Standard disclaimers apply.
Sokka woke in the morning to the distinctive sounds of firebending. As he found his shirt and fixed his wolftail, he wondered at how quickly those sounds could become comfortable rather than terrifying. Things had been shifting and changing almost constantly since Aang had entered their lives, he supposed it wasn't that surprising that he was able to roll with the punches now, accepting the most recent situation as the new normal and enjoying it until it changed again. So what if two weeks ago Zuko had been his enemy? Seven months before that, he'd never met the guy. And there had been months in between where they hadn't seen him. So it really wouldn't take that long till the cumulative 'being friends' time was longer than the 'being enemies' time and then the idea that he'd ever been afraid of the Fire Prince would be the strange thing.
As he entered the small courtyard where Aang was being put through his paces, he saw a full bowl of rice and fruit waiting. An empty bowl beside it soothed any worries he might have that he was stealing Zuko's breakfast, and even if he was, he could make it up to him...
"Sokka, Zuko won't show me his pirate outfit!" the young monk complained as he settled down to rest a few minutes later. The prince rolled his eyes and stole a few bits of fruit. "Chief Hakoda was telling us all how flashy he looked, and everyone was disappointed they didn't see it. Especially The Duke. Can you get him to wear it for us?" The water tribesman laughed, first at Aang's earnest hopefulness, then at Zuko's exaggerated annoyed face.
"Hmmmm... lemme see what I can do..." Sokka sat up straight and turned to Zuko as if to address him seriously - then flung himself around the other boy's waist, whining piteously. "Please wear the pirate outfit, Zuko! Pretty please? With komodo chicken and seal jerky on top? PLEEEEEASE?"
Aang fell back laughing as the prince shoved the younger teen off of him with an obviously fake scowl. "I am not wearing that ridiculous thing again, especially the boots - I swear even Ty Lee wouldn't put on something so garish and she was in the circus!" He stood up and gave the airbender a stern look until he stood as well and resumed a bending stance. "In any case, Aang lost two days of training, so we need to focus. You should get back to the others anyway and see how your father is settling in." He flashed Sokka a quick smile. "And if you and Teo want to come over after lunch to work on the war balloon, that would be fine."
The water tribesman tossed off a quick salute. "Aye aye Captain Zuko," he said cheerfully. "I need to check on Hawkie Two anyway." He heard the sounds of firebending begin again as he headed towards the main courtyard.
Hawkie Two seemed pleased to see him, and Sokka was soon occupied feeding the bird. His father had apparently taken a walk with Katara and as usual Teo, Haru and The Duke were off on one of their exploration trips which left him with a tiny earthbender who was currently wearing an evil smirk of the I'm gonna tease Sokka till he explodes variety.
"Soooo... You get lost on your way back from the soup delivery last night, Snoozles?"
Unfortunately for Toph, he had anticipated this plan of attack, and had decided on a defensive strategy already. "No, I just decided to spend the night." He continued doting over the messenger hawk and enjoyed his younger friend's brief speechlessness. She'd obviously been ready to counter any lame excuse or exploit flustered avoidance, but all but acknowledging her suspicions left her floundering.
"Well. So is Sparky a good cuddler?" She regained her conversational footing and pushed some innuendo into Sokka's comment.
"Hmmm... He's actually a great cuddler." He grinned, partly in memory, and partly at the fact that he'd actually gotten Toph's jaw to drop at the straightforward response. "I don't know if it's a firebender thing, but he's really warm, and not too bony or anything. And he didn't set me on fire in his sleep, which I was a little worried about."
"So... you two are a couple now?" Toph had clearly given up on embarrassing Sokka and was going for as much information as possible while he was feeling frank.
The water tribesman hesitated. "Not exactly. I mean, not like me and Suki or the way Aang wants to be with Katara. We're really good friends."
"Uh huh." It was really quite impressive how much skepticism could be contained in two syllables. "Really good friends who kiss and cuddle."
"Among other things." Toph couldn't see the cocky grin that spread over his face, but the tone came through and Sokka barely restrained himself from a victory lap around the fountain. She blushed! He had actually made her blush! But after a moment, he coughed slightly. "Though I don't know if it will be easier or harder for my dad to accept than if we were, you know, wanting to get married and have two point five kids and stuff."
"I don't think it will be that much of a problem," the earthbender said knowingly as she regained her equilibrium. "I'd think you'd be more worried about how Sugar Queen is taking even the non-kissing and cuddling variety of friendship between you and Sparky."
"Hmph." Sokka began devoting very intense attention to Hawkie again. "He's living in the other pagoda now, she doesn't have to actually see us spending time together..."
"Is that going to be permanent, you think? I already miss the tea." He snorted slightly but any further response was cut off by his father's approach.
"Dad, I thought you were hanging with Katara this morning!"
"I was, now she's going over to the other pagoda to have a talk with Prince Zuko." He casually grabbed Sokka's arm and stopped him from bolting into the temple. "Just to talk, don't worry.
"After their last talk, Zuko had to meditate for an hour before he stopped accidentally setting things on fire!"
"I'm fairly confident this will go better..." This time he missed his son's arm and shook his head as he watched the teen run off. "But I suppose a little supervision couldn't hurt..."
Sokka almost ran over Katara as she was exiting the main temple. "Oh, wow, imagine seeing you here!" He attempted to subtly check for blood spatters or singed clothing.
"Yeah, what a shock... It's okay, Sokka, I didn't attack your boyfriend or get him riled up again."
"That's a relief, did you guys clear the air any or- now hang on, he isn't my boyfriend!" She merely looked at him. "He isn't! We're friends! Good friends... with certain perks..."
"I probably don't want to know... Look, I just went over to thank him for helping rescue Dad, and to tell him that while he's probably right about us having some distance, I'll try to be more polite if he wants to have dinner with the group still. And... um... to make sure he knows that you two both will have family obligations once the war is over."
"Really." He looked at his sister half amused, half annoyed. "And how did he respond to that observation?"
She blushed a little. "Sort of like I was telling him how to firebend. I guess royalty is pretty aware of the balance between personal desires and family obligations."
Sokka laughed and gave her a hug. "Well, it's still good that you're looking out for things, I suppose. Don't worry, Katara. I may not believe in destiny and all that, but I know I have a role to play in the Southern Tribe when all this is over. Zuko isn't going to try to take me away from that. Or from you." He left an arm around her and started back to the main courtyard. "Come on, let's get some lunch going. And we can tell Toph that her tea service will be back for dinner. She'll like that."
And after lunch, he thought, maybe Teo would help him bring some of his things over to the other pagoda when they went to work on the balloon. If even Katara was accepting the new normal, there was no need to be maintaining a room that far from where he preferred sleeping...
A/N : I realized when working on this chapter that the story is almost done. Since it's about a different option in a Zukka relationship (both different from what Sokka first wanted and from the typical S3 romance between them) and they pretty much hammered down what they wanted from that option last chapter, it felt artificial to stretch the story to the season finale. So don't be shocked if the next chapter is an epilogue.