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Being friends with famous people and being essentially a war hero yourself kind of has its benefits. Having to attend an unbelievable amount of parties and balls and otherwise fancy ceremonies is not one of those benefits.
They are still a week away from Ba Sing Se, where the Earth King has insisted on throwing a birthday party for the Avatar, and Sokka is already not looking forward to it.
He guesses Aang must feel the same way. He can't ask him though, since he's at the South Pole with Katara at the moment and they'll only meet up with the rest of the team in Ba Sing Se.
There's also a more pressing issue. An issue that Sokka brings up to Zuko, Suki and Toph, as their airship leaves the main island of the Fire Nation. Namely, that he has no idea what to get Aang for his birthday.
"I'm just getting him a fancy rock," Toph shrugs and okay, Sokka knows Aang likes fancy rocks so much that he physically can't resist picking them up from the sidewalk and he would definitely appreciate one as a gift, but still, there must be something else he'd like, right?
It's Zuko who brings it up, almost shyly, that there is something Aang mentioned once that might be perfect for the occassion, and Sokka thinks the Fire Nation is so lucky to have a guy this smart be their Fire Lord. He doesn't say that out loud, though.
They hold a meeting about it. The ship has a chamber for discussing strategies and they lock themselves in there, telling the guards that Fire Lord Zuko, the ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe, the head of the royal guard and Master Beifong has important plans to discuss and they are not to be disturbed under any circumstances. And with that, operation Perfect Birthday Present for Aang is set into motion.
- Phase 1 of the Operation - plan A -
Except it doesn't go quite as smoothly. (Does it ever?) Zuko sends a messenger hawk back to the capital, telling the royal historians to search the palace's archives for the document they need. Their answer is short but devastating: the royal archives don't hold these sorts of documents.
And okay, Sokka should have expected that, but he's still feels a bit taken aback. But Suki reassures him that their plans usually don't go smoothly at all. "And we still succeed in the end, somehow,” she adds with a smile.
And that does make Sokka feel better.
Still, operation Perfect Birthday Present for Aang is on hold even as the Fire Lord's airship reaches Ba Sing Se and Sokka is getting desperate. He's seriously contemplating going back to that wretched library and asking the creepy owl-spirit to help them out a little bit, when Toph has an idea.
- Phase 1 of the Operation - Plan B -
"Why don't you go to an Air Temple, doofus?"
And so he does, to the Eastern Air Temple where he could even ask that friendly guru Aang told them about, and Toph goes with him. Not so much to help, more to rub it in his face that it was her idea, if they succeed.
Which they do, though they barely make it back to Ba Sing Se in time. In fact, their arrival basically crashes the already commenced party in the palace. The Earth Kingdom nobles are outraged but Aang doesn't mind and he's the birthday boy after all - oh and also the frickin’ Avatar - so it's not like they can say anything.
Toph greets Aang with a punch to his arm. Aang smiles and wraps his arms tightly around her, which just earns him another punch. Sokka laughs at them and peels the kid off Toph, just to pull him into a hug himself.
"What in the spirit world happened to you, Aang, the you I remember is so much smaller..."
"He grew since you last saw him, Sokka, that's all," Katara teases him.
Aang grins proudly and straightens his back to stand even taller. He's only a little bit shorter than Sokka now and that's simply infuriating.
"So, fourteen, huh?" Sokka asks, partly because he wants to change the subject of how outrageously tall Aang is and partly because fourteen is an important age, okay? It is, in the Water Tribe anyway, though he's not sure about the Air Nomads.
"Dad wanted to take him ice-dodging, you know?" Katara says with a smile.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Aang scratches the back of his neck nervously. "But Bato told him I already did that. They still gave me the Mark, though..."
"The Mark of the Trusted?"
Aang hums and gives him a shy nod, but there is still a sort of proud glint in his eyes. And Sokka can only agree with him. He's proud of Aang too.
Then Aang tells him he was kinda nervous because he thought Sokka was planning to take him ice-dodging too. Sokka snorts and assures him he wasn't planning anything at all. No planning, no plotting, no scheming, absolutely nothing.
He's glad Toph is in on the plan. He also hopes she didn't teach Aang her human lie-detector trick because that would mean their plan was pretty much done for. But Aang buys the lie, even if Katara doesn't. Not so easily, anyway.
"I know you are planning something," she's eyeing the two of them suspiciously as Aang leaves to find Zuko and Suki. "What are you up to? Where have you been?"
"Oh you know, here and there," Toph says with a grin and pops one of those tiny cakes in her mouth she lifted from a plate.
Katara glares at Sokka, hoping to get more information out of her brother but he just shushes her with a finger in front of his lips and smiles mysteriously. "You'll find out soon enough."
Then he diverts her attention with a strategically timed question about how Gran-Gran's doing back home at the South Pole and Katara goes into a long speech about the various matters of everyone in the village.
Sokka leaves a rather exasperated Toph with Katara and meanders over to where he last spotted Zuko to tell him about the progress in their plan. The firebender stands in the company of two noble ladies both chastising him about him long being of marrying age.
There's a wash of relief rolling over Zuko as he sees Sokka approaching.
"Ladies," Sokka winks at the two noblewomen while shamelessly pulling away their conversational partner - or victim, depends on how you look at it, really.
He informs Zuko in a hushed voice that the first phase of operation Perfect Birthday Present for Aang is complete and they are ready to move on to phase two first thing tomorrow morning.
Zuko rolls his eyes. Neither he or Suki agreed to the proposed name of the operation. Not like Sokka or Toph would let themselves be bothered by that.
"Okay, we need to-"
Sokka's sentence is cut in half when he notices Zuko's eyes narrow. Well, one of them does, given that his other eye's default state is narrow. Sokka turns and sees Aang surrounded by three tall and very condescending-looking Earth Kingdom generals. He recognizes one of them and his hand slips to where the hilt of his sword would be, were this not a formal ball with no weapons allowed.
"That's General Fong," he whispers to Zuko through gritted teeth. If possible, Zuko's eyes narrow even more. He's already heard of General Fong from the rest of the team and what he heard didn't exactly make Zuko his biggest fan.
"It's okay, I've got this," he offers Sokka a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, then turns to the two ladies who - Sokka only now notices - still stand way too close to them. "Excuse me, ladies, but I must rescue the Avatar."
Sokka snorts a bit at that but he's relieved to see Zuko walk over to Aang. He stands behind the kid protectively and flashes the generals a smile that Sokka isn't sure is his Fire Lord-smile or his waiting tables at a tea shop in Ba Sing Se-smile.
The generals clear the scene quickly and Aang gives Zuko a grateful look.
Of course, despite all their efforts, the night still goes somewhat tragically. There’s too much diplomatic talk and nearly not enough time for their team to hang out together. By the end of the party, Aang looks tired and absolutely not like what a fourteen-year-old should look like on their own birthday. Sokka has always guessed it’s hard to be the Avatar, but now he’s wondering if he should have just made up an excuse to leave this sad, boring party and took the kid ice-dodging instead.
- Phase 2 of the Operation -
Sokka loves shopping. And he especially loves shopping in Ba Sing Se, because seriously, the city is vast and if you can't find something in one of its shops, it probably doesn't exist.
They find everything they need, in the end, though they really do go through more shops than Sokka can keep track of. (And they get thrown out of some. One time because the merchant is convinced they are messing with him as they tell him what they need, because he’s never heard of it and Sokka tries to draw it but that doesn't help at all. Another time because somebody - Toph - just can’t behave.)
But they return to the Jasmine Dragon - their base of operation so generoulsy offered by Iroh - triumphantly, and ready to move on to the next, and arguably the most complicated phase.
- Phase 3 of the Operation -
It’s Zuko and Suki who do most of the work now. Toph can’t really contribute but she’s there to support. Or to make snarky comments, that’s more her thing. Sokka knows he isn’t much help either but that doesn’t stop him.
They end up starting it over a couple times and the afternoon sky darkens as they finish the last touches. Iroh, who offered to be on look-out, warns them as Aang and Katara return from their day out, because yeah, Aang wanted alone-time with his girlfriend on his birthday, never mind that they just spent weeks travelling all the way from the South, alone. Sokka oh so generously gave them that - not like they needed his permission, but still - and Aang promised him the evening will be spent with the team. Just according to plan, Sokka thought and smiled deviously.
But they arrive back and operation Perfect Birthday Present for Aang is about to enter its final phase. Sokka couldn’t be prouder.
- Phase 4 of the Operation -
Aang and Katara arrive back at the Jasmine Dragon from what could pretty much be called the nicest date he’s ever had - never mind that he calls each one of their dates the nicest, because spirits, he’s really in love with Katara - and they are greeted by Iroh. (Aang has to hold himself back sometimes from calling him Uncle Iroh because it would be weird, wouldn’t it? Perhaps he could try Uncle Hotman, maybe he’d like that more than Zuko...)
They all sit around the table with a steaming cup of tea in front of everyone and Toph makes a point of handing over a fancy rock to Aang. Actually, it’s not particularly fancy, at least not like the rest of the colourful patterned rocks Aang likes to pick up, but he likes it nevertheless.
Sokka clears his throat and Aang’s attention is diverted away from his new present. He slides the rock in his pocket and looks at Sokka expectantly.
“So,” Sokka starts. “Uh, remember when I tried Fire Nation food for the first time and it was so hot, Katara had to drench me in cold water because I thought I was gonna die?”
Aang nods. He remembers it, and yes, it was hilarious.
“Or when Sparky called Sugar Queen’s cooking bland?” Toph adds and Aang can see Katara shoot both her and Zuko a deathly glare.
“Hey, I wasn’t the one who threw up when we tried sea prunes for the first time!” Zuko protests and that’s right, it was Toph, because she didn’t take Aang’s warning seriously when he told her sea prunes were just the worst.
He nods again, though he can’t really see how this conversation has anything to do with his birthday. Katara must have the same thought because when she’s done glaring at Zuko, she asks, “Do you have a point with all of this?”
Sokka looks offended as he tells her that of course they have a point, if Katara could just allow them to get to it, and Suki interrupts him to say, “The point is that we all tried so many things and somehow we still like the food of our own homes best...”
And with that, Sokka pulls out a plate he’s apparently been hiding behind his back and smiles his biggest smile as he puts a still warm fruit pie on the table in front of Aang and oh, he wasn’t expecting that...
“Is that-” he begins but his voice trails off. Honestly, he doesn’t even know what he wants to say.
“You bet it is!” Sokka beams. “It took a while till we found a very original, traditional and hundred-years-old Air Nomad recipe, though.”
“And don’t ask how many times these geniuses started it over, Twinkletoes. They aren’t exactly masters in baking.”
“Hey!” This comes in unision from everyone but Aang isn’t listening because he hasn’t had fruit pies in one-hundred-and-two years and that’s a long time, too long.
And they cut the pie and the middle is still sort of unbaked but Aang doesn’t mind. And it’s not quite like how Gyatso made it but it’s close. So close. Aang shuts his eyes close and he isn’t sure if it’s because he wants to prevent the others from seeing his tears.
Or because he wants to pretend (and maybe, for a split second, believe) that he’s home...
“Oh no,” he hears Zuko mutter.
“Aang-”
“Twinkletoes?”
“Spirits, don’t tell me it’s that bad...” The joke can’t quite hide the real concern in Sokka’s voice.
“No, it’s...” Aang breaths and opens his eyes. Katara is sitting right next to him and holds his hand and her thumb stroking it gently. Toph jumped off the table where she was sitting, her feet on the ground so she can feel him. Suki smiles a supportive smile and Aang only notices now that both her and Zuko have white spots of flour all over their robes. Zuko has that uncertain look on him when he isn’t sure he did something right but he’s hoping he did. Sokka’s hand moves to Aang’s shoulder and squeezes it gently.
The tears finally roll down on Aang’s cheeks and he decides he doesn’t mind if they are seen. His eyes are open and he is home.
“It’s perfect,” he says.