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Sokka liked to think that he was good at planning. Strategy, backups, solutions. That’s why he had liked sports in high school, it allowed him to think things through, have a clear plan. It’s also why he was always the one to plan the road trips his friends always dragged him on, and why he was good at picking out things like colleges and career paths.
So naturally when Sokka turned thirteen and his soulmate tattoo showed up on the inside of his wrist, he panicked, because he had no backup plans for this.
See, when a person turned thirteen and they received their soulmate tattoo, it showed the first words that their soulmate would ever say to them. Romantic soulmates’ words were in red, platonic soulmates’ were in blue. Some people had only one soulmate, some had multiple, some didn’t have any.
Sokka’s sister Katara’s words were “ Do you want to go penguin sledding with me?” She had met her soulmate, Aang, when they were fourteen and when she first got the words they were in blue, but over time her words changed to red, and so did his. Aang was like a little brother to Sokka, so he was overjoyed when they got together at sixteen.
Sokka’s friend Toph didn’t have any words on her wrist, and she was happy about that. “What’s the use of words if I can’t even see them?” She had said.
Sokka’s dad’s soulmate had been his mother, but when she passed away his words, which were a deep red, faded to a soft grey. Sokka’s dad also had a blue pair of words on his wrist, his best friend, Bato. Hakoda had nearly fainted from shock when one day, when Sokka and Katara had already left for school, he woke up to find the usually blue words had changed to a red overnight. Now Sokka and Katara had a stepdad that they loved very much.
The point is, the concept was simple on the surface, but the people in Sokka’s life all had special and unique stories surrounding soulmates.
So of course Sokka would be the one stuck with only the word “Hi” tattooed on his arm.
When Sokka had first gotten the tattoo when he was thirteen, he tried to be optimistic, thinking that maybe he wouldn’t actually encounter that many people who just said “Hi,” when they first met him. He was still in middle school when he turned thirteen, so he didn’t have to worry too much about meeting many new people his age at his school.
But then Sokka went to high school, and his life was a disaster from then on. Sokka met so many people who greeted him with “Hi,” that he got a reputation in the first week as the kid who asked everyone what their soulmate words were right after meeting them.
Eventually, he realised that making every person who would ever say “Hi,” to him to show their words to him was a bad system. So, he made a new plan, the plan. It was foolproof, innovative, intelligent. Sokka decided that from then on, if he met anyone new, he would say the most ridiculous outlandish thing he could think of on the spot.
It started out with just saying random facts to people: a pretty girl who was running for student council came up to him, and he told her that Australia had over 10,000 beaches, and did she know that she could visit one every day for 27 years?
Over time, Sokka got more ideas. The first time Sokka met Suki, he rapped the whole Nicki Minaj verse from the 2014 hit single “Bang, Bang”. She applauded him, slung an arm around his shoulder and they were now best friends.
Now that they were older, it had become a joke among his friends to give him more and more ridiculous things to say to people. Once at a starbucks, Toph promised to give Sokka five dollars if he read out a Shakespeare sonnet to the cashier. Toph still hadn’t given him the five dollars.
Anyway, even though it sucked to have a soulmate who was so hard to find, Sokka figured he’d basically found a loophole. If he said something ridiculous enough, there was no way his soulmate wouldn’t be able to tell it was him! The plan was completely foolproof! And a plus was that it was pretty funny to say ridiculous things to unsuspecting people.
“Wakey, wakey!”
Sokka groaned loudly, covering his head with his pillow.
No doubt everyone had gathered downstairs, waiting to drag him to the mall with them.
Someone yanked off his duvet, and he shrieked at the sudden temperature change, looking up to see Katara standing at the foot of his bed, holding up a corner. Suki was in the doorway, her arms crossed with a smirk.
“Come on Sokka, we need to beat the rush hour,” Aang appeared in the doorway behind Suki.
“Fine,” Sokka grumbled. “Let me at least get changed.” He batted them out of his room, shutting the door.
It only took him about twenty minutes in all to get ready: showering, brushing his teeth, picking out clothes and brushing and tying up his hair. After traipsing downstairs and having a mug of steaming coffee, he was in a much better mood.
“Took you long enough,” Toph remarked, waiting by the open front door as Sokka threw on his denim jacket and followed the others out to the car. The early October air was crisp and cool.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Sokka responded, voice slightly muffled where he held a piece of toast in between his teeth.
The drive to the mall was surprisingly uneventful, which was unusual for them. Although there was a lot of the usual background chatter from Aang and Katara, and Toph had made it her mission to repeatedly kick the back of Sokka’s driver seat (“It’s how I show affection.”).
After finding a parking space and unloading into the mall, they all split off, promising to meet back at the tea shop in the centre. Sokka went to look at shoes, Toph and Aang went hunting for a vintage store, and Suki and Katara went to the big department store to find some perfume.
Sokka spent some time at a few stores, and before he knew it, Aang and Toph were blowing up the group chat for Sokka to come to the tea shop where they were all waiting. As Sokka walked into the tea shop, he looked at the sign above the door.
The Jasmine Dragon, it read in pale green letters, a matching serpent twisting around the lettering.
Sokka walked into the store and could hear his friends before he saw them. He spotted them sitting at a booth, and waved as he walked over, sliding into the booth seat to sit next to Toph.
“Aw, you waited for me,” Sokka said.
“Last time we’re doing that. What took you so long?” Toph said.
“Hey, I like to appreciate what I’m buying.”
“Anyway, since you’re the last here, you’re ordering,” Katara said.
“Cool,” Sokka picked up the menu and scanned it, ultimately deciding on Jasmine flavoured boba tea.
The others were chatting about drink options, and Sokka tuned them out as he caught sight of the cashier at the counter, talking to a customer. And wow, he was definitely Sokka’s type. He looked like he was Sokka’s age, with black shaggy hair tied into a ponytail at the back of his head, and pale skin. He had a large faded scar on his angular, fine boned face that covered most of his left cheek and eye, and was around Sokka’s height, but where Sokka was broader around the shoulders, the guy was slimmer and had a leaner (but still muscled) build.
He suddenly had a sharp pain in his side. Toph had elbowed him.
“Ow! What was that for?” He complained, turning to face his friends. Katara and Aang were in deep discussion about something in the corner.
“Checking out the cashier, huh?” Suki said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“What?” Sokka sputtered. “No—“
“Can it, Snoozles,” Toph said. “Even I can see you’re checking him out. Anyway, I don’t even have to force you to talk to him this time because you’re going up and ordering!” She held out a fist, and Suki and her fist bumped.
“Whatever,” Sokka sighed, used to her antics. “Write your drink here,” He said, passing around his phone, open on the notes app. Once everyone had typed in their orders, he stood up.
“Good luck,” Suki said brightly.
Sokka snorted. “What are you? My dad?”
“Do me proud, son,” Toph said in a mock-deep voice, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Sokka gave her a look before realising that she couldn’t even see it, then shook his head, amused, and walked in the direction of the counter.
There was no one waiting to be served, so Sokka walked up to the counter. The cashier had his back turned to Sokka, fiddling with a coffee machine. After a minute, he turned, looking to Sokka with a friendly expression, and they made eye contact.
Sokka felt all the breath knocked out of his lungs in a distant whoosh as he looked into the other boy’s eyes. They were a light brown, the colour that looks dark until you see sunlight hit them directly and it turns a bright gold colour. Up close, the boy’s face was somehow even more attractive, beautiful even.
Sokka looked at him, awestruck, and the boy stared back at him with a similar expression. Sokka couldn’t help but feel a pull towards him, like he was being drawn in.
After what could have been several years or just a few seconds, Sokka blinked, and realised that he was staring. Like an idiot. He laughed nervously.
From muscle memory, Sokka’s eyes darted towards the boy’s arms, and he realised he had a situation. He was wearing long sleeves, so Sokka couldn’t see the writing on them, so he had to make a move fast. Before the boy could say anything (god forbid he said the dreaded word “Hi” ), Sokka blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground.” Sokka felt like this was some sick nightmare, but he couldn’t stop himself from speaking. He noticed as he talked, that the boy’s expression changed. First his expression was one of shock, then disbelief, then he closed his eyes for a second. Then his face steadily grew into a scowl. Sokka still kept talking. God, what was wrong with him? “The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black—“
Sokka stopped. The boy had held out a hand, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He had stopped scowling, and now just looked pretty fed up. He rolled up his sleeve, and held up his forearm so that Sokka could see.
The inside of his arm was almost completely covered in red lettering, and Sokka leaned forward to read it. According to all known laws of aviation—
Holy shit.
Sokka looked back up at the boy, whose expression was a mixture of annoyance and amusement.
“Hi.”