Chapter Text
── ⟢ ・⸝⸝
Having Sokka here is kinda making Zuko lose his mind.
Waking up to Sokka laying on his chest, running his fingers over Zuko’s torso, humming some song to himself, how is Zuko just supposed to be fine and normal about that?
He’s not, because he wants this every fucking day, and he can’t have it.
Even though it seems like Sokka wants it too. Because there’s no way he thinks it’s still casual when he’s looking at Zuko like that.
“Morning, gorgeous,” Sokka hums, voice deep and low from sleep. He’s sitting up on his elbow and looking down at Zuko with a soft smile, head slightly cocked. His hair’s out of his usual ponytail, brushing against his jaw.
Zuko feels like he’s going insane.
He swallows, trying for a smile. “Morning.”
Sokka smiles and kisses him, laying back down on his chest and Zuko knows it should not be this easy.
“Are you hungry?” Zuko asks after a moment, moving his hand to gently scratch at Sokka’s scalp. Sokka practically melts, sighing contently.
Sokka hums, eyes closed as he turns his head so his nose rests against Zuko’s bare chest. “A little.”
Zuko smiles. “Do you want me to make you something?”
“No. Later.”
Sokka wraps his arm around Zuko’s torso as Zuko keeps scratching his scalp, running his fingers through Sokka’s soft hair.
⟢ ・⸝⸝
“Let me make us breakfast, Zuko,” Sokka glances at him with a pout before he goes back to searching the fridge for ingredients.
Zuko raises his eyebrow. “You’ve told me multiple times you can’t cook for shit.”
“Okay, maybe that’s something I’ve said, but it’s gonna be great! Just sit and look pretty, that won’t be hard for you,” Sokka says offhandedly, tongue stuck out of his mouth as he grabs the carton of eggs.
Zuko rolls his eyes, trying to ignore his face getting warm as he sits at the island, watching Sokka jet around the kitchen to find everything.
Zuko’s an organized cook, Sokka is not.
“What are you trying to make right now?” Zuko furrows his eyebrow, trying to not be distracted by Sokka’s lack of shirt and how his pajama pants hang low, sitting right at his hips. But Zuko’s finding it’s pretty challenging.
“Scrambled eggs!” Sokka grins as he places a pan on the stove. He has three bowls on the counter, milk and orange juice out for some reason, and the heat is way too high for scrambled eggs.
Zuko grimaces. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Do not fret, darling Zuko. Let me do something nice for you,” Sokka says, pouring his egg mixture into the pan with a very concentrated expression.
Zuko scrunches his nose and Sokka looks at him, grinning. “God, you’re so fucking cute.”
He leaves the eggs on the stove, walking over to Zuko and grabbing his chin as he presses a kiss to the man’s lips. Zuko smiles against it but pulls away slightly.
“Sokka. Eggs,” He says. Sokka apparently does not care about the eggs, more interested in Zuko’s lips, which Zuko isn’t complaining about. Sokka presses their lips together again and cards a hand through Zuko’s hair, running it behind his head until it comes to rest on his unscarred jaw. Sokka’s careful about not touching his scar which Zuko finds he appreciates.
Zuko deepens the kiss and he’s about to stand up to get a better angle on it before it starts smelling like something’s burning.
Sokka pulls away, yelping. “The eggs!”
Zuko huffs a laugh, sitting back in the chair. “Told you.”
Sokka sticks his tongue out at Zuko as he takes a spatula, going to flip the eggs, but ends up just trying to scrape them off. Wow, he really is a horrible cook.
Zuko smiles, raising his eyebrow. “I think I should cook the rest of our meals.”
Sokka blinks, frowning slightly, and Zuko furrows his eyebrow. He didn’t mean to make him feel bad. Zuko stands up, moving over to Sokka.
“Hey. You okay?” Zuko asks softly, cocking his head.
Sokka swallows and nods, trying for a smile, but it falters. “Yeah! Maybe we could have toast or something instead.”
Zuko purses his lips. He moves to tuck some of Sokka’s hair behind his ear, Sokka staring back at him with raised eyebrows.
“Talk to me,” Zuko says.
Sokka blinks and huffs, turning the stove off. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. It’s okay, I’m sorry, it’s not a big deal—”
Sokka turns to move away but Zuko stops him, grabbing his wrist and turning Sokka to face him.
Zuko frowns because he hasn’t seen this side of Sokka before, this vulnerable, upset side. Sokka’s always confident and takes up space and is sometimes kinda smug, but Zuko loves it. His personality. He doesn’t love Sokka, because that’d be… yeah.
“You do plenty of nice things for me,” Zuko says softly, because just how warm and content Sokka makes Zuko feel is enough.
Sokka purses his lips, not looking at Zuko. He shrugs. “It’s not a big deal.”
He keeps saying that but it does feel like a big deal. Because Sokka’s fucking perfect, and Zuko doesn’t want to make him feel like he isn’t.
“It’s just… you’re this hot world-famous, super fucking talented and perfect rockstar, and I’m… I dunno. Me?” Sokka shrugs, finally looking up at Zuko. Zuko blinks, eyebrow raised.
“Are you serious?” Zuko says in disbelief, moving his hands to rest on Sokka’s biceps. “You’re the best fucking hockey player in the whole NHL first of all, but even if you were just a normal guy with a 9-to-5 office job, I’d still like you. And it’s not because of your ability to make fucking eggs, it’s because… because it’s you.”
Zuko didn’t really mean to spill his guts out like that, but what’s done is done, he supposes.
Sokka bites his lip, trying to hide a smile. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Zuko says softly, moving a hand to hold the side of Sokka’s face.
He presses his lips against the other man’s and tries to say everything through it, tries to kiss Sokka in a way that says everything he can’t. Tries to tell him he’s perfect and beautiful and everything Zuko’s ever wanted, ever needed. He tries to say I want this, I want you.
He’s not sure if he succeeds, but he sure as hell tries.
⟢ ・⸝⸝
Zuko’s back to working on music. He currently has two working songs, one already finished, and he really likes all of them, so this “writing retreat” has already been a success.
He’s sitting on the living room floor, guitars and mics and cables everywhere, his laptop on the coffee table. He wanted to record a demo to send to his band, so they could see the energy of what he’s been working on.
Most of it’s already done, he has a few guitar parts he wants to add in, but overall he’s really happy with it. And not just because it reminds him of Sokka, because it’s about Sokka.
Sokka pokes his head in the living room then, Zuko looking up and moving his headphones away from one ear.
“Hi, you. How’s it going?” Sokka asks, walking into the living room. He sits down across from Zuko and his mess of wires, smiling that pretty smile.
Zuko pulls his headphones off, setting his recording mic down. “Good. Almost done with this, then I’m gonna work on some other songs.”
“Can I hear it?” Sokka cocks his head, glancing around the space at Zuko’s guitars.
Zuko swallows. He’s tempted to say no, but how could he?
“Yeah,” Zuko nods, unplugging his headphones and turning the laptop towards Sokka.
“Can you play it on your guitar? Just… the guitar and your voice?” Sokka asks, looking up from the laptop with hopeful eyes.
Zuko nods, reaching for his acoustic guitar. He checks the tuning quickly, clearing his throat as he looks up at Sokka. He’s suddenly so nervous, why is he so nervous?
Sokka looks back at him with a smile, sitting criss-cross and resting his hands on his ankles.
Zuko inhales and starts playing.
I want you to myself for longer than a night
Don’t know what to say so kiss me again
I can’t get enough, no I can’t
Trap me in your lips, pull me into bed
We’ve gone too far to get out unscathed
I think we both know that now
Show me how you really feel, I can take it
I’m not looking for a way out
Zuko plays through the whole song and finishes with a few more chords, humming softly. It’s a lot more mellow than most of the stuff he writes, but he thinks it’s a nice change of pace.
Zuko looks down at his guitar for a moment longer before looking up at Sokka. The California sun streams through the windows and casts Sokka in a perfect glow, wide eyes almost bluer than usual. His eyebrows are furrowed and Zuko takes that as a bad sign, gnawing at his lip anxiously.
“Will you go out with me?” Sokka asks quickly, eyes widening like he’s surprised with himself for asking the question.
Zuko freezes.
Sokka’s staring at him and oh he should probably say something. Why is his heart beating so fast? Holy fuck, what the fuck is he supposed to say?
“…Holy shit,” Zuko mumbles. What the fuck kind of answer is that?!
Sokka’s expression falters. “Fuck, forget I said anything.” No. No, wait. “Just… fuck, that was so stupid—”
“Sokka,” Zuko says.
“—Nothing has to change between us, this doesn’t have to be anything more than hookups, I-I’m fine with that—”
Zuko’s not fine with that. “Sokka.”
“—I’ll take whatever amount of you in my life I can, we’ve been doing this for so fucking long so it’s fine if you—”
Zuko practically throws his guitar to the side, leaning over the cords between them and grabbing Sokka’s face, pulling him in to shut him up with a kiss.
He pulls away, Sokka blinking, eyebrows halfway up his forehead.
“I will,” Zuko starts, climbing over the cords so he’s half sitting on them, bonking knees with Sokka. He chokes out a weird, strained laugh, because how is this happening? “I want to go out with you, I want to take you on stupid dates and go back to my place and have you stay over, I wanna fucking kiss you without overthinking it. I want—fuck, Sokka, I want it all.”
Sokka blinks, eyebrows somehow higher. “Holy shit.”
“What?” Zuko huffs a laugh at the man’s surprised expression. He can’t blame Sokka though, he can’t believe this is happening either.
“I wanna be your boyfriend. I want you to be my boyfriend, so, so fucking bad I feel like I’m losing my mind, Zuko,” Sokka says between a wet laugh, eyes starting to water.
Zuko nods in agreement, pressing their foreheads together. “You’re making me fucking crazy.”
Sokka laughs, moving his hands to hold the back of Zuko’s neck.
Three little words dance on Zuko’s tongue, begging to be let out, but he kisses Sokka instead to keep himself from saying it.
Sokka pulls away, laughing and wiping at his eyes, not moving far away at all. “My boyfriend,” Sokka grins. “You’re so fucking pretty.”
Zuko doesn’t know how Sokka of all people thinks he’s pretty, but he knows better than to protest. He doesn’t say anything, just presses more kisses to Sokka’s lips, Sokka grinning against them as he holds the unscarred side of Zuko’s face.
Zuko pulls away, breathing and grinning. Sokka’s his boyfriend. His loud, messy, perfect man. His.
“So you’re not dating that girl with the bob?” Zuko quirks his eyebrow as Sokka laughs.
“Suki? No. I’m dating a really fucking hot rockstar, you probably haven’t heard about him,” Sokka grins, shrugging.
“Oh, yeah?” Zuko smiles back, moving to kiss Sokka’s jaw.
“Yeah, all those fangirls online saying they’re dating him? Nope, he’s mine. And he loves writing songs about me.”
Zuko’s gut gets all fluttery at the mention of being Sokka’s, but he pulls away with a grimace. “You noticed that?”
Sokka grins. “I had my suspicions.”
“Well now I get to write songs about actually dating you instead of just pining after you,” Zuko raises his eyebrow as Sokka laughs.
“Can’t wait to hear them,” He smiles, expression going all soft and bordering on love-struck but they’re not in love so it can’t be that.
Zuko just smiles back and he hopes he can feel this fucking content for the rest of his life.
── ⟢ ・⸝⸝
“So what’s our plan for after this?” Sokka asks, entwining his fingers with Zuko’s.
They’re sitting at the Airbnb’s provided fire pit, lounging on a couch behind it and looking out at the desert. The fire provides a nice warmth, with the desert getting pretty cold at night.
Zuko runs his fingers through Sokka’s hair, out of its ponytail. Sokka’s resting his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder (his boyfriend!), knees on the couch and tucked towards himself.
“That’s up to you,” Zuko hums. “We should wait at least a month or two before telling the public, if you’re ready for that. It’s okay if you’re not, though.”
“Yeah… I don’t think I’m ready to come out yet,” Sokka bites his lip, suddenly feeling guilty, feeling upset with himself. Zuko shouldn’t have to hide just to make Sokka comfortable.
“That’s okay,” Zuko says, and how is he so perfect? He rubs at Sokka’s shoulder, Sokka exhaling.
Sokka does want to come out, he’s tired of hiding such a big part of himself, but he just doesn’t want to let anyone down. He doesn’t want anyone to be upset with him for coming out, for being bi, which he knows is dumb, but that’s just how he is.
Zuko apparently senses Sokka’s mind going all crazy because he sits up a bit, lifting Sokka’s chin so that he can see into his eyes. Zuko’s gorgeous, golden eyes, even brighter from the fire nearby.
He kisses Sokka, so softly, and Sokka wants to cry because how is any of this real? How is he dating Zuko, how did the wildest series of hookups of Sokka’s life turn into this?
Zuko pulls away, tucking some of Sokka’s hair behind his ear. “It’s okay, Sokka. I’m perfectly fine keeping everything under wraps until you’re ready.”
Sokka inhales, dropping his forehead onto Zuko’s shoulder. “Okay. Thank you.”
Zuko huffs a laugh, rubbing Sokka’s back. “Sure.”
Sokka sits back up, moving to thread his hand with Zuko’s. Zuko’s hands are smaller than Sokka’s, but they’re warmer, softer, despite the calluses on his fingers from playing guitar.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Sokka asks, staring at their hands.
“Go back to our lives,” Zuko sighs. “I’ll probably be working on music, start figuring out a new album. It’ll be easier to see each other before you go back to hockey, I’ll come visit whenever I’ve got time.”
Sokka frowns. “It’ll suck once hockey season starts.”
“We’ll figure it out. There’s still some time.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I gotta start training and conditioning and shit soon, though,” Sokka sighs. “But I’ll visit, yeah? I’m gonna take you out on a real date, show up all handsome with dumb flowers and sweep you off your feet like the proper gentleman that I am.”
“Oh, really?” Zuko raises his eyebrow, smiling.
“Yes, really,” Sokka runs his hands down Zuko’s side, pulling him in by the waist. He grins, kissing the spot where Zuko’s neck and jaw meet. He really can’t keep his fucking hands off Zuko. Doesn’t seem like Zuko’s complaining, though.
He trails his mouth down Zuko’s neck, pressing harder kisses as Zuko inhales and holds onto the back of Sokka’s shirt, moving a hand into his hair.
“Sokka,” Zuko says, and wow his name in that voice.
Sokka pulls away, reaching out and slowly thumbing at Zuko’s lip, Zuko blinking.
“Yeah?” Sokka replies after a second with a grin, thumb still on Zuko’s lip as Zuko pulls at the bottom of Sokka’s shirt.
“Kiss me for real,” Zuko mumbles, staring at his lips, and Sokka doesn’t have to be told twice.