not working last week messed up my posting schedule and I got a chapter ahead on AO3 so now I'm posting two chapters in a row to catch up lol.

The next week was horrible. Zuko didn't message Sokka and he didn't try and reach out to him either. He was done chasing Zuko now that his idiotic drunken mess of a person had made Zuko hate his guts, or at the very least feel too uncomfortable to be around him. Sokka skipped Japanese art history both days this week. He knew they had a deadline coming up before Thanksgiving break, but he couldn't bring himself to face Zuko. Instead he stayed in his room with the door closed wallowing in his own self pity.

It was 6pm on Thursday and Sokka was lying dejected on his bed like he had been all week with the sounds of his sad playlist faintly coming from his speaker. A knock on the door jolted him out of his depressed daze and he raised his head a bit to glare at his door. "Go away I'm busy."

He didn't want to face Katara's I told you so. He hadn't told anyone what happened that night, he was too embarrassed to admit it. But they had definitely noticed something was wrong by now. "Uhh….I'm supposed to force feed you this muffin." Aang's voice came hesitantly from outside.

Sokka sighed and pulled his blanket back over his head. He was hungry though. "I guess." He said from under the comforter.

Aang slowly pushed open the door and stepped in. "Umm...are you okay Sokka?"

"Fine."

"It's just….we've noticed you haven't left your room a lot and…..did something happen in your classes? Or between you and Zuko?" Aang walked slowly over to his bed and perched on the edge near Sokka's legs.

"Nothing happened."

"You can tell me…..it's okay I won't judge you." Aang handed him the muffin.

Sokka pulled the blanket off his head and took it, sitting up a bit. "Nothing happened Aang." He was starting to get annoyed.

"Okay….but if I'm being honest Sokka….um…..I did kind of….see you two….on the couch...right before he left."

Sokka's face turned bright red and he felt like he was about to combust. Throwing his hands over his face he flopped back on his bed and groaned. "I'm such a fucking idiot."

"I don't think you are. I think you were just drunk."

"Same thing isn't it?" Sokka laughed bitterly.

"Have you talked to Zuko since?"

He shook his head. "He probably doesn't want anything to do with me now."

"Well how do you know that if you didn't talk to him."

"I just do. Now can you please leave? I would like to wallow some more in my embarrassment of a life."

Aang stood up and reluctantly walked to the door. "I think you should talk to Zuko about it." He said, turning around.

Sokka just groaned and threw his muffin wrapper at him. Next minute he looked up and saw Aang had disappeared, closing the door behind him. He crawled back under his blanket and just turned up the music.

"Why do I have to drive you. Can't you take the bus?" Sokka was standing with his arms crossed in the living room in pajamas and a t shirt on facing 4 people ready to go out.

"The….bus…...doesn't let instruments on it. Busking hazard and all that." Aang said, avoiding Sokka's eyes.

As much as he loved his sister's boyfriend, he was a shit liar. Though Sokka couldn't figure out why he would lie about this. "Busking hazard?"

"Yep!"

"Wow that sounds so real." Sokka said sarcastically.

"Come on Sokka. Please! Sara needs to get there soon! Can you please just drive! You haven't been out of the house all week. It will do you good to be among the living for once." Suki begged.

The girl, Sara, one of Suki's friends from martial arts club was standing beside her, guitar in hand, looking nervous. Sokka groaned. The sooner he agrees the sooner they will leave him alone. "Fine. I'll go change."

He stalked back to his room and pulled on some jeans and fished around for his socks. "I don't even know why you have a car Toph. You can't drive." He grumbled as he came back out of his bedroom and shut the door.

"So I can get suckers like you to drive me places." She grinned, throwing the keys at him.

They all piled into her car and Sokka turned on the engine. It was about a 20 minute drive down to the club where Suki's friends band was playing and Sokka hated every minute of it. Finally they pulled up to the parking garage down the street from the club where Sokka was supposed to drop them off and he slowed. "Alright get out so I can go home."

"Oh….uh...Sokka….I meant to tell you…..you can't go home for another 2 hours! They're….uh….closing the roads back to campus. For maintenance."

Sokka sighed and gripped the wheel tighter. "Aang seriously? You know I know you've been lying this whole time right? Why are you being so weird? Just let me go home already."

"I'm not lying!" Aang said indignantly.

Katara giggled. "You are a pretty terrible liar."

He frowned and crossed his arms. "Well you have to stay! Please!"

"No. Now get out." Sokka was about to turn the engine back on when suddenly Toph lunged forward and yanked them out of the ignition.

"What the hell Toph?!" He shouted.

"Sorry snoozles. My car, I get to decide who drives it and when. And I say I don't want you driving it for at least….hmm….2 hours."

"I. am going. To KILL YOU" he shouted and lunged back at you.

She squealed and they all jumped out of the van, an irate Sokka following them. "Just stay Sokka!" Katara yelled.

"Fine. But I WONT enjoy it."

Suki rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

They started to walk forward and paused when Aang hung back. "What are you doing?" Sokka asked, turning to face him.

"Umm..I invited a friend! He should be here any minute." Aang looked around nervously.

"What friend?" Katara looked surprised Aang hadn't told her.

He shrugged avoiding both their gazes. "Just a friend! Oh there he is!"

A tall figure appeared across the street and Aang waved. The figure moved closer and suddenly based under the streetlight on the corner and Sokka suddenly understood why Aang had been acting so weird. "You made it!" Aang smiled.

"Uh….yeah." A very awkward Zuko replied, not looking at Sokka.

"Oh no Sara you are going to be late for sound check!" Aang suddenly grabbed Katara and Toph's hand and raced forward, leaving Zuko and Sokka standing in the dust.

"Hey man." Sokka said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hi."

They stood in silence for a few moments until suddenly they both spoke at the same time, words rushing out of their mouths. "Look I didn't mean what I said -"

"Sorry I didn't text you when I-"

"Oh….uh you go first dude." Sokka said, trying his best to sound like your average straight guy.

"Oh….um….Sorry I didn't respond for a while. I had some...personal issues to sort out."

Zuko looked to the side.

"Oh yeah man that's cool. I hope….everything worked out."

"I….I just…..when you said that you wanted to k-"

"Oh that? Oh I didn't even mean that!" Sokka cut him off. Maybe if I just pretended like it meant nothing and was no big deal he will think it was just because I was drunk.

Zuko looked taken aback for a second. "Wait….what?"

"I just get weird when I drink too much yeah I mean I would have kissed Aang if he had been there dude. But sorry I didn't mean to be all weird to you, but no harm done right buddy! You escaped my drunken clutches just in time. I promise next time I'll just make Suki or someone deal with my drunken ass." he laughed weakly, hoping Zuko would believe him.

Zuko had a twisted expression on his face when Sokka finished talking. He noticed his fist clenched at his side and was worried for a second he was going to hit him. Did I really fuck up that bad?

"Right." He responded, sharply. "Yeah. Good."

"So…..we good?" Sokka looked at him nervously.

"Great." Zuko said, looking away.

"Okay…..cool"

"Do you want to…..go inside?"

"Sure." Zuko said tersely.

"Alright! I haven't heard the band yet so hopefully they don't suck!" Sokka laughed and clapped Zuko on the shoulder.

Zuko gave a half hearted smile and followed Sokka into the club. The band was actually pretty decent, and after their show he saw Suki and Sara sneak off into the back together. Zuko was quiet the entire night and barely made eye contact, making Sokka think they were in fact not okay. As they walked back to the car together, Sokka tagged a bit behind the others and waited until they were a few feet ahead of him and Zuko, then turned to the other. "Hey man, are you sure you're okay?"

Zuko looked at him confused and slightly annoyed. "Yeah fine?"

"Oh okay it's just you seemed really quiet tonight."

"I'm always quiet."

"Yeah but like….I don't know sorry just forget I asked."

"Forgotten." Zuko didn't smile. In fact his expression was slightly angry.

He sighed, then spoke again. "Do you want to come over tomorrow at 7?"

Sokka broke into a smile. "Yeah of course! That would be fun! What are we going to do?"

Zuko looked at him quizzically. "Work on the project? We have a checkpoint due monday."

Sokka's grin fell into a disappointed expression that he quickly tried to hide. "Oh yeah… i meant...uh...what are we going to do on the project?"

"What we're supposed to do for the checkpoint?" Zuko's confused look intensified.

"Yeah of course yeah." Sokka turned to keep walking.

"Plus I guess I'll have to catch you up on what you missed in the lecture this week." Zuko said, breezing past him to catch up to the others.

"Oh? I thought you didn't approve of giving people your notes." Sokka said, rolling his eyes and remembering their first few encounters.

Zuko paused for a moment, like he was considering his next words carefully. "That's what friends are for right?"

Sokka looked at him, and his face broke out into a grin again. Zuko continued to look at the floor, but he saw a faint smile on his face. "Yeah. Thats right buddy." He laughed and they kept walking, Sokka's heart feeling like it was going to explode.

Sokka stood nervously on the bus, trying to protect his plate of cookies he was holding. He had tried to bake some earlier that day to bring as a thank you to Iroh from the gang for giving them a special delivery via Zuko the other week, but Suki, who was supposed to help him had been busy at the last minute. So Sokka had attempted the chore on his own and well….he missed a few ingredients and forgot them in the oven for 20 extra minutes but they were still round and not entirely hockey puck textured! The bus slowly rolled to a stop in front of the Jasmine Dragon and he bounced off and excitedly headed towards the door. Zuko had texted him earlier that he had left the door unlocked and to just come in when he got there. His exact words were "I dont want to be bothered to walk all the way down there just to open a door for you." Always the charmer. "Hello?" He called out as he pushed the door open.

No one was in the tea shop, so Sokka made his way to the staircase behind the counter. It was weird being back there with all the lights off and no one there. When he knocked on the door it took Zuko a few minutes to answer, but when he did his face immediately fell into one of disgust. "Ugh what the hell are those?" His eyes glared down at Sokka's cookies.

"Hey! I made these!" Sokka said defensively. They might not be the prettiest cookies but I tried really hard!

"Out of what the burnt food from the bottom of your oven?" Zuko wrinkled his nose and took them out of his hands.

"Hey! I'll have you know they're only mostly burnt! There's still some good parts. And I made them all by myself." Sokka crossed his arms and followed Zuko into the kitchen.

"Hey!" He cried when Zuko opened the trash can and dumped them all in. "What the hell!"

The other boy walked over to the cabinets and retrieved a large silver bowl and an electric mixer and set them on the counter. "Milk and eggs are in the fridge." He gestured towards the small white appliance behind Sokka.

"What?"

"I said milk and eggs are in the fridge? Or are you as bad at hearing as you are at baking?"

Sokka glared at him but retrieved the things he asked for. "I thought we were going to work on our outline?"

"We are." Zuko said, pulling out flour, sugar, and a few other things. "But first, I'm going to teach you how to bake cookies properly. I won't be able to sleep tonight knowing you think that….atrocity is actually passable as food."

"Hey they weren't that bad! I ate two of them on the way over and they were fine."

"Yeah but you would eat anything." Zuko snorted. "Okay. Put the butter in this bowl and add this much sugar, then mix it with this thing." He handed him a measuring cup and a chunk of butter, then pushed the mixing bowl towards him and went back to the cabinets.

Sokka added the ingredients, then flipped on the switch and pulled it down. Immediately butter and sugar flew everywhere. "Sokka!" Zuko yelled as a small clump of butter hit his face.

He grabbed the mixer and switched it off, grumpily wiping his face. "What? I did what you told me to do!"

"You're supposed to start slow and then go up with the speed." Zuko sighed. "I still can't believe I got stuck with you as my partner." he muttered.

"Hey! You know you love it." Sokka stuck his tongue out at him and Zuko shot him a glare.

Finally Sokka was able to cream the butter and sugar, and successfully sifted and whisked the dry ingredients together. "Okay so now what chef."

"Now you mix them together, but not too much."

Sokka rolled his eyes. "God it was way easier my way."

"Yeah but this way will be way more edible." Zuko responded snarkily.

Sokka rolled his eyes and smiled, then flicked his wrist up so a large clump of dough whizzed through the air and landed between Zuko's eyes. "What. The. HELL." Zuko hissed, whipping it off aggressively.

Sokka grinned. "Sorry buddy! Must have slipped."

Zuko glared at him and and turned around grabbing a cup. "What are you doing with a cup are you goi-oh what the FUCK"

Zuko had proceeded to fill the cup with water and chuck it on him. He stared at the sopping wet Sokka for a second then broke out into laughter. "Oh you wanna play dirty huh?" Sokka grinned and reached back into the dough. "Take this Mr. Baker" he chucked another clump of dough at his face.

Zuko dodged it and grabbed a measuring cup out of the floor and lobbed it across the kitchen. "Hey you messed up my hair!" Sokka cried.

"What are you gonna do about it? Over bake me?" Zuko smirked.

"I'll show you." He reached aside and grabbed the rest of the butter and smacked it across Zuko's mouth.

Their fight continued for a few minutes until they were both covered in ingredients, kitchen a disaster, and the majority of the dough gone. "Okay okay truce!" Sokka yelled after Zuko had proceeded to throw a raw egg at his chest.

"Its not a truce if I won!"

"You didn't win! I am just gallantly surrendering." Sokka crossed his arms in defiance.

"Sounds like giving up to me." Zuko smirked.

"Oh giving up? Well how about I give this MILK up on your FACE!" Sokka yelled and right as he was about to pour the milk over the others head the door opened.

"Having fun boys?" Iroh tossed his keys into the bowl on the side and appraised the two infront of him with a bemused expression.

"Uncle!" Zuko said, face turning red. "I thought you weren't going to be home until later."

"The meeting was canceled. Jeong was sick. If I had known you boys were going to be having a food fight in the kitchen I might have put down tarps before I left." He chuckled.

"Sorry Iroh! We can clean it up-" Sokka started guiltily.

Iroh just waved his hand to quiet him. "Don't worry about it boy. I'm just glad you two are having fun. I told you he wouldn't care Zuko." He smiled at his nephew.

"Wouldn't care about what?" Sokka asked, looking between the two.

Zuko's face had gone white and he was glaring at his uncle. "Uncle." he hissed.

Iroh looked between the confused Sokka and the enraged Zuko a few times and then seemed to realize his mistake. "Oh uh...nothing. Oh is that the time? I think I'll retire to my room to brush up on my pai sho skills." and he disappeared into his room leaving the two alone again.

"What was he talking about?" Sokka raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Zuko.

"Nothing. He was just mistaken about something." Zuko looked away and all the smiles and laughter he had earlier had vanished, replaced by his familiar angsty expression.

"Okay...but….you know you can tell me anything right? I don't care. I mean….Toph once told me had been using my toothbrush to clean off the dirty pond rocks she brought home. Nothing you can say can ever be worse than that." He shuddered, trying to lighten the tension.

Zuko didn't smile. "Yeah she only told me because I found slime on it one day and confronted her. She tried to tell me Katara did it! I mean we have our prank wars but Katara would never -"

"I think I'm gay." Zuko said suddenly.

"Oh." Sokka looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"I….was going to tell you last night but you interrupted me." His eyes stayed on the floor, and Sokka could tell his entire body was tensed up.

"That's fine. I mean, Suki is gay too. Im bi too so that's cool." Sokka smiled. "I mean hell you saw me drunk and making out with a random dude at a bar." he laughed at the embarrassing memory.

Zuko still didn't laugh. Sokka sighed. "Zuko, we're friends. As much as you hate to admit it, we are. I'm not going to run away or treat you differently because youre gay. I mean...that would make me a pretty shitty person if I treated anyone differently because of that."

"I guess it's no worse than your horrendous baking." He said after a few minutes.

"Hey! My baking wasn't that bad." He huffed. "Besides. It'll be cool to have another queer guy in the group! I don't have anyone to talk about guys with!" He laughed.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "I don't think I'm really that kind of person…."

"All in good time my friend." Sokka smiled, hoping his excitement came off as being a supportive friend and not someone excited because they just realized there might be slightly more of a chance of his crush liking him back.

"I suppose we should bake what's left of this." Zuko said, changing the subject and walking over to the dough bowl.

"Or….we could just eat it raw?" Sokka said, siddling over.

Zuko looked shocked. "You're not supposed to eat raw cookie dough!"

"You're also not supposed to throw it at people's faces." Sokka smirked, whipping away some semi dried dough off his friends face with his thumb. "Lets be bad." he winked.

Zuko blushed and looked away. "Fine you can have it. But don't come crying to me when you get salmonella."

"Yess!" Sokka grabbed the bowl happily and began eating the leftover dough.

Zuko just rolled his eyes and went to grab a towel. Sokka smiled and leaned against the counter, watching the other wipe off his face. He was glad he overslept the second week of class and got paired with this grumpy gay disaster of a partner.

I hope you enjoyed! :) We're getting closer and closer to the kissss