Chapter Text
When Zuko finished his Friday afternoon shift, taken last minute because of a coworker calling in sick, Sokka and the girls were waiting outside the store for him on one of the uncomfortable “boyfriend benches” (Sokka’s name for the seating provided outside of stores that catered primarily to women).
“You guys didn’t have to wait for me,” Zuko said wearily as he approached the trio. Sokka had his black leather notebook out and was sketching a design for a school project. The girls each had a few shopping bags at their feet, which was a bit of a surprise. For all the time they spent at the mall, very rarely did they actually buy anything.
“Sokka refused to drive us home until you were off work,” Toph deadpanned, momentarily turning her attention from the video playing on Katara’s phone. “So actually, we did have to wait for you.”
“How was your shift?” Sokka inquired, ignoring Toph’s accusation as he stood up to greet Zuko. He pressed a quick kiss to his exhausted boyfriend’s cheek and handed him a large jasmine tea. Zuko couldn’t help but blush a little when he saw that the cup had “Hot Stuff” written on the side in place of his name.
“Extremely busy,” Zuko admitted, popping the lid from his cup so that he could inhale the aromatic steam rising from his drink. He sighed contently, and his expression softened as the tea worked its magic on his mood. “Friday is the day every makeup-wearing human remembers that they need something for whatever party or event they’ve got happening on the weekend, so we’re usually swamped all day.” The girls both perked up at the word ‘party’.
“Speaking of parties…” Katara prompted, nudging Toph with her elbow.
“Oh yeah,” the shorter girl exclaimed. “Zuko, would you mind doing Katara’s and my makeup for the party tonight? We both got some new clothes, but we thought it would really boost our image if our makeup looks really good.”
“The party,” Zuko repeated with a frown. “What party?”
“The one Sokka promised you guys would drop us off at, and pick us up from,” Katara filled in, her eyebrows furrowing as she regarded her older brother. “He told you about it, right?” Sokka glowered at her, but dropped the death glare when Zuko turned to him, confused.
“What kind of party?”
“One that we’re apparently not going to tell the parents about,” Sokka shrugged nonchalantly. “Some kid from their school is hosting at his house. Toph bullied me into saying yes when I asked for your Starbucks order.” Zuko rolled his eyes at this. It was such a Sokka thing to do, trading a favour for information from a 14-year-old.
“Will there be drinking? Any adults around to supervise?” Zuko asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at his cousin. Though Toph couldn’t see his expression, she heard the brotherly concern in his voice.
“Come on, Sparky, don’t get your panties in a twist,” she huffed, failing to reassure him. “It’s just a bunch of high school kids hanging out and listening to music. We’re not going to do anything stupid.” Zuko turned his gaze on Katara, who was chewing at her lip and avoiding eye contact with both men. Toph had a much stronger backbone than she, and the idea of being reprimanded by her brother’s new boyfriend held little appeal for her.
“You’re not old enough to go to a party like that, Toph,” Zuko said firmly. “I know it sounds fun, but trust me when I say that nothing good ever happens in a house full of drunk teenagers.”
“That’s not fair!” Toph huffed, crossing her arms indignantly. “We’re not going to drink – we’re smarter than that. I bet you and Sokka went to parties all the time when you were our age, so you’re just being hypocritical.”
“HA. Yeah, right,” Sokka snickered. “As if we even got invited. I wasn’t cool enough, and Zuko was probably that emo kid that everyone was scared of.” A long, uncomfortable silence followed, during which Zuko glared at Sokka. “Just kidding?” Sokka attempted, his voice rising in pitch.
“Nah, you got me,” Zuko eventually relented, cracking a smile. “I had my lip and eyebrow pierced in high school. Pissed my dad off, and scared all the teachers shitless. Definitely no party invites for me. Well…” He hesitated. “I guess the girls from the Wiccan club at my school invited me to their Halloween party. Does that count?”
“Definitely not a party, babe,” Sokka cringed, patting Zuko’s shoulder in sympathy for his cluelessness. “So, anyways…what were you saying?”
“He was saying that a deal’s a deal,” Toph said defiantly, setting her hands on her hips. “You’re going to drop us off at the party for 8:00, and we’ll call you when we’re ready to go home.”
“If you’re so adamant on going to this party, why don’t you just ask Uncle?” Zuko asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer. Toph just growled and gritted her teeth. She hated when Zuko was in one of his stubborn moods. Katara had made the smart decision to stay out of the discussion entirely. Sokka had already given her the go-ahead, and had promised not to snitch on her, but if Toph wasn’t going, there was no way Katara was showing up without her.
“Girls, could you give us a minute to talk?” Sokka requested, resting a hand against Zuko’s lower back. Toph rolled her eyes, but allowed the couple a bit of privacy by starting up a whispered conversation with Katara.
“Sokka,” Zuko sighed, allowing the other man to lead him a few steps away. “You don’t actually think this is a good idea, right?”
“Oh, definitely not,” Sokka snorted. “I think they’ll spend 10 minutes there, realize how lame it is to watch people drink themselves unconscious, and be ready to come back home.”
“It’s not their decision-making I’m worried about,” Zuko admitted, lightly resting his free hand on Sokka’s hip. “There will be older guys there who think they can get away with whatever they want, and I don’t want Toph or Katara to get hurt. They’re just kids, Sokka.” Behind the concern in his voice was a note of fear that Sokka suspected to be an untold personal experience.
“What if,” he proposed, “We let the girls go to the party, but they have to let us chaperone? They can have their fun, and we’ll hang out in the corner, just to keep an eye on them. Like you said, they’ll get bored pretty quickly, and then we can go back to your place and watch a movie or something.”
“You think that’s gonna work?” Zuko quirked a questioning eyebrow. “I can’t imagine Toph or Katara being thrilled with that.”
“We tell them it’s this, or they can stay home and watch TV by themselves,” Sokka shrugged. “They won’t have much of a choice.”
Zuko considered this plan for a minute, and feeling that it was probably the only way they would be able to both keep the girls safe and keep them from rioting, he nodded in agreement.
“Will you tell them, or should I?”
* * * * *
“Okay, I’m not mad anymore,” Toph decided, toying with her new dangly earrings. Zuko was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, and because Katara insisted she looked amazing, Toph was willing to set aside her anger at her cousin.
“Close your eyes and don’t breathe for a few seconds,” Zuko instructed, turning Toph’s head to face him. “I’m using setting spray, which will help the makeup last longer. You still need to do your best to not touch your face so it won’t get smudged, alright?”
“Whatever you say, Zuzu,” Toph teased. If she’d thought to choose a better nickname, she might have avoided being sprayed directly in the mouth the next time she opened it to speak.
“You deserved that,” Zuko shrugged, ignoring his cousin’s pleas for a glass of water to rinse her mouth as she gagged and tried to spit out the awful-tasting spray. He packed up whatever belonged to him in his makeup box and left the girls to their own devices.
In his own room, Zuko found Sokka on his bed, lying on his stomach, with an Xbox controller in hand. The bed creaked under his weight when he perched himself on the end of it, drawing Sokka’s attention. He paused the game and tossed the controller aside.
“How’d it go?” Sokka asked, sitting up. “Did you paint eyeballs on her eyelids so that even when she closes her eyes, it still looks like they’re open?”
“Sokka, that’s terrifying,” Zuko cringed. “Why would you even think about that?”
“I watched Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday,” Sokka shrugged, as if this somehow explained it. Zuko just shook his head and moved on.
“I’m going to fix my face up a bit, if we’re going to a party,” he told Sokka, moving over to the vanity on the opposite side of the room. “This look is a little too plain.”
“What are you talking about?” Sokka asked, perplexed. “Babe, you look amazing.” He walked across the room and stood behind Zuko’s chair, setting his hands on the man’s shoulders. “You don’t need to change a thing. In fact, you could take that all off and still look just as gorgeous.”
“You’re making my face go all red and warm,” Zuko accused gently, meeting Sokka’s eyes in the reflection of the mirror. He grabbed a pack of makeup removing wipes from the bottom drawer of the vanity table and pulled one from the package.
“I’m just being honest,” Sokka murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Zuko’s head. “You don’t need any of that to look good.”
“How do you know?” Zuko asked, his voice a whisper. He held a wipe to one cheek, but paused self-consciously. “You’ve never seen me without it.”
“I’ve seen pictures.” One of Sokka’s hands wound itself into Zuko’s thick, black hair, just because he loved the feel of it against his fingers.
“Not the same.” Zuko closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Sokka’s nails scratching his scalp.
“Maybe not,” Sokka agreed, “But I’m also your boyfriend, which means that I think you’re beautiful every moment of every day.”
“You’ve been my boyfriend for less than a week,” Zuko reminded him.
“That means I’m just getting started,” Sokka smiled down at him. “I don’t care if it takes 10 days or a thousand – I’m going to spend every day working to make you see yourself through my eyes.”
“Sokka…” Zuko protested softly.
“Nope, you can’t change my mind,” Sokka said, giving Zuko’s shoulders a firm squeeze. “I’m extremely stubborn. Just ask Katara!”
Zuko took a deep breath, ignored how fast his heart was racing, and started to wipe away his makeup. Sokka watched in rapture as his boyfriend’s face changed. Without foundation, he noticed that Zuko’s skin reminded him very much of his own: the colour uneven in some places, an occasional spot of redness. Without the mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow, his eyes were smaller, but still the same golden hazel Sokka had been intrigued by on the day they met.
Zuko’s shoulders seized up just as he started to work at the area around his left eye, which frustrated him nearly to the point of tears. Without a word, Sokka pressed his thumbs firmly into the trapezius muscles above Zuko’s shoulder blades, massaging the tension out little by little. When the young man finally relaxed, Sokka knelt down beside him and held out a hand.
“Let me,” he requested without hesitation. If he had been demanding or insistent, Sokka would have received a staunch refusal. But because he regarded him with unyielding patience and adoration, Zuko relinquished the makeup wipe and allowed Sokka to push back the hair that hid that part of his face.
“Tell me if I’m hurting you,” Sokka told him, making quick work of the foundation and concealer that covered up what he knew to be much of the source of Zuko’s shame. He had observed the difference in the shape of Zuko’s eyes, but hadn’t seen the extent of the scarring that covered nearly a third of his face until now.
In some places the skin was pink and puckered, and in others, the healing seemed to have gone better, with minimal change in texture or colour. There was an obvious demarcation between burnt and intact skin, which Sokka guessed to be the result of skin grafting. He didn’t ask, though, assuming that if Zuko were interested in sharing, he would do so if and when he was ready. With a feather-soft touch, Sokka wiped away the black liner from Zuko’s eye. He had no eyelashes or eyebrow on this side of his face, but had still chosen to line his eye to match the other as best as possible.
“Zuko, do you trust me?” Sokka asked quietly, his hand still holding Zuko’s hair back.
A moment of silence preceded a quiet, “Yes.”
“Close your eyes.”
When the man had done as requested, Sokka leaned forward and pressed the lightest of kisses to Zuko’s left eyelid. The man startled when Sokka’s breath fanned across his face, but remained still as Sokka continued his work. He kissed the hard line of his brow, and trailed his lips along the scar up to Zuko’s hairline; diagonally down to his ear, nipping the lobe gently; back up along the line of his cheekbone; and finally, for the first time, set his mouth against Zuko’s, which welcomed him eagerly.
Having left the door of the bedroom open, Zuko and Sokka were within the line of sight of anyone standing at the top of the stairs that linked the upper floor to the main level of the house. Iroh had finished making dinner, and was on his way to gather his charges and their guests when he happened upon the tender scene. Some of his worries were eased, and some of his suspicions confirmed – namely, his fear that Zuko would push away anyone who tried to care for him, and his suspicion that much of the abuse Zuko’s father had put him through was a result of his disgust and disdain for his son’s sexuality.
Iroh’s slippers softened the sound of his feet against the floor, and he was able to tiptoe down the hall to Toph’s bedroom. He announced himself outside the door loud enough to ensure that the girls could ask him not to come in if they were changing, and that Zuko and Sokka would know they were about to lose what little privacy they’d had previously.
* * * * *
The girls were ready for dinner, but Sokka had distracted Zuko from redoing his makeup, so the two grabbed bowls of ramen and returned to the bedroom, this time closing the door behind them. They slurped their noodles and broth quickly, as time was running short until they were supposed to leave.
Because Zuko was the most terrible liar of all time, Sokka informed Iroh that they were taking the girls to an event hosted by university for students still in high school, where they could mingle with other young people and take a tour of the campus. The girls went along with this in a heartbeat, explaining to Uncle that they wanted to make ‘the best impression possible,’ and that was the reason they were dressed up.
Zuko made quick work of his own face, explaining the steps of makeup application to Sokka as he went. The questions his boyfriend asked were not the ones Zuko usually heard from customers at Sephora. Instead, Sokka made inquiries into the chemical properties of the cosmetics, or the manufacturing process; even the reason for the unique shapes of the brushes and other tools was of interest to him.
When he finished, Sokka regarded Zuko with wonder in his eyes. Unlike the natural look he had worn for work that day, Zuko had transformed himself into what Sokka lovingly dubbed “sexy vampire”. He had applied false lashes to both eyes (challenging on his left eye, but not impossible), contoured along his cheekbones, made his eyeliner “smoky” (Sokka didn’t quite understand what that meant), and finished the look with a lipstick the colour of red wine.
“The next time someone tells me bisexuality isn’t real, I’m just showing them a photo of you,” Sokka told him. “Pretty sure they’d understand then.”
“Do people actually say that kind of thing to you – to your face?” Zuko asked, grimacing at the very thought of being spoken to like that.
“For sure,” Sokka confirmed. “I guess people can understand being complete gay, or completely straight, but something in between is tough to grasp. Or they think it’s about wanting to be with more than one person at once, which it’s not, for me at least.”
“Well, the only thing I want to hear people telling you tonight is that you look fucking amazing,” Zuko said, standing up from his seat at the vanity and gesturing at Sokka to swap spots. “Tonight’s the night, Sokka. Go big or go home.”
“A-are you sure?” Sokka asked, bringing his hands up to touch his cheeks. He was suddenly self-conscious; what if he looked like an idiot?
“You’ve tried just about everything individually at this point, so the only difference is that you’d have it all on at once,” Zuko reasoned. And that was true; Sokka had been stopping by the store every day, either during or after Zuko’s shift, and had been introduced to products he’d never even heard of before. Now he could properly identify mascara, distinguish between blush and bronzer, explain what highlighter was for, and (Zuko’s favourite) had purchased a few tubes of lipstick and lipgloss for his own personal use.
“Okay. Do it fast, though, before I chicken out,” Sokka insisted, seating himself backwards on the chair so that Zuko could sit on the end of the bed as he worked his magic.
“What kind of look do you want me to go for? Maybe something natural for your first time?” Both men held in their laughter at Zuko’s very intentional innuendo.
“Um, maybe this isn’t how it works,” Sokka said, “But if I give you one of my lipsticks, could you base the rest of the colours and stuff on that?”
“For sure,” Zuko grinned. He felt oddly proud of Sokka for remembering that some colours and textures go together well, and others don’t. “I like the way you’re thinking.” Sokka reached for his backpack, unzipped one of the pockets on the front, and pulled out a black tube Zuko immediately recognized as a MAC product.
“I don’t remember you buying this,” Zuko said, raising an eyebrow. “Did you get this from Sephora?”
“Of course I did. How could I betray you and go somewhere else?” Sokka asked, scandalized by the very suggestion. “I went before your shift yesterday. Suki and Ty Lee helped me.” When Zuko pulled the lid from the tube, his eyes widened with surprise.
“Sokka, you brave, brave man,” Zuko murmured.
“Is it too much, do you think?”
“Agni, no,” Zuko insisted. “You’re gonna look…well, you’re gonna look really good.” Sokka with fiery-red lips hadn’t crossed Zuko’s mind until this moment, but now that it head, the image wouldn’t be leaving his thoughts anytime soon.
“Wanna know why I picked that one?” Sokka asked, waggling his eyebrows.
“Uh, sure?” Zuko said uncertainly. He’d assumed Sokka just liked the colour, but if there was an actual reason, he was curious to hear it.
“Well, the girls at Sephora insisted that this lipstick is kiss-proof,” Sokka explained, smiling deviously.
“K-kiss-proof?” Zuko repeated, his voice wavering.
“Yep. And I’m sure you know by now that I love experiments, and testing things to see if they work,” Sokka continued, dazzling his boyfriend with his smile. He was pleased that Zuko was responding exactly as he had hoped. “It’s what I’m in school for, in fact.”
“You’re in school for…kissing?”
“Wow, you’re taking this really well,” Sokka laughed, giving Zuko’s shoulders a little shake to bring him back to reality. “Anyways, use this for inspiration, and make me look pretty, alright?” The reminder about the party snapped Zuko out of his daze, mostly because he caught sight of the clock and realized how little time they had left before they’d promised the girls they would leave.
“Shit. Right,” Zuko said, clearing his throat. “With a colour like this, you want the lips to be the main focus of the look, so we’ll be careful not to overdo it elsewhere.”
“Sounds legit,” Sokka nodded. “Well, let’s get me all dolled up, doll.”
* * * * *
“You’re taking forever in there,” Toph complained, knocking on Zuko’s bedroom door. “You two better have clothes on, or I’m telling Uncle you shouldn’t be allowed to have boys in your room with the door shut.”
“Ew, please never say that again,” Katara said, holding her stomach and pretending to gag. “That’s my brother. I don’t want to think about him and Zuko…ya know.”
“Oh, and I do?” Toph asked, scrunching her nose in disgust. “This is one of the few reasons I’m glad to be blind. Never have to see people being nasty.”
“What are the others?” Katara inquired curiously.
“Uncle doesn’t really make me help out with the cleaning because I always knock stuff over, and other people will always give me rides because I can’t learn how to drive,” she listed. “Pretty much just those.”
“Okay, we’re ready to go,” Sokka announced, swinging the door open. The lights were off for some reason, but Zuko was right behind him, his car keys jangling in his hand. Toph made to follow them, but Katara grabbed her shoulder when she caught sight of Sokka’s makeup.
“Ugh, gross, could you guys not have waited until we got home or something?” Katara exclaimed, regarding the boys with a horrified scowl.
“What?” Toph asked, frowning. “What’s wrong? Is Snoozles wearing something awful?”
“Katara, what are you freaking out about now?” Sokka asked, sighing heavily as he stopped halfway down the stairs. “Is this about the makeup? I thought you were more open-minded about this kind of thing. I know it’ll take a bit to get used to, but—”
“It’s not the makeup,” Katara interrupted, averting her eyes. “When was the last time you looked in a mirror, Sokka?”
“What?” Sokka turned around, coming face to face with Zuko. He wiped a hand over his own mouth, glanced down at his palm, and groaned. “Oh, shiiiiii—”
“Language!” Uncle Iroh called from the sitting room.
“Sorry, Iroh!” Sokka replied loudly.
“I’m such an idiot,“ Zuko realized aloud, smacking a hand to his forehead. Both he and Sokka had dark, burgundy lipstick (Marc Jacobs lip crème in deep oxblood, to be exact) smeared around their mouths, and Sokka had it all over his neck as well. It didn’t take a genius to guess how it got there, nor should it have taken a genius to remember that only Sokka’s had been advertised as kiss-proof.
“Looks like mine stayed put, though!” Sokka said brightly.
“We don’t want to know,” Katara hissed, covering her ears. “We changed our mind about the party. Toph, let’s call Aang and see if he’s free to go for ice cream. Ugh, I don’t even know if I could keep it down.”
“What the heck? Katara, what’s happening?” Toph whined.
“I’ll tell you later,” she replied, hauling Toph down the stairs.
Zuko and Sokka stared at each other uncertainly for half a minute before bursting into bubbling, raucous laughter.
“I’ll go get the makeup wipes and meet you in the bathroom?” Sokka suggested, wiping a tear of amusement from his eye. Never before had he seen Zuko flush red from his throat all the way up his face.
“Sure, I just have to light myself on fire first,” Zuko replied, resting his forehead against the wall.
“Well, at least Toph didn’t see anything,” Sokka smirked, patting his boyfriend’s shoulder amiably. “Katara’s so disgusted she’ll never bring it up again. Toph would never talk about anything but this ever again.”
“Small mercies…” Zuko sighed.
Once the boys had cleaned themselves up (and double checked to ensure they hadn’t missed any colourful kisses anywhere else), they joined Iroh in the sitting room for tea. The trio watched a few episodes of some nature program Zuko’s uncle had been raving about for a week. Sokka was certain that the moment they left the safety of Iroh’s sitting room, they would be ambushed by two annoying (and annoyed) teenagers. Just after 10:00, Iroh yawned loudly, stood up from his recliner, and announced that he was retiring for the evening.
“Don’t stay up too late, boys,” he bid them in his deep, rumbling voice. “If you’re around for breakfast tomorrow, I’m making eggs with furikake – a wonderful smell to wake up to, if you ask me.” And with that, Iroh shuffled off to bed.
“Pretty early for a Friday night,” Sokka opined, checking his watch. “Is that normal for him?”
“No, I think he must be trying to give us some privacy,” Zuko exasperated, drawing his knees up to his chest and tucking his head between them. “He’s doing his best to be supportive, and I really do appreciate it, but…”
“But it weirds you out a little when your uncle tries to subtly let you know that it’s cool for your boyfriend to stay the night?” Sokka guessed, chuckling to himself. “It’s nice of him, really. But if you haven’t had your fill of embarrassment, feel free to come over while my dads are home. They’d be more than happy to give you an in-depth talk about how having sex with boys is different than it is with girls, as if I couldn’t have guessed that.”
“Okay, yeah, that’s worse,” Zuko agreed. “I’d take Uncle’s sleepover invites over that every day of the week.” Sokka felt likewise.
When the next episode of their nature show started, Zuko took the opportunity to shuffle closer to Sokka, whose arms were pebbled with goosebumps. Sokka threw an arm around Zuko’s shoulders and tucked him against his side, both because he enjoyed being close to his boyfriend, and also because the man was unnaturally warm-blooded. Sokka got twice the benefit if he cuddled up to Zuko that he could expect if he were to ask to borrow a sweater.
When he noticed that the occasional sarcastic commentary Zuko had provided when Iroh was in the room had dried up, Sokka leaned forward just enough to see Zuko’s expression. The man had gone startlingly quiet, and his eyes had a far-off, glazed-over look that Sokka recognized at once. Zuko was present in body, but his mind was somewhere else completely.
“Hey,” Sokka whispered, nudging Zuko’s knee with his own. “Baby, wake up.”
“Huh?” Zuko mumbled, blinking slowly as he returned to consciousness. “Everything okay?”
“Where’d you go, man?” Sokka asked, his head tilting to one side. “One minute you were here, and then…”
“Oh, you know. Just thinking about stuff,” Zuko shrugged away Sokka’s concern. “Nothing important.” Sokka doubted this very much, but didn’t want to come off as pushy or intrusive. In fact, he had a pretty good idea about what might be troubling Zuko.
“You know I’m not expecting you to invite me to sleep here tonight, right?” Sokka’s soft blue eyes examined Zuko’s face for any sign of discomfort. “That was nice of Iroh to offer, but, uh…” He pressed his lips together for a moment, choosing his words thoughtfully. “I’d really rather wait until you’re the one who asks me to stay, and I don’t want you to ask me until you’re 100% comfortable with that.”
“Oh. Are you sure?” Zuko’s eyebrows knit together questioningly. “I don’t mind.” He did mind, actually, he minded a lot, but no one had ever really taken his thoughts or preferences into consideration – not until he’d moved in with Iroh and Toph.
“I don’t want you to ‘not mind’, I want you to want me to stay,” Sokka clarified. “This is your home, your safe space, and I’ll only ever be here when you want me to be.” These were exactly the words Zuko needed to hear, apparently, because he threw his arms around Sokka’s neck and held him tight.
“Thank you,” Zuko effused, giving Sokka a quick peck on the lips. “Really, I just…thank you.” Sokka dipped his face forward and pressed his nose and mouth against the warm skin of Zuko’s neck, where he stayed as long as he was able to breathe.
The boys committed to one more episode of the show, which they enjoyed in a jumbled mess of arms and legs. They hadn’t been messing around at all, but instead had slowly allowed themselves to become tangled in each other’s warm embrace. As the credits rolled at the end of the episode, Sokka glanced down at the head resting on his sternum, and noticed that Zuko’s eyelids were fluttering, heavy with fatigue.
“Alright, baby,” Sokka said, prodding at his boyfriend’s smooth cheek with an index finger. “Time for you to go tuck yourself into bed, and time for me to head home for the night.” Zuko mumbled incoherently, but was able to pull himself off the couch and walk up to his room, so long as Sokka had a hand on his elbow to guide him.
When Sokka was satisfied with the way the blankets were draped over Zuko’s slim frame, he kissed the boy’s forehead and whispered a sweet goodnight wish to him.
“Hey, Ssssokka?” Zuko slurred sleepily, opening his eyes just long enough to catch Sokka’s retreat from his bedroom. “When will I see you next?”
“Bright and early,” Sokka called back in a loud whisper. “I may not be staying the night, but there’s no way I’m missing out on that breakfast Iroh mentioned.” And with that, Sokka flicked the light switch next to Zuko’s door and was off, hoping that he’d be able to keep his own eyes open long enough to make it home.