Chapter Text
The next time they come to a town it's a week later and still agonizingly in the fire nation colonies. But Sokka still had a few jars of milk left, that he hoped to save for their jaunt over the North Sea.
Which meant once again while Aang learned fire bending from some retired Admiral Jerk, Sokka was once again on the prowl for Kesuk some milk.
Except this town’s local cow-pig farmer wasn’t racist. But the preserved milk was expensive. Sokka bought as many as he could while still being able to afford fresh milk.
And yet the universe still somehow managed to fuck his day up.
He’d just found a lovely little shop to have tea at while he fed Kesuk when he spotted Zhao and his hoard of soldiers moving through the street.
Upon seeing him, Sokka nearly spilled milk and spit tea. Of course, that Asshole had to show up; he was worse than Zuko. At least Prince Douchebag was above assaulting children. Well, other than Aang.
Sokka watches Zhao kick a boy maybe eight out of his way. Sokka gripped Kesuk tighter and hoped Zhao wouldn’t recognize him.
But the universe of course hated him.
“You there.”
Fuck.
“You look awfully familiar.” Zhao narrowed his eyes and he approached Sokka.
Luckily Sokka was actually rather good at talking complete nonsense. “Aren’t you a little old to be hitting on someone my age?”
Zhao ground his teeth. The fire nation did that so frequently it was no wonder old people had none left.
“Listen here you little watertribe whore!” Zhao grabbed him by his ponytail “or you will learn the consequences.”
A flame rose in Zhao’s palm as he turned it towards Kesuk. Ice ran through Sokka’s veins. But before he could say or do anything a head of rotten cabbage exploded against the side of Zhao’s head.
The admiral’s reaction was immediate. He dropped Sokka and turned to find whoever assaulted him. On the eve of the roof, the Blue Spirit waved at Zhao before taking off running across the main beam.
Zhao yelled for his men to pursue. Sokka and Kesuk were completely forgotten. Throwing a few coppers down on the table Sokka gathered his things. He wrapped Kesuk up in the blue silk and fastened him to his side before taking off down an alley.
He needed to find somewhere to lay low to make sure Zhao wouldn’t follow him back to their camp.
An abandoned shop lay just around one of the corners. The windows are clouded with dust and it looked like no one had been using it for ages. The front door appeared to be boarded shut, but when Sokka twisted the door handle it became clear that the boards had been nailed to the door rather than the frame. Sokka slipped inside and started to unwrap Kesuk.
There were plenty of dust-covered shelves and empty fruit stands in the place. At least Kesuk was still only just over a month old and therefore immobile. Sokka could only imagine how dirty his little brothers would get in this place. Kesuk however was bound up in fabric. Which made the abandoned fruit stand the perfect improvised cradle.
There were distant shouts followed by the creak of wood from above. Dust fell from the beams on the ceiling.
Sokka placed the squirming baby down and followed the falling dust trail to the door. There was a faint thump of leather-soled shoes landing on cobblestones. The shouts grew closer. Peering through a crack in the door, Sokka could see the Blue Spirit’s back complete with crisscrossing Dao swords.
He rolled his eyes before jerking open up the door. He grabbed the back of the Spirit’s clothes and pulled him back into the room. The Spirit jerked out of his grip as he fell back. He rolled across the floor drawing his blades as he did. Sokka pressed the door closed with his back; his finger pressed to his lips in a ‘quiet’ gesture.
For a moment the Spirit simply looked at him. Of course, it was hard to tell where he was actually looking. Zhao’s men ran past the door yelling to check various alleyways.
Both men stood there as the voices grew more and more distant. Finally, when the men were out of earshot the Blue Spirit sheathed his swords.
Sokka cleared his throat. “Thank you. You’ve saved Kesuk twice now.”
The Spirit’s head turned towards the baby.
“He’s growing like crazy. And man is he hungry. The milk you got was a huge help.” Sokka was talking with his hands now.
“And the silk! I mean I still can’t believe you bought that much of it. I went back and talked to the shopkeeper cause I thought you stole it but… It’s really expensive.”
Still, the Blue Spirit said nothing in response.
“I just- I don’t understand why you’ve been following me.”
No response, just more expressionless staring.
Sokka sighed. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. “I’m not imagining it, am I. You are following me right?”
The Blue Spirit nodded yes.
Sokka jerked forward. “You do respond! Why are you following me- wait I guess you won’t-“
The Spirit stepped forward and held a gloved hand out for Kesuk to latch onto. The baby giggled and made wild grabbing motions.
“Kesuk?” Sokka stepped closer. Again the Spirit nodded in affirmation.
Sokka pondered for a moment, unbenounced to him-out loud. “Why? I mean you're obviously too short to be Dad or Bato. Unless they sent another warrior to watch over us. You’re not from the water tribe are you?”
The Spirit shook his head in a slow no. He held his hand in place as Kesuk continued to ruin his glove.
“Huh.” Sokka watched the other man in fascination. If he wasn’t water-tribe what was his motivation for helping them? He certainly seemed to cause Zhao enough trouble along the way whatever his motive. Something Bato had said came rolling to the forefront of his mind. “ I’ve met a fair few fire benders with a disdain for the fire nation. Most of them had mothers who were raped by fire nation soldiers. They have more reason to hate the fire nation than most .”
He knew what happened to watertribe men when they were captured by the fire nation. They were made into nice bitches for the soldiers who captured them to brood for them.
The Blue Spirit thought Kesuk was his son. “Was your father from the fire nation?”
The Spirit’s posture went ridged before he nodded.
Sokka’s heart sped up. A flicker of hope burned in Sokka. “So uh is Kesuk the only reason you’ve been following me?”
The Spirit cocked his head.
Sokka smirked. “I mean you’ve seen me naked; I just thought it might’ve been you trying to sleep with me.”
The Spirit turned his head away from Sokka and Kesuk. Oh yeah, he was totally embarrassed.
“ Don’t worry I’m not creeped out. I find it flattering.”
The spirit shook his head and moved until he stood in front of Sokka. He was sure the Spirit was about to attack him for pushing the embarrassment further. In a quick movement, Sokka was pinned to the door with a hand covering his eyes and a pair of lips on his.
It took a second for him to realize he was being kissed, before returning the action in kind. Sokka chased after the warm pair of lips as they pulled away. Still, he couldn’t see the other man’s face. From under his finger, all he could see was the black clothing the man was dressed in.
The Spirit retreated, with his mask firmly back in place. Sokka felt mildly disappointed; he’d kissed the man but he couldn’t see his face. Ugh. He shouldn’t be surprised but still.
While Sokka contemplated what had just happened, the vigilante retreated towards the door at the opposite end of the building.
“Wait! You can’t just leave.”
The Spirit turned back to him as if to say you can’t stop me.
“How I’m I supposed to find you if I need to or vice versa?”
On a dusty shelf between them, he wrote out ‘you won’t’ in kanji.
“What if you need help?”
He wrote out “I don’t need anyone’s help” on the shelf.
Sokka huffed and walked over to where Kesuk was laying. “In the water tribe we have a saying, the lone wolf may survive but in a pack, they thrive.”
Sokka sliced off a strip of silk from Kesuk’s wrap. “Your pride can get you killed.”
He grabbed the Spirit's hand and tied the ribbon around his wrist. “There’s some catchy saying that goes with it like put it aside you get the kill, but if you put yours aside- you might get laid.”
Sokka winked at the other man. “If I see this I’ll know you need help. And I’ll meet you there after dark.”
For a moment the Spirit just stood there before nodding slowly and heading for the door.
The next morning, the Aang started Appa on a course for the Northern Air Temple.
Princess Yue was possibly the prettiest sight Sokka had ever seen. He thought so from the moment he saw her, and now- now he knew her name. And then she was sitting next to him.
He wanted to say so many things to her but hadn’t a clue how to say them without sounding insane.
“Your son is so cute!”
Not the impression he wanted to start with, but Sokka supposed he could work with it.
“Little Brother actually,”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, lots of people think that, I guess it’s because we both just naturally get ladies' attention.”
Yue smiled. “Although they tend to like Kesuk, better, not sure why-sure he’s cuter until he craps his pants.”
Then she laughed. Tui and La she laughed at his stupid joke.
“So you’re a Princess? I’m something of a prince myself.”
“Smooth,” Katara said sarcastically. Clearly, it was something that wasn’t genetic because her sarcasm just wasn’t funny or biting.
“Yeah, I mean my dad’s the chief of the WolfSeal clan and my father is chief of the Beartide clan. I don’t really know him that well though.”
“Oh, so you’ll be chief of both one day?”
Sokka shrugged. “Not exactly. I mean if the Wolf-seals for sure. But I don’t know if I have any older brothers on that side.”
“I didn’t realize the southern tribe used such a system. Here traditionally the strongest warrior takes over-if the chief doesn’t have a son.”
Kesuk let out a shrill cry. Sokka tried to comfort his brother with a pat on his back. “Sorry, I need to request some Buffalo yak milk for Kesuk.”
“Hey, Katara can you hold him?”
“Can I?” Both siblings looked to the Princess.
“Uh...sure?” Sokka slowly settled Kesuk into Yue's arms.
He paused for a moment studying her. She looked at Kesuk with such novelty and interest. Sokka snuck glances at her as he made his way over to Chief Arnook.
The Chief sent one of the attendants away. He glanced over at his daughter. “She’s usually so nervous around children. I’m glad to see her start feeling more comfortable around them.”
“She seems like a natural.”
“Her mother was too. It was a shame we never had more children.”
“Uh. If it’s not too personal, why didn’t you?”
Arnook shook his head. “No no, it’s well known to my people. Iglana had difficulty carrying to full term. We had several children born too early to survive. Yue was born early too, but the Moon Spirit granted her life.”
“You don’t have other children?”
“I do, but Iglana- she was the one with the royal bloodline. Ah! Here comes Gilrok now.”
Sokka turned to see a man carrying a bottle. “We’ll have bottles delivered to your rooms daily.”
“Thank you,” Sokka bowed before taking the bottle and making his way back to Yue and Kesuk.
The boy in question was growing fussier and fussier with high-pitched whines. Yue was taking it in stride, cooing and shushing the boy.
“Hey, I got the bottle.” Sokka dropped down next to her. Carefully, she handed Kesuk back to Sokka.
“His wrap is pretty but not very functional for the poles.”
“Yeah, I've got another wrap but it doesn’t fit around him and the silk anymore with the way he’s growing.”
“Is there an emotional significance to this one or do you just like it that much?”
Sokka thought back to the Spirit’s lips on his. “No-” His voice cracked. And he felt his face growing red. “Just a gift from a friend.”
Yue bit her perfect lips and looked at him through her lashes. “And this friend wouldn’t happen to be a handsome warrior would he?”
Apparently, Sokka’s face spoke for him.
Yue just smiled knowingly. “What’s his name?”
Sokka shrugged. “I don’t know. And I also don’t know if he’s handsome or not I- I like to imagine so.”
“You don’t know his name?”
Sokka watched Kesuk nurse and shook his head slowly. “No, he’s a fugitive of the fire nation known as the Blue Spirit. He’s helped me out with Kesuk a few times.”
“And does he return your feelings?”
“I-“ his voice cracked. “I think so.”
“But has he said so.”
“Well, not in so many words but, he did kiss me.”
“Like a thank you-“
“Uh, definitely an I-want-you-naked kiss.”
Yue looked jealous. Surely she had all manner of suitors and surely it wasn’t the Blue Spirit she was jealous of- she could do so much better than Sokka.
“So then why haven’t you?”
Sokka blushed. “I mean… I’d like to know his name.”
“Sometimes we can’t wait to know everything about someone you have to just jump in.”
Sokka stared at her for a second before blurting out “Would you like to do an activity with me and Kesuk?”
“What did you have in mind?”