Chapter Text
sokka – 0
suki – ll
It's late evening when Sokka descends out of the old, rusty bus, his eyes adjusting to his new surroundings. It feels like he's on another planet.
It's nothing like back home, always cold and no cars around. Here it's like the apartment buildings line up to form a pattern and the air is designed to make him cough. It's a lot different.
But that doesn't matter now. He's going to college. He'd already registered online, so he was good to go. Sokka carries his things (not much: one box and a suitcase full of clothes) to the building where he's supposed to live in. He's heard it's better than the other apartments around town.
It's eerily quiet inside the building and there's almost no one to be seen. Well, almost. There's a girl who's carrying a box, probably moving in, as well. Sokka heads for the stairs the same time she does and they walk side by side in silence. It's not really awkward, but it definitely could be better.
He catches a glimpse of her face when they found a corner to face another flight of stairs. She's cute, he thinks to himself. Maybe I should go talk to her. A friend would be nice.
But he doesn't. Not yet. Pretty girls don't usually like guys like him, no matter how much he'd like to think so. At least, no one liked him in high school. But there was Yue…
No. She's gone. You can miss her, but she's gone, Sokka. You know that.
They reach the third floor and Sokka decides that this might be his chance to talk to the girl. But what to say? Hello? Does he just tell her his name? Come on, hurry, she's leaving! She's looking for her key! Say something!
"Did it hurt?" he blurts out in a rush, watching the girl pause. She turns around slowly, and damn, she's really, really pretty.
Her eyes, a fierce shade of blue, narrow, sharpening with each second that ticks by. "It will if you continue that joke."
Sokka rubs the back of his neck. "So…no?"
She shakes her head. "I'll give you another shot. Try again."
"My name's Sokka," he says, smiling. He gestures to the fan she's holding in one hand. "Not a fan of jokes, huh?"
She rolls her eyes. "I'm going to ignore that. I'm Suki. From Kyoshi."
He's heard of that place before, with its amazing food and peaceful thriving, but it's always been too far to travel by foot. And besides, he never really had time for traveling.
"I've heard it's nice there," he says, adjusting his grip on the box. "The people, too. I've heard people from Kyoshi look pretty."
She smiles. "Was that an indirect compliment?"
His eyes widen. "Yes! I mean, no! I mean," he sighs, shoulders slumping. "If it's okay, I think you're really pretty. There. I said it."
"You don't look too bad yourself," she says. "Could use a little fixing, though."
It's his turn to roll his eyes. "Ha, ha. Very funny."
"Thanks," she tells him. Looking at her watch, she adds, "Well, I'm gonna go unpack."
"I can help if you want," he offers as she fumbles with her key.
There's a click and Suki opens her door. "I'll manage."
"Oh," he says, grabbing his own key and opening his door. "Nice meeting you."
"You, too, Sokka," she says before closing the door behind her.
He sighs, knowing he hadn't made the best first impression in the world. Maybe he'll see her again and make up for it. Yeah. That's a nice thought.
He gets a call from Katara at two in the morning. Sokka curses under his breath, making a mental note to change his ringtone. His fingers fumble and search for his phone, which he finds underneath the pillow.
"Katara, what is it?" he asks angrily.
"Sokka, hey! How are you?" her voice cuts through the line.
"Katara, what time is it there?" he asks impatiently, hoping she realizes that she called at a very horrible time.
"Four in the afternoon, why?" There's a pause from the other side of line. "…oh. Oh. It must be like two in the morning for you, sorry."
"You better be," he mutters. "Anyway, why'd ya call?"
"I'm assuming you've eaten since you can't last two hours without doing so, but have you showered? Unpacked? Done the laundry?"
He nods his head, half-listening, then stops. "Laundry? What laundry?"
Sokka hears her sigh. "The laundry, you know, the clothes you didn't want to clean before you left. You said you would just wash it there. Have you done it?"
He stays silent, his eyes wandering over to the pile of clothes in the corner, all waiting to be washed. How could he have forgotten?
"Sokka! You forgot, didn't you?"
"Well, okay, look, I may have forgotten, but what does that matter? I can always do it tomorrow," he says, standing up.
"You'll forget, you know you will," she tells him. There's a voice from the other side of the line (probably Dad), but he can't make it out. "Look, I have to go, but just go do the laundry. It won't take long. You'll get all the beauty sleep you need afterwards."
"Fine," he says, gathering all the clothes and putting them in a small basket from the corner. "Night, sis."
He sighs, opening the door. Sokka makes his way to the laundry room, singing a song he didn't know all the words to. (Katara probably does.) He switches the light on, stuffing all the clothes into the washing machine.
He sings even louder, just to entertain himself. The whirring of the machine gets a little louder, and so does his voice. Sokka walks around the room, yawning mid-song and stretching his arms. Then he sings again.
And that's when the door swings open, making him jump. There's a girl standing at the door, holding it open.
"Oh, hey, did you forget to do the laundry, too?" he asks, trying to sound casual and not freaked out.
She — oh, hey, it's the girl from earlier! Her name's Suki, right? — stares at him and smiles sweetly. A little too sweetly.
"No, actually. I came here to tell you that the walls are extremely thin and everyone can hear you singing off-key at the top of your lungs. And I hope you know that it's almost three in the morning and I'm very tired, so please, for the love of god, Sokka, was it? Don't sing again."
"Oh, sorry," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't realize."
She crosses her arms. "Of course you didn't. But I think my eardrums accept your apology."
He smiles a little. "Thanks, Suki."
"Just…don't sing again, okay? Save us all from your off-key, pretty bad, quite horrible, out of tune—"
"I get it. I'm not the best singer in the world," he cuts her off.
"—can't-save-your-life, definitely not the best singing," she finishes with a knowing smile. "Everyone can hear you."
"I think you've mentioned that already," he says, hearing the alarm of the washing machine. He grabs the basket and starts to fold the clothes.
"Oh, and I might also want to keep my voice down when talking on the phone," she says a little softer. He turns pink. "Anyway, I'll leave you to whatever you're doing. Good night, Sokka."
She leaves without another word, the door closing behind her. Sokka doesn't know whether to be extremely flustered, glad she told him about the walls, or angry she commented on his singing.
Probably all three. That girl had a lot to say, didn't she? Well, whatever was happening to him, he couldn't shake off the feeling of excitement when he realized that he would see her again eventually.