As it had happened, Sokka had not been the one to come up with the idea to meet Zuko and Izumi at the airport. He'd been trying to figure out what the move to make was, uncertain and confused as the days until Zuko's return had grown closer. Like, sure, he could've just ask him to talk or something but that sounded awful and would have probably sent Zuko into worrying.

Suki had been the one to suggest that he just show up and talk to him face to face.

"Like at his house?" Sokka had asked, skeptically.

"His house. The office. The airport, wherever," Suki had shrugged as if it were that simple.

Then Varrick had lit up at the idea of meeting Zuko and Izumi at the airport and demanded that he be able to make a sign and the rest had sort of fallen into place.

Sokka had no regrets as he pulled into Zuko's driveway. It was strange, not to go to the garage but to instead park in the driveway. He helped Zuko with the bags as Izumi led Varrick up the stairs toward the front door with her keys already out.

Once inside, he set the bags down and then lingered for a moment unsure of what to do next. It seemed presumptious to invite himself in even if he'd gotten used to treating the home as his own before.

Before he could puzzle it out, however, Izumi was getting her shoes off and turning to Varrick. "Hey Varrick, do you want to help me unpack? I can show you some of the cool stuff I got in Japan."

Varrick was delighted at this proposition and quickly slipped out of his boots, tossing his coat toward his father and taking off with the teenager.

"Do you want some tea?" Zuko asked, turning to look at Sokka.

"Yeah," he nodded, hanging up his son's coat and getting his own out of the way before making his way toward the kitchen with Zuko. "How was your flight?"

"It was long. We're both pretty tired," Zuko answered as he got the water going.

"Oh, if you're tired Varrick and I can always go," Sokka offered feeling bad about the fact that neither of them were likely up for company. It wasn't something that he'd considered when deciding that he was going to spring this visit on them.

"No!" Zuko quickly stopped him and then seemed to realize his eagerness, at which point his face warmed. "I mean, I'm tired but we want you to stay."

Honestly, it felt good for Sokka to be reassured. The guilt that he felt washing away as he offered back a smile. "Okay, we'll stay."

"Good."

Zuko prepared them both tea though they didn't move to the dining room to drink it, staying in the kitchen instead. A silence between them that was somewhere between comfortable and uncomfortable from moment to moment.

Sokka bit the bullet, deciding that one of them needed to address the elephant in the room. "Zuko, I'd like to date you."

The other man looked up at him, their eyes meeting. It couldn't have come as a surprise to him, Sokka reasoned, considering the display at the airport but still he somehow didn't seem to believe it.

"Date me?" he repeated.

"Yeah, you know, go out together, make out together, hopefully do more than make out together…" Sokka trialed off suggestively.

Zuko's tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip and he swallowed before he nodded. "I'd like that."

"I was hoping so, otherwise it'd be quite uncomfortable." He joked to try and ease away any of the tension still left though he couldn't deny that he himself felt a touch of relief to actually hear Zuko confirm that they were still on the same page.

"You're not, uh, still mad about the whole job thing?" Zuko asked after a moment.

"I've worked through it," Sokka assured him. He'd had the time to do so and honestly felt like he was past it. He'd forgiven Zuko for his thoughtlessness on that front and trusted that he wouldn't do anything like it again. Not that it'd be exactly the same situation, obviously, but still.

The relief was evident on Zuko's face. "Okay."

They drank their tea and Sokka wondered what to do now. They'd sort of got through the issues that were going to need to be addressed, he supposed the only thing left to do was set an actual date up.

That or take him up on the kissing that he'd wanted to continue at the airport. The second option seemed more appealing, honestly. And much more time sensitive, considering that the date thing really didn't have to be done in person.

"Think we could pick up where we left off at the airport?" he asked, a touch teasing.

Zuko's lips curled into a smile though he still raised an eyebrow in Sokka's direction. "Really?"

"If you don't want to," he trailed off with a shrug as if it didn't matter to him either way. Not like he was actually feeling in the slightest.

"You're a bit of an ass, you know that?" Zuko questioned but he moved closer, having set his mug of tea aside.

Sokka laughed, loud and unrestrained as he wrapped his arms around Zuko's waist and pulled him in. "Yeah, I know."

"Good, we're on the same page," Zuko said before he leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

Without an audience, this kiss was a bit more intense than the one that they'd shared at the airport. The edge of softness seemed to disappear, in favor of a bit more passion and Sokka was enjoying it very much.

Everything felt right. The way that Zuko's lips felt against his own, the feel of his arms wrapped around his shoulder and neck, the press of his body that was close but somehow not close enough and Sokka imagined that he could do this for the foreseeable future without getting bored.

He almost felt like a teenager again, wanting to makeout for hours on end and find out every way that Zuko liked to be kissed. There was also that same burning eagerness for more where everything felt amazing but not quite enough.

It was that eagerness that led him to lift the other man and place him on the counter so that he could try to get closer. Except, he'd forgotten about the mugs of tea that had just been placed there which he knocked Zuko into.

"Shit," Zuko swore, hopping down immediately as the liquid spilled onto his pants.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Sokka apologized, looking around for a dish towel so that he could help contain the spill. "Zuko, I really didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, Sokka," Zuko answered, grabbing a hold of a dish towel and handing it to him while he used the other to try and dry himself off a bit. "I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"Still, sitting in something wet is the worst." True he hadn't exactly sat in it but the point stood.

"I need to get out of the clothes I've been travelling in all day anyway."

"Right." Sokka nodded. "Yeah, I should let you go do that."

"Or you could come with me," Zuko offered, after seeming to hesitate for a moment. "Stay the night. I could make Varrick's bed up in his room."

The offer was so tempting, even more so with the extra implication but Sokka sighed. "I wish I could," he answered. "But I've got to get Varrick to school tomorrow and to get to work myself and if I stay the night…" It was doable but certainly he nor Varrick wanted to be up that early as they'd have to stop by their own house to get all of his school stuff plus a change of clothes.

Zuko was doing what seemed like his best to appear not too put out but Sokka could still see the disappointment. "Of course. Right, yeah, that makes sense."

"Maybe we could do dinner though, tomorrow?" Sokka suggested, wanting to leave on a high note. "Like a date."

"A Monday night date?" Zuko repeated.

"You got a problem with that? Would you rather wait until like Friday or something?"

"No. Nope. Monday is good."

Sokka grinned and leaned in to kiss Zuko briefly. "So it's a date."

"It's a date," Zuko repeated.

"Great, now you go change your pants and I'll get my son out of your daughter's hair and let the two of you get a well deserved rest."

Going into the office the next morning Zuko found himself suddenly wondering how he should interact with Sokka if their paths crossed. Technically, he was still his boss for the transition period.

It was Azula, of course, who sorted that out. As soon as he'd gotten to his office that morning she was waiting for him. He couldn't imagine that Sokka had told her about his plan to go to the airport and yet the first words out of her mouth were, "So I've done you the liberties of getting some paperwork from HR to fill out about your whatever with Sokka."

"How did you even-?" he began and then stopped because Azula always knew everything of course.

"I have my sources."

"Izumi told you," he accused.

"She sent me a photo of the two of you kissing at the airport," Azula confirmed with a nod.

His daughter was a traitor. Also, he was going to ask about the photo and who all she'd sent it to. Just to know, not to see.

"Get it filled out and then get it over to Sokka to sign," she continued. "And try not to have any scandals before we're officially out of here."

"Thanks Azula," he sighed but he took his seat and started filling out the paperwork anyway as she saw herself out of the room.

The day seemed to go by so slowly, maybe because Zuko didn't feel like doing any of the work that he actually had to do. Or perhaps because he kept looking at the clock approximately every five minutes. Either way, it wasn't until lunch that he allowed himself to go and see Sokka.

Sokka was hard at work in his office, to which the nameplate had been replaced, when Zuko gave a knock.

"Got a minute?"

Sokka looked up and grinned when he saw Zuko. "Well technically I'm not on lunch until an hour from now but if the boss says it's okay I can spare a moment."

"It is actually work-related," Zuko said, feeling a little bad that he hadn't come by sooner just to say hello but he also hadn't been sure how not to make it awkward when doing so.

"Oh, well that's less fun than I imagined," Sokka gave a dramatic sort of sigh. "But yes, please tell me what work-related thing you need from me."

"It's just some paperwork to fill out for HR," Zuko said, walking in and handing the paperwork over to Sokka who reached out for it instantly.

"A notice of a romantic relationship," Sokka read, looking up at the other man with a raised eyebrow. "How romantic."

"I know it's not exactly- I mean, it's just to be safe so that no one accuses you of anything when I leave," Zuko explained.

Already Sokka was pulling out a pen and reading through the papers. "Zuko, I'm kidding. I fully understand. I'll get this to HR when I'm done with it."

"Okay, thanks. I guess I'll see you tonight." He didn't want to bother Sokka if he had work that he actually had to be doing - which, he definitely might with how much work he'd missed recently, no thanks to Zuko.

Sokka glanced up to give him a bright smile. "See you tonight."

Zuko's heart felt like it was melting with that smile directed at him. "See you tonight."

They'd texted to sort out the details of when and where to meet that night. Zuko had gone home and let Izumi know that he'd be going out with Sokka that night, which she did not seem surprised at all about.

"Be safe," she'd replied with a wicked sort of glint to her eyes.

Ty Lee had burst into laughter and offered to join her for dinner that evening so that she wasn't eating alone, which Izumi accepted and Zuko had tried not to think about the fact that his daughter apparently thought that he was going to be doing anything that required safety of any sort on his date tonight.

He'd then gone upstairs, gotten freshened up, and changed into a more appropriate date outfit before leaving. Due to a lack of traffic and nerves that had led to him speeding a little more than he probably should have, he arrived early.

This meant that after he'd given his keys over to the valet, he'd just been standing outside in the cold while waiting for Sokka to show. Standing there shivering he felt a bit like an overeager idiot but he didn't want to go inside and then have the hassle of either standing in the way as other people came in or having it be difficult for Sokka to see him once he arrived.

Luckily, Sokka came up a few minutes before he was scheduled to as well, coming in the direction of the nearest metro station. He was in his familiar blue coat with ear muffs on but Zuko's heart still seemed to flip in his chest when he noticed him approaching.

"Hey," Sokka greeted him with a grin.

"Hey," Zuko smiled back.

Then both of them sort of looked at one another for a beat. It seemed weird, standing on the sidewalk together. After pretending to be married and having experience with each other's kids and being a family, they were here in a parking lot in front of a restaurant together like two normal people on a first date.

Sokka too seemed to sense the weirdness if the way he shifted on his feet meant anything and for a moment they were just standing there, out in the cold Montreal winter looking at each other like they didn't know what it was like to go to sleep together and wake up cuddled in one another's arms the next day.

"We've sort of done this backward, haven't we?" Zuko asked when the silence felt too awkward.

That got a laugh out of Sokka. "Yeah, we have."

"Any regrets?" Zuko couldn't help but ask, wondering if this whole thing was going to be too weird for him. If he would soon decide that he wanted something less complicated or less strange. Maybe he was going to regret that he'd come to this date at all.

"Nah," Sokka waved the question away with his hand without a second thought but with the kind of confidence, that was hard to fake. He clearly believed what he was saying. "I think we did alright."

It made Zuko more confident too, that Sokka was telling the truth. That they might just make this strange relationship into something real and that while it wouldn't start tonight it could start anew tonight.

"Yeah," he agreed, reaching out to take Sokka's hand. "I think we did."