Chapter Text
"Sokka, you can see the dock, you don't need to be standing on the railing, cousin." Tulok's teasing was friendly, yes, but Sokka didn't miss the undertones of exasperation.
"I'm not gonna fall, Tulok," he said, flapping a hand toward his fellow tribesmen without looking back. The man just didn't understand; this was his self imposed compromise with his urge to scale the actual rigging. There were other faces he was more eager to see than the ones he'd been stuck with for the last few weeks of sailing. Faces he'd been away from for months that felt like eons. As much as he loved his tribe, his family, it was no longer wholly contained at the South Pole. he couldn't be dissuaded from trying to scan the growing crowd for them .
Spotting them should have been easy. When the Fire Lord made public outings, he was usually flanked by no less than three Kyoshi warriors, like a queen hummingbee being attended by her nurses. There was no bright clump of green drifting through the mass of red and orange that he could see. Sokka tried to throttle his disappointment.
"I know you won't fall, but you're making the tour guides nervous."
'Tour guides' was the euphemism Tulok had given, in place of something that might have earned him a punch, to the Fire Nation welcoming entourage they'd picked up in the outer islands. Not a real punch, mind you— Sokka would only have aimed for the arm in truest Toph fashion— but he was prepared to remind his cousin that this was officially a diplomatic visit. They were representing the whole of the South Pole, so best behavior all around was required, and these guys had the unenviable job of making sure everyone was brushed up on their "how to not accidentally start an international incident" courses.
Tulok, it seemed, wasn't the one that needed the reminder. When Sokka glanced behind him, he could plainly see the Fire Nation guys were throwing poorly concealed glances from each other, to Sokka, the water, and back again. Probably mentally drawing lots for who would have to tell the Fire Lord if one of his Southern Watertribe representatives went overboard.
With a sigh, Sokka finally heaved himself back from the side of the ship. They weren't close enough for him to properly pick out any details from the crowd anyway, and there was still plenty of time before they docked. "Guess I'll go make sure I didn't miss any packing. Again." The last several leagues of the wait were going to be hell.
"SUKI!"
The gangplank had barely touched the dock before Sokka was hurling himself down it. He'd spotted her wild bob and smiling eyes as soon as she had pushed her way far enough forward through the crowd. He waved, whistled and shouted much to her amusement. She laughed, and waved back with both hands.
"Suki!" He whooped again, and now, now the time and distance between them vanished with a muffled crash, limbs tangling, voices lifted over the chaos in pure joy. She was plain clothed, without her usual armor, which meant there was nothing at all stopping him from hugging her so tight he lifted her feet clear from the ground. Sokka's soul beat a rhythm that was nothing but her name turned into a reverent chant. His body molded around the shape and warmth of her, like it did every time they reunited, filled his every sense and thought with cataloging all the ways she'd changed and still stayed the same while they had been apart. Still his anchor. Still Suki .
Something— some one — was missing, was the next thing his mind latched onto, but the thought fizzled out the very next moment when Suki's fingers laced together behind the nape of his neck. His pulse spiked, head and heart both swooping until he was tasting her open mouth, bodies swaying together as if they could get drunk just from proximity.
It was only when he pulled away that Sokka finally noticed the way the crowd had pulled back, the closest spectators averting their eyes and mumbling disconcertedly. Right. Fire Nation. Not big on public displays of affection yet. Still, there were some kids closer to their age in the crowd cheering them on, and behind him, Sokka could hear his tribesmen hooting and whistling lasciviously. International incident be damned, he was going to enjoy his reunion with his girlfriend! Basking in the glow of her love, Sokka cupped Suki's cheeks and nuzzled, nose and forehead pressed together until all of her tension spun out with a sigh.
"Missed you," she said, quietly enough that only he could hear over the sounds of dockwork and excited chatter resuming.
"Not as much as I missed you," he told her. Her answering smile made her eyes crinkle at the corners.
"Oh, you don't have enough to keep you busy rebuilding a whole nation?" she laughed.
Sokka laughed too, still swept up in her everything. "Not as much work as keeping Fussy Lord out of trouble, I bet. Speaking of, where'd his Lordliness get off to anyway? I would have thought he'd be here."
Suki made a face that meant either lunch was giving her sudden indigestion, or she was recalling an unpleasant encounter from earlier. Sokka could guess which. "He tried," she said. "Got all the way to the front garden before Advisor Hui ambushed him."
Sokka groaned. The Inner Caldera City Planning and Finances Advisor was literally the worst. The man had some sort of sixth sense for when Zuko was stressed and distracted, and he used it viciously in his attempts to push agendas. The mounting disappointment that had been nipping at Sokka all morning was abruptly swallowed by some fierce thing close to anger. Zuko's court members had nearly all of his days for the next several years. Sokka had a few weeks— a couple of months at most— in this visit, and he'd wanted this one thing—
"Well then," he said, hands settling on Suki's shoulders firmly, "let's go rescue him."
"Sokka." Suki paused, her fingers sliding from his neck to his collar bones, idly tracing the embroidery at the hem of his shirt. Her sudden change in energy, from excited to nervous, set Sokka back on his heels. "I actually wanted to talk to you. Alone."
"Sure, babe, what is it?"
"Not here." Her eyes flicked around the dock until they settled on his luggage, discarded at the top of the gangway. "Grab your stuff, and I'll take you to your room."
As he went to fetch his things, Tulok knocked his shoulder into Sokka's. "Only just got here and you're abandoning us for your lady, huh?"
"You'll be fine," he said, mirroring his cousin's grin. "Have the tour guides show you around, and give me an hour to catch up."
Tulok chucked softly then said, "you think you'll need a whole hour ?"
"Hmm, you're right," Sokka fired back in spite of the way his ears had started burning. "Better give me two."
At that, Tulok clapped Sokka hard on his back, and tossed his head with a cackle.
First thing Sokka did when he saw his bed in the guests' suites was faceplant right into the middle of it, bags once again left forgotten by the door.
"Oooooh fluffy cloud bed, how I've missed you." He rolled onto his back and threw his arms out, sprawling across as much of the space as he could. The Fire Nation might be a sweltering hell pit in the dead of summer, but it sure knew how to do luxury right. Suki closed the door softly behind her as she slipped into the room after him. A moment later he felt the edge of the bed dip, and her beautiful face leaned into his view.
"Comfy?" She asked.
"Soooo comfy," he said. Then he lifted his hands toward her, making grabbing motions at the space between them. "Could be a lot more comfortable with someone to snuggle, though."
Suki didn't need any more invitation than that to fall, giggling, across Sokka's chest. The next several minutes was a chaos of stolen kisses, touch, and laughter until they finally settled, legs and arms hopelessly tangled together. Sokka shivered as Suki's breath tickled his neck. If he allowed himself the distraction, he knew that he could spend all of the time he had here that wasn't wrapped around meetings, political jockeying, and Zuko, hidden away with Suki instead. In a perfect world, he could borrow Appa and whisk his two best friends away from petty concerns of stuffy old governors and dignitaries.
But the world was changing explosively, and what they needed was Sokka here, attentive and level, counter balancing the weight that constantly threatened to pull them down. He inhaled, breathing in the smell of fresh bedding and Suki's soap. "Okay, what was this important, secret thing you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Well. Okay so, it's about Zuko."
"What about him?"
"I think..." Suki's uncharacteristic stillness, and the quiet muffle of her voice worried him. If something had happened, he was sure she would have said something by now, but this seemed personal. He gave her a reassuring squeeze. Whatever was wrong they could work through it together. She sighed, and hugged him back. "Actually," she said, "what do you think of him?"
Well that was a weird question. "Like as a friend, or a political figure, or..."
"As just Zuko ."
"Zuko's a great guy." No. That didn't quite ring right. Too fast, too flippant, like he was talking about some distant acquaintance. Sokka paused to gather his thoughts, then tried again. "Zoku is. He's my closest friend. Don't tell Aang. Or Toph. I love them, but—"
"It's different, I know. You had to look out for them." Suki— sharp as ever— honed right in. Their friends were all amazing, each in their own way, and he'd trust every single one of them with his life, but in the weeks after the end, it was Zuko and Suki who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, splintering apart together and picking up each other's pieces. He didn't have to be brave, strong, smarter or more. It was enough for them that he was Sokka, and he was there.
They’d formed an easy friendship after Zuko had helped him break into and out of an impossible prison. When he wasn’t chasing them half-way across the world, the guy was kind of a dork, with an abundance of sincerity that leaned into awkward-yet-charming. It wasn’t until after— after , when both of them were stuck recovering in the palace infirmary, that Sokka had really gotten to know Zuko. Here was the ugly, naked truth as Sokka had learned it over those weeks: Zuko’s family— and by extension the whole of the Fire Nation— for all the strife and destruction it had inflicted on the world, it dealt the same on itself. Built a pyre so large and hungry it burned through the living and dead alike, and would have gone on doing so until there was nothing left if they hadn’t stopped it. That Zuko had managed to retain some sense of decency, and, dare Sokka called it, kindness— buried the dormant seed of it beneath the burnt out, charcoal husk of his innocence until it could germinate and grow again... Well, that was nothing short of a spirits-damned miracle.
"He's kind of amazing?" The words came out more hushed than he intended. Reverent, almost. "I don't mean like the bending, or his sword stuff, or being the Fire Lord. Obviously, those are all pretty cool, but it's the little stuff, you know?"
"Sword stuff," Suki snickered. He pointedly ignored it.
Now that he was cornered into actively putting words to his thoughts on Zuko, Sokka found it a little overwhelming. He didn't talk about their friendship this way, at least not to other people, but as he picked that careful verbal path, it felt right. Almost freeing.
At Suki's encouraging nod, he pressed further. "He's so determined, when he gets something in his mind he doesn't stop. He's brave to the point of stupid. He'll risk his life for people he doesn't even know, who might not even like him just because his dumb senses of honor and fairness won't allow anything less."
"Right? He's such an idiot sometimes!"
Sokka could feel Suki's fond smile against his neck and he knew his matched. "Yeah, but he's our idiot."
"He is.”
They both sighed. The fact that Zuko wasn’t here now just felt wrong, like they were trying to paddle a canoe with missing oars. And just like that, something that should have been obvious snapped into crystal focus. Whatever Sokka had intended to say next died in his throat on a startled squawk, and it took a couple false starts before he found his voice again.
“Fuck. Suki, I think I might like Zuko. I mean more than platonically.”
“Oh, thank Kyoshi I’m not the only one!” Suki sat up so fast she almost knocked her head into Sokka’s chin. He followed right after, bereft little noise caught in his chest, reaching for her until his hands found her face.
“But! But I still love you . That hasn’t changed at all, Suki, please—”
“I know.” She smiled, so bright and full it damn near dazzles him. “I love you too, Sokka. But I, um. I think I also feel the same about Zuko.”
“You— oh. Oh .” He couldn’t feel too bad when she laughed at whatever his face was doing because it had to be objectively hilarious. She leaned in until their foreheads touched, then dipped to steal a brief kiss. That at least kicked his brain out of whatever nonsense loop it had gotten stuck in and let him take a deep, shuddery breath. “So. I love you, and you love me, and we both love Zuko. What are we going to do about that?”
“I don’t know. You’re the plan guy, that’s why I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Plan. Right. Right, we need a plan. Uh. You know my plans don’t usually work out though.”
Suki rolled her eyes. “Yeah, reality happens, and then you adjust based on the new situation. It’s not supposed to be perfect, Sokka, we just need to start somewhere.”
Sokka could have kissed her again just for being so perfect and good to him. So he did. When he pulled away, he could already feel a little of that old thrill returning. “Okay! Plan. Zuko gets cagey when he’s got too much attention focused on him.” And oh, Sokka wanted to knock every asshole that had trained that into him onto their ears, starting with, but definitely not limited to, Ozai.
“Plus the whole way his thing with Mai ended,” Suki sighed.
“Was it really that bad?” Sokka had never pried for the details. He wasn’t there when they actually split for real, and when he had finally returned to the Fire Nation, they seemed to be on perfectly friendly terms. Mai still had Zuko’s confidence, and Sokka’s for that matter. Whatever their romantic troubles had been, it wasn’t enough to push Mai away from being solidly in Zuko’s corner on most everything else.
Suki’s answering shrug didn’t clear much up. “I don’t think the break up was that bad, but he spent a lot of time up in his head after. And he hasn’t really had anything serious since then as far as I can tell.”
“Okay, so. We can’t come on too strong. But not too subtle either, Zuko can be. Uh—”
“Oblivious?”
“Super oblivious.” Now that he had a goal to focus on, the gears of Sokka’s mind were nearly whirling, spinning up to speed. A grin split his face. “I got this. Suki, we’re gonna romance the shit out of the Fire Lord.”