"As if that would happen"

"Well shit," Sokka muttered upon learning of Azula's disappearance. First night on the job, and somehow he had already managed to lose the princess. The initial panic wasn't long-lasting, however. Upon a quick investigation of Azula's bedroom, and an outburst or two over forgetting to pack his detective getup, Sokka came to the conclusion that Azula was probably still in or around the palace somewhere. Her room was tidy; no sign of a scuffle. Her belongings seemed to be in place; no obvious evidence of a runaway. The window that led to her balcony was ajar. "She's outside," Sokka thought, "but where?"

It made sense that she'd be outside. Sokka remembered something about her complaining that she didn't get to feel the sun on her face. He thought she was just being melodramatic, but now he got the better sense that this was a legitimate problem.

It didn't take him too long to find her. However, much to his chagrin, it appeared that Zuko had found her first. And from the look of it, he found her some time ago. The fire siblings were in stage four of their fight: mockery. Stage five would be an all-out brawl. Sokka would have to interfere before it got that far, but for now, he decided to hide behind a tree and watch.

"I'm Zuko, the Crier Lord," Azula childishly taunted, "and I wet the bed until I was eight!"

"Well I'm Azula, and I'd punt a koala-sheep across a field if I thought it would please Daddy!" Zuko jeered right back.

"I'm Zuko and half my face looks like someone tried to iron a leather couch!"

"I'm Azula and I literally have no friends!"

"Yeah? Well I'm Zuko and I'm about to have my ass seriously beaten by my little sister!"

"Bring it on!" Zuko shouted as he got into a fighting stance.

"You're going down!" Azula squared off with him, bending her knees slightly and pulling her dominant arm back with her index and middle finger extended toward her opponent.

Electricity was sparking at her fingertips when Sokka decided to cut in.

"Okay, okay, that's it!" Sokka placed himself between the siblings. "Nobody's going down on anyone."

"Phrasing, Sokka!" Zuko cried, his face coiling with disgust.

Azula looked equally as disturbed.

"Yeah, I hear it now," Sokka said, almost laughing. "Well at least it stopped your fight."

"You should be thanking Sokka for saving your life, Zuzu," Azula shot at her brother.

"Thanking Sokka?" Zuko asked sardonically. "How about asking him where in Agni's name he's been?" He turned toward his Water Tribe friend. "You were supposed to be watching her!"

"I knew it!" Azula interjected. "You hired him to babysit me! You just admitted – "

"Guarding," the Fire Lord corrected himself. "You were supposed to be guarding her."

The princess rolled her eyes.

"And I was!" Sokka lied, trying to think fast on his feet. "I just ran back inside to, uh, use the bathroom."

Zuko looked skeptical. "I've been out here for like fifteen minutes…"

"Yeah… the Fire Nation meat from last night didn't exactly agree with me." Sokka placed a hand on his stomach. "I could paint you a picture if you'd like, though I'd only need one color for that – "

"No, no." Zuko shook his head. "That won't be necessary."

Azula snickered.

"Well, either way, she's not allowed to go outside," the Fire Lord continued. "We've been over this."

"I know, but… it's a beautiful day. She's not harming anyone – she just wanted to sunbathe a bit. And besides, don't you think it's a little cruel to keep a firebender inside all day?"

"She's under house arrest! This isn't supposed to be a vacation!" Zuko barked before calming down a bit. "But… I guess I see your point."

"So can she stay outside as long as I'm watching – I, err, uh, guarding her?" Sokka asked, his voice pleading.

"Fine," Zuko acquiesced. "But really guard her, I mean it."

Azula groaned.

"I will, I will. I won't let her set fire to the flowers or anything, I promise."

"Good. Because she's done that before." Still grumpy, Zuko walked off.

Azula lay down on a sunny spot on the grass, using her elbows to prop herself up.

Sokka stood over her. "So?"

"So…?"

"Isn't there something you'd like to say to me?"

"Like what?" Azula feigned innocence.

"Oh, I don't know, like an apology for running off like that and getting me into trouble!"

"An apology?!" she laughed. "As if that would happen!"

"Okay then, maybe next time I won't have your back," Sokka threatened.

The firebender released an exasperated sigh, turning her attention toward him. "Thank you, Sokka," she said begrudgingly.

"For what?" He smiled mischievously at her.

"For standing up for me."

It wasn't an apology, but it was good enough for Sokka. "See? Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

She flashed him a fake smile. "You're in my sunlight."

"Oh!" Realizing that he was in fact blocking the sun, he took a seat on the grass next to her and watched the clouds float by.

Days passed without any drama or disturbances. Sokka would even say that he and Azula had established somewhat of a friendly rapport. But just as soon as he started to let his guard down around her, she had to go and test his boundaries once again. It shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"What are you doing in my room, Azula?" Sokka had followed the princess into the guest room where he watched her ransack his belongings.

"Ah! This will do," the princess smiled, holding up one of his casual Fire Nation shirts to her body. "Just needs a belt…"

"Why are you stealing my clothes?"

"I'm not stealing, silly. I'm going to return them just as soon as we're back."

"Back from…?"

"Turn around. I'm getting changed."

Sighing, he obeyed her command, not because he was taking her orders but because she started disrobing, leaving him no choice but to shield his eyes. "Where exactly do you think you're going in my clothing, hm?"

"You're going to take me shopping!"

"You can't be serious," he said, instinctively turning around to shut down this ludicrous idea only to be reprimanded.

"Eyes shut, peasant!"

He spun back around, his cheeks a tad flushed despite not having seen much. "New rule. You're not allowed to call me 'peasant' anymore."

"Oh? And who's going to stop me?"

"I don't know about that," he laughed, "but I can stop this shopping spree you think is going to happen, which, by the way, it isn't."

"You can turn around now."

He turned back to Azula, seeing that she had fashioned one of his shirts into a dress.

"How do I look? Cute, right?"

"Very," he said dryly, though he was surprised at how beautiful she looked wearing his clothes.

"Just need to do my hair, then I'm ready to go."

"You're out of your mind if you think I'm letting you leave this palace."

"Come on, Sokka. It's not like anyone will recognize me – "

"But what about Zuko?"

"He's in meetings all day. He won't even notice we're gone."

"But… but…" Not only was Sokka running out of excuses, but going shopping actually sounded kind of fun.

"Don't make me beg now," she purred.

If Sokka hadn't known better, he'd have thought she was flirting with him. Of course, he knew that she was really just trying to manipulate him. "I wouldn't mind hearing you beg, princess."

"Please, Sokka?" she beseeched, giving him sad puppy-cat eyes. "I'll buy you something pretty…"

"Fine. But let's make it snappy. We can't risk getting caught."

"Yay!" she cheered, giving Sokka a very uncharacteristic hug.

He hugged her back, tentatively from the shock of it, but then he realized that this shopping trip probably meant a lot to her. It would be the first time she was out of imprisonment in a very long time. He wanted to make sure she had a good day.

Following a successful shopping outing, where Azula bought herself a dress, some jewelry, and a hair ornament, as well as a new bag for her bodyguard, she convinced Sokka to have some bubble tea with her before heading back to the palace. It didn't take a lot to convince him as Sokka was quite hungry himself and itching for a snack.

Sokka insisted Azula wait at the table while he ordered their food and drink at the front to minimize the chance of the princess being recognized. A few minutes later, a handsome server brought them their order: a pomegranate bubble tea for the firebender and some pork bao buns for the swordsman.

It was when the server was walking away that Azula noticed something interesting. Sokka's eyes lingered on the young man as he moved on to the next table. Her mouth went agape and then her lips curled into a smirk.

"Were you just checking him out?!" Azula whispered.

"What, no!" Sokka denied reflexively.

She eyed him suspiciously.

"Okay, yeah maybe a little," he admitted. "Did Zuko not tell you…?"

"Zuzu never tells me anything."

"Oh, well… yeah so I'm gay. That's not gonna be a problem, is it? You look disappointed."

"I-I'm not – why would I be disappointed?" she stammered.

"You tell me," he laughed. "The ladies do find me irresistible…"

Azula scoffed. "So I'm guessing this revelation of yours had something to do with your breakup with the Kyoshi warrior girl?"

"Yeah that… didn't end well."

"She wasn't accepting? I'm surprised."

"No, it wasn't like that. It was more the way I told her…"

"Ooh, now this I need to hear." She leaned back in her seat and took a sip of her tea.

"Oh yeah? You want the hot gossip?"

"Mmhmm."

"Okay." Sokka liked that she was taking an interest in his life. "When I met Suki all those years ago, I was drawn to her. I was attracted to her strength, bravery, and compassion. I thought that meant that I liked her, since, you know, boys are expected to like girls. Anyway, we kissed and stuff, which was okay, no fireworks or anything, but when we decided to go a little further, that's when things started to feel off for me."

"Okay…"

"There was this one night when Suki was supposed to spend the night in my tent and we were gonna… you know. I was nervous, very nervous, but then, instead of Suki coming into my tent, Zuko came in instead."

"Ew! You and my brother didn't – "

"No, no, no," Sokka laughed. "No, we're just friends."

"Thank the Spirits."

"But when I saw it was Zuko and not Suki, part of me was, well… relieved. And then when Suki did eventually find her way to my tent, I told her that Zuko ruined the mood for me and it was too risky to do stuff around the group. So we decided to wait until after the war."

"And then the war ended…"

"Yeah, and I started finding excuses not to see her, which was pretty easy since she became your brother's bodyguard and I had no pressing reasons to be in the Fire Nation. But eventually, Suki and I did find some alone time, alone time in a bedroom. And we started fooling around, and well… let's just say Sokka junior did not rise to the occasion."

Azula tried and failed to stifle a laugh.

"As soon as she got completely naked, I looked at her and said, 'Yeah, I'm gay.' It wasn't the most delicate way of putting things…"

"That's for sure! She must have been humiliated."

"I know." Sokka looked down with guilt. "I feel awful about it. No wonder she hates me."

"She'll get over it."

"I hope so."

"At least you're out now," Azula shrugged. "You don't have to hide anything anymore."

"True." Sokka chuckled. "In retrospect, I should have known I was into dudes."

"Oh?"

"There was this one time when Aang, Katara, and I were traveling through the Earth Kingdom and we ran into this rugged, rebellious boy who flirted with my sister. I got really upset, I thought because I knew he was manipulating her, and that was certainly part of it, but I think I really just wanted him to be flirting with me instead."

"Yeah, that's pretty gay," Azula snickered. "So… have you had any… boyfriends?"

"Boyfriends, no. Hookups yes. Lots." He gave her a sly smile. "And now every time I see a hot guy, I just think about how much I want him to dick me down."

Azula's face grew hot.

"You're blushing, princess."

"I-I am not! It's j-just the tea warming me up."

"Your tea is iced…"

"Okay, fine. It's just…" She sighed. "I've never really had anyone to talk to about this sort of stuff before."

"Sex stuff?"

"Yeah…"

"What about Mai and Ty Lee?"

"We didn't really talk about that when we were younger, and they're hardly my friends now. It still feels forced with Ty Lee and Mai can barely look me in the eye."

"Well to be fair, Mai barely looks anyone in the eye."

"This is true." She smiled, resting her arms down on the table. "I guess… I'm glad that, and I'll deny it if you ever repeat this to anyone, I'm glad that I finally have someone to talk to… someone I trust."

"Hey, me too," Sokka said, returning the soft smile and placing a hand on top of hers across the table. "I never thought I'd say this, but… I'm glad we're friends."

Azula's blush grew deeper.