Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.

50

Suki squinted at the 'menu'. "It all just sounds so... vaguely sexual."

Beside her, Katara stifled a laugh. "I can see how it might sound that way, but a facial has always been my go-to when I'm feeling... 'blah'."

"I'm not feeling 'blah'."

"You don't look 'blah'," Katara agreed, peering closely at Suki's skin. "You look as luminous as ever, in fact, but you're the one that told me that you really wanted to 'wow' Sokka tonight, so I thought it might be a fun idea for you. And then I shamelessly included myself," she added with a grin.

But Suki still looked skeptical. "I'm just not sure I'm willing to invest that much money in something called a 'Soul Facial'."

"Then don't do it."

"But, I've never tried it," Suki hedged.

"Then do it."

Suki huffed in frustration. "You're singularly unhelpful, do you know that?"

Her long-legged friend gave an elaborate, teasing little curtsy. After she straightened, she grinned at Suki. "Let's just do it. If you hate it, you can hold it against me for the next two weeks, and I won't complain about it."

"Four weeks."

"... Deal."

The thud actually reverberated through Sokka's jaw. He'd seen his fair share of cartoons; grossly anthropomorphic animals that vibrated exaggeratedly after receiving a punch to the face. It always made him laugh at its outlandishness. And yet, here he was, convinced that the force of Aang's punch was reverberating through his body like ripples on a pond surface.

"Spirits," he complained, spots forming in his vision. "I thought this was a casual spar. No need to send me to the hospital."

Aang dropped from his stance, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry," he said. "I got a little too into it."

"'A little too into it'? You nearly disfigured me."

"Now you're being hyperbolic."

"Who says 'hyperbolic'?"

Aang flushed. "I heard Katara say it the other day."

"That explains it," Sokka grumbled. "You're spending too much time with her. You never used to use words like 'hyperbolic'."

"Let's take a break," Aang suggested mildly. "Somebody clearly needs time to recover."

Sokka shot him a dirty look, but nonetheless staggered over to the wall to slide unceremoniously to the floor, his legs stretched out before him. Aang joined him, and they sat in companionable silence, nursing wounds that both were too proud to mention to the other, before Sokka eyed Aang curiously.

"So..." he began cautiously. "The last time I talked to you about Katara, you told me that you think you... you know..."

Aang blinked in confusion. "I don't know."

"You know..."

"I really don't."

Sokka glared at him. "That you love her."

There was a prolonged sort of a silence for a moment, an awkward lapse of time that caused Sokka to fear for a split second that he had imagined that conversation, before his bald-headed companion began to laugh. "I do love her- but Spirits, Sokka. You make it sound like it's a disease."

"Isn't it?"

But Aang gave him a shrewd look, one with an uncharacteristic note of seriousness. "Don't play that game with me, Sokka. I live with you. I see the way you look at Suki."

"Do you think she notices?" Sokka asked, stricken. "She'd never let me live that kind of emotional vulnerability down."

"Notices? I think she basks in it."

"Maybe subconsciously," Sokka sighed. "But the moment I start talking about my feelings, she clams up." He rolled his eyes skyward. "You should have seen her after that bouquet fiasco. She got so tongue-tied talking about her feelings, I thought she was going to pass out."

"She's just a bit skittish," Aang said. "She looks at you the exact same way you look at her, though. Some people need more time to recognize what they're feeling. I get the impression that you two dating wasn't in her five-year plan at all."

"She wasn't in mine, either," Sokka muttered. He shook his head. "Now, I can't imagine it any other way."

Aang chuckled wryly. "Would you look at us? Love-stricken idiots."

"'Love-stricken' is a generous term," Sokka said. "'Idiots' probably covers it."

Katara suppressed a grin as she watched Suki stare at her skin in the mirror, glowing almost ethereally after the conclusion of their facials. Suki's hands prodded gently at her own cheeks, running her fingertips over the now pore-less skin she found there.

"I can't believe I've gone my whole life without doing this," Suki declared. "All those years of looking like a swamp hag, and all I had to do was drop a small fortune on a facial."

Katara snorted indelicately. "You don't look like a swamp hag."

"How about now?" Suki curled her upper lip inward, baring her teeth, and tucked her chin deeply against her neck.

"Beautiful," Katara gushed. "What about me?" She made a similarly silly face, and both girls descended into laughter.

"That's stupid," Suki grinned when their laughter had subsided.

Katara shrugged. "Being serious is overrated."

"Ain't that the truth."

"But, seriously," Katara said with a smile, "Sokka's eyes are literally going to fall out of his head when he sees you."

"That sounds incredibly disgusting."

"Yea," Katara agreed. "Would you pick them up? His eyeballs, I mean?"

Suki pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe- if I had gloves. Eyeballs gross me out. Bare-handed eyeball handling is like... next level relationship shit."

"You guys are next-level relationship shit."

"I'm not sure we've reached bare eyeball handling."

Katara laughed again. "Sokka would pick up your eyeballs. He'd cradle them protectively against his heart. He's head-over-fucking-heels."

She couldn't help but smile at the satisfied little grin that worked it's way across Suki's face. It held all the promise of the love that Katara knew Suki had in her heart- even if her friend couldn't admit it to herself.

After a moment, though, Suki shook her head, as if a realization had come over. "This is a really fucking weird conversation," she announced to no one in particular.

A/N: inspired by an recent conversation I've had. But seriously... not sure I could pick up eyeballs. Eye stuff freaks me out