Writer's Note: Occurs post-series and contains spoilers for both the series and "The Silk Fan". Originally written on a prompt supplied by the ever-patient Lavanya Six when I whined about wanting to write Sokka/Suki and lacked the ideas to do so.

"Suki!"

She had to smile. There were only two people in the whole world who used her name with such explosive force, and only one who had such a high-pitched voice when saying it.

So when dark brown arms were thrown over her shoulders from behind and she was tugged backwards into an enthusiastic embrace, Suki merely laughed and patted the arms in question. She tilted her head to the side to look up at Sokka, who was smiling so hard his eyes were closed. "Hey!" she said calmly.

He responded by making another high-pitched noise and squeezing her tight, rubbing his cheek with hers. Suki had to laugh, both happy to see him and that her paint wouldn't rub off on him.

"I miiiiissed you!" he declared without need, giving her sideways kisses. "I'm sorry I was away for so long! Stupid Granpakku and Katara were taking forever to rebuild the watchtower, and they kept doing it wrong! Masters, my ass!"

Suki pulled herself away from him as he spoke, knowing that if she hadn't, she would have gotten a passionately flung-out arm in the face. "Glad to save you from the tyranny," she teased.

"I know!" he answered seriously. "When Dad gets back he's going to knock their heads together! I hope, anyway. Or I will."

Suki leaned in and kissed his lips as a reply, and he kissed back, hugging her close. When she pulled back for some air, he smiled into her eyes. "So, what's the occasion? You usually don't invite anyone here this close to the Long Nights."

Suki smiled. He knew the ways of the Island so well already, and he hadn't even lived there yet. It was nice; it showed he cared enough to listen to her. "Ty Lee and I were talking, and we came up with an idea."

Sokka blinked, unable to mask a slight flicker of distrust from appearing on his face. "Oh?" he said slowly. "About girly things?"

Suki raised an eyebrow. "If you call honing battle techniques girly, then absolutely."

Sokka clapped his hands together once. "Battle techniques!" he echoed. "I am a fan of long conversations of battle techniques."

She had to smirk at that - of course she knew. It was occasionally his form of pillow-talk. "Well, then this is the perfect day for you," she replied, reaching up and poking his nose with one gloved finger. "How would you like to train the girls in some fighting?"

Sokka's eyes lit up and his smile was huge. For a moment, anyway. Then he frowned, looking suspicious again. "By 'training the girls', does this mean that I have to wear the dress again?"

All she had to do was smile. He groaned, but she dragged him to the dojo anyway, knowing she had him hooked.

"Yay, Suki!"

There was the second voice, buoyant with glee as the source flung herself into Suki's arms. Ty Lee always gave her a greeting like this, no matter how little time was spent in-between meetings. When she asked Mai about it, Suki was told that "it's just her way of shoving her affection." Suki found she preferred this method over Toph's.

Once Ty Lee was apparently satisfied with the amount of affection given, she turned her sights onto Sokka, giving him a sly grin and then a hug, saying, "Hey there, strong man," in addition. Suki fought the urge to slap her hand to her forehead; Ty Lee always greeted Sokka that way, no matter how many times she told the other girl that it would probably give him a big head.

Sometimes I wonder...

Her thought was cut off when Sokka's voice broke into whining. "Ty Lee, please protect me from Suki and her evil cross-dressing ways," he pleaded. "Please don't let her dress me in a...dress."

Ty Lee pouted a little. "But I was looking forward to seeing you wearing the uniform," she answered, and instantly Suki forgave her for being a flirt - especially if it meant getting Sokka in drag. "And besides, we need you in full uniform; otherwise you can't play with us!"

Sokka's face darkened, his gaze going to Suki's. She merely smiled. "It's true," she agreed.

Sokka sighed and gave up. "Fine," he growled. Then he tried to move from it. "So what are we doing anyway?"

"Well," Ty Lee said, her hands behind her back and her smile huge. "Suki and the other Warriors loved that I could teach them chi-blocking, as you already know, right? So, we were thinking..." She looked to Suki, allowing her to continue, which was nice - it showed Ty Lee's respect for her rank.

"The Kyoshi Warriors are formidable, but we could always use more skills," Suki said. "Ty Lee is proof of that. So, we were thinking that you could do us the honour of teaching us a little bit of Water Tribe martial arts - namely, boomerang-throwing."

Sokka stared, looking confused. Then, his eyes went huge, and he threw his arms out, delighted. "This is wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I get to teach people my own age for once!" He then lowered his arms and cleared his throat, reaching up only to smooth out his already-immaculate hair. "Well, I mean, of course, I'd be happy to give you lovely ladies some tips of the might warrior ways of the South."

Suki and Ty Lee exchanged a look, their eyes meeting slowly. It was exactly the kind of reaction they had both been expecting. Suki then smiled, reaching out and grabbing Sokka's hand and dragging him towards the back of the dojo. "Great! Let's get you dressed!"

A groan escaped his lips, but he didn't fight it - too much, anyway.

Sokka submitted to the dressing well enough. Once he was set, Suki called the other girls into the dojo.

There were seven of them now that Ty Lee had joined the ranks. For a while, it looked as if Zayi may not return thanks to the nature of her injury, but despite it she was determined, and eventually she bounced back.

Once they were all lined up, Suki addressed them as she would any other day - without preamble. "Sokka is here to teach us a new skill," she said, holding her hand out to him as he stood beside her. He stopped fussing with one of his sleeves and stood up straight. "With increased traffic on our shores means increased trouble. The more we can keep ahead of the crowds, the better we can serve the Island. Sokka is here to teach us how to fight with boomerangs - long distance projectiles - something we haven't had a chance to learn in detail quite yet."

The girls exchanged interested looks, clearly hooked by the idea that their skills would increase with something that could prove essential. But Suki's eyes were on one girl, who had her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, and she waited. Sakana never could keep her mouth shut for long.

"Suki," she began, her voice terse. "It's one thing to have Ty Lee here, since she's one of us, now. It's obvious that we can learn from her and study from her. But...Sokka isn't just an outsider. He's also a man."

Suki fought the urge to roll her eyes by closing them. She felt Sokka sigh beside her a little. Sakana hadn't liked Sokka at first, and that dislike grew to distrust along the way, especially when Suki told her Warriors of her own freedom, when Sokka and Zuko fought side-by-side to get her free.

Which is rich, considering they all trust Ty lee enough to allow her to join the ranks...

Now, however, was not the time to pick nits. "Sokka is an honourary member of the Kyoshi Warriors," she said now. "He honours our customs by wearing the uniform, and has trained with us before in the past. He has fought at my side and for our entire country. And he did this all while still being a man. So, that's the end of that."

Her eyes narrowed, and Sakana sighed, looking away. She still resented it, but would accept Suki's decision. She always did, in the end.

"Sokka," Suki turned to him, and he blinked, looking over at her. "Want to begin?"

He blinked again, then swallowed. Very carefully, he turned to the girls, who were staring at him expectantly. He reached to his back and pulled out his boomerang slowly, as if his fingers were wooden like the Mechanist's.

When Sokka held it in his hands, something seemed to click. He smiled, looking down at it, before looking up at his audience. With a proud smile, he held it up and pointed to it with the other hand.

"In the South, the only thing a man may have that saves him from dying a cold death is this tool right here," he began. Suki had to hide a smile; she knew that when it came to speeches, Sokka tried his hardest to copy his father's way of speaking. Anyone who had heard Hakoda speak would hear his voice in his son's.

"It's light, it's durable, and you can place it anywhere flat and it won't hinder your mobility," he continued, showing the warriors that it was no thicker than his own hand and easy to keep strapped to his back, despite the bulk of the armour and uniform. "You can make one from any kind of material, but the best kind is bone from an arctic wolf." He faltered, scratching his cheek a bit. "But you guys don't have that here, so..."

"We could use elephant-koi," Azaki broke in softly, holding up a hand. "They don't splinter like regular fishbone, and some of the sailors reinforce boatframes with the ribcage bones."

Suki hid another smile. That was Azaki, alright - ever the sailor's daughter.

Sokka was relieved. "That's a great idea!" he replied. "Let's start with that!"

Suki smiled for real, now. This was a good idea, she thought, watching as Azaki led Sokka and the other Warriors to the shores to talk to some of the sailors. Sokka can take part in training, teach us something new...and he can stay close. I won't have to miss him. And he won't feel useless, either.

With these thoughts buoying her steps, she followed the train of Warriors to the shores.

It was possible to be wrong. It was harder to admit it.

When it came to Sokka, he had his moments of frivolous and ridiculous silliness. It was coupled with stark cynicism and thick sarcasm. He also adored any kind of attention - especially from the opposite sex. That was just who he was, really.

But the part that Suki was counting on when it came to training that day was the part that was laced deep within Sokka, the one that came out only when he was weapons-training or fighting battles or talking about strategy. It was the part that loved the fluidity of swordsmanship, admitted defeat when he knew he could learn more from it, and never once doubted that, with time, success was close by.

And for a while, he didn't disappoint her. He was serious when it came to making the boomerangs, serious about the history and the necessity and the structure that was essential to learning how to throw them.

But then, somehow, he started to remember that he was training with a bunch of women - one of which was Ty Lee, who made it no secret that she thought Sokka was adorable. He loved the attention, loved being teased and love hearing the girls laugh.

That was annoying, but Suki let it go. If it eased the training, she would get through it. And besides, he joked with her, too.

But then she watched as Sokka helped each girl fix her grip on the handle of the boomerang. It was casual enough - just a slight finger-nudge - but it graduated into correcting their stances and how they held their feet and arms, which involved lots of touching, and...

It made her jealous. Which surprised her.

Sokka was nothing short of a professional when it came to training with them. He may lower his voice and tease a little, but when it came to the touching, it was purely business and had no underlying meaning to it.

So why was she standing there, holding her own boomerang between her hands in a crushing grip, unable to keep her teeth from clenching together in her annoyance?

Sokka wasn't making it easy, either, especially with the teasing words and the ability to make all of her girls - even Sakana - giggle. Suki suspected that the ever-humble teacher part of him was slowly changing into the incredibly-pleased-with-himself show-off.

She was going to have to do something about that, and soon. Because she knew if she didn't, she would probably end up throwing her boomerang at his big, inflated head.

After Suki called a lunch break, she cornered Sokka in a far away corner, out of earshot of the other girls. He was reasonably bemused, especially when she asked, very slowly, "How do find training going?"

But it didn't last. He grinned in that very same way - careless and at the top of his game. "Great," he admitted, and Suki had to fight the urge to smack him. "The girls really seem to be getting what I'm saying. They learn so fast!"

Suki bit back a caustic reply that she knew was beneath her. "You say that, and yet I don't think you noticed something kind of glaring."

Sokka blinked slowly. "Me? Miss anything?" he grinned, nudging her in the ribs with his elbow. "Not me, right?"

"Yes, you," she answered, her patience snapping. "Sokka, half of the girls keep messing up their grips so that you can show them more...closely how to do it properly!"

He frowned. "Now, wait, I knew Ty Lee was doing that, but the other girls? Really?"

Suki sighed. Of course he knew that Ty Lee was flirting. Why would he stop something that was so much fun? "Yes."

"Even Mikku?"

His incredulous tone was a little amusing. After all, Mikku made it known that she though Sokka was a waste of space and made it her project to make him look like a talentless hack any chance she could. But even Suki knew that Mikku was starting to enjoy the slight touches she received from the only male Warrior. "Yes," she admitted. "Even Mikku."

Sokka's ears went bright red, his face a display of shock. "Oops," he said weakly.

"Indeed," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to do something about it so that my Warriors don't go throwing boomerangs incorrectly so as to get a touch from you?"

Sokka made a face. "I don't think they mean it that way."

"Probably not, but you have to admit that you're not helping matters."

And he finally sagged, a hand going to his wolftail and tugging - something he did when he was embarrassed at being called out on something foolish. "Right. Probably not."

"So stop groping my Warriors," she suddenly snapped out, regretting it the moment the words left her mouth. It wasn't like her to flat-out make accusations like this, especially since Sokka had done nothing to prove she had anything to worry about.

But his ignorance on the matter was the last straw. And judging by the look on his face, he knew it, too.

"Uh," he said, his voice small and his face worried. "Are you...jealous or something?"

Now her ears were burning, as well as her own face. She glowered at him. "Quit trying to change the subject!" she snapped.

Sokka's face changed into one of surprised delight and he laughed. "You are jealous!"

It was strange, but the sound of his voice seemed to calm her worries. The fact that he was surprised by her (obvious, she realised) jealousy in the matter made her see just how silly it actually was, especially since Sokka, himself found it hilarious.

But her fist found his gut all the same. He still had a lot to learn, after all, about being a teacher.