Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters. This chapter contains consensual sexual content. Synopsis at the bottom.

36

It was the breathy sound she made when he tilted his hips a certain way. Or maybe the look she gave him as he hovered above her, her mouth slightly open, as if she'd press her lips against his in a searing kiss, if he'd only come closer.

Aang could do this all night; and he certainly tried. When she woke him the second time, the light of the moon shining in the hard gleam of her blue eyes, he'd been ready for her in moments, as if his body had been waiting for her. He pressed a kiss to her neck, his tongue swirling a small circle. Her hands slid down his back to press him deeper, nails raking sharp fire down the long lines of his back, in a fight to the end, a fight to the finish. But just like him, she was only fighting to be closer.

"Don't stop," she whispered, a firm command despite the softness of her voice.

"I won't," he promised.

Suki raised one brow at the decorations that festooned the overhead of the bar; silvery tassels glittered in the neon lights, and fairy lights were strung above ghosts of gossamer fabric that hung artfully in a canopy that lent the bar a much more formal look than it's ordinarily casual-chic appearance.

"It looks like a wedding reception," Suki noted almost offhandedly.

Sokka ran one hand through his hair, dark strands falling from his short ponytail. "Yea, I see that; that wasn't planned, I promise. It's just a bar I like." He pulled out his phone. "We could always go to the next place I have planned."

"Or, is this another not-so-subtle mention of marriage?"

"No," he said quickly. "That was an accident. I didn't know they were hosting a-" he squinted to make out the sign at the bar- "'Newlywed Night'. Come on, we can go somewhere else."

Suki shook her head, her lips pursed in a look of defiance. "No; we're here now, and I like this bar. What's the matter, Sokka? Afraid we'll lose?"

"We're not newlyweds."

She slipped the silvery band of a ring from her middle finger of her right hand over to the ring finger of her left hand and waggled her finger in front of him. "Now we are," she said, winking at him. "And besides, I'd hate to interfere with your itinerary." Raising one hand above her head, she flagged down the bartender. "Is it too late to enter the competition?"

The bartender shook his head. "No, sign-ups are over there." He jerked his head toward a podium manned by a bored looking young woman. "Winners get a free night in a penthouse suite at 'The Empress'."

"I've always wanted to see the inside of 'The Empress'," Suki breathed in an aside to Sokka.

He nodded his agreement. "I heard that the complementary wine they give you is as expensive as two of my paychecks."

"Speaking of wine," Suki said, turning back to the bartender. "I'll take the house red- what do you want?" she asked, turning back to Sokka.

"Old-fashioned," he grunted, and the bartender nodded approvingly.

"Coming up," the bartender said. "Get to your seats; the game is starting in five."

"I still can't believe we won," Suki preened, admiring the voucher for their free stay at 'The Empress'. "Wait until I tell Song. She's going to die of jealousy; she's been trying to stay at 'The Empress' for like, two years, but Haru says it's a waste of money."

"He might be right about that," Sokka laughed. "If the wine costs as much as two of my paychecks, I can't imagine what the room costs."

Suki sighed dreamily. "We'll be royalty for one night; the Kings and Queens of Ba Sing Se used to put up all their royal guests from the other nations there." She nudged him with her shoulder. "How's that for steamy historical romance? I'll be the titular Empress, and you can be my page or my steward or something." A wicked little laugh escaped her. "Hopelessly in love with his willful but stunning queen, and a slave to her every whim."

"Just how I wanted to spend my free evening in the lap of luxury," Sokka commented dryly. "Pretending to be working the whole night as a butler in an imaginary scenario of unrequited romance."

Suki eyed him saucily. "The work wouldn't be too laborious, I hope, nor the romance too unrequited." She tossed her hair. "You'd get to spend the evening demonstrating your devotion to your Queen."

He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"I don't think so, either," she said, grinning wickedly. "Although, you might want to get to know her a littlebetter; we missed one question throughout the whole game, thanks to you. And it was probably one of the easiest ones."

"I would swear on my life that your favorite color is olive green. That's why I bought you that yoga mat all those months ago, remember?"

"I do," she admitted, "and it was."

Sokka frowned. "Was? What is it now?"

Her eyes met his before quickly darting away, and the soft hint of a blush spread across her cheeks. "Blue," she murmured.

She didn't say why, but she didn't have to. He pulled her to him, his arms wrapped around her waist as he kissed her, their lips pressed together for a moment before he felt her tongue slide smoothly against his lips. He leaned forward, even as her body arched back, and when he finally pulled away with one last nip at her lips, they were both breathless.

"Let's go home," he said.

"But what about your itinerary?"

"Fuck the itinerary."

Sokka's hands were buried deeply in her hair, and he almost shuddered in pleasure at the feeling of her nails scratching gently at his toned stomach. When her back pressed against her bedroom door, she turned her head away, a strange, amused kind of brightness in her eye. Suki looked at him archly, a grin stretching lazily across her lips.

"This was fun," she said in a low voice. "But I wouldn't dream of sleeping with a guy on the first date."

Sokka frowned in surprise. "Will you make me beg?"

"I like it when you beg," she said, almost purring. "But, no. Not tonight." Her hand crept a little lower, one finger hooking into the waistline of his jeans. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say."

"Then you'd better stop that right now," he said, pointing his chin to where one of her hands rubbed at him. "Because, you're challenging my self-restraint."

Suki laughed before kissing him once more. Reaching behind her, she turned her doorknob and glided into her room. "Goodnight, Sokka," she murmured, pausing in the doorway. "I had fun tonight."

"Me, too," he breathed.

His heart stuttered at the little smile that lifted the corner of her lips, seen through the quickly closing crack of open door.

It was still stuttering as he lay across his own bed, and he closed his eyes to re-imagine the sexy little smirk she'd given him as she bade him goodnight. But the memory froze on the light of the moon gleaming off the silver ring, still wrapped around the ring finger of her left hand.

A/N: I'm a sucker for when men have it bad.

Synopsis: Aang and Katara have sex. Suki and Sokka go to a bar for their date and enter a newlywed game contest and win. In order to enter, Suki puts on a fake wedding ring and Sokka likes what he sees.