This chapter plays in the second book, in Ba Sing Se
Sokka's POV
Today was gonna be Sokka's day. Despite Ba Sing Se being the most hypocrytical city of all and Jet probably being killed by the Dai only days before, he was gonna enjoy his well deserved free time, even if it's just one day. Appa was finally back, they had gained the king's trust and he could finally leave to see his father the next day. What could go wrong?
The Gaang spent the day together, in their house. Cuddling with Appa, telling stories, laughing together. „Let's look around the city on last time!" Aang convinced the others. Next to Appa's posters, the team spotted posters of a festival at night. They all agreed to go there to celebrate together one last time. Sokka was thrilled to go out and feel like a teenager.
It was gonna be a spring festival, with lots of colours everywhere. "I can't wait to see all the colours in the sky!" Katara said. "Me too", joked Toph. She didn't sound too happy to go a festival, where the main attraction would be invisible to her. That's her problem, she wasn't gonna ruin Sokka's night, though.
"Where do you think you're going?" The guard at the entry of the place where the traditional festival would take place asked. "To the festival. Now would you please get out of the way?" Sokka answered confidently. "Im sorry, but noone under 16 can enter!" was the only answer. "Actually I'm 112", Aang joked, annoying the man before them. "I highly doubt that anyone of you will get past me, except you!" He pointed at Sokka, who looked old enough, considering him being a lot taller than the others. "I'll get in and try to find a way where you can enter! You jump over some barriers and get inside, ok?" He whispered. With a grin on his face he walked inside and took the chance to call the others babies. "Wait! You gotta pay first!" The guard held out a hand and was waiting for Sokka to pay. The others just stuck out their tongues and left, knowing they wouldn't have to pay.
Sokka got two bags of what looked like coloured sand. It was really loud and there were lots of people. Sokka had never seen so many people in a small place. The first thing he wos gonna do, is look around and watch other people. When it was beginning to get dark, the music stopped and everyone was getting ready to throw their bags. Sokka had already given up on finding the others in this crowd of people. He was gonna be a normal teenager, doing normal things. As he was getting ready, everyone was counting down from 10. When the countdown was over, everyone threw the powder into the air. All Sokka could see was colours. When the sand was coming down, it was quickly swept into the air again, where all the colours where flying around, painting various pictures in the sky. He spotted 3 earthbenders on a platform, who where the source of the colourshow in the sky. Sokka was stunned. He had never seen anything so fascinating. After a good minute the colours started mixing, leaving only hints of colour in an brownish cloud in the air, raining down on the crowd. He felt everyone around him bumping into him and suddenly he didnt feel so good anymore in the crowd. He looked around and sure enough each person around him was coated in colour from head to toes. Some were complaining about the sand getting in their eyes.
As Sokka was looking around, his stomach started complaining. Meat was the only thing on his mind. He ordered something to eat at the next food shop he spotted. When he was trying to eat, he felt his hair falling into his eyes. He was annoyed that he had lost his hair tie somewhere in the crowd. That must have happened when everyone was throwing the stuff in the air.
Someone shouting caught his attention. "You young woman- eh man! Can you win the highscore?" He was pointing at Sokka "Just one coin, and you get 3 back if you make it to the top!" In his hand was a big hammer and next to him there was a big wooden frame with a scale from 1 to 10. Sokka was embarressed. That man had really just called him a girl, just because of his hair. He surely is not the only man around with long hair. Oh no he wasn't gonna chicken out. He would show that man his strengh, the strengh of a real watertribe warrior. He was frantically searching for a coin, ignoring the laughter around him, ready to prove everyone wrong. "Try to hit it in the right spot. The right technique is more important than strengh." He heared from behind him. Standing in the crowd was a young man, with dark hair (or what looked dark under the colour) hanging into his face. "See the blue circle? Try to hit it 10 cm in front." Sokka took the hammer and inspected the framed tool. The stranger was right. That's where he needed to aim, to maximise his hit.
He spit in his hands and then took a swing at the point where the young man told him to hit. He watched as the ball was being catapulted up on the frame. All the way to 6, to 7, to 8, he could already hear the bell on the top ring. And then- Then it fell back down. Sokka let out a defeated sigh. But everyone was cheering. Seems like an 8 is not bad at all. He may have lost his money, but he at least didn't lose his dignity. "Thanks man!" He held out his hand to the man who helped him out. Before the guy could take it he heard the old man again "Hey! You two cheated!" He pointed at the stranger "He was bending to help you!" Sokka didn't understand why the man would even bother, he hadn't won anything. But when two musclemen started walking towards them, Sokka didn't hesitate and took the dark haired man's hand and dragged him into the crowd.
He didn't stop holding his hand until they had ran through the whole crowd, all the way to the other side of the place where it wasn't as full, still full of people, but less bumping into everyone. He only now realised that he had dragged the poor stranger all the way with him, who was looking at him weirded out. Sokka was nervous all of a sudden. The man broke into a light giggle. "What was that?" He asked and started laughing. Something about his smile made Sokka's knees go weak. He also smiled. "Just for the record. I didn't help you one bit, I'm not an earthbender." the boy continued. It was really loud, so Sokka had to concentrate in order to understand him. "My name is Sokka. Nice to meet you!" He held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, too Rock!" Sokka wanted to correct him, but was cut off "Im Lee, and I think we've held hands long enough!" Lee continued with a shy smile. "Right." Sokka quickly pulled his hand back. There was an awkward silence, Sokka was scratching his head, not knowing what to say. Why was he behaving so weirdly? Was he nervous? "Wanna-" Lee paused for a moment "get a drink maybe?" Sokka was excited, he would finally spend some time with a guy his age. "Why not." He answered as calm as possible.
Sitting at a bar, they quickly grew closer and laughed about the people in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. "I came here as refugee" Lee said. Sokka now noticed how one of Lee's eyes was closed a bit more than the other. He wondered if that wound had been inflicted by the fire nation. He looked into the other boys face and imagined what he would look like without all the red colour in his face. "At first I hated it here. I didn't understand why we should live a boring life here, but I think I understand now", he continued. Sokka nodded understanding, although he wasn't sure he heard everything right because of all the noise around them. He could feel his senses slowing down. Was he drunk? He suddenly felt like he shouldnt be here. "I guess I'm gonna head home." He stated, it came out more panicked than he had planned. "Are you alright?" was the answer he got. Sokka stood up and went outside. What was he doing? They were in a war, they had to stop the firelord, yet here he was getting drunk. "What's wrong dude?" He heard Lee ask. "I shouldn't be here", Sokka sighed. The streets were clearing, people started to go home. He started walking away when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wait for me! We're heading the same direction!" Sokka was too drunk to question why Lee knew where he lived.
They strolled down the street until Sokka stopped in his tracks. "Wait" he lulled out "Where are we heading?" Lee looked at Sokka. "I don't know. I assumed you would know how to get home." Lee said, raising his hands. Sokka started laughing and Lee joined in. Maybe he didn't want to go home and was heading the wrong direction on purpose. He enjoined the company, even when they were silent. "Lee are you following me home?" Lee looked shocked "What? No i just wanted to make sure you get home safe. I didn't think you would get drunk from only 3 drinks." Lee answered, obviously also being drunk. "I also wanted to spend more time with you." He continued. He looked behind Sokka. "What?" Sokka tried to find out what the other boy was looking at. Lee was already walking towards a closed shopwindow. "That's the lotus!" Lee exclaimed, looking at a little stone. "I need to get it for my uncle!" Sokka was unimpressed, but he was gonna help Lee get it. Moments later they were knocking on the owner's door, who wasn't happy when he opened it. "What do you want in the middle of the night? The shop is closed!" He called out angrily. Sokka cracked his fingers and started telling the man how his friend fell in love with this stone. He was telling the shopowner how nice the shop looked. After minutes of convincing, he sold Lee the rare stone. Sokka took a closer look at it. "All that for a stone?" He asked. Lee just smiled and started walking in the direction they were headed.
They walked around Ba Sing Se, not saying anything. But this time the silence didn't feel uncomfortable, Sokka felt good not saying a thing for once. "Maybe we could sit down somewhere" Sokka stated after a while. "I can't walk anymore" he added with a sigh. Lee agreed and both boys set down on a bench. The streets where completely empty. "You know" Sokka started "That's what we should do every night." Lee didn't fully understand. "Go out. Have fun. We are teenagers. -You are a teenager right?-" he continued without waiting for an answer "We shouldn't have to worry about a war, about our family dying, about surviving." He looks to the ground. "It's not fair that the fire nation stole our childhood." Lee just looked into the sky above them "I know" he sighed out.
They both sat in silence for a minute. "I work at a teashop. At the Jasmine dragon.", Lee broke the silence. Sokka looked at him. "Nice. Why is it called like that?" Sokka asked. He didn't understand why they would call it after a symbol of the enemy. "I'm not sure. Easy to remember I guess." Sokka was happy with this answer and didn't ask more questions. "I serve the tea. My uncle makes the best tea in the world. He has the right patience for it." Lee continued. He started searching for something in his coloured clothes. "Here." He said, holding out two pieces of paper. "My uncle gave them to me. You can get two free cups with these coupons." Lee was wearing a grin on his face. Sokka inspected the coupons and happily stored them in his pockets. "My sister would love to go there." He said. Sokka knew he wouldn't be able to meet Lee again. He was gonna meet his father, after that they were gonna invade the fire nation. If he's lucky he can come back and see Lee again. But why did he even plan on meeting Lee again? Sokka was lost in his thoughts. He looked at Lee, who had lost his smile. "What?" Sokka asked.
"Nothing." Was Lee pouting? He was kicking the dirt in front of him. "We should head home. I guess" Lee was standing up, scratching his head. Sokka didn't wanna leave yet. "Or-" Sokka paused "Or we could climb on the highest building around and watch the stars." He said pointing to the night sky. "I think the earthking's house has security, but any other house will do." Lee joked. A big smile appeared on Sokka's face. "Let's go" he said, not thinking about taking Lee's hand in his again, leading him to a ladder. "Let's climb up here" he said, climbing on the ladder.
They ended up on a high building, after climbing around the rooftop, they found a little balkony where they could sit down. There were a few lamps burning down on the street. Sokka looked into the other's eyes. Never had he seen so beautiful eyes. Yue's eyes were beautiful, but he was used to seeing blue eyes on everyone. Brown eyes were boring, too. "Your eyes, are they golden?" Sokka asked, staring into his friend's eyes. Were they friends? Sokka considered him a friend. "Yes, it's a family trait." Lee answered looking away. But Sokka just grabbed his face to closer inspect. "Craaazy!" He whispered, with his eyes wide open. Lee maybe got a wrong hint, cause he started closing the distance between them, and closed his beautiful eyes. Did he want to kiss Sokka? Why would a male person try to kiss him, another male person? Before he could finish his thoughts and react, he felt soft lips meet his. It felt good. Maybe because he was drunk, maybe because he truly enjoyed it. After a few seconds had passed, he pulled away. "What are you doing?" He asked. Maybe „What are we doing?" would have been a better way of asking. "Sorry" was the only thing Lee said before he stood up to leave. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm drunk." He mumbled.
But Sokka didn't feel relieved, he felt deep regret. He didn't want Lee to leave. He wanted to be close to him. "Wait Lee!" He called out and stood up, too. "It's okay. You don't need to do that. I shouldn't have kissed you." Lee said in a firm way not making any eye contact. He started to walk over to the ladder. Sokka decided to do the only thing that would make Lee stay. He pulled him close to him and hugged him. He planned on kissing him, but he decided on a hug in the last second. Kissing didn't come as natural. "Stay just for a bit please." Sokka didn't care that he sounded weak and was pleading Lee to stay. Lee's tensed position soon relaxed in Sokka's arms.
Sokka loved every second, he felt at ease, he didn't think of everything going on in his life. He didn't think about what the others would say about him hugging and kissing another guy. But every good thing has an end. When Sokka spotted the sun rising, he knew he had to leave.
"Lee. I need to leave now. Im sorry." With that he climbed over towards the ladder. "You forgot something." How cliché. Sokka couldn't help but smile. He turned around to give Lee one gentle kiss. Lee held up the coupons in front of him. "The coupons. They fell out of your pocket." He mumbled. Sokka slapped his forehead with his palm and grabbed the pieces of paper. „Oh." He then turned his back on Lee one final time and jumped down to the street. He ran back to the team's house. The events still playing in his head, sobering him up. He would never see Lee again. He would go back to Suki, marry her and forget Lee. That's the plan.
"Sokka!" Aang happily exclaimed. "We were worried. Where were you all night?" Katara snapped at him. "We need to clean your clothes. You wanted to leave at sunrise!", she continued. "It's alright Katara, we will do that on the way." Aang interrupted. "You had a rough night. Huh?" Toph laughed und boxed him in his arm. Everyone cuddled and said their Goodbyes.
"Katara! I have a present!" Sokka shouted when Appa was about to take off. "Take that!" He threw the coupons to Katara and with that they were gone.
"Your face is completely covered in yellow paint" Aang said after they were flying for a few minutes. "Maybe you want to wash it off. Here!", with that Aang pulled out a jar with water and bent the liquid into Sokka's face. Sokka wanted to complain. „Was the colour festival nice? That grumpy security chased us around for ages. We missed the best part", he was looking sad. Sokka started rubbing off all the dyed dirt. "Did you have a good night Sokka?" He asked smiling. Sokka was blushing instantly. "Did you meet someone?" Aang raised his eyebrows. He gasped "Did you already see Suki?" Sokka didn't answer, he had rubbed off most of the colour, time to go to sleep. "That's none of your business" he mumbled while he was laying down.
"I thought so. That would explain the red colour on your mouth."