Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All characters and events are a trademark of the creators and of Nickelodeon.

Tokka Week Day Five - Prompt Five: Alcohol

His first choice had been Zuko.

Zuko could firebend, so he was also the most obvious choice. The fire would keep him warm easily.

But after Zuko had oh-so-bluntly refused, mentioning that he didn't want to get caught in another one of Sokka's antics—though he'd had the feeling that it was more that Zuko had a date with Mai—Aang was the next option.

Aang also had the ability to firebend, though not as powerful as Zuko, so it seemed natural to choose him next.

But as soon as Aang opened his mouth for refusal, Sokka remembered that his sister was dating the Avatar—it still disgusted him—so it was only natural that he would back Katara.

So Sokka was stuck with Toph, who would be of no help to him at all.

And it had been pretty hard for him to persuade her to come with him.

(Now he was out of money and wouldn't be able to buy the services of a search party.)

But at least he had a partner. And even though she wasn't doing anything and it was obvious that he wouldn't survive the outing like he had intended, he still had hope. It was a tough job that he was given, and he intended to prove his point. There was no prize for this contest really. It was just a matter of pride. . . And the fact that he had placed a bet on it.

Now, teeth chattering, he attempted to start a fire. Toph's eyes were piercing into him with uncanny certainty—making him really uncomfortable—and the snow was starting to get to him, despite the many, many, many layers of blankets he had wrapped around him. And somehow, even his life in the South Pole didn't compare to the immediate cold he felt, not having any real jacket on.

"H-H-Hand me that s-stick, w-would you, T-Toph?" Sokka asked, not looking up from his work.

"What s-s-stick?" she snapped, hating how she was stuttering. "We're in the m-m-middle of n-nowhere and I c-can't see anything!"

"Oh. R-Right." Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have brought someone with him. . . Still, he reached over and grabbed the stick to which he had been referring to, trying to start the fire which would have been started much earlier had his partner been someone else.

--

After many, many minutes—or was it hours—of fire-building problems, Sokka finally gave up. He had been trying to start a fire for hours, and so far, nothing.

"Toph, h-h-hand me that b-bottle I told you to h-hold when we got h-here," he instructed, deciding that if he couldn't stay warm by fire, he would stay warm through other methods.

"This b-bottle?" she asked, holding it up. "W-What's in it?"

"Alcohol," Sokka muttered, taking it from her. "Since I'm s-supposed to try and s-survive this entire n-night, I'm g-g-going to need all of i-it."

Shivering, he popped open the top and took a long swig. Almost instantly he felt the change in his body. "Much better," he smiled, almost feeling the ice falling from his face.

"C-Can I h-h-have some?" She was still very annoyed with herself for stuttering so much. But it was so cold. So, so cold.

"You're too young to drink," he said, though he himself had just reached the proper drinking age.

"S-s-so?" she glared, reaching forward. Her fingers grazed against the bottle just as he pulled it out of her reach.

"You can't have any," he insisted, taking another sip.

She scowled, waited a moment, then lunged at him. His arms flailed and the alcoholic content spilled all over his face.

"Now look what you did!"

"You s-s-should have s-shared with m-me. . . ."

--

Now sitting side-by-side, the two on the 'expedition' hadn't spoken to each other for hours. The only sounds that either of them had made was when Sokka had crawled over to Toph's right in a vain attempt to stay warm with her body heat.

"There h-h-has to be a-another w-way to stay w-warm!" Sokka declared, breaking the silence. He had to win the bet. He just had to.

"Y-Y-You're the i-idea g-g-guy."

There was another moment of silence as Sokka thought up ways to stay warm.

"I-I know!" he announced, then grabbed her into a hug. She stiffened as his arm slid around her waist, his other hand around her neck. Her face heated up, making Sokka hold on tighter. "Ahh. . . W-Warmth. . . ."

"Let g-go of m-me," she threatened, deathly serious.

He pouted. "But you're s-so w-w-warm. . . ."

"Now," she insisted.

And he let go.

--

"M-M-Maybe if w-we went t-to s-sleep?" he suggested an hour or so later, rubbing his hands together.

"And f-froze?" She was hugging her knees now.

"Oh y-y-yeah."

And they were silent again.

--

She blew on her hands, trying her best to thaw them from inside her mittens. "Y-You w-wanna t-try the h-hugging again?" She flushed a deep pink, which contrasted greatly compared to her paled face.

Sokka smiled. "I-I was th-thinking about th-that." She gave him a questioning look, and he hastily started explaining, "I m-mean. . . Th-There's another w-w-way to s-st-stay warm, too."

"W-What?"

"D-D-don't k-kill me f-f-for this. . . ."

And before she could even question it, he kissed her.

Sure, it was just for warmth, but it didn't stop the poor child from enjoying it so much.

Her arms slithered around his neck, his around her waist, and they both toppled down in a heap.

"I'm so g-glad you're my p-partner t-today," Sokka noted appreciatively.

Grinning, she pressed her lips against his. He only thought of the kiss as something to keep warm—and oh was it keeping them warm—but to her it was something more.

"Wow, you two sure know how to stay warm," a voice said from behind them. Toph and Sokka pulled away from each other at warp speed, breathless and flushed. The snow crunched under the snow boots of the figure as she walked.

"H-Hey, Katara," Sokka looked at the ground, really wishing she hadn't seen them kissing. "I'm g-guessing I w-won?"

She nodded then smirked, "Is there anything you two want to tell me?"

Yeah, that sucked. 'Twas OOC, had no real plot, had a horrible ending, no real time changes, their stuttering was annoying, the works. -shrugs- Oh wellz. At least I got something, right? XD I can't wait for tomorrow's prompt, though. I was waiting for it for forever.

Oh, and in case the storyline is unclear, Sokka and Katara made a bet about Sokka staying out in the cold and surviving. The whole thing has to do with alcohol because if Toph hadn't accidently spilled their supply, they wouldn't have been kissing at the end. XD

And, speaking of alcohol, it's actually not a good thing to drink when it's really cold and you want to warm up. So don't. Really.

I truly, sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this. XD

-Sophia