A/N - Mausumi: Just FYI we didn't want Aang to be too young so we've set all the drabbles two years into the future, so Aang is fourteen and Sokka is seventeen. Also, if you've reviewed before for a previous chapter, we request that you still review for future ones because each chapter is stand-alone and we'd like to know which one's you like or dislike the most and why. Thanks!

Avatar Advent Calendar
-December Second-
Sea Prune Stew

Ugh, sea prune stew.

Aang eyed the water tribe delicacy with fervent loathing. How did Sokka expect him to eat this . . . this nauseating dish? The young airbender stared into its murky depths and threw his friend a look of horror and revulsion. At this behaviour, Sokka raised an eyebrow. Obviously he didn't understand Aang's distaste for sea prune stew; after all, the tanned boy had practically grown up on the stuff.

"What's wrong, Aang?"

"YouknowI hate sea prune stew," Aang shot back, glaring at the other boy.

Shaking his head, Sokka replied, "Yeah, but it's good for you. It actually tastes pretty good, too." He ate another large spoonful of stew, then added through a mouthful of food, "And it's vegetarian, you know."

The Avatar slumped in his chair, weakly prodding at the sea prunes floating in his bowl. "Well, I don't like them."

Swallowing, "You better eat it though, or else Katara's going to get mad at you," he paused. "Or, you know what, don't eat it. Katara's funny when she's angry," he said lightly.

She did spend the whole day cooking this . . . Guilt weighed on Aang's chest, causing him to slump further in his seat. "Ugh." Sokka smiled at the boy. Aang sure could be childish sometimes, but he supposed that was a little expected being only fourteen. Either way, Aang really needed to eat; they had a long day ahead of them and even Sokka wasn't so stupid as to go without a meal. He stared at the boy for a moment, eyeing his dejected posture, when he got an idea. The tanned boy's eyes rapidly flitted from the untouched spoon lying in the bowl of stew to the slight frown on his friend's face. Sokka bit his lip for a moment to suppress any outward signs of his mirth.

"Hey, Aang."

"Wha-mmrpph!" Aang's eyes grew to twice their normal size as his mouth was unwillingly invaded by a spoonful of sea prune stew.

"There!" Sokka stated triumphantly as he held the spoon immovably in the Avatar's mouth. "Now, you better—" he wouldn't. Time moved in slow motion as he watched Aang reach for his napkin with one hand so he could expel the food from his mouth, and with the other hand, push away Sokka's arm so that the spoon would leave his mouth. Panicking at the thought of Katara's irrepressible wrath when she found out that her cooking went wasted and unappreciated, Sokka yanked the spoon from between his friend's lips and did the only thing he could think of to make Aang eat the food.

He kissed him.

Of course, as Sokka pressed his lips to Aang's, it didn't register as a kiss per se, but merely a way to seal the other boy's mouth so that he would eat the godforsaken stew.

Or so the tanned boy told himself.

But somewhere, be it only in the deepest recesses of Sokka's mind, it registered that yes, he was in fact engaged in a fiery lip lock with his best friend. And, yes, that thought was definitely, yet inexplicably, pleasing.

Sokka pulled away with a loud smack! just a moment after he felt Aang swallow the stew.

Biting his lip, his cheeks burning, Aang glanced up at Sokka, who looked back with a nervous expression.

The tanned boy opened his mouth to speak. "I'm sor—"

His words were cut short as Aang stole a quick kiss.

"Can I have some more stew?"