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“What did I do to deserve that?” Sokka howled in despair, his head hung in defeat as he pulled four cards from the deck in the middle of the table. “You know, Zuko, I’m starting to think you and my sister are a terrible match after all.”
The group crowded around the table laughed and Zuko pretended to wince at the playful jab Katara landed on his ribs with her elbow. They had somehow unanimously decided that this was the best way to spend their free summer afternoon — a game of Uno in Aang’s basement.
It had been Katara’s idea to combine two full decks together, which meant they had double the number of traps during the game. Stacking was, to put it lightly, heavily encouraged. Blackmail was officially banned in the game’s rules after Suki had so quickly destroyed Sokka using a strictly hidden photo in her camera roll a few months ago.
Stakes were simple enough to set, but Zuko and Azula were keen to raise them. Now, in the middle of the table were a few bills, coins, a gift card to their favorite local pizza place, two concert tickets, and a sticky note that said "W inner must make one of the losers eat a ghost pepper and sing a song of their choosing." (The siblings chose the pepper caveat, of course, having an almost terrifying immunity to spicy food).
Money was one thing, but now they were all vying for the golden opportunity to embarrass each other. Mai had been on the hunt since the very beginning with the goal of making Zuko jump around to the tune of Y.M.C.A., while Ty Lee was careful to play nice with everyone so she wouldn’t be at the mercy of a ghost pepper later on. Suki shared a hand with Toph, who was eager to trash talk anybody with more cards than her, though she was often the one with the most cards in hand.
Azula faked a regretful sigh as she placed down a ‘Reverse’ card, sparing a glance to her right. “My sincerest apologies.”
Aang shook his head, looking at her with a sly smile on his face. “You know I’m going to get you back for that, right?”
To her left, Katara dropped a Red 3 card, which Zuko followed up with a Blue 3 card.
Sokka stood up in excitement. “Oh, Sokka coming in for the kill!”
He slammed down a +4 card. “BOOM!”
Next to him, Suki shook her head in amusement before she stacked another +4 card on top of Sokka’s. “Nice try!”
Low oooohs filled the room as they awaited Ty Lee’s next move. She glanced nervously to her left at Mai then back to the deck before dropping another +4 card. “Sorry, Mai!” she squeaked out.
Mai glared daggers at Ty Lee. “Nice to see where your loyalties lie.”
Ty Lee began to stammer out a response before Mai slid a card between two of her nimble fingers, stealthily tossing another +4 card on top of the deck. Everybody except for one gasped excitedly.
“We have to stop stacking rules the next time we play,” Aang lamented in despair, dropping his face in his hands. In doing so, two of the cards from his hand had accidentally slipped from his fingers. Face up on the table, they were now staring Azula right in the face.
A regular blue 8 card, and a +4 wild card.
Sokka and Zuko both stood up in unison.
“Aang! Aang, oh my god, Aang, you have to do it!” Sokka yelled, stepping back from the table to do what looked like an ancient dance dedicated to the gods for a prosperous rainy season.
“Drawing 20 cards… We’ve never seen anything like it.” Zuko remarked in astonishment, running a hand through his hair. In his mind, he was already running through all the things he would blame Azula’s Uno karma on, starting from the very beginning of their shared childhood. Like when she would wake up extra early to prevent him from getting to shower on school picture day, or when she showed Katara all the terribly awkward pictures of him in braces from when he was twelve.
Katara held a hand to her mouth, anticipating Aang’s next move. Toph couldn’t stop laughing.
“I-” Aang hurriedly placed the fallen cards back into his hand. He spared a glance at Azula, whose narrow eyes were staring back at his so intensely he couldn’t even read the emotions behind them.
He weighed his options. An angry Azula or a very spicy pepper in his mouth. Somehow, they felt like the exact same outcome.
Aang began to purse his lips together. Sokka groaned in agony.
“No. No, no, no, no, Aang! This would be the greatest move in the history of Uno, and you’d be doing it to your girlfriend! After she reversed you! You would be a god!" Sokka brought down a dramatic fist to the table as if he had never lost so massively in his life. Suki rubbed a comforting hand across his back.
Aang looked at Azula again, his eyes falling to her lips. The corners of her mouth were tugged up into the same playful smile he has seen a million times. Not once has it failed to bring him to his knees.
He shook his head, reaching out his thumb to flick through the large deck on the table.
“Come on!” Zuko cried out. “No way you’re taking 20 cards for her with a hot pepper on the line! You can’t even eat a spicy chip without crying!”
Aang shrugged, a surrendered smile on his face. “I can’t, man. I love her too much. What choice do I have?”
The sounds of various awws followed Aang’s words, immediately punctuated with groans from Sokka, Zuko, and Toph. He smiled, saying nothing else as he tried to gracefully hold more than twenty cards in his hands.
Blood rushed to Azula’s face, though she remained silent. Love. Love, love, love. She glanced down at the cards in her hands. A +4 card stared back at her.
For the first time in all the years they had known her, Azula was speechless. Aang had never said that word to her before. It had only been a few months of them dating, though they had been pining for each other for so long in the years prior that it was getting embarrassing. Should I say it back? Should I disrupt the game and take him upstairs to talk about our feelings? Should I hit him over the head with the deck? Her heart was beating faster than her mind could register.
Katara was kind enough to save her. “What color, Mai?”
“Hm.” Mai studied the players next to her. “Green.”
Sokka let out an exasperated huff, then continued to swear up and down that he did, in fact, have a green card to spare.
The game had managed to continue despite Azula feeling like she was floating outside of her body. She played the cards she was supposed to, but winning was far from her mind. Every now and then, Aang shot her gentle looks from which she had to quickly look away.
Nobody had ever told her… only Zuko. Their parents were out of the picture now, and he had tried his best to fill the gaping hole they had left behind in their absence. But she had never heard that word from anyone who loved her in that way. She stared down at her cards, trying to feel the word in her mouth when nobody was looking. Love. Love. My love.
“UNO!” Sokka screamed shrilly.
Toph put both her hands up to her ears. “Shut it!”
“You’re just mad because I’m winning.” He pumped his fists into the air dramatically.
Aang brushed his foot against hers underneath the table and Azula looked up at him, half-expecting him to be looking back in anger and frustration for not declaring her love for him right then and there. Instead, his eyes stared into hers fondly, and she had never been quite so stilled by the calmness in his gray eyes before.
"Victory!" Mai exclaimed with more energy than she had ever exhibited in the history of the group's friendship. She slammed her final play down: a wild card. The final predator patiently waiting for her prey.
“NO!” Sokka’s voice was full of pure anguish, and he fell to a heap on the ground. Suki laughed, pretending to step over him to get to the other side of the table.
Ty Lee clapped her hands together excitedly. “Amazing game, Mai!”
Led by the game’s winner, the group began to file upstairs towards the kitchen to collect their rightful earnings. The intro to Y.M.C.A. was beginning to play on Mai’s phone.
Aang and Azula stayed behind discreetly, hands clasped together underneath the table. On the stairs, Katara spared one last knowing look at the couple before dragging Zuko away. Out of eyesight, he still managed to yell, “Don’t do anything gross with my sister, Aang!”
The comeback on the tip of Azula’s tongue was intercepted by Aang scooting his chair back and grabbing her arm. Without hesitation, she sat down on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
Not wanting to break the silence just yet, Azula buried her head into the crook of his neck. His skin was always cool against hers, and she relished in the respite from her warm cheek. His pale yellow shirt smelled like him: crisp air, fresh pie, cut grass.
“So, you’re going around claiming you love me now?” She leaned back to look at him seriously, eyebrows furrowed. “That’s a serious thing. You can’t just say things like that and expect me to-”
The grin on his face stopped her dead in her tracks.
Azula frowned. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“Because I know you, and I knew you would say that.” He placed a kiss on her left cheek, then the other.
“And I love you.” He kissed the bridge of her nose, then her forehead. “And you don’t have to say it back.”
Aang closed his eyes, leaning in to place a kiss on her lips but Azula moved away.
She tilted her head, trying to find any trace of untruthfulness in the lines of his face. It didn’t matter how many times her eyes traced a path from the top of his head to the sharpness of his jaw. Her lie detector always came up empty.
Azula leaned in, her lips ghosting across his own. “I love you,” she whispered, her tone steely yet soft. “Don’t you dare tell anyone.”
She could feel him smile into their kiss, his boyish grin pressing against her lips more tenderly than it ever has. Azula couldn’t help but smile back when he grabbed the back of her head to deepen the kiss, eliciting a small hum from the back of her throat.
She silently prayed to whatever higher being was up there that he would never, ever find out that she had a +4 card in her hand all along.