Archive of Our Own

The first time Sokka firebended was, ironically, after he was no longer threatened in his daily life.

The war had been over for nearly ten years at that point and most of the initial skirmishes in the aftermath of it had settled — of course, not everyone was happy with how things turned out, but Sokka reckoned that most of the violent backlash was finally over with.

That is to say, Sokka had lived a relatively calming life for the past year or so. Yes, he was still largely involved in the politics of it all, but the life-threatening aspects of the job had more or less subsided. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had to fight off an assassination attempt, his own or otherwise. While he still trained his fighting skills, it had become more of a hobby than a skill that he actively needed to use.

So, in Sokka's humble opinion, it almost felt cruel that his latent firebending abilities had only surfaced now.

The first incident happened during a routine solo training session where he sharpened his hand-to-hand combat skills. He was punching a hanging sand bag in, get this, the Fire Nation palace's combat grounds. Yes, he was visiting the Fire Nation when he first firebended because life just loved to fuck with Sokka like that, he guessed.

He wasn't completely sure he wasn't hallucinating when he felt a small fireball leave his fist, but the scorch mark left on the sand bag was undeniable. He almost tried to convince himself that that was there before, that maybe Zuko had accidentally burned it when he trained earlier that morning, but then he punched it again, and. Well. A second scorch mark followed a second tiny fire ball.

"What the actual—" he cut himself off as he shakily took a step back. He held his hands out in front of him, staring down at them as if they weren't his. He faced his palms upward and tried to concentrate on creating a flame like he saw Aang do when he first learned to firebend. 

At first, nothing happened. He quickly figured out that he wasn't breathing when he felt his lungs scream for air, causing him to suddenly gasp and suck in as much air as he could. That's when he felt a tiny heat emanate from his palms.

Right, he thought to himself, firebenders need to breathe and shit. He recalled the many meditation sessions both Aang and Zuko had participated in, and then he flinched as he realized that he'd just referred to himself as a firebender.

It was a true statement, as he'd evidently seen from the little flame sitting in his hands. He slowly brought it closer to his face, mesmerized by its flickering edges and almost comforting warmth. The flame sputtered out the moment it was a bit too close to his nose, the abrupt disappearance snapping him out of his trance.

"What the fuck," he said to no one. It was more a statement than it was a question.

He sped out of the training grounds and toward the guest quarters at a breakneck pace, not even stopping to briefly greet any palace staff he passed like he normally would. He needed to get back to his room to have a mental breakdown now.

Sokka only allowed himself to panic the moment the door to his room was securely locked behind him. He sunk to the ground and rested his back against the door, bringing his legs toward his chest. Why is this happening, he kept thinking, why only now? Why after everything is over? How is this even possible, I'm not from the Fire Nation!

His breathing only became more and more erratic, and then it was coincided by a heat lightly pulsing in his hands. Seriously, if his bending was so easily triggered now, how had this never come up before? How was it only happening now?

It took about fifteen more minutes of questioning his entire life until this point before he started to calm down, his breathing slowing to a more normal pace. He buried his face in his knees and closed his eyes.

Okay, he thought, what do I do now?

It was a simple question, but it did not immediately provide a simple answer. Did he tell someone? Who would he tell? Katara? Aang? Toph? Suki? While he desperately needed someone in his corner as soon as possible, each name he cycled in his mind came with its own set of issues. 

Normally, Katara would be the first person he told something this monumental. He was the first one she showed her waterbending to, and in turn, she was the first person to see him successfully catch his boomerang out of the air, so it almost felt wrong for her not to be the first to know. But she and Aang weren't in the Fire Nation at the moment, and the last he heard, they were settling some diplomatic debate between Omashu and Ba Sing Se. That was definitely too far away to travel to, and the time it would take for a letter to get to her would eat him up inside.

Besides, the idea of telling Katara that he was suddenly a firebender made him feel almost uneasy. Yes, he knew that she loved him unconditionally and that she had a lot more love and respect for people in the Fire Nation these days, but he also knew that she held onto a kernel of resentment for all of the times they wronged her and her family. It was a resentment he understood completely, and even one that found himself holding sometimes, but that understanding didn't lessen the churning in his gut.

So not Katara, then, which also left out Aang, and that was a real shame. Sokka almost thought that Aang would get it — up until he was 12 years old, he thought he was only an airbender. The surprise that he was the Avatar shook his sense of identity. While Sokka's newfound firebending wasn't nearly as important as all that, part of him thought that Aang would understand the meltdown he just had.

With both of them off the table, Toph and Suki also came to mind, but they were also quickly shot down for similar reasons. Both of them were just too far, and the longer he pondered it, the more immediate his need for someone to know was.

That only left one person; Zuko.

It made sense, really. He and Zuko had gotten a lot closer over the years, hence Sokka's current visit to the Fire Nation. Their personalities meshed surprisingly well, despite—or maybe because of—their differences, and Zuko seemed to value both his political advice and his quality time. Besides, Zuko was a firebender, the very same firebender that taught Aang, who learned his forms from the original firebenders; he was the literal Fire Lord!

Oh, right, that was the drawback. Zuko was very preoccupied with, you know, running an entire nation. Sure, he made a lot of time for Sokka when he visited—too much time, probably—but that didn't mean he had the bandwidth to deal with Sokka's problem, much less actually teach him anything.

And then there was the issue of Sokka's other predicament with Zuko. He maybe, probably, definitely had a teeny-tiny crush on the guy that he hadn't completely dealt with yet. Trust him, he knew that there was no world where anything happened with that, but knowing that didn't do anything to quell the beating of his heart anytime he was near. If his firebending was as tied to his emotional state as it seemed to be, then the entire palace would be in flames the moment Zuko stood just a little too close to him.

So no telling Zuko quite yet, but he would tell him eventually, he tried to convince himself, and maybe he should start with some solo research, anyway; then, he could come up with a plan. Which he loved! Because he was the plan guy! 

Yeah, he thought, what could go wrong with that?

The first thing that could go wrong, did.

Well, maybe "go wrong" was a strong way to refer to a language barrier, but it felt like the end of the world to Sokka.

See, in the conjuring of his genius idea, he failed to consider that he couldn't actually read the firebending scrolls in the library. While most legal documents were written in a common script, firebending scrolls were written in a Fire Nation specific script that Sokka wasn't fluent in. There went his "research on his own" idea.

Maybe not entirely, though, he thought as he studied each scroll. They did have some diagrams drawn that Sokka could probably replicate. So what if he couldn't read what each move did? All he had to do was memorize some forms, recreate them during his training, then boom! Something would happen! Probably!

"Sokka?"

He was jolted out of his thoughts as he jumped in his seat. He looked to whoever rudely interrupted his thinking time to tell them off, but how could he forget? Sokka was life's punching bag, so of course the person looking at him apologetically from the door was none other than the Fire Lord himself.

"Spirits, Zuko,"  he said as he dramatically threw a hand over his heart, "warn a guy the next time you enter a room."

"I did knock," Zuko replied, rolling his eyes, amused. "What are you doing up this late? It's well past midnight."

Sokka blinked at him a few times before he looked out the window. Sure enough, the moon was high in the sky, and the world outside was quiet. "Huh. When did that happen?"

The other man smiled at him with what Sokka could only describe as a resigned fondness, which Sokka's heart decidedly could not take. He tried to will the warmth building in his hands to chill out—heh, chill out—as Zuko came over to sit down next to him.

"What's been keeping you up this late, anyway?" Zuko asked, peering over his shoulder at the scrolls laid out on the table.

"Oh, nothing important, just, uh," Sokka attempted to say as he hurriedly rolled up the scroll immediately in front of him. "Just trying to immerse myself, in, uh, Fire Nation culture, you know?"

Zuko easily plucked the scroll out of Sokka's hands and unrolled it to inspect it for himself. He was silent for a moment before he peered back up at Sokka with confusion. "Why are you reading firebending scrolls?"

"I was curious?"

"Sokka, you can't read this script."

"I like the pictures?"

Zuko squinted at him. "The pictures?"

Sokka didn't think he can handle much more interrogation. Zuko didn't usually have a hard time getting the truth out of him, and this time wasn't shaping up to be any different. The other problem that was making itself apparent was how he could feel fire aching to burst from his skin, and he knew that with his lack of control, that could only end in disaster.

"Yeah, you know me, a connoisseur of the arts," he rambled as he abruptly stood up and started inching toward the door. He hid his hands behind his back, afraid that flames would erupt from them at any moment. He faked a yawn. "Wow, it really is late, huh? Guess I should get some shut eye real soon. Or right now."

Zuko eyed him suspiciously. "Sure, Sokka. You still up for some sparring in the morning?"

Shit, he definitely forgot about that. "Uh," he said as he tried to think of an excuse.

"Because I only get so much time with you, and I would hate to lose out on that. Wouldn't you?" Zuko, sensing his hesitation, pulled out the big guns; his sad eyes.

And Sokka, even knowing that this could only end badly, couldn't resist Zuko's sad eyes. He tried to glance away from them, but the faux sadness only beckoned to him more.

God, when did he get so whipped?

He sighed. "I'll see you in the morning, your Fieriness."

Zuko smiled so brightly at the confirmation that Sokka's heart couldn't help but stutter in his chest. "Great, see you then. Good night!"

"Night," Sokka said as he speed-walked out of there.

When he got back to his room, he deflated, feeling literal steam pour out of his ears. The sensation sent a jolt down his spine. That actually happened to firebenders?

He got ready for bed while he tried to figure out a game plan for the morning. How the hell was he gonna spar Zuko without accidentally firebending? How did Zuko spar without accidentally firebending?

Sokka once again remembered that Zuko often meditated first thing in the morning. Maybe that's what helped him stay in control?

Feeling the tiredness catching up with him, he resolved to wake up early enough to meditate before the sparring session and hope for the best, because really, what else could he do? Not that he'd ever successfully woken up early before, but he'd try, anyway.

He fell into a fitful sleep, dreams of flickering flames and beautiful Fire Lords dancing behind his eyes.

For perhaps the first time in his entire life, Sokka rose with the sun and felt energized.

It wasn't an unwelcome change by any means, but it was also a stark reminder of how much had changed in the span of a day. He slowly sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and mulling over the events of yesterday. Was that all a dream?

He held out a hand in front of him, willing his newfound energy to create another flame in his hand. Any hope that yesterday was a weird dream was quickly squashed when a tiny fire emerged from his palm. He yelped and shook his hand to extinguish it.

Sokka sighed and resigned himself to meditate like he told himself he would. As he took the cross-legged position he'd seen Zuko take so many times, though, he realized that he didn't actually know what people did to meditate. Did they really just... Sit there and do nothing? Was thinking allowed?

He settled on breathing deeply and letting his mind wander.

Now that he had the time and wherewithal to think more about his dilemma, though, the less sense it made. He grew up in the South Pole; the only kind of benders that ever came from there were waterbenders. If any kind of bending were going to surface later in his life, would it not be waterbending?

Maybe he should write to someone about this, actually. More specifically, he should write to his dad. Or Gran Gran. Or both. If anyone were to know how firebending was even kind of a possibility, it would be one of them.

Then again, that only brought up the other half of his conundrum—why, at the age of 25, had his bending only now appeared? He'd certainly never heard of someone discovering their abilities later than childhood, but perhaps that was because he'd never outright looked for examples of it. Now that was something he could research.

Wow, have I been missing out on meditation my whole life? he thought. In just under twenty minutes of sitting there and doing nothing, he already had two action items that could lead him in a more productive direction. I should do this more often.

With one last deep breath, he opened his eyes and got up to start getting ready for his sparring session with Zuko, which he was definitely not dreading at all.

Okay, Sokka dreaded it a little bit.

He felt a lot better this morning than he did the night before—he glanced up at the sun, supposing that that made a lot of sense, actually—but that did nothing to calm his nerves about facing Zuko like this.

He knew that so many things could go wrong. Well, one thing could go wrong, but it could lead to so many terrible outcomes. He hadn't intentionally tried to firebend beyond producing little flames in his hand, not since his training session the previous day, and he certainly hadn't attempted to fight anyone after gaining this ability. He didn't think he would be able to hold back any fires that left his body, much less control where they land.

It was a terrible idea overall, sparring with Zuko, but fuck. Those damn sad puppy eyes got him so bad, and not showing up would only draw more suspicion to him. Whatever was going to happen would happen, but that didn't mean Sokka wasn't going to freak out about it.

"Sokka!"

His slight spiraling was interrupted by the sound of Zuko calling his name from the sparring grounds. Sokka looked up and felt his chest nearly implode on itself.

As always, Zuko was fucking gorgeous. His hair was tied up in a bun at the back of his head, letting just his bangs frame his face. His shirt was nowhere to be seen, putting his toned body on display for Sokka to feast his eyes on. He was waving Sokka over so innocently, but it only highlighted every curve and surface that made up his torso.

And because the universe wanted a good laugh out of Sokka's misery, he felt the heat in his own body rise faster than it ever had. No, bad firebending! he thought as he took yet another deep breath. Self-combustion due to his best friend's hotness was not how he wanted to go out today, thank you very much.

"Hey, Zuko! You ready to get it on?" He cringed at his own stupid phrasing, but Zuko didn't seem to notice his social blunder as he smirked and branded his daos before him.

"Readier than you'll ever be, that's for sure," he taunted back. With no other warning, Zuko rushed at him and swung one of his blades at him.

Sokka quickly blocked with his sword, using Zuko's momentum against him and twisting the blade away from his face before swinging his own blade back down toward the Fire Lord. Zuko sidestepped the attack, letting Sokka's sword hit the ground, sparks flying from the contact point.

That's never happened before, Sokka thought as he eyed the floor for a second. He didn't get time to dwell on it as Zuko launched his own counterattack, bringing both of his dao around toward Sokka's side. Sokka ducked under the blades, using his new position to heavily swing the flat side of his sword toward Zuko's feet. 

The weapon caught the cuff of his pants, and Sokka almost swore that the fabric looked slightly singed when Zuko easily pulled back and avoided the sword contacting with his actual body. The thought distracted Sokka enough that he barely had enough time to roll out of the way of Zuko's next downswing.

He could feel himself panicking more and more as the fight continued on, and he could not get the heat building in his frame to lessen. Each time his sword touched something, a spark or a tiny scorch mark would appear. While it didn't seem like Zuko noticed anything unusual yet, Sokka knew that if this went on much longer, it was only a matter of time before something truly burned.

The fight quickly reached a fever pitch where both men were swinging at each other with full force. If it were any other day, Sokka would be impressed that neither of them felt the need to hold back out of fear of hurting the other—they each had trust in both their own and the other's skills, that they wouldn't accidentally go too far.

Of course, this was not any other day, and Sokka's frenzy hit a breaking point. In an attempt to end the session, he brought the sword over his head and swung downwards.

Unfortunately, in his intensity, he failed to keep back the flame trail that followed the blade.

As he hit the ground, both men froze. Sokka would not dare lift his eyes to see the look on Zuko's face, horrified by his own stupidity. He fucking knew this would happen, and he went along with it anyway.

He faintly heard his sword clatter to the floor, but he couldn't bring himself to pick it up. He just stared straight ahead as he felt himself fully collapse to his knees. The world around him felt distant as a high pitch rang in his ears.

Sokka knew—logically, anyway—that his firebending wasn't a figment of his imagination, but to actually do it in front of someone else, even by accident? It made everything feel too real all at once. This was actually happening to him.

He just barely processed that Zuko was now sitting in front of him. His lips were moving, but Sokka couldn't make out anything he said. He felt the other man take his hand and lay it on his chest. Before he could question what was happening, Zuko's chest heaved an exaggerated breath. Another soon followed the first, and Sokka could see his other hand motion up and down with the breath.

Eventually, Sokka got the idea and started copying the motion. He hadn't noticed that his breaths were so shallow before, but now that he was breathing with Zuko, the air felt like a welcome balm to his lungs. His vision slowly came back into focus and his hearing became clear.

"That's it, you're doing so well," he heard Zuko tell him. "Deep breaths, Sokka."

Sokka almost felt embarrassed at the words, but he couldn't help but feel relieved that he felt normal again. When Zuko could tell that Sokka was back to himself, he let go of his hand. Reluctantly, Sokka let his hand fall from his chest and back to his side before properly sitting down.

"Hey," Zuko said softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Sokka croaked. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Yeah, thanks. Sorry, I didn't mean to freak out on you like that." He brought his knees to his chest and lightly hugged them. "I, um, just. Didn't expect. That."

Zuko nodded cautiously and carefully moved next to him, leaving barely an inch between them. Sokka's chest clenched as he felt Zuko's arm rest on his shoulders.

"I mean, I didn't either," Zuko said with a light chuckle. "I take it this is a new development, then."

"Yup. As of yesterday morning." Sokka decided that his panic attack warranted a bit of selfishness, so he indulged his desires and leaned into Zuko, putting his head on his shoulder. "And I have no fucking clue what to do about it. Or what it means. Or how it happened. Or why it happened, all these years later, when it would have made me so much more useful during—"

"Hey, hey, relax," Zuko said lowly. Sokka shivered as he felt the sound of his voice rumble in his upper body. "You don't have to know the answer to those questions. Like you said, this just came up. And you don't need to search for those answers alone, either. Let me help you."

Sokka frowned and opened his mouth to protest before he's rudely interrupted by Zuko.

"And you were the plan guy during the war, remember? You were plenty useful. I don't know what we would have done without you." Sokka wanted to protest that, too, but the finality in his voice left little room to question him, so he didn't.

He sighed and lifted his head to look at Zuko in the eyes, and wow, when did he get so close? Sokka leaned back a bit and studied his face.

Again, Sokka knew that Zuko would be exceptionally kind about this, but actually sitting there and witnessing the sincerity in his expression took his breath away.

Sokka also knew that he needed help. He could see now that he was being a stubborn ass for not letting Zuko in earlier.

"Okay," Sokka finally relented. "I need help with this. I don't have a single idea what I'm doing, and I need someone to figure it out with."

"Is that your way of asking me to help you?" Zuko teased, smirking slightly.

"Ugh, I'm regretting this already," Sokka said, playfully burying his head in his hands.

Zuko laughed brightly, and no other sound had ever been more beautiful to Sokka before. The Fire Lord stood up and offered a hand down. "Come on, let's plan what we need to do."

Sokka couldn't help but grin as he took his hand. Maybe things would turn out okay.

In the end, they created a three-step plan to help Sokka master his firebending—or at least, get control of it.

The first two steps were what Sokka already planned on doing, just with some help this time. First, he wrote a letter to Hakoda about his newly developed firebending, hoping that either he or Gran Gran could give him any kind of context for how firebending was in his bloodline at all.

After the hawk with his letter was off, steps two and three occurred in tandem over the next few weeks.

Every morning—because Sokka rose with the sun now, what the fuck—Sokka and Zuko would meet back up in the training grounds to work on his firebending. Zuko taught him how to meditate properly, and it turned out he wasn't supposed to think of anything at all, by the way. Then he would run through some forms and warm-ups before actually letting him produce any kind of flame.

"Self-control is a vital aspect of firebending," Zuko would say anytime Sokka complained about the mundanity of the exercises. "If you can't control yourself, one day, you could lose control of the flames and really hurt yourself or the ones you love."

It was hard to argue with that, so Sokka always begrudgingly returned to his hot squats.

During evenings that Zuko could spare, they would spend their time in the royal library combing over firebending scrolls and looking for any mention of someone developing a bending ability later in life—they hadn't found any of the latter, yet, but they had hardly covered an eighth of the library's collection at that point, so neither lost hope quite yet.

It also helped that Zuko could, you know, actually read the script the firebending scrolls were written in. After all these weeks, Sokka could pick up a few words here and there, but he much preferred listening to Zuko read the scrolls to him.

Unfortunately for Sokka's heart—or maybe fortunately—this meant that his one-on-one time with Zuko had increased tenfold. What he tried to play off as a little crush that could fade with time had quickly snowballed into something much deeper. He couldn't help but notice every little thing about the Fire Lord and become enraptured by it. One week, Sokka became so obsessed with his cute pout that he took every opportunity he could to tease him in hopes that he would stick out his bottom lip in faux offense.

Yeah, Sokka was so gone for him.

A little over a month of training, researching, and pining later, he finally received a reply to his letter.

Dear Sokka, he read in his room that night.

Your news was certainly... unexpected, to say the least. At first, I couldn't tell if you were joking or not, but the urgency and seriousness of your message proved otherwise. I'm glad you felt safe enough to tell me about this, and I'd be glad to answer your questions.

As for how this is possible at all, I had no idea. After speaking with Kanna at length, though, I believe we've come upon the most likely answer.

According to her, she never knew her father, and her mother was tight-lipped about his identity. Just before Kanna left the Northern Water Tribe on her own, as a parting gift of sorts, her mother told her that her father wasn't from either of the water tribes, though she refused to elaborate. Kanna left and never spoke to her mother again, so there is no way of knowing for sure where he was from, but we have some theories, now.

If this elusive man was from the Fire Nation, many unknowns fall into place. That could be why her mother never told her who he was, and it could be where your firebending comes from.

I hope this helps, and I'm glad you have Fire Lord Zuko there to help you through this. I know you value him deeply, and I'm sure he values you the same.

With love from your dad,

Hakoda

P.S. Katara came here last week and got a hold of your letter. She will be on the way to you shortly after I send this message. Prepare yourself.

Great. That could only go well.

As his dad warned, later that week, Appa was spotted flying above the Fire Nation toward the capital.

Ever since he got the letter, he'd been ranting and rambling to Zuko between fire punches and trips to the library.

"She's gonna be so pissed that I didn't tell her first. What if she hates me? What if she never wants to speak to me again? What if—"

And every time, Zuko would cut him off, saying, "she could never hate you, Sokka. If she feels anything negative about this, it's most likely hurt and confusion, but I know her, Sokka. You know her. You know that she loves you more than anything."

The reassurance was nice and everything, but Sokka couldn't do anything other than run through every worst case scenario in his head.

Sokka and Zuko made sure they were standing in front of the palace entrance for Katara's, and presumably Aang's, arrival. As Appa came more clearly into view, Sokka felt Zuko grab his hand and lightly squeeze it. If nothing else, at least Sokka would still have the man he's hopelessly infatuated with at his side.

He squeezed back before letting go as Appa finally landed a few hundred feet away from them. He watched nervously as Aang and Katara easily slid off his saddle, Katara immediately making a run for him as soon as her feet hit the ground.

Sokka wasn't sure what he was expecting as she approached him—a punch in the face?—but all his worries melted away when she crashed into him, her arms looped hastily around his middle.

"Sokka," she said tearfully. 

Shit, now he was gonna start crying. "Hey, Katara," he answered as he reciprocated the embrace.

They stayed like that for a minute or so, letting Aang catch up and greet Zuko enthusiastically.

"Hi Aang," Zuko greeted back, "why don't I show you around some of the newer areas of the palace for a bit?" He turned and beckoned Aang to follow him inside.

Aang glanced over at the siblings before smiling and linking his arm in Zuko's, instantly chatting his ear off about everything he's done since they last spoke.

After their conversation faded down the halls, Katara pulled back and looked up at Sokka with a wet smile. He was going to say something until she cuffed the back of his head.

"You idiot, why didn't you write to me first?"

"Ow, sorry," he said, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "I didn't know you had to have the monopoly on information about my life."

Katara scoffed playfully. "Of course I do, I'm your sister." She softened her gaze and looked at him earnestly. "But seriously, I would have been here for you in a heartbeat if you had just let me in. You know that, right?"

Sokka let his arm drop and sighed. "I know. At least, I know that deep down. But—" he paused, feeling embarrassed about the whole thing now.

"But what?" she asked. If there's one thing to know about Katara, it's that she would not let things that need to be said go.

"I was scared," he admitted. "I mean, I'm a firebender now, Katara. The Fire Nation has wronged us—has wronged you—so many times. And I know that the world is different now, and I know that you would never judge me for something I can't control, but some part of me was scared that you would see me differently. That this would change things between us."

Saying it out loud, Sokka knew now that his anxieties were never going to come to pass, but it was still a relief to see Katara shake her head and hug him again.

"There's nothing you could do that would change how I see you, Sokka," she said, the tears more evident than ever now. "You're my brother. You've been there for me all my life, and I want to be there for you, too." She pulled back and took his face in her hands. "I love you so much, you know that, dork?"

Sokka laughed as he felt a few tears leave his eyes as well. "I love you too, dingus." He halfheartedly swatted her hands away from his, being well over the sappiness now. "And is there really nothing I could do to change anything? What if I started a tsungi horn band, would that change things?"

Katara shook her head and started walking towards the palace. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You gonna show me your new firebending skills or what?"

He grinned and hurried after her, telling her about everything he'd learned from Zuko so far.

Aang and Katara couldn't stay long, but they stayed long enough for Katara to catch Sokka gaze longingly at Zuko one too many times.

On their last day in the palace, she finally confronted him about it. "So, when are you gonna tell him?"

Sokka tried very hard to play it off, he swore. "Tell who what?" It only took a well-placed stare in his eyes to get him to break. "If I have my way, never."

Katara threw her arms in exasperation. "Oh my god, you're more of an idiot than I ever thought you were. You should tell him how you feel!"

"And drive away my firebending teacher forever? Uh, no thanks, I think I want him in my life."

She sighed and looked at him for a moment, contemplating what to say. It was only a bit uncomfortable, in Sokka's opinion.

"Look," she finally said. "Obviously, I can't tell you what to do. What I will say is that you have a tendency to catastrophize. You always jump to the worst possible outcome every time, and every time you're proven wrong. Just consider that maybe, just maybe, the thing you fear the most isn't what's actually going to happen."

Unfortunately for Sokka's ego, she had a point—a point that he kept thinking about as he watched Appa lift up and away from the Fire Nation, a point that kept him up later that night, a point that followed him every day for the next month.

What if the worst case scenario isn't what would happen? What would happen instead? He didn't know how much longer he could take without knowing the answer.

He decided that he wanted the answer just under two months after Katara left.

It was during another night of combing through scrolls in the library, searching for another instance of a late blooming bender. They had just finished searching the history and bending sections of the library, so their next course of action was to look through myths and legends.

Normally, Sokka didn't put much stock in those kinds of stories—he's more of a science and logic type of guy, you know?—but at that point, he was desperate to find anything that made his existence make sense.

Over three hours into their library session, Zuko hummed thoughtfully as he read.

"Hmm? You find something?" Sokka asked, draping himself over Zuko's shoulder curiously. When did he become so nonchalant about physical affection with this guy?

Probably around the same time that Zuko did, as he gave no indication that it bothered him at all. "Not really, I don't think. It's just..." He trailed off.

Sokka leaned his head forward a bit more to get a glance of the scroll. It looked like he was reading the legend of Omashu. "It's just what?"

"The only instances I've seen of adults developing bending is when humans learned from other creatures. Like, for earthbending, Oma and Shu learned from the badgermoles, right?" Sokka nodded in confirmation. Zuko continued, "and I know the other bending types have similar stories about people learning from animals, but there's pretty much nothing beyond that that suggests that bending can develop later than childhood. You would think that you would have figured out that you were a firebender much earlier if you had the ability all along, right?"

Sokka thought for a moment as he peeled himself off of Zuko's back and moved to seat himself in front of the Fire Lord. "You would think. I mean, you tell me all the time that I need to practice self-control because emotions are so tied to my firebending, and I wouldn't exactly describe my childhood as emotionally stable. How did it not pop up back then?"

Zuko put down the scroll and sighed. "I don't know, Sokka. I guess you're one of a kind."

Sokka internally fought the blush threatening to take over his face, choosing to wiggle an eyebrow humorously instead. "One of a kind, huh? You think I'm just so special, don't you, Zuko?"

Zuko just smiled delicately and sincerely said, "I really do."

Sokka couldn't tell if the sudden heat in his face was due to his blush returning with a vengeance or his firebending. With his luck, it was probably both.

He turned Katara's words to him around in his head as he'd done so many times since she'd left. Just consider that maybe, just maybe, the thing you fear the most isn't what's actually going to happen.

He inched ever so closer to Zuko without touching him, daring to take a glimpse of his eyes. "Do you really mean that?" he whispered.

As if compelled by some other force, Zuko suddenly reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Sokka's ear, letting his hand linger on the side of his face. "I do."

Sokka felt more than saw Zuko lean in gradually, feeling the other's heat radiate from his body. He was sure Zuko could feel his heat rising, too. Sokka leaned in, too, both men stopping just short of each other's lips, giving the other a chance to back out.

Neither of them backed away. Their first kiss was hesitant and gentle with just barely more pressure than if they had stood still against each other. When it became clear that both of them wanted this, the kiss deepened, each of them increasing the pressure as well as the heat.

With each kiss, the touch almost burned them, and if Sokka weren't more accustomed to the heat now, he would have found it overwhelming. But he knew now that he could handle it, that firebenders don't burn easily, and it made him burn with want even more.

Sokka draped his arms over Zuko's shoulders, letting his hands fold over each other behind him. Zuko's hand on his face had graduated to cupping his jaw while his other hand found purchase on his waist. It was still gentle, still slow, but their bodies felt like they were on fire.

Sokka broke the kiss and leaned back, looking at Zuko with as much affection he could muster. Zuko's eyes fluttered open and looked back into his eyes, the same care present in his gaze.

"Okay, I believed you when you said I was special, you didn't have to kiss me to prove it," Sokka teased as he let one of his hands play with the hair on the back of Zuko's head.

Zuko's cheeks reddened—endearingly, in Sokka's opinion. "What? That wasn't—I—" he groaned and rested his head on Sokka's shoulder.

Sokka laughed. "I know, I was just teasing," he said as he patted the back of his head. "I've actually wanted that for quite some time now."

The Fire Lord's head snapped back up at that. "Really? How long? I mean, I did, too, obviously, but. You did?"

"Is it that unbelievable?" Sokka asked. "Long enough for it to be embarrassing. That's all I'll say for now."

"Oh come on," Zuko whined. He pouted and brought out the sad eyes once again. "I've loved you for almost five years now."

Sokka's breath hitched at that. Loved him? His eyes softened before he rolled them at Zuko's pout. "Fine. I've loved you for over three years now."

Zuko hummed happily. "So I've loved you longer, have I?"

"Oh what, it's a contest now?"

"Yes," Zuko said as he pressed a light kiss to his cheek. "I've decided it is."

They both looked each other in the eyes lovingly before the moment was broken by the smell of smoke. Sokka sniffed. "Do you smell—? Holy shit!"

He quickly stood up and stamped out the small fire that had started on the desk. While neither of them were looking, the candle's flame had increased so much that it caught some of the nearby scrolls on fire.

"I hope none of those were important," he remarked. He looked over at Zuko's horrified face and laughed.

"You really need to work more on your self-control if we're gonna continue like this," Zuko lamented.

"Well," Sokka said as he sat down in Zuko's lap. "I don't think we need to worry about it for too long. I have a great teacher." 

He leaned back in and kissed him again.

In the end, they never did find another instance of someone developing bending as an adult. While being the first of something wasn't necessarily on Sokka's to-do list, he was okay with it for now.

Especially if it meant he got more one-on-one time with his boyfriend—he was definitely okay with it, then.