yue had done, while Yue blushed furiously – the entire class period. By the time the bell rang for lunch, Sokka was feeling pretty good about at least the first half of his class schedule.

When they got to the cafeteria, grabbed their food, and were headed towards the tables, Suki and Yue were waved down by an excitable looking boy who was sitting at a round table with…Katara.

“Sokka!” she exclaimed, as he sat down next to her, “You know Yue and Suki?”

“You know Yue and Suki?” he repeated back.

“Of course, they’re friends with Aang,” Katara said, tilting her head towards the boy – Aang. He had wide eyes and a huge smile that seemed a permanent fixture on his face. He reminded Sokka of a golden retriever.

“It’s great to meet you, Sokka,” Aang said, standing and stretching his arm across Katara to grab Sokka’s hand, shaking it vigorously, “Katara’s told me so much about you.”

“Really?” Sokka asked, as Aang sat back down.

“Oh yeah,” Aang said, grinning, “She said you’d maybe want to join our volleyball team?”

“I’m on it too,” Suki said from across the table, where she was stealing French fries off of Yue’s plate. “Please join.”

“I’m down,” Sokka said, grinning and making a show to stretch his arms over his head, “If you all can handle me.”

Katara and Suki both snorted at that, but Sokka barely heard them. As he turned his head, mid-stretch, he spotted them.

They were sitting in the far corner of the cafeteria, as far from where Sokka was sitting as possible. From what Sokka could see, they weren’t talking or eating, though all four of them had an untouched tray sitting in front of them. Unlike many of the other students in the cafeteria, they weren’t goggling at him and Katara, so he felt safe to stare at them without being noticed.

There were two girls and two boys – they didn’t look like siblings, but there was something about them that made them seem like a perfect set. Two of the girls and one of the boys had jet black hair, the other had long brown hair that stopped mid-way down his back. The taller of two girls had long, straight hair and a seemingly permanent annoyed look on her face. She was fiddling with a carrot stick on her tray, but never picked it up to eat it. The second girl, though not standing, was clearly short, and had cropped hair to match. She seemed to be the only one with a sense of humor – though silent like the rest of them, she was smirking to herself as though she was the only one in on a very good joke.

The taller boy, the one with long brown hair, was frowning, seemingly deep in thought. The other boy had black hair that could only be described as disheveled, but there was something about it that was both elegant and completely effortless. He had a large red scar across the left side of his face that was only half hidden by his unruly hair. He was striking in a way the others weren’t. He and the shorter girl seemed to be in some sort of silent conversation, as he was staring at her intently.

One thing that Sokka noticed that they all had in common was that they all had the same dark eyes – which made him wonder if they were siblings – and dark shadows under those eyes, as though none of them had slept in a week.

Despite the shadows, Sokka couldn’t bring himself to look away.

They were the most devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful people he had ever seen. All of their faces seemed to be airbrushed, or perhaps the painted faces of Renaissance angels. It was difficult for him to decide who was the most beautiful – maybe the tall, moody looking girl, or the boy with the messy black hair.

“Who are they?” Sokka asked, turning back to Suki who, he could immediately tell, had noticed him staring.

Before Suki could respond though, Katara asked, “Who?” following Sokka’s gaze over to the table. The boy with the messy black hair looked up suddenly, looking at Katara for a fraction of a second, and then, his dark, shadow-ringed eyes flickered to Sokka’s face.

He looked away quickly, quicker than Sokka could, but Sokka could still feel embarrassment rise in his cheeks.

Suki snorted and said, “So, that’s Zuko and Toph Cullen, and Haru and Mai Hale – they all live with Dr. Cullen.”

Sokka glanced back up at the beautiful boy and saw that he was looking down at his lunch tray, anxiously picking a bagel to pieces with his long, pale fingers. If Sokka squinted, he could see that his mouth was moving quickly, his lips barely opening and closing. The other three weren’t looking directly at him, but Sokka sensed that they were listening.

“They’re all…very nice-looking,” Katara said, and Sokka tuned back into the conversation, resisting rolling his eyes. Nice-looking was putting it lightly, in his opinion.

“Definitely,” Suki agreed.

“So are the Cullens and Hales siblings?” Sokka asked, trying to focus on the conversation and keep himself from glancing back over at the boy.

“Cullens no, Hales yes,” Aang interjected, “The Cullens were adopted by Dr. Cullen and took his last name, the Hales are foster kids.”

“They look a little old to be foster kids,” Katara commented.

“Well, yeah,” Suki said, “But they’ve been with Dr. Cullen for a few years now.”

As the conversation continued, Sokka couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering again and again to the table where the odd family sat. They continued to not eat or talk.

“Have they always lived in Forks?” Sokka asked, trying to focus again.

“No,” Yue said, “They moved down from somewhere in Alaska about two years ago.”

“So, we’re not the only new kids,” Katara said. Aang and Suki laughed.

Sokka felt his gaze being drawn back to the table – back to the boy. He was staring back with an odd expression that Sokka couldn’t explain – he seemed simultaneously curious and frustrated.

Sokka dropped his eyes and asked the table, “Which one is the boy with the black hair and the scar?”

“That’s Zuko,” Suki said, and Sokka felt an inexplicable warmth in his stomach at learning his name. “Totally gorgeous – the straight girls here are all in love with him. Total waste of their time though, he doesn’t date.”

Sokka laughed at that and then, without thinking, glanced back over at the boy – at Zuko. He had turned his face away, but Sokka swore he was smiling too.

When the four of them eventually left their table, Sokka noticed that they were all distinctly graceful. It was almost unnerving.

By the time he and Yue were walking to Biology together, Sokka felt really good about the day. He didn’t have any classes with any of the family yet – he definitely would’ve noticed them – but the school was small, and there was a good chance.

When they arrived at the Biology classroom, Yue gave him a quick wave and went to sit with her pre-assigned lab partner. Sokka quickly surveyed the classroom and saw that one seat was open – next to Zuko Cullen, who was staring out the window.

Sokka moved down the aisle to get his slip signed, with a lightness in his step he would never admit was caused by that empty seat, his eyes on the back of Zuko’s head. Just as Sokka passed, Zuko went suddenly stiff in his seat. He looked up, meeting Sokka’s gaze with a look that was hostile, furious even. His eyes, which Sokka had assumed was dark brown from across the cafeteria, were actually coal black.

Shocked, Sokka looked away, feeling his face flush again. He stumbled over a backpack that was sticking out into the walkway, catching himself on the edge of a table.

The teacher, Mr. Banner, signed his slip and handed him his textbook. Sokka felt his heart drop to his stomach when he was directed back to the only open seat available.

Sokka kept his eyes down towards the table as he sat down next to Zuko, but he saw him move out of the corner of his eye. Zuko was leaning as far away from Sokka as possible, half off of his seat, which was pushing into the side of the table. He was turned towards the window, his hand on his face as though he was trying to stop himself from smelling something bad.

Sokka pulled out his ponytail, letting his hair fall down in his face, creating a curtain between them. He sniffed at his hair – vanilla. He figured that was an innocent enough smell, and tried to pay attention to Mr. Banner, but it was a lesson they’d already covered back in Phoenix.

He tried to take notes anyways, but he couldn’t stop himself from peeking every so often through his hair at Zuko. For the entire period, he didn’t once relax his shoulders, stiff as a board on the edge of his seat. Certain that Zuko wasn’t going to suddenly turn and look at him, Sokka took a clearer look. He noticed that he had been wrong about his hair – up close, it wasn’t completely black – it was more of a dark, warm brown. Sokka also saw that one of Zuko’s hands was clenched in a tight fist, and the other was clutching the edge of the table, tendons popping out against his pale skin. He frowned at that.

The class period seemed to last forever, but Sokka determined that he couldn’t possibly be the cause of Zuko’s strange behavior – he didn’t know him at all. Zuko probably didn’t even know his name.

Out of curiosity, when the clock told him that the bell would be ringing in about a minute, Sokka peeked at him one more time – and instantly regretted it. Zuko was glaring again, his pitch-black eyes full of anger. If looks could kill.

Before Sokka could do anything but feel ill, the bell rang and Zuko was out of his seat and out the door in what felt like a single second.

Sokka was frozen in his seat, unsure if he was angry or upset, but before he could decide, Yue was in front of his table, a look of concern in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Sokka said, shaking his head, “Sorry, I zoned out for a minute.”

“Okay,” Yue said, not looking like she believed him. “You’ve got gym with Suki and Aang next, right?”

“Yeah,” Sokka said, standing and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, “You?”

“Painting, but it’s in the same direction. I’ll walk with you.”

After a few minutes of silent walking, in which Yue seemed to be choosing her words very carefully, she asked, “So, did something happen between you and Zuko Cullen? I’ve never seen him act like that before.”

Great. So, it was him. And, he wasn’t the only one who had noticed Zuko’s freakish behavior.

“I don’t know,” Sokka said calmly, “I didn’t say a word to him, or him to me.”

“Don’t take it personally,” Yue said, putting a comforting hand on his arm, “He’s a bit…well, not normally rude, but odd. I’m sure it was a misunderstanding.”

“It’s fine, I’m not going to dwell on it,” Sokka lied as they walked up to the art classrooms.

Yue waved goodbye, still looking slightly concerned, as Sokka trudged off to the gym. Suki and Aang were waiting there, already in their gym clothes. And – Sokka let out a deep breath – none of the members of the Cullen-Hale family seemed to be on the class roster.

Volleyball was the focus of the class for the next few weeks, so Suki and Aang were using the period to fit in extra practice. Sokka had to admit that hitting the ball back and forth with Suki and Aang for an hour definitely lifted his spirits. When the bell rang, the three of them still hadn’t stopped laughing at the moment when Aang had accidentally spiked the ball into the back of the gym teacher’s head.

Sokka waved goodbye to the two of them, pulling on his jacket as he went, and heading back to the main building where the receptionist’s office was. He was supposed to meet Katara and drop off his fully signed slip. When he got there, he had to stop himself from turning around and walking right back out.

Katara was in line, standing a few feet back from Zuko Cullen, who seemed to be having a whispered argument with the receptionist. Katara caught Sokka’s eye, making a face that said quite clearly – what the fuck?

Sokka shrugged back in response, swallowing the anxiety he felt bubbling up in his throat and walking to stand beside her. As he got closer, he was able to figure out the essence of the argument. Zuko was attempting to switch his Biology class to another time – any other time.

Sokka could feel Katara looking at him, which confirmed to him that the sinking feeling in his stomach was showing on his face too. He refused to look at her, attempting to settle his face into one that was blank and emotionless. Sokka had no explanation as to why a complete stranger would immediately hate him, especially considering how quickly he’d managed to make other friends, and the glaring fact that they’d never said a word to each other, but he refused to let Zuko see that on his face.

Suddenly, the door swung open, a cold, wet wind rushing through the office, knocking some papers off the desk and whipping Katara and Sokka’s hair around their faces. Sokka saw Zuko’s posture stiffen, just like it had in Biology, and he turned slowly, glaring at him.

Even though he was confused and hurt, Sokka couldn’t help but think that, even angry and contorted in a way that sent genuine fear down his spine, Zuko’s face was ridiculously handsome.

The look only lasted a second though, and Zuko turned quickly back around to the receptionist, saying in a voice that was polite and completely contrary to the look he’d just given Sokka, “Never mind, I see that it’s not possible. Thank you for your help.” Then he was gone, out the door as quickly as he’d left Biology.

Without looking, he could feel Katara gaping in shock, but Sokka pulled them both forward, handing his slip to the receptionist silently. Katara did the same, then all but pushed him out of the building and to the faded red truck, which seemed like a safe haven to Sokka in that moment. He ran to the driver’s side, unlocking the door, hopping in, and throwing his backpack into the backseat before Katara had even opened her door.

“What was that?” she asked in a whisper, once she had settled into her seat.

Sokka glanced at her scandalized face, and said truthfully, “I have no goddamn idea.”

Chapter Text

The next day wasn’t worse or better, but it was slightly closer to normal. In comparison to yesterday, at least. It wasn’t raining, but there wasn’t an inch of sky visible behind the gray clouds. Sokka tried to accept that this was his new normal.

He had only said it out loud to Katara that morning as they were driving in – and made her swear that she wouldn’t mention it the rest of their new friends – but he was dreading seeing Zuko Cullen. Sokka had a notoriously easy to read face, but he tried to control it as he, Suki and Yue arrived to the cafeteria for lunch that day, preparing himself for the moment he’d have to see – or god forbid, make eye contact with – Zuko Cullen again.

There was a strong part of Sokka that was just waiting to confront Zuko and demand to know what his problem was – a part that Katara had readily encouraged last night as they sat on the roof, huddled together under a blanket. Sokka had laid awake in bed far longer than he should’ve, acting out different versions of the confrontation in his head. Whenever he had nearly talked himself out of it, he remembered the anger in Zuko’s dark eyes, directed at him for no apparent reason, and resolved that confrontation was the way to go. Still, that didn’t make seeing him again less nerve-wracking.

Sokka wondered, as Suki pushed open the cafeteria door, whether he should try to yell at Zuko here or in the Biology classroom. As soon as he was through the doors, his eyes swept the entire place before he could stop himself – and Zuko wasn’t there. He saw his other three siblings sitting at their normal table – not eating or talking, as per usual. But Zuko was nowhere to be seen.

Sokka sat down next to Katara, trying to pay attention to the conversation at hand – Aang really wanted to go to the beach soon, apparently, and Suki was arguing that it was going to snow this weekend – but he couldn’t stop glancing at the table on the opposite side of the room, waiting for Zuko to arrive and glower at him again.

It wasn’t that Sokka was afraid of Zuko Cullen, but if he was going to tell him off, he wanted the upper hand. He was caught off guard yesterday, and he wasn’t going to let that happen again.

But Sokka never got that chance. Zuko never arrived at lunch, or to Biology. Instead, Sokka sat at the table alone, silently fuming to himself. Sure, he technically couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that Zuko’s strange behavior was because of him – or at least that’s what Katara had said.

Sokka highly doubted that it could be about anything else, though, and if Yue’s worried glances at him the entirety of Biology and their walk to their last classes of the day weren’t enough to confirm his suspicion, what happened in the parking lot was.

He was tapping his foot impatiently by the truck, waiting for Katara to finish up whatever conversation she was having with Aang in front of his minivan so that they could head home. Hakoda had told them that morning that he was going to cook dinner for them instead of ordering takeout, so Sokka wanted to make sure they had time to grab a backup dinner in the likely event that the kitchen was burnt down.

Katara and Aang’s laughs were still carrying loudly over to him, so Sokka sighed, deciding to survey the parking lot. That was a bad idea. Almost instantly, he locked eyes with the tall, dark haired one – Mai Hale. She was standing with the other two near a shiny, silver Volvo, and she was scowling at him. It was a family thing, apparently.

Although, not entirely. The other boy, Haru, was giving him a curious look, and the short girl – Toph – wasn’t looking at him at all. Still, Mai’s look was enough to make Sokka yell, “Katara, let’s go!”

Later, when they were halfway through the steak and potatoes meal that Hakoda had managed to cook correctly, (their McDonald’s hidden under Sokka’s bed), the questioning started.

“So, how’s school?” Hakoda asked, piling more potatoes onto his plate, “Have you two made friends?”

Sokka had steak in his mouth, so Katara answered. “We managed to make friends with different halves of the same friend group. There’s Yue, Suki –”

“I think I know her,” Hakoda interjected, but Katara kept talking.

"And Aang, he’s a sophomore too, we have History and Chemistry together,” she finished.

Sokka swallowed finally, and added with a smirk, “Yeah, you and Aang have chemistry alright.”

Hakoda looked confused for a moment but understanding dawned on his face as Katara used her spoon to flick mashed potatoes across the table at Sokka’s face. It landed on his shirt.

“You’re one to talk,” Katara muttered under her breath, and Sokka felt heat rise in his cheeks, giving her a look that said, Really? In front of dad?

Hakoda, wonderful man that he was, pretended not to hear her. “Did you meet the Cullen kids?” he asked.

Sokka frowned. Apparently, there was no avoiding talking about him.

“Sort of,” Katara said, ignoring the look Sokka was giving her, “One of them – Toph, I think – is in my Chemistry class.”

Hakoda nodded, turning to Sokka expectantly. Attempting to sound nonchalant, he said, “I think one of the boys – Zuko, maybe? – is in my Biology class. We haven’t spoken.”

Katara gave him a look and Sokka had to resist the urge to stick his tongue out at her. What? It was technically true – Zuko had never spoken a word to Sokka, weird, extended eye contact and death glares notwithstanding.

Hakoda nodded again. “Be nice to them. A lot of folks in this town, for whatever reason, have negative things to say. But Dr. Cullen – well, we’re lucky to have him. He could make ten times as much money in any other town and he chooses to be here. And that family, they act how families should. Camping trips all the time…anyways. They’re good kids, if they’re anything like Dr. Cullen.” He stopped there, focusing again on his food and allowing the dinner to finish quietly.

Sokka frowned – annoyed. What did Hakoda know about how the Cullen kids acted? Their adoptive father being some kind of saint didn’t stop them from acting like assholes, clearly. But he didn’t say that, deciding to save his energy. Sokka knew his interrogation wasn’t over yet – he and Katara still hadn’t had a moment to fully debrief Zuko’s absence that day.

Half an hour later, up on the roof, Katara was explaining that she had tried and failed to strike up a friendly conversation with Toph Cullen in her Chemistry class that day.

“All I did was introduce myself,” Katara was saying, as Sokka ate their now cold McNuggets, “And she said, ‘Do I look like I care?’ and I said, ‘Well, I don’t know,’ and she said, ‘I can’t look at all, you idiot, I’m blind.’”

Sokka snorted before he could stop himself, earning a shove from Katara.

“Hey, careful!” Sokka exclaimed, pushing his hands down on the roof to steady himself, the McNugget he’d been holding falling from his hand and down to the yard.

“It’s not funny,” Katara said, ignoring Sokka’s look of indignation at her murder attempt, “How was I supposed to know she was blind? And that wasn’t what I was saying, anyways, she just seems like she’s rude for the fun of it and –”

“Katara, who cares? Why are you trying to be friends with her?”

“I’m not,” she said, “I was just trying to be polite.”

“Well, politeness doesn’t seem to be a huge thing in that family,” Sokka said grumpily.

Katara pursed her lips. “So, he just…never showed up?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll try to find out why, if he doesn’t show again tomorrow,” Katara said, a determined look in her eye.

“How are you planning on doing that?”

“I’ll ask Toph,” she said, with more optimism than Sokka thought was warranted based on her description of their first interaction. “I’ll say you wanted to know if you should take extra notes for him, or something like that, if he was sick.”

Well, it couldn’t hurt. “Sure,” Sokka said, “Why not?”

The next day, Zuko Cullen wasn’t at school. Again.

Sokka went to his classes. He messed around with Suki and Yue in Calculus. He tried his best to not stare at the remaining trio of silent, apparently never hungry siblings across the cafeteria. He took notes in Biology, not acknowledging his subconscious attempt to write neater than usual. Just in case. By the time he met Katara by the truck, Sokka was really hoping that she’d been able to get some sort of information out of Toph. But, the livid look on her face as she stomped across the parking lot made him think that wasn’t very likely.

“What happened?” Sokka asked warily.

“Get in the car,” Katara snapped.

“Okay,” Sokka said.

Katara slammed the car door and turned to him, her eyes narrowed in anger. “Toph Cullen is a little bitch.”

Sokka tried to ask why, but Katara steamrolled over his attempt at speech.

“I was so polite, I said that you were concerned about Zuko getting behind in class and were going to offer to take notes, you know, if he was sick, so I asked if he was, to clarify, and do you know what she told me?”

Sokka raised his eyebrows, slightly afraid to respond out loud.

“She told me to ‘mind my own business and shut the fuck up!’ I mean, who gave her the right?!”

Sokka had to use all of the will in his body not to laugh out loud. Instead he said, “So, Cullens have zero human interaction skills. Noted. Let’s move on.”

Katara huffed angrily but nodded, pulling out her phone to text someone, probably Aang, as Sokka started up the truck.

But Sokka didn’t move on. And Zuko Cullen didn’t come back to school. Sokka tried not to care – really, he did – but as the days passed his anger at Zuko’s behavior faded into confusion, and a bit of guilt. It was completely ridiculous. Sokka had done nothing that would make Zuko skip an entire week of school. But, as Friday rolled around and Zuko was once again missing from lunch and Biology, Sokka couldn’t help but feel like he was somehow responsible.

The weekend was a welcome, if not somewhat dull, respite. On Saturday, he and Katara journeyed to the small Forks Public Library and quickly discovered that it was poorly stocked and rundown. They decided that they would need to venture to a larger city – maybe Seattle – sometime soon if they wanted any real books to read. On Sunday, Suki pulled up in front of Hakoda’s house in a forest green Jeep, Yue giggling in the front seat as Aang stuck his head out the backseat window, demanding that they come to lunch now.

And it should’ve been fun. He should’ve been able to enjoy the rowdy conversation, the laughter when Yue attempted an impression of their dreadfully boring Calculus teacher, and Katara’s shocked face when Suki hinted that Aang had talked about her the entire drive over. But Sokka couldn’t stop his mind from wandering or himself from wondering – would Zuko Cullen be there tomorrow?

If he wasn’t, Sokka knew it would be more of the same. If he was…well. Sokka wasn’t entirely sure what he would do. He was still angry, certainly, at Zuko’s treatment of him last Monday afternoon, but more than anything he was confused. He didn’t want to fight – he wanted answers.

Monday morning, they were met with the part of Forks that Sokka had been dreading the most.

“Snow!” Aang exclaimed, laughing and sticking his tongue out as the group walked along the pathway from the academic building to the cafeteria. Sokka cursed whatever idiot architect decided to separate the high school into four different buildings.

“Ooh,” Katara said, looking up with a smile. Of course, she would love this.

“Oh, perfect,” Suki said, a devilish grin on her face, eyeing the five inches of snow that had stuck to the ground during the first half of the day.

Yue was looking at Sokka with an odd look on her face.

“What?” Sokka snapped at her, instantly regretting his harsh reaction – Yue didn’t look offended in any way, but Aang and Suki glanced back at him, seeming to understand, even before Yue said:

“Oh, you hate snow, don’t you?”

“I’ve never experienced it to hate it,” Sokka said, grimacing anyways.

“Experience this!”

A wet, solid mass of snow hit the side of Sokka’s face. His head shot up, quickly processing Suki’s laughing face as his target. He bent down, grabbed at the snow and rolled it, swinging as hard he could. He heard it make impact.

Okay, maybe Forks weather had one thing in its favor.

When they finally traipsed inside, clothes wet and cold, but laughing, Sokka decided that snow was definitely his favorite kind of cold weather. They made their way to the lunch line, chatting animatedly, and Sokka glanced across the room, towards the table in the far corner, purely out of habit.

Shit. There were four people at the table.

“Earth to Sokka – do you want a sandwich or chicken tenders?”

Katara was waving her hand in front of his face, glancing over at the lunch lady, who was staring at him expectantly. Suki, Aang and Yue had already gotten their food and sat down.

“Uh, chicken tenders please,” he said, embarrassed to find that his voice was shaky.

As they walked to the table, Katara frowned for a moment and then realization dawned on her face. She turned her head, far too obviously, towards the far corner of the room, and Sokka felt his face go hot. He didn’t dare look up to see their reaction – because he knew, without being able to explain why, that Zuko would notice Katara staring at them.

Sokka picked at his chicken, trying to will away the anxious feeling in his stomach. This was it, wasn’t it? He’d imagined what felt like a million different versions of the next time he would make eye contact with Zuko, and now it was here, and he was contemplating pretending to be sick so that he could sit in the nurse’s office through Biology.

Sokka took a deep breath and lifted his head, looking towards the table and preparing himself for the worst.

The four of them were laughing, not so differently from how their own group had been just a few minutes ago. All of their dark hair was soaked with melting snow, bits of white flakes not yet melted dusting the tops of their heads in a way that seemed almost angelic. Mai and Haru yelped suddenly, as Toph shook her dripping head towards them on purpose. Zuko just laughed harder. Sokka thought that they looked like something out of one of the corny, Christmas themed romcoms his mom and Katara used to force him to watch every year.

Sokka shook away that thought, focusing on the four siblings. There was something else different, but he was struggling to figure out what exactly what it was. Sokka looked intently at Zuko and thought that his skin seemed less pale – perhaps from a snowball fight – and that the dark circles under his, and all of their eyes, were much less noticeable. There was something else too, but Sokka couldn’t pinpoint it.

“Sokka, what are you staring at?” Aang asked, following Sokka’s gaze.

It was at that exact moment that Zuko’s eyes met his.

Sokka looked back, stopping himself from giving into the urge to drop his head, and saw that Zuko didn’t seem angry. In fact, he seemed like he did that first lunch – curious, and slightly frustrated.

Sokka looked away, knowing that if he looked much longer, he wouldn’t be able to control his cool and collected expression.

“Zuko Cullen is staring at you,” Aang said, sounding amazed.

“I don’t think he likes me,” Sokka said, staring determinedly in the opposite direction.

“The Cullens don’t like anyone,” Suki said, “But he’s still staring at you, so.”

“Don’t look at him,” Sokka whined, earning laughs from all of them but Katara, who was looking at him out of the corner of her eye in concern. He shook his head at her – he did not need the rest of the group to think he cared more about this than he was acting like he did.

When they got to the Biology classroom, Yue gave him a look like she could see his heart beating furiously in his chest. He was certain she couldn’t, but he felt for some reason that Zuko would be able to, so Sokka slowed his breathing as they went inside. He calmed down further when he saw that their table was still empty. He forgot to say bye to Yue in his rush to make sure he was sitting first.

Sokka pulled out his notebook, doodling aimlessly on the corner of last Friday’s notes, trying to determine how he would bridge the conversation – if at all. When he heard the chair next to him move, he kept his eyes focused on his notebook, sitting in front of him.

“Hello,” said a quiet, raspy voice from his left.

Sokka looked up in surprise. He certainly hadn’t expected Zuko to speak first, nor had he expected his voice to be so…he couldn’t think of a word other than soft.

Zuko still had his chair pushed as far away from Sokka as possible, but he had it angled towards him, and he was smiling. His hair was still dripping wet and messy, but Sokka swore he looked straight out of a photoshoot. His grin seemed easy, his face open, but there was a caution in his eyes that Sokka couldn’t miss.

“My name is Zuko Cullen,” he continued when Sokka said nothing, “I didn’t have the chance to introduce myself last week. You’re Sokka Swan?”

Sokka stared back at him, his head swirling with confusion, for a moment convinced that the previous Monday had been a figment of his imagination, the result of travel exhaustion and emotions run too high.

“How do you know my name?” Sokka asked, unable to think of any other way to respond.

“Everyone knows you and your sister, and your dad,” Zuko said.

“Oh. Okay,” Sokka said, feeling stupid as he said it. So much for a dramatic confrontation.

He was saved from anything more than a quizzical look from Zuko when Mr. Banner called them to attention, explaining a lab that Sokka had done before in Phoenix. They were to take out of order slides, use the microscope sitting on their table to identify the phases of mitosis, and label them accordingly, without using their books.

“Do you want to go first?” Zuko asked politely, when Mr. Banner finished speaking. Sokka looked up and felt blinded by the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. If he wasn’t so dumbfounded, he’d have been embarrassed by the fact that he was gaping at Zuko stupidly.

“Um, or I could start, if you’d prefer.”

Shit. Zuko was probably wondering whether or not he was fully competent.

“I’ll go,” Sokka said, pulling the microscope and box of slides towards him.

He knew exactly what he was looking for, and after a quick look, pulled away and said, “Prophase.”

“Do you mind if I look?” Zuko asked, grabbing Sokka’s hand as he started to remove the slide.

His fingers were as cold as ice.

Sokka jerked away in surprise.

“Sorry,” Zuko mumbled, pulling his hand back and putting it in his lap.

Sokka pushed the microscope over to him, and Zuko gave him a slight smile, lowering his eye to examine the slide.

“Prophase,” he agreed, writing it on the top line of their shared worksheet. His handwriting was perfect, like he’d been taking calligraphy lessons since birth. It was for the best that he hadn’t needed to rely on Sokka for notes.

Zuko switched out the slides, glanced quickly, and said, “Anaphase,” writing it down as he spoke.

“Can I check?” Sokka asked, an edge of competition rising in his voice.

Zuko looked up, smirked, and pushed the microscope back towards him.

Sokka looked through the eyepiece, then groaned. He was right.

“Give me the third slide,” Sokka said, holding out his hand without looking up.

He heard Zuko laugh, then felt the slide pressed gently into his hand. It seemed like Zuko was deliberately trying not to touch his skin again.

Sokka tried to look at the third slide as fleetingly as possible.

“Interphase,” he said, pushing the microscope back towards Zuko before he could ask for it. Sokka watched him as he glanced down, smiled, then wrote interphase in neat, narrow script.

The pair of them finished a good ten minutes before anyone else, which left Sokka with nothing to do but avoid staring at Zuko. Which, he didn’t manage.

Sokka looked over at Zuko and found that he was staring, the weird, curious yet frustrated look in his eyes once again. Sokka’s eyes widened – he had finally figured out the change in his face that he couldn’t identify from all the way across the cafeteria.

“Did you get contacts?” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Zuko looked caught off guard. “No.”

“Your eyes were black the last time I saw you,” Sokka insisted, knowing he was right, “Now they’re like, golden brown.”

Zuko’s face was blank as he said, “Yeah, I know, it’s the uh,” he glanced up at the ceiling, “It’s the fluorescence.”

Sokka didn’t push it further than that, though he desperately wanted to. It was bullshit, certainly – there was no way the deep golden, almost orange color that had replaced his black eyes of the week previous was caused by the lighting of the room. Which was the exact same as it was last week.

Zuko was looking down though, and Sokka noticed that his fists were clenched tightly again.

Before he could dwell on that too much, Mr. Banner was at their table, wanting to know why they had stopped working. When he saw the complete worksheet, he smiled.

“Seems you finally have a lab partner at your level, Cullen,” he said, wandering off to check on the rest of the class.

Sokka glanced at Zuko for a reaction and was met with silence. He was still staring at his lap. Sokka went back to doodling on his notebook, not allowing himself to start analyzing everything that had happened at that exact moment.

“So,” Zuko said two minutes later, “Are you enjoying the snow?”

Sokka looked up, a surge of sarcastic confidence rising in response to his question. “Are you seriously asking me about the weather?”

Zuko’s mouth hung open for a moment, and then he laughed, the brilliant smile from earlier reappearing. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“I don’t like the cold,” Sokka answered, “The Forks climate is pretty far from what I’m used to. I will say, the snow is a lot better than the rain.”

“Why?”

“Snow I can at least use to fight with,” Sokka said, and Zuko laughed again.

“Do you wish you were still in Phoenix?” he asked, and Sokka felt like a deer in headlights.

He knew, objectively, that the whole town knew why he and Katara had moved there, that the tragic details of their lives were a topic of gossip for all of the Forks locals. For some reason, though, he hadn’t expected Zuko to play into it.

Zuko frowned at Sokka’s silence and amended, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask something insensitive.”

Sokka looked at him and could tell he was genuinely sorry. He sighed. “It’s fine. It’s just still fresh.”

Zuko paused, weighing his words. “Your mother?”

Without understanding why he felt like he could, he answered. “She only died a month ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Zuko said, and Sokka could tell again that he was being sincere.

“It’s not your fault,” Sokka said, “Or Forks’ fault.”

“But you’re unhappy here.”

Sokka shrugged. “My sister likes it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.” He was staring at Sokka intensely.

“Life isn’t fair, haven’t you ever been told that?”

The corners of Zuko’s mouth lifted a bit. “Yeah, I think I’ve heard that somewhere.”

They stared at each other, Sokka feeling vulnerable. Exposed.

“You care about your sister a lot,” Zuko said.

It wasn’t really a question, but Sokka answered anyways. “She’s my best friend.”

“And you’d put her happiness above yours?”

“I guess? Why does it matter to you?” Sokka asked, feeling defensive and thrown off by the interrogation.

“That’s a good question,” Zuko muttered, mostly to himself, and made no effort to provide an answer.

Sokka stared at him for a second longer, then sighed, doodling in his notebook again.

“Am I annoying you?” Zuko asked, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.

“No,” Sokka said, “I’m annoyed that I’m apparently so easy to read.”

“You’re hard to read,” Zuko said, frowning slightly.

“Are you a good reader?”

“Usually.” Zuko grinned again, and Sokka felt his stomach twist pleasantly.

The conversation ended there, as Mr. Banner called the class’s attention to the front, explaining what they should’ve identified on our slides. Sokka tried to focus on what he was saying, but his thoughts were moving quicker than he could keep up with. Zuko definitely didn’t hate him, but what exactly his opinion was of him, Sokka had no clue.

The bell rang, and Zuko was out of the door just as quickly as he had been the previous Monday, but Sokka wasn’t deterred. In fact, he practically skipped to gym, and by the time the day had ended, all he could think of was telling Katara everything that had happened on the drive home.

As he walked towards the car, Sokka slipped and caught himself, the parking lot icier than it had been that morning. He leaned against the back of the truck, waiting for Katara and planning out in his head how he was going to breach the conversation with her, when he heard a loud, high-pitched screech.

Sokka looked up, and saw two things simultaneously, adrenaline rushing through him. Everything moved quickly, but he could see it all in clear detail.

Zuko Cullen was standing four cars down from him, with his siblings, staring at him in horror. The faces of other students around him mirrored the same shock.

The second, and perhaps more immediately relevant thing, was a familiar green Jeep that was skidding across the icy pavement, tires locked against the brakes, spinning directly towards the back of the truck. Sokka didn’t have time to flinch.

Right before Sokka heard the Jeep crunch around the truck, something hit him, hard, from the opposite direction. His head hit the icy ground. Something cold and solid was pinning him down. Sokka tried to understand his surroundings – he was lying on the ground, next to the blue car he’d parked next to, but the Jeep was still coming.

“Fuck.”

Sokka knew that voice, but barely had a moment to process that before he saw Zuko’s pale hands shoot out, stopping the Jeep a foot from his face, a deep dent forming in its side. The Jeep stopped moving and for a moment, all Sokka heard was his own quick, short breathing. Then, he heard students screaming.

“Sokka, are you okay?” he heard Zuko whisper in his ear.

“I’m fine,” Sokka said, trying to sit up before realizing that Zuko still had him pinned down.

“You hit your head hard,” Zuko said as a way of an explanation.

Sokka’s head throbbed. “Ow, fuck.”

Zuko let out a small laugh.

Too confused to be annoyed by that, Sokka looked up at him and asked, “How did you get over here so fast?”

Zuko’s smile dropped and he looked suddenly very serious. “I was standing right next to you.”

Sokka tried to sit up again and Zuko let him, leaning away from him. He was frowning and there was concern, and maybe fear, in his golden eyes. Sokka couldn’t figure out what he was trying to ask him, but he knew that he needed an answer.

Suddenly, the crowd reached them, shouting over each other and at them.

“Don’t move!” A teacher, probably, yelled.

“Someone get Suki out of the Jeep!” That was Yue.

Sokka tried to stand, and Zuko pushed his shoulder down.

“Let me up,” Sokka groaned, but Zuko kept his hand on his shoulder. Sokka pouted, then said, “You were by your car. With your siblings.”

Zuko’s frown seemed like it was edging on becoming a glare. “No, I wasn’t.”

“I saw you.”

“You hit your head,” he repeated.

“Zuko, I –”

“Sokka, I was standing with you, okay? And I pulled you out of the way.” The look on Zuko’s face, in his eyes, sent a shiver down Sokka’s spine. It was clear that this lie was important to him. Sokka almost gave in. Almost.

“No,” he said, looking just as serious as Zuko did.

“Sokka, please.” His eyes were distracting to look at. The orangey gold blazed like tiny fires.

“Why?”

“Just, trust me,” Zuko pleaded, his voice cracking slightly.

Sokka sighed, the sirens of the EMTs reaching them. “You have to promise you’ll explain everything to me later.”

“Fine,” Zuko snapped, exasperated.

“Fine,” Sokka agreed.

He wasn’t so sure that Zuko was going to uphold his end of the promise.

Chapter Text

The nurse removed the pressure cuff from Sokka’s arm, nodding to herself and wandering off to tend to another patient, Sokka assumed, so he undid the Velcro on the ridiculous neck brace that had been forced on him in the parking lot, throwing it under the bed. Fuck Zuko for telling the EMT that he had hit his head and causing that to happen.

Fuck Zuko for a lot of things, actually, like the fact that Sokka still had no idea how he had gotten across the parking lot, or knocked away a car with his bare hands, or for the glares from Mai and Haru as Sokka was loaded into the back of the ambulance – Toph had looked on the verge of laughter which, weird, but Sokka was focusing on the other two. He wasn’t sure why, but he was certain that they were angry that Zuko had saved him – and ugh, he didn’t want to feel grateful towards Zuko, because he was pissed at him. Fuck Zuko.

Sokka’s head throbbed a bit then and he groaned, making the nurse, who had apparently not strayed very far, pop back from behind the curtain blocking off his bed from the rest of the emergency room.

“Everything alright, Mr. Swan?” She didn’t comment on his missing neck brace outside of a slight eyebrow raise.

“I’m fine,” Sokka said for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. The nurse raised her eyebrows again, but backed off, pulling the curtain closed behind her. He wasn’t high enough of a priority on her list for her to pester him for too long, and for that he was grateful.

Sokka took a deep breath, preparing himself to start sifting through the possible explanations that had flown around in his brain during the ambulance ride (in which Zuko had gotten to ride in the front. Fuck Zuko). But before Sokka could think anything more than – radioactive spider?? – someone else had thrown open his curtains, launching themselves at him, and he was glad that he wasn’t actually injured.

“Sokka, are you okay?!”

Katara had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and if this were any other situation, Sokka would definitely have made fun of her for the wetness he could feel growing on his shoulder, but he thought that now wasn’t quite the moment. Hakoda was standing a bit behind her, near the curtain, a worried look in his eyes and his mouth in a tight line.

Sokka reached up and grabbed her arms, pushing her back gently so that he could look her in the eyes and say, “I’m fine. I swear. I just hit my head, that’s all.”

Katara pulled her arms out of his grip, putting one hand on his head, rubbing it as though she was looking for proof that he was, in fact, fine. She frowned. “That was terrifying, Sokka.”

It was then that Sokka realized how it must’ve looked from other people’s point of view, particularly from Katara’s. Sokka could see it in his mind’s eye, himself standing, frozen, at the back of the truck, Suki’s Jeep spinning across the parking lot and then the crash, and Sokka hidden from sight, certainly gravely injured. Or worse.

Sokka made eye contact with Hakoda and fully understood the severity of his expression and though no one said it, the three of them knew that they were all thinking of Kya.

Before anyone could voice that, there was a flurry of people behind Hakoda as another stretcher was rolled up next to Sokka’s bed. Hakoda and Katara turned their heads in surprise.

It was Suki, a bandage across her nose, from behind which Sokka could see a brilliant bruise blooming. Her right arm was bandaged as well and held up by a sling. Yue appeared, seeming as though she’d been chasing behind the stretcher, as Suki caught Sokka’s gaze, her eyes widening.

“Oh my god, Sokka, I am so sorry!”

“I’m fine, Suki, but you look terrible, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Suki said.

“No,” Yue disagreed.

“Yes,” Suki said again, grabbing Yue’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Really, it’s just a broken arm and this,” she lifted her and Yue’s hands to indicate her clearly broken nose, “is just the result of a really good airbag. And the bruise looks kind of cool, right?”

Yue looked like she wanted to argue with her but decided against it, choosing instead rub circles into Suki’s hand as she turned her gaze to Sokka.

“Super cool. I’m glad you’re okay,” Sokka said, but before he could say more than that, Suki cut him off.

“How are you okay? Glad you are, obviously, but I thought I was going to kill you. I was going way too fast, hit the ice wrong, and totally lost control.” She trailed off, scrunching up her nose in annoyance as a nurse started dabbing at a cut above her left eyebrow. Sokka could feel that Hakoda’s eyes still hadn’t left him.

“You missed me,” Sokka said elusively, not wanting to answer the question.

Katara and Yue turned to stare at him too, as Suki said, “But, how did you get out of the way so fast? You were there and then you were gone, in half a second.”

“Um,” Sokka said, “Zuko pulled me out of the way.”

Four sets of eyes widened, and then –

“What?”

“Zuko Cullen?”

“What?!”

“I didn’t see him next to you,” Suki said, frowning. Sokka felt his heart rate speed up, caught in a lie and inwardly angry at himself for lying for Zuko in the first place, but then Suki continued, “But I guess it was all so fast. Is he okay?”

“I assume so,” Sokka said, ignoring the look Katara was giving him through narrowed eyes, “He’s here somewhere, but they let him ride up front in the ambulance, so.”

Before Sokka needed to lie terribly any further, his and Suki’s nurses shooed the rest of them back to the waiting room. It took a few minutes to get them to actually go, especially Yue, but eventually they were pushed out, leaving Suki to be tended to by her nurse and Sokka to stare at the wall, wondering what exactly he was waiting for.

“The doctor needs to talk to you first,” the nurse said when Sokka voiced this.

A few minutes later, when Sokka had laid down and closed his eyes out of boredom, he heard a familiar raspy voice.

“Is he asleep?”

Sokka’s eyes shot open – Zuko was standing at the end of his bed, smirking. Fuck him.

“Zuko, I’m sorry man, I didn’t even see you –” Suki started.

Zuko shrugged and said, “No blood, no foul,” grinning in a way that made Sokka’s cheeks feel hot. He ignored that and glared at him.

Zuko ignored the glare, sitting on the end of Suki’s bed and fixing his gaze on Sokka. “So. What’s the verdict? Are you going to make it?”

“I’m perfectly fine and you know that,” Sokka snapped, still annoyed. “How come you’re allowed to just wander around?”

“I know people,” Zuko answered vaguely, “But don’t worry. I’m here to spring you.”

At that moment, the doctor walked around the corner, and Sokka knew instantly that this must be Dr. Cullen. He looked to be in his mid-fifties – he was handsome, with dark grey hair and a warm smile that made Sokka trust him instantly. He had the same airbrushed, glowing aura to him that his adopted children did – and the same dark circles and unnaturally golden eyes. Sokka knew, objectively, that this made no sense, and added Dr. Cullen’s appearance to his mental list of things he needed to figure out.

“So, Mr. Swan,” he said as he approached, giving Zuko a sideways glance, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Sokka said for what he hoped would be the last time.

“Your X-rays came back clear,” he said. “How does your head feel? Zuko said that you hit it fairly hard.”

“It’s fine,” Sokka said again, glaring at Zuko as Dr. Cullen pressed at his skull with fingers as cold as Zuko’s. Sokka winced before he could stop himself, and Dr. Cullen noticed.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not really.”

Zuko snorted and Sokka shot his head up to scowl at him again. Zuko smiled politely back.

“Well, I won’t keep you from your father and sister – you can go home with them now. They’re starting to irritate the rest of the waiting room. But if you have any trouble with your eyesight or if you feel dizzy, please come back.”

“Great,” Sokka said, desperate to be out of Zuko’s patronizing gaze. He swung his legs over the side of the bed – too quickly. He stumbled slightly, Dr. Cullen catching his arm with a concerned look.

Sokka shivered at his icy touch, but said, “I’m fine. I just tripped.”

“Take some Tylenol when you get home. You were extremely lucky today,” Dr. Cullen said, smiling at him.

“Lucky that Zuko was standing next to me,” Sokka corrected, giving Zuko a pointed look as he said it.

“Oh,” Dr. Cullen said, not meeting Sokka’s eyes, “Well, yes.” With that, he walked over to Suki, examining her arm. Something clicked in Sokka’s head – the doctor knew. Whatever there was to know, anyways.

Zuko stood, moving to leave the area, but Sokka grabbed his arm and he stilled.

“What?”

“Can we talk for a minute?” Sokka hissed, not wanting Dr. Cullen or Suki to overhear him.

Zuko pulled his arm out of his grip, turning to stare at him, his jaw clenched. “Your family is waiting for you,” he said, whispering through his teeth.

“They can wait,” Sokka said, his voice more determined than he felt.

Zuko glared, teetered on the edge of anger, then turned, walking out of the ER. Sokka half sprinted after him – why was he so fast? – and as soon as they were in the hallway outside, out of the earshot of anyone, he spun around.

“What, Sokka?”

Zuko’s annoyance threw Sokka off for a moment, but he pushed on.

“You owe me an explanation.”

“I saved your life – I don’t owe you anything.”

“You promised,” Sokka said, resenting how hurt he sounded.

“Sokka, you hit your head. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” His eyes were narrowed in a way that made Sokka want to step back, but he didn’t.

Sokka stood up straighter, his temper flaring. “There’s nothing wrong with my head.”

Zuko looked frustrated, flinging his hands up to his hair dramatically. “What do you want from me, Sokka?”

“The truth, preferably,” Sokka said. “If I’m going to lie for you, I’d like to know why.”

Zuko scoffed. “What do you think happened?”

Sokka huffed. “I don’t know. What I do know is that you were nowhere near me – Suki didn’t see you either, so stop telling me that I hit my head too hard. The Jeep should’ve crushed me – should’ve crushed both of us – and it didn’t. I saw you stop it. With your hands. You left dents! And you’re not hurt, at all,” Sokka paused to examine Zuko, confirming his own words. Not a scratch.

Zuko was staring at him like he was insane, and though Sokka wouldn’t say it out loud, he felt insane, but there was a defensiveness in Zuko’s eyes, too.

“You think I stopped a car with my hands?” He asked, laughing, but not the way he had in Biology. This laugh was cruel.

But Sokka could see the tenseness in Zuko’s jaw, the way he wouldn’t meet his eyes, and felt more confident. “I know what I saw.”

“Well, no one’s going to believe you,” Zuko said, still looking anywhere but at Sokka.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” Sokka said, almost laughing, but stopping himself when Zuko looked momentarily surprised, glancing back at Sokka and hitting him with the full force of those eyes.

“Then – why does it matter?”

“It matters to me.”

Zuko sighed annoyedly, looking away again. “Can’t you just thank me and move on?”

“Thank you.” Sokka stared, waiting.

“You’re really not going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Well then, I hope you enjoy being disappointed.”

They stared at each other angrily for a moment and Sokka felt overwhelmed. Staring at Zuko was difficult. Even annoyed, specifically, annoyed at Sokka, he was gorgeous in a way that wasn’t fair. Sokka spoke first, if not just to give his brain something else to do.

“Why did you bother saving me?”

Zuko seemed taken aback by that, the anger dropping from his face, replaced by a completely unexpected vulnerability.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

And then, before Sokka could respond, Zuko had turned on his heel and walked away.

After Hakoda had given Sokka a long and slightly uncomfortable hug, then excusing himself to return to work, Katara had demanded answers which, he had at least tried to give her.

But he was being serious when he told Zuko that he wasn’t going to tell anyone the truth of whatever had happened, if he ever found out, so he omitted several details from his recollection to her. He focused on the fact that he hadn’t seen Zuko standing near him in the moments before the crash (true), that he had brought that up to Zuko at the hospital (also true), and that Zuko had gotten defensive and standoffish (again, true). Sokka left out that he had seen Zuko across the parking lot and, well, the whole denting Suki’s Jeep thing.

Luckily for Sokka, the perceived rudeness was enough for Katara to decide that actually, she hated Zuko Cullen, and was perfectly willing to fight him, verbally or physically, if Sokka so requested. Sokka had expressed his gratefulness for that, though he assured her that a fight would probably not be necessary. He wasn’t sure how Zuko had stopped the Jeep – though, he did have theories – but he had reason enough to believe that Katara wouldn’t win that fight.

Sokka resolved though, that despite his annoyance at Zuko’s behavior in the hospital, he wanted answers. So, when he arrived at Biology on Tuesday, Sokka sat down next to him and said, with a smile, “Hey, Zuko.”

Zuko looked up for a moment, frowned, and then looked back down at the table. His jaw looked tight.

“Zuko?”

Silence.

“You’re giving me the silent treatment? Seriously?”

Still nothing.

“Fine,” Sokka huffed. “Whatever.”

It wasn’t whatever – in fact, Sokka was livid and contemplating asking Katara if he could take her up on her offer or, if he should attempt to fight Zuko himself. At that moment, though, Mr. Banner called the class to attention, beginning a lecture that allowed for no side chatter, and forcing Sokka to merely seethe in silence for the rest of the class. From a few glances at Zuko throughout the period, Sokka could tell that he was angry too.

Well, fine. Yesterday had been a fluke for Zuko, apparently, after a lifetime of having a bad attitude. Sokka would move on, then.

On Wednesday, content in his plan to accept that Zuko had decided to hate him again, Sokka walked into class, laughing with Yue.

“You have to stop encouraging her,” Yue was saying, shaking her head. “She refuses to ice her nose because you all keep telling her she ‘looks badass.’” Yue added sarcastic air quotes at the end of her sentence.

“Well, she does,” Sokka argued, sitting on the end of the table and deliberately ignoring the person already in the seat closest to the window, his attention entirely on Yue as he swung his legs into hers affectionately.

“Well, I’d love to be able to kiss my girlfriend without hurting her, so could you tell her that taking care of herself is badass, too?” Yue asked, hand on her hip, the seriousness of her tone not meeting her amused eyes.

“I would, but I don’t want to lie to her,” Sokka said, sighing melodramatically then adding, “I wish I had a massive, sick-looking bruise.”

There was a snort to Sokka’s left, and he flipped around before he could remember that he was supposed to be ignoring him.

“I’ll…see you after class,” Yue said, excusing herself to her own table before Sokka could regain his senses and ask her to stay.

Ugh. Fine.

Sokka slid off the table, sitting down in his chair and turning to Zuko, his eyes cold. “So. Are you acknowledging that I exist again?”

Zuko considered that. “Kind of?”

Sokka wondered if he could punch Zuko and if, in front of an entire classroom, Zuko would restrain whatever superhuman strength he seemed to have to allow Sokka to have that satisfaction. Probably, right?

Instead, Sokka took a deep breath and asked, pushing as much of his annoyance into his tone as possible, “Then what do you want, Zuko?”

Zuko looked suddenly very serious and – conflicted? “I’m sorry. I know that I’m being rude, but I swear, it’s better this way. For both of us.”

“Well, that doesn’t make any fucking sense,” Sokka answered.

“It’s…better if we aren’t friends.” His face was unreadable. “Trust me.”

Sokka looked down, but snapped “Well, you should’ve figured that out two days ago.”

“What are you talking about?” Zuko asked, and Sokka could hear confusion in his tone.

In an attempt to mimic Zuko, Sokka fixed him with a hard gaze. He wasn’t sure if his eyes could blaze like Zuko’s did, but the look of panic on his face in response confirmed that it was at least sort of working. “You should’ve just let the Jeep hit me. Then you wouldn’t be all worked up about whether or not you should talk to me.”

Zuko was stunned silent. After a few minutes, Sokka wondered if he’d gone into shock. Good. Serves him right.

Eventually though, he did speak, and he sounded angry when he did. “You think… I regret saving you?”

“It sure seems that way.”

“Well, you’re wrong.”  

They glared at each other for a few more seconds then looked down, almost in sync. They sat in silent anger for the rest of the class, just as they had the day previously, but Sokka’s mind was spinning. What on earth was Zuko talking about? And how was he going to figure it out?

At lunch on Thursday, Aang could barely contain his excitement. He had finally convinced all of them, even Sokka, though that had taken a lot of pleading from Katara, to go to the beach that Saturday. Aang was animatedly going over the plan for the day for what felt like the sixteenth time to Sokka, but Katara assured him was only the third, when they sat down with their lunch trays.

“Hey, Sokka, Katara! So, I’ll be at your house around ten, is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” Katara answered, her hand wrapped tightly around Sokka’s wrist, as though she could squeeze the sarcastic remark that he’d had planned out of him.

Sokka groaned but said nothing, starting on his French fries and letting his eyes drift to the Cullen table. There were only three people seated there – and none of them were Zuko.

“Zuko Cullen is staring at you again,” Suki said, causing Sokka to look at her in confusion.

“What?”

“Look, over there.”

She pointed her finger and Sokka’s eyes followed it to a table far from the Cullens’ usual one.

Zuko was sitting, alone, an annoyingly attractive smile on his face, staring at Sokka. When he realized that he’d caught Sokka’s eye, he waved, then motioned with one finger, inviting him over. Sokka stared back skeptically, not moving.

“Looks like he wants you to join him,” Suki said, raising her hand to stifle a laugh, then groaning as she pushed too hard on her face.

“Suki,” Yue sighed, pulling Suki’s hand away from her nose and asking Aang if he could go ask the lunch lady for some extra ice, but Sokka barely heard them, hyperaware of Katara’s sudden grip on his arm.

“What?”

“You shouldn’t go over there,” Katara said, shooting a glare in Zuko’s general direction.

“Who said I was going to?”

“Your face did.”

Sokka looked back over at Zuko – who winked.

“I’ll be back.”

“Sokka, don’t –” Katara half-yelled after him, but he tugged out of her grip.

When Sokka reached the table, he sat down and, without preamble, asked, “What do you want now, Zuko?”

Zuko, to his credit, only looked slightly put off at that, maintaining his smile as he answered, “I wanted to apologize. I was rude yesterday.”

“You said that yesterday,” Sokka pointed out, “And managed to push on with being rude, anyway.”

“I know,” Zuko agreed, “And I realized that was a mistake.”

Sokka stared at him incredulously. “I can’t figure you out. I thought you didn’t want to be friends?” He tried to ignore how weird – and wrong – the word “friend” sounded coming out of his mouth in reference to Zuko.

Zuko, with a glint in his eyes, said, “I only said that it would be better if we weren’t friends –” he lingered over the word too – “not that I didn’t want to be.”

Sokka leaned back in his seat and snorted. “Well, that clears it all up. Thanks.”

Zuko bit his lip, mulling over his words. “It would be more prudent, for you, if you weren’t my friend. But I’ve decided I’m tired of trying to stay away from you, so. Friends?”

Sokka, despite the heat he felt in his cheeks, managed to keep a straight face as he responded, “I have two conditions.”

Zuko nodded, waiting.

“If you’re going to decide to hate me again, can you let me know first?” Zuko laughed and Sokka felt annoyance surge up in him. “I’m not kidding.”

“I know you’re not, but that isn’t something you have to worry about. I told you, I’m done staying away from you. It didn’t work so; I’m going to do what I want now.”

Sokka nodded, careful to keep his face clear of an emotional reaction to any of that – confusion at the huge gaps in Zuko’s story, annoyance at the lack of proper explanation, pleasure at the fact that, apparently, Zuko couldn’t stay away from him.

“What’s the second condition?” Zuko asked, looking past Sokka with an amused look on his face. “I don’t want to keep you – your sister doesn’t look pleased with me.”

“Ignore her,” Sokka said, “She just hates you.”

“Ah,” Zuko said, not pressing further.

"So, second condition,” Sokka continued, after a pause. “You let me run some theories by you.”

Zuko’s eyebrow, on the unscarred side of his face, quirked. “Theories?”

“On what you are.”

“Oh – that.” Zuko had a crooked grin on his face that made Sokka want to melt into a puddle. “Go ahead, let’s hear them.”

Sokka felt himself flush slightly, stopping himself from straight up saying Peter Parker and saying instead, “Radioactive spider?”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Come on, you’re more creative than that.”

“Radioactive…waste?”

Zuko was laughing now. “It’s nothing radioactive.”

Sokka put his index finger and thumb under his chin, pondering Zuko. It gave him a good excuse to let his eyes rake over him, acting as though he was trying to figure it out just by looking at him. Sokka let himself take in Zuko’s delicately messy hair, his eyes a slightly darker gold than they’d been on Monday, (another thing to come back to), the reddish scar that spanned the left side of his face, creeping underneath his hair, further up than Sokka could see. It was the only part of him that seemed imperfect, though it didn’t take away from his indescribable gorgeousness. At all. But it did give Sokka an idea.

“Magical fire?”

The cocky grin Zuko had kept on his face as Sokka surveyed him dropped – he wasn’t expecting that one. “What?”

Sokka felt his stomach twist and was certain that he’d crossed a line but pushed on, saying, “Your scar – it looks like a burn. So, I thought…something to do with fire?”

“It has nothing to do with fire.” Zuko had composed himself, and his face was unreadable, but Sokka couldn’t miss the tightness in his jaw.

“Well,” Sokka said, daring to be sarcastic again, “I’ll figure it out eventually.”

Zuko’s mouth twitched slightly, but he said in a serious tone, “I wish you wouldn’t try.”

“Why not?”

“Have you considered that maybe I’m not a superhero? That maybe…I’m the bad guy?”

He was still smiling, but Sokka could hear the warning in his words. A chill ran down his spine. He had considered that. But –

“I don’t believe you’re bad.”

Zuko raised his eyebrow and Sokka clarified.

“Annoying, definitely. Rude, absolutely. But not bad.”

Sokka waited for Zuko to say something, but he just stared at his hands, fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket.

“You’re going to be late to class,” he said finally, when the silence became uncomfortable.

“So are you,” Sokka pointed out, but Zuko shook his head.

“I’m not going to class today.”

“Why not?”

Zuko shrugged, not quite meeting Sokka’s eyes. “It’s healthy to ditch every now and then.”

“Well, I’m going,” Sokka said, standing and looking over his shoulder. Katara was, and probably had been the entire time, staring at the two of them, her annoyance tangible from across the room.

“See you later.” He was looking down again, not so stiff as he had been that first day, but clearly uncomfortable.

Still, it was the first bell, announcing the end of lunch, that actually got Sokka to move, rushing back to an irritated Katara, who he promised he would explain everything to later.

They were running late, so Yue didn’t have time to interrogate him about his conversation with Zuko, for which he was grateful. Sokka slid into his seat, looking curiously at Mr. Banner, who was passing out cardboard boxes to each desk.

“The Red Cross is having a blood drive next weekend, in Port Angeles,” he explained as they peeked in confusion into the boxes, trying to understand the contents, “so, I thought you all would want to know your blood types.”

Oh, god.

Sokka wasn’t afraid of blood, on a logical level, but his body had an adverse reaction to it that was completely out of his control. There was a yelp to his right as one of his classmates pricked their fingers – he looked before he could stop himself, and felt his forehead go clammy.

Sokka was laying his head against the cold table, taking deep breaths, when he heard footsteps behind him. A warm hand pressed on his shoulder and then – “Sokka, are you okay?”

It was Yue. Sokka turned his head away from the window, keeping a cheek to the table, and saw her concerned face looming over him. “I already know my blood type. A negative.”

Mr. Banner noticed then, rushing over and bending down. “Are you feeling faint, Mr. Swan?”

Sokka felt too dizzy to be sarcastic and merely nodded.

“Yue, can you take him to the nurse?”

Sokka didn’t hear her respond but felt her slide her hand from his shoulder down to his arm. “I can walk,” he said unconvincingly. He put his other hand on top of Yue’s and pushed himself up, letting her wrap an arm around his waist. Sokka leaned heavily into her side as they left the classroom, Yue guiding them to the nurse’s office.

Embarrassingly, they didn’t make it very far.

“Yue, hold on, let me sit,” Sokka groaned, letting his body sink onto the sidewalk with her help. She sat next to him, moving her arm to rest on top of his shoulders.

“I can go get the nurse –” Yue started, but Sokka stopped her.

“Don’t leave me by myself, I’m pretty sure I’ll faint.”

“Sokka?” A different, painfully familiar voice shouted from far away.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What happened? Is he hurt?” Zuko’s voice was closer now, and he sounded worried. Sokka pulled his knees up to his chest, dropping his head.

“He fainted, I think,” Yue explained. “We were blood typing in class.” He had not fainted. But he felt too nauseous to try to argue.

“Sokka, are you okay?” Zuko’s voice was right next to him now, and though Sokka wasn’t looking, he could tell that Zuko was sitting on the sidewalk too.

“Go away.”

Zuko laughed at that, clearly over whatever worry he’d had.

“We were on our way to the nurse,” Yue supplied, “But we got a bit stuck here.”

“I’ll take him,” Zuko said, and before Yue could respond or Sokka could process his words, the sidewalk disappeared from underneath him. Sokka’s eyes opened instantly in shock – Zuko had picked him up and was carrying him like he weighed nothing.

Ignoring the flush that he was certain had spread from his face to his toes, Sokka exclaimed, “Put me down! Yue?!”

“I’ll see you later, Sokka, feel better!” He heard Yue respond, amusement clear in her voice, though he couldn’t see her. He felt Zuko’s chest shaking with laughter too.

Sokka allowed himself to look up, and Zuko was grinning. “You look terrible.”

“Put me down,” Sokka repeated, closing his eyes again.

Zuko ignored him and asked, “So, you faint at the sight of the blood?” It was clearly an entertaining thought to him.

Sokka didn’t respond, squeezing his eyes more tightly shut.

Sokka knew that they’d made it to the nurse’s office when warm air indicated that they were once again inside. He kept his eyes closed against the conversation between Zuko and the nurse, which was mostly at his expense. He felt himself laid gently on the bed.

“Just lie down for a few minutes, it’ll pass.” The nurse said. Zuko snorted quietly.

“I know.”

“I’ll come back in and check on you in a bit,” she said.

Sokka heard the door close behind her, then, another laugh from Zuko.

“I should’ve skipped,” is what comes out of Sokka’s mouth, once he’s calmed his breathing enough to do so. “How did you see us, anyways? I thought you were gone.”

“I was in my car, on my phone,” Zuko answered.

“Oh,” Sokka said. The response was so normal, it was slightly unnerving.

The nurse came back then, with a cold compress, helping Sokka sit up and press it to his head. He opened his eyes, finally, and saw Zuko leaning against the wall, smirking.

“I really think I’m fine now,” Sokka said, dropping the compress into his lap. His breathing did feel steadier, and the walls weren’t spinning anymore.

“Okay,” the nurse started to say, but the receptionist opened the door then, saying:

“We’ve got another one.”

“Sokka, you should go,” Zuko said suddenly.

Sokka gave him a confused look.

“Seriously – go.”

At that moment, Sokka saw Yue, supporting another student from their class with an exasperated look on her face, through the open door. He took a breath in and – yep. He needed to get out of there. He sped past them, Zuko right behind him, a hand over his nose.

“You listened to me.” Zuko sounded shocked.

“I smelled the blood,” Sokka explained, slowly lowering his hand from his face, breathing in the fresh air.

Zuko scoffed. “People can’t smell blood.”

Sokka looked at him, subconsciously noting how strange that was to say, but arguing, “Well, I can. That’s part of what makes me sick.”

Yue came back out then, glancing at the two of them with a smirk but saying nothing, heading back to class. Sokka pulled his phone out of his pocket – the class period wouldn’t be over for another twenty minutes.

“So,” Sokka started, looking up at Zuko, who was already watching him curiously. “Are you doing anything on Saturday?”

Zuko looked surprised. “What?”

“We’re friends now,” Sokka said, “And we’re all going to the beach Saturday, so I thought, you know, you might want to come.”

“I’m going camping with Toph on Saturday, at Goat Rocks,” Zuko said quickly, “Already planned.”

Hakoda had mentioned that the Cullens went camping all the time, so Sokka wasn’t thrown by this.

“Okay. What about tomorrow night? We could…watch a movie?”

Zuko’s face was inscrutable, not meeting Sokka’s eyes as he said, “I don’t know.”

“Look, friends hang out with each other. That’s part of it. So, unless you’ve decided to back out of the friends thing…”

Zuko contemplated that, then looked up, the full effect of his golden-brown eyes hitting Sokka at once. It was really annoying when he did that. “Okay – but only if your sister is there too.”

“Uh – what?”

“Your sister. Katara,” Zuko repeated patiently, as though Sokka needed reminding.

“You heard me say that she hates you, right?” Sokka questioned. He was too confused by this condition to be dejected by the fact that Zuko apparently didn’t want to spend time with him alone.

“Well, then let’s make her not hate me.”

Sokka was still confused but nodded. “Okay. Mission Make Katara Let Go of a Grudge. This is going to be a lot harder than you think it will be.”

Zuko smiled that bright, beautiful smile and Sokka felt his knees go weak again, for reasons that had nothing to do with the smell of blood. “I’m up for a challenge.”

Chapter Text

Sokka exhaled, letting his hair fall around his face for the third time, putting his hair tie back on his wrist. Hair down was definitely the right move. He grinned at himself in the mirror, giving himself weak finger guns, and heard a snort from the bathroom door.

“Your hair looks cute.”

“Katara!”

“Sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all, “But you’ve been in here for ages. And you left the door open.”

“What do you need the bathroom for?” Sokka snapped.

“To get ready? For our group hang with Zuko? Unless you lied, and you just said that so dad wouldn’t change his shift, and it is a date –”

“It’s not a date,” Sokka muttered, pushing past her, turning to glare at her before going back to his room, “Do not call it that while he’s here.”

Sokka could hear Katara laughing, even after he’d slammed his door shut. He flopped down face first onto his bed. She’d been teasing him since yesterday, first about his reaction to the blood typing class, then his invitation to Zuko, then Zuko’s insistence that she be there as well, which she found particularly hilarious after Sokka explained that Zuko knew she hated him.

      “I don’t hate him,” she’d argued, “I just don’t trust him, at all. And I think he seems like a dick.”

      “Katara –”

      “I’ll give him a chance to prove me wrong, though. Maybe.”

None of that teasing was as bad as the conversation they’d had with Hakoda earlier that evening, when he found out that it was Zuko Cullen coming over, and not one of their other friends.

      “Zuko Cullen?” He had questioned, looking between Katara and Sokka in confusion. “I didn’t know you were friends with any of the Cullens.”

      “He’s a new friend,” Katara had responded, a smirk on her face.

      Hakoda had looked puzzled, then said, “I thought you were interested in that Aang kid.”

      “I am,” Katara had corrected quickly, giving Sokka a significant glance.

      Sokka had nearly melted into the floor when Hakoda said, “Oh. Well, Sokka, you know, Washington legalized gay marriage last year, and you know, I always –”

Sokka wasn’t entirely sure where the conversation had gone after that, because he had run out of the room. But apparently, Katara had convinced Hakoda that he didn’t need to be there because she would chaperone the entire thing, and Hakoda had left for his shift.

Sokka rolled over, grabbing his phone off of his side table. 7:50 P.M.

Zuko was supposed to get there at eight o’clock, and Sokka had a feeling that he was the type to be exactly on time. He hopped up, smoothing his shirt – long-sleeved, dark blue – and took another deep breath. Katara was right. It wasn’t a date.

If anything, tonight was a great opportunity for Sokka to understand more about Zuko outside of a school setting, and to gather more information for the pages in his notebook that were dedicated to his theories about Zuko and his family.

Sokka had decided that it, whatever it was, was definitely a family wide thing, even though he’d only seen the super strength and speed from Zuko. The matching eye colors, dark shadows, standoffish behavior, and, well – hotness – were too weird of shared traits to be a coincidence, especially considering the only two of them that were supposedly related, Mai and Haru, looked the least alike. The cold skin, though he’d only experienced it with Zuko and Dr. Cullen, was something Sokka assumed was shared by the other three as well. As of that moment, he was at a dead end as to how all of those things connected, but he was certain Zuko would do something weird that night that would push him closer to figuring it out.

Sokka was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs; he glanced at his phone again.

8:00 P.M. on the dot. Of course.

“I’ll get it!” he heard Katara call, and Sokka flung his door open, pushing past her in the landing. That was not happening.

Katara chased after him, but Sokka made it to the door first, stopping and taking a deep breath before opening it. He turned around to check that Katara wasn’t lingering behind him – she wasn’t. He could hear her in the kitchen, prepping snacks. Sokka gave his hair one last casual tousle, then opened the front door with a smile that he hoped didn’t look manic.

Zuko was standing back from the door, the porch light illuminating his pale features and his eyes – closer to brown than gold at this point. His hair was as disheveled as ever, falling over his eyes. He was wearing an oversized black sweater and black jeans, his arms crossed over his chest, as though he didn’t know what to do with them. When he caught sight of Sokka, he grinned, dropping his arms and shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Hi,” Sokka said, holding the door open and waving Zuko inside.

“Hi.” Zuko squeezed past him in the small doorway, too small for them to not touch in the process. Sokka felt the swooping in his stomach that he’d come to associate with proximity to Zuko.

Zuko was looking at the pictures in the front hallway, a slight smile on his lips. Sokka resisted the urge to pull his baby photos off the walls.

Zuko turned away from a picture of Sokka and baby Katara at the beach suddenly, saying, “Your sister’s here.” Another one of his not-a-question questions.

“Uh, yeah. In the kitchen?”

Zuko nodded, Katara appearing in the doorway to the kitchen as though he’d summoned her.

“Are you two ready?” She was balancing a large bowl of popcorn and her metal water bottle in her arms, an annoyed look on her face, though Sokka was comforted by the fact that it seemed to be pointed at both of them, not just Zuko.

“Yeah,” Sokka said, “Let me grab a drink.”

Sokka ducked into the kitchen as Zuko followed Katara, shooting Zuko a smile that was meant to say, sorry about her. Zuko shrugged in response, disappearing into the living room. He took a deep breath, poured glasses of water for Zuko and himself, then entered the living room, forcing a grin onto his face.

“So, what awful, girly movie did you pick for us, Katara?” That had been one of her conditions for agreeing to hang out with Zuko – total power of film selection.

Katara glared up at him from her place on the far-left cushion of the couch, as far from Zuko, who was leaning on the right arm, as possible. “Pride and Prejudice.”

“Ugh, really?” Sokka groaned, still standing.

“I love that movie,” Zuko said, eyes lighting up.

Katara’s glare faltered into a smirk for a moment, but she quickly caught herself.

“Of course you do, it’s a perfect movie,” she said, not looking at Zuko. “Sit down, Sokka, so I can start it.”

Sokka handed Zuko one of the glasses of water, dropping down on to the couch between him and Katara.

“I’m not thirsty,” Zuko whispered, setting the glass down on the table next to him as Katara pressed play, a grassy moor appearing on the TV screen.

“Still, you might need it eventually,” Sokka whispered back, placing his own cup on the floor in front of him. “It’s a long movie.” Sokka added, sighing dramatically, rolling his eyes in Katara’s general direction. If she noticed, she ignored it.

“I like the movie, Sokka,” Zuko said, and out of the corner of his eye Sokka could see that he was grinning. On screen, the morning sun painted the grassy moor golden as the words Pride and Prejudice appeared across the screen, and Sokka couldn’t stop himself from thinking how much the colors reminded him of Zuko’s eyes.

Thank god Zuko couldn’t read minds.

“Well, you’re welcome, anyway,” Sokka said. Zuko snorted in response.

“Thanks.”

“Shh!” Katara hissed, elbowing Sokka in the side and glaring at Zuko. Keira Knightley hadn’t done anything besides read a book and walk over a bridge yet, but the look on Katara’s face made it clear that they’d been talking over something incredibly important.

“Sorry, Katara,” Zuko whispered, a slight smile still playing on his lips. She ignored him, turning back to the TV.

Sokka grabbed the popcorn bowl from Katara’s lap, then glanced away from the screen to look at Zuko, who was intently watching the movie. Sokka, unsurprisingly, found himself more riveted by the boy next to him than the hyperactive family on screen. Despite the small smile, Zuko looked awkward – he was sitting completely straight, his hands folded in his lap. Zuko was so stiff he was almost statuesque, and the fact that his jawline was sharp, his cheekbones high and well-defined – well. That certainly didn’t hurt the comparison.

Sokka bent down to grab his water, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry. He tried to focus on the movie, but struggled to pay attention to the quick dialogue, hyperaware of Zuko’s presence, only a few inches to his right. It was incredibly difficult for Sokka to concentrate on several Bennet sisters and various other characters when he was exerting far too much energy stopping himself from staring at Zuko. He tried to let his mind theorize about Zuko’s rigid posture, and if that could have anything to do with the it that Sokka was trying to figure out, but he was coming up blank.

Zuko and Katara laughed in unison suddenly, startling Sokka, who nearly dropped his water, as Keira Knightley’s character said something snarky to a character that he was pretty sure was called Mr. Collins.

Sokka glanced between the two of them in surprise. Katara was looking at Zuko in shock – Zuko looked somewhere between astonishment and a smirk.

“Oh god,” Sokka said, “I’ve surrounded myself with English nerds, haven’t I?”

“Loving Jane Austen doesn’t make you a nerd,” Zuko said, eyeing Katara, who scowled back, saying nothing. To his credit, Zuko kept smiling.

“Whatever. Shut up, Sokka,” she said, elbowing him in the stomach for a second time.

“Ow. Unnecessary.”

Sokka felt movement to his right and turned his head to find Zuko shaking with silent laughter. Sokka opened his mouth, an annoyed retort ready, but Zuko lifted his finger to Sokka’s lips.

Or, as close to Sokka’s lips as he could without touching them.

Zuko said nothing, merely tilting his head towards Katara, then shaking it. Sokka was fairly sure, though, that even if Zuko had spoken, he wouldn’t have heard it over his own thundering heartbeat in his ears.

Zuko dropped his hand, to his side this time, smiling at Sokka’s silence before turning back to the movie.

Sokka’s eyes lingered on his lips for far too long, and when he dropped his eyes, it got worse. There was barely an inch between Zuko’s hand and his own, and the urge to reach out and intertwine their fingers was so strong that Sokka found himself holding his breath to fight it off. Unable to avoid the necessity of breathing, he plunged his hand into the popcorn bowl.

Katara gave him a sideways glance, her lips in a tight line. Sokka took a page out of her book and ignored her.

Sokka tried to focus on the movie again, but his thoughts – and eyes – kept wandering to Zuko. Not in a way that was helpful, of course.

He’d gathered absolutely no information about Zuko other than that he was awkward, and at this point, Sokka couldn’t really argue to himself that Zuko was the awkward one. No, Sokka’s brain was focusing on the soft way that Zuko’s skin gleamed in the dark room, illuminated by TV screen. On the way his lips, still slightly upturned as he watched the story unfold on screen, looked so damn soft that it made Sokka want to cry a little. On his hand, resting so close to Sokka’s thigh that he was sure it must be an offer. Or a trap.

It was the shock of cold that brought Sokka to his senses, that made him realize that reaching out to touch Zuko’s fingers was something he’d done in reality, not in his imagination.

“Sokka?”

Zuko was looking at him in surprise, any efforts he’d made toward relaxing into the couch abandoned, the tension in his body clear. He hadn’t pulled his hand away, though.

“Um,” Sokka said, grasping wildly for an explanation for his actions, “I was - do you want some popcorn? You haven’t had any.”

Zuko’s lips twitched. He pulled his hand back and said, “Thank you, I ate before I came.”

Sokka was slightly hurt by the removal of his hand, but Zuko didn’t looked annoyed. In fact, he had a playful glint in his eyes that Sokka couldn’t explain – what was so funny about popcorn? – but it reassured him that Zuko wasn’t mad about the contact.

“Oh. Okay.”

Katara’s third elbow to his stomach was the one that finally succeeded in shutting him up.

Later, after Sokka had admitted that fine, the movie was kind of good, and Katara had wandered up the stairs, after telling Sokka goodnight and giving Zuko a narrow-eyed glare, Sokka and Zuko were standing on the front porch.

Zuko had his hands in his pockets again, his back against the wooden post at the front of the porch, and Sokka was leaning against the front door (which was closed, in case any eavesdropping sisters were lurking on the stairs).

“Thanks for coming,” Sokka said, “Sorry about Katara. She’s just…I may have given her an abridged version of our fight in the E.R.”

Zuko looked curious. “How abridged?”

“Enough information to want to fight you, not enough to know that a physical fight likely wouldn’t go well for her.” Zuko laughed at that.

“Got it.”

“I’m sure she’ll warm up to you.”

“I think she has,” Zuko said, that playful look in his eyes again.

Sokka looked at him in disbelief. “Based on…?”

“I’m good at reading people, remember?”

“Except for me.”

“Except for you.”

They stared at each other, a smirk playing on Zuko’s lips, and god, those lips. Sokka wanted to kiss him. Badly.

But he wasn’t an idiot, and he knew that was far too much, far too soon.

This was not a date. You don’t kiss a boy at the end of a hangout. But –

Before he could stop himself, Sokka stepped forward and pulled Zuko into a hug, settling his arms around his waist.

He felt Zuko stiffen in surprise, but he didn’t pull away. After a few excruciatingly long seconds, Zuko lifted his arms, wrapping them around Sokka gently. So gently, it was like Zuko thought he would break. Sokka could feel, through his shirt, the coldness of Zuko’s hands, and it felt good. Soothing and exhilarating at the same time. Like submerging yourself completely in the cold ocean on a hot day.

Zuko was the one who pulled back, dropping his arms and taking Sokka’s hands in his delicately, pushing his arms back down to his sides. When he stepped back, his jaw was clenched, but he was smiling.

“Goodnight, Sokka.”

“Goodnight, Zuko.”

Sitting in the backseat of Aang’s minivan, Sokka was close to ripping his hair out. Suki and Yue, in the middle seats, were in similar emotional states. In the front seat, Katara had gotten control of the AUX cord again, much to Aang’s dismay. Over the speakers:

So, tell me, girl if every time we touch, you get this kind of rush –

“Katara, no one wants to listen to One Direction!”

“Shut up, Sokka!”

Katara turned the volume up and Sokka groaned, shooting Suki and Yue, who were turned around in their seats, apologetic looks. “Now you know what I have to deal with while I’m trying to study.”

“Sokka, I know we’ve only known you for like, two weeks, but I don’t believe that you study,” Suki said, Yue giggling in agreement.

Sokka didn’t dignify that with a response, so Yue asked, “How was your date with Zuko?”

Flushing, Sokka snapped, “It wasn’t a date. For one thing, Katara was there.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Suki said, leaning on the arm of her chair towards him, “But how was it.”

“It was good,” Sokka said quietly. Yue grinned and Suki laughed loudly. Katara turned up the music again.

Oh, I just wanna show you off to all of my friends –

“Katara, we’re trying to have conversations back here!”

Katara spun around in her seat to yell, and Aang took the opportunity to rip the AUX cord from her phone, plugging in his own, steering with his knees for a moment. There was silence, then –

Hey, Macklemore, can we go thrift shopping?

“Seriously, Aang?” Suki groaned and covered her ears as the What? What? What? What?s started.

“Macklemore is from Washington, we have to support him,” Aang yelled over the music.

Katara snatched the AUX cord away again before the first chorus was over, and they were back to One Direction, at a slightly quieter volume.

“So,” Suki continued, as though they had not been interrupted, “Why couldn’t Zuko come to the beach with us?”

“He was going camping with his sister Toph, at Goat Rocks,” Sokka said, reciting from memory.

Suki frowned at him. “Goat Rocks?”

“What about it?”

“Well,” Suki looked at Yue, who had a similarly confused look on her face, “That’s not really a safe camping area. Bear attacks and all that.”

“Huh,” Sokka said. “Maybe I misheard him.”

Sokka hadn’t misheard him though. He was sure of that.

He added “unafraid of fighting a bear” to his mental notes on Zuko Cullen.

Sokka, despite his attempts to get out of the trip, had to admit that the beach was beautiful. It was a rare, sunny day, and the dark grey water glistened, waves crashing every so often against the rocky shore. Aang led them down a circle of driftwood logs, practically skipping down the multicolored rocks.

Suki and Aang got to work trying to set up the fire, and Sokka sat down on one of the logs, inhaling deeply and enjoying the salty, ocean air, watching Katara and Yue wander towards the edge of the water. Despite the bright sun hanging overhead, it wasn’t exactly warm, and there was a cold breeze that made Sokka think of the night before, of Zuko’s arms around him, of the electric sparks he had felt at every point of contact –

“Sokka, do you want to go hiking to see the tidal pools?”

Aang was standing right in front of him, a huge grin on his face.

“Sure,” Sokka said, letting Aang grab his hand and pull him up off the log. The beach clearly wasn’t having the calming effect that Sokka had hoped for.

Aang and Sokka made their way quietly through the forest, the sun through the trees casting an eerie green light over their path. Letting himself focus on walking carefully around large tree roots and scattered rock formations cleared Sokka’s head, and by the time they reached the edge of the forest, the rocky shore and tidal river in view, he had managed to go a good fifteen minutes without thinking about Zuko.

“Do you think Katara likes me?”

Sokka looked to his left, where Aang was staring at him, eyes wide, as though the question had slipped out of his mouth without his permission. He must’ve been making a face, because Aang started to retract the statement.

“Not that – you don’t have to answer that – obviously, that would be a violation of her privacy, if she had told you anything, and it’s not that I like her, or, well, don’t say that. Actually, don’t bring this up at all, if you don’t mind, I definitely shouldn’t have –”

“Aang, I don’t care if you like Katara,” Sokka said, hopping down the rocks, towards the closest tidal pool. Hopefully giving Aang a moment to collect himself.

“Right.” Aang’s voice was still a few feet behind him. Sokka didn’t glance back but from the anxious tone of his voice, he could picture the look on Aang’s face.

“She hasn’t told me anything, but if I had to guess, I would say you’ve got a pretty good chance,” Sokka said, continuing down towards the pebbly shore, looking at the swirling seaweed in the tidal pools below him.

There was a pause, footsteps, and then Aang was wrapped around his side, hugging him tightly.

“Thanks, Sokka!”

“No problem,” Sokka said, pushing the younger boy off of him, “But don’t tell her I said anything.”

Aang mimed zipping his lips, then crouched down to peer into the tidal pool in front of them. The quiet lasted for about six seconds, then Aang spoke without looking up.

“So, you and Zuko Cullen? How did that go?”

“Just because you want to talk about your love life doesn’t mean I do,” Sokka snapped.

And then went red. Because he so had not meant to refer to whatever was going on with Zuko as his love life. Especially in front of Aang – who would definitely tell Katara. Fuck.

Aang just shrugged, standing back up with a smile. “Okay! I want to take some pictures, but do you want to head back after that?”

Sokka nodded and Aang bounded away from him, pulling out his phone as he went.

When they got back to the beach, the group that they’d left behind had multiplied. Yue and Suki were leaning into each other and laughing on one log, talking to a tall boy and short girl that Sokka didn’t recognize. Or – just the girl. The boy seemed to be silently listening, staring intently at the three of them. They both seemed younger, maybe Katara and Aang’s age or freshmen.

Katara, who had turned her head to wave at Aang, was sitting next to a tall, dark haired boy – he looked about Sokka’s age – with tan skin and a wide smirk. He looked familiar, but Sokka couldn’t figure out why.

As though he could hear Sokka’s thoughts, the boy looked up, his smirk turning to a grin.

“Sokka, get over here!”

Sokka felt himself being dragged over by Aang. He didn’t have to ask the boy’s name or question how he knew him, because Katara gave him a significant look, and said –

“Can you believe Jet and his friends decided to have a beach day today too?”

Oh.

This was the infamous Jet, former owner of their truck, apparent childhood friend. Sokka could see it, now, though he was sure that Jet looked drastically different than the last time they’d seen him. There was sense of warmth and familiarity in his smile that set Sokka immediately at ease.

“It’s great to see you,” Sokka said, sitting down next to him. To their left, Aang was excitedly telling Katara about the tidal pools, begging her to go back with him to see them.

“You totally didn’t recognize me, did you?”

Jet was still grinning, clearly teasing him.

“No,” Sokka admitted, “But I could tell I knew you, somehow.”

“Glad I’ve left an impression, if only a vague one.” Jet looked out at the rest of the group for a moment – Suki had procured a volleyball from somewhere, and was hitting it back and forth with the short girl – then asked, “So, are you liking Forks?”

And wasn’t that the question.

Sokka shrugged. “It gets more and more interesting by the day.”

Jet seemed intrigued by that, but was cut off when Aang leaned across Katara to say –

“You know, it’s really too bad Zuko couldn’t come.”

If he hadn’t been looking at Jet, Sokka wouldn’t have seen the spark of anger flash in his eyes.

But he was looking. And he did see it.

Jet said nothing, so Sokka responded, “Yeah, too bad,” going back and forth about Zuko’s camping trip until Suki pulled Aang up to join their volleyball game.

“Sokka, are you coming?”

“Maybe later.”

When she was gone, Katara following after being recruited in his place, Sokka turned to Jet. “So, what was that?”

“What?” Jet wasn’t meeting his eyes.

Fine. Sokka wasn’t against being blunt.

“You know Zuko?”

Jet scowled, staying silent.

“Okay, so you know him,” Sokka said, nodding, “Why don’t you like him?”

Jet looked at him then, his eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. “Why would I? Why would you? The Cullens are a bunch of bloodsuckers.”

Sokka stared at him, his mind blank. What?

“I – what?”

Jet laughed derisively, “Clearly you don’t know your friend as well as you think you do. That whole family – they’re parasites.”

Sokka could feel the wheels in his brain turning, working towards understanding, but nothing was coming up yet. So, he asked again –

“What are you talking about, Jet?”

Jet gave him an impatient look. “Do you seriously not know how rich they are?”

Oh.

Oh.

That kind of bloodsucker.

But –

“They’re fucking rich, Sokka, like, disgustingly, immorally rich,” Jet continued, taking Sokka’s silence for shock. Which it was, to an extent.

“I didn’t know,” Sokka said honestly, “You wouldn’t be able to tell, from how they act.”

“You shouldn’t be friends with him. Any of them,” Jet went on, “Everyone thinks the doctor’s such a saint because he chooses to live here when he could work anywhere – yeah? So what? They don’t do anything to help the people who are actually from here, they just stay in their forest mansion and hoard all the money they're saving from living here. And –”

Sokka wasn’t listening. His thoughts were moving too quickly, the word bloodsucker bouncing around in his head. There was no way. No way. But at the same time…

Sokka shook his head, looking at Jet, who was too deep into his rant about the Cullens being parasitic capitalist scum to have noticed that Sokka was having a minor breakdown right next to him. He needed to go home. He needed his laptop. He needed his notebook.

He needed to prove that the insane theory – because it was insane, right? – echoing in his head wasn’t the truth.

There was no way.

By the time they got home, Sokka was so anxious he had to stop himself from leaping out of Aang’s minivan, trying to force himself to be calm – or, more specifically, to not draw Katara’s attention.

At a completely normal speed, Sokka went inside, waved hello to Hakoda, let him know that they’d all gotten food on the way back, and calmly walked up the stairs. Mostly. He might’ve jumped the last few steps.

Finally in the safety of his room, Sokka grabbed his notebook from his desk, flipping to the page dedicated to his observations of Zuko and his family and sitting on the floor. He frowned down at his bullet pointed list, trying to find a pattern that didn’t lead to the word that had been repeating itself in his head for hours now.

• super speed/strength
  • suki’s jeep!!
• cold skin
  • (not just zuko, dr cullen too)
• dark shadows, eyes?
  • change colors based on mood
    • time of the month
    • ?????
• super hot. all of them.

His notes from the movie night didn’t add much.

• really awkward
• afraid of touch?
• doesn’t want popcorn/water.
  • who eats before coming to a movie night?
  • who refuses popcorn?

Sokka stared at the list, his mouth going dry as he read the last bullet point again. He glanced back at the rest of the list. Tried to steady his breathing. The pattern that he was desperately trying to avoid started to form on the page against his will.

DO YOU REMEMBER SUMMER ‘O9?

Sokka jumped, throwing his notebook across the room as Katara’s music blasted through the wall.

“KATARA!”

She either didn’t hear him or was choosing to ignore him.

Sokka sighed heavily, shaking his head and crawling across the floor to grab his notebook and his pen. He looked back down at the list, biting his lip and circling a few of the bullet points: super speed/strength, cold skin, and the one that made his breath catch. who refuses popcorn?

And really, it shouldn’t be that of all things, that’s sticking out to him, pulling the entire thing together. But it fits too well with the idea that Jet had inadvertently put in his head.

And then, in a manner that felt like a rock being dropped on his head, Sokka was hit with a memory that looked completely different in this new light.

“People can’t smell blood.”

Sokka had thought that it was a weird thing for Zuko to say, either way, but now, with the context he was pretty sure he had, it sent a chill down his spine.

He looked down at the list again, adding rich and bear fighting?? for good measure, but he paused before writing the word.

If he kept it in his head, he didn’t have to recognize it.

Didn’t have to send himself down the inevitable Wikipedia hole that he was almost certain would tie in the rest of his list.

Would confirm it.

But Sokka wasn’t ready to say it out loud yet, so he wrote it down, in all caps, his pen shaking in his hand.

VAMPIRE.

Chapter Text

Sokka woke up on Monday morning with a feeling in his chest hovering somewhere in between confidence and hysteria. He had spent most of Saturday night and far too many of the early hours of Sunday morning in a Wikipedia deep dive, matching his notes against the descriptions of vampires from North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe…and nearly everything fit. Stories of cold-skinned, unnaturally strong and fast, alluringly beautiful specters spanned across continents; all of the stories far too similar to Sokka’s own observations.

Sokka finally fell asleep, somewhere around three in the morning, waking only twice to sudden sleep-deprived realizations. First –

Oh my god, does Zuko eat bears?

Then –

Katara has started feuds with two different vampires.

By Sunday evening, Sokka was about 90% sure that he was right. The only one of his bullet points that he’d been unable to find in any of the myths, (other than the ones based around Zuko’s awkward personality, which Sokka knew he couldn’t exactly attribute to vampirism), was the ever-changing eye colors all of the Cullens seemed to possess. Everything he read had said the same thing – terrifying red eyes. Sokka had felt a chill down his spine when he’d tried to imagine Zuko with eyes like the stories were describing – deep scarlet and hungry. It didn’t seem right. Sokka brushed this one discrepancy aside – everything else fit too well for him to be wrong.

So, as he got dressed that Monday morning, sun illuminating his bedroom, Sokka tried to steel himself for a confrontation. Not that he thought Biology class, of all places, was the most practical location to accuse someone of being an immortal, deadly creature of the night. But Sokka knew his own tendency to speak before thinking and wasn’t certain that he could stop himself from blurting something out that would clue Zuko in on what he was almost entirely sure he knew.

There was also the fact that Sokka wasn’t clear yet on how he felt about his discovery. Sokka had spent a lot of time thinking about the way Zuko stiffened at his touch, how he always seemed to be holding him at arm’s length. He remembered Zuko’s insinuation that he was dangerous, that it would be more prudent for them to not be friends. Sokka supposed that maybe, if it was true, if the Cullens were vampires, he could take Zuko’s advice and stay away from him.

If Sokka was completely honest with himself, that wasn’t an option.

And Sokka wasn’t afraid of Zuko. He’d done nothing yet to make him compare to the mythical vampires on Wikipedia that viewed humans – and god, Sokka was still getting used to categorizing Zuko and humans as separate things – as nothing more than a food source. If it weren’t for Zuko, Sokka would have been crushed by Suki’s Jeep. How dangerous could Zuko be, if he was someone who saved the life of a person he barely knew? Sokka resolved that if the Cullens were vampires, they were different than the kind he had spent the weekend reading about. He wasn’t sure how, but he was going to find out exactly what kind they were.

But in the cafeteria that day, the Cullens weren’t there. Their table sat empty, and Sokka tried his best to not let the disappointment show on his face. It was midway through Biology, as Sokka tried to focus on the lecture and found his eyes drifting from his notes to the window, annoyed by the bright sun shining in, wishing silently to himself that he had sunglasses with him, that it hit him.

It was sunny.

The sun was out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the Cullens weren’t at school.

Sokka was 99% sure that he was right.

So, on Tuesday, when he stepped outside to dark grey clouds and a light drizzle, Sokka couldn’t stop himself from whooping.

Katara looked over at him in confusion, her hands frozen over the braid that she was working on. “Uh, are you good?”

Sokka gaped at her, scrambling to come up with a response that justified him – known rain hater – being excited about the weather.

“Um, we were supposed to switch to lacrosse today for gym, but coach said if it was raining, we could keep going with volleyball. So – rain good.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “Oookay. Rain good.”

She walked past him to stand by the passenger door of the truck, tapping her foot impatiently to show that she was waiting for him to unlock it.

Which made Sokka realize that he hadn’t moved from the porch. He jogged over to the truck, unlocking it and hopping in, shooting a glance at Katara as she sat down. She was braiding her hair again, seemingly uninterested in whatever was making Sokka act strangely. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t afford for Katara to notice that something was off.

It wasn’t that Sokka didn’t want to tell her – if anything, there was nothing more that he wanted than to bounce his theories off of her, to confide in her, to get some confirmation that he wasn’t blowing the entire thing out of proportion. But, if he was right, then Sokka would be revealing Zuko’s secret, which he had said he wouldn’t do. And if he was wrong – well, Katara would never let him live it down.

So, he chatted with Katara about how Yue and Suki were going to Port Angeles on Friday night to check out a record store and had invited them to come along – Katara having said yes before consulting Sokka because, there’s a really good bookstore there, she’d heard.

“Is Aang going?” Sokka asked, compelling himself to seem engaged in the conversation.

“No,” Katara said with a frown, “He’s got detention for the stunt he pulled last week, with the frogs.”

“Oh yeah,” Sokka said, grinning at the memory of Aang’s anti dissection protest, which featured him holding several live frogs and sitting in front of the Biology lab, refusing to let anyone enter until the lesson was removed from the curriculum. “Your boyfriend is such an activist.”

“You didn’t have to tell him that’s what you were doing in Biology,” Katara growled, “And he’s not my boyfriend.” Sokka could tell from a quick peek at her expression that the only thing holding her back from smacking him was the fact that he was driving.

Sokka nodded, deciding not to push her further and allowing her to stew in her anger as they pulled into the parking lot.

“How’s your boyfriend?”

She was smirking at him. So much for stewing in anger.

“Not my boyfriend,” Sokka deadpanned as he turned off the car, jumping out and closing the door before Katara could respond.

“Well, tell your not boyfriend hi from me when you see him,” she said, elbowing him as they walked towards the academic building.

“Same to you,” Sokka responded, elbowing her back.

Zuko didn’t try to call him over to sit with him at lunch (though Sokka did catch him glancing at him multiple times throughout the period), so when Sokka and Yue entered the Biology classroom that day, Sokka could feel anxiety sitting heavily in his chest. He needed to make sure he didn’t say anything obvious – he needed to focus. As much as he wanted to have that conversation, Sokka knew that this wasn’t the most prudent location to have it out.

He waved goodbye to Yue and sat down next to Zuko, who was already seated, his notebook in front of him, his shaggy hair hanging down in his face.

“Hey.”

Zuko looked up at Sokka, grinning at him, and Sokka found himself examining his smile, looking for fangs. There weren’t any – as far as he could see. Though, he supposed, they could be retractable, after all, it wouldn’t be sensible for blending into human society if their fangs were just out in the open at all times –

“Uh, Sokka?”

Zuko’s grin had faded, replaced with confusion and a tinge of worry.

Sokka flushed.

“Shit – sorry. I zoned out for a second.”

Zuko’s smile returned as he said, “No worries. So, how was the beach?”

“Cold,” Sokka said, “How was camping? See any bears?”

Zuko gave him a bewildered look.

“Bears?”

Sokka’s mind flailed around for a response, silently cursing himself for not being able to make it two sentences into a conversation with Zuko without accidentally bringing it up.

“Um, yeah, Suki and Yue said the place you went has a lot of bears?”

There. Put it on him.

“Oh,” Zuko said, “No, we didn’t. Maybe they were thinking of somewhere else?”

And Sokka, who knew very little about the geography of Washington State, and had already embarrassed himself enough, couldn’t really argue with that. Before he could attempt to come up with a witty reply, Mr. Banner entered the classroom following an old television on wheels, announcing that they’d be watching a movie today and that he would be paying close attention to anyone passing notes or texting.

Perfect. An hour of silence next to Zuko. That was exactly what Sokka needed. Ample time to stare at him out of the corner of his eye with no opportunity to say something incredibly stupid.

As the lights were dimmed, and the last strains of chatting turned to whispers, Sokka chanced what he knew would be the first of many glances at Zuko throughout the period.

He was smiling still, though it was tainted by what looked like disappointment. “I thought we were dissecting frogs today?”

“I guess Aang’s protest worked,” Sokka said, shrugging.

“Sokka, Zuko – quiet!”

Mr. Banner was glaring at them from the front of the room. They fell silent, Zuko shooting Sokka another grin before turning his head to face the front, idly turning a pencil between his fingers.

Sokka found himself unable to tear his gaze from Zuko’s hands, half in the moment and half pressed down in the icy parking lot, watching those same pale hands dent the side of Suki’s Jeep. Sokka glanced up, the amber color of Zuko’s eyes just barely visible through his hair, a slight smile still playing on his lips.

And when the bell rang, and Zuko brushed his hand against Sokka’s as he stood to leave, sending electric sparks up his arm, Sokka felt that it was really a blessing in disguise that he hadn’t been allowed to speak out loud for an hour.

“So who is it that’s driving?”

Hakoda was frowning at Katara and Sokka in the living room on Friday afternoon, because Katara had failed to mention their plans to go to Port Angeles that evening (I thought you told him, Sokka!) until five minutes previously.

“Yue,” Katara repeated for the second time, “She’s a safe driver, Dad, trust me.”

“Which one was the one that almost killed Sokka?”

“That would be Suki,” Sokka supplied.

“Didn’t you say she’s going?” Hakoda questioned, and Katara sighed heavily.

“Yes, because she and Yue are dating, but Suki’s not driving. Yue is.”

“Because Suki’s car is totaled,” Sokka added, earning himself a glare from Katara that said, do you want to go or not?

Sokka shrugged in response. Not really.

“Anyways,” Katara pushed on, turning her attention back to Hakoda, “Yue is a very safe driver, no accidents on her record, and she’s the vice president of student government so you know, responsible, and we’ll be back by midnight –”

“You’ll be back by eleven,” Hakoda corrected.

Katara turned on her best puppy dog eyes.

“Eleven-thirty?”

Hakoda looked between the two of them – Katara with her lip stuck out in a pout, Sokka trying his best not to laugh – and sighed.

“Fine. But not a minute later than that. And text me when you get there, and when you leave.”

Katara was right – Yue was an incredibly safe driver. So safe that Suki spent most of the hour-long drive urging her to speed up. Yue’s response to this was to turn up her music, Lana Del Rey drowning out any of Suki’s complaints. Sokka found himself tuned out of the conversation, watching the trees go by, Yue’s smooth driving lulling him into a calmness he hadn’t felt over the last several days. He was almost annoyed when Katara shook his shoulder, letting him know that they’d arrived.

Port Angeles was by no means a big city, but compared to Forks, it was the closest Sokka had gotten since moving to Washington. Yue had parallel parked her SUV in what was considered the “downtown,” a street of quaint stores and restaurants. The sun had set during their drive, and there were string lights hung from the lampposts down the street, creating a soft glow over the shops.

Sokka hopped out of the car, joining Yue, Suki and Katara on the street. He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself – Washington weather after dark was always bone-chilling. Katara was frowning down at her phone, her maps app pulled up. Sokka pulled out his own, texting Hakoda that they’d made it there safely. His phone beeped and shut off almost instantly after the text was sent. Oh well - Katara could send the follow up text.

“The bookstore I wanted to go to is a ten-minute walk that way,” she said, pointing up the street.

“Our record store is five minutes that way,” Suki said, pointing the opposite direction. She had her other arm wrapped around Yue’s waist and her head on her shoulder – her attempt at reconciliation after she’d called Taylor Swift stupid when she came on Yue’s playlist. Yue was committed to the annoyed look on her face, but she was clutching the side of Suki’s coat.

“The restaurant’s a bit further down, past the record store, on a side street. I sent you the address Katara,” Yue said, pretending she didn’t notice Suki sporadically kissing her cheek. “It’s a shame Aang couldn’t come, it’s like, one of the only restaurants in the area with decent vegetarian food.”

“So, we’ll meet you in an hour and a half?” Sokka said.

“Suki, be careful,” Yue scolded as Suki tried to nuzzle her neck with her still bandaged nose.

“I love Taylor Swift,” Suki said, kissing her cheek once more before turning to Sokka and saying, “Hour and a half sounds perfect.” She pulled her arm back from Yue’s waist, linking their arms together and making their way towards the record store. Yue laughed, waving over her shoulder at Sokka and Katara as Suki dragged her away.

Katara was weirdly quiet.

Sokka turned to look at her and saw that she was watching Suki and Yue’s retreating figures with a gloomy expression.

“Katara?”

He elbowed her gently, trying to get her attention.

Katara blinked in surprise, as though she’d forgotten where she was.

“Sorry – um – bookstore?”

“That’s why we’re here.”

Katara nodded, looping her arm through Sokka’s just as Suki had done, tugging him down the sidewalk. She was still frowning, and she looked like she was on the edge of saying something.

“This is…quaint.” Sokka asked as they stopped in front of bookstore. The store was tiny and Sokka could see through the windows that it was crammed wall to wall with books and odd knickknacks. It had a porch, which had two extra bookshelves marked Discount squished together by a swinging bench.

Katara shrugged, grinning weakly. “It’s the closest bookstore on Google Maps that’s not halfway to Seattle.”

Sokka rolled his eyes, pulling them both up the stairs.

A bell clanged as he opened the door, an old woman in a massive, multi-colored turtleneck sweater looking up from her book to smile at them from behind the checkout counter. Sokka glanced over at Katara, who was on her phone, and rolled his eyes. He pulled his arm away from hers, meandering over to the bookshelf below a sign that said Historical Fiction in handwritten, green font.

About forty-five minutes later, Sokka had found eight books that seemed really interesting and narrowed that down to three that he actually had enough money to buy. He swung the complimentary canvas tote bag the shop owner had given him over his shoulder and looked around the room, trying to spot Katara in the mess of bookshelves that were haphazardly organized around the store. There were a few other people milling about, so it took a few seconds, but he spotted her in the back corner, near a display of crystals and books about astrology. Sokka frowned – that was not Katara’s thing, last time he checked.

He strolled across the store, joke ready on his tongue. “So, are you and Aang compatible?”

Katara flipped around, her cheeks flushed. She was mid-text – and appeared not to have found a single book.

“What?!”

Sokka wasn’t sure if she meant it as a question or a scolding, because it came out like a squeak, so he asked a different question.

“Are you okay?”

Katara sighed heavily, the hand holding her phone dropping to her side dramatically, the other smacking her forehead. “Sokka, I have to tell you something.”

Sokka gave her a concerned look. “I repeat – are you okay?”

Katara nodded. “Yes. I think. I’ve just realized something.”

“I think –” she paused dramatically, making firm eye contact with him, “I think I like Aang.”

Sokka could almost instantly taste blood in his mouth from how hard he was biting his tongue to stop himself from laughing at her. After a few moments of silence, which were just Sokka trying to not make it obvious that he’d made himself bleed, Katara gave him an indignant look.

“Well?! What do you think?”

Sokka swallowed, the grinned. “About you and Aang?”

“Don’t laugh,” Katara moaned. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I’m not laughing,” Sokka said, grabbing her shoulders, “I just – I thought we all already knew that?”

“Oh god.” Katara put her face in her hands. “Am I that obvious?”

“Yes,” Sokka said, squeezing her shoulders, “But so is Aang.”

Katara peeked at him through her fingers, and though he could only see about fifty percent of each of her eyes, he could tell that she was glaring at him.

“You’re saying…”

“Oh my god, yes Katara, you are both painfully obvious, and apparently equally oblivious.”

Suddenly, Sokka saw the entirety of Katara’s glare, because she dropped her hands from her face in order to punch him in the arm, knocking his hands from her shoulders.

“Ow!”

“Sorry,” Katara grinned at him, “And thank you.”

“Uh huh,” Sokka said, rubbing his arm. “So – who have you been texting all night?”

She hit him in the other arm.

“Okay, okay. Do you want more time to actually look for books at the bookstore you dragged me to?”

“Yeah,” Katara said, “Give me like, twenty minutes?”

Sokka nodded, picking up one of the astrology books and pretending to flip through it, showing Katara that he could keep himself occupied. She rolled her eyes, wandering off towards the fantasy section.

Twenty-five minutes later, after they had both checked out, Sokka and Katara stepped back out into the night, instinctively huddling closer together when the cold air hit them – it had dropped at least ten degrees since they’d gone inside.

“Have I mentioned that I hate the weather here. So much,” Sokka said, his teeth chattering as he leaned into Katara’s side.

“You should’ve worn a scarf,” Katara said, looping their arms back together, “Or a hat. Or gloves. Or literally, any winter clothing item besides a jacket.”

“I forgot,” Sokka whined, “Don’t make fun of me, just give me your body heat.”

“How about we just go to the restaurant? Heating? Indoors?”

“God bless you and your brilliant, not-frozen brain.”

“Let me pull up the address.”

Katara pulled out her phone with her free hand, and Sokka felt her tense up against his side.

“Oh no.”

Sokka looked down at her to see her eyes wide, staring down at her phone. Which was off.

“Is your phone dead?”

“I’m sorry!” Katara squealed, “I just – well, I was texting Aang.”

“We’re going to die in the cold because you couldn’t stop texting your boyfriend all night.”

Katara smacked him, with her phone in her hand, so it hurt even more. “He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Not exactly the pressing issue, Katara!”

"Well, what about your phone? Can you text Yue?"

"Katara, my phone is always dead."

Katara just groaned.

Sokka tugged his arm away, looking down the sidewalk towards where he knew Yue’s car was parked.

“Okay. We can figure this out. Yue said it’s past the record store, on a side street. Right? We’ll just, check all the side streets?”

Katara put her face in her hands again. “I’m so stupid.”

Sokka didn’t disagree, instead grabbing her hand and forcing her down the sidewalk. “And I’m hungry and cold, so let’s go.”

They meandered down the sidewalk, huddled together, though not quite as close as before (Katara had graciously given Sokka her hat, which he had promptly tugged down over his ears). After about fifteen minutes, they passed a record store – which Sokka assumed must be the record store – and smiled at each other hopefully. They must be close, right? How many restaurants could Port Angeles possibly have?

They passed a bar and a hair salon, turning down the first side street and peeking around for a restaurant. No luck.

As they came back on to the main street, continuing to the next intersection, Sokka heard loud, raucous voices behind them. He chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw a group of four men exiting the bar, crude jokes being exchanged between them.

Katara stuck out her tongue, making an annoyed noise. “Gross.”

Sokka nodded, fully aware that there was a pause in the conversation behind them when Katara spoke. Like they were listening. But he said, “Yeah, gross.”

They kept walking. Sokka tugged them down the next side street and found nothing but a pet store, closed up for the night. Katara started to pull them back towards the main street, but Sokka shook his head, pulling them down the side street to the next intersection, then turning right.

“What are you –”

“Just trust me, okay?”

Katara followed, looking over her shoulder. “You think those guys…?”

Sokka shook his head. “I don’t know, but better safe than sorry, yeah?”

Katara nodded, her eyebrows furrowed.

They kept walking, Sokka making occasional turns, but keeping them close enough to the main road to still reasonably be able to look for the restaurant. He felt like he must’ve thrown the group off their game and was feeling fairly confident, even though the cold had made his hands feel numb and they still hadn’t found the restaurant. Then they turned again and found themselves facing an alley with a dead end.

“Fuck,” Katara hissed, and before Sokka could pull her back in the direction they’d come from, he heard a harsh shout.

“That’s not polite language from a lady!”

Sokka spun on his heel as Katara did the same. It was the group of men from the bar, walking towards them, seemingly in a planned formation.

Before Sokka could tell her not to, Katara yelled, “Well, I’m not fucking polite!”

One of them laughed at that, but the others stayed silent. One of them – the one that had shouted, Sokka thought – had his hand in his pocket, his other hand lingering over it in a way that made Sokka step to his left, hovering in front of Katara.

“You probably shouldn’t have said that,” the man said, and then several things happened very quickly.

The man and Sokka lunged towards each other, Sokka attempting to tackle him to the ground. The man grabbed him mid-lunge, shoving him to the ground and kneeling on his arm; Sokka heard – and felt – a snap. Sokka screamed and the man got up, assuming he was incapacitated.

Seconds later, before he could even turn his head or try to sit up, he heard a yelp that sounded like Katara, a loud grunt from one of the men, and Katara yelling, “take that!” as a body thudded to the ground.

Before Sokka could process that, the alley was lit up by headlights, a car swinging around the corner and skidding to a stop a few inches from the cluster of men, who all jumped back.

Sokka sat up, cradling his wrist as Katara ran to his side, her hands scraped up and bleeding, taking advantage of the distraction of the car. Before she could speak, the passenger and back door of the car – which Sokka realized with a thrill, was an incredibly familiar silver Volvo - flew open.

“Sokka, Katara – get in!”

Katara looked confused for half a second, before turning to look at Sokka, who nodded. She grabbed his good arm, pulling him up and pushing him into the front seat, hopping in the back and slamming the door shut quickly. Before Sokka could even look over at the driver, he felt the car reversing quickly, skidding down the street.

“Put your seatbelts on,” Zuko said, and Sokka laughed out loud.

He could feel Katara looking at him exasperatedly from the backseat, could hear her asking, how are you laughing right now? We just almost died.

Sokka couldn’t explain it, exactly, but the moment he had heard Zuko’s voice, he had felt utterly and wholly safe. So, he rolled his eyes and said –

“You put your seatbelt on.”

Zuko glanced down, as though he hadn’t noticed he wasn’t wearing it and reached over his shoulder to click it into place. Sokka noticed that his face was set in anger, his jaw clenched, and his hands tight around the steering wheel. Sokka couldn’t quite see his eyes, hidden behind his hair, but he could feel the fury radiating off of him.

“Are you okay?”

Zuko laughed shortly. “No.”

Sokka glanced back at Katara, who looked more confused than she ever had in her life.

“Sokka?” Zuko asked, not looking at him.

“Yeah?”

“Can you – can you talk about something? Distract me?”

Odd request, but definitely not out of Sokka’s wheelhouse. And Zuko looked so tense that Sokka was worried he might snap his steering wheel in half – something he was absolutely capable of doing, and probably shouldn’t do in front of Katara.

“Sure,” Sokka said, peeking back at Katara again, “Um, Katara spent almost an hour at a bookstore texting Aang instead of, you know, looking for books.”

“Oh my god, Sokka!” Katara yelled, reaching forward to hit him but stopping, glancing down at his wrist.

Zuko laughed, stopping when he noticed Katara’s hesitation.

“Is – what’s wrong with your wrist?”

Sokka shrugged the shoulder of his non-injured arm, keeping his hurt wrist cradled in his lap. “It’s possible that it’s broken.”

Zuko sighed heavily, turning suddenly down the main road that they had strayed so far from, his face lit up by the string lights hanging above. He pulled over, quickly parking and turning to look at Sokka, who was struck by the way the twinkling lights danced in his golden eyes. “I can take you to the hospital. I’ll call Iroh, so you can skip the line.”

“Iroh?”

“Oh,” Zuko said, shaking his head, “Sorry. Dr. Cullen.”

Sokka was about to agree when Katara leaned forward, sticking her head in between the two of them.

“That’s all great and lovely, but we came here with Suki and Yue, and we’re –” she glanced at the clock in the dashboard – “thirty minutes late to meet them for dinner.”

“What restaurant?” Zuko asked.

“Not sure,” Katara said, looking embarrassed, “Um – a vegetarian one?”

Zuko nodded, pulling back into the street. Katara sat back in her seat, but there was no need – they were in front of the restaurant in less than a minute.

Suki and Yue were standing out front, concerned looks on their faces. Sokka saw Yue point at Zuko’s car, her eyes widening in apparent recognition, before Sokka or Katara could get out of the car. They rushed over, meeting them on the sidewalk.

“Sokka, Katara, where have you been?! We’ve been calling you,” Yue exclaimed, looking them up and down, her frown deepening when she saw the way Sokka was cradling his hand. “What happened?”

Zuko appeared at Sokka’s shoulder then. “He fell and broke his wrist, and I was going to take him to the hospital, but they wanted to check in with you first.”

Suki and Yue gave Zuko matching baffled looks.

“All of this happened in between us seeing you at the record store and now?”

“You saw him at the record store?” Katara asked.

“Yes,” Yue said, “But that’s not the point –”

“We can take him to the hospital,” Suki cut in protectively. Katara moved to stand by her, nodding in agreement.

“Look, Zuko’s –” he paused. Was dad the right word? “He can get me in with Dr. Cullen quickly, and since we need to be home before eleven thirty, I don’t want to add too much to my time in the waiting room.”

“Sokka, are you sure…” Yue looked worried and Suki was eyeing Zuko suspiciously.

“I’m sure. Honest,” Sokka said, grinning at both of them. Zuko strolled back around to the driver’s side of the car, getting in and closing the door. Giving them privacy. (Although, Sokka suspected that he could hear what was being said either way).

“Well, I’m coming too,” Katara said, moving to stand by Sokka again.

Sokka sighed. “Okay, fine. But you have to call dad and tell him what happened.”

“What did happen? I mean jeez, Sokka, your wrist,” Suki asked, looking through the windows of Zuko’s car, which were so darkly tinted there was nothing for her to actually look at.

Sokka floundered, but Katara cut in and said bluntly, “We’ll tell you tomorrow. It’s been a long night.”

Suki looked frustrated but nodded, and Sokka thought how endlessly grateful he was for Katara’s ability to intimidate people into shutting up.

“You know, as much as I enjoy our visits, I really must advise that you be a bit more careful, Mr. Swan.”

Dr. Cullen – Iroh – was smiling at him as he examined the X-rays of Sokka’s wrist on the screen. It was fractured, and now in a splint. Sokka was grateful that the severity of his injury was enough that he’d been upgraded to a private room that forced his father, sister, and his – well, Zuko – into the waiting room.

“I swear I’m not seeking out danger,” Sokka said.

Iroh raised his eyebrows at that, a knowing glint in his amber eyes, identical to Zuko’s.

“It seems danger is seeking you.”

And, Sokka thought, Iroh was probably referring to the danger that took form in his adopted teenage son.

Sokka didn’t respond to that, saying instead, “Am I free to go?”

Iroh sighed, glancing down at the chart on his clipboard before looking up at Sokka and nodding. “Yes. It needs to stay in the splint for about six weeks – eight if you push it. Are you right or left-handed?”

“I’m ambidextrous.”

Iroh nodded again. “Okay, then just rely on your left hand for as much as you can. Your right is still usable, but you should let it rest as much as you can.”

“Can I still drive?”

Iroh gave him a stern look. “Carefully.”

Sokka grinned, sliding off the table and saying, “Thanks, Dr. Cullen,” waiting for one last nod from Iroh before exiting the room.

Hakoda, Katara, and Zuko looked up in sync as he entered the waiting room, even though Zuko was sitting about five seats away from the pair.

“I’m going to cover you in bubble wrap,” Hakoda said as a way of greeting, clasping Sokka’s left shoulder.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Sounds good.” He glanced over at Zuko, who was still seated, watching him. “Give me a second?”

Hakoda followed his gaze and nodded. “A second.”

Sokka walked over to him, ignoring the feeling of Hakoda and Katara’s eyes on his back. He sat down next to Zuko, their eyes meeting properly for the first time since they’d left Port Angeles.

“So.”

“So.”

“I have a lot of questions,” Sokka said, “That I don’t feel like I should ask in a public waiting room.”

Zuko said nothing, dropping his gaze to his lap.

“Can we talk soon?”

Zuko nodded, still silent.

“Tonight?”

Zuko looked up at him in surprise. “Tonight?”

“Yeah,” Sokka said, sounding more confident than he felt, “Meet me on my roof in like, two hours.”

“How do you expect me to get on your –” Zuko started to sputter but stopped when he saw the look on Sokka’s face.

“Really?”

Zuko sighed.

“Okay.”

Sokka was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling when he heard a quiet knock.

Zuko was there, at his window, his face illuminated by the moonlight of the cloudless night. He had a hood pulled up over his head, his hands tucked into the front pockets of the dark grey hoodie.

Sokka stood, ignoring the way that his legs felt a bit like jelly. He opened the window with his good hand – Zuko stepped back, giving him the space to climb out onto the roof.

Silently, Sokka motioned Zuko over to the flat section of the roof, sitting down and looking out at the large tree in their front yard. He heard Zuko sit next to him and glanced over.

Zuko was watching him cautiously. Waiting him for to speak.

Sokka had hoped that there would be some buildup, but he didn’t have any small talk topics on hand, and it didn’t seem like Zuko was going to speak first. So, he started with a softball.

“Why were you in Port Angeles?”

Sokka could see the tension in Zuko’s shoulders, the tightness evident as he sharply inhaled and exhaled.

“Toph’s birthday is coming up. I was looking for a gift for her.”

Sokka examined his face – it didn’t seem like he was lying.

“At the record store?”

Zuko nodded.

“Toph preferred sixties rock, and it’s better on vinyl.”

Preferred. As in –

Zuko’s breath caught, his mouth hanging slightly open as he stared at Sokka.

“Prefers sixties rock. I mean. She –”

He went silent, turning away and fixing his gaze somewhere past the tree.

Sokka let the quiet sit for a moment, weighing in his mind what his next question should be. He wasn’t ready for the big one, even though it was right there, sitting in front of the two of them in the still night.

Sokka tried to build up to it.

“How did you know where we were?”

Zuko didn’t look at him, but Sokka saw his shoulders relax slightly, having avoided, for the moment, the question that would be the point of no return.

“I was – well, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. But I heard Katara.”

Sokka’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“You heard her?”

Zuko still didn’t look at him, but Sokka noticed the faintest hint of a smile on his lips.

“You guessed, once, that I was maybe, well, a superhero. Strength, speed…” He trailed off.

Sokka gaped at him.

“Are you saying that you can read minds?”

Zuko nodded, talking before Sokka could say anything else. “I wasn’t trying to listen, really. But I heard her, when you walked by the record store and I don’t know. I got curious.”

He looked embarrassed.

Sokka, however, was thinking back to their past conversations, certain phrases sticking out so strongly he had to stop himself from gasping out loud.

“So, when you say you can read people well, you mean…?”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah.”

Sokka paused, thinking back to the frustrated looks across the cafeteria, about Zuko proclaiming him difficult to read. Except for you.

“You can’t read my mind, can you?”

Zuko finally looked at him.

“I don’t know why, but no, I can’t.” He looked bothered by that.

“Well, good” Sokka said. “Back to what happened tonight, then.”

Zuko blinked in surprise but nodded.

“I heard Katara and, well, when I’m familiar with someone’s thoughts, I can hear them from further away so, I listened – what?”

Sokka had started laughing and Zuko was staring at him in confusion.

“I’m sorry – but Katara would kill you if she found out you regularly listen to her thoughts.”

“It’s not regular,” Zuko argued, “But since I can’t hear yours, and she’s always with you.”

Sokka raised his eyebrows but decided to leave that alone. “Keep going with the story.”

Zuko huffed out a breath. “I was listening, and I heard when those – those monsters started following you and, well, I started following you too, but just in case, because what they were thinking…”

He trailed off, looking away from Sokka again.

“Zuko?”

“I was only following you in case – in case you needed me.”

“Which, we did,” Sokka said, holding up his wrist as evidence.

Zuko looked over at him, his eyes on Sokka’s splint. “Yeah.”

“So you heard their thoughts, which I assume weren’t great –” Zuko let out an angry noise that sounded a little like a growl at that “– and you rescued us. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Zuko turned his whole body towards him, crossing his legs. Sokka did the same, hoping that this meant Zuko was done looking off into the distance.

“It was – I needed you to distract me so that I didn’t do something I would regret.”

Zuko was looking at him so intensely that Sokka felt himself shiver.

“Are you cold?”

“I’m fine –” Sokka tried to say, but Zuko had already whipped his hoodie off, passing it to him, so quickly that there was a small gust of wind, and Sokka wasn’t entirely sure he’d even seen Zuko move. He took it anyways, pulling it gently over his splint and frowning at Zuko, who was now in just a t-shirt in the freezing night air. It clearly didn’t bother him.

“You already know I’m fast,” he said, lips twitching slightly.

Sokka wouldn’t let him get off topic.

“You needed me to distract you. From doing what?”

Zuko dropped his eyes for a moment, then looked back up, his smirk gone.

“I – there were a lot of overwhelming elements. I didn’t want to lose my temper.”

Not really an answer.

It was silent for a bit, and then Sokka swallowed. Took a deep breath. Steeled himself.

“Can I ask you another question?”

Zuko nodded.

“How old are you?”

Zuko looked down, a short breathy laugh escaping his lips.

“Seventeen.”

A long pause.

“How long have you been seventeen?”

Zuko met his gaze, and his amber eyes were scared. He looked like a trapped animal, like if Sokka made one wrong move, he would startle and bolt.

“Awhile.”

Sokka exhaled, his shoulders dropping from a tense position he hadn’t realized they were in.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

Zuko was staring at him, the fear not quite gone from his eyes.

“Okay,” Sokka repeated, “So, I was right. You’re –”

He paused, seeing if Zuko would fill in the blank. Zuko just stared, his fists clenched in his lap.

Sokka closed his eyes so, if he was wrong and was about to sound like a lunatic, he wouldn’t have to see Zuko’s reaction.

“You’re a vampire.”

Zuko said nothing, so Sokka opened his eyes to find the other boy was still watching him. Sokka pushed on.

“So I was distracting you from, well, killing those guys.”

That seemed to return Zuko’s speech.

“I could smell them,” he said suddenly, “And Katara, and you – and she was all scratched up and bleeding and – there was a lot happening, and their thoughts were – it was difficult to focus on not killing them, let alone –”

He stopped himself mid-sentence, looking back down at his lap.

“Obviously, I wanted to take you to hospital, to Iroh, but I also needed to not be alone with my thoughts. With their thoughts.”

Sokka sat silently for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that. He wasn’t afraid, but he was definitely confused.

Before the quiet could stretch on too long, he asked, “Why?”

Zuko looked back up at him. “What do you mean, why? I just explained –”

“I mean, why me? Why do you keep saving me?”

“Sokka, I feel like I’ve been obvious, but maybe not obvious enough,” Zuko said. “I like you.”

Sokka felt his breath catch but shook his head. He needed to focus.

“I like you too,” he said, and felt a rush of pleasure at admitting it, out loud, to Zuko.

Zuko’s lips turned up into a small smile, and Sokka continued.

“I didn’t mean it in a self-deprecating way, I just –” Sokka threw his hands up exasperatedly “– wouldn’t someone not human be easier for you? ”

Zuko looked slightly put off.

“Of course it would be easier.”

“Then why –”

“Sokka, I’ve kept what I am a secret for over a century, and you’ve managed to get it out of me in three weeks. Are you seriously questioning the effect that you have on me?”

Zuko was doing the intense, blazing stare thing again and Sokka, despite the icy air around him, felt his face heat up.

He dropped his gaze, unable to look directly into Zuko’s eyes, landing on his lips instead.

Lingering there for far too long.  

Sokka looked back up, slowly, meeting Zuko’s eyes, and was surprised to find the longing he felt growing in his own chest reflected back at him.

Zuko lifted one of his hands from his lap, reaching forward into the space between the two of them.

“Can I just –”

Sokka held his breath, his heart pounding in his chest. The look on Zuko’s face, curious and cautious, made Sokka certain that he could hear its erratic pace.

“Can I try something?”

Sokka nodded and Zuko uncrossed his legs, moving closer and kneeling in front of him.

Zuko brought his hand up to Sokka’s cheek, cold skin against hot.

Sokka wouldn’t have been surprised if steam had risen off his face.

Zuko’s forehead was furrowed, as though he was concentrating very hard on something.

He leaned in closer, bringing his forehead to rest against Sokka’s, curving his hand to cup his cheek more intentionally.

“Is this okay?”

Zuko’s voice was barely a whisper, but Sokka could feel his breath against his lips.

“Yeah,” he murmured back.

It took everything in Sokka not to close the gap between them, to fling up his good arm and pull Zuko in, to thread his fingers through his hair.

But he knew he couldn’t, not yet. Not when Zuko was focusing so intently that Sokka was certain he wasn’t moving at all.

Zuko’s eyes were closed. Sokka felt his fingers curl, brushing softly against his cheek.

He let his own eyes fall shut, inhaling deeply, trying to take in the moment – the feeling of Zuko’s cold forehead resting against his, his fingers tracing along the soft skin of his cheek, the cinnamon smell of him, so close, just within reach, really, all Sokka had to do was tilt his forehead up an inch –

And then he was gone.

Or, not gone, but back where he was before, sitting with his legs crossed.

Sokka’s heart stopped for a moment before he saw that Zuko was smiling, and Sokka thought that he could look at that smile forever.

Oh, he was fucked.

Chapter Text

It was Monday, after school, when Katara finally confronted him.

Sokka knew that it was coming, had felt her suspicious stares directed at him all Sunday afternoon as they did their homework in the living room – Katara sitting on the couch, legs stretched out as she typed an essay, Sokka sprawled on his stomach on the floor, his books and notes scattered in front of him. But Hakoda had the day off, popping in occasionally to offer them snacks, and Sokka could sense that whatever it was that Katara wanted to say, she wasn’t going to say it in front of their dad. She said nothing at all – well, other than –

“Where did you get that hoodie?”

Sokka’s only response was to pull the dark grey hood up over his eyes and avoid her questioning gaze.

Sunday passed without another word from Katara, though Sokka was on edge for two hours after they’d all gone to bed, waiting for her to barge into his room or knock on his window, demanding an explanation.

Monday morning, as they drove to school, she was uncharacteristically quiet. She spent the drive with her cheek pressed against the window, not moving or speaking as the glass faded from foggy, to dewy, and finally to clear when Sokka pulled into the school parking lot. The quiet sat as heavily as the dark grey clouds blocking any sunlight from the day, Katara finally breaking her silence once they’d reached the academic building to say, “See you later,” frowning at him and splitting off towards her first period class.

So, yeah. Even though he’d managed to avoid it for over twenty-four hours, Sokka was definitely expecting that Katara was, at some point, going to demand answers about what had happened in Port Angeles.

Distraction from the anxiety brought on by a brooding Katara came in the form of Zuko. More specifically, a Zuko that had suddenly become very interested in asking Sokka questions about nearly every aspect of his life.

Sokka had arrived first that day, and Zuko had trailed a hand down his arm as he sat down, grinning at the flush across Sokka’s face, which left Sokka feeling jittery and a bit irritated. As Sokka would come to learn over the course of the period, Zuko had apparently gotten over his aversion to touching him.

They had settled into their seats in Biology, rain streaking down the window to Zuko’s left, waiting as Mr. Banner passed out the supplies needed for the DNA profiling lab, when Zuko started his interrogation.

He started with simple questions –

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Red.”

“What’s your favorite season?”

“Summer.”

– slowly moving into questions about Phoenix, about Sokka’s hobbies, about his and Katara’s childhood –

“You and Katara did ballet together?”

The goofy, shit-eating grin on Zuko’s face had left Sokka unsure whether he wanted to hit him or kiss him. 

“Yes,” Sokka had grumbled, “And I was better than her, too. She always forgot to point her toes.”

Zuko’s smile had grown wider at that, his fingers brushing a little too much against Sokka’s as they passed test tubes back and forth, the electric feeling of his touch lingering long after they had moved on to the next part of the lab, Zuko pushing forward to questions about Sokka and Katara’s childhood pets. It was only as he was walking towards the gym with Yue, and she’d asked how their lab had gone, that Sokka realized he could barely remember anything that had happened. Sokka was fairly certain that if Zuko couldn’t keep his hands to himself in Biology, Sokka was going to fail.

So, it was safe to say that by the time he got back to the truck, Sokka had almost forgotten – or at least, pushed to the back of his mind – his anxieties around the inevitable questioning from Katara.

But Katara was too observant not to notice the gaps in the story and too nosy not to say something. So, when she brought it up, Sokka wasn’t surprised, though, the interrogation didn’t start exactly how he’d expected it would.

“Is there any particular reason that you’re ignoring Jet?”

Katara had her phone out, messages app pulled up, and was giving him a pointed look. They were still parked, Sokka having just thrown his backpack into the backseat.

“Jet?”

That definitely wasn’t the first question Sokka had been expecting. For one thing, it had nothing to do with Zuko or Port Angeles. For another, he’d barely thought about Jet since the beach, so the mention of him caught Sokka off guard.

“Yeah, Jet,” Katara repeated, glancing back down at her phone again for a moment. “He texted me to ask if you’d lost your phone, because he hadn’t heard back from you.”

Sokka frowned, pulling out his own phone and scrolling and – oh. Oops. There were two messages from Jet, asking if Sokka was free and then, if Sokka’s wrist was okay, opened and unanswered, as though Sokka had glanced at them and gotten distracted before he could reply. Which, it seemed, was exactly what had happened.

“I must’ve forgotten to respond,” Sokka said, dropping his phone into his lap and shooting Katara a glare of his own. “Why is he asking about my wrist?”

Katara looked sheepish. “Look, I was only trying to cover for you and your awful texting habits, so, I may have told him about Port Angeles and said that you might be having trouble texting because of your wrist and –”

“Katara!”

“I didn’t think it was a secret –”

“It’s not,” Sokka groaned, “But that doesn’t mean you need to tell everyone about it. What did you even say?”

Katara huffed and crossed her arms. “As much as I could, considering I don’t even know the full story, and I was there.”

Shit.

She was glaring at him now, and Sokka realized he’d unintentionally brought the conversation back around to the confrontation he’d been trying to avoid. Before he could backpedal, Katara took the opening.

“So, what exactly did happen in Port Angeles?”

“Katara…”

“Don’t lie to me,” she snapped, “And don’t say you weren’t going to, because I can see it on your face. What happened? How did Zuko find us? Was he stalking us? Something’s up with him, Sokka, so don’t try to tell me that –”

Sokka grabbed her arm, squeezing it to try to get her to stop talking. She glowered at him but went silent, waiting for an answer.

“He wasn’t stalking us,” Sokka started, taking a deep breath before reciting the answer he had practiced. “He was in Port Angeles looking for a birthday gift for Toph.” That wasn’t a lie, so he managed to look Katara in the eyes while he said it.

“Okay, sure, but how did he find us, in a back alley, blocks away from downtown? There’s something weird about him, Sokka, I don’t trust him, how could he have –”

“I don’t know,” Sokka cut her off, dropping his hand from her arm, “Okay? But I’m trying to figure him out.” Also not a lie, (though he’d already figured out far more than he was letting on).

“You’re trying to figure him out,” Katara repeated flatly, a skeptical look on her face.

“Yes, I’m trying, but there’s –”

Sokka paused, giving her a pleading look.

“He’s really secretive, okay? If I’m going to figure it out, I can’t tell you anything. It wouldn’t work.”

“Yet.”

Sokka stared at her, confused. “Yet?”

“You can’t tell me anything yet,” she emphasized the last word, “But you will, eventually. Right?”

Sokka nodded, knowing that he couldn’t really promise that, that it wasn’t his secret to tell. But he also knew that there was no way out of this conversation if he didn’t give her something to hold him to – even if he was almost certain he would end up failing to deliver on it.

“I won’t have anything to tell you if I don’t do this right. So just, trust me. Okay?”

Sokka felt a little nauseous, lying to Katara, feeling sure that there was no way he’d ever be able to tell her the truth. He felt worse when her glare disappeared, replaced with worry, and she reached out and squeezed his hand.

“I do trust you,” she said, “It’s Zuko I don’t trust.”

Sokka wanted to argue with that, to tell her how much he trusted Zuko and that if she got to know him, really know him, she would too. But he wasn’t sure that her getting to really know him was even a possibility, so instead he said – 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Katara let go of his hand, patting it and saying, “I hate this. I hate that you’re keeping secrets from me, but I trust you and if this is really the only way…”

“It is,” Sokka said, and that wasn’t a lie either, “Trust me, I hate this too. If there was another way, that’s what I’d be doing.”

“Okay,” Katara said, smiling and sending another pang of guilt down his spine. “And text Jet back, you’re being rude.”

Sokka nodded, starting the car finally, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach at how easily Katara had trusted him to tell her the truth.

Maybe it was the drafty air from the cracked window, or Yue and Suki’s incessant flirting, or the topic of conversation – prom, of all things – that had Sokka’s mind wandering back to his cold rooftop in the middle of the crowded cafeteria on Wednesday. Whatever the reason was, he wasn’t complaining. Eyes glazed over and chin resting in his good hand, Sokka could almost feel the cold air whistling around him, the delicate touch of nervous fingers brushing against his cheek, the slight whisper of Zuko’s breath against his lips. And, at this point in the daydream, Sokka may have taken a few creative liberties and imagined that his fingers had threaded through Zuko’s unbelievably soft looking hair, that he’d tugged him down closer until their lips met and –

“Sokka, did you hear what I just said?”

Sokka jumped, and his elbow slipped out from under his chin, his good wrist slamming into the table.

Suki snorted from her seat at his left.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“Sorry,” Sokka said, rubbing his wrist and glaring at her, “What did you say?”

Aang answered, a huge grin on his face. “She asked if you were going to go to prom with Zuko.”

If his friends’ laughter wasn’t evidence enough, the heat Sokka felt spreading across his cheeks made him certain that his embarrassment was clear. Embarrassment not only at the unexpectedness of the question, or the state of his thoughts only moments previously, but because he knew, without even looking, that Zuko (and maybe his entire family, oh god) could listen, and likely were listening, to the conversation from across the cafeteria. He didn’t dare look, instead fixing his annoyed gaze on Suki. Before he could defend himself, Katara cut in.

“It’s not any of your business who Sokka does or doesn’t go to prom with,” she snapped from his right, putting her hand on Sokka’s shoulder protectively. Unnecessary, a bit dramatic, and probably more rooted in her mistrust of Zuko than her care for Sokka’s privacy, but he appreciated it, nonetheless.

Sokka patted Katara’s hand with his own as Aang said, “I’m sorry, Sokka, we weren’t trying to be nosy.”

“Yes we were,” Suki corrected, “We’re just curious, Sokka, especially after everything in Port Angeles. And according to Yue, you two are so cute it’s annoying to eavesdrop on you in Biology.”

“Yue!”

She grinned guiltily in response.

“Sorry, Sokka, but it’s true. The way he looks at you…”

Sokka dropped his face to the table, wrapping his arms around his head, his hands covering his burning ears. He didn’t have it in him to try to hide his mortification, because he knew in his heart that Zuko was laughing as he listened anyways. It wasn’t exactly like he could tell his friends to quiet their voices – or their thoughts – so he decided to attempt to sink into the table instead.

Miraculously, his dramatics seemed to satisfy Suki, and she turned her prom-focused laser beam to Aang. Sokka jerked up in surprise when she asked –

“So, what about you and Katara? Are we done pretending there isn’t something going on here?”

Aang’s face was bright red, and Katara looked like she’d just had a bucket of ice water dropped on her head. They were refusing to make eye contact with each other. Sokka, though grateful that the attention had been drawn away from him, felt compelled to defend his sister, who looked close to snapping.

“Suki, just because you and Yue are in love, doesn’t mean everyone else is,” he said, “Don’t project your rose-colored, romantic bullshit onto the rest of us.”

“I’m not projecting –” Suki started to argue, stopping when Yue grabbed her arm, looking pointedly at her, and then at Katara and Aang, who were both abnormally silent, their cheeks still flushed.

“Okay, fine – I’ll drop it. But Sokka, I still think you should ask Zuko.”

Sokka wasn’t surprised when, after he took his seat in Biology five minutes before the bell, Zuko was already there, turning to him with a huge smirk, his eyes – honey-colored today – glinting playfully.

“So, are you going to ask me to prom?”

Sokka scowled at him. “No.”

Zuko stuck out his lip in a pout and – ugh. Sokka struggled to keep the annoyance on his face, feeling more glad than usual that his thoughts couldn’t betray him.

“Why not?”

“Because,” Sokka said, leaning down to pull his textbook and notebook out of his backpack, “You’re annoying. Also, you haven’t even taken me on a real date.”

Zuko’s smirk dropped from his face, replaced with a very serious look. He put his hand over Sokka’s, tracing a gentle circle into his skin.

“That’s a fair point. How about Friday?”

“We have school on Friday,” Sokka reminded him, trying to ignore the tingling up his arm, radiating from the place where Zuko’s fingers met the skin of the back of his hand.

“Like I said before, ditching is healthy sometimes,” Zuko said, “Remember what happened last time you didn’t skip when I suggested it?”

Sokka groaned, pulling his hand away so that he could press his face into it. He didn’t need to be reminded of the awful blood-typing class.

“Exactly,” Zuko continued, “Either way, I can’t come on Friday.”

Sokka dropped his hand to the table, glancing over at him. “Why not?”

“It’s going to be sunny,” Zuko said, watching Sokka. Waiting for him to comment.

Sokka answered with a question. “How do you know that?”

By the look on Zuko’s face, that wasn’t the question he had been expecting.

In a hushed tone, he said, “My siblings have – well – extra abilities too, like mine, but different.”

Sokka matched his whisper and raised his eyebrows. “One of you can predict the weather?”

Zuko laughed quietly. “Among other things.”

“If I say yes to this date,” Sokka teased, (because they both knew, mind reading or not, that it was a definite yes), “I want to know more about that. Your siblings...why you can’t come to school if it’s sunny…all of that.”

Zuko nodded. “That’s what I was hoping.”

“Okay,” Sokka said, “Then, yes.” He reached his hand back out to where Zuko’s was still resting between them, mimicking him and tracing circles along the back of his hand, unable to keep himself from grinning at the flustered look on Zuko’s face.

Unsurprisingly, Katara was not immediately in favor of Sokka skipping school to go on a date with Zuko, for a number of reasons. She claimed that the most important reason was that she needed him to drive her to school, but when Sokka suggested that Aang or Yue pick her up, she looked so irritated that she gave up any chance of denying that her reservations lied exclusively with Zuko.

“I know that you trust him but –”

“Katara, come on!”

Sokka was getting frustrated. It was somewhere near midnight and they were sitting on the couch in the living room, leaning against opposite sides and sharing a blanket. The light from Katara’s paused episode of Teen Wolf was shining on their faces in the dark room. It would be a downright adorable scene, if they hadn’t been having a hushed argument for the past ten minutes.

“You want me to lie to dad so that you can skip school to go on a date with your weird, creepy boyfriend -”

“Not my boyfriend.”

Katara smacked his leg through the blanket. “See? And you think you’re mature enough to go off on your own with this – this –”

Sokka stared at her expectantly. “This what?”

Katara threw her hands up in frustration. “I don’t know, because you won’t tell me. And I’m trying to trust you, I am, I do, but then you start talking about skipping class and – it freaks me out, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt,” Sokka said, rubbing her leg reassuringly.

She frowned at him. “You can’t know that, Sokka.”

“I’m careful.”

“You’ve been in the emergency room twice in a month.”

“I’ll be more careful than usual.”

She was still frowning, but she seemed to be more worried than angry. Sokka took a chance.

“Please Katara. I promise I’ll be safe, and I won’t ever skip school again.”

Katara sighed heavily, leaning her head backwards over the side of the couch for a moment before sitting back up and saying, “Fine. Fine, I’ll cover for you. But I swear, if Zuko does one thing –”

Sokka laughed, allowing his imagination to conjure up the image of Katara attempting to take Zuko down as he said, “Thank you. I love you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Katara grumbled, grabbing the remote and pressing play as she kicked him, “I love you, too.”

Sokka locked the truck, waving to Katara as she walked towards the school without him. The glare she gave him over her shoulder was only half as vicious as it could have been, which Sokka took as a good sign that she wouldn’t rat him out to Hakoda. An even better sign was when she spun back around, pulling him into a tight hug and whispering, “Don’t do anything stupid,” before marching back towards the school.

And though Sokka was glad to be certain she wouldn’t snitch on him for skipping, her spontaneous affection did nothing to help with the guilt he felt about lying to her.

Sighing, Sokka leaned against the driver’s side door. The sky was cloudy, but light, and Sokka figured it was only a matter of time before the sun peeked out. He looked around the parking lot impatiently. Zuko had texted him the night before, which –

Sokka didn’t know, yet, exactly how long Zuko had been seventeen, but his incredibly formal text, which read –

      Dear Sokka,

      I’m excited for our date tomorrow. I will pick you up in the school parking lot at nine o’clock. Sleep well.

      Sincerely,

      Zuko

–  led Sokka to believe that it had maybe been a bit longer than he’d originally guessed.

Before he could spend too long wondering exactly when Zuko was born, the silver Volvo pulled into the parking lot, swinging into the spot next to Sokka. The windows were so darkly tinted that Sokka couldn’t see the driver, but even if he hadn’t known what time Zuko was coming, he would’ve recognized the car anywhere – it felt permanently ingrained in his mind after the part it played in his and Katara’s rescue in Port Angeles.

Still, Sokka waited until the passenger window rolled down and he heard Zuko say brightly, “Good morning,”  before he approached the car. It was only as he settled into his seat, glancing over at Zuko, whose eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, that Sokka realized he had no idea where they were going.

“So, where are we –”

“It’s a surprise,” Zuko cut him off, grinning and putting the car into reverse.

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not a huge fan of surprises.”

Zuko merely smiled at that, turning onto the main road and driving south, towards the state park.

Zuko was focused on the road, driving at least thirty miles per hour over the speed limit. Sokka decided it was best not to mention that bit of information to Katara. Sokka took the lapse in conversation as an opportunity to look over at Zuko - he was dressed simply, in a black t-shirt and jeans. Sokka frowned down at his own thick flannel jacket, unbuttoning it to expose a certain dark grey hoodie underneath. Was he that much of a baby about the cold, or did the weather not affect Zuko the same way it affected humans?

Sokka opened his mouth to ask just that then paused, asking instead –

“So, are you done trying to hack into all my social media accounts?”

Zuko glanced over at him, a slight smile pushing through his confused look as he took in Sokka’s outfit. “What?”

“You keep, like – all your questions are like, password answers – favorite pet, first best friend’s name, name of the street you grew up on –”

Zuko smiled awkwardly – embarrassed. “I was just curious about your life before Forks. But yes, I am done asking, for now.”

“So does that mean it’s my turn?”

“Yep.”

Sokka’s mouth hung open slightly – he hadn’t been expecting that to be so easy. True, Zuko had said that he was willing to talk about his siblings – and everything else – but Sokka had assumed he would have to push a little bit before jumping right in. But Zuko was looking at him expectantly, his eyes (Sokka assumed, anyways – he felt a surge of annoyance towards the sunglasses covering his favorite part of Zuko’s face) flickering between Sokka’s surprised expression and the road.

“Oh, okay. Where should I start?”

“That’s up to you.”

Sokka pondered for a moment, looking out the window in an attempt to clear his head. They were definitely headed into the state park – they were surrounded entirely by trees, a dark green tunnel blocking any other landmarks, different parts of the landscape only distinguishable by cracks of sunlight peeking through the clouds, lightening the colors of some patches of the scenery.

“Are we going hiking?”

Zuko laughed. “Is that really your first question?”

Sokka resisted the urge to shove him only because he was driving.

“I’m not dressed for hiking,” he said, looking down at his jeans and Vans before turning his gaze to Zuko, adding, “Neither are you.”

“You’re not hiking,” he said vaguely, a smirk on his lips.

“I’m not–”

“That’s part of the surprise, Sokka,” Zuko groaned, “Ask about literally anything else.”

Sokka frowned, looking back out at the trees and thinking again, watching the way the sunlight was glinting off the peaks of the tree-covered hills in the distance.

“Okay, so, which one of your siblings can predict the weather?”

“Haru. And it’s not just the weather.”

Sokka waited for Zuko to elaborate further, but he said nothing. It seemed like he was trying to avoid answering anything more than what Sokka explicitly asked. So, Sokka tried to be as broad as possible.

“What else can he predict?”

Zuko furrowed his forehead for a moment. When he did speak, it was deliberate and slow, as though he was weighing each word. “They’re not exactly premonitions in the way that humans understand them,” he started, peeking over at Sokka, who was listening intently, “Things like whether or not it’s going to be sunny, if it’ll snow, natural disasters – anything that’s outside of human control, that’s clear and straightforward. But once decision-making comes into play, it gets a bit…”

“Tricky?” Sokka supplied.

Zuko nodded. “Yeah. Tricky. It’s not as simple as telling the future. Haru can see the end of the path someone’s currently on, but if they make a new decision – one that’s contrary to the choices they’d made before – the path changes. And he can’t see what happens on the path, or anything in between – only the end.”

Zuko went quiet, a troubled look on his face.

“But it’s helpful for knowing whether or not to skip school,” Sokka said, reaching over to brush Zuko’s hand where it was resting on the center console, reveling in the way the simple touch sent shivers up his spine.

Zuko looked away from the road again to smile at Sokka as he continued tracing patterns along the back of his hand. “Yeah, pretty helpful.”

“So, why exactly can’t you go to school when it’s sunny?”

“Sorry, that’s part of the surprise too,” Zuko said, clearly over whatever was troubling him as his smirk returned.

“Okay, but you’re not gonna like, spontaneously combust in front of me, right? I don’t think I could handle that.”

Zuko laughed. “No. I promise. No spontaneous combustion or fire of any kind.”

At that moment, they pulled off the road into a tiny parking lot with only two spots. Zuko pulled into one, hopping out of the car into the still cloudy morning and walking towards a sign identifying a hiking trail. As Sokka followed, he saw that the sign warned of steep inclines and recommended that only the most skilled hikers attempt it.

“Zuko, I don’t think…” Sokka started, but was cut off when Zuko grabbed his good hand, leading to a momentary short firing of his brain.

“I told you – you’re not doing any hiking.”

“What does that mean?” Sokka asked incredulously, looking towards the trail and back at Zuko, struggling to focus on being confused as he tried to process Zuko’s hand in his.

“Do you trust me?”

Sokka’s breath caught in his throat. Zuko had taken his sunglasses off, tucking them away into his pocket, and was staring at him intensely, his finally free, liquid gold eyes shining with simultaneous excitement and hesitation.

Sokka did trust him. Of all the lies he’d told Katara, that was one of the only truths. So, he squeezed Zuko’s cool hand and nodded.

“I trust you.”

Zuko grinned.

“Great!”

And before Sokka could process much more than how beautiful Zuko’s smile was in that moment, he was very briefly airborne before landing heavily on something hard, swinging his wrist splint in surprise into what felt like a rock. He opened his eyes – realizing that he had squeezed them shut at the abrupt movement – to see that Zuko had swung him up to his back and that the rock he’d hit was – well – Zuko’s head.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry,” Sokka sputtered, but Zuko just laughed.

“Not a problem.” Zuko had his hands gripped around the back of Sokka’s knees. “Are you ready?”

Sokka noticed then that they’d moved further into the trees, out of sight of the road.

“For what?”

Zuko tightened his grip on Sokka’s knees and said, “Hold on tight.”

Sokka felt a rush of wind and for a moment his mind went completely blank because, well, he was fairly certain he was dead. Or, in the process of dying. Or maybe flying. His eyes were squeezed shut again, so he wasn’t sure. Against every instinct in his body telling him to do nothing but keep his arms wrapped tightly around Zuko’s neck, Sokka opened his eyes – they immediately teared up.

He was flying – sort of. Zuko was running through the trees, though, the word running didn’t exactly capture the truth of what he was doing. They were moving so fast that Sokka only knew they were in a forest because he’d seen the trees before – at that moment, he couldn’t identify anything other than the dark green blur surrounding them and Zuko’s back, firm and steady underneath him. Any lingering questions Sokka had about the day of the car crash were left behind on the side of the road, along with his soul and at least half of his functioning brain cells.

Sokka tucked his head into Zuko’s neck, closing his eyes again. Attempting to focus on any recognizable shapes made him feel nauseous, so he tried to center himself on the coolness of Zuko’s neck against the side of his face, inhaling deeply and letting the cinnamon smell, intermingled with the crisp pine scent in the air, return his clarity. Before he could take more than three deep breaths, Zuko came to a stop as suddenly as he had started.

“Are you alright?”

Sokka took a moment, slowly pulling his face out of Zuko’s neck, resting it instead on his own arm, his eyes still shut.

“Are you done moving?”

Sokka felt Zuko laugh, his shoulders shaking.

“Yes, I’m done. Do you want to get down?”

Sokka nodded against his arm but made no real effort to move.

“Do you need help?”

Zuko sounded concerned, but Sokka could hear the amusement lingering in his tone.

“No,” Sokka groaned, lifting his head and opening his eyes.

They were standing a bit back from the edge of a wide meadow, surrounded on all sides by trees, and finally Sokka saw the sunshine that Haru had warned about. Sunlight came through the tree branches in fragmented beams of light, spotlighting different patches of the green meadow – definitive proof that winter was actually coming to an end – bathing it in a golden light.

“Wow,” Sokka breathed, finally loosening his grip on Zuko’s neck. Zuko let go of his knees as he slid down, his feet hitting the ground heavily – Zuko grabbed his elbow before he could stumble.

“You’re not nauseous, are you?”

Zuko looked genuinely concerned this time, his eyes surveying Sokka as though he was worried that he might be sick.

"No,” Sokka said, pulling away from Zuko’s grip to walk towards the edge of the trees, letting the sun warm his skin. He glanced over his shoulder and said, “Just give me a bit more than ‘hold on tight,’ next time, okay?”

Now that it was clear Sokka was fine, Zuko’s smirk returned.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Sokka rolled his eyes before turning to look back at the meadow.

“So, was that the surprise? You trying to send me into shock?”

Sokka heard Zuko come up behind him, lingering a few steps behind, out of reach of the sunlight.

“That was the first part.”

Sokka turned, his back to the meadow. Zuko was hovering near a tree, in the safety of the shadows, his eyes darting between Sokka and the meadow just beyond him. His forehead was furrowed again, his smirk replaced by a tight-lipped grimace.

“Zuko?”

“Give me a second.”

Sokka waited a full minute, then, when Zuko didn’t move, said, “Look, as long as you swear that you’re not going to burn up, I’m ready for whatever this is.”

Zuko laughed quietly, fixing Sokka with an intense look. “No burning up.”

“No bodily harm to you or me?”

“None.”

“Will joining me over here reveal anything more dramatic than the whole vampire thing?”

Zuko frowned, not meeting Sokka’s eyes, but shook his head.

“No.”

Sokka shrugged. “Then what’s the big deal?” He was struggling to imagine what was making Zuko hesitate.

“It’s a little weird.”

Sokka scoffed. “Weirder than being a vampire?”

When Zuko simply rolled his eyes in response, Sokka took several steps backwards into the meadow, beckoning for Zuko to follow. Sokka saw him raise and drop his shoulders, shake his head, then take the few steps forward into the sunlight.

Zuko was glowing.

At least, that’s what it seemed like, from a few feet away. As he stepped closer, eyeing Sokka nervously, it became clear that the proper word for what Zuko was doing was sparkling. In the sun’s bright spotlight beam, now hanging high in the sky above them, Sokka could see that Zuko, only a foot away from him now, looked as though his skin was made entirely of diamonds. Sokka found his gaze drawn to Zuko’s eyes though, and it was a good thing. Zuko looked as anxious as he had on the rooftop, waiting for Sokka to tell him that he’d discovered his secret.

Sokka stepped forward, taking one of Zuko’s hands in his good one, for some reason whispering when he said, “I think I get why you skip school when it’s sunny.”

Zuko’s lips twitched, though the anxiety didn’t leave his face. “It would be a bit conspicuous, wouldn’t it?”

“Probably,” Sokka replied.

He tugged on Zuko’s hand, pulling them both down to the ground, crossing his legs like they had on the rooftop. Zuko followed him down, not letting go of Sokka’s hand as he settled himself in the grass.

Zuko watched as Sokka’s eyes roamed the visible sections of his skin, marveling at the way the light reflected off of him.

“You’re beautiful,” Sokka said without thinking, looking up to meet Zuko’s eyes in surprise, a moment after the words left his lips.

Zuko looked down, embarrassed.

“You’re one to talk.”

Sokka tugged at Zuko’s hand again until he looked back up. “I’m not sure if I should yell at you for deflecting the compliment or say thank you.”

Zuko ignored that, fixing Sokka with a hesitant look before asking, “So, not too weird?”

“Definitely not,” Sokka confirmed, turning Zuko’s hand over in his, transfixed by the way the light refracted off of it. “Pretty cool, actually.”

Zuko laughed tersely. “Pretty cool.”

“Yeah,” Sokka said, looking at him worriedly. “Was that the last surprise?”

Zuko frowned, pulling his hand back suddenly. “No.”

With the abrupt loss of his cool touch, Sokka became uncomfortably aware of the warmth of the sun on the back of his neck. He resisted the urge to reach back out and grab Zuko’s hand, instead asking –

“So, what else?”

“The last one isn’t so much a surprise as it is a confession.”

Zuko wasn’t looking at him.

“Okay,” Sokka said, trying to ignore the nerves starting to build in his chest, “What is it?”

Zuko took a deep breath and pressed his hands against his thighs, steadying himself.

“Okay. So. I’m sure you noticed, when we first met, that I wasn’t exactly polite.”

Sokka laughed loudly, breaking through the tenseness that had grown in the air between them.

“That’s a bit of an understatement.”

Zuko gave him a pained look.

“I know, I’m sorry just, let me explain, okay?”

Sokka nodded, putting his chin in his hands and leaning forward, his elbows resting against his legs.

Zuko continued. “Since the first moment we met, I tried to stay away from you, for your safety. I didn’t want to – I was trying to make sure that I didn’t hurt you. I was scared that I would hurt you.”

Sokka nodded. He’d figured that much out himself but, based on the distraught look on Zuko’s face, it might not hurt to say it out loud.

“I figured,” Sokka said, “I mean, once I put the rest of it together, and came to the conclusion that you didn’t want to eat me, the way you acted made sense. Although –”

Sokka stopped himself. He really wanted to know but…

“Although what?”

Sokka spoke slowly – carefully. “Although, I was wondering. I trust that you won’t hurt me but, you do need to eat at some point, don’t you? And, well, I had a guess, based on a few things.”

“What things?”

Zuko had folded his hands together in his lap, squeezing them together tightly. He was watching Sokka like he was afraid he would run away at any moment.

“Well, for one thing, your eyes aren’t red.”

Zuko’s eyebrow shot up.

“Aha!” Sokka exclaimed, “I knew that had something to do with it.” Before Zuko could respond, Sokka hurried through to his next thought. “The camping trip – the bears. Do you – does that –”

Zuko was staring at him in disbelief.

“How did you figure that out?”

Sokka shrugged. “Lucky guess?”

Zuko shook his head, then said, “Well, yes. We – all of my family – we’re what’s considered vegetarians. We don’t drink human blood – we only hunt animals.”

Sokka grinned. “Like bears. I knew it.”

Zuko didn’t grin back. It was jarring to see such a distraught face, shimmering in the sunlight of late morning.

“Sokka.”

“What?”

“We don’t drink human blood,” Zuko repeated, “And I told you that I was scared that I was going to hurt you.”

Sokka frowned in confusion. “Huh.”

Zuko unclasped his hands, putting his face in them for a moment before looking up again, a distressed look in his eyes.

“This is the confession part.”

Sokka nodded. “Okay.”

“We’ve been vegetarians for most of our lives – it’s not difficult. It hasn’t been, in a long time. But sometimes – rarely – there will be a human whose blood is so tempting, to one vampire in particular, that it could even pull a multiple century vegetarian back to human blood.”

Zuko paused, looking at Sokka for a reaction. Sokka said nothing, nodding once to show that he was listening.

Zuko let out a shuddering breath and continued. “It’s really, really rare. It’s only happened in our family twice. Once, to Mai, over a hundred years ago.” He paused again and Sokka found his voice.

“What did she do?”

Zuko’s silence was all the answer Sokka needed. He asked another question.

“When was the second time it happened?”

Zuko met his eyes.

“Your first day of school.”

For a moment, there were no sounds but the rustling of a light breeze in the grass and a distant birdsong. Sokka could feel his heart beating quickly beneath his hoodie – Zuko’s hoodie – and tried to steady himself, sitting up and pressing his good hand into the ground.

“So,” he started, shocked to find that his voice came out in a whisper, “That’s why you were. You know.” Zuko just looked at him, so Sokka added, “Kind of an asshole.”

Zuko didn’t laugh, but amusement flickered across his face for half a second. “Yeah. That’s why.”

“Well then, I forgive you,” Sokka said, and Zuko stared at him in disbelief.  

“You forgive me?”

“For acting like a dick,” Sokka clarified.

“Sokka,” Zuko said in a pained voice, “I essentially just told you that I wanted to kill you the first day we met, and you’re concerned about the fact that I was acting like a dick?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No, of course not.”

“That’s what I thought,” Sokka said, “But I still had lingering concerns about the dick-ish behavior, because I didn’t understand why you acted like that around me specifically, not humans in general. Now that’s all cleared up.”

Zuko uncrossed his legs, leaning back and pulling his knees up to his chest. “You’re so…”

“Wonderful?” Sokka offered.

“I was going to say stupid.”

“Rude.”

“I just, don’t –”

Zuko stopped, leaning his chin against his right knee, watching Sokka warily.

“Why aren’t you scared?”

The sun, beating down directly on them, was starting to be a bit too much for Sokka. He pulled off his jacket, dropping it into the grass next to him, then moved to his knees, crawling towards Zuko and resettling in front of him, grabbing his hand again. This time, he intertwined their fingers. Sokka felt Zuko tense, but he also felt him tightly grip his hand. He took that as a good sign.

“I trust you,” Sokka said simply.

“Why?”

“Do you want a list?”

Zuko’s smile finally reappeared. “Maybe.”

“Put your knees down first, this is uncomfortable.”

Zuko dropped his knees, sticking one leg out and crossing the other underneath it. Sokka leaned against his leg, his own legs tucked to his side.

“Okay, better.”

Zuko gave him an impatient look. “Your list?”

Sokka rolled his eyes, but said, “You’ve saved my life more than once. That would be a bit counterproductive if you were trying to kill me.”

Zuko said nothing, still smiling as he reached out his free hand to grab at the edge of Sokka’s – or, his – hoodie.

“And,” Sokka continued, grinning as Zuko tugged him slightly closer, “You saved my sister’s life. So, I know that you’re not just saving me because you’re wildly infatuated with me. You’re a good person in a general sense.”

“A good person in a general sense,” Zuko repeated, “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that before.”

“Well, I am,” Sokka said, scooting closer still, until he was one movement from crawling into Zuko’s lap, “Because you are a good person.”

“In a general sense,” Zuko said again, smirk growing.

“Oh my god, I’m not going to be nice to you if you’re just going to mock my word choice,” Sokka groaned, leaning his head against Zuko’s chest.

Zuko let go of his hand and Sokka panicked for half a second before he felt cool fingers at his jawline, gently pulling his head up. He let Zuko guide his head towards him, the hand on his hoodie moving more firmly to grip at his waist, pulling him closer.

Sokka’s breath stopped when he realized just how close they had gotten, Zuko’s golden eyes so close to him that he could only really see the iridescence of his skin in his peripheral vision. Zuko was leaning down, their foreheads touching, and the déjà vu wasn’t the only thing making Sokka’s stomach swoop nervously.

“Hey,” Sokka murmured.

“Hey,” Zuko whispered back.

They were so close that their lips touched for a millisecond as Zuko spoke, and Sokka was very, very quickly losing the restraint to hold himself back.

Zuko pulled back slightly – maybe a centimeter – but Sokka couldn’t stop his left hand from jumping up to his neck, holding him in place, but not pulling him any closer.

“Zuko, I’d really like to kiss you now.”

“Are you sure?”

Sokka snorted, tightening his grip on Zuko’s neck. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay,” Zuko breathed, slowly leaning back in, “Yeah.”

Sokka wasn’t quite as patient. As soon as the affirmative left Zuko’s mouth, Sokka tugged his head down, and finally, their lips met.

Sokka couldn’t help but sigh at the feeling of Zuko’s lips, soft and cool, against his. Zuko was being cautious – his mouth moving tentatively against Sokka’s, one hand gently cradling his cheek, the other loosely wrapped around his waist. Sokka knew, objectively, that he should follow Zuko’s lead and let the kiss be soft and hesitant. But it was difficult to be objective when Zuko tilted his head, parting his lips slightly, and before Sokka could decide if it was a good idea, he had pulled himself flush against Zuko’s chest, his right arm looping around Zuko’s back, his wrist splint bumping roughly into him.

“Sorry,” Sokka mumbled against Zuko’s mouth, “Accident.”

“Sokka, shh.”

Zuko’s voice was so quiet that if he hadn’t felt the vibrations of words in the space between his lips, Sokka isn’t sure he would’ve known that Zuko had spoken at all.

Instead of responding, Sokka loosened his grip on Zuko’s neck, letting his hand shift up to his hair, and god, it was even softer than he’d imagined. He felt Zuko’s hand slide from his waist down to the edge of the hoodie, creeping up underneath to Sokka’s bare skin. Briefly, Sokka wondered if he was the one at risk of spontaneous combustion.

Zuko’s other hand glided from Sokka’s cheek to the side of his neck, his fingers tracing from the base of his neck to the buzzed hair of his undercut  – Sokka let out an involuntary noise that, in any other context, would’ve embarrassed him.

Zuko pulled back suddenly, dropping his hand from Sokka’s face, but keeping the one that had been inching its way up his back where it was. Sokka let go of Zuko’s hair – it was only then that he realized how tightly he’d been gripping it – but kept his other arm around his waist.

Sokka was breathing heavily and Zuko didn’t seem to be breathing at all.

Sokka frowned. “Are you okay?”

Zuko nodded, seeming unwilling to let any air out of his mouth.

“Do you want me to back off?”

Zuko gave him a strained look and nodded, pulling his hand out from underneath the hoodie.

Sokka moved off Zuko’s lap, but grabbed his hand again, not ready to be completely detached from him yet.

“Is this okay?” Sokka asked, and Zuko nodded, finally breathing out.

Zuko crossed his legs again, looking down at their intertwined fingers.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “You didn’t do anything wrong, I just – need a minute.”

“I’m fine with stopping as long as you promise we can do that again.”

Zuko grinned.

“We can definitely do that again.”

Sokka grinned back, dropping his hand for a moment to turn his body so that he was sitting in front of Zuko with his back to him.

“Is it okay if I...?” Sokka trailed off, tilting himself slightly backwards.

“Yeah,” Zuko whispered, taking his hand again.

Sokka let Zuko pull him all the way back until he was resting his head in his lap. From this angle, the sun framed Zuko’s head like a halo. That, plus the dazzling effect of his diamond skin, was enough to make Sokka worry momentarily about going blind. But as Zuko smiled down at him, one hand threading gently through his hair, their free hands intertwined, Sokka felt that it might be worth it if he could stay in this moment as long as he wanted.

Chapter Text

They were supposed to be studying.

They’d intended to study, honest. After all, Mr. Banner’s quarter exams were notoriously difficult, and this was Sokka’s first one since arriving to Forks.

They needed to study.

They should be studying. Their textbooks and notes were out on Sokka’s bed and everything.

But then Zuko had bitten his lip in concentration while reading over his notes (which he was totally doing for Sokka’s benefit, by the way, because the asshole had taken this class like, fifteen times), and Sokka might have lost his ability to focus on the details of cellular respiration.

To be fair, Sokka was studying. In a sense. He was studying the way that Zuko’s hands felt running up his sides, tracing circles at his hips, studying how, when Zuko moaned into his mouth, his cool breath sent tingles down Sokka’s spine.

Sokka was pretty sure that he could write a dissertation on the noise that Zuko made when Sokka nipped playfully at his bottom lip.

Before he could begin drafting his thesis statement, there was a slamming sound, and Zuko was gone from underneath him.

Sokka fell face first onto his bed with a loud thud, unable to even turn his head before he heard –

"Are you napping? Aren’t you supposed to be studying?”

Sokka rolled to his side – Katara was standing in his doorway, her hands on her hips and an irritated look on her face, his door still vibrating slightly from the force of her entrance. Zuko –  smug bastard – was sitting in Sokka’s desk chair with his notes and book open in front of him, twirling a pencil between his fingers like he’d been there the whole time. Sokka resisted the urge to glare at him.

“Um,” Sokka said stupidly, his eyes on Katara, “I was taking a break?”

“Isn’t the point of a study date to study together?” She gave Zuko a pointed look but didn’t meet his eyes. Her glower was focused on a point somewhere near his shoulder.

“How are we supposed to study if you’re standing there interrogating us?” Sokka retorted, sitting up as his shock faded into annoyance. “Did you need something?”

“Dad wanted to know if Zuko wanted to stay for dinner,” Katara deadpanned, unfazed by Sokka’s change in tone. It was clear that she was unhappy to be the messenger of that request.

“I can’t,” Zuko said before Sokka could respond, “I actually need to leave soon. It’s Toph’s birthday today, so we’re having a family dinner. Please, tell Hakoda I said thank you for the invitation.”

“Tell him yourself,” Katara snapped, turning on her heel and pulling the door shut aggressively behind her.

“So,” Zuko said after a stretch of silence, punctuated only by Sokka’s study playlist playing quietly over his speaker, “Are you two fighting, or was that directed entirely at me?”

Sokka shrugged, flopping back down onto the bed and covering his face with his good arm. “I don’t know.” He paused. “Family dinner?”

“Well, I had to say something.”

Sokka snorted in response. He didn’t move his arm, but he could feel Zuko’s concerned gaze on him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Okay.”

A moment later, Sokka felt the return of Zuko’s weight to the bed, felt himself pulled up into his hard chest, one of Zuko’s arms wrapped loosely around him, his fingers tracing along the back of Sokka’s hoodie (seriously, it was Sokka’s this time). Zuko had his notebook in his free hand, reading through his notes again – letting Sokka stew in silence.

Were he and Katara fighting? That was a question that Sokka had been trying to answer for the past week and a half. She’d been only moderately annoyed when they met back up after school on Friday, that annoyance mainly stemming from the fact that Sokka and Zuko had arrived back to the school parking lot about thirty minutes after the bell rang.

Any real irritation Katara had been holding onto faded that night though, when Aang had texted and asked if she wanted to go with him to the beach – alone this time – because they had never gotten around to heading back to the tide pools like they’d wanted. The uncontrollable grin on her face when she slipped back into the house Saturday evening was evidence enough that it had gone well, but Sokka was more than happy to let Katara give him the complete rundown of the day on the roof that night, only teasing her a little bit when she gushed about how Aang had gotten her flowers, just to confess that he liked her.

Sokka had figured that, now that Katara’s romantic life was tied up with a bow, she’d back off a bit on his. He had no such luck – as per usual, Katara had other plans.

The following Saturday, when Sokka had rolled out of bed, lured downstairs by the strong smell of cooking eggs and bacon, he’d been surprised to find that Katara and Hakoda weren’t the only ones in the kitchen.

Jet was sitting at their kitchen table, a full plate in front of him, chatting with Katara as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Katara had decided, all on her own, that it was a great day for the three of them to hang out, apparently. And it wasn’t like Sokka could have said no with Jet already there, backpack stuffed with snacks and ready for a day of hiking. So, off they went in the truck, (because Jet, apparently, rode a motorcycle), to a trail in the state park (near the main entrance and actually meant for novice hikers).

Sokka pretended not to be annoyed by the ache in his legs; by how much he definitely preferred Zuko’s version of hiking. He also pretended not to notice the way that Jet kept walking way too close to him, bumping their hands together, and grinning at him over his shoulder. Sokka definitely ignored the self-satisfied look on Katara’s face every time any of those things occurred.

Sokka hadn’t brought any of it up to Zuko because, well, he didn’t want to, and frankly, it didn’t seem worth his attention. Sokka had been certain that Katara would be thinking about it, but Zuko hadn’t mentioned it any of the times he’d been over that week, and Sokka was in no rush to talk about it. He had watched Zuko’s face carefully every time Katara had expressed her annoyance at his general existence, but he showed no sign of her thoughts screaming out her clear desire for Sokka to date someone else.

And Zuko had a pretty shitty poker face.

So, Sokka assumed that somehow, Katara had been managing to keep her preference for who he should date off her mind, at least around Zuko. He would feel grateful to her for that, but it wasn’t like she knew that she was helping him. If anything, she would probably think hard about it on purpose if she knew the drama that it would cause.

Okay. Maybe Sokka was a little annoyed at her.

It was Zuko pressing a kiss into Sokka’s hair that jarred him out of his thoughts. When Sokka pulled his head back from Zuko’s shoulder to look at him, he looked concerned.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you frown that hard.”

“I’m fine,” Sokka said, “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

Sokka was once again grateful for his inexplicably impenetrable mind. He snuggled back into Zuko’s shoulder and said, “About how comfortable you are.”

Zuko gave him a puzzled look. “Aren’t you cold?”

“Nah,” Sokka said, “It’s perfect. You’re like an air conditioner. I can wear warm clothes and cuddle without overheating.”

Zuko snorted. “Romantic.”

“I thought so.”

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a bit longer, Zuko still pretending to peruse his notes.

Eventually, though he really didn’t want to, Sokka poked Zuko’s chest and asked, “Didn’t you say that you had to leave soon?”

“We’re not really having family dinner, Sokka,” Zuko said, “But yeah, I probably should. It’s a school night. I wanted to ask you something before I left, though.”

Sokka sat up, grinning when Zuko clung to his hoodie gently for a second before letting him go. Sokka reached out for Zuko’s hand, intertwining their fingers and asking,  “What?”

“So, I’ve met your dad and your sister,” Zuko started, his eyes suddenly nervous.

“Mhmm. That’s gone super well.”

“Hey, Hakoda definitely likes me,” Zuko argued.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Sokka conceded, grinning, “He thinks you’re wonderful and freakishly polite. So what’s your question?”

“I was wondering if maybe you’d like to meet my family.”

Zuko was watching Sokka cautiously, like he was expecting him to say no.

“Well I’ve met Iroh,” Sokka said, “Multiple times. And he seems to like me.”

“Iroh likes everyone,” Zuko said automatically, freezing as he realized the implication of his words. “Not that the others won’t like you, I’m sure they will, they’d be stupid not to, but –”

Sokka squeezed his hand. “Calm down. I would love to meet your weird vampire family who might hate me, but probably won’t.” 

Zuko’s shoulders dropped in relief, tension visibly seeping out of him as he smiled, leaning forward to kiss Sokka chastely. “Okay. Okay. Great.”

"Great,” Sokka repeated, trying not to think too hard about how easily he’d agreed to be alone with five vampires.

“Dad, I really don’t think this is necessary.”

“Zuko made a good impression on me,” Hakoda said, straightening the collar of Sokka’s flannel as they stood by the front door, “I’m guessing you want to do the same with his family?”

Katara snorted loudly from the living room. Sokka couldn’t see her, but he could vividly picture the expression of disbelief on her face, no doubt wanting to make it clear that Hakoda was the only member of their family whom Zuko had managed to impress. Sokka ignored her.

“Okay, sure, but flowers?” Sokka groaned, glancing down at the bouquet Hakoda had momentarily placed on the chair in the entryway. “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“It’s polite,” Hakoda said, “You’re taking them. I’ll ask Zuko if you gave them to Iroh or not when he drops you back off, so don’t try to get out of it.”

Sokka groaned, grabbing the flowers and waving them in front of his face. “Okay! I promise.”

“Good,” Hakoda said, looking over the top of Sokka’s head through the window, “Because Zuko’s here.”

Sokka spun around and saw Zuko’s Volvo parked behind the truck, Zuko himself crouching down to peer into his mirror, ruffling his hair.

“See,” Hakoda said, laughter evident in his tone, from behind Sokka, “You’re not the only one who’s nervous.”

“I’m not nervous!” Sokka exclaimed, biting his tongue as he realized that he was definitely being loud enough for Zuko to hear him from outside. In a quieter tone, he continued, “I’m not. I’ve met Iroh plenty of times, and I go to school with the rest of them. It’s not a big deal.”

“Whatever you say, Sokka,” Hakoda said, retreating into the kitchen as Zuko knocked on the door.

Sokka opened the door a little too quickly for it to be believed that he hadn’t been standing there waiting, but Zuko seemed too nervous to make fun of him. Sokka’s warm smile was accompanied by a sigh of relief – he wasn’t underdressed. Zuko was in his usual look of an oversized sweater and jeans, his sweater a deep maroon instead of his normal black.

“Hey,” Zuko breathed, stepping in as Sokka moved backwards to make space, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to his lips. It was really wonderful how similar they were in height – no need for craning necks and muscle cramps. “Is Hakoda here?”

“What, are you gonna kiss him too?”

Zuko gave him a look. “No. I just thought it would be rude to whisk you away without saying hello.”

Making it incredibly obvious that he’d been eavesdropping, Hakoda peeked in from the kitchen. “Good morning, Zuko. How was your drive?”

“Great, sir. How are you?”

Sokka’s impatient moan died in his throat when it hit him that, very soon, he’d be making similarly painful small talk with Iroh and the rest of the Cullens. Who were – you know. Slightly more intimidating than Hakoda, for a few specific reasons.

As though the mere thought of intimidation had summoned her, Katara stalked into the entryway for a moment, muttering, “Hey, Zuko,” under her breath before stomping up the stairs.

“Hi, Katara,” Zuko answered, after she was out of sight. From the petulant noise that echoed down from the top of the stairs, they were all certain that she’d heard him.

Hakoda opened his mouth to apologize for her behavior, but Zuko shook his head, smiling.

“Don’t worry, sir, I’m sure it’s my fault.”

Hakoda laughed at that. “You’re probably right – Katara’s never wrong.” He turned to Sokka. “You’ll be back by…?”

“Five,” Sokka said, glancing at Zuko for confirmation. He nodded.

“Okay,” Hakoda said, “Tell Iroh I said hello, Zuko. And give him the flowers, Sokka.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sokka said, handing the flowers to Zuko, throwing his denim jacket over his right arm, grabbing Zuko’s hand and pulling him out the front door, “See you later, Dad!” The door swung shut before he could hear Hakoda’s response.

“In a rush?” Zuko asked, grinning and allowing himself to be dragged towards his own car.

“To be away from my dad? Absolutely. To meet your vampire family – ?” Sokka stopped, unsure of how to finish that sentence.

“It’d be weird if you weren’t nervous,” Zuko said, pulling Sokka’s door open for him. “Seriously. I’d worry about your mental stability if you were going into this with no reservations whatsoever.”

“Good to know you’re looking out for my mental stability,” Sokka said as he sat down, taking a deep breath as Zuko shut the door behind him. He didn’t exhale until Zuko had handed him back the flowers, pulled out of the driveway, and turned onto the road.

“So,” Sokka said, after they’d been driving for about ten minutes, “Where exactly do you live?”

“It’s technically within Forks city limits.”

Sokka gave him a look. “What does that mean?”

“It’s just…secluded. We like privacy.”

“Okay,” Sokka said, falling silent and looking out the window as they left the main area of town, suddenly surrounded only by trees. They took a left instead of a right at the fork that would’ve taken them towards the state park. Sokka dropped the flowers into his lap and began tapping his fingers nervously on the center console.

“Are you okay?” Zuko asked, glancing over quickly.

“Yep,” Sokka said, his voice embarrassingly higher than he’d expected it to be.

Zuko was frowning. “You know, Toph already likes you.”

“Really?” Based on what Katara had told him about Toph, that seemed highly unlikely.

“Well, okay, like might be a bit of an exaggeration,” Zuko corrected, “She’s definitely…fascinated by you.”

“Fascinated,” Sokka repeated, staring straight ahead.

Suddenly, he felt Zuko’s hand resting on top of his. Sokka looked back over at him and, though he was still looking at the road, which was becoming increasingly curvy as they moved higher up into the hills, the worry etched on his face was clear.

“They’re all supportive of this – of us. I wouldn’t have asked you to come over if they weren’t,” Zuko said. “They just might be a little weird at first. This isn’t exactly a normal situation.”

“What, you’ve never brought a human home to meet the family before?”

Sokka was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but Zuko answered seriously, squeezing his hand as he did.

“No. Never.”

Sokka pulled their hands up to his lips, kissing Zuko’s knuckles gently and saying, “Guess I better make a good impression, then.”

As they pulled around the last curve of road, Jet’s words at the beach came back to him abruptly and Sokka couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Oh. Forest mansion.”

Zuko looked over at him in confusion. “What?”

“Nothing,” Sokka said hurriedly, deciding that bringing up Jet probably wasn’t the best idea. Though, his description had been incredibly accurate.

Framed on all sides by tall pine trees stood easily the largest house in the Forks. There were three levels, and half of the exterior walls were windows – Sokka could see that the inside was meticulously decorated, like something out of a magazine. The garage was wide – it looked like it fit at least five cars inside.

“Shit,” Sokka said, again unable to stop himself.

Zuko laughed awkwardly. “I know it’s a bit much, but –”

"No, it’s just – not what I expected?”

Zuko parked, then looked over at him, amusement cautiously creeping onto his face.

“What did you expect?”

Sokka flushed. “I don’t know. Dungeons? A moat?”

Zuko laughed loudly and said, “Sorry to disappoint,” before hopping out of the car, appearing suddenly in front of Sokka’s door before he could even think about opening it himself.

“You really enjoy scaring me with your whole super speed thing, don’t you?” Sokka groaned as Zuko grabbed the flowers off his lap, pulling him up and out of the car with his other hand.

“Definitely,” he said, kissing Sokka’s cheek. “Are you ready?”

Sokka took a deep breath. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Zuko guided him up the stairs to the front door, and Sokka wondered if the rest of his family was sitting somewhere inside, listening to their conversation and to Sokka’s nervous heartbeat. Probably.

When the front door shut behind them, Sokka tried to take in as much about the front room as possible. It was even more intimidating on the inside – all of the furniture was clean, had sharp edges, and looked as though no one ever sat on it. Sokka dropped Zuko’s hand, wandering towards a wall that seemed to have pictures on it. As he got closer, he was drawn to a picture that looked at least a century old – if the black and white and outfits worn by the subjects were clue enough – of Zuko, Mai, and two girls he didn’t know. Although, one of them looked incredibly familiar.

"Is that…?” Sokka turned around to look at Zuko in surprise.

Zuko was staring back at him, his forehead creased, his mouth in a tight line.

“My sister.”

“Your sister,” Sokka repeated, looking back at the photo. Zuko had a sister that looked far too similar to him to not be a human sister. The four of them were posed stiffly, not smiling. Zuko’s sister and the other girl, who had long braided hair, were seated; Mai and Zuko were standing behind their chairs, hands folded and resting on the backs. It looked like something out of a history book. Sokka could tell, though the mystery of Zuko’s sister – who looked so much like him – confused him, that they were vampires in this picture. Their features were sharp and elegant in a way that no human's face ever was.

“Yes. Azula. The other one is Ty Lee.”

Sokka turned away, not bothering to look at the other photos – after all, he recognized Toph and Haru in the others and had no follow-up questions – and walked back towards Zuko, who seemed frozen in place. “What happened to them?”

Zuko opened his mouth.

Paused.

Closed it. He seemed unsure of where to start.

“They –” he started to say, but he was cut off by a loud thudding noise.

Toph appeared suddenly, from around the corner, landing solidly (did she jump? Sokka hadn’t seen her jump) next to Zuko and punching him hard in the arm.

She grinned and said, “You can calm your heartbeat down, Sokka, that’s how I show affection. I would punch you too, if it wouldn’t break your arm.”

It was then that Sokka noticed that Zuko was rolling his eyes.

When Sokka did nothing but look back and forth between the two of them, Toph said, “Seriously, Sokka –  calm down,” fixing an intense gaze near a point on his left arm.

Oh yeah. She was blind.

Abruptly, inexplicably, Sokka felt his heartbeat slow down and a sense of calm take over his body. He stared at Toph, who still seemed to be concentrating, and the confusion on his face must’ve been clear, because Zuko said –

“Toph, cut it out.”

“What?” she exclaimed, her focus on Sokka dropping. He felt his heartbeat pick back up immediately.

“You met him two seconds ago, can’t you wait a bit before controlling his emotions –”

Sokka found his voice. “Controlling my what?”

Toph grinned. “Did Zuko not tell you my special power? Typical, he thinks his is the best.”

“No I don’t –”

“Shut up, Zuko,” Toph said,  “And come on. Everyone’s waiting in the sitting room.”

“Is this not the sitting room?” Sokka asked, embarrassment spreading across his body as soon as the words left his mouth.

“No,” Toph said, grabbing Sokka by the forearm and pulling him down the hallway that she had appeared from, “And calm down, or I will do that again.”

“What exactly was that?” Sokka asked, wincing at the force of her icy grip – not painful, but much stronger than Zuko’s gentle touches had ever felt. He glanced over his shoulder at Zuko, who was following behind them with an exasperated expression.

“Toph, be careful,” Zuko begged, giving Sokka an apologetic look.

Toph loosened her grip on Sokka’s arm slightly, then explained, “It’s like Zuko said, I can control people’s emotions – and read them. Sort of like his mind reading thing, but less invasive.”

“Hey –”

“Shut up, Zuko,” Toph said again.

“Stop manhandling Sokka!”

“No,” Toph answered, grinning, “Anyways, here we are.”

They had stopped in front of a closed door, behind which Sokka assumed the rest of the family was waiting. He felt his heartbeat pick back up – and then he felt Toph squeeze his arm. Ow.

“Toph, let go,” Zuko said, pushing her hand off of Sokka’s arm and lacing their fingers back together. Sokka couldn’t stop himself from smiling at Zuko’s soft touch – the way he started tracing delicate circles into the back of his hand. The calming effect of Zuko's fingers worked far better than whatever Toph had done.

“Okay, ew,” Toph said, “Sokka, I can’t read your mind, but the energy your emotions are giving off is gross. Let’s go inside already.”

She pushed open the door, Zuko and Sokka trailing behind her.

“Sorry about her,” Zuko muttered under his breath, but Sokka merely shrugged, far more focused on taking in the new room – and its occupants.

This room had two couches and a coffee table, upon which a tea set was sitting. Iroh and Haru were seated on one couch and Mai was leaning against the back wall – or, window. This was one of the rooms that opened up to the forest, making it seem like they were actually in the trees. Toph threw herself down next to Haru, putting her feet up in his lap, as the other three looked up, eyes trained on Sokka. He swallowed hard.

Iroh spoke first, standing and walking towards them.

“Sokka, it’s wonderful to see you outside of the emergency room,” he said, reaching out to take Sokka’s hand. Zuko detangled their fingers, making an annoyed noise.

Iroh gripped his hand and shook it as Sokka said, “It’s great to see you too, sir. Um, these are for you.” He broke the cold handshake (Iroh’s grip wasn’t nearly as aggressive as Toph’s, but nowhere near as gentle as Zuko’s), grabbing the flowers out of Zuko’s other hand.

Iroh beamed. “Thank you, Sokka. Zuko, can you go find a vase for these?”

Zuko looked strained. “Really?”

“Sokka will be fine without you for two minutes,” Iroh said, giving him a pointed look.

“Fine,” Zuko grumbled, taking the flowers and leaving the room quickly.

“Sokka, this is Haru,” Iroh said, guiding Sokka over to the empty couch and nodding his head towards Haru, who gave Sokka a half smile, “And Mai.”

Sokka glanced at Mai, who hadn’t moved from her spot against the window, and smiled at her weakly.

“Hey,” she said flatly.

There was a long stretch of silence, wherein Mai – unmoving and statuesque – stared at Sokka, Toph picked at her nails, Haru looked disgusted by Toph, and Iroh smiled contentedly. The quiet was broken when Sokka, avoiding eye contact with all of them, noticed the tea set again.

“So do you – can you drink tea?” he asked, feeling extremely stupid. He directed his question at Iroh, who had taken his place next to Haru again.

Iroh shook his head and smiled. “No, that’s for you. We thought you might enjoy it.”

Yep. Stupid.

“You thought he might enjoy it,” Toph corrected.

Iroh smiled. “That’s true. I used to be quite fond of tea, back when I could have it. So, what type do you prefer? Jasmine? Green? Ginseng?”

“Uh,” Sokka said, knowing full well that he only drank coffee, “Green tea is lovely. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Iroh said, busying himself with preparing it as Zuko reentered the room, an annoyed look on his face. He sat down next to Sokka, throwing a protective arm around his shoulders, only to groan at the puzzled look on Iroh’s face.

“What?”

“Well, I thought you would bring the flowers back here – ”

“They’re in the front room. I’m not leaving again.” Zuko lightly squeezed Sokka’s shoulder as he said it.

“Fine, fine,” Iroh said, handing Sokka a steaming teacup, “Here you go, Sokka.”

“Thanks,” Sokka said, blowing before taking a sip and trying to keep his face blank – he was definitely a coffee guy.

“So, Sokka,” Iroh began again, “Tell us about yourself.”

“You don’t have to,” Zuko said, making a face, “He doesn’t have to.”

“I’m sure your boyfriend can speak for himself, Zuko,” Mai said from her corner. Sokka looked up – she was rolling her eyes.

“I don’t mind,” Sokka said, and he felt Zuko’s body relax – slightly. “I uh, well it’s just me, my sister Katara, and my dad.”

“Yes, I know Chief Hakoda very well,” Iroh said with a smile, “He was incredibly welcoming to our family when we first moved to Forks.”

“Uh, yeah, that sounds like him,” Sokka said.

They were all staring at him intensely – Toph had even taken her feet out of Haru’s lap and was sitting straight up, her gaze focused in his general direction. Sokka felt very much like he was under a bright spotlight; the weight of Zuko’s arm on his shoulders was the only thing keeping him steady.

“So, yeah, we moved to Forks because um, our mom died,” he paused, to take in their reactions.

No one but Iroh, who frowned slightly, seemed to react at all. Zuko squeezed his shoulder again.

“Yeah,” he said again, “So, that was in December, and uh, now we live with our dad and, um. That’s it.”

There was a long, painful silence during which Sokka wondered if it would be bad etiquette to try to hide in Zuko’s baggy sweater, but before he could deliberate on that option, a phone rang loudly.

“Sorry,” Iroh said, reaching into his pocket and standing, “It’s the hospital. Excuse me for a moment?”

Sokka nodded, the silence falling back on the room as Iroh swept out.

“So this is uncomfortable,” Toph pointed out.

“Toph,” Zuko groaned.

“What? It is!” she paused, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “Here’s an idea – how about we tell Sokka about ourselves? We’re a lot more interesting.”

Even Haru looked put off at that, though, Mai snorted from where she was standing.

“Toph, that’s rude," Haru said.

“What? It’s true,” Toph said, “We’ve lived longer. There’s more to tell.”

Before Zuko could argue in his defense, Sokka leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs. “I’m down. Tell me all your cool vampire stories.”

It was silent for a moment – and then Toph burst out laughing.

“Sweet.” She punched Haru in the arm and added, “Want to start with how we got added to the group?”

Haru shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He turned his gaze to Sokka and said, “We’re the youngest – we were both turned in the fifties, though, neither of us were turned by Iroh. I don’t remember who turned me, actually. I woke up alone.”

He paused, turning to Toph with an expectant look. She grinned.

“But then he found me! Or, he saw me. Had a vision, about a year into his immortality, of the two of us joining up, becoming friends, and finding the rest of this lovely group,” she waved her arm towards Zuko and Mai. “Lucky thing too, because my turning wasn’t quite as simple.”

“What happened?” Sokka asked, entirely captivated by the story. Zuko was silent next to him but was rubbing circles into his shoulder.

“Well,” Toph said, “I ended up in a bit of a disagreement with a bear.”

“You – ”

“I had gotten in a fight with my parents,” Toph continued, “And run away, planning to camp out in the woods for a bit. My parents were very…overprotective, because of my blindness, and it got stifling sometimes. I needed fresh air. Turns out fresh air is sometimes accompanied by bears.”

“The vision I had was actually of the bear attacking her,” Haru jumped in, “And me saving her. So, that’s what I came to do, but by the time I got there, she had lost so much blood that saving her and her staying human – well, that wasn’t an option.”

“So, Haru turned me,” Toph finished, “And when all of that was over, per his vision, we found our way to these two and Iroh and we’ve been together since then. Going on sixty years now, right Zuko?”

Sokka looked over to see Zuko nod. “Yep. Sixty annoying years.”

Toph stuck her tongue out at him.

Sokka was watching her curiously. “What did you mean, when ‘all of that’ was over?”

Toph grinned. “The transformation. It’s not a pretty process – takes three days and hurts like hell. You know, for future reference.”

“Toph!” Zuko growled, his grip on Sokka tightening.

“She’s got a point you know,” Mai said from across the room, examining her nails instead of looking at them. “I’m just saying, if this goes somewhere permanent –”

“Mai, I swear – ”

Before an argument could break out, Iroh reentered the room, an apologetic look on his face.

“I’m afraid I have to step out for the day – I’m needed at the hospital. Will you five be alright without me?”

“We’ll be just fine,” Toph answered quickly, grinning towards Sokka.

Sokka smiled weakly but agreed. “I completely understand, sir.”

Iroh gave Sokka a warm smile and said, “It was great to talk with you, however briefly, Sokka. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon – and thank you for the flowers.” With a quick glance around the room, and a “Be nice,” sent in Mai’s direction, he took his leave.

The silence that fell over the room that time was incredibly brief.

“So, who’s next?” Toph asked, “Mai? Zuko?”

“Don’t look at me,” Mai said.

“I have a question,” Sokka interjected, looking over at Zuko, who was watching him nervously.

“Yeah?”

“What happened to Azula and Ty Lee?”

Sokka could tell immediately by the silence – aside from Haru’s gasp – that took over the room so quickly it was like it had replaced the air, he had overstepped. Sokka held his breath.

Zuko was still looking at him, but his jaw was clenched tightly, and he wasn’t saying a word.

Sokka jumped when Mai’s voice broke the silence, far closer than it had been previously.

“We should probably start at the beginning, shouldn’t we, Zuko?”

Sokka turned around – Mai had perched herself on the arm of the couch next to Haru. She was regarding Sokka with an emotion somewhere between suspicion and curiosity.

“Sure,” Zuko said, not adding anything else.

Mai made a disgruntled noise. “Fine. I’ll start. I’m the one that was there.”

Sokka let out the breath he was holding to ask, “You’re the oldest?”

“Yup,” Mai answered, emphasizing the “p” with a pop. “Well, technically Iroh’s the oldest. Then me. But before everyone else, it was just me, Iroh, and Ozai.”

Sokka felt Zuko stiffen next to him and looked over at him. His eyes were on Mai, the hand on Sokka’s shoulder now clenched into a fist.

“Who’s Ozai?” Sokka asked, rolling the unfamiliar name over his tongue.

“For about four hundred years before I was turned, Ozai and Iroh only had each other,” Mai said, rolling her shoulders back in a way that indicated she was starting a long story. She slid fluidly off the arm of the couch into the empty space next to Haru. “Ozai was the oldest. He turned Iroh because he figured, two vampires were more powerful than one – and everything was about power with him. He thought vampires were superior to humans and should have power over them.”

Mai sounded incredibly bitter as she explained that. Sokka glanced at Toph and Haru and found that they were both tense. Not nearly as tense as Zuko, who felt like he was made of marble against Sokka’s side, but it was clear that they knew exactly where the story was going and were dreading hearing the ending.

“The thing is,” Mai started again, “Iroh wasn’t alone in the world like Ozai was. He had a son, a wife. People that he wanted to protect.”

“What did he do?” Sokka whispered.

“Ozai wasn’t going to let him have any attachment to humans,” Zuko scoffed from Sokka’s left, startling the group.

Sokka turned to him, eyebrows raised in shock. “Are you saying that he made Iroh –”

“Yes,” Mai answered, before Sokka could finish. “You have to understand though, Iroh was a newborn, then.”

“A newborn?”

“When you first turn the thirst is – well, it’s unbearable,” Mai explained, “The fact that Haru was able to turn Toph when he was still so young was – well it was insane. That kind of thing doesn’t happen.”

“And I’m very grateful for it,” Toph added, elbowing Haru again.

Haru smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t know then that my visions weren’t set in stone, so, the fact that I’d seen myself being friends with an alive Toph made me certain I could do it. So, I did.”

“Like Mai said,” Zuko said severely, causing the smiles to drop from Toph and Haru’s faces, “That’s not normal. And it didn’t happen for Iroh.”

“What did happen?” Sokka asked again.

“Exactly what you think happened,” Mai snapped harshly, “Ozai made Iroh kill his family.”

There was quiet for a moment, any positivity in the room long sapped out, before Mai continued.

“And then there was me, four hundred years later,” she said, her eyes on Sokka. “I was Iroh’s moment of truth.”

Sokka stared back at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“He meant to kill me,” she said simply, “But, he couldn’t. His morals, humanity – whatever you want to call it – caught up to him, I suppose. After four centuries. For whatever reason, he couldn’t kill me. I was the first person he turned – and the last person he bit without the intention of turning them.”

“Wow,” Sokka breathed, and Mai laughed.

“Yeah, it was wonderful gift he gave me. Three days of writhing in pain and an immortality of being pushed around by Ozai, who, after Iroh’s sudden turn to vegetarianism, became ten times as vicious. According to Iroh.”

Mai paused, watching Zuko carefully. Zuko said nothing, so she continued. “Ozai was frustrated by me. Iroh doesn’t have any special powers, so he’d hoped that his mistake – me – would at least add one more vampire with powers to the group. He had his own abilities, but he wanted more.”

Sokka raised his eyebrows, expecting Mai to launch into her own explanation of her weird power, but she just laughed. “No such luck. I don’t have any extra powers. All I had was a thirst for blood and no family. Ozai quickly took advantage of that, despite Iroh’s attempts to shield me from it.”

“I’m sorry,” Sokka said, unsure of what else to say, and Mai shrugged.

“I wasn’t alone for too long – only about fifty years. That’s when Ty Lee came.”

The expression that crossed Mai’s face then was one unlike anything Sokka would have expected to see from her. Her eyes went soft – fond even – and a sad smile softened her lips. Sokka felt Zuko’s arm slide down to his waist, tugging him slightly closer.

“Ty Lee was an acrobat, in a circus that had stopped where we were hunting. Or, where Ozai and I were hunting. As I said, Iroh was a vegetarian at this point,” Mai said, “So he wasn’t with us. But we passed the circus and heard about this incredible acrobat, who was so strong it was like she was flying.”

She paused. Took a deep breath.

“What Ozai heard was, she would be a strong vampire. Hopefully, one with powers this time. So, we went to the show – to stake her out – and she was as incredible as they said she would be. Maybe even more so.”

If Sokka had to name the look in Mai’s eyes at the moment, it would be dreamy. He kept that thought to himself.

“We cornered her, after the show,” Mai said, frowning slightly, “And Ozai turned her. I – I don’t wish that – him – on anyone. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly grateful for Ty Lee. She was –” Mai paused again. “She made it easier. It wasn’t as lonely after I – we – had Ty Lee.”

She went quiet then, dropping her eyes to her lap, and Sokka didn’t push her. He could tell what she was saying – or trying to say – without needing to hear her say it. Instead, he turned to Zuko, who was watching him carefully.

“So, when did you show up?”

“About fifty years later,” Zuko answered, glancing over at Mai. She looked back up, her face its usual blank state again. “Ty Lee was great, and her skills as an acrobat transferred to her being able to actually fly as a vampire, so Ozai wasn’t particularly stressed about adding another vampire to his coven right away. Until he found my sister.”

Zuko pulled his arm out from behind Sokka, sitting back a bit and frowning. “It was 1902 and Azula and I were on our own. Our parents had died three years before, when Azula was twelve and I was fourteen, and it had been difficult, just the two of us. Azula was very easily frustrated, and she felt abandoned by our parents, by the nuns at the orphanage – by everyone, really. And I think she felt protective of me. Her response to our parents’ death was rage, and mine was…well I couldn’t bring myself to do much of anything, for a bit. So, occasionally, when protecting us, Azula got violent. She garnered a bit of a reputation.”

“Enough of a reputation that we caught wind of her,” Mai interjected, “And Ozai decided that he wanted her.”

“He didn’t know about me, though,” Zuko said, anger seeping into his voice. “So, when he cornered Azula – bit her – he wasn’t counting on me turning up. I’d gone out to try to find us some food, and when I got back, I heard her screaming.”

Sokka could feel his heartbeat in his throat – he secretly wished that Toph would work some of her calming magic on him, but a quick look across the room proved that she was too deeply engrossed in Zuko’s words to notice, or care, about Sokka’s emotional state.

“I walked in and – well. I don’t really remember all of it, but – ”

“Ozai wanted to kill him,” Mai filled in, “Didn’t see any use for a spare – no offense Zuko.”

He shrugged in response.

“Iroh convinced him not to kill me,” Zuko said, laughing derisively, “Convinced him that it would be easier for him to mold Azula, if she had family with her. He couldn’t have been more wrong.” He shook his head, as though that was the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“Azula’s powers were beyond anything we could’ve imagined,” Mai said, letting Zuko collect himself, “Even stronger than Ozai’s powers. He could create fire, but she could create lightning.”

Sokka felt something click in his brain, felt his stomach clench uncomfortably, but he was held captive by Mai’s words and couldn’t get his brain to grasp onto the subconscious realization.

Zuko spoke again then. “Azula – like I said. She felt abandoned. And then suddenly, she has incredible powers and Ozai is praising her, sending her out to try to convince other nomads to get behind his cause, and it went to her head, I think. After fifteen years, she wasn’t really Azula anymore.”

“At the same time,” Mai said, eyeing Zuko apprehensively, “Zuko and I had been staunch vegetarians. Zuko always was. Perfectionist.” She rolled her eyes affectionately.

“Whatever,” Zuko said, but he smiled at her, “The point is, we decided, with Iroh, that it was time to separate from Ozai. We wanted Azula and Ty Lee to come with us too, of course, but – ”

“That’s not quite what happened,” Mai finished, looking at Zuko, asking with worried eyes if he wanted to finish the story. He nodded.

“We were trying to convince Ty Lee first – we figured if we could get her on board, she could convince Azula. She was always better at getting her to do things than the rest of us were. But before we could even explain ourselves properly, Azula overheard us and – and told Ozai what we were planning.”

Zuko paused, took a deep breath, and continued. “Well, he obviously wasn’t pleased. He blamed Iroh, accused him of trying to overthrow him and steal the power he’d spent centuries building up and – a fight broke out.”

Zuko stopped again, ducking his head down and inhaling sharply.

“Zuko, do you want me to –” Mai started, but he shook his head.

“I’ve got it,” Zuko said, lifting his head again to meet Sokka’s wide eyes, “Ozai was – he wanted to punish Iroh, for daring to betray him like that, and he knew that Iroh was attached to me. He also saw me as the only thing keeping Azula from reaching her full potential – so. I suppose it was inevitable, in a way.”

“What was inevitable?” Sokka asked, finding his voice for the first time in what was several minutes, but felt like hours.

“It’s very difficult to kill a vampire,” Zuko said, his forehead furrowed like he was contemplating exactly how to phrase his words, “But regardless, you need to burn them for it to work.”

“You need to…”

“Azula can create lighting," he said, repeating Mai's words, "But Ozai could create fire.”

Zuko fell silent and looked down again. Sokka could feel the eyes of the other three on him, but he could look nowhere but the red scar that covered so much of Zuko’s face, partially hidden as his hair fell into his eyes.

Sokka wanted to reach out, to brush his fingers gently along Zuko’s face, but he wasn’t sure if it would be taken well. So, he stretched out to intertwine their fingers instead.

Zuko looked back up, and Sokka thought wildly that he wasn’t sure if vampires could cry, but the look in Zuko’s eyes definitely resembled being near tears. He squeezed Sokka’s hand, then turned to Mai, nodding at her to finish the story.

“Iroh fought him off,” she said, and Sokka could swear that she sounded choked up, “And at that point, it was about getting Zuko out of there alive. We – I – tried to convince Ty Lee to come, but she wouldn’t leave Azula. And we couldn’t wait.”

“Have you – have you seen them since?” Sokka asked, looking at Zuko for some sort of visual confirmation.

“No,” Mai answered, “But we heard, through some of our friends, that Ozai had been killed. The idiot created an immortal child.”

“An immortal – ”

“Kid turned vampire,” Toph interrupted, “Dangerous, uncontrollable, and Ozai’s own doom. Served him right.”

“What about Ty Lee and Azula? What happened to them?”

“We know they weren’t with Ozai anymore, when he did that,” Zuko said, his voice as hollow as the look on Mai’s face, “But we don’t know where they are.”

Later, back in Zuko’s car, Sokka found that he was unable to stop himself from asking a question that had been lingering in his head for hours.

“So, I have to ask –”

Zuko glanced over for a moment, his eyebrow quirked in curiosity, before focusing his eyes back on the road.

“Yeah?”

“It’s just. All of that, with Mai and Ty Lee…it got me thinking. Have you…you know. Dated other people before?”

“By people, you mean –”

“I mean, humans, yeah. Or vampires. Other beings.”

Zuko looked startled.

“I –”

“This is purely out of curiosity,” Sokka interrupted him, before he could go down some sort of spiral, “I don’t expect you to have been single for like, one hundred years, just waiting for me to appear in your life. That would be ridiculous.”

Zuko looked relieved.

“Okay, well, yeah. There have been a few.”

Sokka raised his eyebrows.

“Humans? Or –”

‘Yeah. I haven’t –”

Zuko paused. Frowned.

“Two people. I haven’t – I’ve tried not to make a habit of putting people in danger.”

“Did you love them?”

It took a while for Zuko to answer. When he finally did, he looked pained.

“I've never let it get that far.”

Sokka could feel the negativity radiating off of Zuko and tried to break through it with a joke. He smirked and teased, “Until now?”

He hadn’t expected Zuko’s eyes to widen in surprise or for him to clench the steering wheel tightly – nervously.

“Um –”

Oh.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Sokka said hurriedly, “Seriously, I was just kidding.”

“It’s fine,” Zuko said, reaching over and squeezing Sokka’s hand to prove it, “I’m not saying I’m – I know this is really new. But, maybe, it could be that?” There was a nervous edge in Zuko’s voice, and though he was still holding his hand, Sokka knew that the fact that he was driving wasn’t the only reason he was avoiding eye contact.

“It could be,” Sokka agreed, and was rewarded with a small grin from Zuko.

A grin that abruptly vanished as they pulled into Sokka’s driveway.

Next to a painfully familiar motorcycle.

“Ah, fuck,” Sokka said without thinking, and he felt Zuko’s confused gaze before he met it.

“Sokka?”

Sokka was silent; he didn’t have time to process if Zuko knew about Jet, if he’d just been keeping the fact that he’d read Katara’s thoughts to himself, or if he didn’t know what was going on at all, but could tell something was off by Sokka’s tone, because before he could choose one of those trains of thought to follow, the front door opened.

Jet came out, laughing, followed by Katara, an apologetic smile on her face. Hakoda was lingering behind them, waving goodbye.

Okay, maybe if he just –

Nope.

Jet looked up, his eyes locking on Zuko’s car, and though Sokka knew the windows were tinted, and there was no real way that Jet could see who was inside, the anger on his face was unmistakable. Whether Katara had filled him in, or he knew some other way, Jet knew. And he was livid.

Before Sokka could tell him not to, Zuko had all but jumped out of the car. Sokka followed him quickly.

“Zuko, this is –”

“He knows who I am,” Jet said venomously. If Sokka hadn’t seen it himself, he would’ve never believed that Jet had been smiling just moments before.

Sokka looked between the two of them in confusion – Jet was glaring, still standing on the porch, Katara and Hakoda hovering behind him. Katara’s eyes were wide in shock and Hakoda looked like he was contemplating his next move. Zuko was – well he looked more tense than Sokka had ever seen him, and that was saying something. His fists were clenched tightly by his side, and Sokka could see a muscle in his neck twitching.

Sokka stepped between the two of them, trying to break their intense eye contact. “Jet, look –”

“Sokka, get out of the way,” Jet spat, “This isn’t about you.”

“I don’t know what it’s about,” Sokka yelled, because, seriously, he didn’t, “But I know you need to back off.”

“You know exactly how I feel about him, I told you –”

“You don’t know him,” Sokka insisted, and Jet laughed loudly. Harshly.

“You don’t know him, Sokka.”

Jet moved forward, hopping off the porch, and Hakoda followed him, grabbing his shoulder.

“Jet, don’t –”

Jet shook off his hand. “I’m not starting anything – I’m leaving.”

Hakoda stayed still – all of them did – as Jet stalked down the driveway. They didn’t move until he had ridden off, their eyes following the motorcycle down the road for a few seconds longer than it was actually still within their vision.

Sokka turned quickly, to the porch where his sister was standing, her arms crossed over chest. “What was that?”

Katara looked offended. “What are you talking about?”

“What was he doing here, Katara?” Sokka yelled, his voice cracking slightly on her name.

“For your information, he came of his own accord,” Katara snapped, though she looked nervous, “He was looking for you.”

“For what?”

“Katara, Sokka –” Hakoda said, putting his hand on Sokka’s arm. He shook it off angrily.

“For what, Katara?”

She huffed angrily, glaring at Sokka. “You know for what. He likes you, Sokka.”

“Well that’s great for him, but as you’re aware, I’m dating Zuko,” Sokka snapped, anger rising in his chest at the defiant look on Katara’s face.

“Yeah, whatever.” She glared at him, her eyes flickering towards Zuko for a moment, before turning on her heel and storming back into the house.

“Sokka,” Hakoda said into the silence Katara left behind, but Sokka shook his head.

“Can you just – can you give us a second?”

Hakoda nodded, shooting Zuko an apologetic look before following Katara inside.

Then, finally, Sokka turned to look at Zuko, who hadn’t made a sound since they’d left the car. His hands had relaxed, no longer in fists, but every other part of his body was rigid. He wasn’t looking at Sokka.

Sokka took matters into his own hands, placing himself right in front of Zuko and grabbing his hand, squeezing it until he looked up.

With Zuko’s gaze finally on him, Sokka asked, “So. You know Jet. He doesn’t just know of you.”

“I didn’t know that you knew him,” Zuko said, and his voice sounded rough.

“The truck used to be his,” Sokka said, “Our dads have known each other forever.”

Zuko laughed hollowly. “Of course.”

Sokka bit his lip, then pushed, “So. How do you know him?”

Zuko looked away for a moment. “Remember when I said I’d dated humans before?”

“Oh my god,” Sokka gasped.

“It was – it was brief, I wouldn’t even call it dating –” Zuko started to explain, but Sokka shook his head and laughed, startling him into silence.

“I don’t – I’m not mad, this is just. Fuck, Forks is a small town.”

Zuko laughed shakily, seeming to relax at the amused look on Sokka’s face. “Yeah, it is.”

“Seriously. I’m not mad,” Sokka repeated, “I mean, I’m mad at Katara, because she seems determined to try to make me date anyone but you, but I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re sure?” Zuko asked, his eyes disbelieving.

“I’m sure,” Sokka confirmed, “Although, I do have one question.”

“Anything.”

“How did he know what your house looked like? You said you’d never taken anyone else home before.”

Zuko looked confused. “What? I haven’t.”

“I – earlier, when I called it a forest mansion. Those were Jet’s words, not mine. That’s what he said when he was talking about how much he hated you at the beach.”

Zuko raised his eyebrow at the explanation but said, “I think that was a lucky guess on his part. I – well, like I said, it was brief. And when I first moved here, so, I didn’t really get to know him, and I may have started talking about my family and our house, before I knew about his political leanings – ”

Sokka snickered. “So he really does hate you because you’re rich? No other reason?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Zuko said, still looking at Sokka cautiously, but he was grinning slightly. “That’s not gonna be a problem with you, is it?”

“Absolutely not. I’m actually only in this for the money,” Sokka said, smiling as Zuko rolled his eyes.

“Fair enough,” Zuko said, gently grasping the back of Sokka’s shirt and pulling him closer, “As long as I get to do this.”

Sokka melted into the kiss, letting Zuko’s lips distract him from the anxiety that had been building in his chest since Katara had stormed inside. That was a problem for tomorrow Sokka.

Chapter Text

Aang was the one who had suggested it.

It being a group date. A group date featuring Yue and Suki, Sokka and Zuko, and Katara and Aang.

Aang had proposed the idea during lunch on Wednesday, when Suki pointed out for the third time that Sokka wouldn’t pay attention to their conversation because he was too busy texting Zuko, then glancing across the cafeteria to see his reaction.

(Typically, an eye roll accompanied by a fond smile).

“I don’t understand why Zuko doesn’t just sit with us now,” Aang had said, genuine confusion on his face. Sokka hadn’t needed to look at Katara to know her reaction, but he did anyways.

Katara’s eyebrows had been furrowed in annoyance as she said, “Zuko seems perfectly happy sitting with his family, Aang.” She had looked around at the group with an air of confidence, like that had settled the debate and the conversation was over. Sokka hadn’t bothered arguing – he dealt with enough tension between Zuko and Katara when Zuko came over after school or on weekends; he didn’t need it at lunch too.

Despite Sokka’s lack of resistance and Aang shrinking back at her initial response, Katara ended up outnumbered.

“Come on, Katara,” Suki had said, “I don’t get what your deal is.”

“My deal?” Katara had narrowed her eyes, not quite giving Suki a death glare, but something close to it. A severe injury glare, at least.

Yue had stepped in before any metaphorical blood could be shed. “He’s really not as bad as you make him out to be, he’s perfectly nice to me in Biology.”

“That doesn’t mean he needs to sit with us at lunch,” Katara had snapped, and Sokka had felt himself agreeing. It wasn’t worth the inevitable tension.

Aang had frowned, clearly deep in thought.

“I really want him to feel included,” he had said, turning his gaze towards Sokka and adding, “He’s important to you, isn’t he?”

Sokka had felt his face go hot – until that point, he hadn’t really minded that Zuko was definitely listening in from across the room. After all, what Katara was saying was nothing he hadn’t heard before, either out loud or in her thoughts. But Aang’s question, so sincere and out of the blue, had jarred him from his decision to just let have Katara have her way. Sokka hadn’t been able to stop his lips from turning up into a soft smile as he said  –

“Yeah, he is.”

Sokka hadn’t even been embarrassed by the fondness in his tone, or the fact that Suki and Yue had, in unison, cooed, “Awww!” in response.

Between Sokka’s accidental sentimentality, Suki and Yue’s pestering and genuine desire to become friends with Zuko, and Aang’s dedication to bringing peace and balance to the world – or at least, their friend group –  Katara had begrudgingly agreed.

Not to Zuko infiltrating their lunch table – her words – but to a group dinner at one of the two restaurants in town after school on Friday.

So, here they were: squeezed into a half-circle booth seat around a slightly sticky diner table. Aang and Suki, who were in the middle of the group, were chatting about their volleyball practice later that evening – extra practice for a semi-final game coming up on the following Wednesday. Yue was sitting to Suki’s left, and Zuko was squeezed between her and Sokka, who had been forced to sit in the outside seat – or rather, hang off of it, because there really wasn’t enough room – after he bumped Yue with his wrist splint one too many times. Katara was seated to Aang’s right, glaring across the table at Zuko.

Zuko, who had become practiced in ignoring Katara’s glares over the past three weeks, was in the middle of a conversation with Yue about, of all things, the junior year English curriculum.

“Look, I’m just saying,” Zuko said, his back pressing into Sokka’s side as he turned to look at Yue more intensely, “Othello makes more sense for a junior year English class.”

“How does Twelfth Night not make sense? It’s the best Shakespeare play we’ve read so far, way better than Romeo and Juliet last year.” Yue argued back.

“I’m not saying it’s bad,” Zuko said, looking frustrated, “That’s the opposite of what I’m saying, actually.”

Yue was grinning, clearly amused by the argument that Zuko was taking very seriously, as she asked, “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” Zuko continued loudly and, yeah, he definitely did not get that Yue was fucking with him, “It’s too complicated for high school, and you know as well as I do that the majority of the people in our class don’t get it at all. They just complain the entire period about not understanding it, and the teacher’s an idiot, he should at least have us read aloud because really, Twelfth Night is meant to be seen on stage, and – ”

“You guys ready to order?”

Sokka, who had been listening to the conversation with an exasperated look, trying to figure out if he was glad he was in the English block that they weren’t in or if it would be worth it to see this adorably frustrated look on Zuko’s face every day, was ultimately relieved when the debate was interrupted by their waitress - an annoyed looking woman in her early twenties.

Zuko spun around in surprise, nearly knocking Sokka out of the booth and onto the floor.

“Shit, sorry,” Zuko gasped, grabbing onto the back of Sokka’s jacket a moment before he fell, pulling him back into a sitting position as Yue giggled loudly.

The waitress had decided they weren’t worth the trouble and had turned to the more competent side of the table. Katara had already ordered, apparently, and had focused her attention back on glaring at Zuko – or, Zuko and Sokka. Some of that annoyance was definitely directed at Sokka.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger, medium well, please,” Suki said, sipping on her water before turning towards the other half of the group. “Are you three calmed down enough yet to order?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yue said, rolling her eyes at Suki and turning to the waitress, “Can I get a Cobb salad, please?”

The waitress nodded, scribbling Yue and Suki’s orders down before turning her head to Zuko, looking at him expectantly.

“Uh, I’m not –”

“We’re going to share a cheeseburger,” Sokka cut in, “Medium, please. And a vanilla milkshake. Thank you.”

The waitress gave Zuko an irritated look, but nodded, writing down the order and walking away from the table.

As the rest of the group – even Katara – started chatting again, Zuko leaned close to Sokka’s ear, his breath tickling the sensitive skin there, and whispered, “Thank you for that. I forgot. ”

Sokka couldn’t help snorting, keeping his voice to a whisper as he replied, “You forgot that going out to dinner includes eating dinner?”

“Shut up,” Zuko murmured affectionately, pulling back from Sokka’s ear to plant a kiss on his cheek.

“You’re welcome,” Sokka whispered back, pouting a bit.

Zuko rolled his eyes.

“I already said thank you.”

“Well, you could say it again –”

“Hey lovebirds, want to talk to the rest of us at any point?”

Suki was giving them a pointed look, a huge smirk on her face, and Aang and Yue were watching them with amused grins. Katara was – well, she was being Katara.

Not waiting for either of them to answer, Aang asked, “So, Sokka are you going to come to the game on Wednesday? I know you can’t play still, but – ”

“Way to rub it in, Aang,” Suki muttered, and Aang’s eyes widened.

“That’s not what I meant! I just – we’d really appreciate if you were there – you’re still a part of the team, even if you’re hurt.”

“Sure, I’ll come,” Sokka said with a shrug, “And it’s not a big deal. I only got to play two games before this.” He held up his wrist dramatically for verification, knocking it into Zuko’s shoulder.

“Ow,” Zuko groaned theatrically, for the benefit of the rest of the group. Sokka had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

Aang winced sympathetically. “Zuko, you should come too, if you want. You can sit with Yue, Sokka and Katara!”

Katara made a quiet disgruntled noise that was either not heard or ignored by the rest of the table.

“Oh,” Zuko said in surprise, “You uh – you’re sure you want me to come?”

Aang grinned. “Of course!”

“You’re all of our friend now. Sokka doesn’t get to hog you to himself,” Yue added from Zuko’s right.

Katara, still observing but not participating in the conversation, her narrowed eyes focused on Zuko, suddenly took a long sip of her water, a loud suctioning sound breaking through the conversation, the ice rattling noisily at the bottom of her cup. An awkward silence fell over the group as the waitress stopped back at their table, refilling Katara’s cup. When she had disappeared into the back, Suki attempted to revive the conversation.

“So, we’re all going to the spring carnival next Saturday, right?” Before anyone could answer her, Yue gave the entire table an intense look, saying –

“You all better be. Student council has been planning it since September – not that any of the other members have been any help at all.”

Suki squeezed Yue’s shoulder sympathetically, then said to the group as a whole, “Seriously. If you’re not already planning on going, you are now.”

“We’re going, of course,” Aang said, grinning and glancing at Katara, who smiled back.

“Duh, Yue,” Katara agreed, “I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.”

Sokka, who definitely did not want to admit that he hadn’t known about the carnival until five minutes ago, said, “We’ll totally be there. Right, Zuko?”

Even though Sokka hadn’t known about it, (which, give him a break, okay? There had been a few more pressing things occupying his mind over the past month – sue him), the idea of Zuko at a school run carnival was too good for Sokka to even consider saying no.

Zuko nodded, his eyes wide in surprise. “Yeah. Uh, totally.”

“It’s going to be great. I mean, we don’t have a huge budget, but as long as I can keep the idiots that I’m supposed to be working with focused enough to pull it off, it should be really fun,” Yue said with a frown.

“If any of those idiots aren’t listening, I’ll deal with them,” Suki muttered, flexing her arms.

“Yeah, okay, calm down,” Yue said with an affectionate snort, pushing Suki’s arms down gently. “But seriously, there’s going to be tons of carnival games, lots of food – we wanted to get a Ferris wheel, but it wasn’t really in our budget. Still though, it’ll be really fun. You know Zuko, you should totally ask your siblings to come!”

Sokka felt Zuko go rigid beside him, but he could tell that it was out of surprise at the offer, not in apprehension of any kind.

“Oh – yeah, maybe,” Zuko said, his eyes flickering between Yue, who was watching him expectantly, and Katara, who was still glaring suspiciously. “I’ll ask them. Toph and Mai would definitely love the carnival games, they’re really competitive. ”

Yue smiled warmly, speaking loudly over Katara’s derisive noise at the mention of Toph. “Please ask them! The more the merrier.”

Before another uncomfortable silence could fall over the group, the waitress appeared like a guardian angel, balancing several plates on a tray on one arm, Sokka’s milkshake in her free hand. After she had set down all of the plates, she reached into her apron for the check, only to be cut off by Suki.

“Can we split the bill, please?”

The waitress nodded, rolling her eyes and leaving the table again.

As the rest of the group dug into their food, Sokka leaned towards Zuko.

“No one’s gonna notice if we don’t actually share,” Sokka whispered, smirking at his own brilliance, “If anything, they’ll just scold me for eating like a pig. You should be fine.”

“Good thinking ahead,” Zuko whispered back.

“Hey, Zuko!”

They both looked up to see Aang grinning and pushing a basket of fries towards their side of the booth.

“Yeah?”

“You totally have to try these; the garlic parmesan fries here are the best. I got enough for everyone!” Aang pointed excitedly at the fries in question.

“Uh,” Zuko said, with an air of grasping for straws, “I actually – Iroh, um, you probably know him as Dr. Cullen – is really strict about our diets, so I was just going to wait to eat until I got home.”

Even though Zuko couldn’t read his mind (which would be really helpful right now, as a matter of fact), Sokka hoped that he would understand from the gentle nudge of his shoulder that Sokka thought he had nailed that answer. Or, maybe it was better that he couldn’t. Because Sokka was wrong.

“I think that’s a good reason to have one,” Aang countered, pushing the basket towards Zuko again. “Seriously. They’re like nothing you’ve ever had in your life.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Zuko muttered under his breath, only loud enough for Sokka to hear. If Sokka’s brain wasn’t preoccupied with looking for a way out of this, he would’ve laughed.

“Come on,” Suki urged, “One French fry isn’t going to throw off your doctor approved health regiment.”

“Uh, well – ”

Katara, who had been surveying the scene interestedly, cut off Zuko’s stammering.

“They’re really good, Zuko. My favorite.”

Katara seemed to be taunting him, which was insane, because there was no way that she could know why her words could be taken as a mild threat. Still, the slight raise of her eyebrows, like she was daring him to say no to her in particular, had an air of intimidation behind it. And apparently, it worked.

“Okay,” Zuko said, reaching forward and grabbing a fry, “Thanks, Aang.”

Sokka watched in what he hoped didn’t look like horror as Zuko popped the fry into his mouth and ate it.

Or did he eat it? Could he? They’d never actually discussed what would happen if he did try to eat human food, but it couldn’t be anything awful, could it? Zuko wouldn’t be just going for it with a French fry right now, in front of all of Sokka’s friends, if it was in some way dangerous, right? And oh my god – garlic? Was that a thing? Probably not, because sunlight hadn’t been the thing Sokka thought it would be. Okay, yeah, Zuko was pretty obviously chewing, so he wasn’t just hiding it in his cheek until the attention was drawn away from him and okay, he was swallowing, so –

“Pretty good,” he said, smiling at Aang, “you were right.”

“Told you,” Aang said, twisting to his right to chat with Katara. Suki and Yue had long since lost interest in the ordeal.

Zuko turned to meet Sokka’s disbelieving look, quirking his eyebrow.

“What?”

“You – ”

“Sokka.”

“Okay,” Sokka huffed, lowering his voice to a hiss, “But you’re explaining that later.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Okay.”

Around half an hour later, once everyone had made it through their meals and they were waiting on the waitress to come back with their separate checks, Katara left the table to go the restroom. As soon as the door in the back of the restaurant swung shut behind her, Aang pounced.

“Okay, I need all of your help.”

He had a slightly manic look in his eye, glancing around at the four of them like he was asking them to start a war in his name. It was clear that whatever he needed to say was urgent, and related to Katara, if the way he kept glancing back towards the restroom door was any evidence.

“What’s wrong?” Yue asked, a worried crease in her brow forming.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong,” Aang clarified, “As you all know, I’ve been dating Katara for almost three weeks now.”

“We know,” Suki said. Sokka made a melodramatic gagging noise. It went ignored.

“Okay,” Aang continued, “As my friends, I need you with me for the next step in our relationship. I really like her, so I want to do it right.”

Sokka raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”

Aang took a deep breath. “I wanted to ask you – all of you – will you help me plan a prom-posal for her?”

“Of course!” Yue squealed. “Oh my god, this is going to be so fun.”

“Awesome,” Aang said, grinning and turning his eyes to Suki, “I wanted to do it at the end of the game, so I’m definitely going to need your help.”

“Oh I’m totally in,” Suki said, “Absolutely.”

The three of them turned to Sokka and Zuko, as Aang asked, “Sokka? Will you help? You know Katara the best.”

Sokka rolled his eyes, but said, “Yeah, I’ll help. I can steer you away from anything she would hate.”

“Zuko? What about you?”

Sokka turned to glance at Zuko and found that he looked shell-shocked. Clearly, being included in the friend group this quickly was throwing him off.

“I – of course. If you really – are you sure you want me to be a part of this?”

“I’m completely sure,” Aang said, beaming, “Maybe it’ll help Katara warm up to you – assuming she says yes.”

Zuko just nodded, his eyes still wide. For whatever reason, he wouldn’t look at Sokka. There was no time to question that, though, because the restroom door opened, and within a minute, Katara was back at the table, her hand on her hip, asking if they were ready to head out.

After they settled their bills and had made their way outside, Sokka gave Katara the keys to the truck, told her to give him five minutes, and followed Zuko to his car.

“So, how was your French fry?” Sokka asked, as soon as they were out of hearing distance from the rest of the group, swinging their hands playfully.

“Tasted like dirt,” Zuko said flatly, pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the Volvo.

Sokka really wanted him to elaborate on that, but Zuko had paused, his hand hovering over the handle of the driver’s side door for a moment before he turned, leaning against the side of the car. His eyes, so gold they were almost yellow today, were troubled. Sokka was no mind reader, but he was pretty certain that whatever was upsetting Zuko had nothing to do with garlic parmesan fries.

“What’s up with you?” Sokka asked apprehensively, waving to the rest of the group as they passed.

“It just seems so…sudden.”

Sokka stared at him in confusion. “What does?”

“Aang and Katara,” Zuko answered, as though it were obvious.

Sokka raised his eyebrows. “What about them?”

Zuko dropped Sokka’s hand, seemingly in surprise.

“Did you just miss that entire conversation? Actually, I know you didn’t, because you actively participated in it.”

Zuko looked slightly hurt now, as though Sokka was teasing him.

“I mean…” Sokka said slowly, trying to figure out exactly what Zuko was getting at, “They’ve only been dating like, two days less than us.”

“Yes, exactly,” Zuko said anxiously, “Doesn’t that make you worried?”

Sokka couldn’t stop himself from pouting slightly as he asked, “Are you saying you’d say no if I asked you?”

Zuko stared at him incredulously, his eyes wide with shock and his entire body visibly tense.

“What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

Zuko threw his hands up in the air.

“Aang? Proposing to Katara?”

Before Sokka could stop himself, he burst out laughing – then laughed even harder at the distressed look on Zuko’s face.

“Oh my god. Zuko. Oh my god.”

“What?” Zuko exclaimed, staring at Sokka like had lost his mind. Sokka grinned back at him, probably not helping his case at all, as he tried to control his snickering, reaching out and interlacing their fingers again.

“Babe,” Sokka said, his grin only widening as Zuko’s expression became flustered at the pet name, “I understand that you’re like, 112 years old and super traditional and all that –”

“127, technically,” Zuko corrected.

“Whatever,” Sokka continued, snorting, “Point is, Aang isn’t, and he’s definitely not proposing to Katara. He’s prom-posing.”

Zuko was still staring, looking as though Sokka had sprouted a second head.

“What the hell is prom-posing?”

Katara needed to stay in the stands. Katara seemed determined to leave the stands. She kept glancing at the clock and fiddling with her phone – two classic Katara signs of boredom and eagerness to leave her current location, as soon as possible. But she needed to stay put in the stands after the game ended. Sokka was having a difficult time concentrating on the fact that keeping her there was technically his job.

And that was entirely Zuko’s fault. Maybe Katara had a bit of a point when she called him a dick.

Aang’s plan – or, Yue’s plan, because in reality she had done most of the heavy lifting as far as organization and manipulation of student council vice president privilege to pull the entire thing together – was in action, and for the next eight minutes, it was Sokka’s job to make sure that Katara stayed put in her seat in the second row of stands in the school gym.

After that, Sokka would go join Aang and Suki in the locker rooms and come back out to complete the mission. Yue was in the gym control booth, ready for her cue, her absence in the stands explained away to Katara as an emergency student council meeting about the carnival.

(Which wasn’t that much of a stretch, considering the fact that early Saturday morning, the student council had received an anonymous donation, specifically for the carnival. A massive anonymous donation, that had led to Yue panic restructuring the entire thing, ecstatic that she could now “go all out.” Despite Sokka’s incessant pestering, Zuko had adamantly refused to comment on where the money came from, other than absentmindedly saying that he hoped they would get a Ferris wheel).

While Sokka was prepping with Aang and Suki, it would be entirely Zuko’s job to make sure Katara stayed put long enough to actually be prom-posed to, which would be difficult enough under normal circumstances, but would definitely be harder now considering that Zuko had proven himself a traitor to the cause.

Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic.

But Zuko had to have known that when Sokka threw him his denim jacket to hold –

“Just because I’m not playing doesn’t mean the other team shouldn’t know that I’m on the team! They won’t if I’m covering up my jersey.”

“If you say so, Sokka.”

–  he wasn’t intending for Zuko to put the jacket on.

Zuko must’ve known that the sight of him – Sokka’s jacket over his dark green sweater, a sly grin on his lips brought on by the excitement of what was about to happen –  was enough to make Sokka completely forget that he was supposed to be paying attention to Katara. He must’ve known that, and if he did, he was definitely trying to distract Sokka and sabotage Aang’s prom-posal. Sabotage for which, he absolutely was a traitor.

The traitor nudged Sokka gently in his side, squeezing his hand and looking significantly at the countdown clock next to the score board (they were winning, thank god. A losing game wouldn’t have set the mood Aang was attempting to create). There were four minutes until game over and two minutes until Sokka needed to exit the stands quickly. It was go time.

“Katara, I’m going to run back to locker room real quick – say congrats to the team,” he said, “I’ll be back in like, five minutes, then we can head out, okay?”

Katara gave him a confused look. “Why don’t I just come with you? Then we can leave together from there.”

“Um, no one’s allowed in the locker room if they’re not on the team,” Sokka lied, ignoring Zuko’s quiet snort from his left.

“I literally go in that locker room for gym every day, Sokka,” Katara argued, but Sokka shook his head, panicking and committing further to the lie.

“It’s different during games. Just stay here for five minutes and I’ll be right back, I swear.”

“I bet you’re going to let him go,” Katara grumbled, glaring past Sokka to where Zuko was sitting.

“No I’m not,” Sokka said, glancing up at the clock (only three minutes left), “Zuko’s going to wait here too, then we’ll all talk to Aang and Suki. Right, Zuko?”

“Right!” Zuko agreed, smiling at Katara.

Katara was surprised enough by this that she just stared back. No glare. That was an improvement.

“Okay…”

“Okay!” Sokka said, jumping up as the time edged far too close to the two-minute mark for his liking, “Be right back.”

Sokka speed walked towards the locker room before Katara or Zuko could say anything, trying his best not to seem suspicious. As soon as the door shut behind him, he sprinted to where his locker was, grabbing the bouquet (what was with Aang and flowers?), the wireless microphone that Yue had “borrowed” from the administrative office, and the blue poster board that Suki, Aang and Sokka had spent an hour making. Sokka couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he held it up: it was covered in multi-colored hearts and stars surrounding giant bubble letters that read:

KATARA

YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD LIKE NOBODY ELSE

PROM?

The “O’s” in “world,” “nobody,” and “prom,” were all detailed drawings of Earth, courtesy of Sokka. As he was examining his own handiwork, Sokka heard a flurry of noise from the front of the locker room – the game must have just ended.

Sokka glanced up in time to see Aang and Suki rushing towards him, wide grins on both of their faces.

“Are you ready?” Sokka asked Aang, whose smile immediately dropped.

“I think so,” he answered, “Maybe. What if she says no?”

“Aang, you’re dating Katara,” Suki reminded him with a shove to his shoulder, “This is basically just a formality. Yue and I never go through all of this, it’s been an automatic yes to any and all school functions since like, eighth grade.”

“Well, lucky you,” Aang huffed out. He took a deep breath then turned to Sokka. “Do you have the microphone from Yue?”

“I’ve got everything,” Sokka said, grabbing Aang’s shoulder with his good hand, “You ready to go? Remember – Zuko’s in charge of making Katara stay put, so we’re running on borrowed time here.”

Aang nodded, giving himself a shake. “Okay. Okay, you’re right. Let’s go.” He grabbed the microphone and set off back towards the gym, Suki and Sokka following hurriedly in his wake. Sokka handed Suki the sign and flowers, pulling out his phone to text Yue her cue (the sunglasses emoji) as Aang pushed through the doors.

Sokka caught sight of Katara, thankfully still seated, turned away from Zuko and scrolling idly on her phone. Zuko was watching her with such rapt attention that Sokka couldn’t help the snort that accompanied the surge of affection in his chest. He didn’t have much time to dwell on that though, because at that moment, the opening chords of “What Makes You Beautiful” echoed through the gym, and Katara nearly dropped her phone in surprise.

Suki flung the flowers back at Sokka as Aang walked out to the middle of the gym. They lingered at the edge of the court, waiting. Sokka chanced a glance back at the stands – Katara was staring at Aang with her mouth hanging open as he switched on the microphone.

“Katara,” Aang started, his voice reverberating loudly around the gym as Yue lowered the music, “I have something really important to ask you.”

Sokka resisted the urge to smack his hand to his face – as of yesterday, Aang had prepared (and practiced with Zuko for two hours), a much longer speech that came before that line. Evidently the nerves of the moment had wiped his mind blank. Sokka gave Suki an anxious look – that was technically their cue to join Aang in the middle of the court, but given that he’d skipped an entire section of his speech…

“Uh – I know I’ve only known you since January,” Aang continued, taking a deep breath.

Sokka sighed in relief. Aang had circled back – he was still missing a lot of what he had originally rehearsed but seemed to be focusing in on the important stuff. Sokka looked back over at the stands – Katara still looked dazed, staring at Aang along with the rest of the small crowd that had lingered after the game.

Zuko was watching Sokka.

He had a soft smile on his face that left Sokka frozen where he stood, shaking his head slightly to force himself to focus as Aang said –

“But even though it’s only been two months, I know how important you are to me. I knew it the first day we met, and as time has passed, it’s just gotten more and more obvious that we were meant to meet each other.”

Suki had to shake Sokka’s shoulder to drag him away from Zuko’s gaze.

“Dude, come on,” she muttered, looking significantly at Aang. He was watching both of them, his foot tapping anxiously as One Direction played over the speaker – it seemed much louder now that there had been an awkward pause in Aang’s speech.

Sokka let Suki drag him towards Aang, holding up the flowers and shooting Katara a wink as he stopped behind Aang. Katara’s eyes merely widened, as though she hadn’t seen him or Suki until that moment.

Suki held up the poster board over her head as Aang, now with his entourage in place, asked –

“Katara, will you go to prom with me?”

From across the gym, it looked like Katara mouthed something, but Sokka couldn’t hear her.

“Uh – ” Aang started, but before the moment could become embarrassing, Zuko leapt out of his seat, rushing towards Aang with his hand outstretched. Aang looked confused for a moment before realizing that Zuko was gesturing at the microphone; he handed it to him quickly.

Zuko grinned at Sokka briefly – and okay, he definitely wasn’t a traitor to Aang, but he was almost certainly trying to kill Sokka –  before rushing back to the stands and handing Katara the microphone.

The presence of Zuko in front of her seemed to, finally, jolt Katara from the stunned state she’d been in for the better part of three minutes. She rolled her eyes (her natural response to Zuko), and said into the microphone, with a wide smile, “Duh, Aang. Of course!”

The crowd, which had zoned out a bit, let out a half-hearted cheer (probably more at the fact that the whole thing was over than at Katara jumping out of her seat to hug Aang, but still. It had a nice effect).

Friday night, Sokka was lying in bed, Zuko’s hoodie pulled up over his head, aimlessly scrolling through Instagram with his copy of Twelfth Night facedown and abandoned next to him. He wasn’t really paying attention to what he was looking at, humming along to his study playlist as he swiped and double tapped thoughtlessly.

Until he refreshed his feed, and a post popped up that made his jaw drop in surprise.

Sokka nearly tripped as he threw himself off his bed, flinging open his door and half running, half jumping across the hall to Katara’s door. He knocked once, then opened it before Katara could finish yelling, “Go away!”

“Did you see this?” Sokka asked, ignoring Katara’s scowl and plopping down at the end of her bed.

“See what?” she asked him suspiciously, looking up from her laptop.

“This.”

Sokka shoved his phone at her, Instagram still open to the most recent post from jetblack13.

Katara took his phone, stared at the screen for a moment, then looked back up at him, her expression blank. “What about it?”

It being a picture of Jet with his arm slung over the shoulder of a boy whose name Sokka didn’t know, but he did recognize as one of Jet’s friends from the beach. The boy had his eyes closed, a small smile on his lips. Oh. And. Jet was kissing the boy’s cheek, his eyes crinkled happily.

“I thought – well – ” Sokka sputtered, and Katara rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were ‘dating Zuko’,” she said sarcastically, making air quotes and mimicking Sokka’s voice.

“I am,” Sokka snapped, snatching his phone back from her, “I just. Didn’t Jet like me? Like, two weeks ago?”

“What did you expect, Sokka? Was he supposed to just pine after you while you dated someone else?”

“No – ”

“And you act like people can’t change their feelings quickly, you’ve only been – you know – for like, not even a month – ”

“It’ll be a month tomorrow, actually – ”

“Whatever. The point is, Jet moving on from you is really not that shocking, and Longshot has liked Jet forever apparently, so – ”

“Who?” Sokka asked, giving her a puzzled look.

“He’s literally tagged in the picture, Sokka,” Katara chided, pointing at Sokka’s phone. Sokka opened his phone again and – oh, yeah. That was the guy’s name.

“Weird name,” Sokka commented, ignoring Katara’s annoyed scoff. “How do you even know all of this?”

“Because Jet told me about it,” Katara said,  “We’re friends. Why do you care? Do you like him?”

“No,” Sokka said firmly. When she just rolled her eyes in response, something that had been building in him for a while now just – snapped.

“I said no, Katara. I don’t like him, just like I didn’t two weeks ago, or the week before that, or any of the other times you’ve not so casually hinted, in front of Zuko, half the time, that you thought that I should like him.”

Katara was stunned silent, but she maintained eye contact, exhaling forcefully through her nose. Sokka could tell, from the way her jaw was clenched tightly, her fingers tapping on the side of her leg, her glare fixed on Sokka, that Katara wanted to say something. But she didn’t. She just watched him, waiting for him to continue, which was so uncharacteristically Katara that it egged Sokka on more.

“Why do you care? Why would you try to force something that neither of us wanted, if this,” he paused for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows before remembering, “Longshot guy liked him the whole time?”

“I didn’t know that,” Katara said quickly, “If I had – maybe – that’s not the point.”

“How is that not the point?” Sokka demanded.

“I feel bad that I – I didn’t mean for Jet to get hurt,” Katara said, “But I’m not sorry about why I did it.”

Sokka couldn’t stop the shocked laugh that came out of his mouth. It tasted only slightly less awful on his lips than the anxious nausea that was curling in stomach, threatening to crawl up his throat.

“Wow, Katara. You hate Zuko that much?”

Katara looked frustrated. “I don’t hate Zuko.”

Sokka laughed again, but Katara kept going before he could interrupt her with – well he didn’t know what, but it was probably for the best that he didn’t get to say it.

“I don’t. Honest to god, Sokka, I don’t hate him.”

“I know, I know.”

Sokka stood suddenly, unable to sit still as his heartbeat sped up, the rapid pace in contrast with the slow, sludge like feeling of guilt in his gut. He didn’t want to have this fight, because he knew it wasn’t fair. He knew that Katara had every reason to be distrustful, because Sokka was lying. Sokka was a rational person, and he knew that logically, Katara’s anger was completely justified – would be even more justified, if she actually knew what Sokka was keeping from her. He knew that, but the way that Katara was watching him, both guarded and irritated, made it impossible for him stop his rant once it started.

“You don’t hate him; you just don’t trust him. You trust me, but not him. You won’t give him a chance, even though I’ve made it clear that he’s important to me, and he’s trying, I mean, you don’t even know how long he helped Aang with that stupid promposal, and you won’t even try – ”

“Sokka.”

He stopped in his tracks – and realized that he had been pacing back and forth. Katara’s eyes were wide – not watering, but Sokka could tell it was a close thing.

“What?”

“I’m – ”

She took a deep breath.

“I can. I can try.”

Her smile looked incredibly forced.

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Sokka said, sitting back down on the bed so forcefully that the springs creaked.

“Tomorrow?”

“What?”

“You’ll see it tomorrow,” Katara elaborated, “At the carnival. We’re supposed to be going as a group, right?”

“Yeah…”

Sokka wanted to believe her – he did. He was tired of fighting. But he also knew that there was so, so much more to talk about – that they hadn’t even gotten close to the root of the problem. Nothing had been resolved. But Katara was giving him a weak smile, and she was reaching her hand out – an offering. And Sokka hated how it had been between them lately, hot and cold, never really seeing eye to eye. He missed talking to her. He missed his best friend.

So, even though he had to swallow down a bit of guilt as he did so, he grabbed her hand in his. Took the offering. And hoped it would be enough, for now.

When Yue had said that she was going to “go all out,” Sokka hadn’t been exactly sure what to expect. But this…

“Holy shit, Yue,” Sokka said appreciatively, stopping in his tracks to take in the entire scene.

“Seriously? You think so?”

Yue paused, turning around and dragging Suki, whose arm was linked with hers, with her. Yue had requested that Sokka text her when he, Katara and Aang arrived, and she had come to meet them in the parking lot. Sokka, who had thought that was a bit unnecessary, now understood from the wide grin on her face that she had wanted to see their reactions to the results of her efforts. Which was completely fair because, as Sokka had said – holy shit.

Sokka wasn’t entirely sure if it was a testament to Yue’s event planning capabilities or to the size of the “anonymous” donation, (he rationalized that it was probably a bit of both), but the carnival looked like something out of a movie. For one thing – they had gotten the Ferris wheel. Like, a proper, full sized Ferris wheel. It was in the center of the school’s football field, already in motion, twinkling lights adorning it and casting a bright glow against the dark, night sky. Surrounding it were the carnival games and food stands Yue had talked about, as well as several smaller rides.

“This is incredible,” Katara said, Aang nodding in agreement, “How the hell did you manage this?”

“I couldn’t have pulled it off without that last-minute donation,” Yue said, talking over her shoulder as they started walking again, towards the ticket booth, “I still can’t believe that happened.”

“And you seriously have no idea who it was?” Aang asked, and Yue shook her head.

“Not a clue.”

Sokka coughed awkwardly, and Katara gave him a confused look.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Zuko, who was supposed to be arriving soon, with his siblings, still hadn’t admitted anything outright, so Sokka assumed that for whatever reason, he wanted it to be a secret. Luckily, before Katara could determine whether or not she cared enough to hound him further, Yue was calling their attention to the PTA mom staring at them impatiently, waiting for them to purchase tickets for the attractions.

Sokka was tapping his foot distractedly, waiting for Aang and Katara to stop sweetly bickering (because they were like that) over who would buy the tickets, when he felt a cold hand slip into his. He jumped in surprise, turning his head to meet Zuko’s smirk.

“God, Zuko, say hi first.”

“Hi.”

Zuko pressed a kiss to Sokka’s cheek as Sokka asked, “Where’s the rest of –”

He was abruptly cut off by what he assumed was an attempt at a gentle pat on the back but felt like a deliberate punch. With a rock. Sokka groaned, spinning around to meet his assailant.

“Hey Sokka!”

Toph was grinning widely, her hand still raised. Mai and Haru were lurking a bit behind her, eyeing the group behind Sokka and Zuko with apprehension. Sokka glanced over his shoulder – they had all gotten their tickets and were watching the interaction curiously. Well, besides Katara, who was glaring daggers at Toph that, luckily, she couldn’t see. Though, Sokka reasoned, Toph could probably feel Katara’s annoyance.

“Hey Toph,” he responded, swallowing the complaint about the force of her greeting because, he couldn’t bring it up without sounding like he had been hurt by a 5’1” sophomore. Instead, he waved at the other two, still hovering back from the group. “Hey Mai, hey Haru!”

Mai merely raised her eyebrows in greeting, but Haru smiled and waved back. The rest of the group remained silent behind Sokka and Zuko, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Okay. This was incredibly awkward.

“So,” Aang said, incredibly helpful and social savior that he was, “Who wants to try the strength tester with me?”

“Oh, I’m in,” Toph said, a wide grin taking over her entire face, and that seemed to shake the rest of the group out of their trances.

“There’s no way I’m not winning that,” Suki said, giving Aang a competitive shove before turning to Toph and saying, “Come on, it’s this way.”

Toph stuck out her hand towards Aang, raising her eyebrows. “Help me out here?”

“Oh, yeah,” Aang answered, looping his arm with Toph’s as though they’d been friends for years, “Come on!”

And like that, they disappeared off into the crowd, Yue and Katara trailing behind them hurriedly.

“She forgot to get tickets,” Mai said, rolling her eyes and pushing past Sokka and Zuko to the ticket booth, Haru following her.

“Okay, we’ll wait,” Zuko said, but Haru shook his head.

“Go on, you two go do your date thing. We’ll find Toph.”

Before either of them could protest, Mai was tucking the roll of tickets into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulling Haru in the direction where the rest of the group had disappeared, leaving Zuko and Sokka alone.

Sokka opened his mouth to speak but was cut off abruptly by Zuko’s lips.

Sokka squeaked in surprise against Zuko’s mouth. The shock faded swiftly as Zuko gripped at his waist, his lips gliding lightly against Sokka’s, like they had all the time in the world to stand there intertwined.

However, the mom operating the ticket booth seemed to disagree. Which she made clear, with a loud clearing of her throat.

Once Zuko pulled away, Sokka grinned apologetically. “Sorry!”

She just rolled her eyes. “Do you need tickets or not?”

Five incredibly awkward minutes later, Sokka and Zuko were walking hand in hand through the section of the field dedicated to carnival games, Sokka’s pockets stuffed with tickets, because Zuko had insisted on buying the largest amount possible.

“So which one do you – ” Zuko started to ask, but Sokka was already tugging him towards a brilliantly illuminated booth, grinning manically. There was nothing particularly exciting about the game itself – it was a ring toss, with moving targets that seemed to be challenging to land on. The presumed difficulty of the game, however, was not what drew Sokka towards it.

“Zuko, look,” Sokka exclaimed, pointing at the row of stuffed animal prizes hanging from the top of the booth. Specifically, at a giant stuffed bat.

“What?”

Zuko looked bewildered.

“It’s a bat,” Sokka explained impatiently, “Get it? Like – you know.”

“No.”

Sokka wiggled his eyebrows. “Like, vampire bats.”

Zuko groaned audibly, putting his face into his free hand. That didn’t deter Sokka in the slightest.

“I’m gonna win it for you,” Sokka told him, dropping his hand and rushing towards the man collecting tickets.

As it turned out, the game actually was incredibly difficult. After using almost half of their tickets, Sokka had only managed to land a ring on one of the moving targets twice. He blamed it on his wrist, to anyone around them that would listen, claiming that his right hand was his good hand and that if this were any other time, he would’ve won five times by now. Zuko politely didn’t correct him.

The game was probably rigged, anyways.

As Sokka moved to hand another three tickets to the worker, Zuko grasped his wrist gently, pulling him back from the booth.

“Sokka, I don’t need a stuffed bat,” he said, but Sokka shook his hand off.

“It’s not about that anymore.”

“Okay, okay,” Zuko said exasperatedly, pulling Sokka, who had lunged forward again, back into his side, “Then let me try.”

Sokka wanted to argue, but Zuko had a mischievous glint in his eyes that somehow got Sokka’s curiosity to outweigh his competitiveness.

“Fine.”

Sokka handed Zuko the three tickets, following him as he approached the booth.

The carnival worker placed a stack of rings in front of Zuko, smirking at Sokka. The surge of annoyance in Sokka’s chest quickly dissipated when Zuko’s fingers found his chin, tilting it towards him so that he could press a quick kiss to his lips.

“For good luck,” Zuko explained, when he pulled away.

Before Sokka could melt into the floor at that, the man operating the booth, who was still smirking at him, pressed the button that started the rotation of the targets. Sokka watched, slightly in awe, as Zuko narrowed his eyes, picked up one of the rings and threw it with a quick flick of his wrist. It landed squarely on the middle target. Sokka almost wanted to be annoyed – until he saw that the man’s smirk had dropped in surprise. The two times Sokka had managed to land a ring, it had been on an outer target, and only just.

“Uh, you need to get three more to win,” the man said, frowning as though this was an unprecedented situation.

The game was absolutely rigged.

But evidently, based on the ease with which Zuko landed the next three rings, it wasn’t rigged well enough.

The smug smile on Zuko’s face as he was handed the stuffed bat made Sokka’s heart swell – until Zuko pushed the bat into his arms.

“What? No. I said I was winning this for you.”

“Well, you didn’t,” Zuko pointed out, grabbing Sokka’s hand and grinning at his offended gasp.

“It’s not my fault that I don’t have supernatural powers to get around a clearly rigged game,” Sokka complained as Zuko led him away from the booth.

“No, it’s not,” Zuko agreed, “But since I won, that means I won it for you, not the other way around.”

“Whatever,” Sokka muttered, hugging the bat close to himself, “Your loss.”

As they passed the strength tester, where a large crowd had gathered (presumably around Toph), Sokka asked, “So, is this anything like how carnivals were, you know, back in the day?”

Zuko gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

Sokka shrugged, gesturing at their surroundings with his free hand. “This isn’t exactly a modern concept. They even try to make everything look old-timey, see?” He pointed at a shooting game; the font of the booth’s sign was stylized to look like it was at least a century old, which was obviously not the case, since the guns in question were neon green water guns. “Do they get any points for realism?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Zuko had an odd expression on his face as he answered, not quite meeting Sokka’s eye.

“What is it?”

Zuko bit his lip, the way he did when he was struggling to put something into words. Sokka waited patiently, directing them towards a less crowded patch of field at the end of the line of game booths. Out of view of others, Zuko found his voice again.

“I don’t really remember.”

Sokka frowned in confusion. “What, because it was so long ago?”

“Not exactly,” Zuko said, “It’s just the human memories. They’re…fuzzy.”

“Is that normal?” Sokka asked, and Zuko nodded.

“I remember some stuff. Strong memories.” Zuko paused for a moment, suddenly tense.

“What?” Sokka questioned, but was answered not by Zuko, but by a giggling Yue and Suki appearing from the back of the booth closest to them. Suki had a stick in her hand, and Yue was laughing so hard that she looked close to tears.

“Sokka, look!” Suki exclaimed, lunging towards him and jabbing the stick in his face, “It’s a worm! A worm!”

“Uh, great,” Sokka said, leaning away from the stick and Suki’s laughter. He gave Yue, who was leaning against Zuko as though to hold herself up, a sideways glance. “What’s up with you two?”

Yue just laughed harder as Suki tried to put the worm in his face again, and that’s when Sokka smelled it.

“Oh. You’re both high as a kite.”

Yue’s laughter turned to snorting then, and Sokka rolled his eyes.

“Zuko, let’s go get them some food.”

After a few minutes of arguing with Suki that she did not, in fact, have to bring her worm friend with her, Zuko and Sokka managed to convince the two of them to share a bag of popcorn. The four of them were sitting at one of the picnic tables surrounding the food stands, Yue and Suki giggling to each other and Zuko with his arm around Sokka’s waist, when Katara and Aang appeared. Aang plopped down next to Suki and Katara took the empty seat on the other side of the table. Next to Zuko.

Zuko dropped his arm from Sokka’s waist in surprise, saying hurriedly, “Oh, we can switch seats if you want.”

Katara dismissed that with a wave of her hand.

“No worries.”

Zuko shot Sokka a nervous glance. He shrugged in response. Katara had said she was going to try.

The conversation was normal enough, though a little strained at first. Once Zuko started explaining Sokka’s repeated failures at the ring toss, though, Katara’s laughs were genuine.

“You used up thirty tickets?” she asked Sokka, who crossed his arms and pouted.

“It’s Zuko’s fault for enabling me and buying that many tickets.”

“That’s fair,” Zuko conceded as Katara snorted, “I should’ve known better.”

A little bit later, once Yue and Suki had mentally rejoined the group and decided to go on the spinning teacup ride, half running as they left the table, Katara leaned her chin on her hand, looking at Sokka and Zuko expectantly.

“Do you two want to go get funnel cakes with Aang and me?”

Fuck, not again.

Zuko had eventually explained, after the French fry incident, that eating human food didn’t hurt him – but it wasn’t pleasant. Sokka opened his mouth to say something, though he wasn’t sure what, but Zuko beat him to it.

“Thanks, Katara, but I have a gluten allergy.”

Oh yeah. Allergies. A perfectly normal and reasonable reason for not wanting to eat something. How the hell had Sokka forgotten about allergies last week?

Katara seemed unperturbed, shrugging and asking, “Sokka? Do you want one?”

“I’m okay,” Sokka said, and that was the thing that actually made Katara give him a suspicious look.

“We were going to go ride the Ferris wheel,” Zuko explained, and Katara nodded, standing up and grinning.

“Have fun!”

With that, she grabbed Aang’s hand and pulled him towards the funnel cake stand.

Sokka stood too, pulling Zuko up with him before he could say anything. Zuko came willingly, slinging his arm back around Sokka’s waist. Before he could lead them towards the Ferris wheel, Sokka made a disgruntled noise.

“What?” Zuko asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

Sokka gestured vaguely between the two of them. “Stop touching me when Katara sat down.”

Zuko looked surprised by that revelation. “It wasn’t intentional. She just…”

Sokka laughed before he could stop himself. “Please tell me you’re not scared of Katara.”

“Maybe a little bit!”

Sokka kept laughing, pulling away from Zuko’s grip, but only to lace their fingers together and pull him towards the center of the carnival, towards the Ferris wheel.

“You can stop a car with your hands, and you’re scared of my sixteen-year-old sister,” Sokka said. You know. To clarify.

As they came to a stop at the back of the Ferris wheel line, Zuko said, “I’m not physically afraid of her.”

“What does that mean?” Sokka questioned.

Instead of answering, Zuko dropped his hand, pressing himself against Sokka’s back and wrapping his arms around his waist, tucking his hands into the front pocket of Sokka’s hoodie. He hooked his chin on Sokka’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Zuko.”

Zuko hummed in response, or non-response, really, pushing them forward casually as the line moved.

“Zuko, tell me why you’re afraid of Katara,” Sokka persisted, but was interrupted by the carnival worker asking them for their tickets.

Pushed forward into the tight waiting area with the rest of next group to ride, it wasn’t until they were actually seated on the Ferris wheel that they were able to talk again.

As the ride started, Sokka turned to Zuko, who had his eyes focused on their intertwined hands.

“Zuko, come on. What is it? I thought Katara was being really nice, you know, for once.”

Zuko looked up, meeting his concerned gaze. “She was. That’s not what I’m – that isn’t what I was thinking about.”

“Then what is it?” Sokka asked, not quite meeting Zuko’s eyes because, intuitively, he knew exactly what it was, and he didn’t want to talk about it. He let his eyes wander over Zuko’s shoulder to look at the view as their gondola rose to the top.

“It’s not right that you’re fighting with her. And it’s my fault.”

Zuko fell silent, but Sokka could feel his gaze on him. Though, he didn’t look up until their gondola was back at the bottom and Zuko was tugging softly at his hand.

“It’s not your fault,” Sokka said firmly, and Zuko frowned as they started to rise again. “Honestly, it’s – of course I can’t tell her, I know that, but it’s not your fault.”

“Sokka, of course it’s my fault,” Zuko insisted, “And I – ”

Zuko stopped as suddenly as the Ferris wheel did. At the top.

Their gondola swung back and forth for a moment before stilling. The Ferris wheel didn’t start again.

Sokka groaned. “Seriously?” he yelled at no one in particular.

“I’m sure it’ll start working again in a second,” Zuko said, and when Sokka looked at him he was alarmed to see that he looked dejected. He was still holding Sokka’s hand, but his grip had loosened significantly.

“Hey,” Sokka said, squeezing Zuko’s hand, “I didn’t – that’s not what I meant. Let’s keep talking about this.”

Zuko took a deep breath and nodded. “I don’t want you to ruin your relationship with Katara for me.”

Sokka swallowed down the panic he felt building and nodded back. “I don’t want that either. So, what do we do?”

The distressed look, which had started to fade from Zuko’s face, returned with a vengeance. “I’m not sure. I mean, she already doesn’t trust me at all, and I really doubt that telling her would help my case – ”

Sokka dropped Zuko’s hand in shock. He felt like he’d been hit with lightning.

“Wait. What?”

Zuko stared at him.

“What?”

“Did you – did you say tell her?”

“Yeah,” Zuko said slowly, “I completely understand why you wouldn’t want to, but – ”

“Zuko,” Sokka cut him off, putting both his hands on Zuko’s face and squeezing his cheek with his good hand to shut him up, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Zuko frowned between Sokka’s hands. Sokka pulled away so that he could respond.

“I thought – I assumed you wouldn’t want her to know.”

“I thought she wasn’t allowed to know,” Sokka exclaimed, half shouting and quieting his voice again when he remembered that they weren’t exactly in private. “She’s allowed to know?”

“I mean, we would have to talk to my family about it, it’s their decision too, and I don’t think it would be smart to tell her right now, because I want you to be sure about – well, about me – but at some point, in the future, of course, if you trust her, of course you can tell her, I would never – ”

“Zuko, shut up.”

Sokka grabbed his face again, dragging their lips together, unable to stop himself from smiling when Zuko responded eagerly, or from laughing when the Ferris wheel surged back to life, knocking their mouths together.

Katara was allowed to know.

There was no clear timeline yet, and conversations would have to happen with the rest of the Cullens, but Katara could know, eventually, and Sokka couldn’t stop smiling.

(And, as far as the whole “being sure about Zuko” thing – well. Sokka didn’t have to think very hard about his answer on that.)

Chapter Text

“Green or yellow?”

“I don’t know, both?”

Katara dropped her arms and shot Sokka an irked look. “I can’t wear two sweaters at once.”

“Okay then, neither?”

Katara groaned. “Thank you so much, Sokka, incredibly helpful.” She turned back to her closet, hanging up the sweaters and beginning to rifle through her clothes again.

Sokka leaned back on her bed, stretching out and yawning, his too small Phoenix Dance Academy t-shirt riding up and exposing even more of his stomach than was already peeking out. Katara smacked the uncovered skin as she walked by, ignoring Sokka’s indignant yelp and crouching to the floor to look underneath her bed for what Sokka assumed would be the perfect outfit for her date with Aang that night.

They’d only been home from school for like, five minutes before Katara had dragged Sokka up the stairs, explaining that Aang was taking her stargazing that night (Sokka had resisted the urge to fake gag) and that he needed to help her figure out an outfit immediately. Even though Aang wasn’t picking her up for at least another three hours. An hour into “figuring out an outfit”, Sokka had been graciously allowed to go change out of his school clothes. He had lingered in his room for a few extra minutes, hoping Katara would figure out an outfit herself. (She hadn’t).

Sokka wasn’t actually as annoyed as he was acting – in reality, he was secretly content to be flopped on Katara’s bed, half listening and replying sarcastically every so often as she rambled on about the average nighttime temperature near the cliffside Aang was taking her. It was…nice. It felt normal. As things between them had started to feel again, over the past week.

The carnival hadn’t been a one-time fluke – Katara had stayed true to her promise to try with Zuko. For one thing, she had approved of him joining their lunch table. Which, Sokka had to admit, hadn’t been the most pressing thing on his mind – especially now that his entire friend group was under the impression that Zuko was allergic to almost every food on the planet.

(The rest of the Cullens remained at their original table. Not because they weren’t welcome – Toph had actually gotten along extremely well with Aang and Suki at the carnival, especially after they were banned from the strength tester together. However, when Sokka had asked Zuko, while sprawled across his bed at the Cullen house – and yes, Sokka was a bit disappointed that it was a bed, not a coffin, thanks for asking – why they didn’t just grab one of the larger tables in the cafeteria and combine both groups, Mai had walked past the open door and helpfully pointed out that it might be a bit difficult to explain away four people never eating food during lunch).

All that aside, it was nice to see the way Zuko melded so naturally into their group’s dynamic. He teased Aang with Suki (though he refused to participate when Suki turned her laser beam towards Katara, opting instead to become very interested in playing with Sokka’s hoodie strings). He walked to Biology with Sokka and Yue, his hand in Sokka’s as they chatted amicably. And Katara was trying. She had even pulled Zuko aside after school on Tuesday to explicitly thank him for helping with Aang’s prom-posal. So, things were looking up.  

They hadn’t told her about it yet though, because – well.

The whole “being sure” about Zuko thing.

Sokka was sure about Zuko. He knew that.

But he wasn’t quite ready to admit to that, or the fact that he was getting dangerously close to allowing himself to think phrases like “in love” about his boyfriend of one month and a week. Especially considering that the boyfriend in question had laughed for nearly ten minutes straight at Sokka’s explanation of what a one-month anniversary was, laughing even harder when Sokka hastily explained that he, obviously, didn’t care about something as stupid as that, and that he only brought it up because Katara and Aang were about to celebrate theirs, and how corny was that? Right?

Sokka was jarred out of his thoughts by a buzzing against his thigh. He pulled his phone out from his sweatpants pocket and grinned. Zuko’s contact photo (a blurry image of him scowling, his hand outstretched in an attempt to block the camera, in response to Sokka’s whine of “Come on, Zuko, I want to see if you show up in pictures!”) was filling up his screen.

Sokka swiped his screen and raised his phone to his ear, putting on his most flirtatious voice. “Miss me already? It’s been like, two hours.”

“Where are you? I need to ask you something.” Zuko asked bluntly, ignoring Sokka’s teasing.

“Uh…in my house? Where are you?”

“Outside your window.”

Sokka raised his eyebrows. Not because that was an unknown concept, but because as far as he was aware, they weren’t meeting up tonight. “Okay well, I’m in Katara’s room.”

At the mention of her name, Katara looked over from the closet. “If you’re going to be gross, please. Take it outside.”

Sokka didn’t need any further encouragement. He jumped off the bed, wincing as Katara reached out to tug at his ponytail, and whispered playfully into his phone, “Give me a second, babe.” Then, as soon as he was out of Katara’s sight, he hung up, smirking as he imagined Zuko’s exasperated expression.

Sokka pulled his door shut behind him, his smile growing as he turned and spotted Zuko, leaning his back against the window. He dropped his phone onto the bed and reached up to fix his ponytail, pulling it tight as he walked over to push the window open. Zuko jolted up in surprise, then turned around, crawling through the open window at Sokka’s beckoning. Sokka stretched his arms above his head, yawning, as Zuko landed solidly on the ground – and froze.

Not for the first time, Sokka internally lamented the honest to god tragedy that was the fact that vampires couldn’t blush. Although, the look on Zuko’s face (and the way his gaze was flickering frantically between Sokka’s exposed skin and his amused eyes) was more than enough evidence of his embarrassment. A red flush across his pale cheeks, while adorable, would have merely been icing on the cake.

Sokka raised his eyebrows, unable to stop himself from smirking. “Zuko? Are you good?”

“Um,” Zuko said, struggling to keep his eyes focused on Sokka’s face, “Yeah. Yes.”

Sokka stifled a snort and asked, “So…what’s up?”

“What?”

“You said you needed to ask me something,” Sokka reminded him, and Zuko shook his head, like he was trying to recalibrate.

“Oh. Yeah,” he said, taking what seemed like a steadying breath, “Are you free tonight?”

“Sure, free to do what?” Sokka asked suggestively, reaching forward to intertwine Zuko’s fingers with his. Zuko came easily when Sokka pulled him forward, wrapping his free arm around Sokka’s bare waist and sending an electric current up his spine as their lips met. The way Sokka’s hands moved, one to loop around Zuko’s neck and the other to gently rake through his hair, was as natural as breathing.

Although Sokka would have been perfectly happy to stand there, enveloped in Zuko’s arms and mouth and – everything –  until the sun set for the night and rose again in the morning, he actually was curious as to why Zuko had so urgently needed to talk to him. Reluctantly, he dropped his hands to Zuko’s chest, pushing him away gently and giving him a questioning look.

“What’s actually up?”

Zuko looked slightly flustered, his lips still parted, his hair sticking out in odd directions. He frowned for a moment before saying, “Oh. There’s going to be a thunderstorm tonight.”

“Well that sucks for Katara.”

“What?”

“Her and Aang are going stargazing tonight,” Sokka clarified, tugging Zuko over to the bed and continuing as they sat down, “So, rain would kind of ruin that. Did you come over to …warn her?”

“No,” Zuko said, “My family plays baseball when there’s a thunderstorm, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come. Well, I have to ask Hakoda first, but I wanted to make sure you actually wanted to come.”

“Okay,” Sokka started, an amused grin taking over his face, “Several questions.”

Zuko groaned, collapsing backwards onto Sokka’s bed. “What?”

Unperturbed by Zuko’s dramatics, Sokka started listing off his points of confusion. “First off, why wouldn’t I want to come?” Zuko shrugged in response, and Sokka watched as he started trailing his fingers up Sokka’s exposed side, refusing to make eye contact. Sokka tried to ignore the tingling feeling spreading across his skin in waves as he asked, “Second. Why do you need my dad’s permission?”

“It’s polite,” Zuko said quietly, still not meeting Sokka’s eyes as he toyed with the end of Sokka’s t-shirt, rubbing the edge of it between his index finger and thumb, as his other fingers traced soft lines along Sokka’s ribs. Sokka bit his lip to force down a smile, laying down on the bed. Their legs, which were dangling off the side of the bed, bumped into each other. Sokka turned his head, watching Zuko carefully.

“Okay. Third. Why didn’t you just text me to ask if I wanted to go?”

Sokka already knew the answer, but he felt it when Zuko looked up and met his gaze, the desire in his amber eyes entirely unabashed. Sokka forgot to wait for a response, wrapping his hand around Zuko’s neck and pulling their mouths back together. Zuko reacted enthusiastically, rolling to his side and tugging Sokka closer by his waist. Zuko’s hands were making their way up Sokka’s back, cold touch against flushed skin, and Sokka couldn’t stop the little whine he let out into Zuko’s mouth. He felt Zuko tug him closer in response and felt a bit lightheaded at the overwhelming combination of Zuko’s tongue tracing the roof of his mouth, in time with the gentle exploration of his hands up the back of his shirt, of his familiar cinnamon scent, of simply being this close to him. Sokka almost forgot that they weren’t alone in the house. Almost. Until the loud rapping of knuckles against his door startled them, Katara’s voice ringing out as they caught their breath.

“Sokka? Are you almost done? I’m down to two options, I need your help.”

“Give me a second!” Sokka shouted, staring at the ceiling. He flushed deeper than he already was at the breathlessness of his own voice.

“Okay,” Katara replied, “Tell Zuko you’ll call him back. He’s too needy.”

Sokka resisted laughing at Zuko’s offended huff and said, “I’ll let him know you said that. Give me five minutes.”

After a pause, during which they listened to Katara’s retreating footsteps, they sat up, fingers tangled together.

“So,” Sokka started, grinning at Zuko’s sheepish look, “You wanted to ask me first because…?”

“Okay, whatever, I just wanted to – you know – ” Zuko stammered, gesturing vaguely at the space between them, and Sokka could perfectly visualize a rosy flush blooming across his cheeks.

“Oh my god. The truth comes out.”

“Well, you’re certainly not helping anything wearing that,” Zuko grumbled, and Sokka snickered.

“Wearing what?” he asked innocently.

Zuko glared.

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

“Sokka,” Zuko whined, and Sokka smiled at him, grabbing his face and planting a quick kiss on his mouth, hovering in front of him as he said –  

“Okay, I’ll stop. Don’t want to keep Katara waiting.”

“Definitely don’t want to do that,” Zuko agreed against his lips. “See you in five minutes?”

“I’ll pretend to act surprised,” Sokka said, hopping up from the bed and winking over his shoulder before traipsing towards the door.

Katara gave him a mildly annoyed look when he reentered her room. “What did Zuko want?”

“Oh nothing,” Sokka said, “He just missed my voice.”

“Ew,” Katara said, with feeling. She held up two new sweater options. “Which one?”

“Definitely blue,” Sokka said, pointing at the navy sweater in Katara’s right hand, “It’s your color.”

“Agreed,” Katara said, “Now get out, so I can change.”

She shoved him out the door unceremoniously, just as the doorbell rang from below. She frowned for a moment before she heard Hakoda’s voice echo up the stairs, “Zuko! What a pleasant surprise. Sokka didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Did you know he was coming?” she asked Sokka, as Hakoda and Zuko continued talking. Sokka shrugged, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“He’s full of surprises.”

“Again – ew,” Katara groaned, slamming her door shut.

Sokka skipped down the stairs, grinning as Zuko’s eyes widened again at the sight of him. He was never getting rid of this t-shirt.

“You’re going to have a hard time stopping him from trying to play,” Hakoda was saying, pausing as he saw Zuko’s expression change. He turned around, rolling his eyes as he said to Sokka, “Sokka, you know that your wrist is still broken, right?”

“Yes,” Sokka said, waving his arm as evidence, “Why?”

“Because Zuko wants to take you to watch his family play baseball, and though I’m inclined to say yes, I want to be sure that you understand that you’re not allowed to play,” Hakoda said firmly.

“I know.”

“Because you’re getting your splint off tomorrow. It would be irresponsible to strain it early and end up stuck with one hand for another two weeks.”

“I know,” Sokka repeated, ignoring Zuko’s entertained grin from behind Hakoda.

“Great,” Hakoda said with a smile, “Then go get changed. It’s too cold out for… whatever that look is.”

“They’re pajamas, Dad.”

“Exactly – go get dressed.”

Sokka made a disgruntled noise but turned on his heel and sprinted back up the stairs. When he came back down, in a flannel, jeans and a thick, waterproof jacket, Zuko and Hakoda had moved to the kitchen table.

Hakoda looked up and smiled. “Much better. You do know that it isn’t raining, right?”

“I heard it might,” Sokka said, giving Zuko a look. “Are we all good to go?”

“All good,” Hakoda echoed, “I’ve got the night shift tonight, but that doesn’t mean you don’t still have a curfew.”

“He’ll be back by eleven, sir,” Zuko said, leaving his chair to stand by Sokka.

Hakoda shook his head fondly and waved his hand in dismissal. “Okay. Have fun boys.”

“We will!” Sokka said, grabbing Zuko’s hand and tugging him towards the front door. “Bye!”

Sokka wasn’t entirely sure what he’d expected when Zuko had said that his family played baseball when there were thunderstorms (because honestly, he’d been a bit too distracted by the other parts of their conversation to fully process that) but the truth of it was…not what he’d expected.

On the car ride over, he’d suddenly remembered. “Oh yeah. Fourth question. Why the hell do you need thunderstorms to play baseball?”

Zuko had merely smirked and said, “You’ll see.”

And Sokka was seeing.

Here, in a clearing far up in the highest elevated area of the state park, far-removed from any of the natural or manmade trails, the rest of Zuko’s family was warming up for the game. Sokka had embarrassingly grabbed onto Zuko’s arm in shock when Haru swung the bat to meet Toph’s pitch, and the contact resulted in a loud crack that sounded like, well, thunder.

“Shit,” Sokka gasped, gripping Zuko’s arm tightly.

Zuko grinned. “I told you.”

“No, you didn’t,” Sokka argued, “’You’ll see’ isn’t telling anything.”

“Agree to disagree,” Zuko said, tugging Sokka’s hood up for him before they stepped into the lightly drizzling rain. He led them away from the edge of the clearing, over to where Mai and Iroh were standing, about twenty feet apart, tossing an extra ball back and forth between them. Or, so Sokka assumed. Their arms were moving like they were throwing something, but the exchange was happening so quickly that Sokka couldn’t actually see a ball.

“Sokka!” Iroh greeted him with a wide smile. “I’m so glad you could join us.”

“Wish the thunderstorm was in two days,” Sokka said glumly, looking down at his wrist.

Toph appeared by his side, elbowing him roughly (or, gently, by her standards) and saying, “Sokka, even with a healed wrist you wouldn’t be able to play with us.” Iroh shook his head, wandering over towards Haru as the teasing started.

Sokka frowned. “I’m sure I could – ”

“No,” Mai said, materializing in front of him without warning, “You couldn’t.”

Sokka sulked as the two girls burst into giggles, and Zuko pulled him into his side, pressing a kiss to his head through the hood of his rain jacket. Sokka smiled and said, “See? Zuko believes in me.”

“Oh no,” Zuko corrected him, which sent Mai and Toph’s laughter over the edge into full on cackling, “They’re definitely right. You couldn’t.”

“Wow,” Sokka breathed, betrayal evident in his tone. He pushed Zuko away from him, and said, “I’m going to go talk to Haru and Iroh, they’re the only ones who are nice to me.” Haru and Iroh smiled at him as he approached, saying, “I’m rooting for your team. Whichever team the two of you are on, that’s mine. Number one fan here.”

“Well, I don’t play,” Iroh said, “Someone has to keep them honest.”

“And I’m with Mai,” Haru said, “But if you want to root against Zuko, we’re your team.”

“Hey!” Zuko yelled from where the rest of them were standing, and Sokka rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think his self-esteem could handle that.”

“Hey.”

Zuko was suddenly in front of him, his bottom lip stuck out in a frankly impressive pout.

“You’re really not going to cheer for me?”

“Why should I?” Sokka teased.

Sokka’s lips turned up into a grin when Zuko took the bait, grabbing the back of his jacket and tugging him in for a kiss so overzealous it made Toph yell, “That’s fucking gross!” from across the field.

“Okay, fine,” Sokka said breathlessly when they separated, “I guess I’m Team Zuko.”

“And Toph!” Toph shouted, and Sokka nodded, correcting himself.

“Most importantly, Toph.”

Before Zuko could respond to that, a loud clap of thunder echoed out.

Toph, abruptly next to them again, grinned wickedly and said, “It’s time.”

Vampire baseball was, though Sokka wouldn’t admit it out loud, far more fun to watch than it would have been for Sokka to attempt to participate in. And that was saying something, considering he was standing in the rain in order to do so. For a fleeting moment, he had wondered how they would be able to play with only two people on each team, but that thought was wiped away as he watched Zuko practically fly, a blur more than a recognizable silhouette, to catch Mai and Haru’s hits as Toph mocked them loudly from the makeshift pitcher’s mound. Despite his initial teasing, Sokka did find himself in a briefly heated argument with Iroh over a call – Zuko had absolutely made it back to home base before Mai had caught the ball. By the time they were on the fourth inning, and Zuko was sliding into home again, dirt scuffing up his pants and an elated grin on his face, Sokka was seriously thinking of having t-shirts printed with Zuko and Toph’s faces on them.

Looking back, Sokka should’ve known that nearly three weeks straight without any real drama or strife was an ominous sign. After all, when had his life ever gone that simply? Honestly, he should’ve expected it. Not that he could’ve predicted this. But, the ease, the simplicity, the way that all the different parts of his life felt like they were falling perfectly into place. Sokka should’ve known that was too good to last.

At first, Sokka didn’t realize that anything was wrong. A flash of lightning crackled across the sky, an unnatural bright blue, brightening the dark grey clouds in a way that felt like a warning. But that didn’t alert anything in Sokka’s mind – after all, lighting and thunderstorms went hand in hand.

What did start a wave of dread rushing through his body was Mai, a few feet from him and twirling the bat between her fingers as she waited for her turn, going unexpectedly stiff, the bat falling from her hand. Sokka felt Zuko before he saw him, his arms suddenly wrapped so tightly around Sokka’s waist that he gasped in surprise.

“Zuko, what – ?”

Sokka was ignored, as the rest of them appeared around him, Mai having recovered herself, her face now tense. Her expression was mirrored by Iroh, Haru and Zuko, but Toph looked puzzled.

“What the fuck is going on?” Toph questioned the group, “All of your anxiety levels just shot through the roof.”

“How far away are they?” Mai asked Zuko, ignoring Toph.

“Five minutes? Maybe,” Zuko answered, pulling away from Sokka slightly to look at her, his voice laced with stress, “I can’t believe I didn’t hear them; I wasn’t – I should’ve been paying attention.”

“I should’ve been,” Haru said, eyes wide in distress, “I don’t know how I didn’t –”

“Hey!” Sokka exclaimed, pushing away from Zuko entirely to glare around at them, “Can someone please explain what’s happening?”

“Seconded,” Toph said.

“Azula and Ty Lee are headed our way,” Iroh said before the other three could speak, turning to Zuko and adding, “And, I assume, they’re not coming with positive intentions.”

“I don’t know that, I can’t tell,” Zuko said, “But you know they’re – fuck – Sokka, I’m sorry. Fuck.”

“Sorry about what?” Sokka questioned, and Zuko shook his head.

“Zuko, they’re not going to – ” Toph started, but Mai cut her off harshly.

“You don’t know Azula.”

“They’re not going to what?” Sokka asked, but wasn’t answered, because at that moment all five vampires turned away from him, their attention drawn to the far edge of the clearing. Over Toph’s shoulder, Sokka could see two figures standing still. Observing.

“Fuck,” Zuko said again, and Sokka felt himself pushed backwards. Zuko was hovering in front of him protectively, gripping his hand. Toph and Haru moved to stand on either side of them, and Sokka couldn’t help but notice the way their knees were slightly bent, like they were ready to pounce.

“Sokka, keep your hood up,” Zuko whispered, and Toph made an unhappy noise.

“That’s not going to help, Zuko, I could smell him from across the field.”

Sokka felt a chill go down his spine at her words, though he didn’t fully understand them.

“Zuko, this is your sister, right? Why are we –”

“Sokka please, just. Be quiet until this is over,” Zuko whispered, squeezing his hand. Sokka slammed his mouth shut, watching nervously as Mai and Iroh walked towards the now approaching figures. They met in the middle, standing about ten feet apart. They were far enough away that Sokka couldn’t quite see their expressions, but close enough that he was certain that it was Azula and Ty Lee. Close enough that he could clearly hear Azula when she spoke.

“Mai. Iroh. So lovely of you to greet us.”

Azula's voice was dripping with disdain, but Iroh and Mai seemed unaffected. Or, Iroh did. Sokka could tell, even from far back (and having to watch the scene unfold from over Zuko’s shoulder, because every time he shifted in an attempt to get a better look, Zuko did too, blocking him from view) that Mai was barely paying attention to Azula, her gaze focused on Ty Lee.

“It’s wonderful to see you both, after all this time,” Iroh replied, his voice steady. “To what do we owe the honor?”

“Oh, we felt it was time for a family reunion,” Azula answered, glancing past Iroh towards where Sokka, Zuko, Toph, and Haru were standing. “What’s wrong with Zuko? I haven’t seen him in nearly a century, and he can’t be bothered to say hello?”

Sokka felt Zuko stiffen, but he responded in a voice that didn’t seem loud enough to carry. “Hello, Azula.”

Though he couldn’t quite see it, Sokka could hear the smirk in Azula’s tone as she asked, her gaze directed at Iroh, “Ty Lee and I are both curious - are you going to introduce us to our replacements?”

There was a pause, during which Zuko clung to Sokka’s hand so tightly it almost hurt. Then, Iroh said, “Of course. Follow me.”

Sokka saw Toph and Haru take a step closer to him in his periphery as Mai, Iroh, Azula and Ty Lee made their way over to them. Iroh and Mai’s faces were carefully blank, but Sokka couldn’t help but notice that Mai’s hands were clenched into fists.

As Azula and Ty Lee came into proper view, Sokka couldn’t help his sudden intake of breath. They were just as otherworldly beautiful as the Cullens were, but there was a sharpness – a clear danger – that radiated off of them in waves, setting off a million and one alarm bells in Sokka’s head. And then, they got close enough for Sokka to see the nervous set of Ty Lee’s eyebrows, her eyes – which were a deep scarlet – flickering between Mai and Azula. Close enough to see the smug smile on Azula’s face, wide-mouthed and toothy and – oh my god. Sokka felt his heart drop to his stomach so quickly that he could barely muster an internal I knew it at the sight of the honest to god fangs, bared in Azula’s smirk.

“So,” Azula said slowly, giving them an appraising look, her eyes lingering on Zuko’s hand, still clasped around Sokka’s, “Is there any particular reason you’re so overly protective of your new family, Zuko?”

Sokka saw Toph nudge Zuko gently and finally, he stepped aside, giving Azula and Ty Lee a clear view of the four of them. He didn’t let go of Sokka’s hand.

“Much better, thank you.”

Azula’s bright red eyes grazed over Haru, then Toph, then Sokka. She lingered for far too long on Sokka – and, though it hadn’t been explicitly stated, he felt that it was important that Azula didn’t know he was human. Sokka dropped his gaze, knowing that if his pounding heartbeat hadn’t already betrayed him, his very brown - very much not gold or red - eyes would. But the moment passed, and Azula looked away, her lips faintly pursed.

“Do they have names?” she asked, directing her question towards the group as a whole.

Toph opened her mouth, but Iroh answered before whatever sarcastic remark she had ready could be let loose.

“Azula, Ty Lee, this is Toph, Haru, and Sokka.”

Sokka was slightly surprised to hear his name mentioned, though he managed to keep that hidden from his face. He looked back up to see Azula frowning and Ty Lee watching the back of Mai’s head. Azula turned to Ty Lee, opening her mouth to say something, her eyebrows drawn together, but before she could, several things happened at once.

A gust of wind blew through the clearing, knocking Sokka’s hood off of his head and whipping his hair (which Zuko had pulled out of its ponytail while they lingered in his car before making their way up the trail) around his face. Before Sokka could even raise his eyebrows in surprise at the sudden burst of cold air and the splash of rain against his face, he felt Zuko push him behind his back again. In even less time, Sokka found himself surrounded by the rest of the Cullens – they had formed a protective circle around him. Through the small crack between Zuko and Mai’s arms, he could see Azula, crouched low to the ground as though preparing to attack, her eyes wide in astonishment. Ty Lee, though she looked equally shocked, was still standing straight, her red eyes flickering between Azula and the rest of them.

“Zuzu,” Azula said, her mouth widening into a terrifying grin, her sharp fangs flashing, “You brought a snack!”

“Azula,” Iroh started, speaking loudly over the low growl that erupted from Zuko’s throat, “Sokka is with us.”

“I’m confused. You’ve adopted a human?” she questioned, taking a few steps closer. Iroh stepped forward, and Sokka felt the rest of them push closer, tightening the circle. Toph, who was standing at his back, reached forward and squeezed his hand reassuringly – probably the gentlest touch she’d ever given him.

“I know that you two don’t interact with humans the way that we do,” Iroh said, “But Sokka is as much a part of our family as Toph and Haru.”

Azula’s eyes narrowed, and though his view was limited, Sokka could swear he saw a flash of hurt across her features. If the hurt was genuine, it wasn’t evident in her tone when she spoke again.

“What exactly is the point of having a human that smells like that around, if not to eat?”

Instinctively, Sokka grabbed Zuko’s wrist, tugging him backwards as hard as he could when Zuko lunged forward in response to Azula’s words. Sokka knew, intuitively, that he didn’t actually have the strength to pull Zuko back if he wanted to go, but his touch must have had some effect, because Zuko stilled beneath his hold. He didn’t turn around, his focus still on Azula’s now amused expression, but he didn’t pull away from Sokka’s grip.

“I understand that it doesn’t make sense to you,” Iroh continued calmly, “I would love to sit down with both of you and talk more about it, like we were going to the last time we saw each other.”

Through the space between Zuko and Mai’s arms, Sokka saw Azula roll her eyes and scoff – he also saw Ty Lee’s eyes widen, almost hopefully.

“I’m not so sure about that, Iroh,” Azula said flatly. “Anyways, we’re both a bit hungry, right, Ty Lee?”

“Right,” Ty Lee agreed, speaking for the first time, her voice higher and sweeter than Sokka had expected, “But maybe, after –”

“Well, I would love to catch up. It seems like we've missed a lot,” Azula conceded, her eyes back on Zuko. “What about you, Zuko?”

When Zuko spoke, his voice was tight. “Yes. Of course.”

“Azula, Ty Lee, if you could,” Iroh said, “We keep a permanent residence nearby, and hunting in this area would threaten that. Would you mind - ”

“Is Seattle far enough?” Azula cut him off, a bored expression on her face.

“That should be fine,” Iroh answered.

“Alright,” she said, “Ty Lee, let’s go. Iroh, Mai, Zuko. Others. We’ll be back to  – what did you say, Iroh? Sit down and talk?”

Iroh nodded.

Azula flashed her teeth – her fangs – in what Sokka thought could only technically be considered a smile, her eyes on Zuko. “Well that sounds lovely. See you all soon, I suppose.”

None of them moved as Azula and Ty Lee turned on their heels, Ty Lee’s eyes lingering on them briefly, and left – so quickly that Sokka would’ve missed it if he had blinked. Almost instantaneously, Zuko spun around, grabbing Sokka’s arms gently, his eyes wild.

“Sokka, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, nothing happened,” Sokka said, reaching out to rest his hand on Zuko’s cheek, attempting to smooth away his startled expression. It didn’t work.

Zuko didn’t drop his hands, but he looked over Sokka’s shoulder at Haru and said sharply, “She’s thinking about going to Seattle, but is that actually happening?”

“Yes,” Haru answered, “For now.”

“Okay,” Zuko said, turning to Iroh, who had appeared at his shoulder, “Okay, we need to – I don’t know what we need to do but, where can we – before she comes back – ”

“Zuko,” Mai said, startling him out of his rambling, “What was she – what were they thinking?”

“Ty Lee was nervous, she thought Azula was going to start a fight the entire time,” Zuko said, “And Azula – she was just hungry.” There was something more, Sokka could tell by the look on his face, but he didn’t say it.

Sokka gulped. “Well, she’s going to go – uh – eat now, right? So, it’s okay?”

Zuko frowned but didn’t disagree. “Maybe.”

“I could barely get a read on her,” Toph said suddenly, slightly frustrated, “She’s–”

“Really good at controlling her emotions,” Mai finished.

“We should get out of here,” Zuko said suddenly, “Go back to the house. Figure something out.”

“Zuko, there’s nothing to figure out,” Iroh said, but Zuko shook his head.

“We don’t know that. And I’m not – ” he very abruptly met Sokka’s worried gaze again, his eyes blazing, “Just. Stay with me until we’re sure everything’s okay. Okay? Please?”

Sokka felt himself flush at the intensity of Zuko’s gaze, at the desperation in his voice, at the eyes of his family on him. Still, his answer came as easily as breathing. “Of course.”

Back at the Cullens' house, in a smaller room Sokka hadn’t been in before, Zuko was pacing. Sokka sat on a couch next to Toph, an empty space to his left where Zuko had been sitting minutes before. Mai and Haru were across from them, leaning against the wall and watching Zuko with the same worried look that Sokka was sure was reflected on his own face. Iroh was lingering near the doorway, his eyes flickering between Sokka and Zuko.

“Zuko – ” Toph started, but he waved his hand in annoyance.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said for the third time since standing.

Instead of the silence that normally followed, Mai spoke up.

“You’re right.”

Zuko paused mid-pace. “I am?”

“Why now?” Mai questioned, her eyebrows furrowing. “I mean, like Azula said. It’s been almost a century.”

“Exactly,” Zuko agreed fervently.

“Time can change hearts,” Iroh started to say, but Mai cut him off.

“Ozai died decades ago. If they were going to try to find us again, why wait so long? We can’t have been that hard to find.”

“Exactly,” Zuko said again, shooting Iroh a defiant look, but before he could add more than that, a loud thud against the window startled all of them. Sokka fell into Toph’s side in shock.

Toph pulled him up, both of them standing as Mai gasped loudly.

“Ty Lee?”

Sokka’s head shot up in surprise and sure enough, Ty Lee was standing at the window. Or, not standing, because they were three stories up. Oh. She was flying. Because that was a thing she could do.

“Do we –?” Haru started to ask, but Mai had already rushed towards the window to pull at the latch, opening it wide enough that Ty Lee could crawl through. When she had steadied herself, standing straight and looking around at the room, the reality of it seemed to hit Mai. She jerked backwards a foot, staring at Ty Lee in surprise, as though she had just realized who she was.

“Mai – ” Ty Lee started, her forehead creased with worry, but Zuko cut her off.

“What are you doing here, Ty Lee? Where’s Azula?”

“Azula is why I’m here,” she said, pulling her gaze away from Mai to look at Zuko. “Zuko, I’m – we don’t have much time.”

Sokka felt his heart drop, as Zuko asked, “What are you talking about?”

“She – ” Ty Lee seemed unsure how to start. She took a deep breath – and her red eyes shot towards Sokka, her body instinctively leaning towards him.

Sokka blinked, and Zuko was in front of him, his arms spread out protectively.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Ty Lee looked apologetic – and confused. “I’m not, honestly Zuko, he just smells good.” Sokka couldn’t see Zuko’s face, but he assumed that whatever look crossed it at that moment was – well – bad, because Ty Lee’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously, Zuko – I’m not going to hurt him.”

“Okay. Then why are you here?”

Zuko’s tone was angry, but Ty Lee continued as though he was speaking to her calmly.

“Azula is hunting, but she’s – well she got angry. When Iroh implied that, um,” she glanced towards Iroh, and then at Sokka, her eyebrows raised, “Sorry, what was your name again?”

Sokka opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His throat felt painfully dry.

“His name is Sokka,” Zuko growled.

“Right,” Ty Lee said, “Well, Azula wasn’t pleased at the insinuation that a human had replaced her, especially once she put two and two together that you’re so attached to him, Zuko, and – ”

She paused, at a sudden loss for words, and it was Mai, not Zuko, who pressed her.

“And then what, Ty Lee?”

At the sound of Mai’s voice, Ty Lee’s eyes softened, and her shoulders dropped – in sadness or relief, Sokka wasn’t quite sure. But when she spoke, her voice was almost mournful.

“Well, you know Azula. She doesn’t cope well with jealousy.” She dragged her eyes away from Mai again, fixing her remorseful gaze on Sokka. “She – we both – did want to come back. I don’t have time to explain everything that’s happened since we last saw you but, we did. But she thinks you’ve replaced her, Zuko, and – ”

“And what?” Zuko pushed, taking a threatening step towards Ty Lee.

“And she wants to make you pay for that.”

Sokka was certain that a silence had filled the room, but it was hard to be sure, since all he could hear was distant ringing as his brain processed what had just been said. Everyone but Zuko seemed to be on the same page as Sokka, staring at Ty Lee in confusion.

But, Sokka understood slowly, that Zuko had seen something in Ty Lee’s mind, something that she hadn’t said out loud, because he shouted, “Fuck,” startling Sokka out of his haze. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand why she would – ”

“Zuko, it’s been a long time – ” Ty Lee tried to explain, but Zuko cut her off.

“So what? So what if it’s been a long time, she’s my sister, and she decides that she’s going to – ”

“You know that human memories fade,” Ty Lee insisted, “You know that. And you know what Ozai did to her, she doesn’t – things that happened before, they aren’t as real to her.”

“And that’s supposed to make this okay?” Zuko questioned, though Sokka could hear the pain in his voice, “That’s supposed to justify her deciding to – ”

Zuko stopped abruptly, turning to Sokka and grabbing his good hand.

“Sokka, you have to – we have to go.”

Sokka stared back at him, bewildered.

“Go? Go where?”

His confusion was apparently mirrored by Toph.

“Yeah, Zuko, what the hell are you talking about?”

Zuko broke eye contact with Sokka, dropping his hand and turning to Toph.

“We have to go, or Azula’s going to kill him.”

Sokka had figured that out, subconsciously, several minutes ago, but no amount of subconscious deduction could have prepared him for the feeling of shock that radiated through him at hearing it out loud, from Zuko. His entire body felt cold, like he had been dropped very suddenly and harshly into icy water. The voices around him sounded muffled and it took him a minute to pull himself back out of the fog. When he did, Zuko was saying –

“She’ll follow his scent right back to his house; we can’t stay here.”

Zuko started to say something else but was interrupted when Sokka grabbed his arm as understanding hit him like a lightning.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Zuko looked at him in surprise.

“Sokka – ”

“You heard yourself just now, right? ‘She’ll follow the scent’ to my house?”

“Exactly, that’s why we need to – ”

“What about Katara and my dad, Zuko?”

Zuko stopped, his mouth hanging open. Sokka swallowed down a burst of anger, letting go of Zuko’s arm and taking a steadying breath. He exhaled hard through his nose before continuing.

“If she tracks the scent to my house, won’t she just – ” Sokka paused, struggling over the words – “Won’t she kill them?”

Zuko’s silence answered for him, and Sokka let out a stunned breath.  

“Okay. Okay, then, I’m not leaving.”

That shocked Zuko back into speech.

“Staying won’t protect them, it will just get all three of you killed,” he argued.

“I’ve already lost my mom, Zuko, I’m not losing them too!”

“There’s got to be an alternative here,” Toph interrupted, and Sokka could tell from her tone that her next step would be forcibly calming them down, “Some way that we can, you know, protect Sokka without getting his family killed in the process.”

“Maybe one of us can stand guard – ” Haru started, but stopped when Sokka laughed.

They all turned to him in surprise, and Zuko asked, “What?”

“You’re all missing a pretty crucial point here – I can’t just leave. My dad and Katara would notice. And ask questions. And, considering they both know I was with you tonight, and my dad is literally a cop – ”

“Fuck,” Toph said, and Sokka couldn’t help but silently agree.

Sokka sat back down on the couch, though he’d never admit it was because his legs were starting to shake. He let himself, for entertainment's sake, try to imagine the conversation with his dad, explaining that he needed to leave town that night with Zuko and no, he couldn’t ask why, and no, he didn’t know when he would be back, and –

“Wait. I think I’ve got it.”

Sokka looked up, meeting Zuko’s expectant gaze. The rest of them – except for Ty Lee, who was still lurking as far from the group as the small room allowed – gave him curious looks.

“Ty Lee,” Sokka called, waiting until their eyes met before he continued, “When do you think Azula will be back?”

She gave him a despairing look. “Soon. Within the hour, at the most.”

Sokka took a deep breath. “Okay. Then, I think this can work. Zuko, you’re going to take me home.”

“Sokka, I don’t – ”

“Listen,” Sokka said, over Zuko’s interruption. He fell silent, and Sokka kept going. “You’ll take me home and, I think, Azula will follow us. Won’t she?”

Zuko nodded, though he looked confused.

“I’m going to – I’m going to fight with my dad,” Sokka said, swallowing loudly. “I’ll tell him that I hate Forks, and I need to leave, at least for a few days. I can make it bad enough that he won’t try to follow me.”

“Sokka – ” Zuko tried to interrupt again, his eyes wide, but Sokka waved his hand to silence him.

“While I’m doing that, you grab some of my clothes. And then we can all split up, drive in opposite directions, take my scent north and me south, and try to throw her off. If she thinks I’m leaving, she’ll leave them alone, right?”

There was quiet for a moment and then –

“That might actually work.”

Mai was eyeing Sokka appreciatively, as though she hadn’t quite seen him properly before.

“You think?”

“I agree,” Toph said, as Mai nodded. “It’s sort of brilliant.”

“And you think she’ll leave them alone – if it’s clear that I’m leaving?”

“If she can’t use them to get you, then yes,” Mai answered, “She should leave them alone.”

Sokka allowed himself a smile, though, he could tell that it looked manic. “Okay. Okay, so, let’s go,” he said, looking at Zuko.

Zuko was frowning, staring down at Sokka. “How exactly are we ‘splitting up?’”

Iroh answered. “Zuko, I think it’s best if you, Mai, and I stay here, to try to head off Azula. Toph and Haru can take Sokka south.” Zuko spun to look at him, but before he could argue, Iroh added, “Azula will expect him to be with you, Zuko. If he isn’t, if Toph and Haru take him, that will give him a head start.”

Zuko seemed frozen to the spot, his eyes locked with Iroh’s. Sokka stretched his hand out to grasp Zuko’s, tugging at it until he turned his head. When their eyes met, Sokka saw Zuko's resolve harden.

“Okay – okay. Let’s go.”

The car ride was silent, except for Sokka’s heartbeat, which was pounding in his ears, and the gentle patter of rain against the windows. Zuko’s eyes were on the road, but his hand was gripping Sokka’s, his thumb tracing circles into his skin. They couldn’t speak – not because there weren’t a million thoughts in both of their heads, but because they had determined, before leaving the Cullens' house, that Azula could return at any moment, and if she had, she would be listening to anything they were saying. So Sokka tried to focus on the way the Zuko’s headlights cut through the sheets of rain and on the steadying feeling of Zuko’s thumb against the back of his hand. Tried not to picture the hurt look on Hakoda’s face, when Sokka successfully completed his plan. It didn’t seem to matter how many times he justified it to himself, reciting in his head: this is necessary, this is necessary, this is necessary. Repetition wouldn’t make the preemptive pang of guilt in his stomach go away. It occupied his brain, though, enough so, that Sokka barely processed when they pulled into his driveway.

Barely processed the fact that Hakoda’s police cruiser wasn’t there.

That, despite this, a light was on inside, shining from behind the living room curtains.

It took a few seconds, seconds that dragged on like an eternity, for Sokka to understand. And then he did, so quickly it hurt. Because how, how could he have forgotten?

Fuck.

Hakoda had the night shift.

Katara was supposed to be on her date.

Her outdoor, cliffside date.

Sokka’s eyes found the sheets of falling rain again.

He looked at Zuko at the same moment Zuko looked at him, and found that his eyes were wide with shock. Sokka wasn’t sure if Zuko had figured it out because of the lack of police cruiser, or because he could hear Katara from here, but it was clear that he knew. Sokka tried to communicate, through a squeeze of Zuko’s hand, though, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was trying to communicate.

That there was nothing they could do? That they would have to keep going with the plan, even though there was absolutely no way that Katara would buy the story they’d concocted with Hakoda in mind, but that they had to try anyways? That they had no time to recalibrate, because if their plan was working, then Azula was somewhere close by, listening and waiting? That really, they couldn’t sit here much longer, staring at each other nervously, because Azula was somewhere close by, and none of this would work if they lingered too long and gave her a reason to suspect that something was off?

Sokka took a deep breath and nodded at Zuko – because what else could he do? – then pulled open the door. Zuko followed him, and Sokka could feel the tension radiating off of him, but he had to stay focused. He had to keep his poker face, or this wouldn’t work. He pulled open the front door, hoping wildly for a moment that Katara wasn’t home and someone had just left the light on by mistake.

“Sokka? Is that you?”

Well, it was worth a shot.

“Yeah,” Sokka called back, and damnit, his voice already sounded choked, “Can you come here for a minute?”

“Uh, sure,” Katara answered.

Sokka pushed Zuko’s hip gently, nodding towards the stairs. “I’ll meet you in the car.”

Zuko had just made it to the top of the stairs when Katara entered the hallway, a puzzled look on her face. “What’s up?”

Sokka’s lips felt like they were stuck together, and pulling them apart to respond with his rehearsed line felt absurd. “I hate Forks.”

Katara tilted her head in confusion. “What?”

“I hate Forks,” Sokka repeated, trying to force himself through his script, “I’ve hated it here, since before we got here, I always have, you know that.”

“Okay…” Katara said slowly, “Where is this coming from? Did something happen with Zuko?”

“No,” Sokka said harshly, internally flinching at the alarmed look on Katara’s face at his tone, “Zuko’s not the problem.”

“Okay,” Katara said again, watching him cautiously, “Then, what is wrong?”

“It’s everything,” Sokka said, and he felt ridiculous while saying it, because while his words would’ve hurt Hakoda, they were doing nothing but confusing Katara, “There’s nothing to do here, it’s the same thing every single day, and I hate it. I miss home, and I don’t want to be stuck here.”

“Well, you’re not stuck here,” Katara said, putting a gentle hand on his arm, “It’s only a little over a year until you graduate, you know.”

“I need to go now,” Sokka snapped, skipping ahead a bit in his script.

“Well, you can’t go now, it’s the middle of the night – ”

Sokka cut her off. “I am going now. Zuko’s waiting in the car. I just came to say goodbye.”

Katara dropped her hand in surprise.

“What?”

Sokka could see from the arch of her eyebrows and the slight flare of her nostrils that this was it. The way to get her angry – properly angry. Angry enough to let him leave. And though he felt like he was going to be sick, he took the bait.

“We’re leaving. Me and Zuko. I need to get out of here, tonight, and he’s taking me.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Katara took a step back, crossing her arms over her chest.

“No,” Sokka said slowly, “I’m not. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

Katara scoffed loudly. “And what? If I wasn’t here, would you have just left without telling anyone?”

“Yes,” Sokka said, and Katara laughed in shock.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Sokka?”

“What do you mean what’s – ”

“I mean, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Katara repeated, raising her voice. “What exactly has Zuko put in your head to make you think that running away in the middle of the night is a sane thing to do?”

Something about the way Katara said Zuko’s name lit a fire in Sokka’s throat, and before he could stop himself, he was shouting back at her.

“This was my choice, not Zuko’s!”

Katara snorted derisively. “Yeah. Sure.”

“What does that mean?” Sokka asked, and he fleetingly noticed that the anger in his voice was suddenly very real.

“It means I think that’s bullshit, Sokka,” Katara retorted, “It’s bullshit that you, all on your own, with zero influence, are deciding to run away from home for no reason.”

“It’s not for no reason – ” Sokka started to argue, then stopped. Because, he couldn’t explain the reason. Not really. And, in his anger, he almost had.

Katara watched him, pausing for a second to see if he would continue, before shaking her head, laughing.

“See? Right there. There’s something you’re not telling me, still, you’re keeping secrets and making stupid decisions and getting hurt,” she argued, her eyes flickering to Sokka’s wrist, “And it all revolves around Zuko. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Katara – ”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong,” Sokka said, and his mouth tasted sour as he did.

The look on Katara’s face told Sokka that she knew he was lying. It also told him that the lying made it – made everything – worse. And Zuko had said they could tell her, hadn't he? Sokka supposed that was still an option. He knew he could trust her. He knew that she wouldn’t tell anyone. But he also knew that if she had the full picture, if she knew about Azula, knew that Sokka was at that very moment, in mortal danger, then there would be nothing he could do to stop her from trying to help. So, he couldn’t tell her. Not now, not like this. Not when telling her would put her in more danger than she was already in. Not when telling her could get her killed. Sokka couldn’t – wouldn’t – allow that, no matter how much it hurt him to see Katara looking at him the way she was right now.

So, when Katara repeated herself again, muttering, “Bullshit,” Sokka swallowed hard against the nausea rising in his throat.

“Why can’t you just trust me?” he yelled, pushing as much vitriol into his tone as possible.

“Why should I trust you? You’ve given me no reason to trust you!” Katara shouted back, and the angry noise Sokka made in response was completely genuine.

“Is sixteen years of being your brother not enough?”

“Apparently not,” Katara snapped, and Sokka noticed very suddenly that her eyes were shiny with tears, “You’re not acting like my brother. The Sokka I know wouldn’t lie to me, wouldn’t act this stupid, wouldn’t be so reckless with his own safety that it’s like – ”

She stopped, her eyes dropping to the floor. Whatever was hanging on the end of her tongue had shocked her into silence. Sokka didn’t want to hear it, but he knew he needed to, that they wouldn’t get to the breaking point without it.

“Like what, Katara?”

Katara looked back up, a fierceness in her eyes that cancelled out any presumed weakness attached to the tears streaking down her cheeks.

“Like you don’t even care that you lived, and mom died.”

Sokka’s ears were ringing. Somewhere, in the far reaches of his mind, he knew that Katara had just given him a gift, that she had unknowingly said exactly what he needed to protect her. But that was hard to focus on, when the majority of his efforts were going towards blinking back the tears that he felt rush into his eyes. He lifted his hand, wiping at his eyes roughly and swallowing.

It would be okay if she hated him, as long as she was safe.

Sokka tried to keep that in mind as he took a step back towards the door, his eyes locked on Katara, letting himself take in the wideness of her wet eyes, the way she was wringing her hands in distress, the slight lean of her body, like she wanted to reach out and grab him. Sokka couldn’t let that happen.

“You know what, Katara?” he spat, trying desperately to sound angry instead of wounded, “I don’t think its Forks I need to get away from. I think it's you.”

Sokka heard the choked sound that Katara made, but he didn’t see her face, because he had wrenched the front door open, slamming it behind him and rushing towards Zuko’s car.

Sokka pulled the door open, not looking at Zuko as he said, “Go. Just go.” He felt the car reverse and closed his eyes. He didn’t think he could bear to look at the house as they pulled away.

Sokka didn’t want to know how much Zuko had heard, and he wasn’t going to ask. Zuko said nothing, but tangled their fingers together again, squeezing lightly. Trying to comfort him. Somehow, it had the opposite effect. The tears that Sokka had been attempting to hold back fell rapidly down his cheeks, before he could even think to stop them.

“Fuck, sorry,” he said, and Zuko squeezed his hand again, glancing over at him momentarily before focusing back on the road.

“Sokka, she’ll forgive you.”

Sokka let out a shaky laugh. “I don’t know.”

“She will,” Zuko repeated, “Trust me. She will.”

Sokka knew what he was trying to say – that he’d heard something in her thoughts that led him to believe that her forgiveness was a given. Sokka might not have been able to read minds, but he knew Katara, and he didn't think it was that simple. He was all argued out, though. So he nodded, keeping his eyes shut, and tried to focus on the feeling of Zuko’s hand in his.

What happened when they got back to the Cullens' house was so quick it felt like Sokka had dreamed it. Upon arrival, he was rushed up the stairs and given some of Haru’s clothes to wear.

(“To mask your scent,” Iroh explained, “It won’t last forever, but it’ll give you an advantage.”)

Then, so swiftly that Sokka felt like he had teleported, (and who knows, maybe he had - weirder things had happened in the last eight hours alone), they were in the Cullens' large garage. Sokka was seated in the back of Haru’s car, a black Mercedes with darkly tinted windows. Next to Haru’s car, Zuko, Iroh, Mai and Ty Lee were speaking in hushed tones, next to a large SUV. Sokka was trying to eavesdrop, but they were talking so quickly and quietly that it was unintelligible. Suddenly they stopped, and Zuko was in front of Sokka's rolled down window, crouching down so that they were at the same eye level.

“Sokka – ” he started to say, but the rest of his sentence was absorbed by Sokka’s lips.

Zuko’s hands went to Sokka’s cheeks, and Sokka grabbed at the front of his shirt, tugging him as close as possible. He wanted it to last forever. It only lasted ten seconds.

“Sokka,” Zuko said again, when he pulled away, “I – please be careful.”

Sokka couldn’t stop himself from laughing, softly, at that. “I’ll do my best, you know, considering. You be careful.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Zuko said quickly.

“Yeah, no, I’m gonna worry,” Sokka snapped. “She’s your sister, and I don’t want you to, for me –”

“She’s not my sister if she hurts you,” Zuko cut him off, “If something happened to you – I – don’t worry about Azula.”

“Zuko, we’ve got to go,” Mai called out.

“Okay,” he groaned, grabbing Sokka’s face again and pressing a hard kiss to his forehead. Sokka leaned instinctively towards the touch, trying to capture it all in his mind – the softness of Zuko’s fingers against his cheeks, the cool feeling of his lips, the tingling across his skin at the contact. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. Zuko had stood and turned his gaze to Haru and Toph.

“Please, just –”

“We know,” Toph said from the passenger seat, and Zuko nodded.

He looked back at Sokka, and he teetered on the edge of speech.

“Sokka, I – ”

“Zuko, come on!”

Mai was glaring from the driver’s seat of the SUV, the passenger door open, waiting.

Zuko gave Sokka one last lingering, desperate look – it sent an aching pang down Sokka’s spine – and said, "I'll see you soon."

Then he hopped into the SUV, pulling the door shut behind him. The garage doors opened, and they pulled out onto the dark, twisting road.

Eventually, the two cars reached a fork in the road – Haru went left and Mai went right. Sokka tried to follow the other car, (to follow Zuko), with his eyes, but the spectral glow of its taillights was quickly swallowed up by the darkness of the quiet night. It was eerie how empty the roads were; if Sokka didn’t know better, he would’ve called it peaceful. Picturesque, even, as Haru’s headlights illuminated spots of dark green against all-consuming black.

Sokka leaned his head against the window and tried to center himself on the soothing feeling of the cool glass against his skin – familiar, almost comforting, but a phantom compared to the real thing – as he watched Forks disappear.

Chapter Text

Katara hadn’t called.

Or texted.

It’s not that Sokka had expected her to – he certainly wouldn’t have texted him. But that didn’t make it any less upsetting to check his phone for what felt like the five hundredth time and see, again, no new notifications. He put his phone back down on the black leather seat, taking a deep breath. There were a million reasons that Katara wouldn’t have reached out. It hadn’t even been ten hours.

And it wasn’t like Sokka was going to text her because, well, what could he say? There was nothing he could tell her, no explanation that he could give that would make up for what he had said. The absence of contact hurt – a lot – but it didn’t surprise him.

Sokka tried not to let his mind wander to what he would be doing if the situation was reversed, because if he did, then he’d dwell on the situation itself, on every word that had left their mouths, on the hurt noise that Katara had made as he slammed the door, on the thirty-seven different versions of what her face must’ve looked like that he’d let himself imagine in the late hours of the night. Sokka didn’t want to think about how Katara had spent those same hours, didn’t want to think about her trying to fall asleep in the house alone, didn’t want to wonder if she’d been able to sleep at all. And as the sun started to rise in east, casting a warm glow through the tinted windows of Haru’s car, Sokka decided that he really didn’t want to think about the fact that Hakoda would be arriving home soon to find Katara in…well. Sokka didn’t want to think about what state Katara would be in when their dad arrived.

He could text Zuko again, but that hadn’t been yielding much in ways of a distraction. “Zuko’s busy,” Toph had reminded Sokka when he’d suggested calling him around 3:00 A.M.

“If there’s any news, they’ll call us,” Haru had added, in a tone that Sokka assumed was meant to be reassuring.

So, Sokka hadn’t called. He had sent a few texts, though.

      be careful

      toph is really annoying

      i miss you

Zuko had answered, finally, around 5:00 A.M.

      I miss you too.❤️

Sokka had tried not to read too much into Zuko’s emoji choice.

And failed.

So, maybe texting Zuko wasn’t the best distraction method. Sokka needed to do something though, besides staring out the window, because that way lied madness (and thinking about Katara, and spiraling).

Before the silence could get to him, Sokka leaned forward in his seat, giving Toph’s sleeping form a side eye, and tapped Haru on the shoulder.

“We should pull over soon. You’ve been driving for like, nine hours.”

Haru turned his head, giving Sokka a quick worried glance before focusing his eyes back to the road. “Sorry Sokka, I totally forgot. Do you need to pee?”

“I mean,” Sokka sputtered, “Yes, but I meant so that I could drive for a bit. You should take a break.”

Haru flipped his turn signal on, moving the car into the right lane as they approached the next exit. San Jose.  “Are you sure? We need to actually drive fast to get to Phoenix before the end of the day.”

(That had been Sokka’s idea. The whole going to Phoenix thing, anyways.)

Sokka had explained, somewhere in the haze that was the previous night, that the most obvious place – his old hometown – would be the least likely place for Azula to look. Zuko had balked at the idea, had said that it was dangerous and not worth the risk, but he had been outnumbered by the rest of his family, who agreed with Sokka. It was a near direct shot south, the complete opposite direction from where Zuko, Iroh, Mai and Ty Lee would be trying to lead Azula. (No one had told Sokka what they were planning to do once they stopped running, once they confronted her, nor did it seem like anyone was planning to; if Sokka was completely honest, that was just another addition on the long list of things he did not want to think about).

Anyways.

Phoenix was far from Forks – normally, a three-day trip, with stops.

Although, with Haru’s driving …

“I’m not going to go 110 miles per hour, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sokka responded, earning a disgruntled noise from Haru. “I’ll still go fast! But I’ve only had my license for a year, I’m not ready to get it taken away yet.”

“Ninety-five miles per hour isn’t fast,” Haru grumbled, referencing back to Sokka’s suggested speed a few hours into their trip, when Sokka had leaned over his shoulder and squealed at the sight of the speedometer.

“It’s not slow,” Sokka muttered under his breath, as Haru pulled into the gas station closest to the exit ramp, parking in front of the shop, “What is it with vampires and speeding?”

Haru didn’t answer. He glanced over at Toph for a moment – she was still fast asleep – and then back at Sokka.

“Do you need food?”

Sokka’s stomach grumbled in response.  

“I can get something inside,” he said, opening the car door and stepping out, stretching his arms over his head and yawning. Haru hopped out too and was by Sokka’s side quickly. Supernaturally quick. Sokka glanced around the near deserted gas station nervously, but luckily neither of the two other patrons seemed to notice. Sokka resisted the urge to roll his eyes – how on earth had Zuko been the first one to let their secret out?

“Okay, great. We’ll get gas when you’re done,” Haru said, locking the car.

“I can go to the bathroom and buy snacks by myself,” Sokka protested, trying not to mope as Haru followed him into the shop.

“I’m sure you can,” Haru agreed, “But if Zuko found out that I let you wander around alone – well. I don’t want to find out.”

“What - do you think Azula’s hiding behind the Slurpee machine?” Sokka asked, giving Haru a look and trying to ignore the longing pang in his chest at the mention of Zuko. He couldn’t go there. Not right now, in the candy aisle at a 7-Eleven, at seven in the morning, with Haru lurking over his shoulder like an annoyingly overprotective shadow.

“Probably not,” Haru said, “But considering I can’t see you; I’d like to keep my eyes on you.”

“Well, it’s single stall,” Sokka said as they reached the back of the shop, “So, I’ll be doing this part alone, thanks.” Before Haru could protest, Sokka pulled the restroom door open and slammed it shut, locking it behind him quickly. Objectively, Sokka knew that a locked door wouldn’t stop Haru from entering if he wanted to, but he hoped that his mild tantrum would be enough to earn him some privacy.

The fact that Haru couldn’t see Sokka had been a major point of contention. Like with Zuko’s mind reading, Haru’s ability to see the future didn’t apply to Sokka – or rather, Sokka’s future. None of the Cullens had any idea why some of their powers worked on Sokka, and some didn’t. They just sincerely hoped that Azula’s would be included in the category of powers that he could shield himself from (and hoped that they’d never have to find out whether or not that was the case).

So, since Haru couldn’t see Sokka, the next step was to try to watch Azula. That, so far, had proven to be difficult. As Haru explained it, Azula hadn’t decided on a clear path yet and it was therefore impossible for him to see where her path would end. So really, they were just flying into the unknown without a clear map, hoping that Azula would continue following the group heading north and dreading the moment when she would realize that Sokka wasn’t with them.

(Though Sokka wouldn’t voice it out loud, he was becoming increasingly frustrated with convoluted magical vampire powers that only seemed to work on a full moon, in the twilight hours, as long as Mercury wasn’t in retrograde. Sokka had no desire to witness them in action, but he had to admit that Azula’s straightforward lightning powers seemed like the best of the lot.)

And since none of the other group had called, which they said they only would if Azula stopped following them or if something else happened – and Sokka really didn’t want to dwell on the possibilities of ‘something else’ – Toph and Haru had reassured Sokka that everything was going to plan. Though, how a plan based on almost nothing could not go to plan, Sokka wasn’t sure.

Sokka groaned, making eye contact with himself in the scratched-up restroom mirror as he washed his hands. He looked terrible. The maybe two hours of sleep he’d gotten were clear in the puffy skin and dark shadows under his brown eyes. Haru’s too big crewneck shirt was swallowing Sokka up whole, his hands hidden in the sleeves, the collar hanging loosely. It was cozy, Sokka had to admit, but it wasn’t comforting. It smelled wrong, and it was ill-fitting in a way that made Sokka look – and feel – incredibly small and helpless. He missed his clothes. He missed Zuko’s clothes. He desperately needed coffee.

Realizing that he’d been standing in front of the mirror for far too long, Sokka sighed and unlocked the door, pushing it open to find Haru waiting where he’d left him – but with a plastic bag and a steaming to-go cup of coffee in his hands.

“I got you food.”

“Oh,” Sokka said slowly, hoping he didn’t sound rude, because his trust in how well Haru could pick out human food was incredibly low, “Thanks, you didn’t need to do that.” What he meant was, I wanted to pick my own food out, but now I have to pretend to like whatever you got me.

Haru noticed his tone and smiled. “Zuko told me what you like. Two sugars and cream, right?”

“Yeah,” Sokka answered, smiling back and pushing his sleeves up past his elbows as Haru handed him the coffee. It tasted a bit burnt, but even with a bitter aftertaste, the coffee grounded Sokka in reality, reminded him of a cold Sunday morning in the not too distant past and Zuko picking him up for date to the beach, Sokka’s coffee order in his cupholder. The memory and the heat radiating from the cup in Sokka’s hands spread warmth throughout his whole body. “Thank you.”  

“You’re welcome.”

Back in the car, while Haru was getting gas, Sokka rifled through the plastic bag. It was full of snacks that Sokka definitely did like (Doritos, for one thing. Like, so many different flavors of Doritos), but not a lot of breakfast food. Finally, he found a PopTart pack at the bottom of the bag and ripped it open, trying to eat as much as he could before it was his turn to drive. Sokka had a feeling that Haru would appreciate Sokka’s one-handed, multitasking driving about as much as Zuko did (see: not at all).

About two hours later, somewhere around San Luis Obispo, Haru woke up from his nap and made Sokka pull over. They had to exit and find a secluded patch of trees, because the sun was high above their heads now – California did not provide the necessary vampire-safe cloud cover that Forks did.

“This is so not a fair tradeoff,” Sokka argued as they traded places.  

“Sokka, I’m fine,” Haru said, settling back into the front seat and passing Sokka’s almost empty, cold cup of coffee back to him, “The quicker we get there, the better. And we’ll get there quicker if I drive.”

Sokka grumbled a bit as they pulled back onto the road, grabbing one of the many bags of Doritos and opening it loudly. He had long since given up on trying to respect Toph’s sleep – she, for lack of a better way to put it, slept like the dead. She hadn’t been conscious since around 4:00 A.M. Meanwhile, Sokka was struggling to keep his eyes open. Haru yawned loudly as they merged back onto the highway and Sokka kicked the back of Toph’s seat in frustration, finally jostling her from her hibernation.

“Why don’t you take a turn driving?” he demanded, when she stirred.

Toph stretched her arms above her head and answered in a sleepy voice –

“Oh, you’re right, Sokka. I’ll get right on that.”

Sokka hummed smugly to himself, throwing a Dorito in his mouth and waiting. Haru didn’t pull over, or slow down at all.

“Haru, did you hear –” Sokka started to say, but stopped when Toph turned herself around completely in her seat, waving her hand in front of her face.

Oh. Yeah.

“Never mind.”

Haru snorted. Toph reached forward and turned the stereo on, the sound of The Who, specifically the incredibly bizarre song “Boris the Spider,” which Toph had forced Sokka to listen to a week ago, filling the car. Sokka really wished he’d never woken her up.

“When did you put your CD in here?” Haru groaned. He, along with Zuko, had begged Toph to turn it off last week.

Toph ignored him and turned up the volume.

Around noon, while sipping at the icy dregs of a McDonald's coffee, Sokka finally received contact from Forks – from Hakoda. It was a brief call: after ensuring that Sokka was alive and making it clear that he would be grounded when he got back, Hakoda had eased up a bit. Sokka had figured that his patience had to be linked in some way to whatever condition Katara had been in when he’d gotten back from work.

Cautiously, Sokka had asked, “Is Katara okay?”

Hakoda had gone silent for a minute before saying, “She went out. With Aang, I think.”

He hadn’t elaborated past that, and Sokka didn’t need him to – the fact that Katara hadn’t locked herself in her room and was actually talking to people was enough to bring him some comfort. After confirming that Sokka understood that he was in deep shit and promising that they would be back within two days (though, he wasn’t actually sure if that was true, but he was so tangled in his web of lies at this point that another one didn’t add too much of a weight to his conscience), Hakoda hung up and Sokka finally, finally slept.

Sokka woke up about ten minutes after they officially arrived in Phoenix. The sun hadn’t quite sunk behind the horizon yet, though the sky had long since faded from blue into purple, pink, orange. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Out of habit at this point, he checked his phone – still nothing from Katara or Zuko.

Trying not to let his disappointment seep into his tone, Sokka asked, “Where’s the hotel?”

“Near the airport,” Toph answered, “Best to be close in case we need to leave quickly.”

Sokka nodded, trying not to imagine what scenario would necessitate a quick getaway via plane.

“Sokka,” Toph said, and from the softness in her voice, Sokka figured out that he’d failed at concealing his frustration from her, “Are you okay?”

Sokka decided that lying to Toph was a pointless endeavor, and certainly not one that he had the energy for in his still vaguely drowsy state.

“I haven’t heard from Katara since last night. No calls, no texts – nothing. My dad said she’s – well, not okay, but – ”

Sokka stopped, unsure of what else to say.

Toph let the silence sit for a moment, then turned around in her seat and said, “Look, Sokka, your sister does have a bit of a temper, so I’m sure that she just – ”

Toph stopped abruptly at the furious look on Sokka’s face. Or – okay – at the way his emotions shifted abruptly, his worry buried under a sudden avalanche of anger.

“She has every right to be angry at me, all of you do,” he spat, pausing and exhaling slowly before continuing. “I just wish she would say something.”

“What are you talking about, all of us do?”

Toph sounded angry.

“I just – ”

Sokka groaned in frustration; he didn’t know how to explain the shame he was feeling. Toph could apparently feel it though, because she responded before he could try to pull an explanation out of his exhaustion warped brain.

“Sokka, you have no reason to feel guilty about any of this. It’s not your fault Zuko’s sister is crazy.”

“It’s my fault that all of you are risking your safety for me,” Sokka snapped back, unable to stop himself.

“Sokka,” Haru said, before Toph could do more than widen her eyes in surprise, “No one is doing anything against their will. We care about you and we’re not going to let you get hurt.”

“But – ”

“There are no buts,” Toph cut in, giving Sokka’s shoulder an intense look, “So, shut up and stop feeling guilty. And I’ll know if you don’t.”

Sokka shut up.

When they arrived at the hotel, the sun still hadn’t set, so Toph and Haru had to make sure that their hoods were pulled up over their heads, their sunglasses on. The valet took the car from under an overhang that Sokka was fairly certain sunlight wouldn’t reach, but they took every precaution, just in case. Sokka was exhausted and there was a painful knot in his neck that had built up during his last several hours of sleeping with his face pressed against the car window – he was excited at the prospect of collapsing into a hotel bed and letting his sleep-deprived body force him into a brief coma. Sokka was even willing to skip dinner for sleep, and not just because he had managed to get through all of the snacks Haru had bought.

He didn't get the chance.

Mere seconds after Haru closed the door behind them, two things happened almost simultaneously:

Haru gasped, his eyes widening in shock, and then, maybe five seconds later, Toph’s phone rang, startling her and Sokka further.

“Answer that,” Haru ordered sharply, rushing towards the couch in the small sitting room of their suite. He dropped his bag next to him and pulled out a sketchbook and pencil, quickly drawing as Toph answered her phone.

“Mai, what happened?”

Sokka didn’t know where to focus his attention – Toph’s raised eyebrows as she listened to whatever Mai was saying, or Haru, who was drawing almost frantically. Since he couldn’t hear Mai, Sokka chose Haru. He sat down next to him, watching what looked like the outline of a room come to life on the page.

“What are you…what are you doing?”

“Azula changed her path,” Haru said, not looking at Sokka, “And I saw where it’s leading her – I’m trying to get it down while it’s still fresh in my mind.”

“Okay,” Sokka said, looking up at Toph, who was still listening intently to Mai, “What changed? What did she decide?”

“I don’t know that,” Haru explained impatiently, “I just know whatever it is, it’s going to lead her to this room.”

“We’ll see you soon,” Toph said then, regaining Sokka’s attention, “Tell Zuko not to freak out. Yeah. I know. But it’s worth a shot.” She hung up, sitting next to Sokka and saying, “Azula stopped following them, out of nowhere. They have no idea why, but she just stopped, turned around and headed back towards Forks, they think.”

“When did this happen?” Haru asked, still sketching.

“They noticed about an hour ago. They’re not exactly sure when she actually changed directions. They wanted to be certain she’d actually gone before they called us, but they’ve lost track of her.”

Sokka tried to ignore his pounding heartbeat as he asked, “What are they going to do now?”

“They’re coming here,” Haru answered, “Their flight lands in three and a half hours.” Sokka’s eyebrows drew together in confusion before he remembered that it was only his future that Haru couldn’t see.

Speaking of futures that Haru could see. The pencil dropped from his hand without warning, and Sokka looked down at the finished drawing. And gasped. Even in his fatigued state, struggling to keep his eyes open, Sokka would know that room anywhere. The recognition made his heart drop to his stomach so quickly he felt winded.

“What?” Haru asked, putting his hand on Sokka’s arm. “Do you know where that is?”

“Um, yeah,” Sokka breathed, staring at the sketchbook in shock.

When he didn’t elaborate, Toph prodded his arm with a strong finger. Her voice was gentle though, as she said, “Help us out here, Sokka.”

“Um,” Sokka started again, a bit louder, “That’s my old dance studio.”

“What?” Toph exclaimed, as Haru dropped his hand and said, “Oh.”

“Mirrors – that was confusing me – now it makes sense,” Haru continued, as though Toph hadn’t said anything. He tore his eyes away from the drawing, giving Sokka serious look. “You know where this is?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s downtown.” Sokka paused, continuing to stare at the drawing. “Why would Azula go there?”

“I mean,” Toph said, “If she was trying to find a place you were familiar with, I guess that’s as good place to start as any.”

Sokka frowned. It was true that besides the high school and his house, Sokka and Katara had spent more time at the dance studio than anywhere else, but how the hell would Azula know that? He decided to voice that query verbally, and Toph made an incredulous noise.

“What do you mean, how would she know? It’s all over your Facebook.”

Sokka was definitely sleep deprived.

“My Facebook?”

Haru raised his eyebrows. “Did you not know that your profile was public?”

Sokka put his face in his hands and pressed his elbows into his thighs before speaking again, extremely slowly, to make sure he was understanding them correctly.

“Why do either of you know what’s on my Facebook?”

Despite the stress in the air and the confusion in Sokka’s voice, or maybe because of both of those things, Haru and Toph burst out laughing. Haru calmed himself down first, saying –

“Sokka, just because Mai and Zuko are ancient and don’t use technology doesn’t mean we don’t.”

“We’re technically baby boomers,” Toph added.

Sokka didn’t remove his face from his hands, opting instead to lean backwards into the couch cushion, trying to reconcile their words with his understanding of vampires up until that point. “I guess…that’s true.”

“Point being,” Toph pressed on, ignoring Sokka’s melodrama, “If we used Facebook to stalk you when we figured out Zuko had a crush on you, I wouldn’t be surprised if Azula did the same while trying to literally track you. You really should have better privacy settings.”

Yeah. A lecture about internet safety. They were definitely boomers.

When Sokka didn’t respond, Haru put his hand on his shoulder.

“You should get some sleep. Zuko and the rest of them will be here before you know it.”

Sokka blinked. “Is there – is there a plan?”

“Yeah, the plan is not going to your dance studio, Sokka,” Toph said. “Go. Sleep.”

When Sokka didn’t move, Toph grabbed his arm, pulling him up and all but pushing him into one of the two bedrooms. He pulled himself out of her grip when she tried to forcibly shove him onto the bed.

“I’ve got it.”

Toph put her hands up in defense. “Just making sure.”

Sokka didn’t fall immediately unconscious, like he’d assumed, but eventually the heavy hotel blanket and the darkness of the room swept over him, pulling him into a deep sleep. When he woke and checked his phone, yawning and rubbing the dried drool off his cheek, he saw that he’d managed to sleep for almost three hours. Adding it all up, Sokka had gotten around six hours of sleep in the past day, which was nothing to scoff at, considering. He was pleased for a moment, before his brain reached a state of actual consciousness and the events of the last twenty-four hours hit him like a brick to the face. Before he could go down that wormhole, his phone buzzed against the mattress, the bright light of the screen jarring him fully out of his grogginess.

Sokka squinted against the intensity as he picked it up – and his heart stopped. Before he could even think of what he was going to say or consider not answering, he swiped and practically flung the phone to his ear.

“Hello? Katara – ”

Sokka wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but the rest of his sentence died in his throat when he was cut off. He wasn’t certain what he’d expected to hear in response, but nothing – nothing – could have prepared him for this.

“Sokka! Stop - Sokka!”

His blood went cold and for a moment he couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. His mind went to the worst possible place, but that couldn’t be it. It couldn’t be. They had led Azula away, that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Then why, why did Katara sound like that? Like –

Sokka shook his head, as if that would change what he’d heard, and tried to answer, his voice cracking –

“Katara? Katara, what – ”

There was a loud thud, silence, and then –

“Katara is indisposed at the moment.”

Sokka stilled at Azula’s voice, cool and calm and calculating in a way that immobilized him instantly. His limbs felt stiff and he wasn’t entirely sure his body would move if he tried. When he started to respond, his voice shaking despite his best attempt to steady it, Azula interrupted him before he could say more than, “Where – ”

“If you don’t mind, Sokka, I’m going to do the talking. And for your sister’s sake, you’re going to repeat what I tell you to say, exactly. I’m not particularly interested in your companions eavesdropping on our conversation. Is that okay with you?” Sokka stayed silent, and he could almost hear the eye roll in her voice as she added, “You can say ‘yes.’”

“Yes,” Sokka said, his voice still shaking.

Azula tutted disapprovingly. “If you could try to sound like you’re not sobbing, I would appreciate that. Say, ‘Katara, don’t worry. I’m fine.’”

“Katara, don’t worry. I’m fine,” Sokka repeated. His voice was steadier this time, despite the fact that his heart felt like it was collapsing in on itself.

“Much better,” Azula said appreciatively, “Thank you, Sokka. This will all be much easier if you cooperate. Say, ‘I’m sorry that things got out of hand last night.’”

Sokka’s stomach clenched with guilt as he repeated the words back. “I’m sorry that things got out of hand last night.”

“You really should say that, when you see her. You were incredibly rude,” Azula reprimanded him. “I’m sure you know that I was listening in. Some of the things you said…well, that’s why I thought it would be such a great idea for Katara and I to meet and catch up. Personally, I hate it when my brother keeps things from me, so little sister to little sister, I thought it would be best if I filled Katara in – I apologize if that doesn’t go along with your plans.”

Azula paused, and for a moment all Sokka could hear was his own heart thudding in his chest. Then –  

“Say, ‘You’re right. I’m so sorry.’”

“You’re right,” Sokka said, his voice at a whisper, his hold on his phone loose in his trembling hand, “I’m so sorry, Katara.”

“Good. Now, I have nothing against your sister, Sokka. I’m assuming Ty Lee –” and even in his terrified state, Sokka couldn’t help but notice the contempt in Azula’s voice as she said Ty Lee’s name – “has explained that my problem is with you. There’s no need for your sister to get hurt, as long as you can do exactly what I ask. Do you think that you can get away from your escorts? Say, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be gone for too long,’ if your answer is yes.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be gone for too long,” Sokka echoed, certain that he knew what she would say next.

“Wonderful, Sokka, you’re doing perfectly. Do you think you can get yourself to the Phoenix Dance Academy, downtown? I believe you’re familiar. You can say ‘yes.’”

“Yes,” Sokka whispered, and Azula hummed agreeably.

“Lovely. You’re going to tell your babysitters that you spoke to your sister and that all is well. Then, you’ll need to figure out how to get away. I’ll know if you bring someone with you.”

There was a pause – a silence that said, come alone or Katara pays the price. Sokka gulped.

Azula continued. “You’re going to say, ‘I’ll see you soon, Katara. I love you.’ Then I’ll hang up and you’ll figure out your escape plan. Don’t take too long now.”

Again, the implied threat hung in the air.

“I’ll see you soon, Katara. I love you,” Sokka said, and this time, he didn’t try to stop himself from sounding choked up.

He could hear Azula’s smug smile through the phone as she replied, “Can’t wait to see you.”

The line went dead.

Sokka let out a rattled breath, his phone falling out of his wobbly hand and onto the bed with a gentle thud. A million emotions hit him at once – terror, confusion, grief – but the one that stood out like a neon sign, glaring in his face and demanding to be seen, was guilt. Guilt and shame, so overwhelming that Sokka felt like he was drowning in it. Katara was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be untouched at home – hating him, maybe. Ranting to Aang about how awful he was, sure. But safe, shielded entirely from this world that she knew nothing about. Safe because of Sokka’s plan, because of his choice to hurt her in order to protect her. Angry and seething and plotting Zuko’s secret murder in the middle of the night, but safe and protected and unharmed.

But Sokka had failed. His plan – his stupid, convoluted plan – hadn’t worked. If anything, it had probably made it worse. What was it that Mai had said?

“If she can’t use them to get to you, she should leave them alone.”

Well, they’d miscalculated. They’d underestimated Azula, or maybe they had played right into her hands. Sokka’s idiotic, reckless plan had done nothing but make it clear to Azula exactly how to get to him. He had been so busy trying to protect Katara that he had forgotten entirely to protect himself. Unintentionally, they had given Azula the exact thing she needed to draw him out of his hiding place. They’d given her exactly what she needed to win this game.

Because there wasn’t a question. The choice was simple.

Really, it was the same choice Sokka had made last night, just with a slightly different playbook.

Protect Katara. At any cost.

Sokka’s first plan had failed, had crashed and burned and led him here. He wouldn’t fail a second time. The question now was this: how was he going to get away from Toph and Haru?

There was a loud knock on his door and Sokka jumped, startled out of his daze.

“Sokka, are you okay?” Toph’s voice rang out, muffled slightly by the wood separating them. “It feels like you’re having an anxiety attack.”

Sokka took a steadying breath before responding. “I’m fine!”

There was a pause and then Toph opened the door. She was frowning deeply. “Haru, come here. Does he look okay?”

Before Sokka could answer, Haru appeared by her side and flipped on the light. Sokka squinted against the sudden brightness as Haru said, “No. Sokka, what happened?”

“Nothing, I – ” Sokka paused, remembering what Azula had said. “Katara called.”

Sokka felt tears well up in his eyes and for a moment he panicked – until he saw the sympathetic look on Haru’s face.

“It’ll be okay,” he said, “This isn’t going to last forever, and we’ll be back in Forks in no time.”

Toph still looked suspicious, but nodded. “Yeah. What he said.”

“There’s a new plan,” Haru said, “We’re meeting them at the airport, and you and Zuko are going to fly out together, as far away from here as possible – whatever flight has empty seats. We’ll stay here and deal with Azula.” Though he didn’t clarify, Sokka could tell from his tone exactly what “deal with Azula” meant. He couldn’t dwell on that though – he had less time than he thought to get away from them.

“When are we leaving?” he asked, taking great care to keep his voice steady.

“In ten minutes,” Haru said, “They land in about an hour. If you want to freshen up and change, I brought some extra clothes for you. They’re in your bag.”

Great. More baggy clothes. “Thanks.”

Haru smiled and exited the doorway but Toph lingered, her eyebrows still drawn together warily.

“You’re sure that you’re okay?”

Sokka counted up to three in his head, then backwards, matching the counts to his breathing.

In – one, two, three.

Out – three, two, one.

“I’m okay. Honest.”

Toph stayed for a moment more then said, “Okay. We’ll be waiting out here.”

The moment she closed the door behind her, Sokka stood, reaching for the hastily packed bag on the floor. Inside, he found a flannel that was almost like one of his, although it was two sizes too big. He grabbed it and went to the bathroom, pulling Haru’s crewneck over his head as he went.

In front of the mirror, Sokka understood why Toph was so concerned about him (and was frankly confused as to why Haru wasn’t.) If the emotions Toph could feel were anything like the ones on his face, it was no surprise that she was regarding him with so much doubt. Though the dark shadows under his eyes had faded a bit, thanks to his nap, Sokka still looked haggard (he still felt it too). His hair was sticking up in strange directions, his eyes were red-rimmed and wide, slightly manic, and no matter how hard he tried, he struggled to force his mouth out of the straight, terse line it was stuck in. He’d have to fix that, he thought, as he rolled up his sleeves, buttoning them above his elbows. If the plan that was forming in his head was going to work, he’d have to get his emotions under control.

Sokka had been to Sky Harbor International plenty of times – knew it like the back of his hand, enough so that he was certain he’d be able to lose Toph and Haru in a crowd and get away quickly. He also knew that he’d have an incredibly limited time to do it – escaping Toph and Haru would be difficult, but Sokka knew that he would have no chance of getting away once Zuko landed.

Zuko.

Fuck.

Sokka watched himself exhale forcefully in the mirror, saw as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes again. He sniffled – he had to get himself under control or Toph would figure him out, but the train of thought had already started. It had been lurking at the back of his mind since he heard Azula’s voice, from the moment he understood what he would have to do. Sokka was powerless to stop it, the surge of emotions that was quickly becoming a tidal wave, washing away his futile attempt at composure.

Zuko’s face swam up in his mind and wouldn’t go away no matter how hard he tried to force it to; Sokka could see him, could hear him – after all, it’d been less than twenty-four hours since they’d parted. It was stupid, pointless, but Sokka let himself imagine anyways, what it would be like if he really was going to follow the plan. Sokka let himself picture Zuko, bag in hand, stressed but relieved to see him, let himself imagine flinging his body at him and hugging him tightly, refusing to let go. He could hear Toph’s snort, hear her reminding them that they’d only been apart for a day and that they were in public, and couldn’t they calm down? He could visualize himself ignoring her and burying his head in Zuko’s neck, pressing a kiss there and breathing in his familiar scent, letting the coolness of his skin calm him. It was an easy fantasy to get lost in, because it took no effort at all to remember their last interaction: Zuko’s lips on his, against his forehead, his simple, pleading request – be careful. And Sokka had joked, because he always joked, and it felt so stupid now, when there was so much more he should’ve said.

Though, Sokka had to admit that he was glad he hadn’t promised to do more than his best. He had done his best, but Azula had done better. And now –  

Sokka tried not to let the next memory play out, but he was as powerless against it as he was against Azula, as he remembered the way Zuko had looked at him from across the garage, his eyes wide and fearful, teetering on the edge of saying something, of saying –

Sokka wouldn’t let himself think that. Not now, not when he would never get the chance to say it out loud. He thought wildly, briefly, about writing a letter (to say I’m sorry, to say goodbye), but there was no way he could think of to get it to Zuko without raising Toph’s suspicions. Even if he could, Sokka doubted his ability to make it through writing such a letter without his mood changing dramatically in a way that wouldn’t immediately alert Toph to the fact that something was wrong. He could send a text, maybe, but this wasn’t the kind of thing that could be said over text and sending it at all would alert Zuko to the fact that something was wrong and – okay.

It would have to go unsaid.

Sokka watched his reflection as he wiped his eyes and took a stabilizing breath. He ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing it and pulling it back into his signature ponytail, and puffed out a tight breath. It was probably better this way, if Zuko didn’t know. Sokka wasn’t stupid enough to think that Zuko would be okay, but he hoped that not knowing the full extent of his feelings would make the whole thing hurt a little less.

By the time they got to baggage claim, Sokka had his plan. He’d managed to get his emotions balanced enough that Toph had stopped asking him if he was okay; now she was leaning against a wall, picking at her nails as Haru watched the escalator from which the passengers of arriving flights were descending. The digital clock hanging between baggage carousels 4 and 5 read 8:20 P.M. It had been almost forty minutes since Azula’s call and it was only forty minutes until Zuko landed. There was no time left to wonder if his plan would work or not – he had to act.

“Toph,” Sokka started, “Do you mind coming with me to find a restroom?”

“How exactly am I going to help with that?” Toph asked, shooting a pointed look in his general direction.

Sokka let go of some of the tension in his shoulders, letting the anxiety that he was holding back fill his body – a bit. He couldn’t overdo it. He saw Toph’s eyebrows raise slightly though, so he said, “I just don’t want to go alone.”

Toph seemed to understand his meaning. “Lead the way.”

Toph grabbed his hand as they walked and at her cold touch, Sokka instantly felt a wave of calmness rush over his skin.

“It’s going to be okay, Sokka,” Toph said, “There are more of us than there are of her. This will all be over soon.”

Sokka hummed noncommittally in response, not trusting himself to do anything more.

If only it were that simple. In his state of Toph-induced calm, he let himself ponder the idea of saying fuck it and telling her about Azula’s call, of letting all of them plan Katara’s rescue. But Azula’s words rang in his ears and he knew in his gut that if – no, when – she sensed that he wasn’t alone, numbers wouldn’t matter. Katara would be dead and it would be his fault. Sokka shook his head, and that fantasy, away.

“Found it,” Sokka said as they stopped in front of the restroom, “Give me five minutes?”

“Sure,” Toph said, “Take your time.” Her face was blank – she didn’t suspect a thing.

Sokka kept his voice composed as he answered. “Sounds good.”

The moment he turned the corner, surrounded by sinks and out of sight of Toph, Sokka broke into a run – straight towards the second exit to the restroom. He had gotten lost in a similar bathroom in the airport once, when he and Katara were on their way to visit Hakoda. It was the first time they’d been allowed to fly as unaccompanied minors, so of course the first thing they’d done was lose each other – it had taken twenty minutes for Katara to find him, on the opposite side of the terminal, and another ten minutes for her to calm him down. (Katara, who made fun of him for almost everything, had never made fun of him for that day.)

As Sokka exited the bathroom, chest heaving, he scanned the area frantically and – yes. He’d come out near the taxiing area. He spared a second to hope that it would take Toph more than five minutes to realize that he was gone, but only a second. He didn’t have time to lose.

Sokka ran so quickly towards the automatic doors that he nearly slammed into them, reaching them before they could open properly. Luckily, because apparently, he did have some luck, there was a taxi waiting at the curb. Sokka spotted a couple making their way towards it and surged forward, yelling “Sorry!” over his shoulder as he wrenched open the door and threw himself into the backseat. He pulled out his phone, shoving it towards the front seat with the screenshot he’d taken back at the hotel already on the screen.

“Can you go to this address? As quickly as possible?”

The driver, who looked incredibly alarmed, stared at Sokka’s phone and shrugged.

“Should be twenty minutes,” he said, and Sokka answered hurriedly, waving his hand frantically.

“That’s fine, okay, just go!”

The driver gave him another startled look but nodded, turning back to the front and pulling away from the curb. Sokka sat back in his seat, sneaking a glance out the window – no Toph or Haru.

Sokka breathed out a sigh of relief – he knew he only had a limited amount of time between the Cullens figuring out what he had done and them coming to try to stop it, and the wider the space between those moments was, the better. He wondered if his own decision, the decision to leave, had affected Haru’s vision of Azula’s future, even though Sokka’s own path was a mystery. He hoped not – the more time he could buy himself, the easier this would be. Though, he thought darkly, it wasn’t like Azula would need long to do what she wanted to do. He hoped, anyways. Until that moment, Sokka hadn’t let himself ponder the idea that Azula might not be planning to make his death quick.

Sokka pressed his cheek against the window, watching the lights of the airport fly past – the driver was speeding slightly, for which he was grateful. The longer the silence stretched in the car – because he had definitely scared the taxi driver out of any attempts at conversation –  the more Sokka’s imagination started to wander – to Katara’s voice over the phone, to the red of Azula’s eyes from across the field, and before he could stop it, to Zuko and his soft hair and even softer smile, and his gentle hands and dorky laugh and –

No.

Sokka sat up straight in his seat, exhaling sharply through his nose. Going there would definitely not make this easier. Zuko was…Zuko was someone he’d never seen coming. Sokka hadn’t expected much when he went to Forks – and he realized, now, that if they’d been able to stay in Phoenix like he’d wanted, none of this would have ever happened. He wouldn’t be, at that moment, in a taxi on his way to die. Somehow though, he couldn’t bring himself to regret any of it. If he’d never moved to Forks, he would have never met Zuko – and god, what had been the likelihood of them meeting at all? Born one hundred years apart, in entirely different worlds; the fact that they’d met and – Sokka could admit it to himself fully, with his own clock running out – fell in love was some sort of cosmic miracle. Or tragedy. It depended on how you looked at it.

As his surroundings became more familiar, Sokka tried to force Zuko’s face to fade from his mind. The sight of streets he’d driven down so many times re-centered him, and Zuko’s gold eyes, at the forefront of his brain disappeared, replaced by warm brown eyes of Katara. Somehow, Sokka’s breathing was even as he concentrated on her face, on the fact that she was waiting for him, terrified, and on the simple truth that he’d been repeating to himself silently since the moment he heard Azula’s voice: he would not fail to protect her again.

“This is it, right?”

Sokka looked up to see the taxi driver watching him in bewilderment. He tilted his head and Sokka turned – the dance studio. It was closed, he knew it would be, but that fact seemed to be confusing the driver.

“Yeah, this is it, thank you.” Sokka was surprised by how calm he sounded. Who needed Toph?

Sokka’s hands were steady as he swiped the emergency credit card Hakoda had given him, emptying out the cash he had in his wallet for a tip. The driver looked more deeply confused – concerned, even – but he said nothing except, “Have a good night,” as Sokka hopped onto the sidewalk, closing the door behind him. The night air was warm on his skin, but it was so startlingly different from the cool, damp air he’d become used to that goosebumps rose on his arms and neck. At least, he was going to let himself believe it was because of the temperature.

He checked his phone. 9:00 P.M.

Zuko would have just landed.

Sokka moved to the front door, pausing there for a moment, his hand hovering over the handle. Wildly, almost hopefully, he wondered if it would be locked, or if his attempt to open it would trigger an alarm. But when he gripped it and pushed, it turned easily, swinging open and letting out a cold blast of air conditioning. Sokka looked down the sidewalk – both ways – and found it deserted. He knew, intuitively, that Azula already knew he was there, lingering in the doorway, but he was struggling to move. As it turned out, walking knowingly to your own death wasn’t easy. But the sudden thought of Azula telling Katara that he was there, frozen on the pavement, shocked him back into motion – he knew that this would hurt Katara, no matter what, but the least that he could do was make it quick for her.

The lobby was empty: a little messy, like it always was, piles of pamphlets littering the side tables and check in counter, but empty, nonetheless. Sokka had figured that would be the case – after all, Haru’s drawing had clearly been of the dance studio itself. Which was just past the door in front of him.

Sokka couldn’t keep thinking – his legs already felt like lead, and if he stood here a moment more, he was fairly certain that he would sink into the ground. For all he knew, Zuko and the rest of the Cullens were already on their way, would be here any moment (he knew they would have no qualms about speeding). Sokka forced himself forward –it felt like his legs were dragging behind him – and pushed open the door.

And then he heard Katara.

“Sokka! Stop - Sokka!”

Sokka surged forward, looking frantically around the darkened studio in confusion, because where was she?

Then he heard her again, except – she was laughing. The sound came from behind him.

Sokka spun around and his heart stopped.

Against the wall, next to the door to the lobby, was an old TV. On the screen was a video he’d seen at least one hundred times. It was after their last show, two years ago, and Katara was on stage for the finale. Her eyes were wide in shock because Sokka, who had already taken his final bow but disagreed strongly with the fact that they’d been separated by gender, had run back onto the stage and grabbed her around the waist, swinging her around in a tight hug. Katara had gotten so scared that she’d screamed – and then burst into laughter. Then, Sokka had dropped her, grabbing her hand and retaking their final bow together.

Sokka watched it all play out on screen, his heartbeat picking up pace in his chest as he stood, frozen to the spot. And then the screen went blue.

“It’s a cute video." 

Sokka turned around so quickly that he almost fell.

Azula was staring back at him, a smirk on her face, the moonlight streaming in through the high windows glinting in her red eyes. She was standing so still, so unnaturally, that though Sokka knew he hadn’t seen her when he first ran into the room, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she was standing there all along.

"I’m grateful that the studio held onto the copy – I was going to try to use the version on your Facebook, but I’m no good with all those cables. This was much easier.”

When Sokka spoke, he was shocked and proud to discover that his voice was strong – angry.

“Where’s Katara?” he shouted. Sokka already knew the answer, he knew it the moment he opened the door and saw nothing, but he had to ask. He had to hear her say it.

Azula tilted her head, surveying him curiously.

“With her boyfriend, I imagine,” Azula said, “You know, you humans are incredibly unobservant.”

Sokka said nothing.

Azula sighed heavily. “I thought you’d be chattier. Your sister certainly is, going on and on to her boyfriend about how much you hurt her feelings – she didn’t even notice that I took this.”

Azula paused and reached into her pocket, pulling out Katara’s phone and dangling it out in front of her.

If it was possible, Sokka’s heart dropped further – from his stomach to his feet.

“How did you – ”

“I just told you, aren’t you listening? I will admit, I believed your ploy at first and followed Zuko and,” Azula’s nose wrinkled in disgust, “The others. Honestly, I am surprised that Zuko let you out of his sight. But no matter – once I figured out their trick, it took no time at all to come up with this ruse, track your sister, take this –” she held up Katara’s phone again – “And make my way here.”

Katara was safe. She was safe. She had no idea about any of this, had never stared through the shadowy studio into Azula’s hungry red eyes or seen her fangs glisten, like Sokka was now. Sokka could almost laugh with relief – in fact, he must have, because Azula raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Did I miss a joke?”

Sokka’s laugh died in his throat, because Azula was very suddenly in front of him, so close that he instinctively took a step back, so that he could see her fully.

“I hope you’re not thinking of running,” she said, her eyes narrowing, “You must know by now that’s no use, although, I suppose it would make this a bit more fun.”

“Zuko will be here soon,” is all Sokka managed to say. It was true, technically, though Sokka didn’t feel it was worth it to risk checking the time on his phone. He also knew that Azula wouldn’t need more than a few moments to kill him.

“Yes, I know. That’s the whole point,” Azula responded, rolling her eyes as though Sokka was being deliberately stupid.

Sokka knew that there was no way he could outrun her or even attempt to fight her off, but he could try to stall her, at least until Zuko got there. However long that would be. Haru and Toph knew where the studio was – didn’t they? Once they figured out where he’d gone, it would just be a matter of getting there.

So, Sokka asked, “Why? What’s the point of any of this? Do you really think killing me is going to make Zuko happy to see you?”

Hurt flickered across Azula’s face, for just a moment. Then it darkened, and she scowled at him. “How stupid do you think I am? I’m not going to fall for that.”

Well, it was worth a try.

Azula grabbed his wrist suddenly, pulling him forward forcefully. “You humans are so fragile,” she ruminated, examining the splint as she twisted his arm uncomfortably, with little regard for the limits of his joints. She toyed with edge of the splint, dragging a sharp fingernail along it.

Maybe it was the adrenaline surging through his veins combined with sleep deprivation, or maybe it was the very real knowledge that he could die at any moment, but some force made Sokka blurt out –

“You know, I was supposed to get that off today, but I’d really rather a professional do it, if you don’t mind.”

Azula let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a snarl. Then, without warning, she dug her nails into the splint and ripped it off, tossing it across the room where it hit the mirror with a loud thud.

“Iroh’s going to be seriously pissed about that,” Sokka sighed, because apparently, he was unable to stop the sarcastic quips once they started.

“I really don’t think that your wrist healing properly is your greatest concern right now, human,” Azula growled, pulling him forward into the middle of the room. Her grip hurt and Sokka was fairly certain that his wrist was going to break all over again.

Sokka tried to wriggle out of her grip – out of instinct, more than anything else – and she laughed. “Oh no, Sokka. You’re going to stay exactly where I want you until Zuko gets here.” And with that, she flung him unceremoniously to the floor.

Sokka’s head hit the ground hard – he heard the blow before he felt it, like he was hearing it from outside his body. Then a splitting pain jolted through his body, starting at a point on the back of his head and shooting down his neck. He groaned and tried to sit up, but Azula’s hands circled his wrists and forced him back down, one of her legs pushing down onto one of his, locking it into place.

Suddenly, his wrists felt warm and he felt the hair on his arms stand up. Azula screamed angrily.

“Why isn’t this working?”

Another vampire superpower that didn’t affect Sokka added to the list, then.

She dug her nails into his wrists in frustration, and he felt the skin break. Sokka struggled helplessly against her hold again, his brain kicking itself back into gear as he processed the smell of his own blood, and as Azula did the same.

Azula’s face, suspended above him, went suddenly wild. She inhaled deeply, a shudder rolling over her body.

“How the hell hasn’t Zuko killed you yet?”

Instead of answering, Sokka flung his free leg up, bending it and ramming his knee into Azula’s stomach - hard. She didn’t flinch, but Sokka felt a reverberating pain explode across his shin.

“Fragile and stupid,” Azula said with a grin, as Sokka moaned in pain beneath her. She readjusted her position, slamming Sokka’s likely broken leg back to the ground with her free leg – the sound of cracking bone echoed around the studio.

“Fuck!” Sokka yelled, closing his eyes against the momentary blackness in his vision.

“That was your fault,” Azula reprimanded him, digging her nails further into Sokka’s wrists, “If you would just stay still until Zuko gets here – ”

She stopped suddenly and Sokka knew why. He could feel blood trickling down his arms from the puncture wounds at his wrists and he understood from the way Azula’s grip had gone still – firm, but unmoving – from the way she was breathing deeply again, from the way that he could tell, even with his eyes closed, that her face hovered mere centimeters from his.

Against his better judgement, Sokka opened his eyes and found Azula even closer than he’d imagined, her face twisted in a way that made his body jolt backwards (which was incredibly difficult, given that he was laying on the ground).

Azula looked – well, she looked like Zuko. Her face was drawn and furious, like Sokka was the reason for everything wrong that had ever happened to her. She looked like Zuko had, that first Biology class, lips twisted in anger, her eyes blown out and wild, like a trapped animal.

Except, Azula wasn’t trapped.

Sokka was the one pinned down, held in place by Azula’s tight grip, his head pounding so strongly, his vision spotty, that he wasn’t sure he could sit up even if he wasn’t restrained. And Azula was staring at him, transfixed, like, well. Like he was something to eat. Any sense of restraint that she’d been holding onto was gone.

Sokka felt Azula lift one of his arms – his right arm, free of its splint after a month and a half – and press her lips to the soft skin, inhaling his scent and groaning. Sokka squeezed his eyes shut as he felt her lips part, felt the pinpricks of her fangs against his wrist, and hoped that when Zuko arrived, it wouldn’t be to too gruesome a sight.

Sokka was dimly aware of the fact that the pressure of Azula’s body had been removed, but his thoughts were focused on more important things. In particular, the fact that if he survived the night, the first thing he was going to do, immediately, was yell at Toph.

Okay, no.

The list of things Sokka was going to do if he survived went like this:

First – find and hug Katara so tightly that she smacked him.

Second – kiss Zuko until his lips hurt.

And third – yell at Toph, because “not a pretty process” as a description of what it felt like to be bitten by a vampire was easily the most grossly, ridiculously inaccurate understatement of the century.

If Toph had been honest, she would’ve described the feeling as burning.

Because that was all Sokka could feel. He knew, vaguely, that he had other injuries, other injuries that just moments ago had him in such a painful haze that he was struggling to remain conscious. Now though? All he could feel was burning, starting at the point on his wrist where Azula’s teeth had been just seconds before and spreading across his entire body. His eyes were still squeezed shut, because he was fairly certain if he opened them, they’d catch fire too. Sokka heard someone screaming, hoarse and loud, like they’d been yelling for hours. Then he noticed that his throat was burning too. Oh. It was him.

Sokka was fairly certain there was nothing in the world that could force him to open his eyes, nothing that could pull him out of this haze, nothing at all except –

“Sokka.”

Zuko’s voice cut through the fog, and Sokka’s eyes shot open.

Zuko was hovering above him, his forehead furrowed in distress. Faintly, Sokka could feel Zuko’s hand on his face, but it was difficult to focus on more than a single thing at once. He decided to concentrate on Zuko’s eyes. Sokka’s own eyes were still struggling to stay open, the burning pushing down on his eyelids like heavy smoke, but he could see the moment when Zuko’s gaze locked with his – saw the way his frown deepened.

“Sokka, I’m so sorry,” Zuko whispered, and Sokka felt a surge of guilt at the devastated look on Zuko’s face. He also felt unable to respond. Another voice spoke before he could try to force himself to speak.

“Zuko, he’s losing a lot of blood – I don’t know what Azula did, but this is a bad break.”

Sokka felt slight pressure around his leg and connected it to Iroh’s voice. He appreciated the attention to his other injuries but considering he could barely feel them at this point, Sokka wasn’t that concerned about them. As though reminding him, another wave of pain burst out from Sokka’s wrist, and he couldn’t stop himself from screaming again. This time, though, he managed words.

“My wrist is burning!”

Somewhere, far away, Sokka heard Iroh and Zuko gasp.

“She bit him,” Zuko moaned, and Sokka felt his hand move from his face to his wrist, holding it up the way Azula had, but softly.

Sokka felt another hand touch his wrist – presumably Iroh’s – and then heard him speak.

“It’s a clean wound. I think, if you do it now, you could suck the venom out.”

Zuko sounded pained when he responded. “Would that work?”

“I don’t know,” Iroh confessed, “But I need to stabilize his leg, if you’re going to be removing any more blood. Haru!”

Sokka squinted, past the hazy form that was Zuko, and saw Haru appear. Beyond them, he could see four figures – who he assumed were Mai, Toph, Ty Lee and Azula. Sokka’s eyes widened as the room suddenly lit up bright blue, Azula’s lighting shooting out from her in multiple directions. Sokka thought he heard the sound of glass shattering. He was pulled back to his body by the feeling of cold lips against his wrist.

“Haru, I need you to hold him down,” Iroh said, and Sokka felt firm but gentle hands pressing down on his arm and side.

“I’m sorry, Sokka, I’m so sorry,” Zuko whispered, and Sokka found his gaze again. He had pulled back from Sokka’s wrist, holding it just in front of his open mouth – in front of his fangs. They were as sharp as Azula’s, but Sokka felt no terror – he just felt calm.

Distantly, he heard Toph shout, “Mai, hold her down, I need to focus!”

And then Zuko bit him, and the world went black.

Chapter Text

Sokka opened his eyes – and immediately closed them again, groaning in annoyance as his head throbbed.

Wherever he was, it was obnoxiously bright – like, someone shining a flashlight directly into his eyes bright – so Sokka kept his eyes squeezed shut. He felt a dull ache in the back of his head (and in his leg, and in his arms). Even though he’d just regained consciousness, Sokka could tell that the blinding white light had exacerbated that pain. He reasoned that it was most likely in his best interest to keep his eyes firmly closed, at least until someone decided to dim the lights. He tried to take in his surroundings through his other senses – he could hear a quiet beeping to his left, could feel misshapen, hard pillows underneath his neck, could smell the clean, sterile air. Sokka didn’t have time to notice much more than that though, because apparently, there was another person in the room with him and they had heard his quiet groan.

Sokka felt a warm hand clasp softly around his. Then, quietly, as though afraid to startle him –

“Sokka?”

Sokka’s surprise – and overwhelming, slightly dizzying relief – at the sound of her voice won out against his instinct to keep his eyes shut tight. Slowly this time, he opened his eyes. He was prepared to squint into the brightness, but his vision was mostly blocked by an exhausted, stressed, and suddenly smiling face. Sokka cut her off before she could speak.

“Katara, you’re okay!”

Sokka cringed slightly at the rasp of his voice, rough from lack of use, but Katara didn’t seem to notice. She was frowning, though, her head tilted in concern.

“Of course I’m okay,” she said warily, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Sokka didn’t know how to answer that.

Katara seemed unbothered by his silence. She gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand tightly – a little too tightly. Sokka winced.

“Sorry,” she said quickly, letting go of his hand and dropping her gaze. She frowned again. Sokka followed her line of vision and saw that his arm – his right arm – was heavily bandaged. Sokka’s eyes fell shut again, almost involuntarily, as a memory flashed across his mind.

Azula, hovering over him. Her tight grip on his wrist. The sharp, metallic scent of blood. The sudden, piercing pain of her teeth, sinking into his skin –

Sokka reopened his eyes. Katara was watching him, worry etched into the lines between her creased eyebrows. Sokka blinked a few times, taking in his surroundings. Katara was still taking up most of his vision, but behind her he could see white walls and an old TV, on mute and turned to a news channel. He looked down – at himself – and found that he was no longer in Haru’s clothes. Instead, he was in a hospital gown, which was mostly covered by a rough white sheet. Sokka frowned and glanced back up at Katara. She was looking at him expectantly, like she was waiting for him to say something, an unnamed tension hanging in the air.

“Where – what -?” He paused, not entirely sure what it was that he was trying to ask her.

The lines in Katara’s forehead deepened. “Do you not remember anything? Zuko said you were unconscious, but –”

Katara stopped, likely in reaction to Sokka’s sudden movement. At the mention of Zuko, he’d abruptly sat up – Katara leaned forward, forcing him softly back down into the pillows resting behind him.

“Don’t push yourself. They haven’t been able to check, obviously, but you’re probably concussed.”

Sokka’s head throbbed in response. He closed his eyes again, thinking for a moment. What could he ask her? What did she know? How had she gotten here? He assumed they were still in Phoenix, because this hospital room looked nothing like the ones in Forks, but it seemed a lot had happened since he’d lost consciousness. Was she still angry? Was the fact that he was hurt, badly, enough for her to forgive him without them needing to talk about it? She didn’t seem angry, and Sokka certainly wasn’t going to bring up the reasons that she should be angry with him. And she had brought up Zuko. Casually. How long had he been out?

Eventually, after a few long seconds, Sokka opened his eyes and settled on,  “What day is it?”

“It’s Sunday night, or –” Katara paused, glancing behind her at the clock on the wall – “Okay, yeah. It’s technically Monday now.”

So, it had been a day. Or a little longer than a day.

Sokka exhaled heavily, then asked, “Where’s Zuko?”

Katara gave him an odd look, turning around again before looking back at Sokka with a look of comprehension on her face. Sokka opened his mouth to question her but stopped when she scooted her chair to the right.

Zuko was curled up in a chair in the corner of the room that had been obscured from Sokka’s vision until now. His hood was pulled up over his head, his chin was tucked into his chest, and his hands were tucked into his pockets. He was fast asleep. (Maybe. He seemed too stiff.) Sokka felt a wave of calm wash over his body at the sight of him. He didn’t realize that he was smiling until Katara rolled her eyes.

“He hasn’t left once,” she said, bewildered, “Not even to eat or go to the bathroom. This is the first time I’ve seen him sleep, although, I think that was just his body giving up on him.”

Sokka watched her expression carefully as she spoke. She didn’t seem angry, and her voice was measured and calm, but Sokka wasn’t entirely sure what the emotion on her face was. Confusion, maybe. He shot Zuko one more fond glance before focusing his gaze on Katara.

“What happened?”

Katara grimaced. “You really don’t remember?”

Sokka did remember, vividly, so much so that he was avoiding looking directly at his gauze-covered wrist, fearing another intense flashback. But he was fairly certain that Katara didn’t know the real story, and he needed to find out what the cover story was at some point. So, he feigned ignorance and shook his head.

Katara sat back in her seat, dropping her gaze, and she looked small. Almost guilty.

“Well, I only know what Zuko told us. We were waiting for you to wake up and tell us but – you really don’t remember? Anything?”

Sokka shook his head again.

Katara took a deep breath, not quite meeting his eyes. “Okay. Well, Zuko called Dad and said you’d kind of freaked out. That you wanted to come home because –” She paused, looking directly at him and exhaling roughly before finishing – “Because you felt bad that we fought.”

Sokka saw a multitude of emotions flash across Katara’s face – anger, guilt, confusion.

So, the fight wasn’t forgotten. Sokka knew that had been wishful thinking on his part but, still. He didn’t respond though, other than a short nod, to confirm that her story sounded right to him.

“Well, that was the plan, I guess,” Katara continued slowly, “You were going to drive back last night, but you – well, Sokka you’re so clumsy.”

Sokka’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. So they had framed it as an accident. Okay. He could work with that.

“I don’t remember anything past deciding to come home,” he lied, “What happened?”

“You were getting ready to leave, but the elevator was broken, so you went to take the stairs but – and these are Zuko’s words – you were in such a rush and frustrated and you just – tripped.”

Sokka stared at her. “I tripped and ended up unconscious in the hospital for over a day?”

Katara flinched at Sokka’s joking tone. “You fell down two flights of stairs. You went through a window. That was – that was the main thing. That’s how you broke your leg.”

Sokka heard, distantly, that Katara kept talking, but he wasn’t sure what she said. The mention of his leg sucked him right back into another flashback.

He squeezed his eyes shut, wincing as he heard – felt – his bone crack, the sound of it reverberating around the dance studio, Azula digging her nails back into his arms, and –

“Sokka? Are you okay?”

Sokka’s eyes shot back open. “Um, yeah. I think I’m – I think I kind of remember that part.”

Katara gave him a sympathetic look, reaching out to squeeze his hand again – much gentler this time. She let go of it quickly though, settling her own hand back in her lap. “It was really bad. Your tibia and fibula broke, I don’t even understand how but, you had a compound fracture – that’s – well, Zuko said the bone was sticking out of your leg and –”

“Okay, stop, please,” Sokka said, grimacing and closing his eyes again, “Really don’t want to hear about that, thanks.”

“Sorry,” Katara apologized, “Anyways. You needed surgery for that, which is why you’ve been out as long as you have. The doctors said they wanted to run a few more tests, for your head, once you were up, but you should be able to go home tomorrow. Or today. Tonight. Whatever.” Katara stopped, falling silent as she watched Sokka, waiting for his reaction.

Sokka didn’t meet her gaze – he was looking over her shoulder at Zuko, who was still asleep. (Or, Sokka hoped. He knew there was a very real chance, based on his unnaturally rigid sleeping position, that Zuko was just faking it and eavesdropping.) He pondered Katara’s explanation, his eyes narrowed as he observed Zuko’s sleeping form (trying to determine if his slow breathing was genuine). After a few moments, he realized that there were still a lot missing pieces to the story.

“Dad’s here?” Sokka asked, and Katara nodded.

“Yeah. Down in the cafeteria, with Dr. Cullen. I should probably go tell him that you’re up.”

“Iroh’s here?”

Katara nodded again, giving him an odd look. “Yeah,” she said slowly, “He uh, well he says he was on the same flight down with us, but I didn’t see him. Either way, he got to the hospital first. But um, after Zuko called Dad, from your phone, and told him what happened, he said Dr. Cullen would get us on the next flight down and that he – Zuko, I mean – would take care of everything until we got here. They paid for our tickets and a hotel and everything which – yeah.”

Katara went quiet, having run out of things to say. She was avoiding Sokka’s gaze, her eyes focused on her lap. Sokka felt the awkwardness seep back into the room, the unresolved argument that, in Katara’s mind, Sokka had been on his way to fix when he’d gotten hurt, sitting heavy in the air.

Sokka knew that to properly apologize, he’d need to explain that the cover story was just that – a cover – but he couldn’t find the words, so instead he broke the tense silence and said, “That was nice of Dr. Cullen.”

“Yeah,” Katara answered. After a long pause, she added, “And Zuko.” Before Sokka could do more than raise his eyebrows, she pushed on, saying, “I should go tell Dad that you’re up. He told me to come get him if anything happened while he was gone. I wish I could just text him –”

She stopped, annoyance taking over her face.

“What?” Sokka asked.

“I lost my phone,” she groaned, not seeming to notice the way Sokka stiffened, “I have no idea where or when, it’s just gone.”

“I’m sure it’ll turn up,” Sokka said, blinking quickly and ignoring the flashes of Azula, dangling the phone tauntingly in front of him. He focused on Katara’s face, annoyed and comforting, in front of him. “And if not, you needed an upgrade anyways. I don’t know why you’re still clinging to a 4s.”

Katara laughed awkwardly.

“I don’t trust the fingerprint thing.”

She stood abruptly, and her eyes flickered between Sokka, Zuko, and the door. “Anyways. I’m going to go get Dad.”

“Katara,” Sokka called out, as she reached the door. He waited until she turned around, giving him a questioning look, before asking, “Are we okay?”

Katara’s face was unreadable. “Try and get some rest. Dad’s been…a lot.” And with that, she disappeared through the door.

Sokka frowned, fully prepared to start overthinking Katara’s tone, her avoidance, her body language; he didn’t get the chance. Her empty seat was now filled by a very awake Zuko. (Sokka knew he wasn’t sleeping.) Zuko’s hood had fallen down – as a result of the speed it took for him to fly across the room in half a second, Sokka assumed – and his face was now visible. Sokka’s frown deepened as he took in the dark shadows under Zuko’s good eye (Katara was right – he definitely hadn’t slept), the distressed set of his features, and the way he was looking at Sokka like he was almost… scared. Sokka was also hyperaware of the fact that Zuko hadn’t touched him, his hands still tucked into his hoodie pocket.

“Zuko, I’m sor –” Sokka tried to say, but Zuko started speaking at the same moment.

“Sokka, I am so sorry,” he said, rushing through his words, then stopping. Glaring. He pulled his hands out of his pocket and crossed his arms. “What do you mean you’re sorry?”

“I mean –”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because –”

Zuko was waving his hands exasperatedly now. “You’re in the hospital, Sokka, your leg is broken in two places –”

“Katara mentioned that.”

“And you’re attached to machines and –”

“It’s just a heart monitor –”

“Just a heart monitor? Sokka –”

“Zuko.”

Zuko stopped, his arms frozen mid wave, stunned by Sokka’s sudden change in volume.

“Zuko,” Sokka said again, quieter, trying to take advantage of the unexpected silence, “I’m okay.” That was, evidently, not the right thing to say, if the way Zuko’s eyes widened in disbelief was any indication.

“Okay?”

“I’m alive, anyways,” Sokka said loudly, before Zuko could start ranting again. “Thanks to you – right?”

Zuko’s shoulders dropped, and Sokka could almost see the anger leave his body. Replaced by what though, Sokka wasn’t entirely sure.

“Yeah,” he muttered to his lap, “Thanks to me.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes, but said, “You got the venom out. I’m just taking a stab here, but I’m still human, right?”

Zuko looked up, not quite meeting Sokka’s eyes when he answered, his tone even, but laced with…something. Something that made Sokka’s stomach twist with nerves. “Yes. You’re still human.”

Sokka bit his lip to stop from frowning. “Okay. Good.”

Zuko met his eyes, his eyebrow raised slightly. “Good?”

“Yeah, good,” Sokka said, attempting a smirk. “I assumed that head-splitting migraines weren’t really a thing for vampires, so, I was about to ask for a refund.”

Zuko stared back at him, his face blank as he answered in a flat voice, “You have a concussion. That’s why you have a migraine.”

“Okay,” Sokka said slowly, unable to stop himself from frowning now, at Zuko’s tone, “First off, no one’s done a concussion test on me, so we don’t know that I have a concussion. Second, I was trying to make a joke, but I can see that it’s not landing. Third, I’m getting kind of annoyed, because this is so not how I thought our reunion was going to go.” Sokka didn’t feel it was necessary to add that, in his head, their reunion had involved a lot less talking and a lot more kissing.

“I’m sorry,” Zuko started, and Sokka groaned, startling him into silence.

“Stop apologizing.”

Zuko looked frustrated. “Sokka, it’s my –”

“If you say this is your fault, I swear I’m going to lose it,” Sokka cut him off.

Zuko scowled but said nothing.

“Okay,” Sokka started cautiously, because seriously, what the hell? How had he managed to have a semi-pleasant conversation with Katara, and was now arguing with Zuko? “Can I ask you something?”

Zuko nodded. “Anything.”

“Are you mad at me? Because you won’t even – ” Sokka paused, stretching his hand out towards Zuko and wiggling his fingers, “Like, can you hold my hand? Or something?” Sokka felt himself flush in embarrassment at the request, but he kept his eyes locked on Zuko’s.

Zuko’s expression softened, though the tension didn’t leave his body. His jaw was still tight as he reached out, intertwining their fingers as gently as possible, carefully avoiding bumping the bandages on Sokka’s wrist.

“I’m not mad at you,” Zuko said quietly, after a few seconds, his eyes fixated on their joined hands.

“Okay,” Sokka said again, looking down at their hands too. When Zuko said nothing else, he asked, “So. How’d you explain this?”

Zuko glanced back up, noticing Sokka’s gaze on his bandaged wrist. “Glass. From the window.”

“Got it,” Sokka said, looking over at his other arm for the first time, finding that it was bandaged too, and –

“Oh god – ugh.”

“What?” Zuko asked, sitting up straight in his chair and leaning towards Sokka, his voice concerned. “What happened?”

Sokka turned his gaze towards the ceiling and groaned. “Needle. In my arm.”

Sokka didn’t need to look down to imagine the exasperated look that he assumed appeared on Zuko’s face, corresponding with the huff he let out.

“You’re afraid of needles?”

“Well, I’m not fond of them in my arm –” Sokka started to say, dropping his head to look at Zuko, who was barreling on as though Sokka hadn’t spoken at all.

“You’re afraid of needles. You’re not afraid of a vindictive vampire who wants to kill you – no, you go and meet her! But, needles. That’s a step too far.”

Sokka frowned. “Well, when you put it like that, I sound stupid.”

Zuko just frowned in response.

Sokka shook his head, refocusing. He was determined not to let the conversation fall into a lull or, knock on wood, turn back into an argument.

“Okay. Subject change. How did you convince people that I – what – fell down two flights of stairs and through a window?” Sokka had honestly expected Katara to bring up the dance studio in her retelling of his injuries and had been surprised when it wasn’t mentioned at all.

“Toph had fun fabricating the evidence,” Zuko answered vaguely, his eyes back on their hands, “You could probably sue the hotel, if you wanted.” It sounded like an attempt at a joke, but Sokka couldn’t help but notice the coldness in his tone, especially when he said Toph’s name.

“Zuko,” Sokka asked slowly, waiting until their eyes met before finishing, “You’re not mad at Toph, are you? Or Haru?”

Zuko dropped his gaze immediately and said nothing.

“Zuko –” Sokka tried again, but Zuko cut him off.

“Do you expect me to be happy with them?”

“They didn’t do anything wrong,” Sokka said, frowning when Zuko huffed derisively.

“They were supposed to keep you safe. They promised that they would –”

“Zuko, I went on my own. That was my choice,” Sokka interrupted forcefully, glaring until Zuko closed his mouth against whatever argument he was planning. “I thought she had Katara. There was nothing either of them could’ve done to stop me from going. If my first plan hadn’t worked, I would’ve figured out something else. You couldn’t have stopped me, so don’t be angry at them.”

“Be careful,” Zuko scolded, pushing Sokka gently back towards his pillows – and Sokka realized that he’d sat up abruptly mid-argument, tugging the IV along with him. Zuko went silent as he settled back into his seat, and the look on his face was…Sokka wasn’t sure, entirely. Sad? Accepting? Whatever it was, Sokka didn’t like it, so he asked another question.

“Where’s – well, what happened with Azula?”

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to worry about her.”

Sokka felt his heart drop into his stomach. “She’s not –”

“No,” Zuko clarified, his mouth set in a tight line, “She’s alive. But she’s – she’s not going to touch you. Mai, Ty Lee, Toph, Haru – they’re handling it.”

Sokka wanted to ask for more information, wanted a full explanation desperately, but it was clear from the tone of Zuko’s voice that he didn’t want to talk about it. Not now, at least. And he was still making that face, all miserable and scared, and it was getting worse, the longer they sat there in silence, and Sokka felt that that was the most pressing issue at hand.

“Zuko –”

“You could’ve died.”

Zuko’s expression had suddenly hardened, and his grip on Sokka’s hand tightened.

“I didn’t though,” Sokka said, “And a broken leg sucks, but it’s not deadly. I’ll be okay.”

Zuko inhaled sharply. “I’m not talking about your leg, Sokka.”

“I know,” Sokka admitted, “But you saved me, from the other part. That was you, you got the venom out and –”

“You could’ve died,” Zuko repeated, louder, “If I hadn’t – if I didn’t stop, you would be dead right now.” He was struggling to maintain eye contact, but he was clinging almost anxiously to Sokka’s hand, like it was a life preserver and he was dangerously close to getting lost at sea.

“But you did. You did stop and I’m not dead, even with – you know.” He wasn’t entirely sure how to address the whole irresistible blood thing. Frowning, Sokka tugged at Zuko’s hand until he looked directly at him. His eyes were dark – not quite black, but closer to brown than gold. “Are you okay? Hospitals are – you know, a lot of blood. And stuff. And the needle – is it – am I – are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Zuko said, frustration seeping into his tone, “And no. You’re not – it’s okay.” He paused, then added, “You smelled kind of weird, actually, for a little bit. When you had blood transfusions.”

Sokka wasn’t going to let the light moment pass. “Bet that was nice for a change, huh?”

Zuko shrugged. “It hasn’t – your blood, anyways – it hasn’t bothered me since that night. That’s not – that isn’t why I’m –” He met Sokka’s worried gaze and took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Sokka, Katara’s not mad at you.”

Sokka stared back at him, baffled. “What?”

The face – resigned and unhappy, like he’d made an upsetting decision and was preparing to drop it on Sokka – was back with a vengeance.

When Zuko spoke, it was like he was reading a script. “She’s not mad at you, not really. She was scared that you were going to get hurt, because of me, and you did. But she’ll forgive you, and everything will go back to normal, if you just –”

“Just what?”

Zuko dropped Sokka’s hand, startled by the sudden anger in his voice. Truthfully, it surprised Sokka too, but when Zuko didn’t respond, and the emptiness he felt at the loss of his touch swept over his body, Sokka repeated himself.

“She’ll forgive me if I just what, Zuko?”

“Sokka, I don’t – this isn’t something I want, but I’m not going to stand in between you and your sister, that’s not right –”

Sokka shook his head, laughing in shock at how ridiculous this was. “Nope. We’re not having this conversation. I’m not even going to entertain it, because we already talked about this. Unless you’re saying that telling her the truth is off the table now. Is it?”

“No,” Zuko answered quickly, “But –”

“Why is there a ‘but?’ There wasn’t a ‘but’ a week ago – or even two days ago! Why is there a ‘but’ now?”

Zuko’s eyes were wide – surprised – and Sokka felt a surge of annoyance. Had he expected Sokka to just…accept this? To be okay with it? Did he seriously not get it?

“It’s just – she doesn’t like me because she thinks that I put you in danger. And I know you’re going to disagree,” Zuko said in a rush, when Sokka opened his mouth, “But she’s not wrong. She’s not. Whatever you think about the – the technicalities – you wouldn’t be hurt right now – you wouldn’t have almost died – if you hadn’t – if we weren’t –” Zuko paused, unable to complete that thought. He took another deep breath, then said, “Telling her will probably just – it’ll just make it worse. And that’s not worth it, it’s not worth you losing your sister.”

“Not worth it?” Sokka tried not to wince at the hurt in his voice.

Zuko’s face dropped (and Sokka was surprised to see that he could look sadder than he already did).

“That’s not what I – Sokka, it’s not worth it for you to lose her over this.”

The implied “over me,” hung in the air between them.

“I know it’ll be hard, at first, but if you just – you can just, forget this, and it’ll be okay,” Zuko added, into the tense silence.

And Sokka was furious.

Because he had not intended to say it now, during this conversation. Sokka wanted to have a plan – something romantic and convoluted and perfect. He wasn’t exactly a “throw caution to the wind” kind of guy. But he’d put off saying it before, because it wasn’t the “right time,” and where had that gotten them?

There was never going to be a right time, or a right way, or perfect sunlit scene during which to say it. But Sokka felt a sudden burst of clarity in that moment, as Zuko watched him apprehensively. The look on Zuko’s face – anguished,  scared, guilty, and utterly, wholly resigned to the fate he had set for himself – made up Sokka’s mind for him, because it was clear that Zuko didn’t get it. That he didn’t know.

He didn’t know how Sokka felt, not the full extent of it. He didn’t know that Sokka was grappling with the fact that he was capable of feeling so much for someone, this quickly. That he’d been struggling, unwilling to admit it, just a few days previously.

(But Sokka would admit it now, would scream it to anyone who would listen, would plaster it on every billboard from Phoenix to Forks, if it meant that Zuko would stop making that face.)

He didn’t know that the idea of forgetting him was the most insane thing that Sokka had ever heard. He didn’t know the words that were begging to leap off Sokka’s tongue, right that second.

And he should know. He needed to know.

Sokka could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, and he was fairly certain that subsequently, the heart monitor to his left was beeping erratically, but it wasn’t clear if he was hearing that or a distant ringing in his ears (set off by his nerves or his concussion, he wasn’t entirely sure), and Zuko’s face had gone from dejected to downright alarmed, so Sokka grabbed his hand again, squeezing it tightly, and all but shouted –

“I’m in love with you, you idiot.”

Okay. That hadn’t come out exactly right.

But Zuko’s expression was only half shocked – the other half was cautiously happy, his lips were turned up, just a little.

“You – ”

“Zuko, I love you,” Sokka interrupted him hastily, determined to say it correctly, the way he’d meant to, “If Katara reacts badly, we’ll figure it out. And I don’t think she will, but if she does, then we’ll cross that bridge together. Okay?”

Zuko just stared back, seemingly dazed.

“Zuko?”

Zuko blinked, and his smile faded slightly. “Are you – you’re sure? Because I understand if you don’t –”

“Of course I’m sure, can you please stop trying to break up with me?” Sokka snapped.

“Sorry,” Zuko apologized and Sokka shook his head.

“I’m sorry that I called you an idiot,” Sokka said, his voice softer, “But you were acting like one, so.”

“That’s okay,” Zuko said, his tentative smile appearing again, “I forgive you.”

“Great, wonderful, amazing,” Sokka said, “Now will you please come over here?”

Sokka tugged at Zuko’s hand and Zuko understood, standing and then bending down, leaning in until he was close enough for Sokka to grab his face and yank their mouths together.

(And yes, Sokka knew that realistically, he couldn’t yank Zuko anywhere, but he was so stupidly, overwhelmingly happy about the way that Zuko melted into the kiss, his cool hands pressed lightly against Sokka’s cheeks, tracing soft circles there, that he didn’t particularly care about that technicality. So stupidly, overwhelmingly happy that he couldn’t do anything but laugh when Zuko pulled back for a moment, just to murmur against his lips, “I love you too.”)

Sokka barely noticed when Katara reentered the room with Hakoda and Iroh in tow – it was Iroh, scolding Zuko about raising Sokka’s heart rate unnecessarily, that had startled them out of their kiss.

Hakoda, who had taken the seat next to Sokka’s bed after Zuko offered it, had frowned slightly, then said, “I was kidding before, about covering you in bubble wrap. I’m no longer kidding.”  

And Katara had looked – well, she looked disgusted, and she was glaring at Zuko, but in a normal, grossed out little sister way. And that was somewhere to start.

It was a weird thing, sleeping with a vampire. Sleep was something that generally implied steady breathing, a quiet snore, subtle movements. Vampire sleeping was...a little different, to say the least. 

“We don’t need to breathe, technically,” Zuko had explained once. “We do. It’s uncomfortable not to, but theoretically, we could just not, and it would only be annoying.”

And that much was clear, Sokka thought, as he played with Zuko’s hair, gently combing through it and brushing his bangs back from his forehead. Zuko didn’t stir. 

He was breathing, but his breaths were so far apart that if Sokka didn’t know better, the space between each one would be cause for major panic. He did know better though, so the periodic bursts of cool air against his shirt were soothing, not worrisome. Other than his slow breathing, (a reminder that he was not, as Sokka had affectionately called him to his great annoyance, dead weight), Zuko was completely still. His head was against Sokka’s chest, exactly where it had been when they’d fallen asleep two hours ago. He hadn’t moved at all from his original position - cheek pressed into Sokka’s t-shirt, one arm wrapped around Sokka’s waist, the other tucked underneath himself.

Sokka had been waking up in the middle of the night a lot, since they’d gotten back from Phoenix, whenever his leg or forearm ached, or his lingering concussion made it difficult for him to stay asleep. It would have been annoying, being jarred out of sleep in the early hours of the morning, if he’d been alone. 

But it was nice - peaceful, even - to watch the way the moonlight hit Zuko’s cheekbones, to see the way his long dark eyelashes fanned out against the pale skin of his cheek, squished against Sokka’s chest, the faintest of smiles ghosting his lips as he curled, unmoving, against Sokka’s side. He was like the most delicately sculpted marble statues, every sharp angle and soft curve expertly crafted, beautiful in a way that seemed unreal, improbable. He was also drooling on Sokka’s t-shirt a little bit.

Sokka didn’t mind. 

Sokka liked when it was like this - Zuko relaxed against him. That hadn’t been the norm since this arrangement began, the night they flew home. Hakoda had made it very clear that Sokka was grounded until further notice, the only exceptions being school and (after a lot of pleading from Sokka and Katara) prom. But no hanging out with friends after school, and certainly no Zuko.

Neither of them had been particularly in favor of that. 

It had been Sokka’s idea: they would wait until Hakoda had fallen asleep, Zuko would sneak in through the window, and then they could just... be together. Talk. They hadn’t intended for Zuko to sleepover, originally. But that first night, as they whispered about the flight home and the small period of time between hugging goodbye at the airport and now, with Sokka’s head against Zuko’s shoulder, yawning into his shirt every so often, sleep had washed over them both before either of them could even think to fight against it. And after that, it was hard for either of them to imagine not sleeping in each other's arms. 

Sokka lifted his right arm, free of its bandages in the privacy of his own room, and ran his thumb lightly across Zuko’s cheek, along the place where the edge of his scar met smooth skin. Sokka’s eyes caught sight of his own scar, the raised ridges of the crescent moon shape illuminated in the soft twilight. His thoughts were pulled to the past few nights and their conversations surrounding the peculiarity of the scar.

The bite had scarred over improbably quickly, in less than forty-eight hours. Iroh’s theory was that the traces of venom left behind in Sokka’s skin had healed it, like it would’ve eventually healed his entire body, had it been allowed to spread, but none of them were really sure. Survivors of vampire attacks that stayed human weren't exactly common. Whatever the reason was, Sokka was still meant to wear his bandages in front of people, because trying to explain a magically healed scar, on top everything else, was more than any of them felt ready to handle.

Even healed, now far less terrifying than it had been originally, according to Haru (Zuko had refused to talk about it), the bite had been a clear sore spot with Zuko. On their second night home, when Sokka had caught him staring at it and frowning for what felt like the fiftieth time, he’d tugged gently at Zuko’s shirt and said:

“Babe, it’s okay, honestly. I think it makes me look badass.”

Zuko’s frown had lifted up into a grin as he responded, “Considering the public story is that you got into a fight with a window, I don’t know that anyone is going to think that you’re a badass when they see it.”

Sokka’s offended huff had only made Zuko’s grin widen.

After that, Zuko had relaxed a little. Enough so that he’d allowed Sokka to start verbally theorizing about how the bite had turned so quickly to a scar that looked years old – among other things.

The next night, Zuko had been leaning against Sokka’s headboard, a blissful grin on his face as Sokka rambled on about his theories from his perch on Zuko’s lap.

“Your hair grows. I know that. It’s longer than it was when we met,” Sokka had been saying, letting go of the tufts of Zuko’s hair that he’d been gently holding on to, running his fingers through it instead, “But that’s pretty common, you know, in dead bodies. But venom, venom that can heal, that has to mean there’s some sort of like, working movement of biology, right? I know you can cry, I saw it, and I know you drool, my pillows and shirts are victims of that, so – is it from the blood you drink? Is that why you drink it? Is venom stronger if you’ve just eaten, or is it the same all the time? Do you pee?”

Sokka’s hands had frozen in Zuko’s hair, when he realized that his audience wasn’t exactly captive.

“Zuko?”

Zuko pulled his face back from Sokka’s neck, where he had been contentedly nuzzling moments before. He had tilted his head into one of Sokka’s hands, where they still rested, tangled in his hair, before eloquently responding, “Hm?”

“Are you listening to anything I’m saying?”

“No,” Zuko had answered honestly, pulling Sokka forward so that their foreheads brushed, his smile only growing when Sokka groaned exasperatedly.

“You’re useless,” Sokka had said, squeezing Zuko’s cheeks between his hands and planting a wet, loud kiss on his nose that was intended to be annoying.

“Yeah, probably,” Zuko had said, before tugging Sokka’s chin down into a proper kiss.

Sokka could tell that Zuko was still bothered by what had happened in Phoenix – Sokka still was, so it made sense. But Sokka hated seeing the worried lines appear on Zuko’s forehead, hated the way he’d go quiet when the conversation moved in that direction. He wished that Zuko looked like he did now, all the time. Peaceful. Content. Safe.

And Sokka wished that he would talk about Azula. They talked about everything else under the sun, but whenever Sokka tried to get some sort of explanation out of him, Zuko changed the subject or distracted him (and Zuko was really good at distracting him). Sokka was resolute though – he was going to get answers tonight, because he had new observations. He’d actually gone back to school that day, after two full days of bed rest – and noticed immediately that Mai was mysteriously missing from the group. When he’d asked Zuko where she was, he'd gotten cagey, saying nothing but, “Don’t worry about it, she’s fine.”

Which Sokka took to mean, “She’s with Azula.” Wherever that was – whatever that meant. Sokka was determined to find out. And he was pretty sure he was about to have an opportunity.

Sokka smiled, continuing to play with Zuko’s hair, as he felt the grip around his waist loosen. That was a telltale sign that Zuko was stirring – while humans went loose and relaxed in sleep, vampires seemed to clutch tightly to whatever they were holding. Zuko turned his head, nuzzling into Sokka’s shirt and letting out a deep sigh, before looking up and squinting blearily at him.

“Why are you awake?” he asked drowsily.

“Same reason as always,” Sokka answered, his fingers still threading through Zuko’s hair, nails scratching lightly against his head.

Zuko’s eyes fell shut and he smiled at the sensation, but he said, in a concerned voice, “You should try to sleep.”

“We’re past that at this point, I think,” Sokka said, “My head isn’t being cooperative.”

Zuko opened his eyes again and frowned. “Is there anything I can do?”

“You’re already doing it,” Sokka answered with a grin, dropping his hand from Zuko’s hair to squeeze his waist, tugging them closer together.

Zuko rolled his eyes. “What, laying on top of you so you can’t move?”

“Hey, don’t downplay your cuddling skills. You’re much better than Zuko Junior,” Sokka reprimanded him, tilting his head towards his bedside table, where the stuffed bat from the carnival was sitting.

“I really wish you hadn’t named it that,” Zuko grumbled, turning his head again so that his face was pressed flat against Sokka’s chest.

“You may have won him, but you gave him to me and by doing that, you lost all naming privileges,” Sokka said, moving his fingers back to Zuko’s hair. “Plus, he’s cute. You’re cute. It just makes sense.” Sokka was pretty sure that he felt Zuko grin against his shirt at that.

He paused before speaking again – he wanted to ask about Mai, but he also didn’t want to overstep.

Sokka wasn’t exactly worried – he figured that although Zuko didn’t seem to want to talk about Azula, wherever she was, she wasn’t a danger anymore. Potentially uncomfortable conversation or not, Sokka knew that Zuko wouldn’t be keeping him in the dark if he thought that Azula still posed a threat. So, he had been waiting, hoping that Zuko would open up and explain what happened himself, but he hadn’t yet. And Sokka wanted to know – yes, to satisfy his own curiosity, but also because he could tell that Zuko was stressed about it. With Mai’s absence lingering unexplained between them, Sokka figured that he had a good in. And now, as Zuko snuggled sleepily into his side, was as good a time as any.

Without halting his gentle ministrations through Zuko’s hair, Sokka asked, “Is Mai okay?”

Sokka felt Zuko’s breathing still and there was a pause – just long enough to make Sokka nervous – before Zuko turned his head, frowning up at him.

“I told you she was.”

“I know,” Sokka said slowly, choosing his words carefully, “But – it seems like there’s more to it than that.”

The “more to it” being Azula.

“Sokka…”

“You don’t have to explain right now, if you don’t want to,” Sokka said, “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about her. And you.”

Zuko looked confused. “Why me?”

“Because whatever happened with Azula is clearly upsetting you,” Sokka said, trying not to be obviously troubled by the way Zuko’s face fell, “And I just want you to be able to talk to me about it. You can talk to me about it – about anything – okay?”

Zuko said nothing for a moment, and Sokka could feel the anxiety rising in his chest – the continual movement of his fingers through Zuko’s hair was keeping him centered. The silence didn’t last long. After a deliberative pause, Zuko moved his arm from where it still rested, around Sokka’s waist, and intertwined his fingers with Sokka’s free hand.

Sokka watched Zuko’s eyes find the bite scar, watched his gaze linger there, then move to their joined hands. “Azula – and Mai and Ty Lee – are in Alaska.”

“Okay,” Sokka said, when Zuko didn’t elaborate, “That’s – okay. Why?”

Zuko stayed quiet, his thumb delicately tracing circles on the back of Sokka’s hand.

“Zuko –” Sokka started, trying not to sound impatient, but failing.

Zuko squeezed his hand, stopping him, and took a deep breath. Sokka felt the cool exhale against his skin, and it sent a shiver down his spine.

“I just – she’s – she’s not going to be anywhere near you, anytime soon, or maybe ever, but – and you don’t have to –” Zuko stopped, his frown deepening. He seemed unsure of how to continue.

Sokka wasn’t entirely sure where he was going, but he had a guess, from the deeply conflicted look that was making its home in the crease on Zuko’s forehead.

Sokka’s fingers paused in Zuko’s hair, resuming their ministrations only when Zuko looked up, meeting his gaze. When he was sure that Zuko was going to maintain eye contact, Sokka said, “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I trust you. Okay?”

“Okay,” Zuko agreed, pausing then saying, “They’re in Alaska, at our old home. We still own it, which is good because, well –”

He hesitated for a moment, and Sokka raised his eyebrows.

“Well,” Zuko said uncomfortably, “That’s where I went. The week I was gone, after we met. It’s in the middle of nowhere – no humans within fifty miles.”

“So,” Sokka pondered, “You’ve got Azula in…isolation? And Mai and Ty Lee are what, guarding her?” That didn’t seem like a sustainable plan.

“Not exactly,” Zuko answered, “She – Ty Lee explained that she’s spent the last several decades, after Ozai was killed, trying to convince Azula that they should find us again but – well, Ty Lee knew that in order to do that, they’d need to adopt our diet. And Azula took a lot of convincing, but she had agreed, and that’s why they were here.”

Sokka gave him a puzzled look. “I’ve gotta be honest, it didn’t really seem like Azula was interested in going off human blood.” Zuko flinched at that, and Sokka quickly added, “That wasn’t funny – sorry – keep going.”

Zuko was frowning, but he conceded. “They came to get our help – it’s not an easy transition to make. But – well, you know the rest. She wasn’t expecting Toph or Haru, and she certainly wasn’t expecting you. And, I guess, she was jealous. She was expecting…” Zuko trailed off. “I don’t know what she was expecting.”

“Haven’t you talked to her?” Sokka asked, and Zuko shook his head.

“No. After – well, I was kind of focused on you, in that moment. And I haven’t talked to her since then either, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sokka bit his lip, thinking. There was glaring piece missing from the story, but he wasn’t quite sure how to ask Zuko to fill it in. He tried, though. “How did – I mean, I only remember so much, but from what I do remember, Azula wasn’t exactly…she didn’t seem like she would willingly go on a vegetarian vampire field trip.”

He had tried his best to keep his tone light, but Zuko’s looked distraught anyways, at the direct mention of that night. Sokka squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“Toph,” Zuko said, a look of bewilderment crossing his face, “She – I didn’t even know she could do that, I don’t think she knew. But she managed to control her emotions to the point that –” Zuko stopped, his expression becoming troubled – “It was almost like she sedated her, but –”

“Emotionally,” Sokka finished, and Zuko nodded.

“I wasn’t watching,” Zuko said, “But it was – I was still listening, and – Toph is a lot more powerful than we thought she was.” Zuko still looked deeply troubled when he fell silent, and Sokka understood that whatever he had heard in Azula’s mind was upsetting.

“You don’t have to say anything else,” Sokka said, and Zuko looked relieved.

“Are you sure? I can, if you want –”

“I’m sure,” Sokka insisted, “But, Alaska. What are they doing there?”

“She – and Ty Lee – are learning how to maintain a vegetarian diet,” Zuko said, mouth twitching slightly.

“And how’s that going?”

“Ty Lee is taking to it pretty well,” Zuko said, “Azula is…Toph only got back yesterday. They still needed her around, at first.”

“Got it,” Sokka said, “So, one day, Azula will…join the group?”

“I don’t know,” Zuko said with a scowl, “Maybe. In like, three hundred years.”

“Zuko.”

“She hasn’t even been trying a week – I need a lot more than ‘she doesn’t hate the taste of mountain lions’ – ” Zuko did a surprisingly accurate impression of Mai’s voice – “before I can even think about that.”

Sokka thought about asking for more information but decided against it as he took in the way Zuko’s frown was growing quickly into full on brooding. Right now, he was somewhere in between, his lip stuck out slightly in a pout, and Sokka decided to make good use of that.

“Come here,” he said, dropping his hand back to Zuko’s waist and attempting to tug him up closer.

Zuko responded instinctively. He shifted his position and settled his chin on Sokka’s shoulder, nosing softly at his jaw. “You’re not mad?”

Sokka shivered at the feeling of Zuko’s words muffled against his skin. “Mad about…what?”

Zuko took a moment to answer. “I should hate her. For what she did, to you, I should. But I’m – I’m so angry with her, but I can’t help but feel…guilty.”

He fell silent again. Sokka turned his head, dislodging Zuko from his neck and forcing him to make eye contact. “Zuko. She’s your sister, you’re allowed to be worried about her.”

“I guess.”

“And you shouldn’t feel guilty,” Sokka added, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Zuko let out a disbelieving snort, breaking away from Sokka’s gaze.

Sokka frowned and grabbed Zuko’s chin, tilting his head back towards him. “I’m being serious.”

“I know you are,” Zuko said.

“Then, cut it out,” Sokka responded, “Nothing that happened to Azula – or to me – was your fault.”

Zuko stared back for a moment, his eyes soft.

“What?” Sokka let go of Zuko’s chin, letting his fingers trail up the side of his face.

“Nothing,” Zuko answered softly, leaning his head into Sokka’s touch, “I just love you.”

Sokka flushed. He had no problem telling Zuko that he loved him, often, (in person, and over the phone, and through text). Zuko said it a lot more sparingly though. So the way he said it then, casually, like it was the easiest thing in the world, was enough to make Sokka go warm all over.

“I love you too,” Sokka whispered back, leaning forward to kiss Zuko’s still slightly pouty lips.

When he pulled back, Zuko’s eyelids were struggling to stay open, and his arm around Sokka’s waist was tightening. “I’m sorry,” Sokka apologized, “You’re tired. You should go back to sleep.”

“It’s okay,” Zuko mumbled as Sokka readjusted, letting Zuko settle his head in the space below his shoulder, “I can stay up.”

“Or we could both sleep,” Sokka suggested, wrapping both arms around Zuko and hugging him closer.

Zuko hummed quietly into Sokka’s shirt. “Good plan. You’re the best at plans.”

“Thank you,” Sokka said, “Can you tell Katara that? Because she –”

Sokka stopped – Zuko’s eyes had slid shut and his breathing was steady – or, the vampire version of steady. Sokka pressed a kiss to the top of Zuko’s head and closed his eyes. Sleep found him quickly.

Katara had abandoned Sokka to the wolves.

Okay. That wasn’t entirely fair.

Katara had gone upstairs to do her makeup, with the promise to return and help him back upstairs and into his dress pants (which, unlike the sweatpants he’d been living in, were difficult to pull over his bulky cast). But she had left Sokka alone, on the couch, with Hakoda.

Hakoda, who had made very few comments on the past weekend and Sokka’s decision to run away in the middle of the night, other than to ground him and confirm that Iroh would be grounding Zuko as well. Hakoda, who was giving him a look now, a look that hovered somewhere between disapproval and anxiety.

Sokka did not like that look.

He also didn’t like that, due to his bulky cast, he couldn’t easily run away from whatever conversation Hakoda was on the brink of breaching. And Sokka’s instincts told him, as Hakoda continued to quietly survey him, that he was going to want to run. But attempting to flee preemptively would draw suspicion, and that wouldn’t help, so he sat there, feeling incredibly exposed in his half outfit of a button-down shirt and sweatpants, with Hakoda’s narrowed eyes on him, contemplating something –

“Sokka, I think we need to talk.”

Sokka gulped. “Um, sure. What’s up?” Hakoda looked thoughtful, his eyes flickering away from Sokka’s for a moment before focusing in a way that made Sokka feel uneasy. “Dad?”

“We should talk about you and Zuko.”

“What about us?” Sokka answered quickly – defensively. Hakoda raised his eyebrows.

“I like Zuko, Sokka. I think the two of you are a good couple,” Hakoda said, “But you haven’t been dating for very long.”

Sokka’s face rearranged itself into a puzzled look before he could stop it. “Huh?”

Hakoda reached out and placed a gentle hand on Sokka’s shoulder. “Look, I know that young love can be overwhelming –”

Oh god. Was he?

“- and that you might feel the urge to – make that love known, in a physical way –”

“Dad.” Sokka didn’t need to see himself to know that his face was flushed – it felt like it was on fire. He put his face in his hands.

“Let me finish, Sokka,” Hakoda said patiently, unperturbed by Sokka’s dramatics, “It’s clear to me, from your actions last weekend, that you and Zuko felt like you needed some…alone time together.”

“Dad, please –” Sokka tried to interrupt, but Hakoda continued like he hadn’t spoken.

“I know that I can’t stop you from doing anything, but I can ask you to take your time and to be safe, if and when you do –” Hakoda paused – “engage in activities. I know that in movies, prom night is portrayed as a night to do things, but I don’t want you to let that, or Zuko, pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do.”

“Zuko isn’t pressuring me into anything,” Sokka exclaimed, his voice muffled by his hands.

“Good,” Hakoda said, patting Sokka’s shoulder again. “That’s good to hear.”

There was a silence and Sokka peeked from behind his fingers. “Is that it?”

Hakoda – who was smirking, amused by Sokka’s reaction – nodded. “That’s it. That and, if you promise that you’ll be safe and smart, you can be ungrounded.”

Sokka dropped his hands and grinned. “Really?”

“If you promise –” Hakoda started to repeat, and Sokka waved his hand airily.

“Yes, yes, I promise – safe and smart – let’s just, never talk about this again, okay?”

“But if you need to talk about it, if you have any questions –” Hakoda began to say, but was cut off when Katara reappeared, still in pajamas, but with her face made up. Her hair was pulled into two intricate braids, framing either side of her face, that ended in a low bun.

“Sokka, are you ready?”

“Yes,” Sokka said, resisting the urge to leap off the couch and letting Katara grab his hand and pull him up. “Great talk, Dad,” he added, as Katara pulled him back towards the stairs.

“Aang’s going to be here soon, so let me put my dress on and then I’ll help you, okay?” she said as they got to his room.

“Why didn’t you just wait until you were dressed to come get me?”

“Because I could hear that conversation going down from up here,” she muttered darkly, depositing Sokka gently onto his bed,  “Figured you’d want an out.”

“You weren’t wrong about that,” Sokka said gratefully, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Katara said, her smile not quite meeting her eyes, “Give me five minutes?”

Sokka nodded, leaning back against his headboard as she pulled his door shut.

Things with Katara had been…weird. From her point of view, or so Sokka guessed, it seemed that she had issued a temporary truce, in light of Sokka’s injuries. Sokka had a sneaking suspicion though, that the return of her anger hinged on the speed at which he healed – he knew that he would have to bite the bullet and have the conversation before that happened. And it wasn’t that he was avoiding it, necessarily, but there hadn’t been a moment where bridging the conversation had felt natural.

At first, Sokka was stuck at home while she was at school and going back to school hadn’t offered any extra opportunities to talk, either. With Sokka’s right leg in a cast, they were both relying on rides from Yue to get to and from school, so a talk in the truck was out. And at home, Hakoda hovered until it was time for bed, at which point Zuko came over. So, the opportunity to tell Katara the truth hadn’t presented itself, yet. It had to be soon, though. Katara had already been far, far more patient than Sokka had expected, and he had a feeling they were right at the edge of that patience wearing thin.

The door reopened and he looked up to Katara’s nervously smiling face.

“What do you think?”

Her dress was light blue – or, periwinkle, as she had corrected him the other day. It fell elegantly from a cinched waist, hiding her feet. The fabric swayed gracefully, like flowing water, as she turned left and right, eyeing Sokka and waiting for his approval.

“You look incredible, obviously,” Sokka said, sitting up, “Aang’s going to freak out.”

“Psh,” Katara muttered, walking over to Sokka’s closet and grabbing his pants, tossing them at him. “Get your sweats off.”

“Close your eyes,” he grumbled, and she did, begrudgingly.

“How am I supposed to help you if I can’t see what I’m doing?”

“Carefully,” Sokka said, standing and pulling off his sweatpants. He grabbed the dress pants, pulling his good leg through, then grabbing Katara’s shoulder and balancing, attempting to tug the other pant leg over his cast.

“Ow,” Katara groaned when he stumbled and squeezed her shoulder hard to keep himself upright, her eyes still squeezed shut. “Can’t I just –”

“Hang on.”

“Sokka, just let me look,” Katara argued, opening her eyes before he could tell her no. Ignoring his indignant huff, she bent down, tugging the fabric hard so that it pulled over the bulkiness of the cast.

Multiple things happened at once: Sokka wobbled and grabbed the top of Katara’s head for balance; Katara yelped, shoving Sokka’s hand away and knocking him backwards onto his bed; and a loud rip echoed into the room.

“Fuck,” Sokka said to the ceiling, lying flat on his bed, “Did it work?”

“It's over your cast,” Katara said from the floor, “But…”

“It’s torn isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Hang on.” Katara stood up, brushing herself off.

“Oh, fuck, I’m sorry,” Sokka said hastily, sitting up, “Is your hair – your dress –”

“I’m fine,” Katara said. She grabbed Sokka’s desk chair, pulled it over to the side of his bed and sat down, gesturing at him hurriedly. “Leg up, come on.”

Sokka put his leg in her lap, watching as she rolled up the fabric, folding it at the top of his cast. “Does that look okay?”

“I mean, no,” Katara said bluntly, “But it was going to look stupid regardless.”

“Thanks,” Sokka muttered under his breath, tapping his fingers on his thigh as Katara fiddled with the fabric. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just cuffing them, I can try to fix the actual tear later, but it’s easier right now to just –” she paused, humming to herself as she smoothed out the fabric – “Yep, perfect. You can’t even see it now.”

“Thank you,” Sokka said. “Sorry for knocking you over.”

“You’re just lucky it didn’t mess up my hair, this took an hour,” Katara said, pushing Sokka’s leg off her lap.

Sokka frowned down at his pants. “It does look kind of stupid, doesn’t it?”

“Like I said, it was inevitable,” Katara answered. “Maybe you should just cuff your sleeves too, go for a whole –” She stopped, because she had grabbed Sokka’s right arm and rolled the sleeve back before he could stop her, and was now staring at it, mouth hanging slightly open.

Because Sokka had completely forgotten to put his bandages back on, or, not forgotten, but assumed that he could get away with not wearing them, since he would be in long sleeves all night (they were annoying, okay?).

Katara hadn’t moved, her eyes still fixated on the very obviously not normal scar. Her eyebrows were drawn together in confusion, and Sokka scrambled for something to say.

“Um,” was all he managed.

Katara looked up at the sound, and her mouth moved like she was half a second from fifteen million questions exploding out of her, but before she could –

“Katara! Aang is here!”

Sokka and Katara stared at each other for a moment – Katara, surveying Sokka suspiciously, Sokka waiting – hoping – that Katara wouldn’t push it right now because if she did, he’d have to explain, and there wasn’t time and –

“Later,” she said, pushing herself out of the chair and fixing him with a hard glare. “Whatever that is – later. Okay?”

It wasn’t really a question. Sokka nodded. “Later.”

Sokka waited a minute for her to descend the stairs – and for his heart rate to calm back down – to follow her.

So he would have to tell her tonight, most likely. This was good, probably. He’d been putting it off for too long, coming up with excuses and now – well, now it wasn’t up to him.

Sokka grabbed his suit jacket, pulling it on and pausing in front of his mirror. He straightened his tie and redid his hair – it had been disturbed by his fall. He avoided looking at his misshapen pants situation, focusing instead on grabbing the boutonniere that Yue had helped him pick out off of his desk. Sokka hovered for a moment at the top of the stairs, forcing a calm expression onto his face. He knew that Katara’s mind must be racing, trying to theorize about what exactly she had seen, but he had to keep his own mood under control. Until “later,” at least.

When he got downstairs, which took a minute, without Katara there to keep his walking steady, she had already plastered an incredibly believable grin on her face. She and Aang were standing in front of the front door, in a clearly posed attempt at a candid – Aang slipping a corsage onto her wrist while her hands were frozen in over the lapel of his jacket, matching boutonniere in hand. Hakoda was snapping pictures.

“Okay, now do the classic prom pose. You know the one.”

“Dad.”

Yeah, this was a bit more than Sokka could pretend to be composed through.

“Hey, can I get through?” Sokka asked, wiggling into the small amount of free space in the entryway.

“Sokka!” Aang said excitedly, “You look great!”

“Thanks buddy, so do you,” Sokka answered. “Let me through?”

“Why do you need to go outside?” Hakoda asked. Katara narrowed her eyes.

“Just want some fresh air,” Sokka said, and Aang obliged, grabbing Katara’s hand and pulling her out of the way of the door.

“Thanks,” Sokka said, grinning at Aang as he exited. The cool air was instantly soothing. Sokka sat down on the front porch step, leaning his chin in his hands. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the light breeze calm him back down.

It would be okay, Katara was going to react fine, and everyone would be friends. They would only have to get through this one weird night – because Aang was driving all four of them to the prom venue – and then Katara and Zuko could actually be cordial with each other. Maybe even nice. It was all going to be fine. Sokka felt his heartbeat return, finally, to a steady pace. Everything was going to be okay; it was going to be great; it was going to –

THUD.

Sokka flinched, jolting up in surprise – then glaring.

Zuko had appeared out of nowhere, and was now standing on top of Sokka’s truck, a huge grin on his face.

“Can you act human? Like, I have neighbors. Katara and Aang and my dad are inside,” Sokka complained, putting his face in his hands.

“Sorry,” Zuko said, suddenly at Sokka’s side. Sokka pulled his face out of his hands.

“Where did you even come from?”

“The woods,” Zuko answered vaguely, “I didn’t want to leave my car here.”

“Okay weirdo, how are you going to explain how you got here?” Sokka asked, tilting his head.

Zuko’s face fell. “Uh...”

“I’m just kidding, I’m sure they won’t notice,” Sokka said, turning slightly to take in Zuko’s outfit. His suit was black and looked expensive. His tie, a deep maroon, matched the flowers of the boutonniere sitting his lap.

Zuko smiled as he followed Sokka’s eyes. “For you,” he said, opening the box. Sokka felt his face heat up as Zuko took the edge of his jacket carefully in his hands, holding the fabric taut as he pinned the flowers into place. He didn’t pull back though, instead lingering in front of Sokka’s face, grinning.

“Thanks,” Sokka breathed, “Yours is, um –” he turned around, grabbing the box from where he’d dropped it as he sat down – “Yue helped me pick it out.”

“I know,” Zuko said, grinning down at the arrangement of white and red flowers, “She helped me too – she wanted to make sure that we coordinated.”

“She’s the best,” Sokka said, and Zuko snorted.

“She just wanted to make sure that we didn’t look bad in the group pictures.”

Before Sokka could comment on that, the front door swung open.

“Zuko!” Hakoda said with a smile, “When did you get here?”

Zuko shot to his feet – at a normal, human speed. “Just now, sir.”

Hakoda frowned. “Where’s your car?”

“I, uh –” Zuko stuttered – “Iroh dropped me off.”

Hakoda’s frown remained as he looked up and down the empty street. “It’s too bad he left so quickly. He could’ve stayed to say hello.”

“I’m sure he –”

Hakoda waved his hand good naturedly, cutting Zuko off. “It’s fine, don’t worry. Sokka, get up so I can take pictures of all four of you together.”

The pictures section of their sending off went well, because Hakoda was careful not to pose Katara or Zuko next to each other at any point, and Aang had thought of at least twenty different “funny” poses that they needed to try. Sokka thought he was in the clear of any real embarrassing moments – until Hakoda pulled Zuko aside.

Sokka tried not to eavesdrop. He really did.

But even from where he was leaning against Aang’s van, half listening to his and Katara’s conversation about whether or not the caterer the school had gotten had vegetarian options, he couldn’t help but hear –

“So, Zuko. I wanted to talk to you, before the two of you head off tonight.”

Could Sokka truly be blamed for creeping along the edge of the van so he could glance over and grin at the nervous look on Zuko’s face?

“Um, sure sir. Of course.”

“I just wanted to say, that I appreciate the effort you put into making sure Sokka was taken care of when he was hurt. It’s obvious to me that you care about his safety – we’re on the same page there. And I want to be certain that you will continue to value safety –” Hakoda emphasized the word – “in your relationship with my son. Is that clear?”

So apparently, a talk with Sokka had not been enough to quiet Hakoda’s fears.

“Of course,” Zuko answered hurriedly, his eyes widening, “That – of course. Safety is, um, paramount.”

Sokka muffled a snort into his sleeve.

“I’m glad you think so,” Hakoda said, “Go, join the rest of the group.”

Sokka tried to slide back towards Aang and Katara before Zuko noticed that he’d been listening, but it was clear from the look on Zuko’s face that he failed.

“Oh my god,” Zuko said, “Your dad thinks we’re - ?”

“Apparently,” Sokka said, when Zuko seemed unable to finish that sentence. “That’s why he thinks we –”

“Ran off, yeah, I know – he was thinking a lot more than he was saying,” Zuko whispered. He sounded anxious.

“Babe,” Sokka said, ignoring Aang’s shouts that it was time to go, “He’s not actually like, angry. It’s just dad stuff.”

Zuko’s nose wrinkled. “His thoughts seemed angry.”

“Okay, well he’s probably not ecstatic about it, but it’s fine. He ungrounded me after he made me sit through a much worse version of that, and I don’t think he’d do that if he was actually afraid of you stealing my honor,” Sokka said, grinning when Zuko rolled his eyes and grabbed his hand, opening the van door for him.

“After you.”

Zuko was right – Yue was incredibly pleased to see that Sokka and Zuko were coordinating as well as the other couples (she and Suki were in complementary emerald green dresses: Yue’s was long and flowing, with sleeves that fell past her hands; Suki’s was short, just above her knees, and tight, with thin straps). She was also incredibly anal about their group pictures, which she insisted they take a ton of, despite Sokka’s arguments that they’d taken pictures at home and they didn’t several photos for every combination of the group. Sokka would’ve been more annoyed, had it not been necessary for Zuko to keep his arm tightly around his waist throughout the entire incident, you know, just in case Sokka’s footing got unsteady.

As fun as it was trying to awkwardly dance with a group of people while also taking care to not step on anyone’s feet with his cast, Sokka was more than ecstatic when Zuko pulled him to the open doors at the back of the small auditorium, towards the unused gazebo outside. The sun had already set, so the temperature outside had dropped significantly, and any couple that included at least one person in a thin dress – which was most of them – had been avoiding the outdoor area. Which was a shame, Sokka thought, as Zuko tugged him to the center of the gazebo, settling his arms around Sokka’s waist and turning them slowly.

The music was still audible, though not overwhelming like it was inside the cramped room, and there were twinkling lights adorning the roof, casting a warm glow over Zuko’s face that almost distracted Sokka from how awkwardly they were swaying, his cast still getting in the way of any sort of natural flow.

“Do you know what’s funny?” Sokka pondered, as he narrowly avoided stepping on Zuko’s toes.

“What?”

“I’ve had at least one broken bone the entire time we’ve been dating,” Sokka said, “Right now I have two.”

Zuko frowned at him. “How is that funny?”

“I’m just saying,” Sokka said, pausing to kiss the pout off of Zuko’s lips, “It’ll be an interesting change when I don’t have to constantly be aware of trying not to bump one of my limbs into you.”

“It’s not like it hurts,” Zuko said, raising his eyebrows as Sokka stepped on his foot. “See?”

“It’s annoying for me,” Sokka explained, “For example, it would be really nice to be able to actually dance with you right now, but this thing isn’t letting me.”

Zuko looked contemplative for a moment, then grinned. Before Sokka could question him, he tightened his hold on Sokka’s waist, lifting him up into the air and dropping him onto his own shoes. Zuko grinned wider at the surprised look on Sokka’s face – looking up at Sokka now, a few inches above him. “How’s that?” he asked, as he started slowly spinning them again.

Sokka’s gut reaction was to complain, but he halted before an annoyed retort could leave his mouth – Zuko had started tracing his fingers up and down his back, still smiling up at him and turning them leisurely, in tune with the song drifting out from inside. So, instead, he tilted his head down, pressing his forehead against Zuko’s. “Better, definitely better.”

They were quiet for a moment, content to sway, but Sokka didn’t do well with silence. Plus, he had things he wanted to talk to Zuko about, not the least of which being the conversation he was likely to be having with Katara in just a few hours.

Not wanting to jump right into that, though, he pulled back a bit and commented, “You know, it’s too bad that Mai and Ty Lee are missing this. I know Mai was totally looking forward to prom.”

Zuko snorted. “Oh, yeah. Totally.” Sokka hesitated for a moment before responding, and Zuko quirked his eyebrow. “What?”

“Will we do that one day?” Sokka asked, before he could chicken out.

Zuko gave him a confused look. “Do what?”

“Take a trip up to Alaska.”

Zuko still looked puzzled, though there was a slight edge in his voice as he asked, “Why would we need to go to Alaska? I thought you didn’t like the cold.”

“It’s growing on me,” Sokka said, “But, I meant one day, in the future, would we need to go there to – you know –”

Zuko frowned. “I don’t know.”

Sokka took a deep breath. Just say it.

“You know, to make sure that I can handle a diet of bears.”

Zuko stilled, his frown deepening. “Sokka…”

“Look,” Sokka corrected quickly, “I’m not saying anytime soon, I have no desire to relive that feeling anytime in the near future, but –” he paused, giving Zuko a hopeful smile, “Eventually?”

Sokka tried not to let his stomach sink at the troubled look on Zuko’s face. Had he completely misread this?

“Sokka,” Zuko said slowly, his forehead furrowed, “Just because we went through a life or death experience together, that does not mean you’re bound to me forever, or something. You have a whole human life ahead of you, just because I – I couldn’t ask you to give that up, for me, that’s not – I couldn’t do that.”

Oh. Okay. That's all it was? 

Sokka could work with that.

“Do you think I’m only asking because you saved my life?”

Zuko didn’t answer, dropping his gaze to focus on Sokka’s boutonniere, fiddling with it aimlessly.

“Zuko, no,” Sokka said, pressing his hands to Zuko’s cheeks and forcing him to meet his gaze, “That’s not it at all. The Azula thing – that’s not why I’m saying this. I was sure about this – about you – way before any of that.”

Zuko looked unsure. “…Really?”

“Really,” Sokka echoed, letting one of his hands trail up to Zuko’s hair, “It took me a second to admit to myself but, the way I feel about you is not based in obligation of any kind.”

“And you’re sure that…one day, you would want to…” Zuko trailed off, watching Sokka warily.

“One day,” Sokka emphasized, “Yeah. I’m sure right now – and if I change my mind, then I change my mind. But I don’t see that happening.”

“You don’t?

Sokka raised his eyebrows. “That’s kind of what I meant when I said that I love you, idiot.”

Zuko pouted halfheartedly – Sokka could see the slowly forming smile. “I thought you were done calling me an idiot.”

“No, sorry,” Sokka admitted, tilting Zuko’s head up gently, “Forgive me?”

“Well, if you love me,” Zuko pretended to contemplate, “And I love you – then I guess I forgive you.”

They were both grinning now, and when Sokka tilted Zuko’s head up just a bit more, bringing their lips together, it was a little sloppy and a lot toothy, neither one of them able to stop themselves from smiling. Eventually, after a few nose bumps caused by their excessive enthusiasm, they found their rhythm and warmth stirred in Sokka’s stomach as Zuko’s fingers found his hair, tugging his head down closer. And as Zuko’s tongue slipped into his mouth at a particularly exhilarating angle, Sokka made a mental note that if and when he did need to take a trip to Alaska, he wanted to make certain that he had a growth spurt of a few more inches first.

Sokka had forgotten to ask about Katara, though. That was probably for the better – based on his track record, Zuko was not the best person to ask for advice on how to talk to her.

Rain was falling gently against Sokka’s window – not heavy or erratic, but steadily. Certain.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to phrase it, but he felt surer than he ever had that he could and that after tonight, things would start to feel normal again. The only question now was how to approach Katara. Should he text her? Go to her room? Wait until she approached him?

A loud knock on his bedroom window answered Sokka’s question for him.

He glanced up – Katara was standing at his window, her face…unsure. That was better than angry. Sokka stood, grabbing Zuko’s hoodie from the end of his bed and tugging it on, pulling the hood up before going to push open the window.

“Can you get out here, with your leg?” Katara asked.

“If you help,” Sokka said, swinging his good leg over the windowsill and reaching out his hand. Katara grabbed his hand and a fistful of his hoodie, holding him steady as he swung the other leg out to the roof. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Katara said, guiding him to their spot on the roof. They sat down, letting their legs hang over the edge. Sokka swung his casually, bumping his good leg into one of Katara’s.

“So.”

She looked over, her eyes pensive. “So.”

They both spoke at the same time.

“Katara, I need to tell you –”

“Sokka, I need to know –”

They stopped. Katara gave him a significant look. “You go first.”

Sokka took a stabilizing breath. “I’m not exactly sure where to start.”

“Well,” Katara said, her gaze dropping to where Sokka’s hands were resting in his lap, “Can I – can you show me it again?”

Sokka didn’t ask her to clarify; he pushed his right sleeve up, turning slightly so that he could offer the arm up to her. She took it softly, running her fingers along the edges. He watched her frown intensify as she examined it – tried to understand it. He could also see that she wasn’t getting anywhere.

She looked back up at him and her face was bewildered. “Sokka, I don’t – we both know this is a weird scar, and for whatever reason, you were trying to hide it, but I don’t – what does this have to do with anything? What’s –” Katara stopped, seeming to refocus. “We both know what this conversation is. It’s you finally explaining yourself. I know you’ve been keeping a secret – or secrets, I don’t know – and I know that they’re big and I know they involve Zuko. I don’t know why you left, but I know it’s not for the reasons Dad thinks so just –” she stopped again, fixing Sokka with an intense stare – “Just tell me. What the hell is going on, Sokka?”

Sokka stared back at her and his mind went blank. His mouth moved before his brain could start working again.

“Zuko…isn’t human.”

Katara stared at him in silence. For awhile, she said nothing. Then –

“What?”

Sokka took a deep breath. Just rip the Band-Aid off. “Okay. Let me try again. Zuko’s –” he paused, forcing himself to make direct eye contact with her before finishing – “a vampire.”

Katara gawked at him, then looked down at his wrist, which she was still holding gently, then back at him. Sokka could see how quickly the gears in her brain were turning as she processed his words, her eyes flickering back and forth and back and forth and suddenly, locking. On his wrist. On the yellowing, half healed bruises.

On the crescent shaped scar, glowing eerily in the moonlight.

Katara looked back up, her eyes flashing with rage.

“Zuko did that to you?!”

“No!” Sokka corrected her hurriedly, “Well, I mean, technically he did bite me, but – Katara, wait!”

He stopped mid-sentence, because Katara had leapt to her feet, lurching suddenly towards the window. The only reason she wasn’t already through it, (and on her way to do god only knows what), was because Sokka had grabbed her arm, pulling her backwards.

“Sokka,” she said in a low, measured voice, “Let me go.”

Sokka really didn’t want to imagine the plan forming in her head.

“Please, let me explain.”

Katara glared at him, her narrowed eyes meeting his pleading ones. Her entire body was stiff. Abruptly, so abruptly that her arm ripped out of Sokka’s grip, she sat back down. Katara’s face was set in anger, but now that she was back in his line of vision, Sokka could see the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

“Fine. Explain.”

And he did. Sokka explained everything, from the beginning, leaving out no detail. (Well, he left out some details. He didn’t think that Katara needed a full rundown of every time he’d made out with Zuko in the past month and a half.)

When he finished, his mouth felt dry and his hands felt a bit shaky. Katara hadn’t paused to ask questions or comment in any way as he spoke. She had just watched him, scrutinizing, her eyes narrowed, her arms crossed over her chest. Now that it was clear that Sokka was done, her posture relaxed, just a tad. She still looked like her neck would break, if she turned it too quickly.

“So…Zuko’s a vampire,” she said slowly, watching Sokka as though waiting for him to correct her.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“And the rest of the Cullens are too.”

Sokka nodded again.

“And he has an insane sister who wants to eat you,” Katara added, the steadiness of her voice wavering.

“Wanted to,” Sokka corrected her, “She’s – she’s working on that.”

Katara made an angry, disbelieving noise. “She tried to use me to lure you to your death, Sokka. I find it hard to believe that she’s just, moved on from that over the course of a week.” Sokka laughed and Katara’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Nothing,” Sokka said, biting his lip to stop his snickering, “It’s just, Zuko basically said the same thing.”

“Hilarious,” Katara said flatly.

There was a pause and Sokka reached out, grabbing Katara’s hand.

“Katara, I –” Sokka took a breath. “I’m sorry, for what I said, when I left. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know,” Katara said, “You just explained that, it was to lure Azula away –”

“I know I did, but I just – I need you to know that I’m sorry. You’re my best friend, and I would never ever say, or mean, anything like that.” Katara’s eyes softened, and Sokka saw tears well up again. “Oh no, don’t cry –”

“I’ll cry if I want to, thanks,” Katara grumbled, tugging Sokka forward into a hug. “I’m sorry, too,” she babbled into his shoulder, “I never should have – but I was just scared, and I thought you were going to get hurt, although I wasn’t exactly wrong about that, and then you went and tried to die for me and –”

Sokka squeezed her tightly, then pushed her back. “You would’ve done the same thing for me.”

“Yeah, I would’ve,” Katara said, smiling as tears tracked down her cheeks.

After a silence, Sokka’s face fell back into a serious expression. “So. What do you think?”

Katara gave him an odd look. “About Zuko being a vampire? Or the rest of it?”

“Both.”

“I think…I want proof.”

“What?” Sokka asked incredulously, “Do you not believe me?”

“Of course I do,” Katara said, “But I want to – I want to see the cool stuff.”

Sokka grinned. “The cool stuff?”

“You know,” Katara explained, “The superpowers. Although I am not pleased that Zuko’s been reading my mind, I wouldn’t say no to a demonstration of the whole super speed thing.”

Sokka laughed. “I think I can arrange that.”

It was a warm day, for once, the sun beating heavily down on Sokka’s face as he stretched out in the grass. He knew that he only had two minutes, maybe three, before he was no longer alone, but he was enjoying the way the sunshine, unobstructed by clouds, was heating up his skin.

The meadow looked different from the first time he was there, over a month ago – the green grass now interspersed with wildflowers, and the forest itself more alive, birds chirping from the trees at the edges. Different though it was, Sokka felt the same contentedness, the same feeling of something good about to begin, that he had the last time he was here.

The journey here had been a bit different, too – with one extra passenger. But despite the awkwardness of the car ride there, some things were the same, like the way Zuko held Sokka’s hand as he drove, or the easy smile on his face as he swung Sokka onto his back.

The difference today was that Zuko had immediately left, heading back to the small parking lot on the side of the road, where Katara was waiting. Sokka laughed out loud at the thought of Katara’s face, the moment Zuko had taken off into a run with Sokka on his back. He wondered if she would still want a turn herself, or if Zuko was currently trying to convince her that it wouldn’t be that bad. His money was on the former.

He couldn’t bring himself to feel unsure or uneasy – maybe it was the abundant sunshine, or the fact that, incredible awkwardness aside, Katara had actually laughed at one of Zuko’s jokes on the way there, or the simple fact that Katara knew, and the weight of keeping the secret from her was gone from his shoulders. Sokka couldn’t explain it, but he felt as though nothing could pop his happy bubble.

Sokka heard a sudden rustling in the leaves and glanced towards the clump of trees in the direction of the car, grinning to himself. He didn’t have more than a moment to imagine Katara’s expression before Zuko burst through the trees, Katara clinging to his back. Sokka burst out laughing – Katara looked completely shell-shocked, her wide eyes flying around the meadow in shock, settling on Sokka for a moment to glare, then resuming their frantic attempt to take in her surroundings. But Zuko’s gaze – warm and adoring and a little bit overwhelming – was fixed firmly on Sokka. Sokka grinned back, laughing when Zuko attempted to carefully detach Katara from his back. Zuko shot him an exasperated look that made Sokka’s stomach feel fuzzy and made him debate peeling Katara off himself and –  yeah.

Sokka had never been as sure about anything as he was about Zuko.