Looking out of his bedroom window this rather uneventful summer night was not going to do Sokka anything good. The house was quiet as his sister was out with her friends and their parents had left the country, going on a vacation. The only noise that could be heard was the rain that was crashing to Sokka's window. The house was actually a bit creepy as it was not very litten up, and the dark cloud outside didn't help on the non-spooky factor. But it was rather cozy Sokka thought.
After what seemed to be forever staring out his window Sokka let out a heavy sigh as he turned his head towards his alarm clock on his bed table, the display said 7.38PM. It was too early to go to bed and all his friends were out of town for the summer, so what was he supposed to do? Maybe he could just play some video-game? But what would he play in that case? Maybe he should just order a pizza and watch a movie and have a nice stay-in night by himself? Naah..
He looked out the window once again before he decided that he might as well go outside and feel the rain on his skin instead of letting the sound of it on his window drive him crazy. Or before the ghosts that may or may not be in his house would come and haunt him.
He dragged himself out of his desk chair, walked down the stairs, wrote a note to Katara saying that he was outside and didn't know when he would be back tonight. Sokka put the note on the mirror in the hallway before he looked through all the jackets on the coat hanger to find a rain jacket.
Eventually he found one, put it on and now his second mission was to find an umbrella too, which he was way too impatient for, so he ended up leaving the house without one.
He locked the door, put the keys in his pocket and set off out in the pouring rain.
Sokka had been walking down the street for about 20 minutes when he noticed a playground that he didn't remember was there. Well, he never really walked this in this direction anyways so of course he couldn't be sure if it had always been there or not.
Walking past the playground Sokka noticed that there was a tall figure sitting on a swing. He looked to be around Sokka's age, if not a few years older, but what was he doing out in the rain, all alone? Maybe he too escaped his empty house before the ghosts came and ate him alive?
Looking at him Sokka noticed that he was very well-dressed, maybe he was one of the rich kids in the other neighbourhood? It didn't really matter where he lived or how rich he was, the question still remained; what was he doing out here all by himself in the rain?
Sokka hesitated a bit before he decided to enter the playground and walk up to the stranger on the swings.
The stranger looked up at Sokka as he approached the swing set, which made Sokka slightly nervous. Sokka stood by the empty swing and looked at it before he looked over at the other male. He looked back on the swing and asked the other if it was ok if he sat down on the empty swing next to him.
"I don't care, do whatever. It's not like this is my swings or anything.." the tall male on the swing answered grumpily in a low voice, almost incomprehensible.
Sokka looked over to the guy once more before he finally sat down on the swing. And now what? What was he supposed to do? Was he going to start a conversation with the other, what seemed to be very grumpy, male? Sokka felt the urge to speak to him, just to not let the awkward silence take over. But what were they going to talk about? They didn't even know one another?
Sokka sat there deep in thought, thinking about how he could start a conversation with this unknown guy next to himself, when he heard the other male saying;
"What brings you out, an evening like this?" he looked over at Sokka, who snapped out of his train of thoughts. Sokka didn't know what he should answer, he could say the real reason to why he came out tonight and be ridiculed to death by an unknown man in a playground. Or he could lie and saw something that wouldn't Sokka look like a whimp.. But Sokka's mother had taught him well, and lying was far off his chart.
"Well you see, my parents are abroad and my sister's out with her friends.. So my house was very… empty and a bit.. scary, if you will.. Soooo, I decided to take a walk in the pouring rain instead of getting consumed whole by the ghosts that may or may not be habiting in my house." Sokka answered with a light blush on his face as he looked down on the ground beneath his feet, and prayed to the gods that the other wouldn't make fun of him.
After what seemed to be an eternity of silence Sokka decided to look up and see if the unknown guy had left him or not. To Sokka's surprise the other male was still sitting on his swing - looking at him with a weird expression across his face.
"Oh come on, as if you would want to get eaten alive by ghosts when you have a face as handsome as mine?!" Sokka said in a high pitched voice when he saw the expression on the other male's face.
This just made the other male burst out in laughter. It was a nice sound, breaking the murmur from the rain colliding with everything in it's range. His laugh made Sokka smile and feel warm inside, and eventually Sokka found himself joining in on the laughing.
The laughing soon came to an end, and all that was remaining was some low chuckles from both of them. The taller male looked over at Sokka again this time with a warm smile on his face.
"Thanks, I needed that." he said as he started to stretch out his hand to Sokka "I'm Zuko, pleasure to meet you."
Sokka reached out for Zuko's hand and answered "Sokka, and the pleasure is all mine."
The guys held hands for longer than necessary for a handshake before they finally let go of one another. There was once again a silence upon them, but this time it was not as awkward as it was earlier.
Sokka looked over to Zuko, who looked deep in thoughts, before he spoke up.
"So why are you doing out here, in this bad weather, yourself? Isn't you nice jacket going to be ruined?" Sokka said as he reached out and felt the nice fabric of Zuko's jacket, which was nicer quality than Sokka could even dream of wearing himself. This just confirmed that Zuko was indeed from the rich neighbourhood.
Zuko looked into the distance as he answered to Sokka's question.
"My father and I had an argumentation, earlier today, and he stated that I was not welcome there until I have calmed down. Which I have yet to do, if I say so. I am therefore temporarily without a place to stay. Hence to why I am sitting here, on a swing, in the pouring rain - talking to you." Zuko looked at Sokka once again, sadness and anger washed over his face.
There was a silence resting upon them once again.
After some moments Sokka started shivering, he was already freezing after being out in the cold rain for quite some time now, and he had a rain jacket on him, so he could only imagine how cold Zuko would be, as he was sitting there with soaked clothes. Sokka felt guilty, even though he had nothing to do with the drama between Zuko and his father. He needed to do something, he couldn't just let someone sleep outside in the rain.
Sokka stood up from his swing and looked back on Zuko who now looked up only to meet Sokka's eyes. The slightly shorter male smiled a sad smile and said;
"You could stay at my place if you'd like to. I know we just met, but I'd feel so bad if I didn't offer you some kind of help, now that I know about your situation at home."
Zuko looked at him. He was surprised that this stranger that he literally only had spoken to for less than an hour, would be so warm and caring, and actually offer him a place to sleep.
"I would appreciate that favor greatly, Sokka" Zuko answered and he too got up from the swing he was currently sitting on.
The walk home was quite fast, but not any less rainy nor cold. Eventually they reached house where Sokka and his family was resided. Sokka unlocked the door and let Zuko walk into the warm house first, before entering the house himself and close the door behind him.
He offered to take Zuko's coat and hang it near a heater so it would be dry by tomorrow. After they had taken off their jackets and shoes Sokka searched the house to see if his baby sister was home - but she was nowhere to be found. She probably would sleep over at her friend's place, since it was a bit late now and she still hadn't gotten home by now.
Sokka asked if his guest wanted anything to eat or drink, but Zuko kindly refused his offer. Sokka then decided that they probably just should go up to his room and play some video-games or whatever rich kids liked doing on their spare time. He showed the way up the stairs, Zuko close behind him like a lost puppy.
When they entered Sokka's bedroom Sokka then realised that he hadn't really been thinking about where his guest would be sleeping. He felt so embarrassed that he could've forgotten such an important part of this whole "you can stay at my place"-thing.
"Uhm.. It just hit me that I actually don't have any guest-room in my house.. I mean, you can take my bed and I'll just sleep on the couch" Sokka said and looked at Zuko with an apologetic smile.
Zuko looked over to the bed and saw that it was in fact a rather big bed, and both of them could easily fit in it. But he kind of understood that it'd be awkward to share bed with a stranger you just met in a playground.
"The bed is quite big, so you don't really have to go out of your way just to make me feel comfortable. We can share it, so you won't have to mess up your back by sleeping on the couch, I'm really not worth that. But I do appreciate you being a very good host." Zuko said, and in fact he always had loved to have company sleeping - it made him feel safe.
"O-oh, ok" was all Sokka could say as he was fighting the blush creeping up on his neck and face.
Sokka walked over to his dresser and pulled out some dry clothes for Zuko before walking over to his guest with the clothes.
"I know that these clothes not might be the same standards that you seem to be used to, but hey, at least they're dry" Sokka said and winked as he handed over a pair of PJ pants and a t-shirt.
Zuko was now the one blushing as the took the clothes from Sokka.
"The bathroom is down the hallway, and you'll find fresh towels in the third drawer" Sokka said as he opened the bedroom door out to the hallway for Zuko.