Day Six: Afraid of Flights

This one was cute to write. Idk, I enjoyed it. Also writing Sokka and Zuko is like writing Lance and Keith but slightly angrier and with more "dude's" thrown in. But also the exact same (Zukka is the og klance)

Hope everyone is still doing well, and as always, the next prompt and fandom is at the bottom!

"All right passengers, with our in-flight safety measures taken care of, we are enroute to Miami, Florida. Please keep your seatbelts fastened and your trays in the upright position until we are in the air. Once again, my name is Captain Scott, and all your lovely flight attendants will be around if you need anything. Our approximate arrival time is 8:30 am local time, roughly three hours, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight."

Sokka leaned back with a yawn. He hated early flights, but they were almost always way cheaper than late flights and they tended to be quieter, so he'd grown used to them. His phone was fully charged and he was about to plug his headphones in and doze off to some Lady Gaga and Pink before the plane left the ground when he happened to glance over at his seat neighbor.

They'd exchanged brief nods when he got on the plane, and he was around Sokka's age, so he hadn't been too concerned about him being annoying for the flight. The guy was tall, with shaggy, dark hair, and there was a wicked scar around his left eye that Sokka tastefully ignored. He looked like he probably snuck knives past security, and yet here he was, eyes squeezed shut and fingers clenched on the armrests (one of which was Sokka's, but whatever).

Sokka hesitated, felt the plane rumble under them as they started down the tarmac, and the guy's knuckles basically went white. A soft breath shuddered out of him, and Sokka licked his lips. "Um…you okay, dude?" he whispered, trying not to wake the sleeping people around them.

"Fine," the guy muttered. The plane jolted, bounced a little, and his breath hitched.

"You're so not fine," Sokka said with a roll of his eyes. "It's chill, dude, tons of people are scared of flying. No need to be embarrassed. Can I help?"

"No."

Sokka scowled at the snappy tone and huffed. "Fine then. Be Mr. Tough Guy." He jammed his headphones into his ears and thumped his chin into his hand. He watched as the ground started speeding up under them, let his eyes track the trees in the distance, and, with a gentle bump and a slight rattle, the plane started lifting into the air.

A strong hand clamped down on his arm and he whipped around, startled, to find his seat neighbor practically trembling. His eyes were still shut, his brows pressed into a tight line across his forehead, and the hand still on the armrest was basically ripping the plastic apart.

Sokka pulled out an earbud and slowly moved the guy's hand until it was settled in his palm. He curled his fingers around it and gave a gentle squeeze. The whole situation might be a little weird, but Sokka wasn't an ass. The guy was genuinely freaked out, he'd hold his hand if that's what he needed.

"It's good, dude, see, we're totally off the ground now, smooth takeoff and everything," Sokka reassured him.

A weak laugh came from the guy's lips. "Yeah right. Smooth my ass."

Sokka rolled his eyes and glanced back out the window. "You like, scared of heights? Or planes in general?"

"None of your business."

"I dunno, you're holding my hand over it."

The dude's eyes finally opened, revealing a fiery irritation, and Sokka grinned at him. "See, there he is. You're fine, dude, I'm totally kidding. You don't have to tell me shit. I'm Sokka, by the way. So you aren't just casually homo-ing it up with a stranger."

Dude's eyes went wide and his cheeks turned pink right in front of Sokka, and he wrenched his hand from his grasp. "Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't…" He took a breath, put his hands carefully in his lap, where he clenched them together into a wad of fingers. "Shouldn't have imposed. Sorry."

"No problem, dude," Sokka said with a shrug. "Like I said, no big."

There was a long silence, during which Sokka contemplated putting his remaining headphone back in and falling asleep again, and then his seat neighbor spoke quietly. "My name is Zuko."

"Cool name," Sokka said, hitting the pause on Poker Face. "Where you heading in Florida?"

Zuko's lips twitched as he glanced over at Sokka, like he was studying him. "My…my uncle owns a tea shop down there. I'm working it over the summer, visiting him. You?"

Sokka could tell the question at the end was more out of politeness than anything, but he took the opening. Hopefully talking would distract the guy and prevent any further bruising on Sokka's arm. "Visiting my sister. She goes to school there and is taking some summer classes, and I've never been, so I figured why not? Free place to stay AND tons of beaches and surfing? Hell yeah."

"You surf?" and this question was so genuine that Sokka grinned.

"I'm gonna try to," he admitted, watching Zuko's lips twitch up just a little bit. "Probably won't end well, but can't hurt to learn."

"It could hurt, very much," Zuko said solemnly, and if it wasn't for the twinkle in his eyes, Sokka might have been a little creeped out. "I hope you have a good time."

"Thanks. You too. Maybe I'll look up your uncle's tea shop, see if it's nearby. I'll swing over. Get some leaf juice."

Zuko pressed his lips together in a thin line before speaking again. "It's called The Grand Lotus. Not really Miami, more the suburbs, but Miami is the closest airport. So that's where he's picking me up."

"Sweet, dude, I'll have to check it out," Sokka said sincerely.

Zuko smiled, just a tiny bit, and Sokka was floored – the guy was hot. Like, that was apparent from the very sight of him, but his smile just absolutely changed his demeanor from "unattainable flaming-hot man" to "hot guy who also probably rescues kittens in his spare time and would make me pancakes." "That'd be cool."

They fell into a more comfortable silence now. Zuko seemed a little more at ease now that they were in the air, so Sokka put his headphones back in and settled down to doze a little bit. For about twenty or thirty minutes, that worked perfectly.

And then the captain came on the speaker.

"Attention passengers, looks like there is a bit of turbulence coming up ahead. Nothing too crazy, but please remain in your seats and buckled for the time being."

Sokka did as asked, buckling his belt, and then looked sideways at Zuko, whose hands were shaking as he put his tray up and set his crossword book away. Without speaking, Sokka held a hand out. When Zuko looked at it, and then up at him, he offered what he hoped was a gentle, reassuring smile. Whatever he did worked, because Zuko took his hand, albeit lightly, and let their joined hands fall down to the middle armrest.

The turbulence started a minute later, light at first, and then harder. Sokka's teeth clacked together a little bit and he had to remind himself to unclench his jaw. Zuko's hand tightened in his and Sokka squeezed back once.

"When I was a little kid," Sokka found himself saying, taking out an earphone and pausing Britney, "my mom always told me that turbulence was just the wind gods mistaking airplanes and helicopters for beach balls. And when they realized their mistake, they let us roll out of the court. Kind of like the "thunder is just the gods bowling" theory, you know? We flew a lot when we were kids – my sister Katara and I – and we were nervous about it for a while."

Zuko's eyes were shut, but from the way his head was tilted, Sokka could tell he was listening. Another bad rumble hit the plane and his fingers tightened. "My dad always laughed at her, and secretly he'd tell us it was really giant birds flying by. Their theories were stupid, but they really calmed us down," Sokka said with a chuckle. His smile faded a little and he furrowed his brows. "Planes remind me of her. It's why I don't mind flying."

Zuko's grip tightened despite the lack of turbulence. "What happened?" he asked, softly, his voice lax and without pressure to continue.

Sokka licked his lips, shrugged. "Draft. She was in the Air Force. Didn't make it back."

He didn't say more, and Zuko didn't pressure. The cabin rattled again and Zuko took a deep breath. "I uh…I lost my mom too. When I was pretty young. So I uh…I get it."

Sokka winced, glanced over. Zuko's eyes were still shut. "I'm sorry, dude."

Zuko didn't respond, and Sokka looked away again, eyeing the clouds through the window. They were starting to turn pink, hints of sunrise, and when he checked his phone, he saw that it had switched time zones. There was about an hour and a half until they landed again. "Have any siblings?" he asked as the plane dipped again.

Zuko's snort was full of disgust, and Sokka regretted asking immediately. "A sister," he said, his brows furrowing. "Don't speak with her anymore. Or my father. Uncle is…my last family."

"Shit, dude."

Zuko's eyes opened and he looked over at Sokka. "Sorry. Don't need to dump on you."

"Nah, nah, it's cool, dude. Whatever helps you calm down."

Zuko's lips twitched. "Don't know if that helps me actually calm down, but thanks. I…I'm sorry, again," he said, eyeing their hands. He started to pull back, but another rattle made him freeze, and Sokka gently took hold again. Zuko swallowed, clearly nervous, though Sokka couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

"Hey, man, I really don't mind," Sokka promised. "Seriously, it's okay."

"I just…I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Sokka frowned, confused. "Dude, you're not. Honestly, most of my flights are pretty boring, and my seatmates are either asleep or they literally never shut up about themselves. One time a lady had her kid with her and he ended up coloring all over a sketch I had been working on before I fell asleep. She legit didn't say anything to him, I was pissed, dude. So holding hands? Not a bad thing. Very chill."

Zuko still looked anxious about it, so Sokka plowed on, shrugging. "Besides, doesn't hurt that I'm holding hands with the hottest dude on the plane."

Sokka thought Zuko was going to choke. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, dude, I don't know if you've looked in a mirror recently, but you're very attractive."

Zuko was staring at him in disbelief, and Sokka hesitated, wondering if he'd read him wrong. When Zuko spoke, though, it was with a laugh. "Oh thank god, when you said "homo-ing it up" earlier, I thought I was making a straight dude uncomfortable."

Sokka grinned a little sheepishly. "Sorry, my bad. Nah man, you're good on that front."

"Ladies and gentlemen, as I'm sure you can tell, we have passed through the turbulence and are continuing on our way to sunny Miami. There's about an hour left in our flight. At this time, you can remove your seatbelts and move freely about the cabin. Thank you for your cooperation."

Zuko paused, and then started to let go of Sokka's hand. "Thanks, for uh…"

Sokka latched his pinky around Zuko's, catching him before he could pull away fully. "Like I said. It's chill, dude."

Zuko's smile was small, his cheeks pinked, and Sokka put his headphones back in with a matching smile and blush, their pinkies still twined on the middle armrest.

When the plane finally went into descent for landing, Zuko's fingers twined into Sokka's and squeezed tightly. Sokka didn't even take a headphone out this time, just smiled broadly and squeezed back. They landed without a hitch.

Turned out that Zuko's uncle's tea shop was barely three blocks from Katara's apartment, and Katara actually knew Zuko's uncle because she frequented the place during finals week and late night paper writing. In fact, they'd run into each other at the airport and were talking together when Zuko and Sokka walked out, talking quietly and still holding pinkies. That had raised several questions and an absurd amount of sisterly teasing, and a promise from Iroh that they were welcome in the shop any time.

Sokka had never been more excited to drink leaf juice in his entire life.

Tomorrow's fic: Giving, Phineas and Ferb (going back to my roots, y'all)