The Thief |Sokka

TWENTY-THREE

The morning the company was set to leave Ba Sing Se didn't feel special to Jaya. She knew she would be probably coming back soon, which happened to be the case with most cities she went to. Ever since she had joined Aang in his travels, she had come to visit all big cities of the world by his side, and she was confident that after Aang himself, she was possibly the most well-travelled individual existing. So, only a few hours before she were to leave, she didn't feel anything unusual. She had woken up early at the prior insistence of most of the members of the company, gathered the little belongings she took with her in all of her journeys and headed to the living room. 

It came as no surprise to her when she noticed Akira and Katara were there. He had been one of the first people to suggest they left early the previous night and Katara had been quick to support him so she had expected to see them there. They were talking to themselves as she got inside, and she knew at once they would rather they kept their conversation private. So she smiled in greeting, left her belongings by the front door and made up an excuse to leave.

"I should wake Sokka up if we want to leave early."

Katara smiled back as Akira wordlessly watched the exchange. "If you don't mind. Although I worry about Toph more than Sokka."

Jaya chuckled as she offered her a nod, already heading to the direction of Sokka's bedroom. "I will go there right after."

So she made herself scarce. Sokka's bedroom was close enough to the shared living quarters but far enough so that any noise wouldn't be too annoying. She knocked on the door lightly and rushed inside. She looked around, her gaze instantly moving towards the bed, where Sokka was, still sleeping. She walked over, making no attempt to be quiet.

"Why would you not wake up at the time you said you would?" she asked, certain he could not listen to her speak. She reached his side and nudged him. "Sokka, wake up."

He grunted, "Such a sweet way to wake me up."

"I wasn't trying to be sweet," she huffed, "come on, leave the bed. You agreed to leaving early yesterday, remember?"

Sokka sighed and after a moment of struggle, opened his eyes. He attempted to send Jaya a smirk. "Hey, gorgeous."

She raised a brow, clearly unimpressed. "Are you leaving the bed?"

He paid no heed to her reaction, his smirk remaining. He nodded. "Yes, just – just got to do something first."

He leaned into her, and her gaze instantly fell to the nightstand placed by the bed, confused as to what it was he needed. Only to feel a pull on her arm. Jaya yelped as she was pulled into the bed, clumsily falling on Sokka who burst out laughing. She managed to put her free hand forward to support herself in the last moment so that she wouldn't hit her head on the mattress. She looked over at Sokka the moment she had stabilised herself to send him a dirty look. 

"Very funny."

"It was, wasn't it?" he teased, his grin widening as she attempted to sit up only to fail. He tugged her closer and Jaya had no choice but to let him do what he wanted. She did still sent him an unimpressed look when he had finally maneuvered her to his heart's content and she was now right in front of him.

"Did you achieve your purpose with this?"

"I'd say I have," he hummed and leaned in to press a kiss on the side of her mouth. "So, about that vacation I mentioned. Are you interested?"

"You know I'm going," she pointed out as she sent him a look. "Aang goes, so I go. He's going to have Appa and Momo, where am I supposed to go without him?"

He feigned understanding and nodded his head. "So you are only going because of Aang?"

"That is my primary reason," she admitted. Sokka instantly seemed to gain some seriousness where before he had none.