Work Text:
3.28 am
Sokka: u awake?
Sokka: who am i kidding i know you are
Sokka: wanna go for a swim?
Zuko: don’t like the way u said that but yes i am
Zuko: let’s go
Sokka: meet at the pole in 20?
Zuko: yep
The pole is the halfway point between their houses. There's nothing significant about it, it’s just a streetlight by the road, but they've been meeting there to hang out ever since they became friends at thirteen. It's just a 10 minute walk from both of their places, 5 minutes if you run. 25 minutes if you are walking home a blackout drunk teenage boy that's half a head taller than you, but that's something only Zuko remembers and Sokka still refuses to admit happened.
Nowadays they don't meet up there nearly as often as they used to. It's only natural, neither of them live here for most of the year, but it still makes Zuko a little sad. It only happens during the summer when they're both home from university, and more often than not it's one of them picking the other one up in a car to go hang out with the rest of their gang. He loves his friends of course, but he misses the times when it was just the two of them.
Zuko scavenges for his towel and swimming trunks from the day before, when he had gone swimming with Aang. It's crazy how easily he manages to lose things in a room that's smaller than his apartment. After finding his stuff (the towel had fallen into his closet from where it was drying over the door, and the trunks were trapped under Uncle's cat Ginseng, who has claimed Zuko's room in his absence) and changing into the swim shorts from his regular shorts, he stumbles down the stairs.
It's a good thing Uncle is a deep sleeper and snores loud enough to not hear Zuko almost get attacked by his cat Druk, for accidentally stepping too close to his fur in the dark. This must be what those crazy cat ladies deal with on the daily. Except they might not be leaving the house at three in the morning to go for a nighttime swim.
It's surprisingly nice outside for the hour. The warmth of the day is still lingering, but there's also a slight breeze in the air. It's all making him sort of giddy for some reason. He's excited to see Sokka too. Zuko’s been home for a week, but Sokka only got back yesterday, so they haven’t had time to meet up yet. He really didn’t think they would be meeting up in the early hours of the morning, but he’s not complaining either.
He stops on the driveway to put on his headphones and take a few photos of the sky before leaving. If he could choose, it would always be a warm summer night at the beginning of July. There’s just something special about nights like this. It’s almost as if you can smell nostalgia in the air.
He passes by the house where him and Sokka got yelled at for being too old for trick or treating, the spot where he fell on his bike and scraped his knee so badly that Sokka had to carry him home, and the spot where Sokka has thrown up on multiple occasions over the years. The way he manages to do it at the same spot every time would honestly be impressive if it didn’t gross Zuko out so much.
Sokka is already waiting for him at the pole when he gets there. So much for twenty minutes, they both made it in ten.
Sokka looks different. It’s not a bad different by any means. It’s not unfamiliar either, but more like there are things about Sokka that he has never paid attention to before. Like the way one side of his lips curls more when he smiles, or the scar that’s running through his left eyebrow.
At the same time he looks exactly the same as always. Hair tied up with flyaways that never quite reach the bun falling on his forehead, tote bag flung over the shoulder, and the ugliest neon green flip flops known to man, which Zuko would burn if he ever had the chance. At least they're more practical for the beach than Zuko's high top converse.
"Mornin'" Sokka greets him with a grin. Same grin as always. The one that’s only reserved for Zuko, according to all of their friends.
Zuko punches him in the arm lightly. "Not morning until you go to sleep and wake up." It's one of the nonsense arguments they've had going on for about a decade now.
"I got here first so I make the rules actually." Sokka chuckles.
"Technically I've been here for a week and you came back yesterday, so I make the rules." Zuko argues. He's been missing this stupid banter, and most of all, he's been missing his best friend.
They both laugh and Sokka pulls him in for a hug. They stand on the street hugging for almost a minute, not that Zuko is counting or anything. They haven't seen each other since New years, six months ago. That was the last time they were both home at the same time. It feels like it’s been a lot longer than that.
"Let's go." Zuko says and grabs Sokka by the wrist as they pull apart. Sokka pries his fingers off his wrist, but instead of shaking him off, he interlocks their fingers instead. Zuko is caught a little off guard by the action, but starts pulling Sokka towards the path that goes through the forest to the beach anyway. Well, beach is generous. It's a small shallow lake that smells funny and has a deck and some sand on one shore. And entirely too many mosquitos. Not exactly the ideal for a beach.
There's still a certain charm to it. Like you have great affinity for it if you grew up here, but taking an outsider there would be embarrassing.
"Why'd you wanna go swimming?" Zuko asks as they head down the path. At this hour is implied.
"I dunno. I wanted to see you and then I remembered I can just do this. Like call you up and go somewhere in the middle of the night, just us."
Zuko is glad Sokka is walking behind him and can't see the way he's smiling right now. He's not sure why hearing Sokka wanting to just hang out with him makes his heart skip a beat, but it does. It's nice to hear that after all these years their friendship seems to mean as much to Sokka as it does to him. They don't really talk about these things all that much.
"I did almost ask you to go to the store but my bike is still broken." Sokka adds.
"Car."
Sokka lets out a deep sigh. "I might be stupid." He deadpans. Zuko laughs at him.
"You know it was really hard to get out of my window to come here. I don't fit through like I used to." Sokka remarks.
"I assume that's why most people use doors." Zuko responds dryly. "And stop sneaking out of the house when they stop being, I don’t know, like fifteen."
"Well those people don't live with my Gran Gran who has the ears of a hawk."
"You mean eyes of a hawk? I don't think they have good hearing at all."
"Well ears of whatever animal can hear you open the door from the other side of the house and appear to glare at you in disappointment. And mutter something about how I'm not the first son she's raised." Sokka grumbles.
"Even now?"
"Even now. She would probably do it to my dad too if he were to go somewhere."
"Or maybe he's just better at sneaking out than you are." Zuko jokes. Sokka lets out an offended noise.
The path finally opens up to reveal the lake. Sokka leaps past him and runs the last few meters to the water. "I won!" He announces while testing the water with his fingers.
He does this every time they come here, has for a long time. While it usually annoys Zuko, this time it causes a burst of affection to surge through him. It's weird. He seems to be feeling more sentimental tonight than he thought.
"Is it warm?" Zuko asks, nodding towards the water.
"Could be worse, could be better." Sokka replies before pulling his shirt off in one swift motion. Zuko tries not to look, it's a little weird to be outright staring at his friend like that, but Sokka is muscular in a way he's never been before. Zuko can't seem to tear his eyes away from the curve of his shoulders. Or his chest. Or any other body part for that matter.
He can definitely see why Sokka can barely fit through his window now.
Sokka stomps into the water, completely unaware of the way Zuko's brain is short circuiting right next to him. He turns around to face Zuko again, wading his hands lazily through the water. Zuko bends down to take his shoes off, just to have something else to focus on.
"You coming?" Sokka asks with a grin, and splashes some water towards Zuko. The water doesn't reach him, but it does wake him up from his daze.
"Yep." Zuko replies and throws his shirt on the deck. He shudders as the breeze hits his bare chest. The water is definitely not warm, and Zuko swears he can taste the swampy water despite it not being anywhere close to his mouth, but he keeps walking forward. He tries to ignore the way Sokka's gaze seems fixated on him.
Zuko dives in, splashing water on Sokka in the process. He's immediately hit with water droplets in the face when he comes back to the surface, as Sokka's bright laughter echoes out on the water. Zuko splashes him back, which results in a full-on water battle between the two, that lasts until Sokka tackles him into the water.
He’s quick to pull Zuko back up with an apologetic look on his face. Zuko splashes water on him once more for good measure. For revenge. They spend the next few minutes just floating around on the water, looking up at the sky. Sokka’s touch keeps lingering on his skin.
The nascent sunrise is painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. Zuko's been to this lake probably a thousand times in his life, but never at this hour. Everything seems to have a pink hue to it, making the whole place feel magical.
Sokka suddenly grabs him by the wrist. His eyes are sparkling with excitement. "C'mon, let's go jump!" He exclaims and starts swimming towards the deck, pulling Zuko with him.
"Dude, I was in the middle of something." Zuko complains, but swims along. The sky can change colors without him staring at it.
"Well I was bored and we gotta do something fun. You never want to race so this is it." Sokka explains as he climbs up the metal ladder to the deck.
It's true. Sokka is a sore loser and an even worse winner, and Zuko gets frustrated over the smallest things, so he has refused every competition for about a decade now. Even his newfound affection for the other isn't budging on this.
Zuko stands on the ladder as Sokka runs up to the edge of the deck and does a front flip into the water. Zuko rolls his eyes, and jumps in after him.
"Unnecessary and annoying," Zuko says when he comes back to the surface.
Sokka just laughs. "I'm going to backflip next." He swims back to the deck, while Zuko stays in the water.
They keep going in circles, jumping, swimming and climbing back on the deck one at a time, with Sokka inventing new increasingly ridiculous (and irritating, if you ask Zuko) ways to jump in the water.
"We should do one last one together." Sokka suggests after a while. Jumping into the water repeatedly gets tiring surprisingly fast.
"Running out of ideas, are we?" Zuko teases. Maybe it's the late (early? depends on who you ask) hour or the adrenaline, but the giddy feeling from earlier is rushing to his chest again.
"No." Sokka quickly replies. Too quickly. It's not convincing at all.
He holds his hand out, and Zuko grabs it. Sokka’s hand is warm despite the sheen of cold water. Zuko tries not to overthink the fact that them holding hands is awakening every single butterfly in his stomach. The realization of oh shit I might like my best friend is slowly dawning on him, against his best attempts at shoving those feelings down.
Sokka stares at him like he's about to say something.
"Whatcha looking at?" Zuko asks. Standing there just holding hands and looking at each other is driving him crazy.
Standing there, he's starting to realize that maybe he has liked Sokka for a long time. Maybe even years. That would explain a lot of things actually. Like why their friends jokingly calling them boyfriends or married always made him so flustered, or why he has disliked every single one of Sokka’s girlfriends for seemingly no reason. He's also starting to suspect that Sokka might like him back. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on his part. It most definitely is, but he can allow himself a moment of delusion.
Sokka shakes his head to get rid of whatever thought he's having. It's a habit of his. A cute one if you ask Zuko. "You," he says and sticks out his tongue.
Zuko's glad his face is already flushed from all of the jumping and swimming. If they were any closer, Sokka could probably feel the heat radiating off his cheeks. The thought of them being closer to each other is not helping the situation either.
"You ready?" Sokka asks and nods towards the water. Zuko nods in response. He’s not sure what’s going to come out if he opens his mouth now.
Sokka lets go of his hand in the air, but Zuko doesn't even have time to mourn it. They resurface with their faces mere inches away from each other, despite jumping in different directions. Zuko thinks his brain might have stopped working for good, because Sokka looks absolutely gorgeous.
Strands of hair are running across his forehead and his flushed cheeks, and he's looking at Zuko with the most beautiful smile Zuko has ever seen. He's glad his feet reach the bottom where they are, because he's not sure his useless brain could remember how to stay afloat otherwise.
"That was fun," Sokka breathes out.
Zuko just nods, too occupied with staring at him to formulate a proper response. They are practically breathing each other's air, yet neither of them are moving away. Sokka's gaze flickers to his lips.
Their eyes meet again. At this point there's no doubt in his mind, it's definitely mutual. Friends don’t really look at friends like that. Sokka’s expression seems to be reflecting all of Zuko's feelings back to him.
"Go on," Zuko smirks.
Sokka hesitates. "Are you sure? There's no coming back from that."
Zuko doesn't know what to think. Sokka's right. At its core, one kiss isn't enough to ruin their relationship, but it still feels like it's the one big thing standing between them and something unknown. And as far as Zuko can remember, they’ve just been them. Sokka and Zuko. Zuko and Sokka. He doesn’t know if he wants to know what’s waiting on the other side.
So far nothing has actually been said or done. They can still walk it back, pretend that none of this ever happened. Keep being best friends who have never thought of each other as anything but that. Zuko doesn’t know if he can ever go back to that.
He doesn't seem to know a lot of things, but there are two things he knows for sure. He wants to kiss Sokka, who seems to want to kiss him back. That's enough for now. They can figure out later what comes after.
Zuko nods, and to emphasise his point, he wraps his arms around Sokka's neck. The action is met with a grin, and Sokka's hands wrapping around his waist to pull him closer.
They meet in the middle. Sokka's lips are cold, so are his, and they have stayed still long enough for the mosquitos to have found them, but it's still the best kiss Zuko has ever had.
Their noses bump together as they separate for air, which makes both of them giggle.
"So should we like-" Zuko starts but gets interrupted by Sokka placing a finger on his lips.
"Kiss now, talk later." Sokka hums. Zuko was going to suggest getting out of the water, but he can't find it in himself to disagree. There's also a lot they need to talk about, but for now, he has a beautiful boy to kiss. And not just any boy, but Sokka.
His Sokka.
Zuko quite likes the sound of that.
He pulls Sokka in for another kiss. For the second time tonight, he’s willing to admit that Sokka was right. Talking can definitely wait.