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It started with the boy in the wheelchair.
Sokka had been sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, which for him was a cold poptart and the remains of the previous days’ Starbucks order. It was Saturday, which meant that he should still be blissfully sleeping, but he had a stupid lab with a stupid group project that he had to go meet to work on.
A door creaked open. Of course his roommate was awake already, even though he had gone out the night before.
“Aang, can you—” the question died on Sokka’s lips when he saw that it was not, in fact, Aang that was leaving his bedroom. It was another boy, with long hair and wide eyes and a mouth that was curled up in a self-satisfied smile, even this early in the morning. For one bizarre moment, Sokka thought the boy was three feet tall. Then his brain caught up to his eyes, and he realized the boy was in a wheelchair.
“Hey,” the strange boy greeted him cheerfully, rolling up to the table. “Do you mind if I have one?”
Sokka blinked, uncomprehending, before he understood. “Sure, go ahead,” he mumbled, shoving the box of poptarts towards the stranger.
“I’m Teo,” he finally introduced himself around a mouthful of pastry.
“Sokka.”
Before things could get any more awkward, Aang finally sailed out of his bedroom. “Morning!” he greeted them, flopping onto a chair.
“Morning.” Teo’s smile got impossibly wider, and he broke his poptart in two, handing the larger half to Aang. Aang accepted the meal, their hands lingering together.
Sokka stood up abruptly, the legs of his chair squealing against the linoleum in his haste. “I have to go, I’m supposed to meet my lab group in ten minutes.”
“Okay, see you later.” Aang was looking at him, giving him his full attention. But a glance downward revealed that one of Aang’s graceful hands is resting on Teo’s thigh under the table.
Sokka swallowed past the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat. “See ya.”
Sokka wasn’t terribly helpful in the group project meeting. He kept replaying the morning, over and over again. More specifically, he pondered the claw that had tangled its talons into his gut the second he had realized that Aang had slept with another boy.
Aang and Sokka had known each other since they were little kids, and had been best friends for that entire time. Aang had even dated Sokka’s sister at one point, and Sokka benevolently not murdered him for it. They had been thrilled to get accepted into the same college, and had moved into an apartment together right away. It had been smooth sailing so far. Even when Aang had come out as pansexual the month before, things had been fine. Sokka didn’t care: Aang was Aang, no matter who he liked.
Still, it was one thing to accept that your best friend likes to be with guys, and another thing to have one of those guys stealing poptarts the next morning.
It’s just an adjustment, Sokka told himself firmly. I’ll get used to it.
The next guy was a tall, muscular man named Haru. He spent a couple of weekends with Aang. It was pretty clear that they weren’t dating, that it was just a casual hookup. Sokka really should have liked Haru. He was nice, and he did the dishes, and he laughed at all of Sokka’s jokes. Sometimes they would hang out and watch TV, and Sokka would think of Haru as a friend. But then Aang would swoop in to kiss Haru on the lips, or Haru would casually sling one arm around Aang’s waist, and Sokka would flush from his hairline all the way down to the bottoms of his feet. That sinking, clawing feeling would appear in his stomach, and he would feel simultaneously too hot and too cold at the same time.
There was no logical explanation for Sokka’s discomfort, but he was immeasurably relieved when Saturday rolled around and it was just him and Aang in the apartment again.
“Did something happen with Haru?” Sokka asked, his voice cracking in his desperate attempt to sound casual.
“Nah, it just kind of petered out, and we decided to stop seeing each other.” Aang did not appear to be trying to sound casual, he just was.
“I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t.
“Eh,” Aang shrugged, and then smiled that radiant grin of his. “Want to go for a hike?”
Sokka’s peace of mind lasted approximately two months before the next guy started showing up. He liked this one a lot less than Haru. Zuko was rude, entitled, and clingy. There was no telling what Aang was seeing in him, but they were definitely closer than Aang had been with Teo or Haru. Sokka was loath to use the word ‘boyfriend,’ especially on someone so annoying. Nonetheless, Zuko was there, all the time. And he did not like Sokka.
It was a little funny, how easy it was to rile Zuko up. Just existing in the same space as Aang triggered something in the other boy, making him irritable and jealous. Unfortunately, he expressed his displeasure by running his hands across Aang’s arms and shoulders, pulling him down so Aang was sitting on his lap. Sokka’s jaw tightened at the aggressive display of affection, especially when Aang nuzzled against Zuko’s neck and whispered in his ear.
It gave Sokka a lot of time to think about why seeing Aang with these guys was so upsetting. It made sense for Zuko, because he was a dick. But Teo and Haru had been nice, and Sokka had felt weird about them.
Of course, there was an obvious explanation. Sokka initially dismissed it, but as the weeks went by and he felt worse and worse, it seemed the only possible reason.
“I think I’m homophobic.”
“That’s fucked up,” Toph commented. She was lolling on the couch with her head in her girlfriend’s lap.
“Why do you think that?” Katara pursed her lips, absently playing with Toph’s hair.
The story poured out of Sokka all at once. Teo, Haru, Zuko, and the weird clawing feeling in his abdomen. How he felt hot and cold whenever Aang showed affection for one of his dates. And how none of that had been the case before, when Aang was dating girls. Katara occasionally interrupted with questions, but otherwise listened attentively.
“I feel terrible,” Sokka whined miserably. “I don’t want to make Aang feel bad about who he is. It’s like, an unconscious reaction or something. My body is homophobic.”
“I’m sure it’s not that,” Katara tried to soothe him. “It makes sense that you feel weird about this sudden change in your guys’ lives. It doesn’t mean that you actually dislike anything about Aang.”
“I don’t! I like everything about Aang!”
Throughout all of this, Toph was doing that thing she did to freak people out, where she would stare straight at you with her sightless milky green eyes. Finally, Sokka couldn’t take it anymore. “What?”
“I’m having a thought.” Sokka bit back a sarcastic remark, knowing that if he gave Toph any sass she would simply kick him out.
To his eternal frustration, Toph leaned up and began whispering in Katara’s ear, covering her mouth with her hand. Katara’s eyes widened.
“No way, that’s insane.” Toph continued whispering, and Katara’s expression changed from incredulous to smug, which Sokka didn’t like one bit. Toph murmured one last thing and Katara burst out laughing.
“What?” Sokka snarled, already feeling his ears turning red from embarrassment. “What are you guys talking about?”
Katara opened her mouth, but Toph unerringly placed a hand over it before she could speak. “I think he should figure it out for himself.”
“C’mon, that’s not fair!” Sokka was practically buzzing, eager to hear what the two girls had been muttering about. Especially because it was about him.
“Consider it your punishment for your homophobia,” Toph answered airily. No matter how much Sokka wheedled, threatened, or bribed, the girls refused to share Toph’s insight. He went home more confused than ever.
At some point, Aang and Zuko broke up. Sokka felt bad for his friend, but it was a relief to have another couple of months without his potentially-homophobic-subconscious trying to ruin his friendship. And it was nice to get to spend more time with Aang. They had both made plenty of other friends in college, but they somehow managed to spend almost all of their free time together.
Naturally, the period of peace had to end, and it did so in the worst way possible.
Sokka had already known that Aang had brought a boy over. He had heard the front door open at 2 AM, muffled giggling, and then two pairs of footsteps going to Aang’s room. He was eternally grateful that their bedrooms didn’t share a wall, and mentally prepared himself for the next morning.
Nothing he did could have prepared him to wake up and go into his kitchen to find the most obnoxious guy that Sokka had ever met sitting half-naked at the table, eating from Sokka’s cereal with his bare hands like an animal.
One of Sokka’s general requirements for his major had been a philosophy class, where he assumed he’d be able to doze off and work on his real homework. Instead, he had to share the class with some asshole named Jet, who interrupted the teacher every five minutes to share his stupid opinions. Sokka considered himself fairly open-minded, but Jet spoke like he was Karl Marx himself, like he was the only one to ever actually care about anything. It drove Sokka insane, and just the sound of Jet’s arrogant laugh was enough to set Sokka’s teeth on edge.
And now that dick Jet was regarding him with raised eyebrows, smirking as he tossed a handful of dry cereal into his mouth. “Morning.”
“Why are you in my house?” Sokka despaired. The universe answered for him, by having Aang stumble out of his bedroom, yawning and stretching in the morning glare. Though Sokka had always considered it hyperbole, he literally saw red when Jet snagged Aang with one gangly arm and swept him onto his lap, pressing his lips to Aang’s shoulder.
“I have to go.” Sokka stood up, his mouth inexplicably dry. “I have a meeting. In my room. It’s an online meeting.” He stomped back to his bedroom, stopping only to snatch the box of cereal out of Jet’s hands. He slammed his bedroom door behind him and, like a puppet with its strings cut, sank to the floor. He had no idea what had come over him, or how he was going to explain himself to Aang.
He didn’t have to wait long. A couple minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door that reverberated through Sokka’s back. He scrambled to his feet and opened it. He couldn’t read Aang’s expression, which was unusual because Sokka could always tell what Aang was thinking. A quick scan of the kitchen showed that Jet was gone.
“Are you okay?” Aang’s voice was soft, hesitant, and Sokka felt even worse.
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Good. Now I don’t feel bad asking what the hell is wrong with you.”
Sokka’s head snapped up. He could now discern that Aang’s expression was angry. Aang’s temper was legendary, but it was no match for Sokka’s righteous indignation.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? How could you sleep with Jet?” Sokka spat out his rival’s name like it was that weird tofu chicken that Aang insisted tasted like real meat.
“Jet’s a good guy, why are you being a jerk?”
“He’s the jerk!” Sokka’s arms flailed emphatically through the air to punctuate exactly how much he disliked Jet. “He never shuts up and he has stupid opinions. And I don’t trust him, he flirts with literally everybody. He probably has a thousand diseases.”
“Stop that!”
He couldn’t. It felt like some horrible demon had taken over his mouth, intent on spewing out the most hateful things imaginable. “So what, are you guys dating now?”
“And what if we are? Are you going to act like you did with Zuko again?”
“What’s Zuko got to do with anything?”
“You obviously didn’t like him, and it made him uncomfortable.”
“I made him uncomfortable? That’s rich, considering he had his tongue down your throat every second he was here.”
“Even Haru said he tried his best, and you never warmed up to him.”
“That’s bullshit, I didn’t—”
“You’ve been acting weird for months, and I didn’t say anything because I wanted to let you talk about it in your own time. But I don’t understand why—”
“Because I’m in love with you!” the demon in his mouth screamed, before disappearing and leaving Sokka speechless. He clapped his hands over his mouth, as if he could shove the words back down.
Aang was similarly stricken. “You’re…what?”
“Huh.” Sokka’s brain rewound the past several months, reassessing everything in a new light. How much he hated seeing Aang with other guys. How he was secretly happy whenever Aang was single, and would spend more time with him. That burning, clawing feeling that he could now identify as jealousy. “Um. Yeah. I think I’m in love with you.”
It should have been terrifying. Sokka had never once questioned his sexuality. He had always been straight. But this was Aang: his best friend, practically his soulmate. In a weird way, it made sense.
All of Sokka’s brilliant introspection had distracted him from the fact that Aang was right in front of him, and had just been dealt the double blow of Sokka coming out to him and admitting to having feelings for him.
Aang was staring at him, arms clasped protectively around his stomach. “Sokka, if this is a joke, it’s not very funny.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because I’ve liked you for a long time, but I know you don’t like men. I’m serious, it’s not funny.”
Aang likes me!? Something that had been coiled tight inside Sokka unclenched. He surged forward and captured Aang’s lips in a kiss. In that instant, he knew he was right about his feelings. Warmth diffused through his body, like he was standing in a ray of sunlight. His hands molded themselves to Aang’s body, one on his neck and another on his waist, as if they had been made for such a purpose.
Sokka pulled back from the kiss first, and he cradled Aang’s jaw between his hands. “It’s not a joke,” he murmured.
Aang smiled, and pulled him in for another kiss.
They ended up cuddling on the couch the rest of the morning. They had been close before, but it was like Sokka was experiencing being with Aang for the first time. He was free to bury his nose into Aang’s shoulder, inhaling the sweet smell of his cologne. One of Aang’s hands had crept under the hem of Sokka’s shirt, and was rubbing warm, comforting circles against his side.
“How are you being so calm about this?” Aang asked. “I thought you’d be freaking out over realizing you like guys.”
“I don’t ‘like guys’,” Sokka retorted, hoping that verbal air quotes would make up for the fact that he was too comfortable to actually make them with his hands. “I like you.”
“Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“Honestly? I’m just glad I’m not homophobic.”
“What?” Aang snorted.
“I thought I didn’t like all your boyfriends because I was secretly homophobic. Katara and Toph were giving me shit about it.”
“You’re such an idiot,” Aang chuckled fondly.
“Am not! Give me your phone, I need to text Katara to tell her I’m not a bigot.”
“Where’s your phone?”
“I don’t know. Wait, this is my phone. Why do you have my phone? And where’s your phone?”
“No idea. Can you text Jet for me? We never set up another date.”
“I would literally rather die. Traitor.”
“Sokka?”
“Hmm?”
“I love you too.”