Author's Note: This is my first time writing Avatar: The Last Airbender and I hope it's okay. I hope to have the next part up as soon as possible. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
This is on the same day as Zuko becoming Fire Lord. So, after the war.
Silently, Sokka left his room in the palace, making sure he made no sound as he crept past Aang, Katara, and Toph's rooms. With one hand on the wall to guide him, he made his way through the dark halls, lit only by the infrequent torches that were barely lit. The doors were far apart, and when he passed one, he could sometimes hear a snore or a shift of someone just lying down.
After a few minutes of walking, he paused in front of the large twin doors. A moment of indecision struck him, and he couldn't help but think that maybe doing this was a bad idea. What if he misheard him or he took his words into the wrong context. Sokka shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "Meet me in my room when everyone goes to bed," he'd said. How many things could he possibly mean by that? Surely he didn't want to just talk in the middle of the night.
He took a deep breath before knocking softly on the tall wooden door closest to him, then pushing it open. As he closed it behind him and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he heard his name called quietly from the balcony. He smiled slightly at the dark silhouette and felt a few nervous butterflies flit around his stomach. When he entered the moonlight, he could see the details of the smirking face in front of him. The butterflies seemed to multiply and he smiled shyly.
The new Fire Lord had removed his coronation robes and shirt, leaving him only in his burgundy pants. Pale arms stretched out towards him in an inviting gesture. He gladly accepted and walked into the strong body that was just barely taller than him, wrapping his arms around the muscled torso tightly. Comforting warmth immediately surrounded him, and he felt like it'd been too long since he felt it. He buried his nose into the crook of the other's neck to breath in the familiar scent of a fading cologne and fire.
"Do I have to call you Fire Lord Zuko now?" he asked teasingly. The butterflies started to dissipate as he wrapped his tan arms around Zuko's neck, his eyes looking into golden orbs.
The firebender laughed. "Just Zuko," he said. His arms were snug around the boy from the Water Tribe, hands pressed against the small of his bare back. He adored the way the big blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the silver moonlight.
Zuko leaned forward and closed the small space between them by connecting their lips. Their mouths moved together in perfect unison as they moved together, slow and passionate. Sokka welcomed the too-warm feel of the firebender's mouth, pulling the body even closer to his. They pulled away to breathe, and Sokka's hand had drifted to the topknot still perched at the crown of Zuko's head, holding the Fire Lord headpiece up straight. As their eyes met again, the Water Tribe hunter could tell that he was thinking about something serious.
He tilted his head up to press his lips to the hot flesh of the sharp curve of the jaw directly by his unscarred ear. "Hey," he murmured, "what're you thinking about?" He placed another soft kiss.
"I need to ask you a serious question," Zuko said. He sounded grave, so grim to the point that Sokka pulled back to look into his eyes, though he couldn't meet the golden eyes. He still looked as if he was mulling something over. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I wanted to wait for the right time, when I could do it the right way." He unwound the Water Tribe boy from around him and walked into the darkness of his room.
The hunter watched him with worried eyes. Was something wrong? Did something bad happen? And then, one thought he hated, crept into his mind: was he going to ask him not to bother him anymore because he was the ruler of an entire nation? He listened as Zuko opened and closed a drawer, then let out a deep breath. Spirits, Sokka thought, what's he doing? As he re-entered the moonlight, skin almost glowing as sinewy muscles moved beneath his skin, the firebender took the warrior's calloused hands in his and knelt onto one knee. Sokka wanted to pull away and ask what exactly he was doing, but he felt paralyzed with shock and confusion.
Their eyes met, and the Water Tribesman could see the nervousness swimming behind his lover's golden gaze. "Sokka," Zuko said, loud enough for only them to hear. "Will you marry me?" He pulled a black strip of leather from his pocket and held it up and taut so that it shimmered in the moonlight. From the leather hung a white glittering stone in the shape of the Fire Nation insignia, just like the gold headpiece that rested in Zuko's hair. "My uncle said that this is how the men in the Water Tribes propose."
Sokka couldn't form any words, no matter how many times his mouth tried. His mind was completely jumbled, every thought swimming with another to make an undecipherable white noise. He had no control over his facial expression, mouth simply agape and eyes wide, locked on the twinkling stone. He gulped around a large lump in his throat as he attempted to wet his tongue. He felt sick, his usually calm attitude thrown away as soon as something extremely unexpected popped up in front of him. "Zuko…" he started, but then lost his words.
"I don't know how deeply you feel about me, but I know that I love you." They could both tell that the Fire Lord was allowing his nerves to get the best of him by making him ramble. "I'll understand if you want to go back to your tribe and—"
Sokka dropped roughly to his knees and crashed his lips against Zuko's, a hand on the back of his neck to hold him in place. He pulled back just enough to mutter against pale lips, "Yes, I will." He felt the firebender smile against his lips before they kissed again, mouths once again sliding perfectly against each other.
The Fire Lord broke the kiss that time, crawling on his knees behind Sokka. He removed the dark-skinned boy's animal bone necklace, then replaced it with the betrothal necklace. Sokka turned his head and felt the stone that now sat against the hollow of this throat. He ran his fingers across it and wondered what it was made of. As if reading his mind, Zuko said, "It's a diamond. It was found deep in the coal mines."
"Impressive," the warrior smirked.
He turned around and maneuvered himself in between the strong legs of his fiancée. Their lips met again, a deep kiss that left them both breathless. Sokka ground his hips against Zuko's, moaning at the friction and wanting to be closer than their chests just pressed together. He made this known by biting the firebender's shoulder roughly. The Fire Lord growled deep his throat, wrapped his hands under the non-bender's thighs, and carried him to his enormous bed, kicking the door shut behind him.
Sokka looked up at his lover and said, "I love you."
Zuko leaned down for a kiss, then muttered against his lips, "I love you, too."
