Chapter Text
On the opening night of the Fire Days Festival, the village square came to life with a warm glow. Fireworks whistled in the night sky and the rich smell of street food and fragrant spices settled in the air. Delighted Fire Nation children chased each other through the square and street vendors were advertising their wares to the gathering crowd. The entrance to the square was decorated with garlands and a banner, inviting colony residents and tourists alike to join in the festivities. It was an opportunity for all in attendance to destress and enjoy themselves.
Sokka could not feel more stressed if he tried. Even with cloaks and masks, walking directly into a Fire Nation colony made him feel exposed, vulnerable. Aang and Katara on the other hand were ecstatic for a change of pace. Once they found that flier, it only took a little convincing before Sokka eventually caved.
After spending half an hour of grumbling and side-eyeing people he decided to make the best of it and try out some of the fried food. The smell was captivating, specifically the fresh fire flakes that a vendor was portioning out into little bags. As Sokka made his way to the booth, something caught the eyes of Aang and Katara, and they wandered off in the opposite direction.
Sokka purchased his fire flakes and turned around. “Uh oh.” He thought, “Where’d they go?” A million anxieties leapt to the front of his mind. Were they kidnapped? Lost? He waded through the crowd to search for them, popping a couple fire flakes in his mouth as he went.
The village square was so packed that somehow, his foot caught on the ankle of another festival goer. Before he could even process what had happened, he was sprawling toward the ground face-first. He dropped his half empty bag of fire flakes out in front of him and threw his hands out to brace his fall…
But at the last second he felt a pair of arms catch him.
Sokka looked up at the stranger, thankful that the mask hid the blush that spread across his face. He noticed that the stranger had a mask of his own, a blue one, with white detailing.
“Uh.. Thanks.” Sokka said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.
“You’re welcome.” The voice that came from behind the mask took Sokka by surprise. The stranger couldn’t have been more than a year older than him, and his voice was rough, low and gravelly. The tone of his words was very serious, as if he was putting on a brave face to deliver some grim news. And something about it was eerily familiar, but Sokka couldn’t place exactly what it was, so he decided not to dwell on it.
He looked down and noticed the crushed fire flakes under his boots. “Aw, my fire flakes.” He complained, picking his boots up to shake the sauce off of the soles.
“I’ll get you some new ones.” The stranger said definitively, and took off in the direction of the booth.
“Huh? Wait!” Sokka followed him, trying to stop him. “You don’t have to do that–”
By the time he caught up, the stranger was already turning around to hand him the pouch. Sokka could feel his face heat up again.
“Thanks.” He said sheepishly. In the middle of the crowd, a silence fell between them.
Desperate to make conversation, Sokka asked, “So, what brings you here? Do you live around here?”
The stranger became rigid, “Uh. Yes!” He said it very suddenly, his tone quickly changing from cool and low, to awkward and stumbling. “I am. From here, that is.”
“Right…” Sokka said, somewhat skeptically, though he didn’t see what reason the other boy would have to lie about it, so he dropped it. “Well if you’re from here, why don’t you show me around?” So maybe he was flirting with this weirdo. Sue him.
“Oh– uh– okay! Yes. Let’s go… this way.” The stranger walked into the crowd, trying to find something to show Sokka, who followed him eagerly.
After the boy in the blue mask took Sokka down a dead end or two, they stopped in an alleyway.
“You sure you know where you’re going?” Sokka teased him, crossing his arms.
“Of course I know where I’m going!” The other boy raised his voice, and then huffed and slumped his shoulders.
“Woah, I was just joking!” Sokka put his hands up defensively.
“Sorry,” The stranger grumbled, and then looked up to the roof of the building they were next to. He hummed to himself like he was calculating something, and then climbed up the side of the building and landed on the roof.
To Sokka, it looked like this stranger had just jumped cleanly onto the roof, and his jaw hung open. “How’d you do that?” He questioned, looking up and down from the roof to the ground.
“I guess I’m just… agile?” The boy shrugged, and then reached down to help Sokka up. Sokka took his hand gratefully and together they slowly worked to get him up on the roof.
They sat at the edge of the roof, their legs dangling over the alleyway below. The pouch of fire flakes sat between them, and they took turns reaching into it, hands brushing every so often as they shared the fair food.
They watched the red and gold fireworks bursting in the night sky. Sokka was particularly mesmerized by them, they definitely weren’t something you could find in the Southern Water Tribe, and he had only come across them once or twice since travelling with Aang.
“Aang!” He realized he had completely forgotten about finding Aang and Katara. He tried to spot them from the roof, and after scanning the crowd, he spotted them near the front of one of the stages. Some kind of fire bending performance was going on. Relieved, he turned back to the stranger.
“Thanks for the fire flakes.” He said, once again trying to make conversation.
“Oh uh… no problem.”
Sokka hummed quietly and wanted to turn his attention back to the fireworks, when he heard a portion of the crowd booing. He looked over, and sure enough saw Aang and Katara up on the stage.
“Oh no.”
The other boy turned back, “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go!” Sokka shouted, slowly climbing off the roof. His feet hit the ground. “I’ll be back tomorrow night!” He promised, unsure if it was a promise he could even fulfill. He took off in the direction of the stage, leaving the boy in the blue mask behind on the roof.