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It was a beautiful summer morning, and because Sokka finally had the time to visit Zuko in the Fire Nation, they had decided to take the breakfast of their first day back together outside. Sokka had always been a fast eater though, so he decided to lay down while waiting for his partner to finish his food as well.
And because Sokka really liked Zuko's personal space, he carefully placed his head into his lap, and immediately regretted it when the sun shined directly into his eyes. He grimaced and quickly squeezed his eyes shut, which earned him a small chuckle from Zuko.
“Stupid sun”, Sokka murmured, but despite being bothered by it, he didn't dare to move. He was way too comfortable for that.
Suddenly, the light slightly went away, making him crack his eyes open a bit, only to be met with Zuko's arm above his eyes. He had lifted his arm and kept it at an uncomfortable position just so Sokka wouldn't go blind from the sun, which made Sokka's heart swell up. Their eyes met and Zuko's lips curled up, before grabbing another piece of bread into his free hand and biting into it. Sokka couldn't take his eyes off the way his smile was rivaling the sun.
They stayed in that position a little while, when Sokka noticed how Zuko's arm started to shake slightly. So he grabbed it and placed his hand on his chest, which made him look down quickly. In addition to that, Mother Nature decided to send a strong wind through the garden, making Zuko's long hair fly around like crazy and ending up covering his complete face.
Sokka burst out laughing before placing his hands onto his partner's cheeks.
“I did ask you if you needed a hair tie while we got ready for the day”, he laughed. Zuko just scoffed and started pushing his hands off, which made Sokka stand up. He kissed the top of his head, telling him to wait.
On his way back to Zuko's room, he saw a few servants watching their Firelord, trying their best to hold in a laugh. That made Sokka just grin wider, also knowing that if Zuko either heard or saw them, he would just blush. Meanwhile, the servants would probably get weak and actually laugh but not without helping him.
After getting what he needed, Sokka immediately ran back to Zuko, whose eyes went wide when he saw the object in his hands.
“Let me”, he said as he kneeled beside him, before grabbing a strand of hair and placing the brush at the tips. Realizing this was going to happen, Zuko decided to accept his fate and tried to not think of the knots in his hair that he had already fought with while waiting for Sokka. Though instead of excruciating pain all through the process of having his hair brushed, it only hurt a little at the very tight knots. Otherwise, it felt amazing. Sokka was very gentle, and untangled every knot with precision and care, as if it was just another strategy game to him.
But Sokka too was getting surprised. He never really handled Zuko's hair like that, so he never knew how soft it actually was. When he had finally finished brushing, he ran his fingers through one more time, and he decided to try the idea his brain had conjured up on his way to the sleeping chambers.
“Hey firefly, can I try something?”, he asked, already playing with the hair ties on his wrist. “Sure”, Zuko answered, still unsure if he could fully trust Sokka with his hair, but it had been too late anyway.
At first, he was pretty skeptical of how Zuko would look with long hair. As it was growing longer and longer, the amount of time Sokka was staring at him grew as well. And it did not just make Zuko prettier, but Sokka found it pretty amazing as well, especially when he finds one hair strand on his clothing and gets reminded of Zuko's existence.
But he never thought about actually working on the hair himself.
Sokka's first thought was to make a very simple high ponytail. He grabbed the brush again and started collecting all the hair into one hand, before carefully tying them together tightly. After letting go, he crawled in front of Zuko, only to gasp, making his spit run down the wrong pipe. As he was coughing his soul out, with a big grin still on his face, Zuko just stared at him, confused, and grimaced “Do I look stupid?”
“I forgot how huge your forehead can look”, Sokka choked out, now crouching while trying to manage his breathing. “You also look the same as you did when we first met.”
That told Zuko everything he needed to know.
He grabbed the top of his ponytail, quickly released his hair, throwing the hair tie at Sokka in the process, and crossed his arms. “I can't believe I let you do that”, he complained, his cheeks having turned a light pink color. “Oh c'mon”, Sokka said after finally regaining the ability to breathe properly again. His hands found both the thrown hair tie and the brush, and sat behind Zuko once again. Despite being unhappy with the first result, the Firelord let him touch his hair again.
Next up, Sokka thought of making something comfortable. He had seen Zuko do it a few times already, and he already knew it was going to look good on him, but he really wanted to try making it himself.
The first step of it was similar to the ponytail, though instead of wrapping the hair tie around the collected hair a few times, he folded it in the middle and then started tightening it before letting go.
“It's a little tight, not gonna lie”, Zuko commented while patting the hair bun. Meanwhile, the wheels in Sokka's head were turning, trying to think of any other hairstyle he could try on Zuko. His eyes went over the grass, trying to find an answer in there. Then, his eyes caught something.
Without a word, he got up and quickly collected it, before finding another one. And another one.
He collected a few more, only sitting back down behind Zuko when his hands were full.
“Can I try something else?”, he asked first, unsure about how much longer Zuko would humor him. The answer though was said calmly, a certain softness in the voice. “Of course.”
So Sokka removed the hair tie once more, brushed through the hair for the last time, and prepared three different hair strands. His fingers worked quickly, but carefully, as he changed the positions of the strands over and over again, placing them over each other, and occasionally adding what he had collected into the soft darkness. He tugged on the stands a few times, trying to make his work a little sturdier while also making sure that it was still loose enough to be comfortable, and finally used the hair tie at the hair tips. All while his tongue was sticking out, showing how much energy and concentration he had put into this.
“There you go”, he proudly exclaimed before grabbing Zuko's hand, getting them both up and walking towards the pond. He pointed towards the water, a huge smirk on his face.
“Check it out!”
Sokka had just made a simple braid, with multiple little white flowers braided into it, reminding him of the sky at night and its stars.
“That's…”, Zuko started as he stared at his reflection, his fingers carefully touching every flower he could find. “When did you learn all this?”, he finally asked, the question having burned on his tongue ever since Sokka had grabbed his hairbrush.
“Well.” Sokka looked away. “My mother taught me. She thought it would be a useful skill to learn, in case I ever wanted to grow my hair out, and especially when Katara was born. Gran-Gran eventually taught me how to add her hair-loopies. And after our mother died and our dad left to fight in the war… I insisted on getting her hair done every day. It was an opportunity to do something for her, and it honestly just brought us closer together.”
He smiled softly as he remembered young Katara, who always patiently sat in front of him, waiting for her older brother to finally finish her hair before going outside to play in the snow together.
“I was kinda sad when she started doing her own hair”, he admitted, scratching his neck. “But sometimes, when one of us isn't doing well, she lets me do it for her. It's… comforting for both of us.”
A soft breeze went through as Sokka's last words were carried away. Neither were looking at the other as Zuko carefully took his hand and squeezed.
“Thank you for sharing this with me”, he said.
“And thank you for doing my hair.”
Their day continued, with Sokka following Zuko around as he was attending to his duties as the Firelord. And the flower shaped stars didn't disappear from the braided night sky until the very end of the day.