A Kiss With A Fist

"You have to at least admit that it is kind of impressive."

There's a deadly silence for all of ten seconds before: "You have to be kidding me." He can sense Katara rolling her eyes without the need to even look at her (not that he can right this second, what with the jelly limbs and all) and then the sound of her ticking thoughts as she calls him an idiot. "Idiot." It's just one of those things that you pick up on after spending your entire childhood with your little sister being the only one closest to your age and therefore closest person to being your confidant or best friend, as in Katara knows everything about him and vice versa, which is a little sad actually, but then at least Sokka didn't spend the best part of his past stuck in an iceberg along with a frozen bison popsicle for company.

"You do realise she's the enemy?"

"Of course I realise she's the enemy."

"So?"

"So-aah," A shot of blue fire skimmed the grass beside him, the heat of it blackening a line of death so close to him that with just an inch or two nearer it could have caused him some severe eyebrow problems. "Watch it out there!"

"Sorry!" He can just about make out the orange blur of Aang as he back somersaults mid-air in order to avoid another clash of blue lightning, the telltale red blurs that follow him still in hot pursuit.

"Sokka!"

"I'm just saying, Katara, it's an impressive skill on the battlefield, this punchy-chi-timeout thing." And he'd be emphasising the point with his hands right now if it was possible.

"What are you guys doing lying down on the job again?" Which meant Toph had at least managed to slow down the knife throwing maniac of the murderous trio.

"Not our fault, Toph, if you could, you know, maybe help us out a little. Roll us out of the way of deathly fire at least?"

There was a crack in the earth right next to his head, not in the least bit less alarming than the thought of death by fire, and then a rumble as Sokka felt the ground shift beneath him and toss him over and over until he rolled to a thankful stop in a nearby peaceful clearing, Katara forcefully rolling into him with a grunt a second later, a less than pleased look dawning her face.

"You're unbelievable, do you know that?" Sokka knew it was wise not to answer, not with that tic pulsing away on her forehead. "Impressed that she can knock you flat on your back in five seconds flat? Honestly."

Being a girl and his sister, Katara had no idea just how close to home that particular sentence could hit a growing teenage boy with hormones.

"Katara!"

"So how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

Sokka sighed and took his place next to Aang at the meagre fire pit he was slowly trying to coax into providing them some actual heat for the night. It had been about an hour since the feeling had started to creep back into his unresponsive limbs and as a result most of his body parts were still tingling with pins and needles. Katara had taken to soaking herself in a nearby river, slowly coaxing her limbs into working; Sokka on the other hand was determined not to let this happen again, next time he'd be ready.

"You know," he swished his arms through the air and then thumped himself in the chest, slumping over dramatically and disturbing the smoking twigs that were just starting to set themselves alight finally. Aang looked less than impressed and Sokka hurried to keep the fleeting embers together, poking the smouldering flames and smoke with the toe of his boot. "How do you avoid her?"

"The acrobat girl?"

"Yeah, she's so... springy."

Aang frowned and looked towards Katara and Toph, "I guess I could try to teach you some moves, maybe..."

Sokka clapped his hands together, "Perfect!"

Funnily enough going up against the avatar after just getting the feeling back in your body was never going to be a good idea.

Sokka, unfortunately learned this the hard way.

"Have you been practicing?"

"Pfft, no, I'm just -" Which would have been an effective sentence had Sokka not stumbled over his own feet in an effort to avoid a swift punch to his shoulder.
Ty-Lee paused, a grin lining her face showing the whites of her teeth. "I don't know," She leapt forward, two fingers poised to strike at Sokka's arm and this time she hit her target dead on, the feeling fleeing out of his fingers, his arm falling limp at his side with a thump. Satisfied, Ty-Lee took one step forward, "I definitely think there's a bit more muscle in there."

"Really?" Sokka cleared his throat and tried again without his voice rising to a dangerously girly pitch, "Really?"

"Sure. Your biceps-" Sokka tried to flex his arm before forgetting that he couldn't even waggle his fingers. Ty-Lee laughed, not in a deprecating way like someone else would; but happily, like she was enjoying herself, in fact Sokka would bet that if this wasn't right there and in a fight for their lives that the two of them might get on quite well together. "Your biceps are definitely toned, I can tell." She winked at him and Sokka felt himself grinning.

"Must be all that boomerang throwing I do, and hunting, you know, for food and all. I'm kind of the forager in our team, what these guys would do without me -"

The sound of whistling filled the air and Ty-Lee somersaulted back, narrowly avoiding the huge chunk of rock that now sat exactly where she'd been stood just two seconds before, stones and dirt crumbling at Sokka's feet.

"Toph, you nearly hit me!" This time his voice was definitely creeping hysterically high.

Ty-Lee was already bounding off though, "Hey, maybe next time you'll get a hit on me. Keep practicing!"

"They look bigger though, right?"

Katara rolled her eyes.

"Maybe," Aang shrugged, coming back from circling Sokka to see if he looked more bulky from the back. He didn't.

"Maybe? Look!" He flexed his arm, the effort making him grit his teeth and Katara fall back in laughter.

He let his arm drop, "Well Ty-Lee thought so."

Katara straightened herself out, "What are you mumbling? Ty-Lee? Now you're fraternising with the enemy?"

"I'd hardly say fraternising."

"He was making goo-goo eyes at her," Toph piped in, "And I think he was saying something about how our survival depends on him and his 'biceps.' I threw a rock at them for good measure."

"Toph!"

"Is this a thing with you, Sokka?" Katara said. "Girls who can beat you to a pulp? I'm not sure what to think about that."

"You did spend a lot of time getting beat up with Suki." Aang agreed and Toph snorted with laughter.

"No," Sokka spluttered, "It is not a thing, thank you, Katara. Is it my fault I'm irresistible to strong independent women?"

The arm was back up and flexing, "I don't know, maybe you should go and try and work on your biceps by doing our entire food gathering?" The money bag flew at him, hitting him straight in the chest.

"Ow, Katara!"

"You know maybe you need to start practicing yourself if you ever wanna hit me."

Ty-Lee grinned, this time with a dangerous tone, her smile as thin as a knife edge. "Maybe I'm just dragging this dance out a little longer; if I go full on out I'm not sure you could handle it."

She swept her leg out, low to the ground in an effort to try and unbalance him. "I think I could take you." He struck out with his arm, fingers grazing the skin of her arm as she leapt back, narrowly avoiding him. "Or are you just being slow-"

There was a strike to his leg, knocking him backwards and sucking the breath out of him as he fell on his back. Surprisingly the blow hadn't come from Ty-Lee, but, "Mai!"

"I'm sorry; I just didn't want to hear the two of you go on any longer. It's really kind of sickening listening to the two of you flirt with each other. Anyway, Azula wants us so finish it up with your lover."

"So you go out with the depressed knife throwing maniac?"

"Yeah," Zuko's voice was floaty, like he was imagining the two of them together, doing what, Sokka had no clue, she definitely didn't look or seem the romantic type, unless Zuko enjoyed being miserable and depressed in his spare time, which yeah, might be possible. "I mean we were anyway, she's probably not impressed at the way I left her."

Sokka nodded and wondered how long it was appropriate to let a guy stew in his own self-pity. Probably no longer than a few seconds, especially with Zuko, it'd probably just get messy. "So the other girl that hangs out with her?"

"Azula?"

"What, no." Sokka shuddered and hoped Zuko didn't see, but that girl was definitely not what anyone would consider normal. God help the guy who landed that one, he'd no doubt wake up one day with a knife in his back or something. "No, um, Ty-Lee, that one."

Zuko looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah, what about her?"

"Nothing, just, you know, wondering."

"About?"

"Her, I guess, what's she like, um, normally?"

"You mean when she isn't following my sister around like a devoted lap dog?" Sokka nodded. "Nice, I guess. She's always happy, a little too happy maybe." This made the Mai thing make sense, especially if Zuko wasn't a big fan of happy. "And really flexible."

Sokka's eyes widened and he tried his best to swallow. "What?"

Zuko smirked, "Yep, I'd say that's Ty-Lee in a nutshell."

"Wait, what?"

But Zuko was already getting up and walking away to help Aang with dinner.

The thing with practice is that you got better sure, but it didn't necessarily make you perfect. Ty-Lee's arm swooped down on him and Sokka stumbled back instinctively, wincing as the move aggravated his shoulder that had taken the blow only moments before when he'd narrowly avoided losing the movement in his left arm.

"Much better." Ty-Lee said, punching out with her fist so that Sokka had to twist around to avoid being punched in his stomach. "Definitely faster."

Sokka smirked, twisting back and trying to kick out with his leg, the move unsuccessful as Ty-Lee stepped harmlessly out of the way, her braid flicking behind her.

"Stronger too, that kick would have definitely downed me." She retaliated with her own strike, Sokka stumbling out of the way before she could connect with any part of his body.

"Well I do train with the avatar." She took a step towards him, the two of them circling each other slowly.

"I can tell, most of the guys I go up against would be flat out on the floor already."

"I'll take that as a compliment – and a warning."

"You should do."

The next blow took him by surprise, sweeping him off his feet and knocking the breath out of his lungs as Ty-Lee followed on top of him two seconds later, pinning his arms back, her legs a dead weight on top of his own and knocking the breath out of his lungs as she moved closer towards him, the few strands that had worked their way loose from her braid tickling his cheekbones.

There was a moment when Sokka's brain kicked in and told him that he could try and buck her off, that despite protests from a fair few people he really wasn't this weak when it came to having a wisp of a girl lay flat on top of him, even if her fingers were kind of tight pressing against his wrists and feeling every jack rabbit thump of his heart beat.

Instead his brain supplied him with a "What?" right before she angled her head and started kissing him, his lips moving on instinct to capture hers, forgetting that this was really not the right place or time, that this was Ty-Lee, that she was kissing him, her fingers moving along his arms until she was gripping his face, winding her fingers through his hair and pulling him in towards her.

The two of them broke off, both breathing heavily.

"Do you treat all the men in your life this way?"

"Only the ones I really like." She sat back, smiling, gingerly getting up off him as Azula's shout rang out for her to get a move on and get over there.

"You should ask me out sometime."

Sokka smiled, still flat on his back, trying to focus on breathing; maybe Katara had a point about his choice in women.