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It’s a beautiful night in Caldera City and Zuko is in the middle of a situation.
He’s stargazing with a beautiful man (that he’s completely in love with), but that man is going to be leaving the city soon. Oh, and there’s every chance that he has no idea that Zuko feels the way he does. Why would he? As far as Sokka is concerned, Zuko and Mai are going to start their off-again/on-again relationship as soon as he leaves.
They won’t, though. Not this time. They’re both tired of trying to push a throwing star through a stab wound – so to speak.
The situation is as bad as it is because for the last ten minutes, Sokka keeps hinting around questions about Zuko’s romantic life and that’s why Zuko knows Sokka expects Mai to come swanning back in. He just doesn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise.
He wishes he had the courage to tell him about what his heart actually feels, but that’s not happening either.
“Whatever happens,” Zuko cuts off Sokka’s third protest that Mai will ‘see the best thing she’s ever had under her nose’, “I have time.”
“Your advisors aren’t going to force you?”
“Are you asking if they’re going to stop being aggressive about their matchmaking assaults?”
Sokka snorts as he readjusts his elbows under his head. “I hope they don’t. It’s comedy gold! When they brought you that girl over breakfast and you were so shocked you spat fire flakes all over her face?” He snort-laughs and despite the fact that his face is all scrunched up, Zuko still finds it endearing – that’s how far down a spiral of loving Sokka he’s found himself.
Luckily, his dignity rears its head soon enough. “It wasn’t funny,” he mutters grumpily.
“She definitely wasn’t laughing.”
Zuko rolls his eyes, aware that simply because all their attempts so far have fallen apart, it doesn’t mean they’ll stop. “They’re going to continue to trot eligible women in front of me, but they can’t actually do anything about it. I’m not interested.” His eyes are keen on Sokka’s profile as he watches him, perched on his elbow. It’s a partial lie, of course, because he is very interested in a specific someone.
Someone he can’t have, of course.
“I do want to get married someday,” Zuko admits, when the ache starts to bite a little too sharply.
“Maybe Mai will…” Zuko shoots Sokka a warning look. “Yikes, okay, ix-nay on the ai-May. Still, it’s not like you have to get married tomorrow. You’re young! You’re hot! Literally and figuratively!” Zuko blushes at the compliment, but Sokka keeps pushing forward. “You’re Fire Lord and wield all this power and you’re using it to change the nation for the better. Anyone with a brain would marry you.”
“I don’t want a political marriage. I want to marry someone I love. Someone I trust. Someone who can be my best friend.”
“Hey, whoa,” Sokka says, suddenly frantic as he flips over, on his stomach now as he gives Zuko an alarmed look. Some of the hair from the wolf’s tail has fallen out in all his flopping and Zuko tenderly reaches out to tuck it behind Sokka’s ear, letting his thumb linger for a moment on the earlobe. “What are you talking about, why do you need a best friend?”
He’s not screeching, but he’s close given the way Zuko can hear the way his tone is shifting that way (so can wolfbats, he’s pretty sure).
“You’re my first best friend. My spouse would be a second, like a back-up.”
“This all sounds very complicated and very much like we’re replacing Sokka.”
“I hate when you talk about yourself in the third person.”
“Sokka is concerned,” Sokka says, like a jerkwad and an asshole and Zuko still loves him. Maybe he’d taken more severe brain damage over the years in exile than he’d thought (and Sokka’s boomerang didn’t exactly help in that regard). “Sokka just wants his best friend to be happy and you have time. So much time! You don’t have to get married until you want to.”
“Maybe,” Zuko allows, “but I don’t want to feel like I’ve wasted my life by getting married when I’m fifty.”
The situation Zuko’s in gets infinitely more complicated when Sokka’s expression completely shifts – into what Zuko recognizes as ‘idea face’.
“You need a back-up plan!”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” Zuko cautiously agrees, not sure where he’s going with this.
“Lucky for you, your best friend in perpetuity,” Sokka hisses, before Zuko can even remind him that Aang would probably argue about that (for both of them), “is a master planner who helped free this very city from Ozai’s regime.” He’s sitting up in a hurry, hair slipping fully out of the ponytail.
The way it frames his face makes Zuko’s heart stutter, but he keeps it together.
Barely.
“You want to get married, but to someone you like. You don’t want to rush into it, but you also don’t want to wait forever.” Sokka’s beaming brightly, clearly enamored with his idea. “You need a back-up!”
“We just said that,” Zuko says, the concept of brain damage once again sneaking into mind. Just how much did Sokka practice with his boomerang on himself when he was younger?
“Not a plan! The back-up plan is that you need a back-up spouse, and I’ve got the perfect person for you.”
“If you say Mai…”
“Me!”
Zuko is actually rendered speechless. The number of times in his life that someone’s offered up exactly what he wants on a platter is stunningly slim. He’s pretty sure he can count them on one hand.
That’s the reason why he’s stuck gaping at Sokka, not sure how to respond to that.
That’s a lie – he knows how he wants to respond.
It involves tackling Sokka to the dewy grass and kissing him frantically before he gets under his robes to do a whole lot more, but he can’t do that. Sokka didn’t ask Zuko to marry him because of some romantic love that’s burning beneath the surface.
He’s offering to be his back-up.
“And when would this back-up plan kick in?” Zuko is very proud of himself for asking the question without his words shaking from sheer unbridled desire.
“Obviously you need to actually look for someone to fall in love with.”
Zuko’s really glad that being Fire Lord means that he’s become better at holding his face steady. That way, he doesn’t give away a single ounce of I’ve already fallen deeply in love.
“Obviously,” he echoes Sokka’s words. “It takes a long time to properly court someone.”
“Hmm, yeah,” Sokka agrees, pressing his folded fist under his nose as he mulls it over. “We don’t want this to go too long, though. You want to be young and in love. It wouldn’t be very fun if you got married in the sunset of your life.”
Zuko doesn’t agree aloud, but he nods. His mind is too busy thinking about all the creative ways they’ll be able to make love, still in the prime of their athletic lives.
“Thirty, then? That gives me five years.”
Five years is a long time to wait, but he’s already spent nine years trying to make things work with Mai, resulting in nothing more than a deep friendship he knows will never go away. Nine years, and in that time, he’s also fallen deeply in love with his best friend. Five more years on top of that is nothing.
“Deal. If I turn thirty and you still haven’t had someone dig their hooks into the Fire Lord, then I’ll marry you,” Sokka agrees, dizzyingly pretty under the constellations that glimmer above Caldera.
Without realizing, he’s given Zuko the most dangerous weapon in the world to wield.
Hope.
Seeing Sokka offer his love so freely takes Zuko’s breath away and he nearly proposes for real right there and then, but given that Sokka has spent the last few months calling him ‘buddy’ and praising their strong friendship, it would be a bit much. He’d offered himself as a back-up because he’s Zuko’s best friend, but this arrangement (provided it happens) means that he could also be something more.
Zuko has a plan.
“If –” When. “--we turn thirty, then.”
He holds out his hand to be shaken, but Sokka being Sokka ignores that entirely and dives sideways to wrap his arms around Zuko’s midsection, clinging tightly to him as he bears him down to the blanket. “Deal,” he says, breath soft and warm on Zuko’s neck as he curls in, blue eyes turned towards the stars. “Hey, does that constellation look like a sword to you…?”
Zuko just needs to make it to thirty without getting married. That’s no problem.
The real challenge is going to be making sure that Sokka also makes it to thirty without anyone else realizing what an incredible, handsome, intelligent, clever, charismatic catch he is.
Then, Zuko will get to make sure the back-up plan happens, making his best friend and his husband one and the same.
“When you go to the South Pole, do you think that I could take grab a ship and some vacation time to head back to Kyoshi Island?”
Zuko pauses on the third page of signing a sheath of documents, unsure why Suki is assuming he’s headed that way. Had he forgotten a visit to Sokka? It seems impossible. He marks them carefully in all his calendars. His assistants remind him. Sokka sends hawks to him counting down the days.
Suki must see the confusion, because she goes on quickly. “You’ll be going down for the celebration banquet after Hahn proposes, I assume?”
“...to who?”
“To Sokka.”
When Zuko dived into the water at the North Pole, it had been a complete shock to the system. His brain wanted to shut down. His heart tried too. In this moment, it genuinely feels like he’s taken another icy plunge at the thought of someone marrying Sokka, especially since they don’t even have the dignity to let Sokka turn thirty and let Zuko get there first.
“I don’t recall receiving any letters about this. Did Sokka send something?”
“I don’t think he knows,” Suki confesses. “I heard the ambassadors talking when they were here. It’s some attempt to unite the Water Tribes and since Katara is with Aang, Sokka is best positioned.”
“Why Hahn?” Zuko asks, fighting to keep his tone respectful. His heart is hammering in his chest, but a plan is starting to form.
Suki gives him a hapless shrug. “I’m not entirely sure? Something about how he’d already been in line for an arranged marriage. Truthfully, I’m not sure Sokka’s going to like it. From everything he told me, Hahn was a real asshole back in the day. People can change, though.”
It’s pointedly directed at Zuko, who understands all-too-well how that kind of change is possible. Still, even if Hahn has turned over a forest’s worth of leaves, that doesn’t give him the right to ruin all of Zuko’s well-laid plans.
Well, plan, singular. Also, the plan is technically Sokka’s. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s not allowed to ruin it.
Zuko flips to the next page and begins signing again, wielding his quill as he studies the page with a casual nonchalance. “Feel free to take as much time on Kyoshi as you like,” he says, as if there’s going to be a proposal, let alone a wedding.
The Fire Nation can’t be seen doing anything that even suggests another war is on the horizon.
Luckily, Zuko has a few Pai Sho tiles up his sleeve that no one’s expecting.
When he’s finished signing the documents and the remainder of his guards and other court nobility have left the room, Zuko draws his assistant in with a calm beckon of his wrist.
“Kenji,” Zuko says, posture immaculately straight as he projects an air of authority. This is Fire Nation business, not Zuko meddling in personal affairs. “I have a list of gifts I’d like to send to Hahn of the Northern Water Tribe with tidings of good luck in his endeavor. Will you make sure he gets them all before they leave?”
To the innocent onlooker, it is generosity and kindness.However, to anyone who understands just how much havoc the Fire Nation foods on Zuko’s list can wreak on a Water Tribe constitution, they might see it for the interference it truly is.
Luckily, no one sees it for what it is and there is no suspicion aroused. He goes through the days after the gift is sent, working through the next backup plan, should this one fall apart.
Luckily, Zuko doesn’t have to worry about that.
“Zuko,” Suki says, breathlessly running to him with a scroll. “I think my vacation is off.”
He keeps his face impassive, refusing to let any emotion flicker over it. “Oh?”
“Hahn and the Northern Water Tribe emissaries are saying they’re too ill to travel as planned, but Chief Hakoda is insisting their absence without any forewarning is an insult. The proposal for an arranged marriage is off.” She looks as pleased as Zuko feels, and if they hadn’t spent many a night drunk and talking about why she and Sokka fell apart, he might be jealous.
As it is, he’s more than aware that her glee is because she and Zuko share more than a love for Sokka. They also share the opinion that Hahn is a worthless jackass, verified by the last few days spent asking around about his reputation.
“Chief Hakoda is a proud man,” Zuko muses, unable to keep the happiness from permeating his smile with the gentle curve of his lips. “I don’t fault him for calling off the marriage. Such a start would be a poor foundation for a marriage.”
It’s absolutely a front given their audience.
Truthfully, Zuko suspects that Hakoda had been looking for any good reason to call the whole thing off. Zuko just so happened to give him a perfectly fine one, which allowed the Southern Water Tribe to avoid a political marriage without fault.
Perhaps Zuko ought to include Hakoda in his plans to keep Sokka single until the deal comes due.
It’s a dangerous thought and one he’ll keep tucked up his sleeve. For now, the immediate threat is gone. Hahn will not be Sokka’s husband.
That is a role specifically meant for Zuko and Zuko, alone.
Zuko isn’t sure who he’s most annoyed with.
There’s Mai, who didn’t bother to tell him about the latest brainchild idea of some of the Fire Nation advisors. There’s Azula, who apparently heard the gossip even from her confines and when she’d teased Zuko about it, had laughed for nearly two minutes straight when he hadn’t known.
Then, there’s Ty Lee herself.
Scratch his earlier thought – he knows who he’s the most pissed at and it’s Ty Lee.
“Ty Lee, what are you doing?” hisses Zuko, yanking her aside before she decides to jump onto the stage and join the dancers rehearsing for the upcoming festival.
“Dancing!”
“Not here!” Zuko is twenty-seven years old. He is mature. He is a Fire Lord. He is a dignified ruler who is not too cowardly to ask out the boy he likes and is instead making sure that absolutely no one else can have him. “With Sokka!”
“Oh! Do you mean the arrangement?”
He’s never lit his hair on fire from frustration, but Zuko feels like he might burst into flames. Ty Lee knows how Zuko feels about Sokka. She’s one of the few who knows the depths of his true feelings, but here she is, casually talking about how she’s about to become Sokka’s wife through an arranged marriage.
“I thought it was so sweet,” she continues, oblivious to Zuko’s distress. “Your advisors were so worried about Sokka not knowing what to do for the festival, so of course I said I would be happy to partner up with him.”
Oh.
She actually doesn’t realize what she’s agreed to. His anger begins to ebb, which is good, because any more and he thinks he would’ve given the nearest volcano a run for its money when he blew and took out at least fifty feet of bystanders.
“Ty Lee, they don’t want you to show Sokka around for the festival. They want you to marry him,” Zuko says quietly, taking great pains to keep his voice steady and as far from emotional as possible.
She stops in her tracks, the stage forgotten. “...wait.”
“Think very carefully about the words they used,” Zuko coaxes.
Ty Lee focuses, rubbing her chin with her fingers. He can see the moment it dawns on her, and honestly, Zuko is wondering whether he has some very sneaky advisors who are trying to get rid of the Southern Water Tribe’s greatest influence on Zuko. That’s a problem for another day.
Right now, he’s got a wedding to stop.
He sees the moment it hits her, which is the same moment relief floods Zuko that he doesn’t have to get out diagrams to explain it on a detailed level.
“Zuko, oh no! No, I didn’t mean to marry Sokka!”
“You haven’t, though, right?” Panic strangles him as he imagines the worst case scenario of Sokka having already arrived and the two of them accidentally getting married.
She shakes her head so quickly that she nearly whips him in the face with her braid. He cautiously steps out of the field of injury, starting to let the relief hit him that he’s intervened in time and he won’t have to sit back and plaster on a fake smile while he watches the man he loves marry someone else.
“I’ll tell the advisors that something else has come up. Agni,” Ty Lee says, blinking rapidly, “is this why Mai has been so mad at me all day?”
The relief slams into him again, a second wave.
“So, you’re not marrying Sokka?”
“Nope!” She looks back to the stage, like she’s counting down the beats of the music to jump in. Before she does though, she shifts her weight from toe to heel, giving him a studious look. “You know. You should be more careful. The next person the advisors try to get to marry Sokka might not say no.”
He knows that, and the grimace on his face says as much.
“I’m working on it,” is his heavy response.
In three years, it won’t be a problem. Soon, Zuko is going to be the only marriage prospect that Sokka has, because that’s the pact they made. He’s not sure why he’s so determined that it has to be thirty, but it’s only fair that Sokka can have a chance to find someone else.
It’s also fair to Zuko that he gets a chance to take them out of the running with every chance he gets. If some potential suitor really wants to marry Sokka, then they’ll figure out a way to get past Zuko.
(Or, if Zuko is as crafty and diabolical and cunning as he can be, emulating Azula the whole time, then they’ll never stand a chance)
“I thought Ty Lee was supposed to be my chaperone for this thing.”
“Something else came up,” Zuko half-lies, smoothing his robe so that he can offer his arm to Sokka. When Sokka takes it, the inside of his wrist brushes against the warmth of Zuko’s skin and despite the warm night air, he shivers. “Are you complaining about being on the Fire Lord’s arm all night?”
“What! Never,” Sokka mock-gasps. “I just thought maybe I’d made her mad or something.”
“She adores you,” Zuko promises. “She never stops singing praises about the cute Water Tribe boy.”
“Is she the only one?”
It’s a warm summer night. That’s the only reason Zuko’s cheeks turn bright red with a flush. “She might not be the only one. You have a lot of fans in the Fire Nation.”
“Maybe I only need the one,” Sokka says brazenly, and has the audacity to walk away after making a ridiculously flirtatious comment like that. Zuko tells himself he must mean Suki, that he’s only joking, because if Sokka were serious, then Zuko would happily get down on one knee and accelerate their plan by three years.
Sokka keeps walking, though, and he doesn’t turn around and say: It’s you, Prince Zuko, it’s always been you, my deepest and dearest love, let’s get married right now.
Ugh, Zuko needs to stop reading Love Amongst The Dragons before he falls asleep. It’s infecting his brain.
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
Sokka gives him a suspicious look, but he looks suitably charmed with the mystery that Zuko’s presenting him. “Is there going to be…?”
“Yes, Sokka, there will be food,” Zuko cuts him off. He knows him well.
Sokka grabs hold of Zuko’s hand and squeezes gently to lead them on, even though he has absolutely no idea where they’re going. Zuko’s heart skips a beat at the sheer blind confidence and lets Sokka pull him along until they’re at the outskirts of the crowd, only taking the lead then.
He doesn’t let go of Sokka’s hand, even when the crowd disperses and there’s no reason to hold on.
There’s also not a good enough reason to let go, as far as he’s concerned.
They wind their way around to the private areas of the palace and with every step, Zuko can feel his excitement (and his nerves) building. He’s been working on this for a long time and he wants it to be perfect for Sokka and him alone.
“Are you taking me to the turtleduck pond, because I have those guys memorized by…” Sokka trails off when he arrives in the garden.
He can tell the minute he sees the new installation, because he stops walking and Zuko nearly tumbles them both into the shallow water of the new pond. He grabs at Sokka’s shoulders to stop himself, but then he simply doesn’t let go. He does move his hands, but only to shift Sokka to the right angle so he can see the full moon reflecting off the still water of the pond, several koi peacefully swimming within it.
“I had the Fire Sages consult their astrological charts,” Zuko murmurs. “This was installed so that it would properly reflect the moon and when it’s full, it will look as if there’s a second full moon here, in the Fire Nation.”
He releases hold of Sokka’s shoulders, but he doesn’t get far. Sokka reaches out for him, grasping his wrist tightly. There are tears in his eyes as he stares at Zuko with such love that Zuko knows he did the right thing making this.
He knows he’ll never be able to compete with Yue, not really.
Zuko’s just glad he can give a part of her to Sokka, even now.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Sokka says, letting out a plaintive little sob as he curls his hand into Zuko’s and squeezes before pulling him into his arms. Zuko goes willingly (maybe a little too fast, given how he almost trips into his arms) and lets Sokka embrace him tightly.
Zuko knows better than to take hugs for granted. You never know when they’re going to run out, so he lets himself be selfish. He buries his face into Sokka’s neck and simply holds on.
“I wanted you to have a piece of Yue here in the Fire Nation. I know she’ll always be in your heart and that there are monuments to her in the North and South, but it means so much to you and I wanted you to have something here, too.”
Sokka only tightens his hold and Zuko desperately aches to have this all the time. Soon, he tells himself. He just needs a few more years to pass and to fend off any would-be wooers and then he can have this all the time – that is, if Sokka wants him back.
“You did all this for me?”
“I’d do anything for you, Sokka,” Zuko vows with more intensity than he gives most other promises.
Then again, Zuko’s whole thing is swinging too far with the intensity. Is he Fire Lord Zuko if he doesn’t? For Sokka, though, he knows he’d go above and beyond that level and if anything proves it, it’s his quest to make sure no suitors make it to Sokka to propose to him or, Agni forbid, actually marry him.
There’s a pact that needs to remain intact, after all.
“Can we just sit here for a while, under the moon?” Sokka asks tentatively, easing back from Zuko’s hold to look him in the eye.
Here, under the moon, his blue eyes shine as if they’re stars, too. This gorgeous man is illuminated by the night sky, as if to say: Zuko, pull your head out of your ass and propose already.
That’s not what tonight is about, though.
“Of course,” Zuko promises and finds a patch of soft grass where they can sit in silence.
Tonight isn’t for him to romance Sokka. Tonight is to honor Yue and the sacrifice she made so the world could continue the way it was meant to. She’d meant the world to Sokka and she’d given up her world to do the right thing.
She’s everything that Zuko aspires to be and so, tonight, they sit and they stare at the moon.
Suki figures it out. He’s not sure how, but he’s not surprised that she did.
“You’re a dumbass, you know.”
She says it with the casual ease that someone might use to inform him about the weather forecast. She tells him with a pointed look as she sits down to breakfast with him. Dabbing his lips with a napkin, he makes a subtle gesture to get the remainder of the guards to leave.
If he’s about to be roasted by one of his best friends, he doesn’t need an audience.
“Are you going to make me guess why?” Zuko asks, when the last guard is out.
“Sokka.”
Despite Zuko’s ability to tolerate heat, his cheeks flush at the mere mention of his name. He tries to hide it by ducking his head down to focus on cutting the meat on the plate, but there’s no way Suki missed it. “...I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
“You’re a dumbass because you’re not just asking him to marry you instead of these complicated ploys,” she says. “I know all about your pact. Sokka told me about it last time we visited. Waiting until you’re both thirty is a very long time for him to find someone. It’s also a very long time for you to play offense and prevent any of those someones from getting him when you could just tell him that you’re stupidly in love with him!”
Zuko could do that, but it’s not what they agreed to.
“That length of time means that Sokka gets a chance to find someone.”
“That you’ll stop,” Suki points out.
“If they love him enough, my attempts won’t stop them.”
Suki eyes him thoughtfully, raising a brow. “What if I told you that Sokka and I were back together?”
It’s like they’re back in the South Pole. Metaphorical ice stabs Zuko in the stomach and not because he doesn’t love Suki. He does. He also knows she’s one of the few people that he doesn’t think he could stop if she wanted to get married to Sokka.
“Aren’t you already…?”
“Relax, I’m in a happy relationship, but you know what could stop you from panicking like that? Proposing to Sokka so you don’t have to worry that someone’s going to get past your insane defensive maneuvers to keep Sokka single!”
“If Sokka wanted that, he would have said we should get married all those years ago!” is Zuko’s heated defense. “He’s the plan guy. I’m just following his plans.”
“Kyoshi help me, you’re both such idiots,” Suki mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I have to deal with nearly three more years of this because you’re both so stubborn.”
“The time will fly.”
He’s not sure if he’s trying to convince Suki or himself. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t matter, because no matter what he says, it won’t. Three years is a long time to be on alert to make sure that the love of your life doesn’t end up with someone else just because they slipped through Zuko’s intricate net of traps and defenses.
Speaking of, “I heard he’s going to be visiting some of the colonies next month. I thought of maybe sending him a new full length jacket.”
Suki eyes him warily. “So he’ll be able to stay warm.”
“Yes. Exactly, that’s all.”
“And it wouldn’t happen to be that puffy blob of a monstrosity I passed earlier that makes it impossible to see what someone’s body looks like underneath?”
Zuko’s a bad liar, but if he doesn’t say anything, he might just get away with it. Unfortunately, he doubts he can just stay silent and run away. For one, Suki would never let him live it down. “No,” he says very carefully, “It’s just so he stays warm.”
“Uh huh,” is Suki’s deadpanned response, rolling her eyes. “Dumbasses,” she mutters, but heads off to prepare the package to be sent to the South Pole for Sokka, because underneath the irritation, she’s still an excellent friend.
Zuko pours Toph a cup of jasmine tea.
She sits there in complete silence (always a worrying sign).
They’ve both heard the same rumors flying around. They’ve both been subjected to the gossip in Ba Sing Se, not to mention Zuko’s ambassadors rushing to tell him what a good idea it would be if it were true.
“So,” Toph finally pipes up, dumping an amount of sugar in her tea that has Zuko wincing on Iroh’s behalf. “What are you gonna do to take me out of the running for Sokka’s hand in marriage?”
Because that’s what has three different nations (four, probably, but Zuko hasn’t checked in with the Northern Water Tribe lately and he knows Aang isn’t buying any of this) talking. They’re convinced that a marriage pairing between Toph Beifong and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe would be an auspicious show of togetherness, especially as they embark on the project of Republic City.
“You know what I’ve been doing?” Zuko asks, not sure whether he’s relieved about it or upset that he’s so obvious. If she can tell, can Sokka? Does he know that Zuko’s been meddling in his matches?
“Blind, not stupid.” Toph reaches for a cookie, jamming it in her mouth and speaking before she’s even swallowed. “It’s insulting! I’m not half of some mascot for a new city. Also, I might have had a crush on Sokka eons ago, but I’ve come around to realizing how embarrassing that is.”
Zuko knows she can’t see the way he’s sitting there with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the implication.
“It’s not embarrassing,” he mutters.
“Keep telling yourself that, Sparky.”
“You know, the past three Fire Lords could have had you in chains for insulting them.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Toph cackles. “C’mon, I wanna know! How would you stop me from marrying Sokka?”
Forget having a crush on Sokka. This is the embarrassing part. “Obviously, fighting you in combat would be a poor idea.”
Toph cackles, almost rolling on the floor at the idea – which is insulting and Zuko shoots her an annoyed look. “Okay, fine, I’ll pretend that I wouldn’t just earthbend a metal and ore coffin around you,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “Totally a fair fight.”
“And seeing as I doubt I would be able to trade on your love for me as a friend…”
“I might,” Toph protests. “Probably not, though.”
“Then I’d just dare you not to.”
“...that’s it?”
Not all of Zuko’s plans can be fantastically planned and thoroughly researched. Not every suitor can have him holed up in the library for hours to look for loopholes (like the last one did, when Zuko had managed to stop a proposal by showing the Earth Kingdom ambassador an old law that prohibited men born under the summer sun from proposing to anyone in the water tribe).
He still can’t believe the ambassador fell for it.
“So you’d dare me not to marry Sokka.”
“Right. And if you did, I’d just insult you for the rest of your life by implying that you were too much of a chicken to follow through and fulfill the dare.” Definitely not his best work.
“Oh man, Sparky.” Toph reaches for her teacup. “You know what the worst part of that sad and pathetic plan is?” He doesn’t need to wait long to find out. “I think that actually would’ve worked.”
The relief Zuko feels is instantaneous. He’s so glad that he doesn’t have to sit back and watch Toph live the life that he’s been fighting for. He’s fairly sure his entire body just went slack, as if a taut rope got cut.
“This does mess up my deal with Sokka, though,” she muses.
“What deal is that?” Zuko asks warily.
“Well, he and I agreed that if both of us were thirty-five and still single, we’d…”
“Get married?” Zuko isn’t proud of the way his voice goes high and yelps a little.
Toph wrinkles her nose. “What? Gross. No, we made a pact that we’d have one final amazing night out at the pro-bending circuit and go out in a blaze of fighting glory!”
“....at thirty-five?” Zuko’s now beginning to worry that marrying Sokka is only going to be step one of the plan. Step two is apparently going to be keeping him alive.
Toph waves a hand distractedly, spilling tea in the process. “It wasn’t a great plan. I bet if he had something pretty great to live for, we would have stopped at just watching the pro-bending and not actually take the next step. We were young, we thought thirty-five was ancient,” she huffs.
Zuko, only six years and change shy of that, is currently not amused.
“To clarify, you’re not marrying Sokka.”
“Nope!” Toph agrees. “And unless you get off your ass and do something about it, neither are you.”
Zuko presses his lips together tightly, trying his best to infuse warmth into his voice when he says, “I always enjoy our visits.”
“Yeah,” she snorts. “That’s not what enjoying sounds like. You don’t even need my super senses to hear you grinding your teeth, which is stupid because you’re the one who could end all this by just proposing.”
“We’re getting there,” Zuko protests. “We have a deal. Sokka has a plan. I’m just making sure that we don’t deviate from said plan.”
Toph steals more of the pastries from Zuko’s plate. He’d expected this and asked the kitchen to have a back-up plate for him to graze on later, but it’s still annoying. “Oh man, another one of Snoozles’ plans,” she says, and mock-gags. “Hopefully in this one, he’s still letting you have bathroom breaks!”
“...I…don’t think that’s a part of it,” Zuko says warily. “I can ask him?”
“That’s really not the question you should be asking,” Toph says, rolling her eyes. “I can’t believe the two of you are being such idiots about this. Here I thought Sokka couldn’t get stupider than that time he was on cactus juice, but here we are.” She tips her head to the side. “Maybe you’re the person equivalent of cactus juice for Sokka. He does get really stupid around you.”
“Thank you?” Zuko never knows what to do with Toph’s compliments because he’s never sure if they’re actually meant to be kind.
“I want something more for not taking Sokka from you than your friendship, though,” Toph keeps going. “Fight night with top billing as the Blind Bandit, here in the Fire Nation, plus twenty percent of the sales of tickets that night.”
The Ambassadors have been wanting to diversify their cultural offerings.
“Deal,” he says, extending his hand. He’s immensely grateful that Toph isn’t asking for more (she could and he’d give it, all to protect Sokka’s plan).
Luckily for him, Toph is happy to settle there. She’s also happy to crush the bones in his hand with her handshake, but that’s what he has healers for, right?
“All right, Prickly,” Toph says. “Now that we’ve got tea and marriage dissuasion off the table, where’s the liquor?”
He’s definitely going to need those healers tomorrow.
“Nephew, there you are.” Uncle Iroh is carrying the letter that Zuko had sent (it’s arrived swiftly thanks to the hawk, good), wearing an overly pleased look on his face. This bodes very well. “I had no idea that you were courting!”
Ah. Maybe he needed to do a better job explaining in his letter.
Face twisting up in consternation, Zuko does what he hates to – admit that he hasn’t managed to get his way yet. “I’m not. At least, not yet.”
Uncle looks confused, which Zuko supposes is fair.
Zuko did just send him a wedding invitation in the mail, but that’s only so he could practice his calligraphy for when he trounces the rest of his competition and claims Sokka’s hand in victorious matrimony.
Forget honor. The only thing Zuko is chasing down these days is anyone who thinks twice about getting even remotely close to Sokka’s romantic life.
Uncle is clearly still working through the conundrum in his mind, eyeing the beautiful calligraphy of the letter, studying the words, and then Zuko. “I had thought maybe it was an honest mistake that you left your spouse’s name blank. You’re telling me that this is practice?”
“I’m doing as you taught me,” Zuko says, devoutly passionate about the fact that even though his pact with Sokka isn’t coming due for just under two years, that doesn’t mean he can’t prepare. “Measure twice, cut once.”
“When measuring for a wedding gown, one typically needs a bride,” Uncle points out. “Will you tell me who the lucky lady is? Or man,” he’s quick to add. “You don’t tell me enough, Zuko, I shouldn’t have to guess who it is that’s in your heart.”
“Oh, I’m not engaged yet.”
“You plan to be, though?”
“I do,” Zuko agrees, his voice steady and firm. “There’s absolutely no one in the world who can stand between me and my fiancé.”
Uncle has that expression on his face he wore a lot when they were on the ship. It’s the one Zuko’s grown to recognize means that he’s weighing his options and deciding which path he wishes to pursue.
“But you are not engaged.”
“No,” Zuko agrees. “Not until we turn thirty.”
“Is it a tradition in your beloved’s culture to wait until thirty?” Uncle asks warily.
“I don’t think so.” If it is, Sokka hadn’t mentioned it.
“...I’m very confused. How is it that you’re practicing and planning your wedding invitations, but you don’t have a betrothed?”
“I have a plan.” Technically, Zuko has someone else’s plan, but he’s more than okay with following Sokka’s idea on this one.
“I don’t think I understand it,” Iroh confesses. “Your calligraphy is to be admired, though. Whenever you are to be wed, if you send your invitations out with the same flourish you used to send to me, your guests will be lucky for the keepsake.”
That’s all Zuko wants to hear. Approval from his uncle is one of the highest honors, and even without being able to announce that it’s Sokka he’s going to be marrying (because that might throw off his strategy in the event a challenger enters the fray), it’s still a fantastic thing to know.
“Your betrothed is a real person, yes? This isn’t like your childhood again?”
“I was four!” Zuko shouts, before he can get his anger under control.
No one should be held to their foibles as a child, which means that Zuko shouldn’t have to endure his childhood engagement to Prince Turtleduck from the colonies with his fancy long hair and glittering robes and green-blue eyes.
“So? Real?”
“Very real,” Zuko grumbles.
“Yet, you will not tell me the name?”
Zuko can’t. It would be like inviting ill luck to the proceedings. He’s so close, the last thing he wants is to ruin it all because he said the wrong thing to Uncle, only to have the gossipy old men of the White Lotus tell Sokka and make it seem like Zuko’s desperate.
He is. Sokka’s just not supposed to find out.
“All will become clear in time,” Zuko says, trying to mimic Uncle Iroh’s advice right down to the sage way of speaking. “You must have faith, uncle.”
Uncle Iroh raises a brow, clearly torn between amusement and frustration. “Very well, nephew. Until I receive an invitation with the name of your betrothed, I will trust your plan.”
Zuko smiles, happy that his Uncle believes so thoroughly in him, which leaves him off guard for the betrayal that comes next.
“Now, future Fire Lord Turtleduck, what will we drink for tea today?”
“I was four,” he hisses.
“It was very memorable and I have no other information. I will have faith. You said nothing of keeping quiet, though.”
By now, Zuko should have learned to be much clearer in his deals with the Dragon of the West. He has not, which means he will have to endure this torment, but not for long. There are less than two years before Uncle will have to recognize Sokka as his husband and not the fiancé created by the fanciful imaginative flights of a child.
It’s almost too long, but he can be patient. He has no choice. That’s the deal they made and it’s the one he intends to hold to.
Zuko turns twenty-nine and as a birthday present, the ambassadors give him the gift of a complete nightmare scenario in the daily briefing.
“Isamu is a perfect match,” he overhears the Earth Kingdom ambassador saying. “I know our poor Sokka has been unlucky in love, but the two of them together would be a wild success for both our nations. Isamu is a high-ranking noble and has been such a help on our trade committee, and we know how much Ambassador Sokka enjoys participating in official meetings on the topic.”
Zuko is glad he had set his cup of tea down. He’s confident that if he’d been drinking, it would have suddenly coated the front of his robes, and jasmine-soaked cloth is not a trend that Zuko wants to start.
The ambassadors shift their discussions to tariffs and taxes, which allows Zuko to calm his temper by allowing the ebb and flow of such a boring topic to wash over him. Only when they all leave does he feel he can speak somewhat freely.
(There’s always someone listening, so he still has to be a little cautious)
“Suki,” Zuko says absently. “Arrange some time for Isamu to come to the palace for tea.”
“Is he going to leave alive if I invite him?”
He shoots her an annoyed look. “I’m asking you because I want to be discreet, not because I want to kill him.” At least, there’s no murder on the docket until he finds out how seriously Isamu is taking the marriage proposal idea.
Suki doesn’t look convinced. “You’re not going to invite him and then ask me to kill him, are you?”
That doesn’t deserve an answer.
“Fine, I’ll have some of my girls bring him up for tea tomorrow.”
He waits, sure she’s not done.
“Do you want them to…”
“Thank you, that’s all, Suki!” Zuko hurriedly says.
He really does just want tea with the man. After all, there’s no reason a plan needs to go into place until he better understands just how Isamu thinks and exactly what kind of proposal he aims to give Sokka. He can also use the time to lay some groundwork to steer Isamu away from the idea.
After all, Zuko must ensure that a proposal never happens, no matter how. With only one year left before Sokka is his, he’ll do anything.
Isamu arrives promptly for tea the next day and barely waits for the cups to be poured before he gets right to the heart of the matter:
“I assume you’ve asked me here to try and sell Ambassador Sokka’s charms to me?”
Zuko pauses in pouring the tea as he weighs the polite response to such a question. He’d intended the opposite, in fact. In order to sway Isamu away from Sokka, he had written up a list of Sokka’s faults – though it had taken him a very long time and he’d had to reach back to their teenage years for the more egregious ones.
“...in a way,” Zuko says calmly.
“Don’t bother. I’ve told the other ambassadors and I’ll tell you, too. I have no intention of marrying him. He’s a bit immature and flighty,” Isamu says, confiding this to Zuko as if he’s sharing some hot gossip. “Ah, perfect, lemon!” he says, adding it to his tea casually.
Zuko is very patiently trying not to crack the kettle in his hands given the way his hands have started to burn hotter.
“What, exactly, is so wrong with Ambassador Sokka’s qualities?” Zuko knows this isn’t the plan. He should be elated that Isamu doesn’t want to marry him. The trouble is that Sokka’s honor is suddenly on the line and Zuko must defend it. “He’s intelligent. In fact, he’s smarter than nearly everyone in this country and he’s humble about it, not like the braggarts you’d meet at the university. He’s kind and caring and wonderful with children and he’s creative with solutions to problems. Not to mention, you could do far worse in terms of attractiveness.”
After all, Sokka had been voted most attractive ambassador five years running, and next year, there’s even talks of creating paintings to sell for charity (Zuko intends to buy all of the ones of Sokka).
“He’s the very best partner that anyone could ask for. He might have been an immature idiot when he was fifteen, but that boy is gone and the man in his place is wonderful.”
His heart is racing by the time he finishes, and only then does he realize that he’s exposed his heart on his sleeve without meaning to.
Isamu gives Zuko a wary look. “Fire Lord, sir,” he says. “I say this with the utmost respect, but, if you really think that highly of Ambassador Sokka, then maybe you should marry him.”
He doesn’t grit out a frustrated, ‘I am trying to,’ but it’s a very near thing.
“Your intuition and advice are as wise as your trade proposals,” Zuko says calmly, choosing diplomacy over complete embarrassment. “Shall we pretend that today never happened?”
“That sounds best for everyone involved.”
They discuss trade and other matters of the Fire Nation for the remainder of their time together. To save Zuko’s pride, Sokka doesn’t come up once, and yet when Isamu leaves, Zuko feels both relieved and wounded, particularly from the idea that anyone could somehow see the prospect of marrying Sokka and not want it.
(Except Toph. Toph doesn’t count)
Suki catches Zuko’s eye after Isamu leaves, in one piece and unharried. “Why do you look like you’re the one about to die?”
“This arrangement is going to kill me,” he mutters.
“Then propose.”
He doesn’t know why he says what he does, but it slips out like an eel: “Okay.” It has to go according to plan, though. Luckily, Sokka’s travel schedule means that he’s not due in the Fire Nation until the seasons have changed. “I’m not proposing by letter, though.”
He has to wonder if it’s on purpose that Sokka’s next visit to the Fire Nation won’t be until he’s thirty. That means Zuko still has months to figure this out – and to defeat any last would-be challengers for Sokka’s hand.
“Wait. Really?” Suki’s clearly as shocked as Zuko is. “You’re really going to propose?”
“The next time he’s here,” Zuko vows. “And if he’s still single.” Which he will be, because Zuko is so close, and if he has to issue an Agni Kai against someone to make sure it happens, he will (regardless of whether they’re a firebender). “Then I’ll propose.”
Suki clearly doesn’t believe him given the suspicious look she’s trying to level Zuko with. She doesn’t believe him.
For once, though, Zuko’s not stalling.
“If I don’t, then you can have three months off,” he offers.
“Deal,” Suki says quickly. “You better not renege.”
“You should know that I hold to the letter of the deals I make.”
“That’s kind of the problem,” Suki dryly notes. “I miss impulsive and angry Zuko. He would’ve thrown Sokka over his shoulder, hauled him to a Sage, and then married him the second that Sokka even hinted that he was interested. Mature, patient, and diplomatic Zuko is frustrating.”
Was that an option? Zuko’s kicking himself for not doing exactly that.
Still, he also knows that Sokka finds mature, patient, and diplomatic Zuko appealing because he’s said as much. Besides, there’s something to be said about waiting for a plan to come to fruition. He settles and sips at his tea, easing back in his chair as he looks at Suki and raises a brow – deliberately smooth and slow.
Suki’s, “Ugh, you’re the worst,” is definitely earned, but he can’t find it in him to feel upset as she storms out.
Now that he’s said the words out loud, the reality of what’s to come beckons bright like a sunrise on the horizon. Zuko is going to marry Sokka, and no one’s going to stop him.
Who wouldn’t be pleased with that?
(...at least, anyone who isn’t a high ranking noble named Isamu)
Summer fades from Caldera, marking a whole season passing with no one making a move for Sokka’s hand in marriage.
Autumn is a welcome brisk curtain falling over them. Sokka’s letters nudge Zuko towards a growing issue in some of the colonies that takes him away from the capital, but gives him something to focus on for a few months. With Aang at his side and feeding him intel about Sokka, he feels safe in their plan.
Winter makes Zuko long for the cold of the South Pole and Sokka’s presence. His heart is sick with an ache that he knows won’t be banished until Sokka is thirty, but every day allows him to creep closer and closer.
Zuko turns thirty with little fanfare, mainly because he’s been insistent that they hold off on celebrations. The hopeful side of him says that it’s better to wait and combine his thirtieth birthday with the engagement party that’s coming any day now, but first that mandates a proposal be made.
With Sokka’s birthday looming, Zuko knows it’s time.
He knows he shouldn’t be this nervous to send a hawk to summon Sokka from Republic City, but he obsesses over the message for weeks. “Would you please send it?” Suki begs when he rips up the fifteenth message. “You aren’t confessing anything in that parchment. You’re just inviting Sokka to come to Caldera for his birthday.”
“He knows what it means, Suki!” Zuko explodes, slamming both palms on the table.
It’s been a long time since he’s had a truly epic Prince Zuko explosion. Even so, Suki is used to them and calmly puts out the small table fires that Zuko’s sparked with his fingers. He sits, mollified, and accepts a new quill (because he’d burned the ink from the last).
“Thank you,” he mumbles.
“Just invite him here before you miss his birthday and he thinks you don’t want to see him. You promised you’d propose.”
“I’m going to,” he says, his hands tensed tightly as he fights the desire to clench his hands so hard that fire bursts out. “That’s why he needs to be here and not laugh in my face because I was ridiculous when inviting him.”
Somehow, between the two of them – which, honestly, had mostly been Suki’s doing – the invitation goes out.
The response comes back so quickly that Zuko wonders if Sokka’s invented some form of rocket propulsion for hawks. The letter is lengthy and discusses the latest trade deals, updates from Aang and Katara, and a list of Toph’s latest crimes, but at the bottom is what Zuko needs to see most:
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I’ll see you soon, Fire Lord.
Soon. Zuko will have a chance to propose soon and then he’ll never have to worry about keeping Sokka’s many suitors away from him.
The other ambassadors give Zuko a wide berth in the days leading up to Sokka’s arrival and the palace staff keep shooting him knowing smiles and talking about how they’re stocking up on all of Ambassador Sokka’s favorites.
It’s very sweet, but it also means that time stretches painfully as Zuko waits for Sokka’s arrival.
And then, just when he thinks he can’t wait another day, it’s finally time.
The envoy arrives in the evening, just as the sun is setting. It’s been nearly sixteen months since the last time he saw Sokka in person and the moment he begins to descend the ship, Zuko’s mind abandons him.
Everything slows down and all he can see is the heart-stopping grin Sokka shoots his way, and how the breeze pushes his hair off his shoulders (spirits, he’s wearing it down, Zuko won’t survive this), and he’s not wearing sleeves which means that when he grips the rails to steady himself, he flexes and Caldera somehow gets ten degrees warmer.
Standing at the end of the docks, Zuko maintains his royal composure and lets Suki and the other Kyoshi guards greet Sokka, drinking in the sight of him laughing and joking around with them, enduring their nudges to his stomach and play-fighting as he stares above their heads towards Zuko.
In the sunset light, his eyes are a soft purplish hue and he’s incandescent.
Please let me marry this man, he thinks, even though the only obstacle between them and a marriage is his proposal.
Zuko tries not to take it personally when he overhears Suki sending Sokka his way with a, “Please would you do something about him.”
Sokka ambles up the dock and stops in front of Zuko, looking at him like he’s holding back a secret. “Hi,” he says, as if they haven’t been apart as long as they have, as if Zuko isn’t desperate to hug him so tightly that he breaks his ribs, as if…
“Hey,” Zuko replies, because he forgets all of that when Sokka barrels forward and wraps his arms around Zuko’s waist, hugging him the way Zuko had been anxious about. Zuko closes his eyes and simply indulges in this perfect moment.
If he does this right, he can have a thousand more of these. Maybe even more. He’s worked so hard to clear the field of competitors. It’s time for him to make the final move.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Zuko says, heart pounding in his chest wildly. “Somewhere where it can be you and me alone. Suki will stay behind, and she won’t let anyone follow us.”
“Is there something you wanted to talk about?” Sokka teases.
He knows there is because he’s the one who brought the deal to Zuko in the first place. He knows what Zuko wants to talk about. And yet, here he is, smiling coyly at Zuko and tugging on Zuko’s sleeve with his fingers as he starts walking off, pulling Zuko along like he’s some kind of pet.
Suki mouths ‘good luck’ at him, and he knows that she really means ‘if you mess this up, I quit’. Zuko gets it. If he messes this up, he’s pretty sure he’s going to quit, too, and go live with Aang in one of the Air Temples where he can sulk for the rest of his life.
And so they go, walking onwards towards Zuko’s favorite part of the palace.
The cherry blossoms rain down in slow motion from the old-growth trees above them. It’s almost like the world around them has been coated in sticky, slow molasses. He’s tangled his fingers with Sokka to gently tug him towards the turtleduck pond, and when the moon is illuminating Sokka’s beautiful blue eyes, that’s when Zuko knows it’s time.
“So,” he begins. “You’re thirty.”
Sokka grins at him fondly. “I am. And so are you.”
“Which means that a certain deal that you and I made is now coming due.” Zuko approaches it cautiously, giving Sokka every opportunity to back away or tell him that the deal is off.
He doesn’t do any of that.
“I’m waiting, Zuko,” Sokka says playfully, reaching out to tug Zuko’s fingers into his, his palms open to the sky so he can gently hook his fingertips with Zuko’s to bring him closer. Their noses nearly touch, the tips brushing, and when Zuko exhales, Sokka’s there to catch the breath.
He’s waiting.
It’s finally time.
Zuko doesn’t get down to one knee, but he shifts his hand to the small of Sokka’s back, spreading slowly out until he’s mapping the warmth he’s been dying to touch.
“Sokka. Will you marry me?”
He’d been worried about silence. Rejection. Anger.
None of that happens.
Of all the reactions Zuko had been expecting, the full body exhalation of relief as Sokka shouts, “Tui and La! Finally!” right in his face hadn’t been one of them. “You have no idea how exhausting the last five years have been. Do you know how many times your advisors tried to get you married to Mai even though she’s been courting Ty Lee? Do you have any idea how many contracts you nearly signed that they tried to secretly slip under your nose?”
What’s happening? What is going on?
“And then the noblewomen! I kept having to find issues all over the world so you could sail off and miss their arrival, and finally the advisors got the hint.” Sokka’s digging for something in his pockets now. “I had to endure Suki laughing at me until she was sick in the stomach when I begged her not to marry you like the Sages wanted…”
Wait. They wanted him to marry Suki? How did Zuko never find out about this?
“Plus,” Sokka says, his tone darker. “There was the whole Toph situation.”
“What Toph situation?”
“You and her as a married couple is scary.”
“Sokka, what are you talking about?”
“You didn’t hear about the attempts to get you and Toph married so you could combine into one big mega-family who weeps gold coins?”
Zuko shakes his head, terrified of even the notion of being Toph’s husband. Her way of showing affection for her friends involves really hard punching. How would she demonstrate love for a husband? Could his bones even survive that?
Sokka finds what he’s been looking for, yanking out a ring from his pocket, letting out a gleeful ‘ha!” as he foists a beautiful meteorite band with a sparkling ruby, surrounded by little diamonds at Zuko.
“Sokka, this is too much,” he exhales.
“What else was I doing with my ambassador salary? Not to mention, people tend to give me free stuff because it makes you happy when I’m happy and they’re not stupid. They want to keep the Fire Lord content.”
That’s handy, because what makes the Fire Lord happy is proposing to this incredible man.
“It’s my turn now,” Zuko says, digging out the betrothal ring from his pocket so he can hold it up for Sokka to see. “It’s a sapphire with white gold and peridot. There’s space for a band to thread, so you can wear it on your neck or on your hand, and…”
He doesn’t get to finish his long speech about how thoughtful he’d been in developing the ring (he’s had years to do it, and there are half a dozen rejects in a drawer in the palace).
Zuko doesn’t get to do any of that because Sokka’s tangled his fingers in Zuko’s hair to bring him crashing closer for a kiss that feels like it goes on forever. It’s a kind of magic that Zuko didn’t think existed in the world, but here it is, in the touch of his lips to Sokka’s.
When they drift back, Sokka brushes his long hair off his shoulder to give Zuko access to his neck.
Zuko carefully threads the ring into the silk blue ribbon he’d been demonstrating with, letting his thumb run along the strong line of muscle from Sokka’s back to his neck, letting a soft exhalation loose as he clasps the necklace together.
“How does it look?” Sokka asks, peering at Zuko through lowered lashes.
“Like you’re a dream,” Zuko admits, scraped raw with all his love exposed. “There’s just one thing I need to know.”
Sokka hums softly, playing with some of the stray hairs at Zuko’s temple, nudging them aside. “How am I this sexy?”
Zuko rolls his eyes out of habit, but the fond surge that spikes in him is more proof that he really loves Sokka like he’s never experienced before. “All those years ago, why didn’t you just ask me to marry you? Why hide it behind a deal? Why wait?”
“Because we had to be sure.”
That’s the moment Zuko knows they’re perfect for each other. How many times has he said that to the others? It wasn’t about rushing to the altar. It was about proving that they were willing to put in the work.
“If someone wanted your hand, they had to get through me,” Zuko says seriously. “And if they did, then I would’ve known that they were right for you.”
“No one got to me,” Sokka says proudly. “And no one got to you. I guess that means we both won.”
That, or they really are just dumbasses who should have gotten married five years ago, but Zuko’s now sure that he’s the very best husband that Sokka could ever have.
The work is worth it, because in the end it’s yielded love.
“Come on,” says Zuko, threading his fingers through Sokka’s to tug him to his feet, eager to head towards the market. “I think my betrothed deserves to buy whatever catches his eye.” He’s happy. He’s in love. He’s engaged.
He thinks that means he can open the royal pursestrings a little.
“Oh man, you’re going to regret offering me that.”
Zuko’s feeling wildly soppy, because all he can do is smile like an idiot as he and Sokka leave the garden. “I never regret offering you anything.”
(He will regret it in a month when his advisors bring him the bill, but that’s a problem for a Future Fire Lord to reckon with)
“In that case, my hot fiancé, let’s go find something to celebrate my plan coming to fruition.”
There’s no denigrating Sokka’s skills as Plan Guy. This one worked perfectly, with a little elbow grease and hard work. The end result of Sokka’s genius means that they each get a passionate and dedicated husband, who wants nothing more than to marry the other.
It’s the best deal in the world. Why doesn’t everyone make deals like this?
He’s not sure any of his family and friends would agree, having been witness to five years of planning, suffering, waiting, and enduring.
Luckily for all of them, the time for that is over. Now, they can suffer and endure and wait as Sokka and Zuko plan their wedding and their lives together.
It’s a beautiful night in Caldera and Zuko has never been happier.
It looks like a romance volcano exploded all over the capital in his personal garden where cherry blossoms are falling from the trees, turtleducks perch nearby, and their closest friends and family are waiting at a party where Zuko gets to announce that he’ll be marrying the most incredible and wonderful man in the world.
The wait had been more than worth it.
“Hey,” Sokka whispers, squeezing his hand. “I’ve got a new deal for you.”
Zuko’s wary about any new deals. Suki did threaten his life if he let Sokka talk him into anything else and she’d been holding her fans pretty seriously when she’d said it. “I don’t know if…”
“If you and I make it back to your bedroom in the next forty-five minutes, then I’m gonna give you the best night of your life.”
That feels like something Suki wouldn’t kill him for.
“The best?”
“Mmhmm.”
“How do you know the best night of my life wasn’t when the Ember Island Players actually put on that decent production chronicling my rise to power? Or the time that I beat you at Pai Sho and swordbending on the same day. Or!” he keeps going, rushing with ideas, “the day that I found Druk…”
He’s deliberately riling up Sokka. He knows that.
“Zuko,” Sokka cuts him off.
“Yes, love?”
“I can’t believe that I get to shut you up like this from now on,” is all the warning Zuko gets before Sokka pounces on him and sends him stumbling back to the ground, kissed breathless (and pinned into a very uncomfortably placed rock).
When Sokka finally pulls him back up, Zuko’s a disheveled mess and not fit for public viewing, but he still thinks he owes it to Sokka to remind him about their other lavish plans.
“You do know there’s a party waiting for you. Right? All your favorite people and friends and food...” Meanwhile, Zuko can’t stop the idiotic voice in his head that pleads for Sokka to ignore all that and keep going with his new deal, their new plan.
Sokka stands, picking up Zuko’s discarded robe from the ground and draping it over his shoulders. “Food will taste just as good the morning after. My family will understand the delay. If our friends get mad at us, then are they really our friends?”
“So you’re saying…”
“Forty-five minutes, Zuko,” Sokka offers with a teasing grin. “Want to take the deal?”
He’s always said that you always accept one of Sokka’s deals. Generally, good things come at the end of them (and he should know).
“Forty-five minutes,” he echoes, and sticks out his hand to shake. “Deal.”
Sokka’s grin is blindingly bright as another one of his plans goes into place. There’s no complaining from Zuko, because as he’s hauled over Sokka’s broad shoulder towards the bedroom (bouncing and mock protesting the whole way), he knows that there’s nowhere else in the world he wants to be.
He’s thirty. He’s marrying his best friend. He didn’t think it was possible to feel this happy.
Not to mention, it turns out Sokka’s plans are always incredible because they do make it back to the bedroom in twenty minutes and Zuko does have one of the best nights of his life. His family and their friends will be furious with them come morning, but the soft light of dawn is hours away and Sokka is naked and pliant and soft and sweet as he sleeps beside Zuko, the both of them sweaty and spent.
It’s worth it. Every single second and every plan and every deal is all worth it, because it’s him.
Now, it’s time for them to make new plans together.
This time, Zuko’s not waiting five years to start.