Denial

The way Azula felt when she woke up almost made her wish she hadn't woken up at all. However, despite how much her head hurt and her crippling lack of energy, it was nice to wake up wrapped up in Sokka's arms… and then everything hit her all at once.

"Why is Sokka cuddling me? Why is he in my bed? Where are his clothes?! Where are my clothes?! WHAT IN AGNI'S NAME HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!" She began striking his chest. "Wake! Up! Wake! Up! Wake! Up!" she shouted between hits.

"Ow, ow, OW!" he cried, "Why all the violence?!"

"I'd hit you harder if I weren't so hungover!"

"Yeah, about that… Could you please lower your voice?" He brought a hand up to his head. "It feels like I've been run over by a pack of wild saber-tooth moose lions."

She brought the level of her yelling down to a shout-whisper. "What did you do to me last night?!"

"What did I do to you?! Why are you making it seem like this is all my fault?"

"You're supposed to protect me, not get me drunk and seduce me, water boy!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a second. If I recall, and yes my memory may be a bit hazy, but you seemed to enjoy what we did last night, princess – "

She tried to cut him off, but unsuccessfully so.

" – and if anyone seduced anyone, you seduced me!"

She glared at him. "Explain yourself."

"Well if I haven't made it perfectly clear, I've never historically been into the female form, so – "

"Which begs the question," she interrupted, "why would you hook up with me?!"

"I – "

"I don't look like a man, do I?"

"Of course not – "

"I can't exactly 'dick you down' as you say!"

"Never say never, princess," he grinned slyly, attempting to break the tension.

"I never said never!"

"Then there's hope." His grin widened.

"Stop joking around! This is serious."

"Okay, okay, I was just trying to lighten the mood." He sighed. "Look, I know you want answers, but I don't know what happened last night."

"Well… are you attracted to me?" she asked timidly.

"I think last night made that pretty clear…"

"Do you want to do it again?"

"Like right now?! Cause I'm not feeling too hot at the moment – "

"Not right now, you idiot. Like sometime when we're not trying to keep our insides from spilling out."

"I mean… yeah? I think so. I-I had a lot of fun with you, and I don't want to speak for you, but you seemed pretty into it too." He smiled at her flirtatiously. "Am I wrong?"

"No," she said, blushing. "But… what does it all mean?"

"Does it have to mean something?"

She stared at him.

"Did it mean something to you?" he asked softly.

"I…" She sighed exasperatedly. "Did it mean something to you?"

"I don't know, I'm confused, okay?"

"Well I'm confused too!"

"And I'm sorry for that, but you're not the one having a borderline identity crisis over here!" he blurted. "Azula, I thought I was gay! And it took a long time for me to be okay with that, tell people about it, and act on it. And now, I'm more confused than I've ever been."

She nodded, trying her best to be understanding. "Sokka…" She took a deep breath. "I don't want what happened between us to be a point of confusion. I… I think I need some space from you today."

He looked up at her with hurt in his eyes.

"I'm not mad at you," she assured, "I just need some time to sort things out on my own. I know you're my bodyguard and all, but can you trust me not to run off or do something reckless, just for today?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I trust you."

She gave him a halfhearted smile.

"I'll get out of your way, but first I'm gonna send for someone to bring you breakfast. You need to eat something."

"Blech," she groaned in protest. As soon as Sokka left her room she fell back down onto the mattress, her head spinning from the hangover as well as her racing thoughts, wondering how she was going to make it through the day.

Azula must have dozed off because she found herself jolting awake by a jarring knock at her door. "Come in," she groaned, believing it to be a servant delivering her breakfast.

"Azula!" Ty Lee greeted, bursting into the firebender's room. "Whoa, are you okay?"

Before Azula could answer, Mai followed in after the acrobat. "Hi, Azula. You… you look awful."

"Nice to see you too," the princess said sarcastically. "What are you two doing here?"

"We're here for the ball, silly!" Ty Lee chimed.

"The what?"

"The dance your brother is throwing tomorrow night to welcome the new guards and to thank the Kyoshi warriors for their service!"

"Didn't Zuko tell you?" Mai asked.

"Why do people always assume Zuko tells me things?!" Azula groused before moaning and rubbing her head. "Guess I'm not invited. Surprise, surprise."

"I'm sorry, Azula," Ty Lee frowned, taking a cautious step over to the princess's bed. She sat down on the foot of the mattress. "Are you feeling okay? Are you sick?"

"Yeah, I'm sick all right. Sick of alcohol."

"You're drinking now?" The acrobat looked concerned.

"Alone?" Mai judgmentally added.

"Not alone," Azula scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You really think that lowly of me that I spend my free time drinking myself into a coma all by my lonesome?"

Mai took a step back toward the door. "Come on, Ty Lee. Clearly Azula doesn't want to talk to us about it."

Ty Lee looked at Mai and then back at Azula, clearly conflicted.

"Actually…" The princess broke the tension. "I would like to talk about it." She paused for a moment. "Last night… things got a little weird."

"What happened?" Ty Lee asked.

"I… kinda hooked up with someone."

"Who?!"

Azula took a deep breath. "…Sokka."

Sokka had just finished putting in Azula's breakfast order when a startling voice caught him off guard.

"Hey there, buddy," Zuko called.

"Waaaah!" Sokka spun around quickly, clutching his chest.

"Whoa, are you okay there? You look like you've been to war."

"And I feel like it too."

Zuko frowned, waiting for some sort of explanation. "Did… Azula do something to you?"

"What, no!" he answered, a little too defensively. "W-Well kinda. I mean, it wasn't really her fault, I guess I kinda initiated it, but – "

"Sokka, what's going on?"

He sighed, dreading the impending conversation. "Can we speak somewhere a bit more private?"

"Of course." Zuko led his friend to his bedroom and closed the door behind them. "So… what happened last night?"

Sokka thought for a moment, grinding his teeth while he struggled for the right words. "I really don't know the right way to tell you this, so I'm just gonna come out and say it."

Zuko raised his eyebrows.

"I might have hooked up with your sister."

"WHAT?! H-HOW COULD YOU?!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't set me on fire."

"I'm thinking about it!"

Sokka grimaced.

"And what do you mean by 'might have'?!" Zuko questioned. "Did you or did you not hook up with Azula?"

"I-I did," he squeaked.

"And what do you mean by 'hook up'? You didn't have sex with her, did you?!"

"N-No! Well, just the dry kind, but that doesn't – "

"How did this happen?!"

"I don't know!" Sokka cried. "We were drinking and playing a game, and then somehow we were making out on her bed, and then I was on top of her, and – "

"Okay, I don't need specific details." The Fire Lord took a deep breath, shaking his head with disapproval.

"Clearly you're upset, understandably so. I'd feel pretty weirded out if I found out you hooked up with my sister…"

"Ew."

"Yeah. And well, Zuko, you're my best friend. And I want to keep being best friends, so if you don't want me seeing your sister in any capacity, I'll respect your wishes. Just say the word and I'll – "

"I don't want you seeing my sister."

"Well that was direct." Sokka looked down at his feet and then back up at the firebender. "But… why? Do you not think I'm good enough for her or something?"

"No, it's nothing like that – "

"Then what is it?"

"I don't want you to hurt her!" Zuko blurted, staring directly into Sokka's eyes.

Sokka recognized the look, the look of a protective older sibling. "I don't want to hurt her either…"

"Sokka, you were so certain when you came out to me. Without a shadow of a doubt, you said you were gay. And I… I don't want Azula to be some sort of phase for you."

"I… never thought of it like that."

"Look." Zuko sighed. "I'm going to tell you something that absolutely under no circumstances can leave this room."

"Okay…"

"I'm straight, you know I'm straight, but… it's not like I've never had gay thoughts before."

"Oh really?" Sokka said, grinning. "About me? It was about me, wasn't it?"

"No."

Sokka's face fell.

"It was about Jet."

"Well that's not fair! Everyone's had gay thoughts about Jet. Even lesbians have had straight thoughts about him – "

"Well that's exactly my point," Zuko cut him off. "Just because you have thoughts or temptations doesn't change who you fundamentally are. And you've told me all about what happened with Suki, or, what didn't happen, and how you've been slutting around with men from all over the world – "

"That's fair."

" – so what I'm saying is, I don't want what happened with Suki to happen with Azula too."

"I… I can understand that," he nodded. "You're right."

"And one more thing." He paused. "I don't think you should be Azula's bodyguard anymore."

"Yeah… I kinda saw that coming."

"You can watch her tonight, but after the ball, I'm assigning her a new guard."

"Speaking of the new guards…" Sokka smirked, "the Freedom Fighters? Really? Knowing what I know now about your thoughts about Jet, I guess it all makes sense why you'd hire – "

"Now I'm really going to set you on fire."

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving! Geesh."

Ty Lee stared open-mouthed at the princess. Even the typically stoic Mai looked incredulous.

"Yes… I realize it's hard to believe," Azula muttered.

"Well yeah," Ty Lee agreed, "he's gay!"

"I don't want to ask this, but…" Mai stole a quick glance around the bedroom. "…do you have any proof?"

The firebender scowled before pulling her messy hair back behind her shoulders. "Is this enough proof?" she asked, showing off her neck.

"Those are hickeys all right!" Ty Lee confirmed.

"Still doesn't prove anything about Sokka specifically," Mai added.

"Who do you think did this to me? Zuzu?" Azula asked sardonically, rolling her eyes.

Mai scrunched her face in disgust.

"So… how did it happen?!" the acrobat asked.

Azula shrugged and shook her head. "We were drinking and playing 'truth or dare' in my room and one thing just kinda led to the next."

"And he was into it?" Mai questioned unapologetically. "I mean, Suki said that he couldn't even get it up for her."

"Oh, Sokka junior was working just fine last night, I assure you."

Ty Lee grinned with happiness for her friend. "So what does this mean for you two? Are you a couple now?"

"No, no, not at all." Azula sighed. "It was super awkward this morning and we haven't spoken since. We're both very confused about our feelings, and neither of us know what we want."

"He's probably much more confused than you are…" Mai noted.

"Well, do you like him?" Ty Lee asked, giddy with excitement.

"I don't know!"

"How do you not know?!"

"Because, I… I never considered him to be an option. Sure, the stupid part of my brain finds him attractive, but I always kept my guard up around him because I knew he'd never see me as more than a friend."

Mai nodded. "I think the better question is, how does he make you feel when you're with him?"

Azula thought for a moment. "Safe," she smiled warmly. "He makes me laugh, and he's one of the only people I unequivocally trust."

"You liiiiike him," Ty Lee teased. "Look at that smile!"

"Ugh." Azula covered her head with her hands. "What do you think I should do?"

"Just be honest with him," Mai answered.

"Tell him how you feel!" Ty Lee added.

"But… what are the odds he actually feels the same way?" Azula shook her head, chuckling to herself. "Just saying it out loud sounds ridiculous."

Mai shrugged. "You'll never know unless you tell him."

"Love is worth the risk!" Ty Lee cheered.

Azula looked contemplative for a moment. "Thank you. I… I think I know what I have to do."