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“Man, I don’t even remember the last time I’ve been to Ember Island,” Sokka muses as he leans back, putting his head in Zuko’s lap with a cheeky grin, reveling in his blush. He wonders idly how long their honeymoon phase will last, but considering it’s been a few months already he’s not sure it will end, at this rate.
“Pretty sure it was the summer after Father became Fire Lord,” Azula says, her gaze on the approaching coast. “It was just the three of us, plus Lo and Li, I guess.”
“I forgot the three of you used to go on vacations together,” Ty Lee tilts her head, secretly glad Sokka and Azula weren’t fighting like they usually did. To her right Mai was silently stewing at the way Sokka was casually draped over his boyfriend and Ty Lee suppresses a groan. Mai truly was giving the sea a run for its money in the salt department, wasn’t she?
Zuko runs his fingers through Sokka’s loose hair, smiling softly as the other teen closes his eyes with a hum. “We used to go every summer, the whole family, but that didn’t last long. I don’t even know if the vacation home is still standing.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to spending a whole weekend just chilling at the beach,” Ty Lee cheers, sitting down next to Mai in an attempt to get her to lighten up. Really, Zuko and Sokka had been pining for years, it was time she got over her crush considering Zuko was the least straight person she’d ever met.
Sokka points at her with a grin. “Agreed! Definitely beats stupid war councils and stuffy parties with nobles who have yakdonkeyshit for brains.”
“I still wonder what Father is talking about that we just had to leave,” Azula mutters with a frown.
“We can just sneak into his office and read the meeting notes once we get back home,” Sokka shrugs. “Chill, ‘Zula.”
She glares at him, but it proves ineffective as he makes doe eyes at her brother. “Shut up.”
“You just hate me cos I’m right,” he waves her off. “You were the one who found the secret passageway to his office.”
“She’s just annoyed that he excluded us, not that I blame her,” Zuko shrugs, absentmindedly twisting a few strands of Sokka’s hair into a tiny braid by his temple.
“Oh,” Ty Lee cuts in, already getting bummed out by the politics talk. “Look, we’re there!”
Sokka very rarely agreed with Mai on anything, but Agni have mercy on his eyes, Lo and Li’s beach house really did look like the ocean had puked all over it. Where had they even gotten purple dye for the bed sheets? Must have been one of the colonies, or maybe there was some remote village that produced it. He always thought the poles were the only place with the means to make it.
He pauses at the thought, just for a brief moment, before he continues unpacking his bag into the chest by the foot of his bed. Thinking about that sort of stuff was useless. He and Zuko had made their choice under Ba Sing Se, not that there had been much of one anyways. There is a weight on his chest when he thinks of Iroh’s face, of the Avatar’s lifeless body, of the way his mother and sister had looked at him, but-
“A copper for your thoughts,” Zuko’s raspy voice breathes into his ear, and he shudders as his boyfriend wraps him in a loose embrace from behind. “What’s got you so sullen? That’s kinda Mai’s thing.”
“... I always thought purple dye was exclusive to the poles,” he mutters, putting away the last of his clothes before picking up his beach clothes, waiting for Zuko to remove his arms. Instead they tighten and his chin comes to rest on his shoulder.
“You’re thinking about Ba Sing Se again, huh?”
He sighs. “That obvious?”
Zuko shrugs. “I just know you well.”
Sokka hums, dropping the clothes back to the floor and leaning back into his boyfriend’s chest. “We did the right thing, but…”
“You considered their offer.” Zuko didn’t sound like he was judging him, but Sokka still made a face. “I mean, I can’t blame you. I was between a rock and a hard place, too. Betraying Uncle-,” he cuts himself off and shifts, looking to the closed door.
“I feel bad about it, after everything.”
“... me too.”
They are quiet for a moment, just leaning on each other, before Sokka slaps his thighs with faux cheer, disentangling himself from Zuko’s arms after giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “Let’s get ready for the beach before the girls go and get scary at us.”
Sokka snorts as he watches some random guy unpack Ty Lee’s things for her, grinning like an idiot while she barely spares him a glance. He catches her gaze and she rolls her eyes with a grin, while he has to hide his laughter in Zuko’s shoulder. Finally catching his breath he looks up at his boyfriend, one eyebrow raised. “Was I that much of a simp for her when we were kids?”
“Not that much of one, no,” he grins, nudging him lightly. “To be fair, you’re kind of a simp for everyone you care about, so it never seemed weird.”
“I resent that,” Sokka sniffs, turning his nose up, squeaking when Zuko pokes his ticklish sides. “Oi, stop- no- ah!” He curls in on himself as Zuko continues to tickle him, ignoring the way Mai mimes puking to Azula. Glaring at her through the tears gathering in his eyes he shouts over. “No need to be jealous, Mai. Maybe if you had a personality aside from being a sourpuss you’d get yourself a man too!”
“What was that?” Her voice would seem neutral to anyone who didn’t know her, but he could tell she was raging internally. “As if I’d be jealous of two idiots acting like children.”
Sokka rolls his eyes, watching her as he pushes Zuko off and instead lies down on top of him, chest to chest. Her eyes narrow, and he can’t help but grin, even as Zuko frowns and flicks his forehead. “Stop being mean.”
“But she makes it so easy,” he whines, tilting his head dramatically. “Look at her and Azula just sitting there all pouty and sad, no wonder no guys or girls wanna come close to them.”
Zuko regards him. “Which one would want girls?”
Sokka taps his chin in thought. “Not sure, actually. Lily was always the one with the impeccable gaydar.” He grins as Zuko snorts and pecks him, lying down on the beach towel fully to let him enjoy using him as a mattress. “It’s not like I’ve ever really had to worry, I’ve had exactly two crushes, and both were reciprocated, so…”
“Oh? Are you sure it’s reciprocated? I might just want you for some fun,” Zuko smirks, eyebrow raised.
“Uhuh, it’s you I’d have to worry about, not the girl who has a collection of three guys waiting on her hand and foot over there.” His teasing expression turns fond at his boyfriend’s pout, leaning down to give him a slow, languid kiss. “I like that you wear your emotions on your sleeve,” he admits after he pulls back, nuzzling their noses together.
Azula’s disgusted voice breaks their moment as it carries over. “This is a public beach, can you at least try to act decent? Or did all the time with the dirtpeople make you forget your manners?”
“No one cares, ‘Zula,” Sokka groans, but relents and gets off of Zuko to lie down next to him instead, entwining their fingers while flipping her and Mai the bird with the other. “You’re such a buzzkill.”
“So, how much you wanna bet those two bozos will piss their pants the moment they hold an actual conversation with any of the girls?” Sokka stage-whispers, nudging Zuko with his elbow. Ahead of them Mai and Azula throw them synchronized glares.
“They have no reason to be afraid of us,” Azula huffs, turning up her nose.
“Not everyone is into snarky himbos like Zuko is,” Mai claims, crossing her arms, and wow, Sokka was not a himbo, thank you very much.
Ty Lee seems to agree, tilting her head in thought. “Aren’t himbos stupid? Sokka’s not stupid.”
“It’s a mindset,” Mai waves her off dismissively. “My point was that Zuko’s a moronsexual.”
Sokka makes an indignant sound at the back of his throat, turning to a silently chuckling Zuko. “Babe, you just let them talk about me like that? You wound me. Besides, we both know I’m the smart one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What it says on the tin, love.” Sokka waves a hand around. “Look at my track record, I’m obviously into pretty people, so that makes me the brain in the relationship.”
“You know,” Ty Lee says. “I’d be offended, but you called me pretty, so I’ll let it slide.”
“Of course you do,” Mai murmurs, rolling her eyes.
“Let’s just all agree that both of them are morons,” Azula sighs, sounding put upon. “The only smart one in that trio is Ty Lee. She dumped Sokka, after all.”
“I’ll have you know it was a mutual decision,” Sokka sniffs, glaring at her. “And at least Zuko has taste, you wouldn’t know a good catch if they punched your stupid face in.”
Azula cackles. “What, like you’re a good catch? Please, I’d rather marry the Avatar’s corpse.”
“I can’t believe you two basically said the same thing about each other,” Ty Lee says, sounding like she was half-amazed and half-disgusted. “First Sokka would rather bang Zhao, now you’d rather indulge necrophilia. Are we sure you two wouldn’t work out?”
Both teens in question look at her with downright disgust. Azula shudders while Sokka mimes puking. “Nope. No way. I’m sorry, but I like my partner to have a sense of humor and a nice personality.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Azula gripes with a glare. “ I don’t want to date you , just so we’re clear. You’d be lucky to have me.”
“Oh look, we’re here!” Zuko and Ty Lee exclaim at the same time, growing increasingly tired of their bickering.
“Woo,” Mai deadpans, miming jazz hands.
Sokka was wandering around the party aimlessly. Zuko and Ty Lee were currently trying to hook Mai up with some poor sap, and he honestly wasn’t close enough with her to participate. They had never liked each other much, but in a different way than him and Azula - the animosity borne mostly out of their mutual crush on Zuko rather than actual dislike. They were still able to hold conversations, unlike him and Azula, at least. It still felt weird to try and hook her up with someone.
As if the universe was trying to prove him wrong and mock him - which, come to think of it, was actually quite likely - he stumbles upon Azula sulking against a pillar, watching the going ons of the party with a sour expression. She lifts her gaze to his, and frowns, turning away. “What?”
“Nothing,” he shrugs, debating for a moment what to do, before he sighs and settles next to her. Maybe Zuko was the smart one in the relationship, after all. “Not enjoying yourself, huh?” He was careful to keep his voice sincere instead of his usual baiting when he talks to her on every other occasion. She seemed too vulnerable for it.
“What gives you that impression?” She smirks sardonically, brows lifted as she gives him a look, but he doesn’t rise to her bait for a change.
“I dunno, you’re standing around on your own when you were the one eager to come here in the first place,” he says with another shrug, nudging her lightly. “I’m trying to be nice for a change, okay? No need for our usual bullshit.” They don’t ever really acknowledge the fact that neither really means half the shit they say. They both know that most of the friction is from how similar they are, and in a way it was grounding to go toe to toe with someone who could give as well as they got.
She keeps her gaze on him, face carefully schooled, as if she was waiting for him to go ‘ha, sike!’ the moment she actually takes his word at face value. Whatever she finds in his expression must sway her, because she pouts lightly, turning her eyes back to the party. “I just… everyone always acts like I’m going to do unspeakable things to them if they get close, and they don’t even know that I could kill them without even trying.”
Sokka snorts, grinning as he leans against her with crossed arms. “No kidding, most of these people have nothing on us,” he points at one guy flexing his biceps at a gaggle of chittering girls. “You could have beaten this guy without breaking a sweat when you were nine.”
“A stiff breeze could do that,” she smirks, rolling her eyes, but nudges him lightly. “Still, just… I don’t get why everyone avoids me like the plague. I’m not that scary out of armor.”
“It’s just your aura,” he shrugs, hurrying to elaborate at her glare. “Just… the way you hold yourself, it’s obvious you’re a force of nature. The Avatar was a twelve years old kid, but when he got serious you could still tell he could fuck you up without trying. It’s like that. We’re all kinda like that, I think.”
“None of you have a problem though,” she sounds exasperated, obviously frustrated she doesn’t get it as naturally as everything else. “Ty Lee has a whole battalion of guys fawning over her, and a couple girls on top.”
“Lily has been living at a circus for two years,” he reminds her. “And Zuko and I have been forcefully humanized by a group of sailors,” he points at where Mai was awkwardly talking to a guy. “Look at her, she’s not much better, and she needed Zuko and Lily to help her.” He thinks for a moment. “It helps that Zuko and I are dating, we don’t really care if someone else is interested in us. And Lily is just taking advantage of a few simps who don’t know any better. She gets plenty flustered if she actually is interested in someone.”
“So, what do you suggest?” At first glance she sounds annoyed, but he has known her long enough to know she’s actually insecure about this perceived deficit. Sokka wonders if he might actually know her better than he does his actual little sister, at this point, but quickly squashes the thought.
He hums, looking around. “Is there someone you actually find cute? A guy, girl, someone who's neither? I don’t actually know what you’re into, actually,” he adds the last part with a low huh, realizing he never really bothered to find out.
Azula fidgets, and he can feel it through their points of contact. “... I don’t actually know what I like.” She seems embarrassed by the admission, not meeting his eyes as a flush seeps into her cheeks and up to her ears.
“That’s normal,” he shrugs, not reacting to her startled expression. “Some just know, but others take ages. It takes time to figure yourself out, sometimes. That’s not a character flaw, it’s just human.” He meets her eyes with an unusually earnest expression. “You know none of us care either way, right?” He nudges her. “You’re basically my little-sister-by-proxy at this point, I might tease you, but I wouldn’t judge you.”
“Oh, shut up,” she groans, shoving him lightly with her shoulder and fighting a relieved smile. “Are you really pulling an ‘I accept you’ speech right now? Really, Sokka?”
“Zuko isn’t here to do it, so I’ll have to sub as your big brother,” he teases, raising an eyebrow. “So, do you actually wanna try flirting with someone, or would you rather go grab some food and talk shit about these dumbasses?”
She relaxes against him at his offer, finally letting herself smile. “Agni, I have been hoping you’d offer. Like, have you seen that girl’s outfit?”
“Oh, Mother of Faces, I know, I’ve been trying not to comment on it all night. Who thought that was a good idea?” He smirks at Azula’s attempts to stifle her giggles, and already moves to lead her to the buffet table when there is yelling and a resounding crash.
And because Sokka and Azula are, deep down, the same person they immediately go to look what the hubbub was about and why it didn’t involve them.
“So, uh,” Sokka starts, looking between the crumbled guy sitting in the middle of a broken vase and their friends. “What happened?”
Mai is glaring at the guy, and he thinks if she had her knives on her he’d be dead instead of groaning on the floor. “Some people don’t know what no means.”
Oh, that explained a lot. Sokka looks back at the guy finally getting back to his feet, and he cracks his knuckles with a saccharine grin. “Is that so?” At his side Azula starts a blue fire in her hand.
“Stop blowing things out of pro-,” he cuts himself off as he sees the two of them look two seconds away from murder, with Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai not looking much better behind them.
“My grandma’s vase!” The guy hosting the party - Choy? Chan? Whatever - wails, gripping his hair. “Who did this?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to take property damage into account when I defended myself from harassment?” Mai deadpans, glaring at him. “Fuck this noise.” She turns towards the door, and the rest of them follow without a word. It wasn’t really worth it anyways.
“So, I take it we’ll rat the guy out to his rich daddy?”
Azula rolls her eyes as if he had said something stupid. “Do you really need to ask?”
Halfway back to the twins’ estate Ty Lee hums, stretching her arms over her head as she looks at the sky. “Do we really wanna go back to the house already? It’s still so early.”
“I don’t really need to go back to the beach vomit decor yet,” Sokka agrees, glad when Mai snorts a quiet laugh. “We could sit at the beach for a bit, make a campfire or something.”
Azula taps her chin in thought, then shrugs. “Sure, why not?”
Once they’ve all settled around the firepit, silence quickly envelops them. They haven’t spent time with each other for such long periods of time in years, and they’ve all become different people, haven’t they?
“What was it like, being back at the southpole?” Mai’s voice is carefully neutral like it always is, but it’s no less cutting.
“Cold,” he deadpans, raising an eyebrow at her. Azula laughs at her friend’s frown. “What do you wanna hear, huh? It fucking sucked to be back and I could have died happy never seeing that stupid place again.”
“No need to snap at me,” Mai drawls, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. “Can’t blame a girl for being curious.”
“I can,” he retorts, and the campfire flickers slightly with his irritation. “Let me tell you, it gets fucking annoying to have people question me about this shit. I hate the southpole, I hate the Southern Water Tribe, I couldn’t care less about my blood family and I’m fucking glad to be back home. Happy?”
“I’m never happy.”
“And that isn’t my fault!” The fire flares with his temper, and Azula works to coax it back down with a sigh. “Maybe instead of making yourself miserable over the gay guy you could have never had you should work on your downer personality and atrocious people skills and maybe, just maybe, you can actually be happy one day and find someone who’ll like you back.”
Ty Lee hisses a low ouch, and Zuko grabs his wrist to drag him back down on the log they had been sitting on. Sokka hadn’t even noticed that he’d gotten up. “Sokka, that’s enough.”
“Why? I don’t have to watch out for Mai’s precious feefees if she won’t give me the same courtesy! Oh, you had it so bad, didn’t you, with your unrequited crush. Must have been the worst thing to ever happen to you, little miss rich. Or, wait, maybe it was the little brother, now you have to share mommy’s and daddy’s attention, how awful.” Sokka knows he’s being unfair, and on some level he regrets his outburst at the sudden sheen to Mai’s eyes, but he really is getting sick of swallowing down his frustrations. “Just get over yourself.”
Azula snorts in a decidedly ugly way and smirks at him with a raised eyebrow. “That’s rich, coming from you. You’re still hung up over something that happened when you were a kid.”
Zuko throws her a warning look. “‘Zula, you don’t wanna do this.”
“Don’t I?”
“No, you really don’t,” Sokka says with a low voice. He had kinda hoped their truce would last till morning, but he should have figured that she’d pounce on the opportunity to be petty. “Or should we talk about how you’re still hung up over your mom liking Zuko better?” Her eye twitches, and her smirk falls off her face. “How about it? We all know I’ll win the Misery Agni Kai. Zuko’s pretty much my only competition in that regard.”
Ty Lee smiles awkwardly, raising her hands in an attempt to placate them. “We really don’t have to do this. We came here to have fun, after all!”
“Do you even know what I’ve had to deal with?” Azula’s voice is hard as she glares at him. “While you and little Zuzu were off on your little adventure I was all alone. Ty Lee went off to the circus the moment you two set sail. Mai’s dad got transferred to the colonies. Meanwhile I could listen to Father talk about your accomplishments and how much of a disappointment his children were. And oh, if only I wasn’t so difficult he could have arranged our marriage after all, have some heirs to spare that might actually be worth something.
“Do you know what his parting words for me were before I left for the Earth Kingdom? ‘Oh, if only you stopped making excuses. You know, Sokka already mastered lightning, why haven’t you? I’m starting to think I should have banked on your brother instead.’ It’s always Sokka this, Sokka that!
“And yeah, Mother did love Zuko more than me, she loved you more than me and you aren’t even her kid. So excuse me if I’m not really inclined to join your pity party because the savages that birthed you didn’t care about you enough, at least you got to fucking leave.”
Zuko swallows. “‘Zula-,”
“Fucking save it,” she snarls. “All of you left me to rot and probably didn’t even look back, did you? You two lovebirds got to see the world, Mai got to get away from the stupid palace life she’s always hated and Ty Lee got to be special and unique like she always wanted. You all left me behind just like Mother did, and you don’t get to act like you didn’t.”
“This isn’t a fucking competition,” Zuko shouts, throwing up his hands. “Do you think I wanted to leave? I was banished, after our Father burned off half my fucking face! Sokka was abused for a decade by every single person around him! Lily’s parents didn’t even remember her fucking name because she had six sisters who all had more presentable skills and weren’t so flighty. Mai’s mom locked her in her room for days on end because she didn’t smile right at some guests.
“We’re all fucked in the head, ‘Zula, and to be honest I don’t need my little sister and my friends going at each other during what’s the first time we can all just hang out together in years.”
They are all silent after his outburst, not really looking at each other, until Mai finally dares to speak up. “You never mentioned that about your sisters.”
Ty Lee forces out a humorless laugh and shrugs. “Yeah, well, it wouldn’t have changed anything, right? At least you guys never acted like I was too loud or jumpy or unladylike. It was enough, well, had to be enough.”
“Did your mom really lock you in your room?” Azula whispers, for once actually looking ill at the thought. “What the fuck, Mai?”
She shrugs, looking away as she rubs her arms with a scowl. “I was jeopardizing dad’s career with my dreary attitude and temper tantrums.” She glances at Sokka for a moment. “Sorry about earlier, I was being a bitch.”
He shrugs, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “I was being a bit of an ass, too, sorry about that,” his gaze flickers to Azula for a moment. “You too. I shouldn’t let my frustrations out on my friends.”
Azula snorts. “Yeah, like you see me as a friend, don’t kid yourself.”
He rolls his eyes. “I actually do, Azula, believe it or not.”
“Oh please, you hate me. You’re always very vocal about that.”
“I don’t hate you, I can’t believe you think I was being serious about that,” he throws his hands up in exasperation. “I said that when I was like ten and still thought girls had cooties! You were mean to Zuko so of course I saw it as my duty to be mean to you in turn. Agni, Azula, I’ve never hated you.” He looks at her. “Would I have had that conversation with you earlier if I actually hated you? Really?”
“Wait, what did you guys talk about?” Zuko was looking between them with a confused expression.
“None of your business, sweetheart,” Sokka waves him off without taking his eyes off of Azula. “Maybe I don’t get along with you half the time, or, well, most of the time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Or Mai, for that matter. You don’t have to be attached at the hip with someone to care for them.” He scoffs. “You’re more my little sister than my actual sister, ‘Zula, so please just get your head out of your ass, okay?”
Azula is blinking at him, looking slightly off-kilter. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” he grunts, leaning back. “So I like bickering with you, that doesn’t mean I actually mean half the shit I say.”
She still looks like a stiff breeze could knock her over, but she still loses some of the animosity in her posture, averting her gaze as she shrugs. “Okay.”
“So eloquent,” Mai snorts with a small, sardonic smirk, sounding fond.
“Oh, shut up.”
Ty Lee beams. “I think this calls for a group hug!”
“If you try,” Azula says with a deadly serious expression. “I swear to Agni that I will end you.”
She doesn’t.