zukka, bitches! (oneshots)

tattoos

prompt above.

a modern au in which zuko  and his uncle co-own a tattoo parlor together, and sokka keeps going there to get tattoos as an excuse to see him. 

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it was almost the end of the day when he came into the parlor. zuko had seen the darker skinned boy here enough to recognize him immediately, even if it was just by his voice. he would come in every couple of weeks, requesting the same tattoo every time: a tally mark on his upper back. 

by then, the boy, whose name zuko remembered as sokka, had amassed quite a large amount of tallies. about 25, he thought. zuko had never thought to ask, but always wondered. he had asked his uncle, quite a few times, if he knew what sokka was counting with all of his tally mark tattoos, but iroh was just as clueless as he was. 

"sokka!" zuko heard his uncle exclaim, "it's great to see you again! you've become quite the regular here!" 

"well, the dragon is the best parlor around," sokka replied, a wide smile on his face, "gotta come back once in a while to see my favorite artists." 

"oh, you are too kind," iroh chuckled, "my nephew is just back there, i'm sure he could help you as i'm rather busy up here for now." zuko could tell that that was a lie, as iroh was just playing paisho online while drinking his tea. 

"thanks, iroh," sokka smiled, nodding politely. he headed over to zuko, giving the other boy barely any time to collect himself. "hey, hotman!"

"oh, uh, hey sokka," zuko replied, trying to appear cool but probably failing. why did he always have to use that nickname as if it wouldn't make him flustered? "the usual?"

"you know me too well," sokka grinned, sitting down in the chair and taking off his t-shirt. there they were, those simple tally mark tattoos, standing out against sokka's skin in their gorgeous black. zuko tried to ignore the fact that he was even more flustered with sokka's shirt off. he had to be collected in order to get the tattoo done right. 

zuko started the process, and soon was inking the tattoo on sokka's back. "so, i gotta be honest with you," sokka started, laughing a bit awkwardly. 

"yeah?" zuko asked, still focusing on his work. he had to because HOLY SHIT HE WAS TALKING TO HIM. "what's up?"

"i've.. kind of been using getting tattoos as an excuse to see you," sokka continued, "it's kind of stupid, i should've just asked for your number, but i was too nervous because you're cute.." 

sokka thought he was cute. sokka thought he was CUTE. SOKKA thought HE was CUTE. 

"oh, uh, thanks for the compliment," zuko said finally, feeling himself flush, "i'll give you my number when i'm done with this." 

after zuko was done, and sokka was satisfied with the tattoo, zuko wiped up the area around the tattoo and bandaged it. as sokka was putting on his shirt, he finally mustered up the courage to ask. "so, why the tally marks?"

"hm?" 

"what are you counting?" 

"how many tattoos i've gotten."

"..i'm no longer serving you." 

"aw, really?" sokka pouted, turning around to look at zuko disappointedly. "babe.."

"well, as long as the next time you come in, you don't get another damn tally mark."

"..deal."

sokka came in a few weeks later, with the request of a tattoo of the moon, and zuko couldn't be happier. finally, something else other that a goddamn tally mark.

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i feel like i should've gone more in depth with the process of tattoos. i searched it up, for god's sake.