A. N. : Good things do happen in this fic ! Believe it ! Also apparently FFn recently made changes to the way notifications work, so if you've missed updates from whatever fics you were following, that would be why. To fix it you'll need to go to your settings and accept email notifications (do keep in mind that it will go back to the default "no" every 6 months I believe, so you'll have to keep an eye on that). Thank you FFn for the amazing service, there is no way this change is going to have negative consequences for fic writers and long-term users... ugh. Well, I'll just take this opportunity to remind you all that I'm also on AO3 under the name Yumi_Take, and that I crosspost Viper-lizard there. And unlike FFn, you will be notified if a fic you subscribed to updates !

Suki took him aside.

It's the perfect opportunity, Sokka knows. He can tell her it's okay that she doesn't want him anymore, that she doesn't have to force herself for his sake, now that they're alone and no one will hear and pity them.

Or maybe Toph will hear, Sokka is honestly never sure how good her senses are, but the most she'll do is punch his arm and tell him he messed up, so. No pity from her.

He thinks for a second, and realizes maybe Suki is going to break up with him first, actually. Maybe that's why she said she wanted to give him his sweets one on one, away from everyone's cheer and curiosity at all the exotic flavors.

If there's one thing the Fire Nation does well, it's food.

I'm sorry, Suki says as she hands him a small bundle of reddish fabric – it's closed with a cute knot, like Suki is trying to lessen the blow any way she can, and spirits, she is too good for him.

This is it, Sokka thinks. This is how it ends, this is the result of his own mistakes.

At least she's alive. It's all that matters. Even if she can't look him in the eyes as she apologizes and can't seem to find her next words, even if Sokka feels like he's going to cry.

Suki is alive.

Fuck, he can feel his lower lip beginning to shake. He bites down on it. Breathes. Forces his eyes open in the hopes of maybe not crying before Suki is done speaking. He's already pathetic enough.

I'm sorry, Suki says, again – I didn't mean to avoid you and, huh !?

No, that's not quite right, she corrects. She did mean to avoid him, because she was scared of facing – facing what she did. She's sorry for his injury. She didn't, didn't want that. Didn't want anything bad to happen to him, ever, and she knows, Toph told her, she knows it's not her, that Sokka, that any of them would have done that for any one of their friends because they're just like that, he's just like that, he's kind and that's why she – she's so sorry.

If she'd been stronger, he wouldn't have got hurt. And after all the, all the fuss she made last time about being perfectly able to stand on her own without his protection, he probably thinks –

And wait. Time out. Before Suki goes on, Sokka needs to know, uh, well. Is she… Are they not breaking up ?

Suki blinks. Is that… what you want ? And no, no ! No, Tui and La and all the others, Sokka doesn't, he thought she, he –

He's crying, he notices. Damn it. He wipes his eyes furiously – shit, that's so uncool, crying because you thought you were going to get dumped, in front of the girl you thought would dump you, great going Sokka. He's just so, so relieved.

He thought – because she didn't want him to come, and then he messed up and got hurt, he thought. Sorry. He's pathetic.

It's Suki's turn to contradict him now and she's so… She calls him kind, and amazing, and she's the one who taught him to fight so he's not allowed to be mean to himself about that, and it's – of course she didn't want him to come, she was scared, she didn't want him to get hurt, but she…

I thanked you, didn't I ? And she thanks him again. She was… she didn't want to die.

Her voice shakes, and there are tears in her eyes.

She doesn't want to die.

And Sokka can't help it, he hates seeing her like this, and he knows he's crying like a baby and his nose is running and he's probably going to get her hair wet at best, but he grabs her into a hug and presses his face into her shoulder. He feels her hands on his back, shakily pressing against him at first, and then grabbing onto him hard, like she's drowning and he's her only chance to get out of the water.

It hurts a little, and his shirt is getting wet and sticks to his shoulder, and his arm itches, but it's fine. It's fine. And more than that… he thinks –

He thinks they're fine.