zukka, bitches! (oneshots)

hand

"I like the way your hand fits in mine."

in which zuko finds out he enjoys holding a certain someone's hand, and wishes to do it more often. sokka wishes to do the same. 

also it's been a while, so i don't remember all of the canon details. be sure to let me know in the comments if there's anything i need to change regarding that. 

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it was only a matter of time before zuko became used to sokka's late night antics. the water tribe boy, every few days, would wake him up whilst everyone was asleep, and would take him adventuring around the area of the camp, or even further beyond. 

now that they had stopped staying at the western air temple, they had the chance to explore the many dark and deep caves around the new area, something very new to zuko. fortunately for him, sokka seemed to be an expert in such. unfortunately for him, sokka would not stop bragging about it. 

"sokka, please," zuko sighed, altogether too tired to be mad. he just wanted to be able to walk in comfortable silence, not coherent enough to take in anything sokka was saying. 

"oh.. sorry," sokka said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "i'm just really excited to check this out with a friend, seeing how it's cool and all." 

zuko felt taken aback, yet flattered. sokka had referred to him as such several times already, but it always surprised zuko at how genuine it was. he had never had any real friends before, so to be such to someone as admirable as sokka.. it was a nice, new feeling. 

they quickly arrived to one of the many caves around the area, standing just outside the mouth. "after you, your majesty," sokka teased, bowing towards zuko to beckon him inside. zuko just chuckled, swatting at sokka's shoulder as the boy stood back up straight. the darkness enveloped them sooner than thought, and it quickly became evident that they couldn't see one another, no matter their proximity. 

"are you absolutely certain that this was a good idea?" zuko asked, turning to where he assumed sokka was beside him. he wasn't afraid of the dark, sure, but he wasn't exactly fond of it, especially here where it was so extreme. 

"yeah, yeah, don't worry about it!" sokka replied, "just, uh, hold on a second." 

zuko was about to ask what for, when he felt a hand on his arm, as if searching for something. "sokka, what--" his question was answered when he felt sokka take his hand, holding it in his own. zuko's face heated up, making the firebender glad that neither boy could see the other. 

"so we don't lose each other," sokka explained, sounding much too casual about this. 

"..wouldn't it be easier to have a torch?" zuko asked, barely able to spit it out thanks to his scattered brain and gay thoughts. he could hardly think about anything else, because sokka was holding his hand. SOKKA WAS HOLDING HIS HAND. 

"oh! oh yeah!" sokka replied, as if he had forgotten that that was an option, "stay here, i'll be right back!" zuko felt sokka's hand leave his own, and he almost regretting asking that question. 

almost as soon as he had left, sokka was back, this time with a torch. "there we go!" he exclaimed, "now it'd actually be easier to look around in here!" before zuko could say anything in response, sokka took up his hand again, holding it tightly. "come on, let's look around. it'll be fun!" zuko hoped -- zuko prayed -- that sokka wouldn't see his blushing red face. 

they roamed throughout the deep cave, maneuvering around large masses of rock, squeezing through tighter spaces, hands held the entire time. zuko could hardly pay attention to what they were doing, or where they were going, only focusing on the fact that their hands were intertwined, clasped tightly. it was because of this that zuko stumbled, having missed a crack that sokka had stepped over. he stumbled right into sokka, causing the other boy to fall as well. the torch flew out of sokka's hand to the ground, rolling away from them both. 

zuko's panic went from an 8 to a 10 immediately, the closeness of sokka scattering his thoughts even more. "hey! are you okay?" sokka asked, having sat up almost immediately after falling over. he was looking over at zuko, concerned. "your face is bleeding." 

"oh.." zuko said quietly, being brought out of his thoughts. he rolled over onto his back and sat up, reaching up to the cut now present on his face. "it's just a scratch, i'll be fine. had worse." 

"you're sure?" sokka asked, again taking zuko's hand and holding it in his. "you're burning up. do you need to cool off? get some water?" 

"i, uh, no.." zuko stammered, refusing to meet sokka's gaze. "can we.. can we just stay here a bit? rest?"

"if you'd like," sokka replied, moving closer to the other boy. he licked his thumb and moved to wipe away the bit of blood still present on zuko's face. 

curse his lovestruck heart. 

"that's all i can do for now," sokka said, moving away all too soon in zuko's opinion, "we'll get it cleaned up better back at camp." 

"yeah," zuko muttered, not really paying attention to sokka's words. he looked down at the both of their hands, which now resided in sokka's lap. no matter how anxious or flustered it made zuko, it just felt right. like it was supposed to happen. that felt cheesy, but it was true. 

"i like the way your hand fits in mine," he said quietly, looking up at sokka. "feels nice." 

it was sokka's turn to become flustered. his face reddened, looking like a tomato. a really cute tomato, zuko thought. "you.. don't mind?" he asked, seemingly nervous about zuko's sudden statement. 

"sokka, if i did mind, i would have said something," zuko laughed, finding sokka's flustered actions endearing, "i.. like holding your hand." 

"uh, yeah," sokka replied, relieved, "same here." he chuckled to himself, as if embarrassed. "if.. if i'm being entirely honest, this was all just a big fat excuse."

"to.. hold my hand?" zuko asked, even more amused by sokka's antics, "you could've just asked, you know. anytime."

"yeah, i know that," sokka said, "i just didn't want to do it in front of everybody or somewhere where they could catch us. we'd never hear the end of it." 

yeah, that sounded reasonable. 

"you wanna just stay here for a while longer?" zuko asked, squeezing sokka's hand. his own hand was squeezed back. 

"i thought we were gonna be doing that anyway," sokka replied, smiling, "but yes." 

they sat there for hours, talking about anything and everything. zuko laughed at sokka's jokes, and sokka laughed at zuko's attempts to tell ones from iroh. soon, they felt too tired to stay awake, leaning on each other for support. 

sokka fell asleep first, his face buried in zuko's neck. zuko quickly followed, holding the other close. 

they didn't quite know what this made them. were they still just friends? should they be lovers? they weren't quite sure. all they knew was that they loved holding each other's hand. 

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falling in love with girls like 10 leagues higher than you is just gay culture.