#non bending au
zukka au where the gaang takes sokka to an escape room as a surprise birthday present (he wouldn’t go if it weren’t a surprise. he thinks birthdays (and most holidays) are kinda dumb and also why should his friends care?? birthdays are for important people like katara not for him…. anyway.) and it’s one of those escape rooms that require a Lot of people so they have to get matched up with strangers (i.e., zuko & mai & ty lee & azula). neither sokka nor zuko is expecting to have a good time. sokka likes escape rooms in theory, and he loves his friends, but he gets so neurotic and controlling in situations like these so it’s really not fun for anyone. and zuko. well zuko is a nerd obviously but not the type of nerd that particularly vibes with escape rooms. and also he’s not looking forward to when azula will inevitably bully him for not solving puzzles quickly enough. but when they actually start doing the puzzles, sokka and zuko kind of…… click?? like they’re really good at co-solving. it’s kind of creepy actually the way that they’re always on the same wavelength despite knowing each other for less than an hour. so they spend the time in the room together and start to kind of . like each other a lot. and it goes from there :) oh and it’s also important to me that you know that the theme of the room is that they’re trying to escape from a prison called ‘the boiling rock’ that’s in the middle of a boiling lake in a volcano. sokka thinks that’s dumb because it’s obviously just supposed to be alcatraz except with boiling water to make it Even Scarier. like really…. a boiling lake……. how would that even work….
azula would immediately try to take over the whole operation because she is the undisputed leader and genius of her girl gang and get real riled by the fact that the gaang does not immediately respect her authority and instead keep looking to the goofy one for direction. (just because it’s his birthday doesn’t mean they have to kowtow to him. they can and should be kowtowing to her.)
she is then even more riled by the fact that the goofy one is quicker at solving puzzles than her, and somehow??????? gets even faster when her dum-dum brother is by his side along for the ride?
Hockey player Sokka is fine I guess but!! Have you ever considered pairs figure skaters Sokka and Katara? Kya got them started when they were teeny tiny tots and yes, they were exactly as adorable as you’re imagining, and yes, Hakoda has a picture in his wallet if you’re interested (please be interested.)
Katara absolutely lives for figure skating. She is the embodiment of fluid grace and athleticism, breathes easier when she is on the ice and every exhale brings with it a cloud of condensation, jumps a double Lutz as naturally as the next person take a step.
Sokka… does not live for figure skating. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t actively dislike it or anything! His parents would never force him to do something he hates (not like their competition, Zuko and Azula, whose Dadager always leaves them looking a little dead behind the eyes). And it’s not like he thinks he would be dishonouring his mother’s memory by turning his back on the passion she shared with him and Katara, or he gets a knot in his stomach when he thinks of all the money his father has spent through the years on gas money alone, or he ever looks at his Gran Gran’s weathered hands and remembers the hours hunched over sewing sequin after sequin. He does honestly enjoy the artistic side of things: the costume design and song selection, writing a complete story through choreography that can also rack up an impressive points total. But he knows he’s not as naturally gifted as Katara, and he could quit competition tomorrow and not miss it.
He wouldn’t though, because while he may not love the sport that much, he does love his sister that much. No two people in the world could understand and trust and love each other the way Sokka and Katara do, so as long as his little sister is throwing herself in the air with blades on her feet, he’s gonna be the one catching her and making sure she doesn’t break her neck. He’s gonna be the one up at 4am every morning running drills with her, fielding attacks on his masculinity for her, accepting a gold medal round his neck beside her, and eagerly awaiting their retirement all the while.
