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"Zuko, no."
Zuko made direct eye contact with Sokka, glaring intensely.
"Zuko. Don't."
Zuko flicked his ear dismissively, slowly edging his hand closer to the pot of ink on the table. He taped it lightly, pupils widening from slits to saucers as it balanced dangerously at the edge. Sokka's protests only encouraged his bastard instinct, his wide and panicked expression the final motivation Zuko needed to give one last satisfying push to the small pot. It clattered loudly, the metallic ringing sweet music to Zuko's ears as he watched jet black ink pour out of the pot and seep into the carpet, the stain growing bigger and bigger and less manageable.
"Why?" Sokka didn't even sound angry, or exasperated. He just sounded disappointed, which filled Zuko with pride.
"Thought it would be funny."
"And was it?"
"Yeah." Sokka sighed, shaking his head and picking up the ink pot. It was a waste of time clearing up the ink, so Sokka merely covered it with absorbent cloth to soak it up some. Zuko decided that the table, now disappointingly empty, was boring to sit on. Sokka's paperwork on the floor, however, looked nicely cluttered and comfortable. It would inconvenience Sokka a great deal, which was Zuko's favourite thing to do when bored.
He waited a few minutes, Sokka busy working, and stretched. He yawned, as face splittingly as he could manage to show off his fangs, before slinking off the table onto the floor. Sokka noticed out of the corner of his eye, stretching his arm out for a cuddle, but Zuko had other plans. He shuffled to sit besides the mass of paperwork, and tilted his head in mock curiosity. "What's that?"
"Blueprints for a steam powered engine," Sokka replied, "I'm trying to design a more efficient way to power air ships."
"Sounds important," Zuko replied, concealing a mischievous grin. Sokka nodded cautiously. Zuko decided he wouldn't sharpen his claws on the paper, but he did decide that it would still make a comfy place to lay down. It would also remove the distraction of work, so Zuko wouldn't be so bored. He didn't give any warning, pushing Sokka's hands out of the way and dropping to lay over the paperwork, looking up at Sokka. "I'm bored."
"Zuko please-"
"Attention." Sokka sighed, reaching his hand out slowly as if to touch Zuko's stomach. That activated Zuko's kill instinct, preparing himself to bite and backpedal in play should the hand make contact- of course, he purred and tried to look innocent. Sokka hesitated, withdrawing his hand.
"I don't trust that face."
"What face," Zuko grinned, "I'm smiling at you."
"You have the bastard face on." Zuko scowled instead, swishing his tail across the paperwork that he wasn't laying on before getting up and stalking off back to the table. He sat with his back to Sokka, though, to show him that he trusted him to watch his back. He hoped Sokka didn't think he was just ignoring him, although he was also doing that too, occasionally flicking his ears back to better hear the way Sokka mumbled under his breath. Humans were so cute sometimes, with their little quirks and habits.
He purred softly, waited until Sokka made his way over before tilting his head back. Sokka smiled, reaching out to lightly scratch Zuko's ears. He purred louder, leaning his weight on Sokka's hand until he was sprawled out on the table. He pushed himself closer to the edge, until Sokka's hand in his hair was the only thing stopping him from falling. He knew it annoyed Sokka, even if he also found it endearing.
"Zuko please."
Zuko smiled innocently, making sure to slowly blink as he displayed his fangs, before pushing himself even further off the edge, grabbing Sokka's other hand and guiding it to an itch by his right ear. Sokka scratched it gently, and Zuko melted, pushing himself off the table until Sokka had to catch him. He hadn't quite anticipated the feeling of falling off the table, so he yowled and hissed loudly in surprise, fur puffy as he twisted mid-air and ran out, knocking over several objects in the process.
He made his way to the bedroom, jumping up onto the door- it almost closed on him and trapped his tail, but he managed to stop it from closing with his hand on the wall.
The door really was too thin for him to sit, and he could feel himself wobbling, but the fact remains that he was currently on the door, therefore he must fit, and he must sit.
Eventually, he decided it was nap time, so he settled down as best he could on top of the door, legs and arms either side of the door hanging down and chin resting on the edge of the door uncomfortably. He let his tail drape over the side of the door, closing his eyes and purring low to comfort himself after his near-death experience.
-
Sokka hadn't left Zuko's side- not after he'd fallen off the door. He wasn't hopeful that Zuko would make it through the night, but then he did, and now Sokka was sure that the doctor had bad news-
"He's perfectly fine. It's merely a bruised leg."
"I'm sorry- what?"
"Your, um- feline, bruised his leg falling off the door- and that's it. He wasn't fitting when you found him, he was just dreaming. And the 'inability' to walk was because his leg hurt and he didn't want to do so. And of course, when you made him comfortable in bed, he felt no reason to try to get back up again. So, your catboy isn't dying, he's just dramatic. He gave quite the theatrical performance, if I'm to believe your account of the events. You should consider encouraging him to perhaps pursue a career treading the boards."
Sokka waited until the doctor was gone before he stared blankly at the wall in disbelief. Sokka had thought Zuko's dramatic accidents had peaked when he'd fallen asleep on the cooker and accidentally caught the dial, almost burning the kitchen down. Twice. Apparently, falling off the door and pretending he was dying when he was actually almost completely fine was a new achievement on the list of 'Bastard Kitty Antics That Make Sokka Regret His Life Choices'. Sokka had playfully made the list as a comedic callout, but Zuko, of course, took it as a challenge.
He liked to cause problems on purpose.
Sokka made his way into the bedroom, where Zuko was quite happily perched on the windowsill, letting out tiny adorable trills at the birds. Not so adorable if Zuko had been a normal cat, because that would mean he was trying to eat them, but Zuko wasn't technically a cat: he was a catboy, so thankfully, human enough to know not to try and eat birds for lunch.
Sokka wanted to be at least a little mad at him, but he'd been so overwhelmed with fear and grief that he was just relieved that Zuko was okay and not dead. He approached carefully, opening his arms for a hug. "Please don't do that again…" Zuko headbutted Sokka's chest, pushing as much of himself as he could into Sokka's arms. Sokka just held him tightly, grateful for the rare opportunity of cuddling Zuko without him turning into an inhuman slinky and escaping his grasp like he had no bones.
"Sorry," Zuko replied quietly, "I just liked being cared for like that…" there was a pause. "I didn't get so much love and affection before, then I fell off the door, and, you made me all comfortable, and I.. failed to read your expressions properly, so, I thought you knew I was play acting being badly hurt, and, I thought you were just going along with it, for me..."
"What're we gonna do with you, eh?" Sokka joked affectionately, gently rubbing up and down Zuko's spine. He gathered Zuko didn't have the best of lives, but Sokka had never fully processed that before. He decided to make it his mission to pamper Zuko as much as possible. After all, he deserved the best in life. Sokka moved his hand up to rub at Zuko's ears, melting inside at the soft purrs Zuko made. "What do you want nice? I'll treat you."
"Uh… milk?"
"Zuko, you're lactose intolerant. Please. Not again. I'm not strong enough-"
"... I'm gonna drink all the milk in the fridg-" Zuko hissed, swatting at his tail. Of course, smacking his tail hurt, so he yowled, pinning his ears back and biting at it. Zuko wasn't always the smartest kitty, but Sokka loved him for it.
"Zuko, it's attached to you," Sokka reminded softly, moving back slightly to give Zuko space. Zuko looked up at him, tail between his teeth, growling lightly and going cross-eyed looking down at it. He tried to twitch his own tail to release it from his own grasp, but he only yowled and grabbed it in his hands, chewing it frantically.
Sokka shook his head, gently prying Zuko's tail out of his mouth and setting it back on the windowsill. Zuko glared at his tail like it offended him, swishing it in anger, before deciding once more that it was an annoying threat, and trying to pounce on it. Sokka decided that a distraction was in order.
He pulled the laser pointer from his pocket, shining the red dot near Zuko's tail. Zuko immediately paused, staring intently as Sokka moved it up the wall. "That's not gonna work, Sokka, I'm not actually a cat-" Zuko wiggled his butt, and pounced on the dot. When it disappeared and he didn't feel it under his hands, he looked beneath them for the dot in confusion.
"Sure you're not," Sokka grinned, earning himself a playful hiss from Zuko. Zuko's ear twitched, and kept twitching, until he growled and started aggressively scratching it, yowling and hissing. "Hey, hey, no, don't do that," Sokka chastised gently, risking the safety of his hands to grab Zuko's ears and rub them soothingly. He still tried to scratch, of course, but he eventually melted into the touch. "You're such a dumb kitty sometimes," Sokka said affectionately, "I love you for it." Zuko gave a friendly headbutt and a purr in reply, and Sokka decided that he truly was precious.