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Sokka dropped him off at Katara, Aang and On Ji's. The girls were out shopping, and now so were Sokka and Suki.
Zuko knocked and Toph immediately opened the door. It would probably be unsettling how she could just feel his presence but he knew her too well to be surprised.
“Sparky!” called Toph, punching him on the shoulder. It was a nickname she gave him in his teenage years, when he was ‘a lot more fiery’, to put it nicely. He used to hate it, but that's just how Toph showed her love for her friends.
“I brought home made boba,” Zuko said, lifting the bag to show her.
“Please don't tell me you just showed it to me,“ she mocked, crossing her arms.
“What? Of course not! Anyway, where's Aang?” said Zuko quickly lowering his hand.
“He's in the kitchen. I'm going back to the living room, I was about to give water to Badger.”
“Ok, I'll say hi and see if Aang needs anything.” Leaving his stuff by the door he grabbed the drinks and went to see his friends. Aang was in the middle of arranging tofu to look like the three of them.
“ Hi… Aang, you can't be serious,” said Zuko.
“Hi Zuko,” said Aang smiling and wrapping Zuko in a hug ”What? You don't like it? Look I even gave Toph's the fringe that is always in her eyes.”
“You know she's not going to notice, right?” said Zuko.
“I told her what I'm making and she said "I can't wait to see how it tastes". Besides, she always liked eating with her hands so she can feel the design,“ explained Aang.
“Ok, fair. I brought the boba we made with Sokka. Where do you have straws again?” asked Zuko.
“Above the sink to the right there’s a few different types of reusable ones, so pick whatever you want, I like the glass ones,” answered Aang.
“What are we doing today?“ Zuko started taking out straws and arranging everything on a tray to bring to the living room.
“I have the braille cards against humanity and Taboo ready, but we can do whatever. I also prepared a few movies with audio description.,” Aang said, assembling the last pieces of food and balancing the plates like the acrobat he was.
“Oh, I…” Zuko began uncertainly.
“Don't worry they have subtitles,” Aang added, knowing sometimes Zuko has auditory processing issues.
“Awesome, thank you,” Zuko smiled awkwardly, picking up the tray and nodding to Aang to go first. After crossing the living room threshold he was attacked by Toph's big guide dog, now off duty. He had to really struggle not to spill everything all over himself.
“Hi Badger, good to see you too.” He said quickly, putting his tray away to pet the excited dog.
…
After a movie and a few rounds of the card games, Toph finally asked a question Zuko knew was coming.
“Ok, Sparky… What is it? You’ve been sighing all evening.”
“It's nothing,” Zuko said, but even if Toph wasn't amazing at detecting bs she would have known it wasn't the case.
”If you don't want to talk, fine, but whatever it is, it's not nothing,” she said, grabbing another drink.
“Ok, so you guys know Suki right? “asked Zuko.
“Of course, Sokka's ex. She moved in with you temporarily, didn't she?” said Aang.
“Yeah and I didn't have anything against it. I still don't. She’s awesome and living with her comes surprisingly natural, but I don't know how I feel about all of this,” he said making a vague hand gesture and exhaling heavily.
“ You can tell us anything” said Aang, petting Zuko's back and giving a reassuring smile.
“Yeah I know, thanks, but I just don't know what I want to say; On one hand, it has been awesome and we are having so much fun together, but on the other, I'm so confused. I love Sokka, no doubt about it and I trust him with my whole heart and I know that he would do nothing to hurt me but… I don't know,” he said abruptly, ending his utterance.
“Are you jealous? “ Aang supplied to help him.
“NO! ...Yes.. maybe.. I don't know. When I see them having fun together I do feel slightly jealous, but what I don't know is it about Sokka, maybe it's just that they’re having fun, or maybe I'm jealous about Suki? And I know when I see them together I feel this warmth in my chest like everything is exactly as it should be and wrong at the same time… and I haven't felt this way about a woman since Mai, but I really like Suki but I swear I still love Sokka more than anything and...and…” Zuko cut himself off, burying his face in his hands.
“It's ok Zuko, I think I might understand. Have you two ever talked about trying out polyamory? Have you thought about it? Because for me it sounds like compersion with a lot of confusion and a dash of internalized polyphobia or compulsory monogamy,” said Aang, prompting Zuko to lift his head and look surprised between the two of them.
“ So you don't think what I'm feeling is wrong? In every story I ever read when the heroin falls in love then that's it and I…”
This time it was Toph's turn to interrupt him. “Zu, I might not be the best person for relationship advice… you know with the whole aroace thing I have going on?” She adjusted her position on the chair to face him. “But I do know a few things: first of all, you should never think your feelings are wrong. They are feelings, they can't really be good or bad, it's what you do about them that matters.” Zuko shuffled his feet nervously and looked down. “Second of all,” she continued. “Amatonormativity sucks and don't let it make you feel bad for being human.” Aang nodded in agreement. “Finally, know that no matter what you decide I… we are going to support you and we all know how much Sokka loves you, I'm sure he will be very open to talk about all of this. It's not like you have to come to a conclusion on your own,” Toph finished, raising her glass.
“Wow, and she says she's bad at relationship advice,” said Aang.
“I have my moments,“ she said with a smirk.
“Toph is right. You don't have to make any decisions right now. I encourage you to read about going polyamorous. Me, Katara and On Ji love it. If you want I can even send some resources to read up before talking to Sokka, thought I'm sure he'd love to explain everything to you as well,” concluded Aang, giving Zuko another smile.
“Thanks guys, and yeah, please do. Hopefully it will help me sort my thoughts out as well.”
~~~
”Fuck!” exclaimed Zuko during their regular sparring sessions ”I ripped my trousers again.”
“I have to go shopping too, a button fell of my brown shirt,” said Sokka.
“The auburn one?”
“Yeah that’s what I said.”
“That’s a pity you looked great in it,” said Zuko, with a slight smirk.
“Wait!?” said Suki, who until that point was listening quietly ”Let me get this straight… you’re planning on throwing out a perfectly good shirt because a button fell off!?” Suki asked Sokka.
“Yeah I mean, it’s not like I can ask Katara to sew it for me.”
“Ask Katara!?” she grumbled ”and you!” she pointed a finger at Zuko ”You were planning to throw out a pair of sweatpants because Sokka ripped them with your sword, and you’ve apparently done this multiple times!?” she said still in disbelief.
“I mean, we won’t throw it out. We have a pile of discarded clothes that we will tear into rags …someday,” explained Zuko.
“I just can’t with you two!” she said, face-palming “That’s it. I’m teaching you how to sew.”
After they came back home and showed Suki their sad pile of discarded clothing she went out to grab a few things. When she was back she sat them down, gave them each a few colors of thread and a few needles to choose from.
“Ok so to start you will need a needle. The smaller your needle the smaller, and thus stronger, your stitch will be. Since I’m dyslexic I can’t really use a needle that small cos I don’t have the fine motor skills for it but maybe you can,” explained Suki.
“I’m also dyslexic so I’ll pick a big one,” said Zuko after a moment of consideration.
“Now let’s find something that needs a button.” Suki was already rummaging through the pile that was taken from their bedroom and thrown on the living room floor. Thankfully she found a pair of dress trousers with a button missing and a Hawaiian shirt. She gave Zuko the trousers and told them both to pick a matching thread.
“Now you have to thread the needle, it’s easier if you lick the end of the thread so all the fibers stick together,” she demonstrated. Sokka was able to thread it on his second try but Zuko was struggling. “Do you need help with that?” asked Suki, already grabbing the thread from him.”Look the fibers are all over the place, lick it” she said, putting the end in her mouth and Zuko blushed, thinking about her soft lips . “If you find that gross you can use a bit of hairspray or water. Try now,” she handed it back and after a few tries Zuko was successful.
“With a button you can tie the two ends together for strength and speed but in regular sewing you make a knot on one end only…theoretically… I always do it the first way cos otherwise the end keeps slipping out,” said Suki making a knot. ”Some people don’t make a knot at all but that’s some wizardry. Everyone ready?” Suki asked finally.
“I was born ready,“ said Sokka with a grin, catching Suki’s eyes as if to challenge her. Zuko rolled his eyes and nodded.
“Great. Put the needle on the left side of where you want your button and pull it through, mind the fingers,” Suki warned while the boys followed her steps. ”Now thread the button onto the thread and go alternatingly from one whole to the other. At the end you wrap it a few times around the base to make a shank, tie it and you’re done. Afterwards we’ll do sewing up rips.” With that everyone got to work, while Suki watched over them explaining what to do from time to time.
“You are a very good teacher,” said Zuko appreciatively.
“Thank you, that kind of is my job,“ said Suki, with an easy smile that Zuko felt like he could get lost in.
“Fuck,” he exclaimed suddenly.
“What happened?” asked Suki.
“I stabbed myself,” admitted Zuko.
“What were you looking at? I told you to mind your fingers,” said Suki softly. Zuko blushed lightly, knowing full well what he was looking at but not daring to voice it.
“Do you want me to kiss it better?” asked Suki jokingly, at which Zuko became bright red like a beetroot.
~~~
After receiving a lot of links from Aang, and even some polyam memes, Zuko felt a lot more prepared to talk with Sokka about all of it. And it was just in time because the next day when Suki was still at work Sokka asked him to talk about something.
“Remember how we had a talk before Suki came?“ Sokka said, sitting Zuko down. ”I think we should have another one.”
“Yeah I was thinking about that as well,” said Zuko, wrinkling his shirt nervously in his hands.
Sokka took a big breath to steady himself and said“First of all I love you more than anything and if you want things to stay the way they are, it’s totally fine,” he said, steading himself once more. ”But I’d really like to try being in a polycule with you and Suki,” he said quickly, spitting out his words. He looked expectantly at Zuko.
“I was a bit worried you’d want to just date her instead,” said Zuko with a small smile. ”But I talked with Aang and Toph and...and.. I wanted to suggest the same thing,” he finished, eyes running around the room.
“For the record, we still need to talk over a lot of stuff before Suki comes home but... I’m so happy, I love you so much,” he said, passionately kissing Zuko. After a moment they were both breathless and smiling like idiots.
Zuko prepared a pot of tea, pouring Sokka’s first then settling down and pouring his own. “Ok so what do we have to talk about?” asked Zuko expectantly.
“I’d like to start with things we like about our relationship so far, how things may change. What we would like to change and what would we like to stay the same and we’ll see from there,” began Sokka. “I suggest writing out what we have to say and reading it out.” Sokka was already looking for a pen.
“Sounds great,” said Zuko, grabbing a pen from behind Sokka’s ear and giving it to him.
They took a moment to jot down and scribble some ideas. After they were both done, Sokka asked
“Would you like to start or would you like me to start? If you don’t want to choose we can play rock, paper scissors,” Sokka smiled reassuringly.
”Scissors, paper, rock ,“ started saying Zuko and Sokka joined him. Zuko chose scissors. Sokka chose paper.
“Ok, I’ll start,” said Sokka, taking a deep breath. “I love waking up next to you on those rare days you sleep in. I really enjoy making food together and I hope that never goes away. I love that I can trust you with my life and that I know if something is bugging you, you will talk to me about it. I like our movie nights and our system of voting for movies. I like our date nights and date lunches and how we eat together even when we are apart. I love touching you, coming up to hug you when you’re working, snuggling together on a couch. I love when we just hang out in the same room, both busy with something else. I love the gifts you give me, be it a home made lunch or a bag I’ve been agonizing over. I love that I can always ask you to help me when my leg gets bad. I love that you put so much effort into our relationship.”
“This was a horrible idea,“ said Zuko, blushing profusely. ”Ok, so… I love your compliments. I love how you always make sure to look your best when we go out together, and how you always help me when I need it even if I don’t know yet that I do - like that time you made me a health station for the plant I got from uncle that I struggled to keep alive and now it’s thriving.” He turned and gestured to the plant on their coffee table, which was now clearly flourishing with its emerald green leaves and small flowers. He took a short breath and continued “I love how we both can turn to each other with our problems big or small... I really like that you make sure I get my hugs and little touches so that I’m not touch starved like I was before we met. I love how you rumble about your day when you get back home. I love that I can always count on you to start new hobbies with. I honestly love just spending time together just as much as you. I love cooking with you and playing video games, and going on walks, and doing anything really. I could probably go on for ages about all the things I love about you.“
“Ok, so we will definitely keep spending time, just the two of us and we’ll keep sleeping in the same bed. The question is if Suki would be interested, can she join us?” asked Sokka.
“We’ve already fallen asleep together a few times and I liked it, so I’d say sure, the more the merrier,” said Zuko shrugging.
“We will also totally keep cooking regularly, but I’m open to Suki joining in whenever she can,” said Sokka.
“Agreed.”
“When it comes to relationship structure, would you prefer to have a hierarchy or not and what do you think about having an open or closed relationship?” asked Sokka.
“No hierarchy, idk I wouldn’t mind you dating other people but at the moment I have no desire to date anyone but you two,” said Zuko.
“Ok, I also prefer no hierarchy between these two relationships, but you two are more important to me than someone new would be if we decided to open the relationship,“said Sokka.
“Yeah that’s what I meant,” added Zuko.
“Ok so with the openness we’ll wait for Suki and decide together,“ said Sokka. “Ok so like before, communication is key and we have to tell each other whenever we feel bad or good about something, ok?”
“Yeah it goes without saying,” Zuko nods along. ”to be honest I’m surprised how little is changing.”
“To be honest me too, if at any point, including now, you would like to add something to this discussion just tell me … or Suki of course,” Sokka said, hugging Zuko.
“Actually after we sewed together a coworker said to me “Is there an auburn haired person in love with you?”
“Why would someone say that?” asked Zuko, taken aback.
“Yeah, you can imagine how I felt,” said Sokka, lifting his eyebrows. “Apparently where he’s from, if you find a thread of some color on your clothes it means someone of this hair color is interested in you. Strange isn't it?” Sokka explained.
“Weird,” admitted Zuko.
"Also, we don't have to talk to Suki about it today, she will be tired anyway,” said Sokka.
"Yeah maybe let's do it on the weekend," Zuko proposed.
“She will be so proud when she hears we had this talk, she's the one who showed me how important my own boundaries are,” added Sokka.
~~~
When the weekend came, the boys were very nervous but ready. They made a cake and talked through all the major points they wanted to discuss. They were just waiting for Suki to wake up. She was sleeping in after a late shift on Friday.
When she finally woke up and went to the kitchen for a glass of water, she was met with two expecting gazes...and a cake. There is definitely a cake.
“What is all of this about?” Suki asked, yawning and rubbing her eyes ”Is it someone’s birthday?”
“We would like to ask you something,” said Sokka.
“But maybe sit down first,“ added Zuko with a reassuring smile.
“Should I be worried? Do you guys want to kick me out?“ she laughed easily. ”And why is there a cake?“ she wondered out loud.
“No, to the first question, and because we thought if you agree we’ll celebrate and if you won’t, well at least we’ll always have cake,” explained Sokka. ”It made more sense earlier,“ he said, sweating.
“Ok you have my attention. What is it? Do you want to repaint the apartment and need a free worker?” asked Suki jokingly.
“We… would like to ask you out,” they said in unison.
Zuko asked “I mean you’ve heard of polyamory right?“ Suki nodded ”So basically since you moved in with us, we had so much fun together and we like you so much that we thought…” Zuko trailed off nervously.
“We thought maybe just maybe you would like to try this whole polyam thing with us.” finished Sokka.
“It’s ok if not, you can still live here like nothing changed,” added Zuko.
“Oh,” said Suki ”OH.“
Sokka and Zuko looked at each other nervously.
“I mean yes, YES!” Suki said excitedly “I can’t say I was expecting you two to ask but I did think it would be fun if you did.”
Suki got up and lifted Sokka into the air, kissing his cheek.
“Put my boyfriend down,” said Zuko.
“Our boyfriend” retorted Suki, laughing already switching Sokka for Zuko.
“Very funny. Put me down. Why did I agree to this? Now there's two of you,” said Zuko holding back his laughter.
~~~
Suki watched as Zuko carefully kneaded the dough that would soon become gyoza wrappers. She wanted to grab the store bought version with which she earned herself a scolding from both Sokka and Zuko.
“As long as we have the time and spoons to make our own, we will be making wrappers from scratch.” Zuko explained.
“The texture is better that way,” added Sokka. (Maybe scolding was too harsh of a word. More like neurodivergent correction.)
Zuko noticed her staring and asked “Would you like to try it yourself?”
“Isn’t it like, super difficult?” asked Suki in turn.
“No, it can be a bit tricky at the beginning, but now it’s basically ready so it behaves nicely, it can be very therapeutic to just knead the dough and forget about the whole world,” he explained. Suki could see the second part herself; Zuko had some air of serenity while kneading.
He carefully split the dough into two parts and gave the smaller one to Suki. “Ok, how do you do this?” she asked, looking at the dough.
“You want to create gluten, so you want to stretch the dough and fold it onto itself. The easiest method for me when I started was the heart,” Zuko explained.
“Aww that sounds cute, ok, show me.”
Zuko gestured for Suki to come closer and carefully went through the motions of kneading the dough. ''See you just do it in one direction, then the other. This way if there is any flour on the surface it makes a heart shape” he explained.
Suki went over to her piece and tried kneading it carefully. “You need to put more of your weight into it” said Zuko, demonstrating again.
This time Suki got it right and once she found a rhythm she couldn’t stop smiling. “You know I always looked at cooking in a very utilitarian way. I needed it to survive and that’s it. I low key hated the need to do it, but with you guys? It’s actually fun and the soup we made this week was exquisite,” she said.
“Thank you, it’s my mom’s recipe. We used to cook together, but then after she was gone my dad deemed it unmanly and…. Let’s just say if it wasn’t for Sokka, I probably would be just eating takeout,” he said, grabbing a rolling pin. Suki gave him a reassuring smile.
“That’s enough kneading, now we have to portion them into even pieces, roll them out and cut,” he said, punctuating the last part by putting a big glass on the table. After what seemed like forever, at least to Suki, they had a nice stack of wrappers and Sokka announced that the pork had been ground.
“Do we really have to make so. Much. Food?!” asked Suki, already tired.
”Yes” they answered her in unison.
“You see, this way we can store them in the freezer for up to a month,” said Sokka.
“And we don’t always have time to cook properly during the week,” added Zuko.
”You’ll get used to it; besides, you don’t have to help us,” said Sokka, petting her back.
“No, no I want to… it’s just a lot at once,” she said smiling. “So what are we doing next?” Suki asked, rubbing the flour off her hands.
“We will chop cabbage, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, garlic and ginger, and you will measure out the spices,” said Sokka ,handing her a piece of paper. ”I was able to annoy Zuko into writing this one down,” he added with a grin and sending an air kiss to Zuko.
Zuko responded by sticking out his tongue. Suki grabbed the recipe and disappeared into the kitchen to fetch all of the ingredients while Zuko went to wash his hands. Sokka carefully set up everything for chopping while waiting for his lovers and stopped for a moment to appreciate this, whatever this was. It felt so fleeting.
~~~
Sokka groaned as Suki threw him on the ground again. “So that’s all we will learn today, just a few simple moves to keep you safe in case of an attack,” she said, not even slightly out of breath.
Zuko nodded and stepped forward. If he was honest he didn’t really catch anything from that initial presentation other than “Suki strong” which wasn't a new conclusion but was a very appreciated one.
“Starting from the first one. What do you do when someone grabs your wrist?” asked Suki, gesturing to Sokka to do just that to her. “First you take control by holding down his hand,” she said grabbing Sokka. ”Then you do a circle with your grabbed hand, and grab onto his wrist and twist it into a lock,” she said slowly, going through the motions that make Sokka drop to his knees.“Did you get that?”
Zuko nodded hesitantly.
“Good now it's your turn,” she said, grabbing Zuko’s wrist. ”First take control.” Zuko grabbed her wrist with his other hand. ”Good, then twist it in a circle.” Zuko mimicked as best as he could the steps Suki had shown him, and lo and behold Suki dropped to her knees as well. ”Awesome, now do it all together a couple times,”she said, getting back into position.
After a few successful tries she asked Sokka to step in for her, to see if Zuko was doing everything right. He started off the movements normally, then as he went to make the circular movement Sokka laced his fingers between his and held his hand, causing Zuko to throw a 404 error in his mind and stop moving. “Dude!” he exclaimed, shaking his head.
“Ugh, what am I gonna do with you two lovebirds?” joked Suki before regaining her composure. “Okay, 10 more reps - get your heads straight, if not the rest of you,” she said in a stricter tone but winking as she said so.
After they finished Suki relaxed and said “Now let’s take a little break and then we’ll do more scenarios.” At the end of the day both Zuko and Sokka were completely spent, while Suki barely broke a sweat.
“This is not fair,” said Zuko incredulously. ”We’re in good shape, we spar regularly, we do our own workouts… how?”
“Oh don’t beat yourself up it was very challenging.”
“And yet you still look fabulous.”
“Oh come off it. Besides you both have sitting jobs and I basically exercise all day.”
“Zu’s right you look bomb, as always,” said Sokka with a shit eating grin.
~~~
The sun was shining through the window and onto their sleeping faces. As usual Zuko was the first to wake up. This time Suki had landed in between them, although it wasn’t like that when they went to bed. He slowly slithered out of bed, so as not to disturb his lovers. Suki stirred for a moment but she didn’t wake up.
Sokka was plastered all over Suki, which looked so cute that Zuko almost took a photo. Instead he quietly sneaked into the kitchen to make himself some tea. It was a habit he picked up back when he was living with uncle. This time, he decided, he could be a little fancy and he took out a glass teapot and blooming jasmine tea.
He slowly went through the familiar motions. First, warming the teapot with hot water then swishing it around and pouring it out. He carefully let water achieve 80C (175F) and covered the flower that slowly bloomed in the morning sun. He took a picture to throw on his instagram so his fans know he hasn't forgotten about them. After 3 minutes he took the flower out and poured himself a cup of tea to work on his new novel with. It was loosely based on the Korean folk tales his mom used to tell him to get him to sleep and he found the words always flowed easier with a cup of good tea and who was he to deny the writing gods.
After he finished writing another paragraph he heard quiet giggles coming from the bedroom. Soon after, two disheveled silhouettes emerged from the bedroom. It looked like the sun itself came into their living room, their smiles were shining so brightly. He closed his laptop and went up to them to finally hug them.
Suki rubbed her eyes. ”What are we eating? And better yet what smells so good?” she asked, sniffing the air.
“I’m drinking jasmine tea, if you want some there is still some in the kitchen,” said Zuko.
“Oooh, were you working?” asked Sokka.
“Yeah I felt very inspired and I wrote over 2 pages,” said Zuko.
“Wow.”
“Yeah we’ll see how much of that is left after I read it again,” Zuko laughed gently.
“Coming back to the most important question of all,“ said Sokka, looking at Zuko expectantly.
“I was thinking of some 油条Youtiao (deep-fried dough sticks) with 豆浆(soy milk) and 粥 Zhōu (rice porridge),” said Zuko.
“O.M.G you guys are the best, you know I ate those all the time growing up,” exclaimed Suki excitedly.
“How do you like your 粥, savory or sweet? We should have everything for both,” said Zuko.
“Sweet, definitely. Let me guess: Sokka likes his with meat?” said Suki.
“Correct” said Sokka, smooching her on the cheek “MEAT!” he exclaimed, like a child demanding more chicken nuggets.
“How about you, firecracker?” Suki asked coming up to hug Zuko.
“I actually like it both ways, but this time I think I stick with you and eat it sweet” said Zuko, wrapping his arms around her.
“Both ways, eh??” joked Sokka elbowing him in the ribs playfully. Zuko rolled his eyes and shoved him back, sticking out his tongue. “Did you prepare anything for this or are we winging it?” asked Sokka.
“Actually, I prepared the dough and I salted the pork yesterday while you were at work. I thought I could maybe soak the peanuts but I didn’t know when you would wake up,” admitted Zuko.
“Aww thank you, sweetheart. “Sokka said coming up to them and enveloping them in a big hug.
~~~
Lu ten had a small pottery studio. Zuko used that opportunity to invite his partners for a wheel-throwing class. It lasted 6 weeks and went through all of the fundamentals from clay wedging to glazing.
“We will do some bowls on the wheel and at the end you will have a moment to just play with the clay,” explained Lu Ten.
“First thing first you each have a piece of clay in front of you. Before you do anything with it though you have to put your hair up, clip your nails and put on an apron” Lu Ten said in a way that let them know he’d said it hundreds of times before.
Sokka placed himself behind Zuko and grabbed his hands. Zuko looked at him incredulously. “C’mon… What’re you doing??”
Sokka whispered in his ear “Woah, my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch, A long, lonely time~”
Zuko nudged him back “Quit it!!” he snarled. “We’re not doing Ghost.”
Suki looked over at the two lovers longingly. “Dumbasses…” she muttered affectionately.
“Attteeeention!” Yelled Lu Ten like a drill sergeant. “First of all - how can you leave your girl hanging like that,” he shook his head, gesturing to Suki. “Second of all … WHY IS IT ALWAYS GHOST??!” he grumbled. “Just get to your workstations properly now…”
They obediently checked themselves over. Zuko put up his long hair in a messy bun while Sokka and Suki re-tied their hair. Their nails were already clipped short, and they fished out the aprons they brought with them. They made them together in a sewing class curated by one of Suki’s students. Each of them had a handmade applique on the chest area. Sokka’s had a boomerang, Suki’s two golden fans and Zuko, ever the overachiever, made a three-colored turtle-duck.
“Now we will do clay wedging, grab your piece of clay and throw it against the table in front of you, we want to get all of the air bubbles out,” he said, demonstrating the move 3 times. ”Now we will knead it to get rid of even more of the air bubbles, try to look at my hands and do the same.” After a few moments, the clay was ready to be thrown. ”Get over to your wheels,” he instructed.
“You should sit comfortably with your knees slightly higher than your pelvis.” All three of them attempted to do that. Sokka almost lost his balance but Suki helped him stay up. ”That will help with back pain. Now put your right foot on the pedal and press to achieve full speed. It should turn counter-clockwise,” Lu Ten explained carefully. “Ok, now stop… as you can see the wheel keeps spinning so remember that while you work you don’t have to keep pressing the pedal. One last thing before we start, remember to be relaxed, any tension that you are holding will make this harder, so relax and remember to breathe. Now we will throw and center the clay.” As he kept explaining they began to relax and joke between each other.
At the end of the class, they had made 6 bowls and 3 tiny figurines. It was truly a workout. Next week they were going to glaze them.
~~~
“I wonder what we’ll eat today,” said Sokka, pulling up to Aang, Katara and On Ji’s house.
“I think Aang said something about Tibetan food but I don’t know exactly,” said Zuko.
“Do you think they were able to get a hold of some Yak meat?” said Sokka excitedly opening the car door for Suki.
“Thank you, I’m very excited I haven’t eaten Tibetan in ages,” she said.
They knocked on the door and after a few seconds Aang was greeting them. “Hi, welcome. Katara and On Ji are in the kitchen. We were able to find some yak meat and–”
Before he was able to finish Sokka sprinted past him yelling “Yak meat, my beloved! I missed you.“ As tears formed at the corners of his eyes
“I was going to say and Tibetan momo,” finished Aang.
When they were walking past the kitchen they heard Katara scolding Sokka over prioritizing meat to his own sister.
“I was going to ask if you need help with anything but I think it’s better to leave them to it for now,” said Suki trying not to giggle. They went into the dining-living room and found a table already set. They took their already established seats and waited for everyone else. Not long after, On Ji appeared from the kitchen carrying two big plates of dumplings with the special hot sauce.
“Hi, how are you? I’ve heard you made some pottery recently,” said On Ji, putting everything on the table with assistance from Suki.
“Oh yeah I almost forgot,” Zuko was immediately standing and bolted out of the room.
“We made you something and forgot it in the car,” explained Suki.
Zuko came back just as Katara and Sokka were bringing in the yak meat, already partially eaten by Sokka. He waited for everyone to settle down then gave a little package to Aang, who quickly opened it and his eyes were filled with glee.
“O.M.G, it’s the creature from Gyatso’s stories,” he exclaimed, holding it above his head triumphantly.
“I’m so happy you recognized it because let’s be real it’s really rough” said Suki smiling.
“How could I not recognize it!? It has six little legs and arrows like the ones I have, just in brown. I love it. I’m gonna name it Appa” said Aang.
“Happy you like it,“ said Sokka, petting Aang on the back.
“We’ll have to step up our game for the next meeting,” said On Ji with a glint in her eyes.
“Hey! This is not a competition,” said Zuko.
“Or is it?” added Sokka wiggling his eyebrows.
“Stupid,” said Katara affectionately, ”Can we eat now? I’m starving.”
“What about appreciating the people around you more than just food?” said Sokka in a mocking tone. In response, Katara stuck her tongue out, which Sokka reciprocated.
“Ok, momo have a vegetable filling and yak meat is well… meat,” explained Aang.
With that everyone started to plate some food for themselves and exchange stories of what happened during the week.
“And for the desert, Aang’s Tibetan yogurt is finally ready,” said Katara giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.
Seeing the look of confusion on their guest’s faces On Ji rushed in to explain “It’s made from yak milk so it’s much creamier than cow yogurt, it’s called “sho”.“
“Yes, it’s eaten with brown sugar and rice traditionally but we added some dried fruit as well,” said Aang.
“Where did you find all of that Yak-y goodness?” asked Sokka.
“Actually, I was talking to Zuko and he suggested asking Mai about her suppliers…so I did. The guy they forwarded me to was super excited someone wanted to cook with it so he gave us a discount if I promise to bring him some sho,” said Aang, smiling brightly.
“That’s awesome, Mai is really shaping out to be our family dealer of rare food. She helped us find some dried Chinese cabbage this week,” said Sokka ”The rice porridge was soooooo good.”
“Now she is tracking down some muktuk,“ said Zuko.
“Ooooh, please get me some too,” asked Katara.
“Already ahead of you,” said Zuko, winking.
“Maaan now I want to eat some 粥,“ said On Ji, longingly.
“Oh, maybe we can schedule more of an early brunch next week,” suggested Suki.
“That’s a great idea, we can bring some 包子(bao),” offered On Ji.
Everything seemed to be falling into place as they made plans for the future.
~~~
“Ughhhhh so BORED!” groaned Sokka, flopping around on the sofa dramatically, like a bored fish.
“Then let’s do something about it,” said Suki.
“Like what??” asked Zuko, popping up from the other side of the sofa.
“How about we go out?” said Suki, leaning against the sofa. A small murmur of indecision erupted from the two boys. “Oh c’mon guys, lighten up -it’ll be fun!” she mused. “We could… go do Karaoke…”
“OR we could stay in-” suggested Sokka.
“-And maybe have some wine?” a very sleepy Zuko continued.
“With karaoke??” Suki insisted, shaking the cushions excitedly.
“Fine. But I’m not singing” said Zuko.
“Go grab a bottle and we will put on some music.” said Sokka to Zuko, giving a Suki kiss on the cheek.
Zuko smiled at them and disappeared in the kitchen, only to reappear with a thrown “Bad news… we’re out of wine”.
Suki threw up her hands and shook her head in dismay “How could you betray me like this?!” she yelled dramatically, flopping onto the couch and Sokka’s legs.
“Preeetty sure it was you who drank the last of it,” said Sokka, raising an eyebrow.
“Netflix and chill? More like Netflix and spill,” Zuko facepalmed, but also high-fived him apathetically.
[One trip to generic store name later: ]
“Zuko, hooon, can you be a dear and grab us some glasses?” said Sokka with puppy dog eyes.
“We’ll put on the music” said Suki, giving a thumbs up and grabbing the controller.
When he returned with a set of three glasses, he found Sokka and Suki screaming their lungs out to Girl In Red (at least as much as it's possible in an apartment without alarming the neighbors).
In between the lyrics Sokka pulled him in for a quick kiss, finishing it just in time to sing in his face "I wanna kiss your lips, I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath".
Suki joined in and they were singing together. Zuko noticed that he’d never felt this loved, like everything was in its place. He wished this moment could never end.
Sokka turned to him, pointing a remote he was using as a pretend microphone into Zuko's face. Normally he would just push it away and roll his eyes, but it felt so right.
"I don't wanna be your friend, I wanna be your bitch; And I wanna touch you but not like this," he sang, grabbing the remote with Sokka.
Astonished, Sokka and Suki looked at each other with widened eyes and smiles so wide Zuko got light-headed just from looking at them.
They both looked at Zuko singing "The look in your eyes, My hand between your thighs, Oh, this can't be real, It’s all just a dream."