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It’s 1:48 am when it finally stops snowing. The house is completely silent except for the sounds of Zuko’s quiet voice. He’s on facetime with Sokka and they’re talking about something dumb, and it’s easy. Zuko could talk to Sokka forever, he thinks. They talk about nothing and they talk about everything, and it’s easy.
“Hey, the clouds are clearing,” Sokka enthuses.
Zuko glances out of his window at the inky black sky. It is, in fact, clearing up, the small stars twinkling in the night. It’s beautiful.
“Look at the stars, dude,” Zuko says, “they’re gorgeous .”
“You’re gorgeous.”
Zuko flushes, “w-what?” he stutters out.
“Oh, I said they are really gorgeous,” Sokka amends.
Zuko chooses to ignore Sokka’s previous comment, convincing himself he heard wrong, but the blush still stains his cheeks a rosy pink. “I wish I could see them better,” Zuko says, “I think stargazing would be fun.”
“Come over,” Sokka says quickly, “we can stargaze together.”
“But it’s so cold,” Zuko laments.
“Don’t worry, I’ll warm you up.”
Zuko sighs, then agrees before hanging up the facetime to get ready. He slips on sweatpants and a sweatshirt over the tee shirt and boxers he was previously wearing. He grabs his keys and quietly inches his door open, wincing when it creaks a little.
After getting it open, he turns off the lights, and walks lightly down the corridor, socked feet silent against the wooden flooring. He walks down the stairs, careful to step on the sides as to make less noise. He knows he’s dead if his dad catches him, but luckily he’s had a lot of experience sneaking out.
From the stairs he ventures into the mudroom, grabbing his shoes and carrying them as he descends into the basement. He leaves the lights off and walks into the guest bedroom at the far end of the basement.
He places his shoes on the window ledge before hopping up and sitting on it, to slide open the window. He feels the crisp, cold, winter air bite at his face as he wrenches the window further open. Once he’s satisfied, Zuko removes the screen carefully, setting it aside against the side of the house. He then clambers out of the window, but stops, so he’s sitting half inside the house, half out, to put his shoes on. When they’re on he carefully slides the window back mostly shut, and places a small rock to stop it from shutting entirely, and locking him out when he gets back. He leans the window screen against the window again, before getting up and walking towards his car.
He fishes his phone out of his pocket and finds Sokka’s contact. Pressing call, he lifts the phone up to his face, as he hurries to his car.
“Hey Zuko! You’re back,” Sokka says, excitedly.
Zuko hums in agreement before saying “I’m about to get into my car right now, so I’m about 10 minutes away.”
They chat idly as Zuko gets into his car, and starts it up. His headlights reflect on the snow in the pitch black, as he starts to drive. He’s been to Sokka’s house so many times before, he basically drives there on autopilot, listening to Sokka ramble, adding in his own input when needed.
Before he knows it, he’s entering Sokka’s neighborhood, turning right onto the street. Once he gets close enough to Sokka’s house he switches off his headlights, just in case. He tells Sokka he’s here over the phone, and puts his car in park, right behind the trees in Sokka’s front lawn. effectively blocking his car from view from Sokka’s house.
He waits in the silence as Sokka gets ready. He glances out the window to see Sokka coming from his back door, a huge purple blanket grasped tightly in his arms.
Zuko waves, then gets out of the car, his face stinging from the cold night. Sokka rushes over, enveloping him in a hug.
“Zuko! Hi! Are you ready for the best stargazing experience of your life?”
“Of course I am Sokka, you better make it great.”
Zuko isn’t exactly sure how it was decided, being close to Sokka always makes his head spin, but they decide to watch the stars from on top of Zuko’s car.
Zuko places his foot gingerly on top of one of the wheels, using it as a stepping stool to get onto the roof, as Sokka does the same on the other side. Then they’re both on top of the car, sitting on the freezing metal.
Zuko shivers, and Sokka looks over, then seems to remember why he brought the blanket in the first place.
“Come here, baby,” Sokka says, opening his arms with the blanket around him. Zuko scoots closer to him, into the warmth of his hug. Sokka wraps them both in the blanket before laying down, pulling Zuko with him.
The position is slightly awkward, with Zuko’s head on Sokka’s shoulder, their legs criss crossing each other. One of Sokka’s hands is up behind his head, and the other is wrapped around Zuko’s waist, pulling him closer.
They look at the stars, but Zuko mostly steals glances at Sokka. His beautiful boy. Well, not his , Zuko supposes. Therein was the inherent problem with being in love with your best friend. This cuddling, as much as Zuko yearned for it to be romantic, was not. Zuko knew that Sokka was a touchy person, always has been, and Zuko knew Sokka’s feelings were nothing but platonic, and Zuko knew that Sokka was probably straight. Yes, Zuko knew all of this, and yet he still hoped, still wished, that despite it all, that this was something more.
The next time Zuko glanced away from the stars and towards the other boy’s face, Sokka caught his gaze. “Why’re you looking at me, baby? I thought I was supposed to be giving you the best stargazing experience of your life?” Sokka whispered, breaking the silence.
“This is the best stargazing experience of my life,” he whispered back.
“How can it be? You’re looking more at me then all these beautiful stars?”
“It’s not my fault,” Zuko pouted.
“Oh yeah?” Sokka questioned, “and why is that?”
“You’re distracting,” Zuko replied.
Sokka flushed at that, not that Zuko was looking, too busy burying his face in the warmth of Sokka’s shoulder. They stay like that, wrapped up in each other for a while, until Zuko lifts his head back up to look at Sokka once more. Their eyes meet, and it seems different from before. His gaze is electrifying , Zuko thinks to himself. Neither boy can find it in themselves to look away, the heated stare and comfortable silence between them building.
Their silence is soft, but it seems fragile. And Zuko is scared. Scared of breaking this moment, shattering what they have. But he can’t stop himself. Can’t stop himself from leaning over and hovering over Sokka’s face, glancing at his lips in question as their breaths intermingle.
Sokka breathes out softly, the warmth spreading over Zuko’s face, before lifting his hand to the back of Zuko’s neck. Sokka presses their lips together gently, shifting Zuko’s body easily, so he’s lying mostly on top of Sokka, their legs tangled together. The cold air stings Zuko’s back and arms, and he can feel the sharp sting of the freezing metal of the car beneath his hand, but both sensations pale to the warmth of Sokka’s body against his, of Sokka’s mouth on his, leaving burning prints on his lips, on his jaw, on his neck.
Sokka mouths at his pulse point before capturing his lips in another heated kiss. Zuko makes a small noise into his mouth as he deepens the kiss, spit slicked lips moving together. Sokka takes advantage of Zuko’s parted lips, and slips his tongue in, licking further into his mouth. Zuko shifts his thigh, then gasps as he feels a shiver of pleasure shoot through him. He can feel Sokka solidly beneath him, his muscled chest under Zuko’s hands, his hips underneath Zuko’s own.
Zuko opens his eyes, glancing around, and realizes it’s snowing again. He sits up, still on top of Sokka’s hips, and gasps, “Look Sokka! It’s snowing again.”
Sokka hums, “Very pretty, baby,” he says, “You’re prettier, though.”
Zuko flushes again, then shivers and says, “it is getting cold though, we should move to inside the car.”