Work Text:
Sokka squints, chewing his straw into a gross plastic mesh. He’s hunched over the kitchen counter, peering around the wall and watching his sister and best friend string up Christmas lights around the tree in their shared apartment. His eyes narrow as the two graze fingers, Aang nearly dropping the ornament in his hands as a light flush dust his cheeks, and Katara looks away, pretending like nothing happened.
“Gross,” He mumbles around his juice pouch.
“What’s gross is your staring,” Mai says as she passes by with a tray of cookies, not even giving him a passing glance, with Zuko at her elbow carrying another.
“No! What’s gross is– that!” Sokka gestures to the couple-not-couple in the living room ignoring the obvious tension between them.
Zuko places his tray of treats beside Mai’s on the coffee table and successfully smuggles three cookies without Mai seeing. He returns back to Sokka, leaning his arm on the man’s shoulder.
“What about it?” His friend asks, stuffing a cookie in his mouth and another in Sokka’s.
Sokka bits down on the biscuit hard, one half going in his mouth and the other landing in Zuko’s waiting hand. “Other than the pining that’s been there for ages? Since Aang was shorter than Katara and now he’s nearly a head taller? Or the fact that they’re so gross and adorable that it makes me want to throw up and scream at the same time. ” He chews aggressively.
Zuko simply laughs at his words.
“Glad you find this so funny!” Sokka swallows then opens his mouth. His friend stuffs the other half of his cookie in. “Ahm ova hee daing!”
Zuko chews. “You’re over here dying.”
“Mmm!” Sokka huffs, slouching further on top of the counter and he eats his feelings away. Zuko lightly pets his hair and he melts at the touch.
The two watch as Mai has to push Suki and Aang away from the cookies, telling them to wait until the others arrive. Teo sneaking behind on his wheelchair and snagging one anyway. Katara attempts to talk Toph out of climbing the tree to put the star on top while Azula attempts to goad her into doing it.
“I don’t think your apartment is big enough for everyone,” Zuko comments as he waves the third cookie in front of Sokka.
Sokka grabs it, breaks it in half, and gives the other half back to Zuko. “Yeah. Katara just kinda invited everyone she could find without really thinking.” Christmas is probably the only thing Katara gets more enthusiastic about than Sokka. She insisted on putting up the tree before anyone else did and convinced as many people as possible to help. Sokka didn’t mind. He loved seeing their shared space decked in lights, and seeing the childlike energy from his sister was like the cherry on top
“Oh, but did you hear?” Zuko taps on Sokka’s shoulder and he shifts so his cheek is resting on the linoleum instead of his chin to look up at the boy beside him. “Suki is already planning a party at her place on Christmas Eve. Apparently, she’s going to put up so many mistletoes around to finally convince Ty Lee to kiss Mai.”
Sokka snorts. “That’s nice.”
Zuko blinks down at him. Sokka blinks up. Then his eyes widen. His best friend steps back as he jolts up. “She’s a genius!”
“A what?”
“A 25 Day OTP Challenge Christmas edition!” Sokka waves his phone in front of Zuko, showing him the screen.
Zuko takes his phone, reading it. “Isn’t that a destiel thing?”
“It’s not just a destiel thing! It’s a love thing!”
“But this is a destiel fanfic–”
“Enough of that.” Sokka grabs his phone from the other’s hand. “It doesn’t matter where I got it from. What matters is who I’m gonna use it on!”
Zuko lightly shakes his head, but a smile is on his lips. “You know, when I told you about the mistletoe thing, I just expected you to push them under one.”
“No, no, no.” Sokka looks affronted. “We can’t just do something like forcing them under a mistletoe. With where they are now, they’d just awkwardly laugh and run away. No, we have to convince them that the other is in love with them!”
“‘We’?”
“Duh.” Sokka scrolls through the list on his phone. “You’re gonna help. And look! We already did day one, six and nineteen! Decorations, a tree, and a party! Kinda!” He shows Zuko the list again. “We have to make this perfect, especially because it’s Christmas. It’ll make them so happy.”
“And you.”
“And me. Call it a win-win situation.”
Zuko sighs and takes the phone from him again. “Fine, but we’ll have to rearrange this list a bit to make it work.”
“Yay!” Sokka jumphugs Zuko.
Day 1 - putting up decorations: ✓
+ Bonus Day 2 - decorating the Christmas tree: ✓
+ Bonus Day 3 - throwing a holiday party: ✓
Day 4 - making Christmas cards
“Why are we doing this?” Katara asks as she drenches the piece of construction paper with Elmer’s glue.
Aang struggles to take the lid off of the red glitter.
“Wouldn’t it be cute to send these to dad and gran gran?” Sokka grins, holding up a card shaped like a lopsided Christmas tree. In little blue beads spell out Merry Christmas I miss Youwu. “It’s for Bato.”
Katara smiles. “He’ll love it.”
Sokka sits back, pleased, and moves the finished card to the side where he has his dad’s and grandma’s already completed. This may have been a ploy to get Aang and Katara together, but that doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy arts’n’crafts time. Arts’n’crafts fucks no matter how old you are.
He looks to his right where Zuko is hunched over his own piece of construction paper. He’s been periodically glancing up and staring at Sokka for a while. Sokka is able to make eye contact with him the next time he raises his head.
“What are you doing?”
Zuko shifts so his arm is covering Sokka’s view. “Not yet. I’m not done.”
Sokka grins, reaching over to get a better look. “Why? What’re you doing?”
“No, no, no! It’s a surprise!” Sokka attempts to wrestle the card out from under Zuko, struggling to lift the man’s arm. “Ahh! No!”
Zuko moves to the offensive and grabs Sokka under the armpit, causing the other to erupt into giggles. “No! Stop! Okay, okay! I concede!”
But Zuko doesn’t let go, fingers shifting to Sokka’s sides. Sokka jerks, his knee colliding with the table. And suddenly there’s a pop and glitter is raining from the sky.
The two freeze, turning their heads to look at Aang, who has the now open and half empty container of glitter in his hands as he stares wide eyed at it. The rest of the red glitter blankets the table around him, decorating his skin and hair. Sokka’s sure he doesn’t look any better.
There’s a snort at the end of the table and all three boys look to see Katara staring at the pile of sparkling red sticking to the layer of glue she originally coated her card with. She gives a raised eyebrow to Aang. “You could have just asked for help.”
Aang flushes red, or maybe that was the glitter sticking to his cheeks, and moves to dust off the pile gathering on her shoulder but stops when he sees the state of his hands. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry!”
Katara snorts again, before she digs her finger into her sparkly gluey mess and dots a chunk of it onto Aang’s nose. “Hey, Rudolf.” She grins.
No, that is definitely a blush on Aang.
Sokka can’t keep the giddy smile off his face
“Done!” Zuko cheers, sliding the piece of paper towards him with pride. Sokka stares at it and staring back is a crude portrait of himself with antlers and deer ears.
Katara laughs. “Christmas fursona.”
Day 4 - making Christmas cards: ✓
Day 5 - snuggling in front of the fireplace
Sokka frowns.
They don’t have a fireplace.
There’s a clap on his shoulder and Zuko gives him a shrug. “I have an idea.”
It was a bad idea.
Sokka whines as he snuggles deeper into the front of Zuko’s jacket, Zuko’s hands rubbing his back to generate some warmth. He wasn’t able to get his own coat before they had to evacuate their apartment as Aang hurriedly called the fire department and Katara called their landlord
“I can’t believe you blew up my living room.” Sokka says as he watches firefighters carry their charred coffee table out the door. “Where did you even get that many candles from?”
Sokka feels Zuko shrug. “I asked Mai. She hoards them. And you were the one who knocked one of them over. Can’t blame this on me.”
“Yes, I sure can!” Katara grits out through clenched teeth. Her and Aang are walking back from their conversation with their landlord. “You owe us $600 for damages.”
“Yeah, that’s fair.” Zuko tries to give her a sheepish grin but it’s met with a glare.
She shivers, arms wrapped around herself. “Christ. We can’t even go in yet until the firefighters are done. Jeez, it’s cold.”
Sokka twists his lips and makes eye contact with Aang. He widens his eyes in lieu of giving the man a nudge.
Aang clears his throat and plays with the hem of his sweater. “Uhh, Katara, if you want you can–”
“Ugh, sorry, Aang. I can’t take this.” Katara lifts up Aang’s sweater and quickly ducks inside. Seconds later, her head peaks out of the stretched neck hole as she presses her back onto Aang’s front. “Oh, my God. Much better. It’s a good thing you wear such baggy clothes.”
Sokka has to cover his mouth as Zuko hides his face in his shoulder to prevent themselves from bursting out laughing at Aang’s expression.
Day 5 - snuggling in front of the fireplace: kinda?
+ Day 6 - one lending the other their coat/scarf/hat to keep them warm: kinda?
Day 7 - Christmas shopping
Sokka’s lost.
Well, it’s more like he lost Katara and Aang. The three went to go Christmas shopping together. Since their friend group is so big , they decided to buy a gift for each household instead of each person and split the costs between the three of them. They already found something for Suki and Ty Lee, Toph and Zuko, and Mai and Azula. They were looking for something for Uncle Iroh when Sokka got distracted with the idea of getting a popcorn maker for their own apartment. The next time he looked up, Katara and Aang were gone.
“Ahhhh, baby sister! Why won’t you pick up?” Sokka whines into his phone, having gone to voicemail for the fourth time. “Ugh. When you decide to look at your phone, I’m at Starbucks.”
He hangs up with a pout and sips at his white hot chocolate. “They better be doing something cute and finding out they're in love.” Sokka mumbles.
“Who?”
He startles, looking up from his phone to see Zuko smiling down at him.
“Zuzu! Why didn’t you tell me you were going shopping today?”
His best friend gives him an exasperated look for the nickname and takes a seat across from him. “I could ask you the same. Plus, how can I buy your gift with you around?”
Sokka hums and takes a peak at the bag by Zuko’s side. Zuko shifts his leg too late to cover the label and he is able to see it. Sokka’s eyes widen as he spots a familiar box through the clear plastic. “Is that a popcorn maker?”
Zuko sighs. “Don’t tell Katara.”
Day 7 - Christmas shopping: ✓
Day 8 - buying the Christmas Tree
Azula wants a real tree.
Mai tried to convince her that it’ll shed too much and will be a pain to clean up but she wouldn’t listen. So, now Zuko, Azula, Sokka, Katara, and Aang are walking through a small man made forest of coniferous trees looking for the perfect one. It has started snowing earlier that day and it still hasn’t let up. They’ve been at this for a few hours now.
“Azula, can you make a decision already?” Zuko urges, gloved fingers pinching at the conifer branches of the closest tree to him. “They all look the same.”
“They do not!” Azula calls from ahead, shaking her head at another option Katara shows her. Katara gives up and joins Aang on the ground, sitting on a patch of snow just off to the side of the path. “It has to be tall, but not too tall. Big, but not too big. And it has to be full! No bald patches on my tree!”
Sokka sighs as he gently pats the head of his sister, snow gathering in her hair. Aang is looking at the sky with his tongue out to catch snowflakes but he’s been in that position for so long it’s starting to worry him. Everyone is looking a little sleepy and bored but Azula will not compromise. Zuko grows tired of following Azula around and comes over to join them. At the crunch of the snow under his boots, Sokka gets an idea.
He crouches down, gloved hands digging into the snow and forms a sizable ball in his hands. Katara watches him, intrigued, as Aang grins and moves to do the same. Sokka passes Zuko and the other man’s eyes widen. Sokka holds up a finger to keep him quiet, and sneaks up a couple meters behind Azula. He winds his arm back and launches it, smacking Azula right at the back of his head.
She freezes, shivering as snow creeps into her jacket and down her back. Sokka watches as she slowly turns around, eyes wide, and Sokka grins. He hears scampering behind him, the others having got up to hide, and Zuko grabs his arm dragging him behind a tree as Azula drops to the ground, not even bothering to form a ball, and nails him at the back of his thigh.
It became a free for all, Zuko and Sokka forming a temporary alliance only broken when Azula convinces her brother to gang up on Sokka, Katara, and Aang. They tucker themselves out in a matter of minutes, slipping and sliding on the snow, pants completely soaked. They eventually call a truce, deeming Zuko a traitor and smushing snow down his jacket, Azula laughing at his misfortune. The five settle back on the ground, Katara and Aang laying down and making snow angels while Azula, Zuko and Sokka make tiny snowmen.
“You know,” Azula says as she impales a stick into his snowman’s head. “I suppose I can settle for a poor imitation of a tree. It’s not worth the trouble anymore.”
Day 8 - buying the Christmas Tree: ✓
+ Bonus Day 9 - have a snowball fight: ✓
+ Bonus Day 10 - make snow angels/snowmen: ✓
Day 11 - one catching a cold and the other nursing them back to health
Aang gets sick.
Honestly, Sokka was expecting Zuko to be the one to face the repercussions of the snowball fight considering he was ganged up on at the end, but it seems the younger man’s constitution isn’t all that good.
Katara and Sokka invited themselves into Aang’s, Toph’s and Zuko’s shared house to help take care of the poor boy. Katara doesn’t trust either of his housemates to take care of Aang alone, and Sokka can’t fault his sister for thinking that
The siblings are greeted by a large Saint Bernard slobbering their faces.
“C’mon, buddy,” Aang calls with a croak from the bundle of blankets on the couch. “Let Sokka and Katara in.” Appa cuts his welcome short and bounds back to his owner, draping over the sick man like an extra blanket, Momo, the Siamese, resting on his head.
“Hey, Toph! Zuko!” Sokka calls from the kitchen, dropping bags of ingredients on top of the counters. “Come over here and help me with the cookies!”
“I thought I was helping you with the cookies?” Katara asks.
But Sokka shakes his head and hands her a thermos and a bottle of pills. “Nope, your job is to take care of your boyfriend.” He’s met with a glare. “ Fine , your not- boyfriend. Now, shoo. Play nurse.” Katara rolls her eyes but does as she’s told.
As she leaves the kitchen, Zuko and Toph enter. Sokka roams his eyes over the blind girl and the rich kid, frowning as he remembers that he, himself is a Sokka, and that they are in a kitchen. Quickly grabbing a bowl, he hands it to Zuko, deeming him the least problematic of the three. “Okay, chef, what do we do first?”
Get flour everywhere, apparently, the bag exploding after Zuko forces it open. Toph has gotten into the icing sugar and is now on a sugar high, knocking over a carton of eggs. Sokka turns the automatic whisker on too high of a setting and splatters the wet mixture all over the table and himself. Zuko has to call over Katara and the three suffer the clean up as she takes care of the baking.
They get there eventually, nearly burning the cookies. But three hours later, they have a pile of badly iced sugar cookies on a plate that they happily munch on as they watch a rerun of Home Alone 2, Katara snuggled up beside a sniffling Aang and Sokka nearly on Zuko’s lap as they try to fit five people and two animals on a couch meant for three.
Day 11 - Day 11 - one catching a cold and the other nursing them back to health: ✓
+ Bonus Day 12 - baking holiday treats: ✓
+ Bonus Day 13 - watching a classic holiday film: ✓
Halfway through December finds Sokka hunched over his laptop. He contemplates, squinting at the screen, before he calls up Zuko.
“Yes, Sokka?” Zuko answers.
“Babe, I need help. There’s, like, ten days until Christmas and we only went through, like, ten of these prompts.” Sokka stresses. “How do we fit the last fifteen in?”
There’s some clicking at the other side of the line. “I mean, there are some in here that we just can’t do. Mistletoe should be the last one, making out in front of the fireplace can’t be done, sneaking around to place the present under the tree can’t be done either since we’re all going to Suki’s and Ty Lee’s. But we can cross out spending time with friends and family since that’s pretty much all we’ve done so far.”
“Okay, but thats, like–!” Sokka quietly counts under his breath. “Twelve more we still have to do!”
“Sokka, we don’t have to do all of them, do we?”
“I mean, we should!”
“But, why?”
Sokka pauses. “I mean… to get them to fall in love?”
“Aren’t they already?”
“Well,” Sokka falters. “I mean, yeah… but…”
“Sokka, Aang and Katara have been having a great time, right? You’ve made this December pretty fun so far. They’ve also been spending a lot of time together alone. If it happens, it’ll happen.”
“But what if it doesn’t?” Sokka asks softly. “What if they never reveal their feelings for each other and stay sad and alone forever?”
Sokka is met with silence for a few moments before Zuko sighs through the phone. “If it happens, it’ll happen. Have some faith. It’s Christmas.”
Sokka sighs as well. “Then, let’s hope for a miracle.”
“Yeah.”
Day 14 - spending time with friends and family: ✓
Day 15 - ice skating
Yue plans it and nearly everyone makes the time to go. Her father is able to reserve the entire ice rink for a night, so a group of young adults find themselves strapping on ice skates at 8pm on a Thursday.
Before everyone hits the ice, Sokka calls for their attention. He has a duffle bag slung over his shoulder with Katara carrying another. “Katara and I made something for you guys!” He grins.
“It was his idea,” His sister blames but she’s also smiling.
The two unzip the bags and reveal very bright, very colourful, very ugly Christmas themed sweaters. There is a chorus of groans and laughter as the siblings hand them out.
As Sokka gives Zuko his, revealing the portrait of Sokka that he drew earlier that month, he gestures to Katara as she gives Aang his sweater, and asks, “That counts as one surprising the other with an early gift, right?”
“I’d say so, but I think you got ours mixed up.” Zuko gestures to the sweater Sokka has under his jacket.
Sokka grins as he shows it off. He made his earlier that week, having drawn a portrait of Zuko to match the one Zuko drew of him. “Nope! You have my face and I have yours! We match!”
Zuko laughs as his cheeks taint pink from the cold of the ice rink. “I don’t know how to feel with you calling these ugly sweaters.”
“Don’t worry, man! It’s just to make everyone else feel better. You know I think you’re smoking.” Sokka winks.
Zuko gives him a smile and pats him on the shoulder as he passes by. Sokka rushes back to his bag and takes out a speaker. Connecting his phone, he starts blasting Christmas songs through the rink. He was expecting some discontent from his friends, but they all seem to be just fine with the choice of music as they skate around each other. Sokka grins wider and hurries to join them.
He easily spots Katara and Aang as the former skates backwards to help the latter with his balance. Look up, look up, look up! Sokka urges with his mind at Aang. If he were to look up, he would see the absolute smitten look Katara is giving him, but, alas, the man is too busy looking at his own feet.
There’s a tap on his shoulder, startling Sokka so bad he trips over his own skates and nearly topples over. Zuko is quick to catch him, hands firm on his shoulders, chest firm on his back.
“Oops, sorry.” There’s a chuckle by his ear and Sokka feels himself involuntarily shiver. “You okay?”
Sokka steadies himself back on his feet, face red and ears hot. “Uh, yeah. You scared me.”
“I can see that!” Zuko grins at him, and Sokka’s heart does a weird tumble.
Day 15 - ice skating: ✓
+ Bonus Day 16 - surprising one with an early gift: ✓
+ Bonus Day 17 - ugly sweaters: ✓
+ Bonus Day 18 - listening to Christmas carols: ✓
Day 19 - hot choco and smores
Sokka finds himself at Mai’s and Azula’s, with his sister and two best friends. Well, best friend and best friend? Ahhhh, Sokka doesn’t know. After ice skating, things have been weird. But not like bad weird, just weird weird. It’s like Sokka’s third eye opened and the only thing it likes looking at is Zuko. He’s been so conscious of him, it’s nearly driving him crazy.
Sokka can’t help the way his eyes watch his best friend hand around mugs of hot chocolate to everyone, dropping a couple of tiny marshmallows into their cups. When he reaches Sokka, Zuko plops a giant marshmallow into his drink, a smiley face drawn on it with chocolate syrup, and Sokka is so taken with the warmth that engulfs him that he hardly notices the way Katara feeds Aang a smore.
Day 19 - hot choco and smores: ✓
Day 20 - Mistletoe
Sokka stares at himself in the mirror, squinting at his hair, unsure if he likes the way it sits on his head.
“We’re gonna be late,” Katara comments from her place on Sokka’s bed, tossing the penguin beanie baby Sokka gave her earlier that day up in the air and catching it. “You look very handsome, now let’s get going.”
Sokka groans and turns to his sister. She’s already dressed. Suki was able to successfully convince Katara into wearing a knee length white dress, shorter than what she’s used to, with black tights. To make herself more comfortable, she has a blue crocheted sweater over the spaghetti straps. Sokka thinks his sister looks absolutely adorable, but he knows Aang will find her absolutely hot.
Now, if only Zuko would find me absolutely hot. Sokka pouts.
“What’s that pout for?” Katara throws the beanie baby, smacking him in the face.
Sokka lets it. “I wanna be hot.”
Katara sits up, making sure not to wrinkle her dress. “But, Sokka, you are hot.” She moves to stand behind her brother and face the two of them to look at the mirror. “You got the brightest blue eyes, soft brown hair, and a cute little nose.” She boops Sokka as she baby-talks him and Sokka snorts.
He gently slaps her hand away. “Stop it. I’m not a baby.”
Katara smiles and shifts them so they’re facing each other. She hums, contemplating his hair. “I think you’re trying too hard.” She moves to mess with it, brushing it back, and Sokka lets her, heart filling with love for the girl in front of him. “Your wolf tail is a classic and looks the best on you.”
She shifts him again to look at the mirror. “Better?”
He takes a look at his now tied back hair. It’s weird. He’s always worn it like this but it looks different when Katara does it. It looks cleaner and tighter and more proper, like the way their mother used to do it. His eyes roam down to his silver dress shirt matching Katara’s dress as it nicely shapes his chest, tucked into his black tight fitting slacks. Suki was right, they really do make his legs look longer. His eyes go back to his sister, making eye contact with her reflection. He smiles. “Better.”
“Great!” She smacks his back hard and leaves the room. “C’mon, let’s get going!”
“Yep,” He groans, rubbing at his back. “Let’s go.”
He was right. Aang finds his sister absolutely hot, if the blush is anything to go by.
The two make their rounds through the loft, greeting their friends along the way. Katara easily finds the tree by the windows and places the bag of gifts under it. Suki finds them, throwing her arms over their shoulders.
“Merry holidays!” She yells in their ears.
The siblings share a look and give her a peck on the cheek at the same time. A large grin spreads across her face and she squeezes the two in her arms. “Yay! But best save those kisses for the mistletoe.” She winks at them. “I put about a dozen up! Y’know, like the twelve days of Christmas!”
“That’s great, Suki.” Katara sags, having already spotted three on their way here.
“Yeah!” Suki hops in place. “It is great! Ty Lee has been running around the entire place just to hide from Mai! It’s hilarious.”
Sokka looks around and spies Mai leaning against the back of the couch, a cup in her hand. Her eyes are boring holes into the back of Ty Lee’s head where the other woman is pretending not to notice as she talks to an uncomfortable Haru.
Sokka grins but it falters slightly as he sees Zuko walk by with Yue. His hair is slicked back exposing his bright amber eyes. He’s wearing a deep red suit showing off his broad shoulders and toned arms, gold glinting from his cuffs. And Sokka swallows hard as Zuko spots him and gives him a wave.
His best friend makes a beeline towards him, accidentally knocking Yue back. She trips over her long dress, tumbling backwards. Suki darts forward, quick on her feet, and catches Yue around the shoulders. The momentum is too strong, though, and Suki has to shift to prevent both of them from falling.
A whistle goes through the room as Suki french dips Yue. Yue’s eyes are wide as they stare at the brunette, but then they shift behind her and somehow widen further. Suki looks up and spots the mistletoe hanging above them. She blinks and looks back down. Yue is quick to wipe the surprised look off her face and gives her a coy grin. “Hey.”
Suki grins back. She answers with her own, “Hey.” And dips down to plant a kiss on her lips.
“Eww,” Toph yells from the living room despite not even seeing them.
Sokka tries to keep the envy down, and he thinks he does a better job than Mai who only glares harder at Ty Lee, actually causing the acrobat to duck into the kitchen.
“Well, that’s one couple down, huh.” Zuko nudges Sokka, and he attempts to hide the turmoil in his stomach with a smile. Zuko turns to Katara who is scouring the loft for something, or that is to say, someone. He leans over her. “He’s in the kitchen hiding with Ty Lee.”
Katara huffs. “Hiding. What’s he hiding for?” She confidently marches out of the room.
Sokka and Mai look after her with a different kind of envy.
“You okay?” Zuko asks after a couple moments of silence. “Not gonna go after her to see what happens?”
Sokka gives an easy shrug. “I trust that she’ll do what’s right. Like what you said, if it happens, it’ll happen.”
Zuko hums, eyes roaming his face, and Sokka has to consciously tell himself to not freak out. Eventually he nods. “You’re right.” He hands Sokka a cup of spiked punch. “If it happens, it’ll happen.”
Zuko removes himself from Sokka’s personal space and goes to Suki and Yue to prevent them from making out in front of everybody. “C’mon, let’s fish Ty Lee from the kitchen for Mai.”
Sokka sighs as they leave him to his own devices. He’s left standing by the Christmas tree, watching his friends talk and mingle. Mai makes his way to him.
“So, you fell for Zuko, huh?” Mai sips on her drink.
Sokka sighs again. “You can’t make fun of me. He’s your ex.”
“Oh, I’m not making fun of you,” She says. “You two will make a lovely couple. So hurry up and do so already.”
Sokka squints. “Why? What’s it to you?”
Mai shoots him a glare and he shrinks away a bit. “Hurry up and make Zuko unavailable already so Ty Lee and I can date.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The woman groans. “Ty Lee won’t date me because she thinks it’ll hurt Zuko’s feelings. So, hurry up and prove that Zuko has moved on.”
Sokka stutters. “But-but what if he hasn't?”
Mai’s glare intensifies.
“I mean!” He raises his hands up in surrender. “I mean! Like! He could have moved on! But that doesn’t mean he’s moved on to me!"
The scary woman beside him pinches the bridge of her nose. “Jesus, I didn’t know it was possible to be more oblivious than Zuko.”
Sokka blinks. “What–?”
His question is cut short by Suki’s laugh and everyone turns to see Ty Lee and Zuko stuck under the mistletoe hanging by the stairs.
“No! No!”
“Aww, c’mon, Zuzu! It’s just a little kiss.”
“I agree! I do not like this!”
“Don’t run away now, Ty Lee!”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Mai hisses. Plastic is crushed in her hand as her grip tightens around her fortunately now empty cup. Usually, Mai would find this amusing, but Sokka guesses she’s had enough of Ty Lee pussyfooting around her tonight.
Sokka panics as Mai stomps towards them. “No, Mai, wait!”
Sokka trips over the carpet in his rush to stop Mai, accidentally pushing her into Ty Lee, nudging both of them out from under the mistletoe. He stumbles but Zuko is able to catch him before he falls. Sokka finds himself in a similar position from the time they went skating and he flushes a deep red.
“God, Sokka, are you okay?” Zuko asks, concerned.
“No!” Sokka squeaks out. “I mean, yeah! But also, nope!”
Zuko blinks at him.
“Ooh, now you guys have to kiss!” Suki all but screams, and Sokka snaps his head up so fast he hears a crack. She’s right. Sokka has effectively taken Ty Lee’s place.
Zuko gives an awkward chuckle. “You, uhh, you don’t have to if–”
“Do you?” Sokka asks, a bit too quick for his liking.
Zuko blinks down at him again. “I mean.” He looks at something past Sokka and Sokka turns to catch Katara and Aang not even paying attention to the ruckus they’re causing, too absorbed in each other’s company as they dance to Yue playing Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence on the keyboard. “Yeah.” Sokka turns back to see Zuko looking at him. “I do.”
“I–I do, too.” Sokka smiles and Zuko returns it.
“Then kiss!” Sokka hears Azula yell and he laughs as Zuko moves to cover Sokka’s mouth with his.
Day 20 - Mistletoe: ✓
+Bonus Day 21 - spending Christmas morning together
Zuko blinks, the sun streaming through the window getting in his eyes, and he nearly groans until his eyes fall on the sleeping face of Sokka, his head being pillowed by his arm. Zuko smiles, lightly brushing hair away from his then-best-friend-now-boyfriend’s face.
He slowly shifts, carefully moving Sokka’s head to rest on a random throw pillow he found laying near them. He stretches, back cracking and looks around. They’ve fallen asleep on the living room floor again. This always happens whenever Suki and Ty Lee host a party; their guests just end up passing out on any surface they can find. Beside them on the couch is Azula splayed out hogging the cushions, beside them on the floor are Toph, Haru, and Teo laying on top of each other, and Zuko can see Yue and Suki asleep on the dining table.
He gets up, smelling coffee, and trudges to the kitchen. On his way there, he finds Ty Lee and Mai asleep by the stairs, Mai’s head gently cradled on Ty Lee’s chest with a piece of mistletoe tucked behind her ears. “Looks like all the couples are accounted for.”
“Yeah,” Katara yawns, making her way down the stairs. She’s wearing a familiar oversized orange Christmas jumper. She walks past him and enters the kitchen, Zuko following suit.
Aang is humming along to a song in his head as he pours coffee into two mugs. He’s not wearing a shirt. Zuko arches an eyebrow and stares as Aang hands one of the mugs to Katara, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
Katara glances at Zuko over her coffee. “Don’t look at us like that. We just fell asleep.”
He nods but finds joy at the awkward flush of Aang’s skin.
“There’s some coffee left in the pot if you want some,” Aang says, trying to deflect the conversation.
“Thank you. I hope you two had a fun night,” Zuko says, passing them.
“You too.” Katara grins. “Glad to see everything worked out.”
Zuko laughs as he pours himself coffee. “Yeah, everything turned out perfectly as planned.”
+Bonus Day 21 - spending Christmas morning together: ✓