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The war ends.
Despite Sokka not thinking they’d make it, despite him and Toph dangling off the edge of the airship, despite Suki getting separated from the two, despite, despite, despite. The war ends and they all make it out alive.
Sokka can’t believe it.
He, Suki, Toph, and Aang all board the airship they stole and Toph metalbends the metal from the ship around Ozai’s hands to keep him from moving. Not that he could, Aang totally sucked all the energy out of him. He’s practically dozing against the ship, eyes heavy.
Toph and Aang sit on the floor next to each other, Momo sound asleep on Aang’s shoulder as he anxiously taps the floor with his foot, which is quickly driving Sokka mad. Suki’s by Sokka’s side at the front of the ship, helping him navigate while he steers them towards the Fire Nation palace.
Sokka watches Ozai out of the corner of his eye, sending glares his way and gripping the steering wheel so he doesn’t go across the room to end him himself.
Sokka doesn’t necessarily think Aang made the best choice, deciding to keep Ozai alive, but he has to respect it, and he does. Aang’s a smart kid, Sokka knows that, but he also knows the world would be a whole lot better without Ozai in it. Without the person who continued waging war on the entire world, sent his dad to fight in it, indirectly killed his mother, abused his boyfriend, the list goes on.
Between this and worrying so much about Katara and Zuko that Sokka feels like he’s about to throw up, he’s not feeling too hot.
They finally make it to the Fire Nation after around a 6 hour flight—6 hours of Sokka losing his mind. He makes a hasty landing before grabbing the crutch Toph metalbent for him (not super comfortable, but it gets the job done) and hobbling after Aang as he runs outside the airship.
“Katara!” Aang yells, running to where she sits on the steps of the palace. She stands up quickly, embracing Aang and exchanging words with him, all of which Sokka can’t hear. He’s still hobbling over, almost having reached the two of them.
“Katara!” Sokka yells with a grin as Katara’s gaze moves over to him.
“Sokka, what happened?!” Katara yelps, quickly rushing down the stairs to put her hands on his shoulders and look at his leg.
Sokka drops the crutch and hugs her, burying his nose into his sister’s shoulder. He holds her and takes in her familiar, comforting scent and never wants to let go again.
Katara pulls away, smiling as tears come to her eyes. “We did it.”
Sokka nods, smiling back with pride. “We did it.”
“Now sit so I can look at your leg. What happened?” Katara asks, helping him over to the steps and sitting them both down.
Sokka looks around for Zuko, heart dropping when he’s nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Zuko?” Sokka asks, voice small.
Katara clenches her teeth. “Don’t freak out.”
“The words ‘Zuko’ and ‘don’t freak out’ together make me feel like I should be freaking out,” Sokka says quickly, volume of his voice raising. Katara purses her lips.
“Azula struck him with lightning—” She starts.
“What the fuck?!” Sokka yelps, interrupting her.
“He’s okay! I said don’t freak out!” Katara yells back, throwing her hands up.
“Where the fuck is he?” Sokka reaches for his crutch, sticking it under his arm and trying to stand up.
“He’s in the palace but we need to get you off your leg—Sokka!” Katara yelps while Sokka starts climbing the stairs, wincing as he goes up.
Katara grabs his arm and lifts it over her shoulder, helping him up the stairs. All Sokka can think is Zuko Zuko Zuko and Katara thankfully leads him to his room.
She creaks his door open, poking her head in. “Zuko, I—”
Sokka bursts through the room before she can even finish, seeing Zuko laying in the most fancy bed Sokka’s ever seen, Iroh standing by it, and bolting over to it. Well, as fast as he can go.
“Sokka?” Zuko says, raspy and tired but his eyes are wide open. He looks exactly the same and Sokka doesn’t know why he expected him to look different. Zuko’s hair is still shaggy across his golden eyes, his scar is still pulling at his skin, his hands are still warm and soft as he wraps his arms around Sokka.
Sokka flings himself at the boy, Zuko wincing slightly.
“Sorry,” Sokka pulls away, grinning as he takes Zuko’s face and kisses him. Both boys melt with relief, Zuko sighing into the kiss as his hands find Sokka’s shoulders.
“Okay, get a room, you two,” Katara groans, walking over to the bed.
“Wish we could,” Sokka says under his breath as Zuko scoffs, smiling.
Iroh laughs, loud and booming. “I’ll let you two get reacquainted. I’ll be back later, Prince Zuko.”
“Okay Uncle. Thank you,” Zuko says, smiling as he leaves the room.
“Are you okay? What happened?” Sokka asks, tucking Zuko’s hair out of his face.
“Sokka, I need to start with your leg,” Katara pesters impatiently. Sokka rolls his eyes and plops down in the chair conveniently located right next to Zuko’s bed.
“Your leg?” Zuko asks, glancing down at Sokka’s poorly wrapped leg with wide eyes. “What happened?”
“I think I broke it,” Sokka winces as he moves it slightly, Katara pulling water from her waterskin and pressing it to Sokka’s leg. It starts to glow blue and he sighs, the pain ebbing away.
The room falls into silence, Sokka watching Zuko chew on his bottom lip.
“Is my father…?” Zuko starts, looking up at Sokka after a moment.
Sokka sighs, slouching deeper into the chair. “He’s alive and right on his way to jail. Aang took his bending away.”
Katara looks up. “He what?!”
“He can do that?” Zuko gapes, eyebrows furrowing.
Sokka waves his hand in dismissal. “I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it. Now tell me what happened to you, also where Azula is so I can give her a piece of my mind for shooting lightning at my boyfriend.”
Zuko smiles with pursed lips. “It just happened, I dunno—”
Katara swiftly interrupts. “Azula was aiming her lightning at me and Zuko jumped right in front of me and took the hit like an idiot. Who I am forever grateful for, but an idiot nonetheless.”
Sokka’s lips part, eyebrows raised. He blinks, staring at Zuko and unsure what to say.
“You did that?” He asks, voice quiet.
Zuko’s eyes widen. “Please don’t be mad, I didn’t want Katara to—”
“Spirits, Zuko, I’m not mad. You saved my sister,” Sokka reaches out for Zuko’s hand, him easily supplying it and sighing with relief. “I mean I obviously wish that neither of you would get struck by lighting but… thank you.”
“Oh,” Zuko says softly. “Yeah.”
Katara smiles from where she’s working on Sokka’s leg.
“Now kiss me again,” Sokka says.
Sokka leans towards the bed, Zuko rolling his eyes but meeting him halfway. Katara makes a gagging noise and Sokka pulls away, glaring down at her.
“You’re one to talk, with all your and Aang’s oogies,” Sokka sticks his tongue out at her.
Katara goes bright red. “We do not—!”
At that moment Aang comes bounding in, shooting over to Zuko’s side of the bed.
“Zuko! Spirits, are you okay?!” He says quickly, taking in Zuko’s tired form.
“I’m fine, Aang—” Zuko starts, dropping Sokka’s hand.
“Sparky!” Toph exclaims, jumping on the bed beside Zuko. He winces at the movement.
“Hi Toph,” Zuko smiles, putting a hand on his stomach.
Katara puts her water back in her waterskin and turns to hug Suki, the girls exchanging words to each other.
“I’m so glad everyone’s okay, we were so worried!” Aang says quickly, climbing onto the bed to sit beside Toph.
“Sorry, how did you take my father’s bending away? And where is he?” Zuko asks nervously, fidgeting with his duvet.
“Oh, right!”
Aang bursts into telling everyone about his encounter with a giant lion turtle (whatever that is) and talking to his past lives and then fighting Ozai. Momo chirrups from Toph’s lap like he’s adding input.
“That’s… wow,” Zuko says, eyes wide.
The crew spends a while longer chatting until the sun dips below the horizon. Toph waves goodnight, heading off to her room. Everyone ends up following her idea, the yawning becoming too frequent and eyes not willing to stay open. Sokka kisses Zuko’s forehead and says goodnight to everyone, heading to his room.
One of the guards leads him to it and Sokka’s jaw drops once the door is open. The room is huge and the bed is the size of Zuko’s, gigantic and stretching across the back of the room.
He’s too tired to change out of his clothes so he curls into the silk sheets and his body is exhausted but his mind won’t stay still. It still buzzes from the fight, from Toph’s hand slipping through his, from seeing his friends, from thinking of everything they’ll have to do now that the war is over.
He turns to lay on his back, staring up at the dark ceiling. The silence in the room is deafening. Sokka never sleeps alone. He always slept near Team Avatar, and before that, he, Katara, and their parents all slept together. He hates not hearing the sheets shifting or light breathing or feeling someone’s body warmth.
He then hears the door swing open, looking up to make out two small figures in the doorway.
“Sokka?” Katara’s voice calls, Aang standing beside her.
“Can’t sleep either?” Sokka asks quietly. He can see her shake her head and he waves them in, the two shuffling into the room. They climb onto the bed on either side of Sokka. Aang rests his back against Sokka’s side, Sokka rubbing a hand on his shoulder. Katara cuddles up close to Sokka, resting her head on his chest. He strokes her hair, anxiety dissipating because of the warmth around him.
They all fall asleep and every time Katara or Aang wake up from a nightmare Sokka’s right there beside them, holding them and softly singing lullabies that his and Katara’s mom used to sing to them.
—
Sokka wakes up to bright sun, a throbbing in his leg, and no one in his room. He yawns as he climbs out of bed, grabbing his crutch and limping slightly towards the door to head out. He assumes that Katara and Aang are off having breakfast or bending, so he heads to Zuko’s room first.
Sokka creaks open Zuko’s door, poking his head inside to Zuko in bed reading over a book. He looks up, smiling softly, hair rustled and messy from sleep.
“Morning,” Zuko’s voice says softly as he bookmarks his book and places it on the bedside table.
“Morning, gorgeous. How’d you sleep?” Sokka smiles in return, moving over to the bed and re-claiming his spot in the chair beside it.
Zuko shrugs, looking at his hands. “Not… great. I just really hate being back here. Not a lot of good memories.”
Zuko chuckles sadly, leaning his head against the headboard. Sokka frowns, reaching out and taking Zuko’s hand.
“Let’s take a nap later,” Sokka suggests as Zuko looks over at him.
“You didn’t sleep well either?” Zuko frowns, eyebrow furrowed in concern.
Sokka just shrugs. “Katara and Aang came in and kept waking up from nightmares. And them waking up made me wake up, then I was also just waking up on my own from my own nightmares, so yeah, not super well rested.”
“I’m sorry, Sokka,” Zuko frowns. “Let’s definitely take a nap then.”
Sokka smiles and kisses the back of Zuko’s hand. “How’re you feeling? Besides the lack of sleep.”
“Like I got struck with lightning,” Zuko shrugs. “Katara gave me some antibiotic stuff to put on it. I know I’m in good hands, I’ll be okay.”
“Did you put some on yet today?” Sokka asks. Zuko shakes his head. “Where is it? I can do it.”
“It’s on the dresser over there. But your leg—”
“Shh,” Sokka says, sticking his tongue out at him. He grabs his crutch, walking across the room to the dresser and grabbing the ointment. He makes his way back over as Zuko swings his legs off the bed to sit up fully. He unties his robe, leaving a wrapping of bandages around his torso.
Sokka stands in front of him, setting the ointment on the bedside table and starting to untie Zuko’s bandages.
“You shouldn’t be standing,” Zuko mutters.
“Let me take care of you, jerkbender,” Sokka replies, hands gentle and careful as he unwraps the bandages fully. He’s left face to face with a gnarled mass of skin, red delicate tissue on Zuko’s stomach.
Sokka inhales, pursing his lips. He wordlessly takes the ointment, uncapping it and dipping his fingers into the cool cream. He looks up at Zuko who nods in confirmation, Sokka nodding back as he spreads the ointment over Zuko’s scar.
It’s a rough, tangled mess of hot skin under Sokka’s fingers. He inhales shakily before Zuko’s hand grabs onto his wrist, stopping him.
“Sokka, you don’t have to. It’s okay, I know it’s not… nice to look at.”
Sokka looks up at him, eyes wide. “You think that’s—No, Zuko, I’m acting all-all weird because I’m so fucking mad at Azula for hurting you! You’re not—you’re beautiful, Zuko! This doesn’t change that!”
“Oh,” Zuko says quietly. He pauses, staring at Sokka’s chest before his lip starts trembling.
“Hey, hey,” Sokka says softly, wiping the rest of the ointment on his hands onto his pants. Zuko sniffs, tears welling in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Sokka holds the sides of Zuko’s face but Zuko just shakes his head, tears falling down his cheeks. He tries to take steady breaths as Sokka wipes the tears away.
“I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be crying,” Zuko says shakily, voice quiet.
“You can cry. You can cry, baby, it’s okay,” Sokka says back, pulling him into a hug. Zuko buries his face in Sokka’s shoulder, his arms wrapping around Sokka’s back. His body shakes against Sokka’s, Sokka kissing his head.
“I’ve got you,” Sokka says softly into his hair, tears starting to well in his own eyes. “You’re safe.”
Zuko inhales sharply, small sobs escaping his lips. Sokka rubs the boy’s back, wiping at his own tears.
“We did it. Everyone’s okay and we did it and the war’s over,” Sokka doesn’t know if he says it more to remind Zuko or himself.
“I was so scared,” Zuko says, muffled in Sokka’s tunic. Sokka’s heart practically breaks but he holds onto the boy, rubbing his back and kissing his head and hoping Zuko knows how much Sokka loves him, even if they haven’t said it yet.
“I know. You’re okay.”
“I thought Azula was gonna kill me. O-or you were dead or any of the others—How are we all alive?” Zuko pulls away so they can see each other’s faces, still holding onto Sokka tight. “I was so—I knew someone was gonna die, I was so certain, there was no possibility where we all came out alive. But we did.” Zuko’s voice cracks. “How?”
“I don’t know,” Sokka smiles sadly, wiping at his eyes. He tucks Zuko’s hair out of his face, his hand sliding down to rest on the boy’s jaw. He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“Is this real?” Zuko whispers, hands moving to hold the sides of Sokka’s face.
Sokka looks into his golden eyes, fear-stricken and pleading.
He doesn’t answer, just moves to close the gap between them and kisses Zuko.
One of Sokka’s hands cards through Zuko’s hair and he can taste tears on his lips. Sokka kisses him longer and deeper because it’s just them now, just two terrified boys alone in a giant room in a giant palace in a horribly messed up world.
Sokka pulls away, Zuko breaking into a sob.
“It’s real, I’m here. It’s all over,” Sokka sniffs as Zuko nods, crying.
“And-and now my dad isn’t even dead and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, and Azula’s at a mental hospital b-because I’m such a fuck-up, I was supposed to protect her from Dad,” Zuko sobs, words cracking as Sokka runs his hands up and down Zuko’s arms.
“That is not your fault, sweetheart. You’re not a fuck-up,” Sokka says as Zuko leans his forehead against Sokka’s chest, trying to still his body shaking from sobs. Sokka rubs his back, pressing a kiss to his head. “You’re a good brother, Zuko. You’re a good person.”
Zuko shakes his head against Sokka’s chest. “How can you say that?”
Sokka pulls Zuko away, hands on his shoulders. “Zuko. You are so good. You left everything you knew to help Aang. You saw that what the Fire Nation was doing was wrong and you didn’t ignore it, you did something about it.”
“After so long of not doing anything. Of making it worse,” Zuko cries, wiping at his face.
Sokka shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. And if it did, you’ve more than made up for it. You are smart and kind and incredible and good.”
Sokka’s not the best with words. He has more to say but he doesn’t know how to say it so he tries his best and hopes Zuko understands.
Zuko bites his lip as Sokka cradles the boy’s face, wiping his tears away.
“I’ve got you, okay?” Sokka starts, looking Zuko right in the eye. “No matter what happens. We’re all gonna figure out this new world together and I’ll always be here. Even if I’m not here here. Okay?”
Zuko nods his head, leaning into Sokka’s touch.
“It’s you and me forever, babe. You’re stuck with me,” Sokka grins, kissing Zuko’s cheek. Zuko smiles back, laughing slightly.
“I’m okay with that,” Zuko says, wiping at his eyes and pausing. “Hey, are you okay? Here I am being a mess a-and I didn’t even ask how you are.”
“I’m fine,” Sokka nods, attempting his most convincing smile but Zuko’s eyebrow furrows.
“Sokka…” Zuko grabs his hand, voice still shaky. “You know you don’t have to pretend, right? With any of us. No one’s fine right now.”
Sokka scoffs. “They don’t need me adding my own problems into the mix. Really, I’m okay. Thank you for looking out for me.”
He tries another smile, but this one doesn’t reach his eyes either. Zuko sighs, eyebrows knit together.
“Sokka—”
“Let’s go find the others, I need another healing session for my leg and breakfast. Spirits, I’m starving. You good to go?”
Zuko purses his lips but nods and the two boys head to the kitchen.
—
Zuko’s coronation takes place 3 days later. The turnaround is quick but the Fire Nation needs to get a leader in office as fast as possible to deal with war reparations.
Sokka knows that Zuko’s about to have so much to do and so little time to see him, so he attaches himself to Zuko’s side for as long as he can until then.
Sokka starts sleeping in Zuko’s room because Zuko can’t sleep alone in the palace and Sokka quickly learns that Zuko is the one to get him out of a nightmare the quickest. Sokka wakes up crying and clawing at the sheets, Zuko’s strong arms wrapping around him and Sokka muttering “She was gonna fall, I almost killed her,” into Zuko’s tear-stained chest.
Sokka tries to talk about it, he does. Zuko tries prying it out of him, with some gentle coaxing, then Katara and even Aang. But the pain is too big, too hard to name, too challenging to try and unpack piece by piece. So he doesn’t talk about it, and it’s better that way.
But now that the war is over, Sokka doesn’t know what to do. A whole year, and honestly his whole life, has been dedicated to the war. Before Aang crashed into their lives, Sokka was tasked with the impossibly heavy burden for a 12 year old of protecting the entire village as the only warrior there. He’s always had a role, a purpose, an end goal. But now he just… doesn’t.
Sokka finds himself now thinking about the future more often than not. He never used to—it was all just one day at a time. He used to focus on each day as they came, focus on protecting Katara and the rest of the team. Focus on keeping them alive and if that’s at the cost of himself, so be it. It never got to that, thankfully.
But Sokka’s surprised he’s alive. He convinced himself, made peace with the fact that he would die because of the war. He knew he wouldn’t have a future, so there was no point thinking about it.
But he survived. And now everything he’s never thought about suddenly comes rushing to the forefront of his mind.
Sokka’s not sure what his future will look like, but he knows he wants to always be with his family—his new, even bigger family. Maybe the rest will fall into place, as long as he has them.
So for now, Sokka focuses on being around them. He spars with Suki and pranks nobles with Toph and they all count down the days until Zuko is crowned Fire Lord.
Sokka watches Zuko’s coronation and swells with pride. The gold crown now sits in Zuko’s hair and he stands, smiling and confident and beautiful. Sokka’s sweet and stubborn and steadfast boy. Sokka’s dating the Fire Lord now, someone tell that to him a year ago.
The afterparty is lively and bright, filled with music and dancing and sneaking sips of alcohol. Zuko spins Sokka to some upbeat song and laughs in his ear and Sokka is happy.
He grabs Zuko’s hand and the two sneak out of the party, giggling like kids as they tread back to Zuko’s room. They sit on his giant balcony, legs through the bars of the railing and kicking in the air as they watch the party below, lights and colors spilling out over the edges.
“Can’t believe I’m dating royalty,” Sokka grins, looking over at Zuko. “Not that you weren’t royalty before but now you’re, you know, the leader of an entire country.”
“Yeah it’s… weird. I’m the Fire Lord,” Zuko’s eyebrows furrow, like he’s not sure what to make of that. Sokka smiles.
“You are, but you’re still Zuko, too,” Sokka entwines their fingers together from where their palms rest on the ground. Zuko smiles and looks out at the crowd but Sokka looks right at him, scar obstructed from view at this angle. The light hits his hair and makes it glow dark brown, falling in front of his eyes despite being up in a topknot. Sokka doesn’t think he’s known someone more beautiful.
“Are you gonna go back home once this all dies down?” Zuko asks quietly, expression still.
Sokka pauses. “Probably. At least for a bit. I’m… not really sure where I fit anymore.”
Zuko glances over to him, lips pursed in a frown. “You’ll always belong with Team Avatar.” He pauses, looking down at his hands. “With me, too. If you… wanted to stay. Don’t feel like you have to but… the option’s open. Whenever you need it, if you do.”
He looks back up to Sokka, eyes awfully sincere. Sokka blinks. “Zuko, that’s…”
“You don’t have to, I just… want you to know that you’ll always have a place here.”
Sokka purses his lips, nodding. “Okay. Thank you, that’s really thoughtful.”
Zuko nods, pretty lips lifting into a small smile, words on Sokka’s tongue begging to be let out.
I think I’m in love with you.
He swallows them instead, looking back out at the party. He can make out Katara and Aang dancing together, Katara throwing her head back with a laugh.
Staying with Zuko would be nice. But Sokka knows where he’s needed, and that’s with his sister and the Avatar. Aang’s only 13, he can’t play the world’s only peacemaker alone. Sokka has such a strong protectiveness for him and Katara, he won’t just let them go off alone. And he thinks Zuko knows that, too.
Sokka sighs lightly, leaning his head on Zuko’s shoulder.
“I don’t wanna go,” Sokka whispers.
Zuko sighs. “I know, my love.” His hand lifts up to brush at the shaved part of Sokka’s hair with his knuckles. “I know.”
“Mm, that’s new,” Sokka hums with a smile, pressing a kiss to Zuko’s jaw as he moves to sit back up. “My love.”
Zuko scoffs, smiling as a light blush dusts his cheeks. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“Say it again,” Sokka grins, shifting his body to face Zuko.
“I will not—”
“Please?” Sokka whines, still grinning like an idiot. “Zuko. My baby. Babe. Sweetheart. Darling.”
“Sokka, stop—” Zuko protests, smiling as Sokka starts to pepper his face with a kiss in between each pet name.
“Sweetie. Gorgeous. Sunshine.”
“Sunshine?” Zuko scrunches his nose and Sokka laughs.
“You don’t like it? It fits your sunny disposition so well!” Sokka grabs his face, pressing a hard kiss to his cheek.
“Sokka!” Zuko practically giggles, falling back on his hands.
“I’m not stopping til you say it,” Sokka sing-songs, scattering more kisses across Zuko’s face.
“Sokka,” Zuko whines. “Sokka. Sokka, my love.”
Sokka pulls away, hands still on Zuko’s face as he grins ear to ear. “See, that wasn’t too hard.”
Zuko rolls his eyes with a smile, still staring at Sokka’s face as he drops his hands.
“You’re ridiculous,” Zuko shakes his head as Sokka drops his head onto Zuko’s shoulder.
Sokka hums in response, snaking their hands back together. Sokka looks back out at the party, the sun slowly dipping below the horizon.
The two sit in silence for a moment, sounds from the party providing a muffled background noise. It’s nice. Sokka wishes it could be like this forever, or at least a bit longer, just the two of them watching the world.
“Hey, Zuko?” Sokka asks quietly.
“Yeah?” He responds, rubbing his thumb along the back of Sokka’s hand.
“I’m in love with you,” Sokka says, Zuko’s hand immediately stilling. Sokka’s heart beats lightly in his chest, eyes locked onto the party. The whole world seems to stop—just for a moment.
Zuko moves a bit, forcing Sokka to sit back up. He looks up at the boy, Zuko’s eyebrows raised and mouth slightly agape as he blinks.
“You’re… what?” Zuko practically squeaks. Sokka just smiles, rolling his eyes despite his hands feeling sweaty.
“I’m in love with you, dummy.”
Zuko still just gapes at him. “You are?”
“Yes,” Sokka laughs, breathless. “You don’t have to say it back, I just wanted you to know before I left.”
“Sokka, spirits no, I love you,” Zuko says quickly, moving to grab the sides of Sokka’s face.
And here’s Sokka’s turn to be surprised.
“You do?” Sokka asks softly, eyebrows raised. He feels like everything’s just slid into place, like his world is finally aligned.
Zuko nods, swallowing. “I love you.”
Sokka grins, surging forward and meeting Zuko with a kiss.
“I love you,” Sokka says after pulling apart, giddy smile on his face. “I love you so much, Zuko. This is so fun, I love telling you that I love you!”
Both boys laugh, leaning into each other for another kiss. It’s chaste but somehow messy, the two still giggling while trying to make the kiss work.
They pull away again and Sokka puts a hand on Zuko’s chest, grinning like an idiot.
“Let’s go to Uncle’s tea shop in Ba Sing Se before we split up. All of us,” Zuko suggests, resting his hand over Sokka’s.
Sokka smiles. “That sounds really nice.”
Zuko smiles back before he sighs lightly, looking back out to the party. “Everything’s gonna be different now.”
Sokka hums. “Yeah. But the important stuff will stay the same. Like how gorgeous you are and how much I love you.”
Zuko smiles, rolling his eyes as Sokka kisses his jaw. “What a flatterer.”
Sokka grabs Zuko’s chin, guiding his face down to meet their lips together. Zuko smiles against it and they stay there for a moment, just holding each other and kissing and hearing the party below them.
Sokka thinks it’s perfect, and he knows he’ll be okay.