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It was an Accident, Honest

Chapter Two

Christmas Eve

It had been a fair few weeks now since the incident and those aware of what had happened, Aang in particular, were trying their best to forget the details. Despite this, Sokka was still eager to get answers. When he had first raised the question on the night of the occurrence itself there had been silence; complete and utter silence.

It had bothered him. Even afterwards when he asked, Zuko would glare icily at him and Aang would turn beet red, before hastily evacuating the room. What could possibly have happened that was bad enough for that? Aang hadn't peed himself or something had he? Actually, Sokka wouldn't have been surprised if he had. It seemed an Aang-like thing to do. He totally dismissed the fact that he himself couldn't really talk; he had, after all, rushed to Suki to relieve his fear.

No, he told to himself sternly, he had been checking that she was alright. Yes, that was it. Definitely.

Sokka was deep in thought. He was, in fact, so busy questioning his manliness that he didn't notice Toph peel the remote control out of his hand and flick channels. He didn't notice, that was, until loud, boisterous music boomed out of the tiny speakers. He jerked back to reality and turned to her, his hands clamped firmly over his ears.

"What the hell, Toph? Are you trying to deafen me?"

Her fingers felt around the remote until she found the volume button. "It's not my fault that you were too busy in dream land to pay attention, Snoozles," she replied after lowering the volume ever so slightly.

Sokka opened his mouth to retort but closed it again quickly as curiosity got the better of him, and he decided he would bother Aang instead. He pushed himself up and off the sofa, slipping through the door and into the room opposite. The hallway was empty bar Aang, his victim, who was hanging up last minute decorations. He looked… troubled, to say the least. Standing atop a ladder and keeping his balance with ease, he was frantically hanging up decoration after decoration. Sokka watched him for a moment, mesmerized by the pure speed of his decorating skills.

Star, heart, bobble, star, heart, bobble… Dammit, this was giving him a headache now!

He shook his head and shut the door behind him, possibly with a little too much force. Aang, however, didn't notice. With his tongue stuck out to one side, tinsel and banner over his left shoulder, he weaved his hands in and out of the wire, pinning it to the cornice without even a second thought. "Hey, Aang," he started casually, after no response from the slamming of the door. He leant against the door frame, glancing around at Aang's blitz of magic.

He didn't turn around but did slow his actions slightly. "Sokka? What is it? I'm kinda' busy here…"

"Nah, it's nothing, really-"

"Hey, Sokka, can you do me a favour? I need help putting these up…" he shrugged his shoulder, indicating to the items slung over it. A grin sneaked up Sokka's face.

"Uh… actually, I have to do something for Katara. Don't worry, though, I'll get Zuko to help you." He left before Aang could even process what he said, much less reply or protest. You're a genius, Sokka, you really are, he told himself smugly. Now he would finally get some answers. There was something going on between those two and he was going to find out no matter what…

.

The door swung open and a small gust of wind flew past the decorations, causing them to jingle happily in their current positions. Aang turned towards the door and found himself staring at very grumpy-looking Zuko. He squeaked slightly in surprise, before his cheeks turned a slightly tinted-red colour and he turned his head back to his work of art. "Sokka told me you wanted help…" Zuko eventually spoke up in little more than a mutter after a long moment of silence, while averting Aang's eyes.

Sokka was amused by this and he sniggered silently from his hiding place behind the other door. What's this, what's this? Red cheeks, lack of eye contact? This is gold!

He was once again so busy that he didn't notice Toph sneak up behind him until she spoke all of a sudden, a fairly loud noise considering Aang and Zuko's present silence. "Um, Snoozles… what are you doing? Spying on Twinkle Toes and Sparky?" she asked him, raising a brow apprehensively.

"Uh, haha, no! Of course not, Toph! I, um… yeah…" he trailed off miserably, giving in to her suspicious glare when he couldn't find an excuse to dig himself out of this hole. She stood beside him for a moment and then made a move to enter the room, but he held her back. "Wait, wait! There's something fishy going on and I'm going to find out what," he said in a triumphantly hushed voice.

"Erm… right. Because of what happened on Halloween?" he nodded in response and then, realising that she couldn't see this, replied with a yes. She let out an 'ah' of understanding. "Well, I was pretty interested too. I'll tell you if their pulses change." She grinned at him and peaked through the gap in the door with him, although she couldn't exactly view the scene before her.

"Yeah," Aang said in reply to something they had missed, shifting nervously. Sokka cursed Toph in his mind for distracting him and making this possibly valuable information slip away un-noted. "Hey, um, can you help me pin this up?" he asked, risking a glance at Zuko and signifying that he was talking about the golden tinsel he now held in his hand. Zuko shrugged and inched slightly closer to Aang, taking the end he was offered. He stretched out his arm to reach the top of the mirror in which his friend so lovingly wanted to hang the shiny string around and held his end there with ease.

Aang on the other hand had to stand on his tiptoes before he could make contact with the mirrors edge, and even then he struggled to hold the tinsel still in his hand.

Suppressing a laugh at Aang's wobbling state; Zuko took a pin from him and carefully slid it through the string of tinsel to keep it held against the wall. He paused for a moment. Aang sure could be pretty stupid at times, huh? Surely he could have used his airbending to lift himself a little, right? He sighed and moved towards Aang, taking the tinsel from his hand and standing a little too close for comfort. Aang backed away slightly but stared up at Zuko as he effortlessly pinned the other end above the mirror.

"Ooh!"

Sokka jumped out from behind the door, his sacred hiding place, and pointed accusingly at the pair of them.

They stared back at him in confusion and he jumped up and down in some strange sort of excitement. "Look up, look up!" he chanted merrily and, from behind the door, Toph slapped her forehead. Zuko squinted at him before doing as instructed, followed suite by Aang. They stared again at the site before them, this time in horror. There it hung, watching them wickedly from above, the green monster…

Mistletoe.

They jumped apart, Zuko realising that they had again been lead to their dooms. But before he could escape the room he found himself being pushed in Aang's direction by no other than Sokka. "You two have to kiss!" he sang, sounding oddly like a girl.

"What the hell? No way!" Zuko turned on him and declared angrily, while Aang shook both his hands and head at the same time, trying to remove the idea from Sokka's head as if by magic. Or maybe a form of hypnotism?

"Yes way," he declared right back, giving Zuko a final shove towards the Avatar. Their lips touched. And then they had disappeared right before Sokka's eyes; Zuko tearing up the stairs, probably to wash his mouth out with soap, and Aang fleeing into the kitchen, most likely for the comfort of his beloved Katara. Sokka burst into laughter, backed by the sound of Toph's own giggles.

And then Sokka had a sudden thought. Hey, maybe something like this is what happened before…

.