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Sokka flinched as he heard the Earth Kingdom Ambassador’s shouts echoing through the palace halls. The noise was making the servants scatter like ants through the passageways, everyone keeping their heads down and mouths shut tight.
Everyone was on edge and strained. Of course, the angry yelling coming from within the nearby throne room wasn't helping that fact any. Not at all.
Glancing outside though, Sokka could catch sight of the bright rays of sunlight. Outside, it would be easy to call this a good day, the sun shining and the soft spring breeze drifting through the tree leaves. Out there, there was peace and general happiness spread around. People were going about their days with liveliness and buoyant chatter. But inside the walls of the Fire Lord’s palace, that atmosphere was far and away unreachable.
Over the past few weeks, the air had gotten stiff and suffocating. Celebrations had been put to the wayside, guests vacating the palace in droves. All that was left behind was an oppressive darkness that had started haunting the rooms and chilling Sokka’s bones.
The newly appointed Southern Water Tribe Ambassador sighed and adjusted his clothes nervously. He knew that down the hall Zuko was getting bombarded by the constantly pissed-off official whose voice was still bouncing off the nearby walls. Yesterday the Earth Kingdom had finally come to its senses and realized that the Fire Nation was in fact not behind the recent assassination attempt on their king; the accusations being the main cause for the “mood shift” in the palace. It had taken long and weary hours of work and meetings and even a couple of proposed Agni Kais between angry counselors. But in the end, the issue had finally been resolved with the real culprit being put behind bars.
Sokka glanced up at the wide arching doors that currently closed off the throne room. He could hear the ambassador’s shouting and anger-filled disrespect flooding through the doors. He could also hear Zuko’s calm and authoritative responses drifting just above the yelling.
With a sigh, Sokka scrubbed a hand over his face and leaned against the opposite wall. He wished that there was something he could do to help Zuko with. . . everything. He knew the Fire Lord was under constant stress and even now, after a crisis had been averted, there was always some problem that needed to be solved, some document that needed to be approved, some resistance that needed to be taken down. There was always something, someone, that needed Zuko’s full attention and energy. Everything had to be dealt with absolute perfection. All the time. Every day. There was no holiday from being Fire Lord. No weekends off. No rest.
It was wearing on Zuko, Sokka knew. The young Fire Lord was always restless, barely sleeping from nightmares, constantly missing meals because of meetings. How Zuko’s skinny shoulders managed to carry all the weight of the stress, Sokka had no idea.
And yet.
And yet through it all, Zuko still found time to be there for Sokka. He would bring Sokka hot tea when he was stressed over trade agreements or given him massages in bed when Sokka had nightmares. Zuko supported him, always. No matter how busy the man was, he always found time for Sokka. And it helped.
Sokka felt calmed by his boyfriend’s presence. Warmed by his soft touches. Relieved and joyful by his dry and awkward jokes.
Sokka just wanted to give that comfort back to Zuko.
It was at this point that Sokka’s thoughts were interrupted by the loud crack of the throne room doors slamming open, a fuming Earth Kingdom ambassador storming past him, boots stomping off down the hall.
“Sokka?”
Jerking his head back to the open room, he saw Zuko, looking exhausted and worn, staring curiously at him from his throne. Sokka quickly made his way into the long room, Zuko hopping off his seat to meet him in a tight embrace. “It's good to see you. What's up?” His voice muffled against the slightly taller man’s broad shoulder.
“Just checking in on you. You know, making sure ambassador boulder-brain didn’t decide to redecorate you throne room with some fist-sized dents.” A small, huffed laugh was the only reply as Zuko sagged slightly in his arms and buried his nose into Sokka’s neck sighing softly.
Blue eyes glanced down to the hidden, raven black head of hair currently trying to burrow into him. “Are you okay?”
“’m fine. Just tired.”
Sokka chewed on his lip for a moment, simply enjoying the feeling of his boyfriend in arms as a plan started to hatch in his mind. Maybe there was something he could do to help Zuko. . .
He shifted the leaner man slightly in his hold, “Do you have any meetings for the rest of the day?” Sokka asked absently, his plan forming slowly into something feasible.
Zuko laughed dryly, “Of course I do.” He pulled away from Sokka, carefully smoothing out his robes and fixing his loose strands of hair. “I have a meeting with the Fire Sages to discuss new council procedures that will be implemented with our new set of articles. Then I have a meeting with Toph’s secretary to learn about how they’re using metal benders for a police force over there. After that I have a hearing for one of our ex-general’s who is requesting an appeal for his war crimes.” Zuko coughed wetly into his sleeve for a moment. “Then I have to go over the Northern Water Tribe’s new trade agreement paperwork that we received last week.”
Sokka blinked. “Right.”
Zuko gave him a soft peck on the cheek and then another peck on the tip of his nose. “I’ll see you tonight alright?” Zuko gave his hand a quick squeeze and then headed for the door.
“Yeah. . . No, wait!” Sokka rushed after him, quickly grabbing his boyfriend’s arm before he could leave. The other man stopped and raised an eyebrow at him curiously, waiting for him to continue. “Can’t you just. . .reschedule your meetings? You really do need a day off, you know. Or a. . .half-day, now, I guess?”
Staring at him for a moment, Zuko almost seemed to consider the idea. Then he shook his head and smiled sadly. “I can’t just ask these dignitaries to be put on hold simply because I need a day off.” Sokka tried to interrupt before Zuko held up a hand.
“For one, it would be rude and doing it repeatedly would be seen as a lack of respect for my officials. How can I expect others to respect me if I do not first respect them and their time? And secondly, there is more involved here than just boring meetings. The people of every nation are directly affected by everything I do. By rescheduling the trade meeting, Northern Water Tribe fishermen will lose another week’s worth of profit that they will be expecting to receive from our arrangement. And the procedures I will be discussing with the Fire Sages will lead to zero tolerance of slander against foreign nations. We have a meeting with the Earth Kingdom education council tomorrow, if these procedures are rescheduled and not put in place the Fire Sages could make comments that would cause disrespect to them and break the fragile peace we’ve made.”
Zuko took a breath and rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “Everything I do or do not do has consequences. It doesn’t matter if I’m tired.” Sokka bit his lip and looked away, ashamed. Of course, Zuko couldn’t just take a day off. Or even half a day. But he still needed to do something- Zuko looked up, “Unless there’s another reason. Do you need me for something? Are you okay?”
Sokka laughed sadly and patted the now-worried looking Fire Lord’s face, “Nah, sweet cheeks. I’m okay.” Zuko bristled at the pet name. “But hey, after you finish I want to show you something, okay?”
“Show me something?”
“Yup.”
“Is this like that time you wanted to ‘show me’ how large hippo-elephant dung was and proceeded to do so by pushing me into a huge pile of it the day before Katara and Aang’s wedding?”
“Okay, well that was just-“
“And then I smelled like poop for their entire ceremony even after I spent the whole night scrubbing my skin off?”
Sokka couldn’t help but chuckle at that memory, earning him a smack on the arm from Zuko, “Ow.” Sokka mumbled. “It won’t be like that, I promise. You’ll like this one.”
“You swear on your mother’s betrothal necklace that I won’t end up in a pile of dung this time?”
Sokka swallowed, “. . .uh, yes?”
Zuko squinted at him, “Alright. I’ll see you tonight after I finish.” He gave Sokka one more kiss on the nose, his favorite sign of affection, apparently, and walked off down the hall. This left Sokka to his thoughts and his plan.
He did have a plan.
At least. . . he thought he did. Maybe. Probably.
&_&_&_&_&_&
It honestly was a very simple plan.
As Sokka sat on their bed in the royal chamber tap-tap-tapping nervously on the pillows he thought maybe it was too simple. Maybe he should have come up with this grand gesture. Maybe whisked Zuko away to the South Pole and took him penguin sledding.
No. . .that-that was Aang’s thing. Sokka shook his head in frustration.
Maybe he should have thrown a big party and had Zuko let off some steam. Sokka scratched at his chin. No, Zuko didn’t really like parties. They made him nervous and brought out all those social insecurities.
With a dramatic sigh, Sokka flopped backwards onto the bed, body bouncing slightly against the soft mattress. This plan would have to do. He just hoped it would be enough.
“Well don’t you just look like the happiest person ever.” The dry quip cutting through Sokka’s addled brain.
He sat up with a snap and looked over to see Zuko, with bags under his eyes and more than a few loose strands of hair falling in his face, leaning casually (exhaustedly) against the doorframe. Sokka almost felt bad for not letting the guy fall into bed right then. Almost. His plan would help. It would.
“Oh yeah? Well don’t you look like the most. . . tiredest, exhausted-est, and uh, least-awake-ed-est person ever?”
Zuko raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”
The Southern Water Tribe Ambassador grinned toothily.
Zuko pushed off from the wall and crossed his arms, “So, what’s this thing that you wanted to show me?” He wandered over to the wardobe and opened the door, glancing back at Sokka, “And can I put on something comfier or do I need formal attire for this plan?”
Quick as Momo during dinner time, Sokka sprang to feet went to over to the wardrobe, pulling out a soft blue robe that Zuko was always stealing from him. Zuko narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“This is a sleep robe.”
“It sure is.”
“Does this mean I’ll get to sleep during this thing?”
“No spoilsies, just put it on.”
Zuko huffed and snatched the robe from Sokka’s eager hands, rolling his eyes as he went to the washroom to change. Crazy ass boyfriends and their crazy ass “plans”.
&_&_&_&_&_&
“Sokka?”
“Yes, torchy-poo?”
“. . .”
“Fine. Yes, oh great Fire Lord Sizzle-Bum?”
“I hate you.”
“You love me.”
Zuko rolled his eyes heaven ward and sent a prayer to Agni for patience. “Yes, I do. And I would also like to know why we snuck out of the palace at almost midnight in our sleep clothes and are currently running through the streets with no shoes on?”
“It’s a secret!” Sokka’s voice pitched in a sing-song before pausing to cough and mutter quietly, “And uh, the shoes part was actually not in the plan, I just got really excited and forgot to tell you to grab a pair.”
“Great.”
Sokka came to a halt and glanced around before pulling Zuko into an alleyway and dragging him through a crisscrossed maze of backstreets. “Sokka, seriously, where are we-“ Sokka shushed him and pulled him into the back door of a very large building. They stepped straight into an abandoned-looking stairwell and Sokka proceeded to pull him up three flights of rickety, wooden stairs.
“Really, Sokka-“
“Shush! You need to be quiet or they’ll hear us!”
“Who will hear us?” Zuko balked, “Sokka Son of Hakoda are you making me do something illegal?? I’m the Fire Lord, I can’t just-“
Sokka grabbed his face and pulled him into a rash kiss, effectively silencing the other man. He snuck his tongue in for a few seconds before pulling back with a gasp for breath, “Zuko, baby, I love you. But you yell really loud sometimes.” Sokka gave him a kiss on the nose, making Zuko stare cross-eyed. “Just trust me. You’ll love it, I promise.”
Zuko glanced back to meet Sokka’s gaze, melting at the underlying nervousness and hope that was brimming just beneath the swirling blues. “Alright. I trust you.”
Sokka grinned.
“Though you did forget my shoes so. . .”
The man groaned and pulled Zuko up one more flight of stairs.
When they reached the top Zuko noticed an old, wooden door that had a sign with “Proceed in Silence” tacked to the middle of it. Sokka looked back over his shoulder to smile at him before carefully opening the door and leading Zuko through it, their hands softly entwined.
They stepped out onto what seemed to be a sort of massive platform reaching to the far side of a vast room. There was a ledge with a railing attached with large unlit lamps on one side and a beautifully tapestried back wall on the other.
Zuko glanced over the ledge and gasped.
Below them was a grand auditorium, with rows upon rows of scarlet red seats and golden carvings that entwined six large support pillars that lined the aisles. Tapestried walls with scenes of the great plays sewn into their cloth, colors playing against the shadows that filled the dark cavernous space. And there, at the far end was the only source of light, a high-platformed stage.
They were at the theatre.
And not just any theatre, Caldera’s newly-restored Grand Royal Fire Nation Theatre that had been abandoned a hundred years ago. The arts committee had finally received the budget to restore it a couple months ago, though Zuko had never had time to come visit himself.
On the stage far below them, the voices of a large group of actors rehearsing their lines drifted up to the rafters and the catwalk Zuko and Sokka were standing on. The darkness of the lighting, the high vantage point, the vast and open room, the distance hum of practicing lines, it was all so. . . otherworldly.
Zuko let out a sigh, the built-up tension easing away from his shoulders.
“So? Do you- do you like it?”
The small voice beside him almost startled Zuko before he looked over to see Sokka’s shy face staring quietly at his feet. The Fire Lord smiled. He gathered Sokka in for a long, sweet tasting kiss, then pressed their foreheads together, “I love it. Thank you.”
Sokka’s eyes lighted up and he let out a silent whoop before tugging Zuko to the far corner of the catwalk, “And! That’s not even the best part! Come look!”
“I thought we were supposed to be quiet.” Zuko grinned.
Sokka ignored him and pulled him over to what looked to be a. . . a nest? A very large nest made of dozens of pillows and blankets all piled together in what looked to be a sort of bed. “I thought we could spend the night here?” Zuko looked up, wide-eyed. “That’s why I had you wear pajamas. I thought watching the actors rehearse would be soothing and they don’t even know we’re up here! And I’ll wake you up in time for your morning meetings. And I’ll grab us breakfast in the morning and I know your tired so if you want to go back to the palace instead we can-“
“Sokka. It’s perfect.”
Sokka bit his lip, “Welllll, I do have one more thing. . .”
Zuko narrowed his eyes, an amused smile giving away his joy, “I knew it! What illegal thing did you do?”
“It wasn’t illegal!”
“Uh huh.”
“It wasn't! One hundred percent, good-citizen, law-abiding actions! I think. . .”
“Sokka.”
“They were orphans! What else was I supposed to do?!”
“You- what?”
Sokka guided Zuko to sit down on the nest, pulling a blanket over his lap, “Close your eyes.” Zuko rolled his eyes and obeyed, fighting his instinct to peak for just a moment. He heard a light scrapping sound, like something being dragged across the wooden floors.
“Okay, open your eyes.”
When he opened his eyes, Zuko saw a small tub of water, which had probable been hidden off to the side in the darkness, and floating on the top of the water were three little green and yellow fluffballs.
A soft gasp.
“Baby turtleducks?”
If Sokka had the ability to physically melt into a puddle, it would have happened in that moment. Zuko’s wide eyes and soft voice and gentle, ever so gentle, hands reaching out to touch the tiny creatures in front of him. Sokka crouched down next to him and quietly handed him a small piece of bread to feed the turtleducklings.
“I found them alone in a little puddle outside this place when I was scoping out the theatre this afternoon. I think they’re orphans. I thought maybe tomorrow we could bring them to the pond in the palace? It’s nice and quiet over there.”
Zuko let out a very undignified happy squeak and pulled Sokka under the covers with him, burrowing the both of them under piles of blankets, “You” Kiss. “Are” Kiss. “The” Kiss. “Most” Kiss. “Amazing” Kiss. “Boyfriend” Kiss. “Ever” Kiss.
Sokka giggled.
Then Zuko popped his head back out from the covers and whispered to the baby turtleducks, “Okay guys, you can come in now.” With tiny quacks of joy, the three little babies hopped out of the tub and scurried under the blankets, burrowing into Zuko’s robes as the young man carefully cradled the babies in his arms.
It had to be one of the cutest moments of Sokka’s life. “Tui and La, do I love you.” Zuko smiled over at him, teeth flashing in the shadows. Sokka pulled the young Fire Lord, the incredibly adorable, turtleduckling-loving Fire Lord, into his arms (careful of the fluff babies) and held him tight.
And they breathed.
The distant voices of the actors below hummed around them peacefully. The fragile atmosphere of the old theatre, its history surrounding them in its awe. His beautiful lover in his arms. The whole experience was serene.
Sokka sighed peacefully. “I really wanted to give you a place to go to breathe. I know your life as Fire Lord is stressful, and I just- I just wanted to give something to you, something that would really help.” Zuko silently raised his hand to Sokka’s cheek. “Zuko, you’re always so tired and stressed and yet you still find time for me and my problems. You’re amazing to me.”
Sokka blushed, “I hope you like it here, I thought we could come back once in a while? Like your own secret hideaway from the stress of it all. An oasis in the chaos.” Zuko gently rubbed his thumb across Sokka’s cheek. “Do you like it?”
“Sokka.” Zuko stared at him for a moment, silent and gentle, gazing into his eyes deeply. “I love it all.”
His kissed him on the nose.