Finally finished! Thank you all for your kind comments on this fic -- maybe if you're good we'll write a cracky sequel someday. XD Big thanks as always to AvocadoLove for her master beta-ing skills! ~JadePrince+DustyJack
It was very warm. And kind of... well, sticky really... But there was a sense that the air outside the blankets was cool morning air. There was something all but coiled around Zuko's body as sleep started to fade and it was keeping him hot and sweaty. When he tried to move, it coiled around him tighter and whined. When he finally fought his eyes open, he was accosted by the sight of what had to be a monster resting on his chest, hair a ratty, tangled mop and face smeared with black. It was drooling on him.
Zuko groaned, nose wrinkled in sleepy distaste at the sensation of pooled saliva. When he blinked fully awake, recognition finally hit and his stomach flopped over as he remembered the night before. Briefly, he wondered if it wouldn't just be possible to go back to sleep and wait for Sokka to wake up first, let him roll out of bed and act like nothing had happened. But there was little chance of this, not with his torso in the vice-like grip of Sokka's arms and the drool beginning to drip into his armpit. "Sokka," he hissed, pushing at the other's shoulders. "Sokka! Ugh..."
The sleeping monster grumbled with irritation but blearily opened its eyes, looking up into Zuko's with an unpleasant morning grouchiness and seemed not to recognize what he was looking at. But then suddenly those bleary eyes snapped open and Zuko felt Sokka's entire body stiffen and he reeled away, barely managing not to go careening off the edge of the bed. "S-sorry," was all he managed to mutter, hurrying to mop at Zuko's damp chest with the sheet before he scrambled out of bed. It took him another beat to realize he was completely naked and then he snatched the top blanket off the bed to cover himself as he made a dash for the washroom, mumbling incoherent things. The old, caked and smeared make up did little to hide the deep red his face took on as he snapped the door shut behind him.
Despite the awkward and vaguely disgusting state in which Zuko found himself, he couldn't help but smirk a little when Sokka left the room in such a fluster. He sat up then, stretched, sighed and looked out the window at the rising sun, still barely above the rooftops of the little town.
Twenty minutes later Sokka still had not emerged. Zuko had to pee.
He knocked, a quick rap of knuckles against wood. "You okay?" he called through the door.
"H-huh?" came the muffled reply from the other side. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I'm -- just gonna take a shower, then it's all yours..."
Zuko sighed faintly, but turned from the door to take in the room's state of disarray: the clothing on the floor, the wrinkled sheets. Casually pulling on the pants he'd worn the day before, Zuko set to straightening up, waiting to hear the shower start before he set aside his task and returned to the washroom door. He pondered why, exactly, he'd decided last night to lay down the cash for a room with private plumbing. Again he knocked on the door. "I'm coming in," he announced, pushing the door open as he spoke.
"What?" Zuko caught one quick glimpse of Sokka before the shower curtain was yanked quickly to cover his peeking face. In the shelter of the shower, Sokka let the water drip over his face, willing his heart to stop racing. "W-what's up?" He tried to sound casual.
"Sorry," Zuko answered and shrugged, equally casual, but much more genuinely so. "Gotta pee." He smirked a little and wondered at how relaxed he felt given the circumstances and given Sokka's evident discomfort. "No peeking."
"Ha-ha," was Sokka's nervous attempt at a response, feeling very weird as he listened to Zuko pee. "I-I'll be out in just a minute. Sorry for being such a chick with the bathroom." The moment the words left his mouth, he inwardly groaned. WHY, Sokka, WHY?
To Zuko's credit, he took the high road and ignored the potential tease Sokka had so nicely set up, instead chuckling a little and answering, "Hey, no problem. Take your time."
"Thanks," Sokka mumbled, his forehead pressed against the tile wall. When he finally emerged, hair pulled back for the day, he had a towel tightly wrapped around his waist. "All yours." He offered Zuko the quickest smile in the history of smiles before he started going through their packs in search of his normal clothes. Even if he'd wanted to play dress up again, the dress wasn't exactly in wearable condition.
For just a moment, Zuko's gaze lingered on Sokka's shower pink, damp form, slightly curled shoulders. Then he coughed, returning the smile with one that lasted a bit longer and headed toward the bathroom. "I'll just be a few," he promised. "Then we can finish our shopping."
When Zuko returned, Sokka was the Sokka that he faced every day, if a little more nervous looking. He was wrestling on his boots and steadfastly avoiding looking up when he heard the door open.
"You never appreciate real showers until you live in a broken down air temple where indoor plumbing was, apparently, forbidden," Zuko chuckled, rubbing briskly at his damp hair with both hands, fluffing it into something bordering on ridiculous.
"Bathing is too lavish for monks," Sokka managed his first joke of the day as he adjusted the guards on his boots. Then glancing up, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"What?" Zuko blinked, hand pausing in it's motion. Then his eyes turned upward and he smirked faintly. "Oh you think I look funny, do you? Bet we could make your hair do even stupider things."
"My hair looks great no matter what I do with it," Sokka shot back haughtily.
A spark took Zuko's eyes and he stepped closer. "Oh really? Want me to test that theory?"
Sokka looked up and eyes widened, cheeks flushing at the sight of the other boy advancing on him and wearing nothing but a towel slinging low on his hips. He hurried to look away and then duck around to put something in his bag. "O-okay, you're right -- I wake up with terrible bed-head--"
Zuko flopped easily down onto the bed beside him, glancing curiously down at the other's bag. He didn't ask, but he did tilt forward until he'd caught Sokka's eye again. "We were both kind of a mess this morning, huh?" he smirked mischievously, again surprising himself with what a pleasant mood he'd found himself in.
Sokka only flushed darker, nearly crimson and he rubbed at the back of his neck uncomfortably. "That was really stupid of me, falling asleep with all that... stuff on my face. Sorry for being so gross."
Zuko scoffed, waving off Sokka's apology. "Believe me, I've seen scarier things."
"Heh," was all Sokka could muster, moving to peek out the tiny window in the small room, getting as far from the half-naked boy as he could manage. "So groceries and home?"
"Yeah, of course." Zuko's eyes followed him across the room, frowning a little. "Sokka?" he risked. "You... okay?"
Sokka tensed visibly at the question, glancing over his shoulder at Zuko briefly before back out the window. His frame was hunched. "I... I don't know," he admitted and forced down a swallow. "Last night was... really messed up."
"Oh..." Zuko replied, hesitated, some of his good cheer fading a little. "I didn't... you know... hurt you or anything, right?"
"Huh? No. It's just -- it's like -- it was my first time having sex. And it was with a guy. And I was in -- in a -- DRESS -- and it was AMAZING," Sokka started ranting, rubbing at a temple. "That's really messed up. I mean, that's like -- the kind of thing you do with somebody after you're like... married FOREVER! You don't do crazy whacko perverted stuff on your first time! How is anything else going to ever be as good!?"
Zuko blinked, opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, threading his fingers through his hair. He frowned. "I guess... it's a little weird... but... you know, I mean it's not like... I'm the only person who'll... ever want to do... weird things with you. Or whatever." He shrugged, sighing when Sokka's discomfort began to rub off on him despite his best efforts to remain cheerful. "Whatever, right? It's no big deal."
The silence that descended then was heavy. Sokka glanced up, his stomach bottoming out as Zuko looked away from the eye contact that had been denied to him all morning. "I... I guess," was the best Sokka could come up with for a long moment. He plucked at the edge of his tunic and recalled the words murmured between them the night before, in the moments that temptation and desire warred with chastity and morality. The promise that it was only a game, letting Sokka pretend that it wasn't him and Zuko doing things he never would have normally done. At the time, the promise seemed like the perfect solution. The ultimate flaw was the fact that, though he may have been playing at someone else, the memories were fresh in his mind and the faint, pleasant ache of his body only served to reinforce them. "It really was good," he mumbled at length.
"Yeah," Zuko answered, "It really was." A lingering awkwardness hung between them then as neither knew how to --or if they even should-- continue the conversation. Finally Zuko coughed and stood, stretching before he crossed to the corner where his own satchel lay. He dressed quickly in Haru's borrowed clothing and shot Sokka a smile as he slung his re-packed bag over one shoulder. "Ready to shop?"
Sokka found it a somewhat surreal experience to tread back through the town that he had wandered the day before attached to Zuko's arm. He caught himself walking too closely as they stepped onto the cobblestones and quickly made sure to keep a more appropriate amount of space between them. As they entered the marketplace, there were no glances or smiles tossed his way, no greedy girls giving him catty looks. In their plain traveling clothes, shopkeepers barely gave them a second thought since they looked like they had no money. Zuko was not called at to buy something nice for his date, no cajoling or waggled brows or subtly suggestive comments about the attractive and well dressed young couple.
The grocery shopping was as boring as it was awkward. Sokka found himself blushing when their hands brushed while picking out fruit or Zuko pressed lightly against him in a crowded shop to avoid bumping into a stranger. After the previous day, haggling over a sack of rice hardly seemed worth the effort and reminded him of the delicate stone earrings that were now safely tucked away in his bag.
He shared a glance with Zuko and offered a sheepish, almost apologetic sort of grin to the other boy as he tucked the rice under his arm. "Even food can't really compare to the shopping we did yesterday, huh?"
Zuko returned his look with one that seemed vaguely guilty, as though Sokka had caught him thinking something similar, had read his thoughts. He smiled, if a bit sheepishly. "Shopping for necessity is never as exciting as shopping for fun," Zuko agreed. He was torn between relief that they were no longer drawing attention and disappointment that once more, he was a simple, poor commoner. "But... at least we'll be eating more than fruit and nuts, right?"
"Yeah." Sokka made a concerted effort to coax some of his usual, cool cockiness into his voice. "I guess being a hero isn't always fun."
"Maybe not, but sometimes for men like you and me, it's a burden we must bear," Zuko spoke with mock severity, a hand on his chest. He almost seemed to be trying to make a joke.
Sokka grinned at him with a silence that lasted just a little too long. Then a cough. "So, what else is on the list?"
They crossed in front of the crafter's stalls on the way to the butcher and both boys were startled when a merchant called out at them for the first time.
"Hey there, boy!" It was the jeweler from whom they'd purchased the earrings. "What happened to the lovely lady you had on your arm yesterday? I'd so hoped you'd stop by again."
They froze, staring. Sokka glanced at Zuko's blank face, then back at the jeweler. Then, he shrugged and slid his arm under Zuko's elbow. "He decided to trade her in for me. My sister's not really his type." His heart raced but he smirked when Zuko's glance jerked his way.
It took only a short awkward pause before Zuko recovered, trading his blinking confusion for a sly smirk. His arm slid easily around Sokka's shoulders and they shared a grin before he turned his attention to the jeweler. "What can I say?" he shrugged. "All the exotic looks of the girl, but a total tigerwolf in bed."
The choke that Sokka was barely able to hold back matched the expression on the jeweler's face – a mix of horror and shock. The only difference was the laughter that threatened to erupt from Sokka's throat. "Thanks for the earrings!" he called, offering a wave to the sputtering merchant as he steered Zuko away with a hand on the other's back. Only when they were completely out of earshot did Sokka let that laugh burst from his lungs, leaning heavily into Zuko in his mirth. "Oh MAN!"
"Did you see the look on his face?" Zuko choked in return, grin wide enough to make his cheeks ache. "Absolutely brilliant." His grip on Sokka's shoulders loosened a bit, but instead of pulling away, he offered a companionable slap to Sokka's back. "We make a pretty good team, hm?"
Sokka laughed again, easing away comfortably, rather than as if burned and the grin didn't fade from his face. "Yeah. Guess we do." He felt the tension between them starting to melt, little by little and found it in himself to bump his shoulder into Zuko lightly. "Let's get this over with so we can get back to that crappy hideout."
The remainder of the morning was considerably more pleasant after that point. Grocery shopping still wasn't the most fun chore but at least their next stop was the butcher. Zuko teased his companion as Sokka salivated at the sight of fresh cuts of meat and managed to talk him down from purchasing an entire boar to roast that evening.
The hike back to Appa's resting spot was a long, uphill trek which seemed three times as long when they were laden with groceries. When they finally arrived and loaded the saddle, both boys were exhausted and sweaty from working under the warm afternoon sun. When Appa's course was set and the coast was fully clear, the ocean stretching forever beneath them, Sokka joined Zuko in the saddle, flopping down beside the other boy. He untied his hair to let the wind rake through it, sighing happily as the air cooled his skin.
A long moment passed in silence and whipping wind, almost comfortable. Sokka stretched, back arching and arms raised, then sank back into the weathered leather of the saddle. "Thanks," he finally said, just loud enough to keep his voice from being stolen by the velocity of their travel. "For everything."
"You don't need to thank me," Zuko said, but he was smiling, if not quite looking at Sokka. "I-- had a good time."
"Yeah." Sokka let his head fall back against the rim of the saddle and let the sun beat on his face. Then he snickered, an almost rueful sound. "I'm not sure the dress is salvageable." Thinking back on the day and night before made his stomach churn with guilt and a lingering, shameful sense of arousal. He probably shouldn't have even mentioned it -- let it go unspoken of ever again, never EVER let Suki or his sister find out and chalk it up to the undeniability of teenage hormones. But he couldn't just leave it be, somehow, like a healing cut that itched. He wanted to talk about it, to think back on what Zuko felt like and tasted like and tease him for the face he made when Sokka had touched him just so.
And though Zuko didn't say as much, the glint in his eye, the faint quirk of his mouth and the way he leaned back against the edge of the saddle, casual, but maybe trying just a little too hard -- all of that added up to maybe, just maybe suggest that his thoughts ran along similar lines. Perhaps he wanted to talk about it too, maybe to tease Sokka in kind, for the sounds he'd made or the way he'd blushed so pink. And maybe he understood too, that it wasn't something for anyone else to know but them. Perhaps he should have laughed and nodded and let it lie. Instead he caught Sokka's gaze, reigned in a smile and said, "We can always buy a new dress."
Blue eyes blinked at him for a long moment and Sokka felt his cheeks heat the way they'd been doing the entire day before. He felt his heart thunder, chest tighten with an unbidden inkling of hope. All at the thought that Zuko might want to do that with him again. "M...maybe," he managed and looked away, embarrassed. He swallowed, leaned back against the leather again. "Who knows what will happen after the war?"
"R-right," Zuko laughed, made just a little awkward by Sokka's embarrassment. "Um, if things work out... I mean, in the war-- well, there's lots of great shopping in the Fire Nation. Especially when you aren't having to worry about being caught. I mean-- caught by Fire Nation soldiers."
"Yeah." Sokka smiled a little and closed his eyes. In the brief silence that followed, he felt tired, the complete exhaustion of their nocturnal activities having settled in his muscles. The breeze eased his tension and he made sure his eyes remained shut as he moved just a little closer to Zuko, until their shoulders touched.
"Why don't you get a little sleep?" Zuko murmured, leaning a little nearer in turn. Sokka could feel his warmth where their arms touched. "I'll wake you when we're close."
"Mm..." Sokka sighed faintly, a smile still tugging at his mouth. "That does sound nice..." He slit his eyes open enough to glance once at Zuko and then he was leaning in earnest against the warmth of his frame, arm to arm and head hovering above his shoulder when Sokka closed his eyes again. It was innocent enough, he rationalized, just a little bit of physical comfort...
Zuko hesitated only a moment before slipping an arm around Sokka's shoulders. There was a small intake of breath as though he were about to speak, to say something more, but then nothing was forthcoming and after a moment, Sokka could feel him relax. Sokka himself didn't relax quite as quickly but slowly he sank into the pleasant warmth of Zuko's body, resting against him as he had so often the day before. He was almost able to convince himself that the contact was purely platonic, just a friend offering his arm to allow him better sleep. And telling himself this, he let his head come to rest on Zuko's shoulder. It took him a long time to fall asleep, feeling Zuko breathe and soaking in his warmth as the air that had been so pleasantly cooling now chilled his skin just a bit.
One last bit of contact before things would really and truly go back to normal. Whatever lingered the day after of their game would be snuffed out when Appa landed and they were again surrounded by friends and responsibilities and pressures. It was perhaps this thought that made Sokka squeeze in closer still, pressing against Zuko's side in such a fashion that stretched the label of 'platonic'. Later, there would be a war to fight and logistics to be planned and girlfriends and parents and the whole world to be saved. But just then, for just a little bit longer, the world had filtered down to warmth and comfort and the whipping breeze and Zuko's smell when he pressed his cheek, just slightly, into the curve of his neck. For just a little while longer they could both pretend and forget and enjoy this brief period of comfort, of contentment. And with this in mind, Sokka was able to drift into a light sleep.
