The bell in the doorway of Spirits of Ink tinkled as Sokka entered. It had been a month since he'd been there last, and walking in a second time was giving him some serious deja vu. The same quiet heavy metal music played over the speakers. Mai stood behind the counter with those big buns of hers. Although, today there were definitely knife hands sticking out of the tops of her space buns. Agni, she seriously radiated Queen energy, and it was fucking terrifying. She was flipping through a BDSM catalog nonchalantly, and without looking up, she gave the same spiel she gave when he'd first been to the shop. Only this time, she finished it.

"Welcome to Spirits of Ink. If you're drunk, turn right the fuck around and walk out the damn door. The same goes for being high, so don't bother asking. We're not responsible for your poor life decisions," she said in that monotone voice of hers. Yep. Fucking terrifying. "Speaking of poor life decisions, if you want a face tattoo, be prepared to sign extra paperwork. You're not suing us ten years down the line because you regret it. Any questions or complaints, talk to Zuko. I don't wanna hear them."

"You have that down to a science, don't you?" Sokka asked, feigning some attempt at humor. It was seriously hard to get it down when the person you were trying to amuse looked they had never laughed in their entire fucking life.

Mai looked up slowly and fixed him with a glare. "Are you drunk or not?"

"No?"

"Then what the fuck do you want?" she asked.

Such hospitality. A1 customer service skills. "I'm here to see Zuko."

"Oh. Figures," she said. She turned around in her seat and faced the back. "Zuko! Your boyfriend is here!"

Sokka squeaked in surprise. Boyfriend? At the same time as his squeak, a loud crash sounded from the back of the parlor.

That was followed by a clear and succinct, "Fuck!" and then "Mai! He's not my boyfriend! How many times do I need to tell you? It was one date!"

"Uh huh. Keep lying to yourself."

What the actual fuuuck? Mai was brutal. Sokka was glad that Zuko had someone to talk to about their date the weekend before, but shit. She was worse than his own family.

Sokka had taken Zuko back to his apartment that night. He wasn't going to make him take the train when Sokka had the means to take him back. That motorcycle ride easily had to be one of the best of his life. Zuko had held onto him tighter and tighter as they took turns and weaved through the upper ring and into the middle ring toward the Spirits of Ink. It turned out that after the accident, he actually bought the parlor and the apartment above. He and Mai had been living there for about two and a half years now. It didn't bother Sokka at all that Zuko lived with her, but he couldn't understand how Zuko did it. When he'd first met Mai, he'd found her intimidating. Maybe it was just a good cover story for his dad? Living with a woman?

He couldn't help but feel bad for the guy on all fronts. He had to hide his sexuality from his dad. And Mai was his primary source of conversation when he was home? Brutal. Obviously, she knew about their date. Zuko had to have told her. It definitely sounded like she approved, but she had taken it a step too far ahead.

Just as Zuko had said, it was one date. They weren't exclusively dating or even in a relationship yet! This was still the getting to know you stage!

When he'd gotten home and called Katara, she'd been excited, but she hadn't jumped the gun. On the contrary, she'd told him to take it slow and make sure that this was something he really wanted. They'd gone on a few more dates in the week that followed. Just little things like stops at the Jasmine Dragon or to the local ice cream shops. Just casual dates that people did to get to know one another. But if Mai was like this after just that... Well, poor fucking Zuko.

Mai turned back to Sokka. "He'll be out in a second," she said before turning back to her magazine as if something hadn't just crashed to the floor in back.

"Uh. Thanks."

Sokka stepped away from the counter and looked at some of the pieces that hung on the wall. Mai and Zuko both had some serious talent. Sokka would have never been able to achieve half of their level skill. His art was squiggles at best with figures that were hardly decipherable as people. Sokka was in love with what Zuko could do. His work has such a variety. He did line work. He did realistic pieces. He did all kinds of shit. And Sokka was so ready for it.

"Hey, Zuko," Mai's monotone voice said.

At the mention of Zuko, Sokka turned around. And there he was in all of his bespectacled glory. He looked absolutely flustered, and Sokka assumed that it had something to do with whatever happened in the back. Mai was holding up her catalog to Zuko, pointing to a picture that Sokka was grateful he couldn't see.

"Do you think Ty Lee would like these handcuffs?"

Well that escalated quickly.

"Mai, how many fucking times do I need to tell you that I do not want to know about your kinky fucking sex life with Ty Lee?" Zuko asked with the most exasperated groan he'd ever heard from the guy. His hands were pulling at the dark strands of his hair. "And I'm sure that's the last thing that Sokka wants to know."

"Nope. Don't want to know," Sokka chimed in quickly. He gave Zuko a quick double thumbs-up before adding, "Although, Suki said that Ty Lee is more of a contortionist. Don't you think she'd like ropes more?"

An audible slap sounded over the music playing in the background as Zuko's palm connected with his forehead.

"What?" Sokka asked as he looked at the artist. "It's only logical."

"Your boyfriend is right," Mai said thoughtfully, which was a stark contrast from her usual monotone. "Keep him around."

"He's not my boyfriend," Zuko said, but Mai was already getting up from her seat and walking off with both the magazine and her phone. Zuko groaned. "You're not supposed to indulge in her sex life. I don't want her asking me any more opinions on sex toys."

"You're just jealous that you don't have any sex life to speak of," Mai called somewhere deep in the shop.

Sokka snorted out a laugh as Zuko's face contorted into a miserable and ruffled expression. He was such an innocent little bean, and Sokka could not get enough.

"Let's go," Zuko said with a grumble as he grabbed Sokka's arm.

Sokka was led through the parlor to the little booth that he'd had his first consultation in. The first thing that he noticed was a mess on top of Zuko's desk. It had been neatly organized the first time Sokka had been there. The crash from earlier must have been the culprit of the mess. He plopped himself down on the same bench he'd sat on last time. This time, however, it was propped up into a seated position. That would probably be a lot more comfortable for what he was about to get done. He wanted this piece to be pretty large. He knew it was going to take several sessions, but he didn't give a damn. There was a lot of meaning going into this piece.

"Sorry about her," Zuko said as he closed the curtain of the booth. "She's a little... eccentric."

Sokka shrugged. "Doesn't bother me," he said. "I'm more worried for you sanity."

"It's going, trust me. I wonder how I do it sometimes," Zuko said.

He threw himself down into his desk chair before turning to his computer and opening up a file. A smile stretched across Sokka's face as soon as he saw the file that Zuko pulled up. It was his tattoo, and it looked fucking badass. It was a tribal wolf's head howling. The fur along its neck turned into gentle curving lines that were supposed to represent waves. A crescent moon stood proudly behind the wolf, and a small diamond-shaped star sat at the crescent's opening. It was fucking amazing.

"I love it," he said without hesitation. "That's it. It's perfect."

"You think so?" Zuko asked.

"I know so."

"Well then. Let's get started," Zuko said as he clicked a few things. The printer on his desk whirred to life and started pumping out the stencil. "Take off your shirt."

Sokka nodded. Now was his time to shine. He'd been putting extra hours in at the gym for the last two weeks in anticipation of this first tattoo session. His tattoo was supposed to stretch over his right pectoral. Shirts were going to be discarded. He could show off of his muscles. He reached for the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. When Zuko turned to face him, he saw the Fire Nation native freeze in place. He watched those golden eyes rake up and down his frame with a certain satisfaction.

"What?" he asked innocently after a few dangerously long moments of Zuko staring.

Cue the flush and the awkward turtle duck behavior. Zuko cleared his throat. "Oh, ah, fuck. Sorry. You, uh, just look, you know, good." He cleared his throat again. "Attractive."

Sokka allowed an easy smile to grace his features. This was a small victory in his eyes. Zuko thought he was attractive. Tui and La, that was more than a small victory. Sokka felt as though he'd won a major battle or something.

"Only for you," Sokka said with a casual wink.

"You're going to be the death of me," Zuko said as he hid his face behind his hands.

"Can you two stop flirting over there?" Mai's voice droned. "I think I'm going to puke."

Sokka had to literally bite back the snort of laughter that threatened to spill out simply because of how horrified Zuko looked. The poor guy was just trying to make a living, and neither he or Mai were helping with that.

"Is the stencil printed up?" Sokka asked in order to segway the conversation.

Zuko jumped at the opportunity to avoid talking about his own embarrassment. "Yeah. I actually need to shave your arm."

And so they set into the slow rhythm of prepping for Sokka's tattoo. His arm was shaved. Gloves were snapped into place. The stencil was laid and transferred onto Sokka's skin. And finally, the buzzing hum of the tattoo gun filled the small space that they inhabited.

"Any last regrets before I get started?" Zuko asked.

Sokka gave a shake of his head. "Nope."

The needles connected with Sokka's skin as Zuko set to work. It hurt, but it wasn't anything worse than what he'd felt before. It was more like a burn than anything else, but he didn't mind. He closed his eyes and did his best to relax as Zuko lined the stencil on his skin. It was quiet for a long time. Zuko worked diligently, and Sokka let his mind wander. And wander, it did.

Somehow, his inner monologue had gotten into the topic of who would win in a fight: Toph with a severe handicap or Jet. He decided that even if Toph was both blind and had an additional handicap in the fight, Jet was going down. There were no ifs, and, or buts about it. She's never let herself get taken down that easily.

"I've been meaning to ask," Zuko said, breaking the quiet. "What's it for?"

Sokka eyes opened and he paused, slightly discombobulated. His mind was just playing out an epic battle scene where Toph crushed Jet, and now he had to regroup.

"What is what for?" Sokka asked.

"The tattoo," Zuko replied, never missing a beat with the needle. "I never asked."

Sokka laughed mirthlessly. "That's kind of a loaded question. It's a lot more depressing than you think. I'm not sure you'd want to know."

"I'm asking, aren't I?"

Sokka glanced over at Zuko. "Isn't that a part of your job, though?" he countered. " Talk to you clients to put them at ease? Make sure it's not just awkward silence the entire time."

Zuko sat back and removed the tattoo gun from Sokka's arm. He then used a knuckle to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose before saying, "Yeah. Usually, but usually I don't go on dates with my clients. I'm doing that with you because I like you, and I want to get to know you."

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut right after. He couldn't argue with that logic, especially when this was probably the most forward and confident sentence he'd gotten from Zuko about the topic ever. So, instead of arguing, he closed his eyes. If he wanted to make anything of this thing he had going on with Zuko, he was going to have to unload the baggage eventually. Might as well while receiving the tattoo that would be standing as a tribute to it all for the rest of his life.

"There's a lot of meaning behind it," he said. "I'll start with the easy and just keep going."

"If you don't want to tell-"

"No, I do. I promise that I do," he said. "It's just a lot, and I've never really had to tell the story before. Everyone else kind of just knew. I've haven't gotten close enough to anyone new in a long time."

"Well, like you said. Start off at the easy parts," Zuko said. "And if it's too much, you can always stop."

Sokka nodded stiffly. "Alright. So. Uh. The wolf is probably the easiest," he said, thinking about the beautiful howling creature. "In the Southern Water Tribe, we like wolves."

Zuko's light-hearted chuckle rang out as the tattoo gun started again. The needles met his skin. "You like wolves?"

Sokka rolled his eyes. "It's a bit more, you know, in depth than that. I guess we have a spiritual connection to them," he said. "Back in ye olden times, back when people used to apparently bend the elements-"

"Uncle believes that it's true, but I've always been a sceptic, too," Zuko interjected.

He smiled at that. "Yeah. Same. Well. When that was supposedly happening, the Water Tribesmen would wear wolf armor to channel their spiritual energy or something. It was this symbolic representation that when we went into battle, we were like a pack of wolves. Fierce. Unmoving. Unified."

"I never took you for the spiritual type," Zuko said. "You've always come off as the practical kind of guy. What made you want to get something so spiritual?"

Sokak shrugged his free shoulder. "Gran Gran used to tell me the stories of the brave Water Tribesmen who would protect our home. She could go on and on about small battles that she'd seen as a little girl," he said fondly. "Those stories were my favorite. Having the wolf will remind me of my people and my Gran Gran even after she's gone."

"Sounds pretty badass," Zuko said wistfully.

Sokka opened his eyes and smiled at him. "Yeah. A badass cop with a tattoo dedicated to his grandmother and his tribe. Am I sexy enough for you yet?"

Zuko huffed out an embarrassed laugh. "You can't just ask that," he said without taking his eyes off of what he was doing.

"Am I?" he asked again with an added eyebrow wiggle this time.

"I'm not answering that question right now. I'm trying to concentrate," Zuko said.

"And answering it will make you lose your ability to concentrate. Got it. I'll save that for later," Sokka said with the cheekiest of grins.

Zuko groaned. "You suck."

Sokka gave a thoughtful look. "You know, I've always thought of myself as the top in bed, but I could give it a shot being the bottom."

The gun pulled away from his arm again as the artist paused. A smirk formed on Zuko's lips, one that came along with an expression that Sokka wasn't exactly familiar with. "Well, that's good because I'm usually the top anyway."

Sokka's brain short circuited. Literally, it went blank. He had no idea how he was supposed to react to that. He was usually the one that was flirtatious and bold. Not Zuko.He realized what that look meant. Fucking confidence. It wasn't a bad thing, but he hadn't been expecting it, either. Sokka felt fire reach his cheeks, and he couldn't find any words at all.

"Not so bold when you're on the receiving end of the comments," Zuko said softly as he continued working.

Sokka groaned. "Shut up, and just, kill me?"

"I can't do that, sorry," Zuko said. "Tell me about the waves."

He jumped on the change in conversation. "Right. Yeah. The waves. Uh. You know, the Water Tribe. Deep connection with water."

"Care to expand?"

Sokka shot Zuko a half-hearted glare. "We believe that water is the one thing that connects everyone," he said. "And I may not always be home in the South Water Tribe, so I wanted to carry that piece of it with me, too."

"And the star?" Zuko asked.

At the mention of the star beside the wolf, his face became solemn. "That's where it starts to get sad."

"Are you okay to keep telling me?"

Sokka nodded. "This is the easier part. The star is for my mom. Her name was Kya. It means diamond in the sky."

"Was?"

"Yeah. She died when we were kids. I was ten," Sokka said softly.

"How?" Zuko asked. His voice was hardly audible. The tattoo gun no longer touched Sokka's skin. Zuko seemed to be at a loss for words, stunned into silence.

"Cancer. The last memory I have of her was her telling me the origin of the stars," he said. "It was about a girl who accidentally scattered the stars. She said it was the reason that there were stars in the sky. That's why I picked it, the star. Because she loved them. I always believed that mom was up there with them after she died."

Sokka heard the pull of rubber as Zuko set down the tattoo gun and removed his gloves. His hand, warm and firm wrapped around Sokka's and cemented him into reality.

"Can I tell you something crazy?" Sokka asked after a few moments.

"Yeah."

"I've never told anyone this before, but honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mom looked like. Sure, there are pictures, but I don't recognize her in them," he said. "It seems like my whole life, Katara has been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there, and now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture."

The hand that was wrapped around his squeezed harder. "I'm sorry Sokka. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. That's not even the worst of it."

"What could be worse?"

"Like I said, I haven't gotten close to any new people in a while... So this part, I think it's the hardest part-" he paused. "No. I know it's the hardest part."

He'd try on a couple occasions to get close to people, but it had fed into his seemingly endless cycle of rejection. Suki. The girls at the weekly Tuesday night poetry slam. Even a couple of the blind dates Katara had set him up on had gone horribly. They'd all turned him down or dumped him before he had a chance to show them who he really was. When he'd finally met her, he'd known he'd found the one. She allowed him to open up, to be himself, to live through his emotions and his pain as it came. Before, he'd wanted to push away his emotions before he really had a chance to feel.

"The moon is for a girl. The last person that I was in a relationship with," Sokka said. "Her name was Yue."

"Oh," he said. And for some reason, he sounded a little disappointed. Sokka hastily began to explain.

"I promise it's not like that. I'm not getting a tattoo I'm going to regret," he continued. "She died. It was a little over a year ago."

"Oh. Fuck," Zuko said. Sokka squeezed Zuko's hand this time because talking about Yue was always hard. He doubted that it would never not be hard.

"It's the reason I haven't exactly been dating. I'm afraid the same thing would happen to the next person as it did her."

"What happened to Yue?" Zuko asked softly.

Sokka looked up and found his gaze. There was so much sincerity laced into that golden gaze. Sokka melted. He felt tears prickle in his eyes.

"Do you remember the serial arsonist that terrorized the city last spring?"

Zuko paused and then a look of understanding dawned on his face. "No..."

"Yeah. It was insane. We had such a hard time catching him. He always seemed to know what we were going to try to do to catch him. He was always a step ahead," Sokka said. "Until he wasn't. I got ahead. I found out his name. Zhao. But like he always did, he got ahead again."

Sokka swallowed back the wave of emotions that hit him. The tears that stung his eyes finally spilled over. He took a few deep breaths in order to calm himself down, but it was hard. He still felt so much because of her.

"He found out that I was the one to discover him. He sent a few threats to me, but we brushed them aside. We'd finally cornered him, and he was running. He was afraid. If only we'd been more c-careful."

His voice cracked, and he used his free hand to wipe at the tears on his cheeks.

"Yue was volunteering at a homeless shelter. She did it every weekend. Somehow Zhao found out. He set us up. He made us think he was going to be in one place. Laid a trail of breadcrumbs for us," he said. "But when we got there, he wasn't there. He was at the shelter. We got the call, and I just knew.

"When we got there, the place was up in flames. Almost everyone had gotten out by the time that I got there, but Yue had gone back in to grab a kid. She got the kid out, but Yue..."

Before he could stop it, a hoarse sob slipped past his lips. It had been a while since he'd gotten this emotional over her, but he couldn't help it. He brought his hand to his mouth and bit down on his knuckle in some attempt to stifle the sobs, but they just kept coming. Zuko shifted beside him. He stood and wrapped his arms around Sokka while still avoiding the fresh tattoo on his arm. They stayed like that for a while as Sokka let it all out.

And when the tears stopped coming and his sobs had turned to sniffles, Sokka felt a sense of calm wash over him. Crying had left him feeling slightly empty, but it also left him okay. He needed it. He shifted a little and Zuko finally broke the hug. Sokka wiped his eyes a little for good measure before fixing Zuko with a red-eyed gaze.

"That's enough about me, I think," he said. "Let's hear about you."

"Nah," Zuko said with a slight shake of his head. "I've had enough with the talking."

Before Sokka knew what was happening, he felt something warm press against his lips. He stiffened slightly before he realized what exactly it was. Zuko. Immediately, he melted into the kiss that was so, so warm. It was also gentle. He'd avoided thinking about kissing Zuko until recently because it had seemed like such an unattainable goal. But now... Now it was happening.

Zuko didn't taste as he expected to. He was half expecting him to taste of smoke, but instead, he tasted like cinnamon and honey. He was warm and sweet, and Sokka couldn't get enough of him. All too soon, however, it was over.

Zuko pulled away from him. Sokka looked at him, slightly dazed. His lips had a more rosy color to them after their kiss. His eyes flicked from those lips to golden eyes and back to rosy lips again. Then, his brows knitted slightly.

"What?" the tattoo artist asked softly. "Was that not okay?"

"No, it was," he responded.

"Then what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is you stopped," Sokka said.

"Well, if that's the case..." Zuko said.

And suddenly, their lips were together again. Zuko's hands found his jaw, his thumbs tracing light circles. Sokka threaded his own through those slightly long, black locks. All Sokka could taste was Zuko. All he could smell was Zuko. Fuck, if they could kiss like this all the time, Sokka knew he'd never need another person in his life ever again.