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“Are you just practicing walking again or are you nervous about something?” Azula asks with a raised eyebrow. Zuko twists his hands together and keeps pacing in front of their bedroom door.
“Both? Maybe? I don’t know. I’m supposed to go out with Sokka tomorrow,” Zuko says. Azula drops her gaze back to her calculus homework spread out in front of her on the bed.
“I’m aware. You mentioned it once or twice,” she says pointedly. Zuko sighs and flops down on his bed.
“How am I supposed to act on a date? You’ve gone on one, right?”
“No, actually. I haven’t,” Azula replies without looking up.
“Wait, really?”
“Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are that you’re the first between the two of us to go on a date. So I can’t really help you. Maybe you should take a walk. Downstairs.”
Zuko doesn’t get up. He stares up at the ceiling and tries not to think about the words Ozai threw at him before he got kicked out. “What if he ruined me,” he whispers.
“Sokka?”
“No. Dad,” Zuko says. “I had a flashback when Sokka asked what happened the night I got kicked out. What if...What if I can’t date him without panicking?”
“Did you panic when you kissed him?” Azula asks. Zuko shakes his head. “What about when you napped together? Or when he took you from class to class?”
“No, but what if going on a date is the one thing I can’t do and he decides I’m not worth it and goes away?”
“Okay, Zu-Zu, calm down,” Azula says and gets up to sit beside him. “Look, you kissed him and cuddled in a secret hideout. That sounds like a date to me.”
“Maybe,” Zuko mumbles.
“So you’ve already gone on one date with him and survived. You should be able to make it through a second.”
Zuko laughs lightly and bumps his sister’s thigh. “Thanks, Zula.”
“Besides, Katara told me that idiot is completely smitten with you. It’ll probably take a little more than some PTSD to make him leave you,” Azula adds and ruffles his hair. Zuko chuckles again and pushes her hand away.
“You’ve been talking to Katara?”
Azula sighs. “I figured I should make more of an effort with them if you’re going to be dating Sokka.”
Zuko’s heart flutters. “Really?”
“This doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven them,” Azula says. “Except Toph and Suki. They weren’t there so I can’t hold it against them. But I am making an effort, okay?”
“It’s very sweet of you,” Zuko teases. Azula glares at him.
“Don’t ever call me sweet again.”
“My sweet little sister!” Zuko coos and moves to give her a hug.
“I will break your other ankle!” Azula growls and Zuko holds her close. She sighs and pats his arm. “Whatever. You know I’d do anything for you.”
Sokka’s slightly beat-up Toyota pulls up at Iroh’s house at seven. Zuko grabs a jacket and practically jogs to the door.
“I’m leaving, Uncle!”
“Use protection!” Azula calls back.
“Have fun, nephew. Be back by eleven,” Iroh replies calmly from the kitchen. Zuko takes a deep breath and heads out the door.
You’ve already done this, you’ve already done this, you’ve already done this .
Dad isn’t here, dad isn’t here, dad isn’t here, dad isn’t here.
“Hey,” Sokka greets with an adorable dopey grin. Zuko’s heart swells and he opens up the car door and slides in.
“Hi,” he says softly. Sokka places a hand on his jaw and gives him a slow, gentle kiss. Zuko cups Sokka’s neck and sighs a little into his mouth. Sokka pulls away and smiles.
“Ready to go?” Sokka asks. Zuko nods and leans back in his seat. “Sorry I’m a little late, Katara roped me into dishes.”
“It’s okay,” Zuko says. He doesn’t mention he’s almost grateful for the extra couple of minutes to meditate and calm his nerves.
“I thought we could grab some ice cream before the movie? Is that okay?” Sokka asks. Zuko blushes a little and nods.
“That sounds perfect,” he says. Sokka grins and takes a hand off the wheel to place it on Zuko’s thigh. He tenses at first but then melts when Sokka gives him a little squeeze.
“Is this okay?” Sokka asks. Zuko smiles at his hand and nods.
“I like this,” he whispers. Sokka shoots him another grin.
“Good,” he says.
They pull up to a crowded ice cream shop and hop out of the car. Sokka gets the door for him and Zuko flushes a little bit.
“Thanks,” he says.
“My pleasure,” Sokka says with a little bow. Zuko snorts and pulls on Sokka’s sleeve.
“Can I hold your hand?” He asks under his breath. Sokka beams at him and takes Zuko’s hand. “I..um...I also may need your...help. With ordering. I..I can’t hear that well in here.”
“I’ve got you,” Sokka says. “Just tell me what you want.”
Zuko gestures to the cookie dough and Sokka orders for both of them. He gets strawberry and Zuko tries not to think it’s super adorable, even though it is.
They sit in an empty park nearby and lick at their cones.
“Thank you for doing that,” Zuko murmurs. “And thank you for finding somewhere quiet.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sokka says. “You would have done the same for me.”
Zuko smiles at the ground. “I...I feel like I don’t know much about you. I mean, I know we hung out for like three weeks doing that assignment but…” he trails off, suddenly embarrassed. Sokka knows so much about him by now, how did he not try to get to know him back?
Idiot, a voice that sounds too much like Ozai hisses in his ear.
Sokka just chuckles a little and throws his empty cone into a nearby trash can. “I could say the same for you, honestly. Can we just ask each other shit for a little while? Maybe on the drive to the theater?”
Zuko nods and throws away his ice cream.
“Do you have a favorite song?” Sokka asks through a laugh. Zuko scoffs and fiddles with his hoodie strings.
“It changes all the time,” he says.
“Well, what is it right now?” Sokka says.
Zuko has to think for a second. There’s only one song that really comes to mind. “Um, I’m not really sure if it’s my favorite, but it kind of...helped me through a lot…” he says.
Sokka grins. “That counts. What is it?”
“I-Island in the Sun,” Zuko admits shyly. He once showed it to Azula and she classified it as ‘weird 1970s hippie music.’
“Katara likes that song,” Sokka says. “She says it calms her down. Just lets her pretend she’s on a beach or something.”
“Yeah,” Zuko says. “It does that for me, too.”
They’re quiet for a second. “What about you?” Zuko asks.
Sokka snorts. “It also changes all the time but I like Hayloft. It’s a good angry song.”
“Are you angry?” Zuko asks. Sokka shrugs.
“Sometimes. My dad’s barely around, my mom’s gone, my friends and sister, all have issues no one takes super seriously. There’s a lot to be angry about most of the time.”
“I’m sorry,” Zuko says. “I...know what that’s like. To feel ignored by everyone around you when you’re struggling.”
Sokka laughs a little. “Fuck, yeah I bet you do,” he says. “It’s mostly Toph and Aang that don’t get taken super seriously. They’re only freshmen so I think everyone assumes they’re just kids with easy lives, you know? But Toph’s parents are assholes who infantilize and belittle her all the time and Aang’s been a refugee for most of his life.”
“Shit,” Zuko mutters. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah. There’s not a ton we can do for Toph other than keep her out of her house as much as possible but Aang’s finally in a safe place. He’s been with his foster dad for about a year now. Somehow CPS managed to find him a former Tibetan monk to live with so he’s pretty happy.”
Zuko nods to himself and huffs. “Damn, that is lucky.”
“Yup worked out pretty well. But still. This place overwhelms him sometimes.”
“I can imagine.”
Miles Morales zips and flies awkwardly through the air with Peter B. Parker and Zuko can’t look away. He hasn’t really been to a movie since his mom vanished; Ozai kept him...busy with other things. Sokka’s hand is warm in his own and even though they’re further away from the screen, he can hear everything perfectly.
Sokka pulls his hand out of Zuko’s grasp and wraps it around his shoulders. Zuko instantly scoots a little closer to him and tucks his legs up.
He’s warm and safe and happy all at once for what feels like the first time.
“You really enjoyed that, huh?” Sokka asks once they’re back in the car.
“I haven’t really seen anything like it,” Zuko says shyly. “I mean, I haven’t been to a movie in like seven years but-”
“Whoa, really?” Sokka asks. Zuko nods. “Wait, so you haven’t seen anything that’s come out in the past like five years?” Zuko shakes his head. “Okay, there are so many things I’m going to make you watch.”
Zuko laughs. “I’d like that.”
They pull up to Iroh’s house and Sokka shifts the car into park. “Can I kiss you goodbye?” He asks. Zuko nods and Sokka pulls him in by his hoodie strings. Zuko braces one hand on Sokka’s neck and the other on his shoulder and kisses him back eagerly. He’s so soft and gentle and one of Sokka’s hands runs down the side of Zuko’s arm and then they pull away.
“I’ll see you Monday, then,” Sokka says softly.
“See you,” Zuko says and steals one last quick kiss before hopping out of the car. He knows he’s blushing when he walks through the front door but it doesn’t matter. He finally doesn’t have to hide anything.
Uncle Iroh is sitting in the living room when Zuko shuts the front door. “How was your night, nephew?” He asks. Zuko freezes on the steps and smiles at the floor. His head is swimming with thoughts about Sokka and his lips and how sweet he was about the fact that Zuko hadn’t even seen a movie in almost a decade and how pretty he looked in a blue button-down and black pants.
“It was nice.”