Work Text:
Board Game Night was Sokka’s idea. He and Zuko had been officially dating for about a month, and they had been hanging out in Sokka’s apartment when he brought it up. Sokka was sitting on the couch with Zuko’s legs pulled up onto his lap. Zuko was idly flipping through a magazine, while Sokka’s brow was furrowed with deep concentration as he studied a book about business management. He had recently confided to Zuko that he was hoping to start his own game production company.
“I’ve been thinking,” Sokka said suddenly, eyes still narrowed in concentration at his reading material. Zuko looked up at him and gave a light snort.
“Good to know. Here I wasn’t sure if you were actually capable of doing that.”
“Oh ha ha ha,” Sokka grumbled goodnaturedly, swatting at his boyfriend’s arm. Zuko grinned and started swatting back. After a moment of this back and forth Sokka grabbed Zuko’s hand and held it. “Anyway,” he continued, “I’ve been thinking it might be nice to have a sort of official family introduction evening, now that we’re in a relationship and all.”
Zuko titled his head to the side at this. He knew Sokka’s father and grandmother lived out in Alaska, while his own Uncle Iroh lived down in the Philadelphia area, which, while certainly closer to Maine than Alaska, was still an awfully long way to travel for just one evening. “But that would just be us and Katara, and as much as I long to be put through the ‘what are your intentions with my brother’ ringer, we’ve already hung out a ton of times, so… I guess, I don’t really see the point…” He trailed off, noting Sokka’s bemused expression.
“I was actually thinking it would be the four of us.”
“Four?” Zuko questioned. “We including Aang in this?”
“More like Azula.” Sokka said, turning back to his book as though he hadn’t just dropped a metaphorical bombshell on his boyfriend. Zuko blinked in surprise. Taco Night (™) with Azula had gone surprisingly well, in a whole number of ways Zuko was immensely grateful for, but he hadn’t gotten the sense Sokka would ever want to actively spend time with his sister again. Much less that he would ever be the one to suggest it.
“Let me see if I understand what you’re suggesting here,” Zuko said. “You, Sokka, my boyfriend, you want to spend time with my sister, Azula, the person you once referred to as a ‘sick, sadistic fuck.’ You’re suggesting that. And suggesting bringing your own sister into the mix as well. Do I have that right?”
Sokka shifted uncomfortably at the parroting of his words back to him. “Yes. I thought it might be good to us all to get to know each other better since, you know,” he muttered and gestured back and forth between himself and Zuko. “We’re together now, and I want our relationship to last. Even though I admit I don’t exactly see eye to eye with you regarding your sister, I know improving your relationship with her is important to you, and I just-” he huffed, looking up towards the ceiling. “I want to support you in this, so let me fucking support you dumbass!”
Zuko leaned over, pulled Sokka’s face back down to face his, and softly kissed him. “Thank you,” he said, pulling away again, marvelling at how cutely Sokka still blushed whenever he kissed him like that. “I would really appreciate that. And who you calling dumbass, dumbass?”
Sokka grinned and the two both went back to their reading material. A few minutes passed before Sokka broke the silence again. “For the record though, I only called her that because you had just told me about the time she lit all your stuffed animals on fire when she was like, nine. You’ve gotta admit that’s just weird. Who’s a fucking arsonist at the age of nine?”
“I know, sweetie,” Zuko said reassuringly, reaching over to rub his boyfriend’s arm without looking up from his magazine. “I know.”
They decided to make the evening board game night for a couple of reasons. First, they wanted to create an environment that was more relaxed than a traditional ‘meeting the family’ dinner would have been. Second, while discussing possible activities for the evening Sokka remembered that Azula loved board games, and Zuko concurred, also pointing out that all four of them did actually. Thus, it was decided.
The evening they set for board game night arrived. Zuko bustled around his apartment, getting ready for the arrival of the others. Sokka and Katara would be arriving together, while Azula was getting dropped off by Ty Lee. She hadn’t yet been able to get her driver’s license reinstated, and didn’t actually seem overeager to get back to driving either. Zuko carefully set the few board games he owned on the coffee table in the living room. He knew the others would be bringing along game options of their own. Chuckling to himself he hoped Katara had managed to talk Sokka out of bringing all the games he owned, he wasn’t even sure they would all be able to fit into her car anyway.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing. Opening it he found his sister clutching a small stack of board games to her chest. “Hi,” she offered.
“Hello,” he said in return. Even though things between them were getting better, they still had a long way to go. Azula turned to wave to Ty Lee who was sitting in her car outside. Ty Lee gave a thumbs up and drove off. “Well,” Zuko put in awkwardly after Azula turned back around, “Come on in.” He stood aside to let her in. After the door closed he had an uncomfortable moment when he realized this was the first time he had been alone with his sister outside of a controlled doctor’s room environment for years.
She seemed to realize this too, her eyes darting to meet his with some trepidation in them. Clearing her throat, she straightened up. “Where should I put these?” she asked, obviously trying to sound imperious rather than nervous, but the flicker of worry in her eyes gave her away.
“I’ll take them,” Zuko said, reaching over to grab the boxes out of her hands. “I’ve put the other games on the coffee table. I figure we can spread all the options out in the living room, then move to the dining room table to play once we make a decision. Though even just making a decision might be hard, since I feel like Sokka’s gonna bring his whole game arsenal. If he does we could be here for days just trying to decide what game to play!” Great, he thinks, five minutes alone with his sister and he’s already rambling on like an idiot. For her part Azula just stares at him like he’s grown another head.
Thankfully at that moment the tension is broken by the doorbell ringing. Zuko hurries over to answer it, relief evident in his features as he throws open the door to the sight of Sokka and Katara. Sokka seems to have managed to contain himself, as he only has a small mountain of games in his arms, rather than the veritable avalanche Zuko feared.
“Hey!” Sokka called cheerfully.
“Hi Zuko,” Katara said warmly, leaning in to give him a hug.
“Welcome,” Zuko said, ushering them into his apartment. “We’re putting the games on the coffee table.” He directed to Sokka, who nodded an affirmative and moved further inside to dump the games on the table.
Zuko then led Katara into the dining room, where Azula stood. “Katara, this is my sister Azula. Azula, this is Sokka’s sister Katara.” Zuko said, making the introduction between the two women. Katara gave the other woman an intense look over, having heard many of the same terrifying stories about her as Sokka. A slight smirk started on Azula’s face, she clearly was aware of this and seemed to take a certain measure of delight in it.
“Oh, don’t worry honey,” she drawled, “My bark is much worse than my bite these days. Though I admittedly make no promises.” She bared her teeth in a grin.
“Uh,” Katara said, blinking in surprise at the aggression in the other’s voice. “Nice to meet you too, I guess.” Shooting Zuko a look, she turned to go find out what was keeping her brother. Zuko glared at Azula as Katara left the room, and Azula held up her hands in a shrug with mock innocence. Rolling his eyes, Zuko turned to follow Katara back into the other room, motioning for Azula to come along as well.
They entered the living room to find Sokka methodically sorting through all the board games on the table. “We have so many good options, I don’t know how we’re going to decide which to play!” He crowed enthusiastically with a huge grin on his face. Zuko smiled affectionately at his boyfriend, working to put the tension of the last exchange with his sister out of his mind. “We could play Settlers of Catan, or Cards Against Humanity, or a good old fashioned classic like Monopoly…” Sokka continued to rattle off a variety of game options, happily lost in his own little world.
“What about that one?” Azula put in suddenly, pointing to a green and black box shoved slightly off into a corner. Sokka looked over at it, then looked up nervously between Zuko and Azula.
“That one is… fun,” he admitted, “But I think other games would be better for tonight.”
Zuko managed to make out the title of the game at the same time as Katara, and instantly understood Sokka’s hesitation to play that particular game tonight.
“Really?” Katara asked Azula incredulously. “You want to play a game called ‘Betrayal at House on the Hill? I guess you really can’t make this shit up…” she muttered.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Azula sneered at Katara.
Realizing how rapidly this was going south, Sokka cut in. Standing up and moving to position himself between the two women he shouted “Risk! We can play Risk! I even have a couple different versions of the game, the Walking Dead one is particularly fun.”
Azula turned towards him and appeared to consider this. “Alright,” she said, eyes gleaming. “Let’s play Risk.”
While Zuko was glad to have avoided an Azula and Katara blow-up, he still did not like the look in Azula OR Sokka’s Eyes, so he quickly made to shut this idea down too. “Maybe, since we’re all just getting to know each other, wanting to have a good time and all that,” he offered nervously, “Maybe we should play some lighter games tonight. Get into the world domination later?” Neither Sokka or Azula looked thrilled by this. Both determinedly staring each other down, obviously relishing the idea of the competitive strategy game.
Zuko looked helplessly at Katara. Her gaze flickered back and forth between her brother and Azula. Seemingly also realizing how bad of an idea this was she hastily agreed. “Yeah, I feel like Risk ought to wait for another night.”
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Azula turned to Zuko. “Well, then Zuzu, what do YOU suggest we play?”
Taken aback, Zuko glanced around the room, desperately trying to find a nice calm game for them to play. “How about this?” His hand shot out and scooped up a box. “Uncle got it for me several years ago. We had a lot of fun playing it.” He turned it around to show the others the title: 10 Days in Asia. “It’s like you have to plan a travel itinerary, but more complicated than that… It’s easier to explain if I show you.” He offered, looking hopefully around at the others. Azula didn't look totally convinced, world domination and betrayal still clearly on her mind, but Katara looked interested.
Sokka was caught somewhere between the two women, his competitive nature wanting to play Risk, but also knowing the importance of keeping the peace. He looked up into his boyfriend’s face and knew he was beat. “Okay,” he said smiling, “Let’s try that game out.”
After about twenty minutes of explaining and demonstrations the group began playing the game at the dining room table. It took a couple rounds for the others to fully grasp how the game worked, but once they got there they began having a blast. Zuko happily looked around at the others. The game is just the right amount of competitive to satisfy Sokka and Azula, while still laid-back enough for them all to carry on other conversations with each other. Despite the rocky start to the evening everyone now seemed to be getting along and, even better given the goal of the evening, getting to know each other.
Zuko should have known better than to think that would last. They were in the middle of their fourth play through when Sokka began accusing Katara of cheating. “I saw you!” he howled at his sister. “I saw you switch the yellow plane card with the blue plane card!”
“No I didn’t!” Katara shot back. “You’re just mad that I got the blue plane card instead of you!”
“I am not! I don’t even need a blue plane card!” Sokka glared. “This is just like when we were kids and you would cheat at Go Fish!”
“Okay, everyone, how about we calm down for a moment,” Zuko said soothingly. “It’s just a game after all.”
“Yeah,” Azula chimed in. Zuko looked over to his sister gratefully. “After all,” she added, “None of the good country cards are blue anyway.”
Zuko turned to look at his sister. “What the fuck do you mean, both Thailand AND Mongolia are blue…”
Azula shrugged and smirked. “I said what I said.” The room then entered complete chaos as Sokka and Katara continued to scream at each other about who was the real cheater, and Zuko and Azula began a heated argument over the merits of various countries on the board.
After about five minutes of this Zuko found he couldn’t take anymore. Silently he moved the cards off of the board in front of him while Azula droned on and Sokka and Katara screamed in the background. In one fluid motion he grabbed the board, flipped it, and held it behind his head. Instantly all attention in the room turned toward him.
“Put the board back down Zuzu,” Azula croaked, eyes wide, uncertain of what her brother was doing.
“I am not putting this board back down until all of you SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Zuko screamed. “We are not gonna keep playing if this is how you all are going to act!” He fumed, glaring at each of them in turn.
“Please put the board back down honey.” Sokka pleaded.
“Yeah,” Katara said. “We are so sorry, we’ll stop yelling. Won’t we guys?” The others all nodded affirmatively. They all looked at Zuko nervously, he was still holding the board behind his head and out of their reach, a slightly crazed look in his eyes.
“We’ll be good, I swear!” Sokka stammered.
“I promise we will be Zuzu.” Azula said. ‘We were all having fun, and we’d like to continue.” She looked around at the others and they all murmured their own agreements with the sentiment before turning their gaze back to Zuko.
He glared around at them suspiciously. “Alright,” he said, slowly bringing the board back down towards the table. The others sighed in relief. “But,” the others instantly froze again, “if you start fucking screaming like that again I will take this board back, so help me god…” He finally put the board back down to the relief of the others, and they continued on with the night.
The end of the night came without any further major incidents happening. Azula was picked up by Ty Lee, and actually seemed sorry to have to say goodbye to the others. She gave Zuko a tight hug before leaving, and even managed an awkward half hug with Katara.
Katara left shortly after her, steadfastly refusing Sokka’s pleas to drop his board games back off at his apartment for him. “Just do it yourself tomorrow lazy bones,” she scoffed. She gave both her brother and Zuko a hug before leaving, shooting Sokka an annoyed look when he used the hug as an attempt to sneak a game or two into her bag without her noticing.
Once she left Zuko and Sokka went about clearing up for the night before going to sleep. Zuko sat on the bed while Sokka went to brush his teeth in the bathroom. Standing up, he leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom. “Thank you. For suggesting we have this get together.” He said softly. Sokka looked up in the mirror at his boyfriend’s reflection with a smile. He spat out the last of his toothpaste and turned around.
“Of course!” he said cheerfully and walked over to where Zuko stood. He threw an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders, turned out the light, and the two began walking back towards the bedroom. “It turns out not only am I capable of thinking, I actually am capable of having good thoughts too!”
Zuko groaned at that. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know that having one solitary good idea makes you all that capable though.”
Sokka put his hand against his chest as though wounded. “How dare you! Betrayed! Betrayed by my own boyfriend! Maybe we should have played Betrayal after all, you’d be a natural! And,” he added, “It would have been a lot harder for you to successfully flip the board with Betrayal.”
Smirking, Zuko said, “How about we play that next game night then?”
“I’d like that,” Sokka said smiling, “I’d like that very much.”