Chapter Text
“Well, I think you all look perfect!” Everyone laughs as they pretended to not notice Aang and Katara slipping away from the room.
“As if you could do better, Toph,” Sokka answers stubbornly.
“I can, actually,” Toph waves her hand with a flourish, “Now, give me a brush!”
“What?”
“Brush, please. And hurry it up,” Toph snaps her fingers.
Sokka sighs and indulges her, "Don't ruin this one, I use it for calligraphy."
“Now,” Toph could barely contain her giggles, “Watch the master at work!” Painstakingly, she outlines a circle of ink on the table itself instead of the scroll.
“Hey!” Sokka protests, "Think of the bristles!"
“Hush! I’m not done!” Toph uses her other hand to push his face away, “Now, with a few more strokes,” She dots the two eyes (more than a little off-center) and draws a haphazard grin. Then, she gives it a triangle for a nose. Standing back, she nods to herself proudly. “Ta-da!”
“You drew on the table,” Zuko points out.
“Pfft, minor detail,” Toph dismisses.
They all laugh together, prompting Toph to decorate the room with a few more "masterpieces". Aang and Katara returned just as Toph begins to run out of ink.
"Toph!" Katara gasps, seeing all of the haphazard faces painted on the furniture.
"What do you think, Sugar Queen?" Toph asks, very self-satisfied.
"I think someone's going to have to pay to replace this furniture."
"They can charge my parents," Toph dismisses, "anyway, what were you guys doing outside?"
"What? Uh- nothing!" Katara blushes, "Sokka, did you want to talk about something?"
"No-"
"Yes, you do!"
“Ugh, fine. So what do we do now?” Sokka asks, "Toph, what are your plans?"
Toph waits a moment, scowling in Katara's general direction for her diversion, “I dunno. I think I'll stay here in Ba Sing Se. Start an academy or something. Really cement myself as the pioneer of metalbending, ya know?”
“That’s a great idea, Toph,” Katara smils, placing a hand on Aang’s shoulder, “Aang and I are going to look for other temples. The Fire Nation might have missed some smaller ones.”
“Teo found a map in the Northern Air Temple that has locations of a few Air Temples I didn’t even know existed!” Aang’s eyes were bright, “If these temples are still around… just think about the history and Air Nomad knowledge that could be saved!”
“Katara, you’re not coming home with me?” Sokka asks, feeling hollow. Aang’s face falls, and Sokka feels a little bad.
“I’m sorry Sokka, but I think helping Aang with this is really important,” Katara frowns, and Sokka feels the twinge of guilt stab a little deeper. It’s not that he doesn’t want her to help Aang, it’s just… He doesn’t know what. Something in him starts to ache then, just barely, and he knows the ache will only grow.
“Of course! You guys have fun! Don’t get into any trouble now,” he wags his finger at Aang, “I can’t bail you out as Wang Fire when you’re out there.”
“Katara can still be Sapphire Fire!” Aang protests, but Katara frowns again.
“Maybe not, Aang.”
“Oh! Yeah. Let’s not do that.” Toph snickers, and Katara elbows her.
“Zuko, you’ve been awfully quiet. What’s on your mind?” Katara asks, looking a little concerned at his solemn expression.
Zuko snaps out of whatever quiet trance he was in and hesitates before he speaks, “Tomorrow I leave for Capital City, and officially start my duties as the Fire Lord. Uncle will be there to advise me, but after a month he’s returning to the Jasmine Dragon. I don't know what I'm going to do without him…” He stops for a second, lost in thought about the future ahead of him.
“Iroh’s staying in Ba Sing Se?! Yes!” Toph cheers, before realizing Zuko’s tone, “Oh. Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Toph,” Zuko smiles wanly, “He likes it better there, anyway.”
The conversation dies down for a bit, as the group begins to realize this is their last day together, possibly for quite a long time. When you spend every day with someone and fight alongside them, it’s impossible to fathom them just disappearing from your daily life in the way they are all about to experience. Aang and Katara will have each other, but everyone else will be alone.
“Hello! Since you’re all leaving, I just have one request,” Sokka raises his arm dramatically, waiting for everyone to turn to him.
“Yes, Sokka?” Katara sighs.
“Can we have a sleepover?”
“What?”
“Well, it’s our last night with all of us together. You’re all going off to lead your lives to do important things. And I’m going home,” And not doing anything important at all, Sokka adds in his head.
“Of course, Sokka. That’s a great idea.” Zuko smiles warmly, and for a minute Sokka feels something flicker in his chest, but it calms for now.
“Yeah!” Aang seconds, “That sounds awesome!”
“We’ve had plenty of sleepovers at our campsites before,” Toph points out, “How is that different?”
“This one will be special. We’ll do normal things!” Sokka says gleefully.
“Like what?”
“Like… uh… staying up late, eating midnight snacks, and playing pranks on each other?” Sokka tries to act like he knew what a regular sleepover was.
“That sounds fun!” Aang beams.
The sleepover is great until the very end. They check all of Sokka's boxes: midnight snacks, and pranks, and stayed up exceptionally late. Or the sleepover is great until the middle, depending on who you were. Or it was best in the middle, also depending on who you were.
Because in the middle, everyone starts to fall asleep. Everyone except for Sokka and Zuko, who stay up huddled under a blanket to talk about war balloons and Boiling Rock and what life would be like as a Fire Lord. Zuko uses a single flame from the tip of his finger to illuminate their faces like a candle. They could have found a real candle, but sometimes practicality is less important than convenience.
“I’m going to miss you when you leave tomorrow, you know,” Zuko whispers, and it feels like a confession of something secret, not just a sentiment exchanged between friends.
“I’ll miss you too,” Sokka whispers back, but something in his face twitches.
“What’s that face you’re making?”
“I don’t know. But you and the rest of the gang are going on to be so important because you already were so important, and I’m just going home. Without the war, I’m not even a warrior. Just a hunter. And I know how important that is, but I spent so much of my life thinking that this was all there was to life, then spent a year exploring the world, and now I see just how much more there is to life.” Sokka’s voice is quiet, but something in it feels desperate.
“Sokka,” Zuko sighs as he looks at his face in the light. “You’re really important, you know. I wish you could see that.”
“It’s okay.” Sokka smiles wryly, “I guess I’ll have to settle for being a war hero.” He playfully shoves Zuko, and Zuko shoves him back, but his hand lingers for a second on Sokka’s arm. When he finally removes his hand, Sokka feels it tingling like a burn. The warmth in his chest is nearly bursting.
“I could make you an ambassador, you know. I think I have that power,” Zuko offers, extending his hand like a figurative olive branch.
“No, I couldn’t,” Sokka protests, but taking Zuko’s hand anyway, “I don’t know the first thing about ambassadoring.”
“I don’t think that’s a word.” Zuko laughs quietly, looking into Sokka’s eyes. There was a glint there, something warm, but under that, something wanting.
“I think it is,” Sokka counters, his tone not matching his expression. His eyes shine in the firelight as he smile.
Zuko’s face moves closer. Sokka moves to meet him, their noses touching.
The firelight goes out.
...
As the rest of the group sleeps soundly, Sokka and Zuko discover that sometimes, what you want and what you need is right in front of you. Possibly right in front of your face kissing you.
For now, all is well. But tomorrow will come. Sokka ignores the ache in his chest, and kisses Zuko harder.