Work Text:
“I don’t think we’re making it back at this rate.” Sokka shouted, only for his voice to immediately be carried away by the roaring blizzard in a thin wisp.
“What?” Came the response from up ahead of him, equally faint. If Sokka squints, he could just about make out Zuko’s form through the thick sheets of white snow swirling around them. The latter seemed to have stopped and turned around at the sound of Sokka’s voice, and was now facing him. Sokka sped up as best as he could, trudging through snow that went halfway up his calf, to catch up with his companion.
“I don’t think we’re making it back at this rate.” He repeated when he finally reached Zuko, panting from the exertion. He still needed to shout over the storm to be heard, but at least this time all the words were caught thanks to their new proximity.
Zuko turned and looked back over his shoulder, in the direction they were walking in, as if he thought he could see the tall walls of the Northern Water tribe if he tried hard enough. He couldn’t, of course. The snowstorm continued howling around them, stirring up snow from the ground which added to the snow that continued to fall from the skies. It hung over them like a thick, white curtain, almost opaque, and they couldn’t see much other than an endless screen of monochrome white stretching in every direction.
“No.” Zuko finally admitted, after a beat.
“Even if we were sure we’re going in the right direction,” Sokka continued, straining his voice and dragging out every syllable to save him the pain of having to repeat himself, “it took us most of the morning to get out to where we were. And we’re going at a much slower pace right now.”
Inclining his head, Zuko signalled his agreement. The two stood for a while, facing each other so their faces were shield from the wind in all directions, and pondered their options. Sokka wasn’t certain if the storm was getting heavier, or if the light was dimming as the day waned into evening. Either way, it was clear that very soon they wouldn’t have much visibility left, and they really didn’t want to be caught out in the dark in this storm.
“We passed a cliff-face just twenty minutes back.” Zuko’s voice shook Sokka out of his contemplation, he was gesticulating stiffly with his arms, which were wrapped under several layers of cotton and a sealskin coat, to make himself better-heard by Sokka. “We could double back, walk along that, and see if we can find a crevice or cave to hide out for the night.”
It was clearly the best option they had by a long shot, and Sokka quickly agreed. Thankfully, their tracks left from trudging through the snow had been so deep that they hadn’t been completely erased by the wind, and it was easy to retrace them under their feet.
Soon enough, large, looming shapes emerged from the thick veil of the snowstorm, like shadows etched onto a grey backdrop. Large jagged walls of ice, rock, and snow rose up to their left as they approached, standing over them taller than threefold their body height. They walked along the uneven cliff face, passing several narrow breaks in the rock which were either not deep enough to provided adequate shelter, or were not wide enough to comfortably accommodate the two of them. Around them, the dimming of daylight is undeniable by now, and they sped up their pace accordingly, hoping to find somewhere to settle before nightfall.
Thankfully, not too long into their search, the mountain side opened up into a gap just over an armspan wide which stretched all the way up to the top. The crevice was a few meters deep, but had a solid back wall which carved into the cliff face which cut off any draft that would’ve otherwise tunnelled through. They walked in far enough to put them beyond the reach of any wind that managed to blow its way into the opening, and sat down on the ground which was so packed with dense snow that it might as well have been sculpted with ice.
A flame lit up next to Sokka, and he looked over to see it dance across the Zuko’s palm. He sighed in relief as the warmth soothed his wind-burned cheeks, melting snow off his eyelashes.
“Pays to have a firebender around.” He complimented, voice slightly hoarse from all the shouting they were doing earlier.
Beside him, Zuko made a half-grunting, half-laughing noise in amusement, his lips stretching into a shy smile. Against his will, Sokka’s heart skipped a beat, and he looked away pointedly to stop a blush from spreading across his face.
His crush was already entirely out of hand, and it has been getting steadily worse over the past few months, when they’d embarked on several diplomatic missions together. There were treaties to be drawn up and reparations to be negotiated all over the world wherever the Fire Nation had left its trace with the war. With Katara busy restoring waterbending culture in the Southern Tribe, Aang off to do whatever it is that Avatars do, and Toph trying to establish her metalbending academy, Sokka stepped up and volunteered to accompany the young Fire Lord and facilitate talks in places which may still be mistrustful of the Fire Nation. But that meant they had been spending a lot of time together, and that Sokka got to see Zuko grow from an awkward teen finding his way into a self-assured, confident-but-polite diplomat. He’d watched his friend’s assertive and mild-mannered ways win over world leaders, and literally turn over a new chapter of history between the Fire Nation and the world.
It was insanely, infuriatingly charming.
And now here they were, holed up together in a crack in the mountains, nowhere to run if things got too much for Sokka to handle. He supposed at least he could go away and press his face into the icy walls of the cave to physically calm himself down. He just had to hope he made it through the night without dying of hypothermia.
Speaking of hypothermia, he suddenly became very aware of just how chilled to the bone he was. Zuko’s fire helped warm the exposed skin on his face and hands, easing the stinging from the windchill, but it also melted the snow and ice shards that saturated his thick parka, and the dampness was starting to melt through.
“This will need to come off. It’s too wet to be of use, and I’ll lose heat even faster in it.” He explained, shrugging off the soaked-through coat and trying to avert Zuko’s gaze. “You should take yours off too.”
“Trying to get me out of my clothes?” Zuko smirked, still keeping the fire lit in his hand. The light of the flame danced across his face, accentuating his handsome features even more and illuminating his eyebrow arched playfully. “At least buy me dinner first.”
Damn the flirtatious, smooth bastard, Sokka thought furiously as he felt his face light up red. He wondered vaguely if he could blame it on the heat of the flames if Zuko brought it up. He could swear that Zuko could sense Sokka’s hopeless crush and took great joy to wring as much embarrassment out of him as possible. But even that, Sokka couldn’t fault him for, because Zuko was so damn nice about everything that he didn’t have a single malicious bone in his body, and his teasings had always remained civil, never out-of line. But it was still enough to send Sokka’s heart racing.
Truly, genuinely, damn the perfect bastard.
“Ha, ha.” Sokka responded, pretending to be exasperated. He pleasantly surprised by his own composure, “super funny. Now strip, fire boy, so I can wring your coat out for you.”
He’d regretted saying it as soon as the nickname left his mouth. He held out his hand urgently, hoping to brush the moment off before Zuko noticed. The truth was, he had started to privately refer to Zuko with the nickname in the privacy of his own mind very recently, an act of endearment that sort of ties into everything else about his disastrous overrun emotions. But he guessed that he had gone and gotten to comfortable with the thought and as a result, it slipped out.
Unfortunately for Sokka, Zuko was not going to let him get away with it so easily. “Fire boy, huh.” He commented, his smirk growing into a grin as he peeled off his parka and handed it over to Sokka. He was wearing a thick linen shirt underneath of traditional Fire Nation red, which was also slightly damp though not completely wet. Still, it clung to his torso slightly more than usual, allowing the shape of Zuko’s collarbone, shoulder blades, and muscles to seep through the fabric. Sokka swallowed hard.
“Didn’t know we were on pet name terms yet, Sokka. You should have told me. Hardly fair that you don’t get one.”
Sokka was positively certain at his point that his reddened cheeks were unmissable. He ducked his head, completely out of his depth, and busied himself with squeezing the water out of both of their coats, and watching the excess moisture drip onto the icy floor and gradually freeze over. Thankfully, Zuko seemed to have decided to show him mercy for now, and let go of the topic, opting instead to turn to slightly more serious topics of conversation.
“Good call to take shelter, by the way. We really didn’t want to get stranded out there.” He said. “It’s just too bad we don’t have any food.”
As if on cue, Sokka’s stomach grumbled loudly. They’d set off into the tundra in the late morning, and the breakfast they had, though hearty, was beginning to run out inside him.
“The storm won’t last the night, and we don’t have far left to go. We’ll be able to catch lunch tomorrow, for sure.” He replied, more comforting himself than Zuko, though he still allowed himself an extra, worrying peek at Zuko’s slender frame. The other boy was far too skinny, he thought to himself, the long days and stress of being a Fire Lord didn’t help. A sudden urge to feed and take care of Zuko rose up within Sokka, and he forced himself to break his gaze before it escalated any further.
“Good. We’ll be able to finish negotiating the treaty with the Northern Water Tribe.” Zuko said, thinking about business as always. If there was one thing about the boy that both terrified Sokka and struck him with awe, it was his discipline and work ethics, to the point of complete disregard for his own wellbeing, let alone pleasure.
And there was that familiar urge to take care of Zuko again.
“I just hope we can reach an agreement soon.” Zuko continued, unaware of Sokka’s inner turmoil and still preoccupied with his political conundrums. “They’re making some very tough demands with regards to reparations for the Great Naval Siege. Which, to be fair, we deserve. But the war has been draining on the resources of the Fire Nation too. And I know we don’t deserve any sympathy, but we cannot physically meet all of those demands. There will be innocent civilians who will starve.”
“You’ve already almost won them over yesterday.” Sensing Zuko was beginning to spiral, as he had a tendency to do, Sokka quickly stepped in, and reassured him. “Chief Arnook is just holding out because… well, you know, what happened with Yue. But he’ll see reason.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’ll convince him. I’ve seen you at the negotiation table, you’re brilliant. You just… have this way about you. I think you can win anyone over to your side.”
“Really?” Zuko asked, looking wide-eyed at Sokka. His voice and expression were so open and raw, it made Sokka ache with tenderness. He really could see the deep yearning for approval that Zuko had never quite managed to obtain, and the self-doubt that he was struggling with internally.
“I mean it.” He assured earnestly.
Zuko chewed on his lips in a way that was very distracting for Sokka, who had to remind himself that they were having a serious conversation and his friend needed his support, not… whatever unspiritly thoughts Sokka was having about his lips right now.
“It’s just that…” Thankfully, Zuko had started speaking again, giving Sokka something else to focus on. He listened intently. It wasn’t often that Zuko opened up about his worries, though he was evidently trying harder to do so more freely, and Sokka wasn’t going to let him down on this rare occasion that he did. “I guess it’s just that I’ve spent a lot of my life being told what not to do as Fire Lord, you know? Being told off that I wasn’t going to make a good ruler. I never really got any actual advice, or examples, of how to be a good Fire Lord. And I know that I have Uncle, and that I could always ask him for advice. But sometimes it just feels like… like I don’t even know what to ask in the first place, you know? I’m so lost. Everyone is looking towards me right now but deep down I actually don’t know what I’m doing at all.”
It was all Sokka could do to not launch himself towards the other boy and envelop him into a crushing hug. Or better yet, something more, like a searing kiss that would show him exactly how much Sokka thought of him, and how good he was doing. Instead, Sokka stuck to the wisdom he was well-known for.
“To be absolutely fair,” he said slowly, “if you were referring to what your father had been telling you your whole life, I’d say exactly how not to be Fire Lord, according to him, would actually be a solid start on how to go about it.”
Beside him, Zuko gave a gentle snort.
“In all seriousness though,” Sokka pressed on, glad to have been able to cheer him up, “you have an insanely tough job, and you’re absolutely crushing it — more than anything that could reasonably be expected of you. Just look at how you handled talks with Ba Sing Se last month! You’ve got this, more than you think. Just keep doing what you’re doing and follow your instincts, and you and the Fire Nation will both be absolutely fine.”
“You really think so?”
“I mean it, Zuko.” Sokka said solemnly.
“Zuko?” The teasing tone returned into the firebender’s voice. “Whatever happened to ‘fire boy’? I was just beginning to get used to that.”
Cursing both himself for the slip-up and Zuko for refusing to let it go, Sokka flushed again in an instant, and he stammered some sort of protest. That earned him a hearty chuckle from the young Fire Lord, and his laugh rang clear in the cave, like a tuning fork striking a single note against the best quality crystal money could buy. Like a fire, warm and bright.
This boy had no idea what he was doing to Sokka.
Or worse yet, he knew exactly what he was doing to Sokka… could it be? No, Zuko wouldn’t be so cruel to him, Sokka thought to himself, chiding himself out of the panic rising within him. Zuko wouldn’t play with his feelings knowingly like this.
“Seriously though,” once again, Zuko’s voice, more serious this time, shook Sokka out of his spiral. “Thank you. For being here for me every step of the way. I couldn’t have done any of it without you.”
“Of course.” Sokka said thickly, swallowing the lump in his throat.
“You’re an amazing friend, Sokka.”
Friend… If only Zuko knew how much that word made Sokka ache.
The conversation moved past the heavy parts, and onto other more lighthearted topics. Zuko and Sokka fantasised about what food they would be welcomed with upon their return at lunchtime tomorrow, with Sokka being much more excited for the meal than Zuko. They then traded embarrassing childhood stories, Zuko mainly talking about Azula, which Sokka was having a hard time wrapping his head around, having only known the girl as nothing short of psychopathic and deeply homicidal. In return, Sokka held nothing behind as he dished out all the dirt he had on a young Katara, knowing it was safe to do so as Zuko was still too terrified of his own sister to bring any of it up to her. Nothing else came up that paused a problem for Sokka, feelings-wise, and they fell into the sort of easy camaraderie that they had built up over the past year.
After what seemed like an age but also a fleeting, blissful moment, Zuko yawned, and the light in the cave flickered in time. It struck Sokka then that Zuko had been keeping their flame going the entire time they were talking, and a mild pang of guilt hit him in the stomach.
By then their coats had mostly dried out in the vicinity of the fire, and Zuko took his off Sokka, who had been holding both of them up to dry while Zuko firebended, and laid it on the floor of the cave. Sokka took his coat and made to follow suit, a little way off from the spot Zuko had chosen.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Noticing what Sokka was up to, Zuko demanded, not unkindly. “If you sleep through the night like that, you’d be dead of hypothermia by morning.”
“But you can’t firebend all night.” Sokka pointed out, “you need rest, as well.”
“I know.” Zuko said, and Sokka wasn’t sure if he imagined the small grin on his face, “come here. And bring your coat."
Sokka complied, handing over the garment, which Zuko took and rolled up into a bundle, and placed at one edge of his own coat, spread out wide and flat on the ground. Then he laid down on the makeshift bedroll, resting his head on the pillow he’d just made out of Sokka’s parka, and looked up at Sokka, patting the space beside him, which was just about wide enough to fit another person.
Alarm bells sounded in Sokka’s head, which was already a jumbled mess of thoughts. “Uh,” he said, uncertain, “what?”
“My body temperature is much warmer than yours, being a firebender, even when I’m asleep. If you stay close to me I can keep us both warm through the night.” Zuko explained, as if it was the most obvious, normal thing in the world.
This was bad. This was so very bad. Sokka thought Zuko really didn’t need to worry about him staying warm, because he was pretty sure he was about to spontaneously combust there and then. There was no way he could handle a night of snuggling with Zuko, not when feeling the way that he felt — not with his massive crush.
Still, it would have been too suspicious to decline, and it was the only way either of them would get any rest that night, as Sokka would much more rather a lifetime’s worth of mortification than actually freezing to death. He took a step towards where Zuko was lying down, then stopped again in his tracks. Which way would he face? If he put his back to Zuko, they would be spooning. And just the thought of it sent Sokka’s mind into utter panic mode. However, if he were to face Zuko head-on, their faces would be so close to each other, as the coat really didn’t give them much room width-wise. And their lips…
“Well? If you’re waiting for me to buy you dinner first, I’m afraid you’d be out of luck.” Zuko teased him, smirking, and patted the space beside him again.
Really not helpful.
Panicking and making a split second decision, Sokka decided to face Zuko. He carefully set himself down, making great effort to keep everything appropriate. Zuko’s arm immediately wrapped around him, and Sokka’s breath hitched in his throat despite his best efforts. True to Zuko’s words, he was very warm, and the way he held Sokka had felt so secure, so safe, so right. Sokka carefully settled himself in and squeezed his eyes shut, which made it all the easier for his mind to fall into wild fantasies about them going to sleep together just like this every night in the ideal, domestic life…
He hoped Zuko wouldn’t be able to feel the wild thumping of his heart inside his chest as he laid there, trying his best to remain motionless. The warmth continued seeping into him, which was so comforting, and yet he found himself unable to relax. Unlike Zuko, who’s breath had evened out not long after.
Deciding that this wasn’t going to work, Sokka tried to carefully shift himself out of Zuko’s embrace. Immediately, however, Zuko’s arm tightened around his like a spring trap. Oh, Tui and La, he didn’t need this. He didn’t need to feel the way his body slotted so perfectly against Zuko’s, and he didn’t need to be able to smell the sweet aroma of orange wood smoke and summer flowers off the other boy.
“Stay.” Zuko mumbled, sleepy.
“I don’t want to fall asleep on your arm.” Sokka said in a low whispering tone. It was as good an excuse as any.
Zuko, however, wasn’t going to let go that easily. “S’ok, I don’t mind. I want you here.”
The almost-confession made Sokka’s heart jump to his throat. I want you here… what on earth did that mean? I could have been perfectly innocent, a way for Zuko to express that he was willing to keep Sokka warm and dafe through the night, as friends would be, obviously. And under normal circumstances, Sokka would not have batted an eye. But maybe it was because of the sleepy state that Zuko was in, but the line sounded much more raw, tender, and vulnerable. Could it be — could he dare hope…?
“What do you mean, you want me here?” Sokka whispered back tentatively.
A soft exhale of amusement came from Zuko in the darkness. “Is that you finally getting the hint?” He said. His voice was low, but the playful tone was not lost as a result.
Sokka’s mind reeled. “Getting the hint?” He repeated dumbly.
“Sokka.” Zuko sounded mildly exasperated, but in an affectionate way, like a mother chiding a child for some minor mischief she secretly approved of. “I’ve been flirting with you all evening. Nay, I’ve been flirting with you for the past six months.”
“I thought you were just messing with me?” Sokka retorted weakly, feeling very glad all of a sudden that he was lying down.
“You know, for someone who is so incredibly smart, you can be a real idiot sometimes.”
Then, in the darkness, Sokka felt fingertips trace down his jawline until they found the bottom of his chin. He was still too stunned by the revelation to put up any sort of resistance when his head was gently tilted up — not that he would’ve put up any resistance either way, that is — and he felt a soft warmth on his mouth, and knew instinctively it was Zuko’s lips. Zuko tasted soft and warm, slightly chapped but filled with infinite gentleness. He tasted like the sun.
“There.” Zuko said, breaking the kiss, and already Sokka was hungering for more. It took everything he had to not strain his head, chasing the feeling. “Is this obvious enough?”
“Yeah.” Sokka replied dumbly.
“Good. Now get some sleep.”
The snowstorm swirled on outside, howling into the night. Enveloped in Zuko’s heat, Sokka drifted off into sleep, already more excited for the next day than he'd ever been for any day of his life.