A/N: This is a direct sequel to Scene 3 of the Chapter 69 special.

"But Kirby," one might ask, "You said that Shipping was too long to go in the Short Stories, and this story is even a few words longer! What's up with that?" To which I would reply with a hearty "I have no idea!" I guess part of it was that Shipping seemed more like a self-contained thing (pun not intended). Sometimes it's really difficult making these judgement calls; I still get anxious sometimes that The Great Feeding Fracas is its own fic. (To be fair, it was written before the Short Stories were a thing.)

Waking up in the mornings was so, so overrated…especially when it was this early. Sokka had been wrenched out of sleep by a strong urge to pee, but once that had been taken care of, he found himself unable to drift of again. The birds outside his window were causing a racket, and even when he turned his head away from the window, he felt as if it the sunlight was drilling a hole in the back of his skull. Resigning himself to the inevitable, he sat up in bed and reached for the stash of blubbered seal jerky he'd stashed under his pillow, only to be severely disappointed when he found that the bag was empty. That was right…he'd finished it off last night.

Last night…what had that even been?

He had, of course, been hoping he'd get lucky that night, since it was a wedding and all, so he'd come prepared. However, he would have never guessed in a gazillion years that it would be with Azula. Yes, he'd been aware that she'd been looking at him all day; he'd simply assumed it was because she hated him and was fantasizing about his gory demise. It turned out that her fantasies had actually been about something slightly less violent...and a lot more sexy.

(He hadn't been entirely blameless in this either…he'd stared right back at her, thinking about how hot she'd become. And not in the firebending sense.)

To make a long story short…they banged. In a musty old closet that was so tiny that Sokka hadn't been quite able to stand up straight, no less. Azula had proven to be a screamer, and when they'd left the closet, they'd had to do a Walk of Shame through a large and boisterous crowd of well-wishers to get to the sleeping quarters.

He held his head in his hands. Dad, he thought, wouldn't have a problem with it so long as Sokka was what he termed "being responsible;" he'd already given Sokka a stern lecture on the subject when he found out that Sokka and Suki had had unprotected sex, and this was not a talk that Sokka ever wished to repeat. Katara would probably be annoyed at him, but she was basically already married to Aang anyway, so that didn't seem like it'd be a big issue either. The person that Sokka was really scared of encountering was Zuko. If the Fire Lord didn't know yet, he certainly would soon. And then Sokka was really gonna get it. He decided that he might as well do basic hygiene stuff and go out for a walk, so he wouldn't face Zuko with all this metaphorical gunk clogging his thoughts. It was a testament to his current emotional turmoil that he didn't even eat breakfast first.

He and Azula loathed each other, right? That much hadn't changed. And yet…that experience had been something else. He'd heard about hatesex, of course, but he'd never quite been able to grasp how people could be mutual enemies yet derive great pleasure from screwing each other silly. Now he was starting to get the idea. What was more, Azula had evidently been satisfied enough with how it'd gone to suggest that this could become a regular Thing. However, that was before they knew that everyone in the palace was aware of it.

Sokka navigated the maze of corridors more or less successfully, and flung open a side exit door leading to one of the gardens. When the spring air, still cool this early and laden with the scent of flowers, hit his face, he thought he already felt a little better. As he started walking around the perimeter, he thought that surely no one else would be out here at this hour…

Except there was.

He had thought, upon initially passing it, that it was simply an ordinary bush with biggish pink flowers on it. Sokka had no idea what the flowers were called. (Hey, he was the meat and sarcasm guy…not the plant guy!) Then, he had almost walked by it when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He figured it was probably only the breeze, but turned back to look anyway…and saw that the bush had grown large eyes that were staring right back at him.

"Whoa!" he cried out. "Please leave me alone, Creepy Bush with Eyes. I wasn't doing any…"

He broke off his sentence, feeling more than a little embarrassed at himself as he realized that the eyes did not belong to the bush, but rather to the now-giggling lady sitting next to the bush, feet tucked behind her head. (How could that possibly be a comfortable way to sit?) Her pink outfit had made her blend right in.

Wait. Pink? This was Ty Lee! Shit. She and Azula were dating, right? What if Azula had cheated on Ty Lee with him?

"Weeelllll…it was really nice seeing you, Ty Lee, or rather not seeing you, but this is a little awkward, wouldn't you think? I think I'll just be…leaving, and then we can both pretend that this never happened. Sound like a plan?"

However, Ty Lee had other ideas. She lowered her feet, stood up, and said, "Wait. No. I wanted to talk with you for a bit."

Oh fuck, he was in for it now!

"What about?" he replied. Although he was trying to act casual, the fact that his voice was currently an octave higher than it had been in about four years gave him away.

"I'm not mad at you, silly!" Ty Lee insisted, sitting on a nearby bench. "Just sit right here..."–she patted the spot next to her– "And we can clear some things up, okay?"

"About Azula?" Sokka sighed. Ty Lee nodded.

"Yeah. About Azula."

Sokka gingerly sat, crossing his legs just in case. "I take it you know about last night?"

"M-hm," Ty Lee said. "But I…what you probably think is the problem isn't. Azula and I have… an arrangement. We see other people. I've been starting to do a bit of dating myself. Not that anyone's really worked out for me yet…well, anyway, you don't have to worry about that." She flushed as she realized that she'd overshared a bit.

"Then what is the problem?" Sokka pressed. Ty Lee's gaze flickered down to her lap, and she seemed to be trying to figure out how to put what she wanted to say into words.

"Be careful with her, okay?" she finally said in a soft voice, pleading gaze back on him.

Sokka shuddered. "No need to tell me that twice."

Ty Lee shook her head, braid swaying from side to side. "Not like that. Well, I guess kind of…but what I was trying to get at was, although she's good at putting on an act, she's still really emotionally fragile. She…you were at the meeting; you know what happened to her."

Yes, Sokka remembered that meeting well. Katara and Sokka had only just gotten back home with Dad after the peace talks when they'd received a message telling them to return to the Fire Nation for an urgent matter. Their first thought was that Iroh had gotten sick, but that proved not to be the case.

As soon as he and Katara had arrived at the palace, they had been ushered into a small conference room. Somewhat oddly, metal buckets had been placed by every seat. The two of them, Aang, Toph, Suki, Ty Lee, Zuko, and Mai had been the only people in the room, and the new Fire Lord had sworn them all to secrecy.

"I'm not sure how to lead up to this, so I guess I'll just come out and say it," Zuko had said, face pale and grief-stricken. The entire room was horrified to hear that Ozai had raped his own daughter multiple times, and not only that…he had impregnated her.

It had quickly become clear that the buckets had been placed there in case anyone had to vomit, and Aang and Suki had had to use theirs. Sokka hadn't, although it had been close. Ty Lee, however, had taken it the worst of all of them. After a few seconds of shocked silence, she had burst into tears and been utterly inconsolable. The only things she had been capable of saying were, "I should have known!" and "It's all my fault!"

For all he knew, she could still be blaming herself for it…

Sokka swallowed. All he could trust himself to say was, "Yeah. I know."

Ty Lee squeezed her eyes shut, as if she too was revisiting that memory in her head.

She said, "Azula's had a lot of relearning to do. And she's trying to be a better person in her own way, I think. At the very least, she's realized that she wasn't happy the way she was before. But sometimes, she's not quite there yet. Be patient with her, that's all I'm asking. If she starts doing something messed up, you have to let her know about it. And if you ever, ever take advantage of her…you'll have to answer to me."

That last part sounded slightly ludicrous on the surface, coming from such a sweet-faced woman, although Sokka knew well that her appearance was deceiving. He held up his hands. "Hey, no advantage-taking going on here! I promise."

"It's okay. I believe you," Ty Lee stated. She gave him a crooked little smile, while simultaneously blinking away tears. "I…I was happy when I heard last night. I think you might be the person Azula needs right now. So…friends?" She held out her little finger to pinky-promise.

Sokka smiled as he linked her finger with his. "Sure. Friends." Naturally, his stomach had to choose that very moment to give an audible growl.

"Whoops. Guess I shouldn't have skipped breakfast," he muttered. "Well, I should go now. It was nice talking to you, though! Glad we set things straight."

"No problem!" Ty Lee replied.

Once Sokka had gone to the kitchens and successfully begged for some grub (They had leftovers from last night! Score!), he encountered none other than Azula on the way back to his room. Looking no worse for wear for her exertions last night, she was dressed in her training garb, but it didn't seem like she was in any hurry to get to the sparring grounds. In fact, from the way she'd been leaning against a doorway, it appeared that she'd been waiting for him.

He sidled up to her, and whispered, "So…are we still on for tonight?" She nodded.

He couldn't help it; he winked at her. After all, he was Sokka, and he had to uphold certain standards. Azula looked taken aback at first…but then, she did something very unexpected. She gave him an actual, genuine smile. She had dimples, and it was strangely adorable.

Before she could speak, though, a shout rang out from behind them.

"There you are! Mai and I heard some really weird stuff about…" Zuko rounded a corner, and the "weird stuff" was apparently confirmed when he saw Sokka and Azula standing so close to each other. Okay, seriously, was this the official Day of Awkward Chance Encounters? Right up there with the Day of Black Sun.

"Yes, Zuzu, we fucked," Azula said, sounding impressively nonchalant. "Do you have a problem with that? I highly doubt that you and your new wife were innocent of such a deed."

A long pause ensued. Sokka tried to follow Azula's lead and act casual by whistling tunelessly, but his attempt was much less successful than hers. At long last, Zuko shook his head.

"You know what? Fine. I don't want to think about it. Just…be sure to use protection, okay?" And off he went.

"I should be off, too," Azula said to Sokka. She strode briskly away, though not before discreetly dropping a folded scrap of paper on the floor at Sokka's feet. Once he was back in the privacy of his own room, he opened it and read the few characters printed on it.

Eight o'clock. Don't be late.

Sokka certainly had no intention of letting her down. He still wasn't sure exactly what this Thing they had going would be called; nevertheless, he thought their unconventional arrangement might work out after all.