Chapter Text
Sokka was one week into his fifth semester at Kyoshi University and already felt like he was drowning in homework. For about the seventieth time that day, he wondered if he should have chosen engineering as his major two years ago. (Then again, he had wondered that pretty much every day of college so far and still hadn’t changed it, so he supposed something had to be working.)
He sat back in his uncomfortable desk chair, stretching his legs out with a groan. He needed a break. Quickly grabbing his keys and phone, Sokka made his way out of his apartment that he shared with his sister and onto the bustling streets of Ba Sing Se.
Even after two years, the city never ceased to amaze Sokka. Growing up in a small town made even the most mundane aspects of city life just a small bit enchanting. He would never admit that he found the gritty and crowded subway that he was currently boarding to be one of the most amazing inventions ever, or that the noise and lights were endearing instead of annoying, or that he still stared out the window at night just watching the city breathe because he never got tired of the view from his bedroom. There were plenty of perfectly valid reasons that people disliked Ba Sing Se, but Sokka didn’t care about any of them. This was his city, and he loved it. While Katara got homesick and loved taking trips back to Wolf Cove, Sokka had never felt more at home among the hustle and bustle of Ba Sing Se.
He smiled into the light breeze ruffling through the city as he exited the underground railways and bounced into the shopping district. After browsing through stalls and stalls of homemade honey, carefully crafted clothes, and painted prints, Sokka ended up with a new bag that would go with his favorite belt and a belly full of gyoza from one of the food trucks.
Feeling much lighter despite the added weight of food and his bag, he whistled his way back home, a nonspecific tune, and was still whistling as he slotted in his key to his and Katara’s shared apartment. She was home by now, and nodded over her shoulder in greeting from where she stood in the living room, carefully watering their plants by the window.
“Hey sis,” he called, slinging his bag off his shoulder and flopping onto the couch. “How was class?”
“Some pasty idiot keeps making weird comments about women. And he somehow had the audacity to flirt with me after I pointed out how fallacious his argument was.”
“Sounds like a pill.”
“Tell me about it. What about you? How’s your first week treating you?”
Sokka groaned in response, the enormity of his homework coming back to crush his soul. “Remind me why I wanted to be an engineer?”
Katara just laughed, setting the watering can down. “At least you have the weekend ahead of you. Maybe you can finally come to The Jasmine Dragon with me.”
“Not a chance, sister.”
She scoffed at him. “Whatever. Have fun not enjoying the best part of living in Ba Sing Se.”
“I will, thank you.”
Ever since Katara had found The Jasmine Dragon , she had been pestering Sokka to come with her. It wasn’t just her either; practically half the school creamed their pants at just the thought of it. At this point, it wasn’t so much that Sokka didn’t want to go, it was more that he wanted to be a contrarian. And he didn’t like tea, thank you very much, even if it was supposedly the best tea in the whole world.
With a disappointed sigh, Katara disappeared off to her room to complete her own homework. She was always on top of things, and half the time she was ahead, despite splitting her time between classes and the practically fifty clubs she was in. Sokka was intensely jealous of her ability to always have everything together. However, Sokka was no dummy when it came to time management either, and by some miracle of scheduling and motivation, he was able to complete all of his homework by noon the next day, meaning he had the rest of the weekend to himself.
A few texts to the group chat later and Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Toph were off to have lunch together, winding their way through the streets while Toph eagerly chatted about her latest project in architecture lab; the rest of the group occasionally interjecting with their own questions and comments on anything and everything.
Sokka loved being with them; the easy nature of talking to longtime friends made for a wonderful way to spend the day. No matter how many jokes he made, they would always laugh, and no matter how many stupid things he said, they would always forget. Nothing was quite so comfortable as sitting with his three favorite people in the world in their favorite sushi restaurant, laughing the hours away.
Some way into the meal, Katara’s phone lit up, buzzing, from where it sat beside her plate. “Hold on, someone’s calling me.” She slid out of the booth and strode around the corner.
After a few minutes, Katara rushed back around the corner, nearly knocking over a plant on her way. The bright smile plastered on her face was directed at Sokka as she cried, “Dad’s going to be in town!”
The next day, Katara burst into the living room with her eyes alight and a smile Sokka hadn’t seen that wide in some time. “Okay!” she cried out, as if that made perfect sense and Sokka was supposed to garner a wealth of information from her one word. He might be good at reading his sibling, but not quite that good.
“Okay?”
“We’re going to meet up with Dad on Friday! Look!” She held up a small piece of thick paper with a cartoonish old man’s face smiling out of it.
“What’s this?” Sokka asked.
“A coupon for The Jasmine Dragon ! Dad’s going to love it, and besides, it’s in a convenient place for all of us. So there, you finally have to come!” She smiled triumphantly.
Sokka looked back at her with a pained expression. “But it’s tea,” he said, which was just about the most obvious statement one could make about The Jasmine Dragon .
Katara crossed her arms. “It’s not just any tea, it’s The Jasmine Dragon . And it’s Dad .”
“But–” Sokka started before Katara cut him off.
“We are having family tea at The Jasmine Dragon and that’s that! I don’t care if I have to drag you there, you’re getting your ass out of bed and you’re coming with me!”
Sokka forgot how scary Katara could be sometimes. He immediately shut his mouth and nodded, almost feeling inclined to add on a Yes, ma’am . Of course he would come. He wasn’t putting up a serious fight to begin with; he wanted to see his dad just as much as Katara, even if he had to drink tea to do it, it was just…
Well, it had been seven years since he’d last seen Hakoda. They sent letters, and called when they could, but that wasn’t exactly the same thing as talking to someone face to face. If it wasn’t for the picture on their living room wall, Sokka was pretty sure he wouldn’t fully remember what his dad even looked like. (Would Hakoda remember what Sokka looked like? A lot had changed about him in the last seven years. He’d grown taller, wider, his hair was longer, his face older. What would his dad think of him now?) A small, unwanted voice in the back of his mind snaked its way into his thoughts. He’ll think you’re a failure. You’re barely on track to graduate, and you think he’ll be proud of your accomplishments? What accomplishments? Your third year in engineering and all you have to show for it is piles of homework. Nothing you do will ever live up to his name.
He shook his head, as if he could physically push the voice away. It would be easier if he could. “Of course I’ll be there; you don’t have to drag me,” he said to Katara before closing the door to his bedroom and flopping face down on the bed with a sigh. He was actually going to see his Dad. At the end of this week. And despite the nagging voice that told him he wasn’t good enough, there wasn’t much to be done about it. So he figured the best thing to do, the only thing really, was make it through another week of classes and try his best not to implode with anxiety.
So he did just that, throwing himself into his studies and trying desperately not to fall behind when it was only the second week of school. He managed to find time to do his laundry so that he could wear one of his two nice shirts to the meeting, and was looking forward to it just as much as he was dreading it, which was at least an improvement to the initial torrent of nervousness that consumed him.
On Friday morning at eleven o’clock, he and Katara met in their living room in respectable clothing and began the walk to The Jasmine Dragon . Sokka was wearing his nicest dress shirt, a dark blue button up that fit him well with little white flowers scattered across it. It had been a gift from Yue back when they were dating; she said it brought out his eyes. Katara was wearing a simple yet elegant navy dress and matching heels, with glittering silver jewelry to match. The click click of her shoes against the pavement was comforting to the hurricane churning its way around Sokka’s brain.
Suddenly, Katara spoke. “It wasn’t about the tea, was it?”
Sokka stopped, knowing exactly what she was talking about and wishing he didn’t. Fuck. She always saw right through him. “I want to see Dad, I do, it’s just… it’s been seven years, Katara. And I know he did it to help us, I know that… What if he’s changed? What if I’ve changed? I have no idea what to expect. I don’t even think I know how to talk to him anymore.”
He barely had time for tears to well up in his eyes before Katara’s arms were around him, enveloping him in a comforting embrace. It didn’t matter that he was taller than her, it still felt like she was the whole world around him in that moment. “I don’t know either,” she whispered into his shoulder. “So I guess we’ll just have to figure it out.”
Sokka choked out a laugh, despite himself, and they hugged for a moment longer. He thought if everyone in the world got a hug from Katara, it might be a little less fucked up. “Alright,” he said as they continued their walk. “Let’s drink some fucking tea.”
They made it to The Jasmine Dragon before the designated time, and Katara pulled Sokka over to what she called ‘her favorite corner.’ Soon enough they were settled by a window in a comfy couch by a bookcase filled with knick knacks for sale, and it was immediately obvious why so many people loved this place even outside of the tea.
Instead of having normal seating, there were cushions, couches, and various other completely mismatched chairs in earthy tones scattered about, some with tables and some without, making each section of the cafe feel more intimate and closed off. The effect was magnified by bookcases and plants that divided groups of chairs and made the whole place feel slightly like a garden that Sokka and Katara were simply wandering through. Sokka felt like he might round a bookcase and find a waterfall; and he could hear water trickling off somewhere, so it wasn’t that far-fetched of an idea. Add in the vintage lamps and various other lights scattering spots of warmth across the tea shop, and the atmosphere was incredibly cozy. Sokka found himself feeling at ease just from the peaceful chatter of patrons mixed with the eclectic mix of furniture around him. And when the smells of other customers' tea reached his nose, he let out a deep sigh, inhaling the calming aroma.
Katara was grinning at him and gave him a jab in the side with your elbow. “I told you you’d like it here.”
Sokka was, admittedly, currently eating his words from every time he’d declined coming here with Katara, and it only continued when someone came up to take their order. “Hi Katara, do you want your usual?” a scratchy-in-a-nice-way voice asked.
Katara nodded. “Thanks, Zuko.”
The server then turned his attention to Sokka. “And for you?”
Sokka found himself staring up at the most beautiful pair of golden eyes he’d ever seen. Or rather, eye, as half of the server’s face was mostly covered with silky black hair that Sokka had the absurd urge to run his fingers through. The rest of this guy-Zuko’s-hair was pulled up into a ponytail that fell around his face and shoulders in a messy but breathtakingly beautiful way that was making it difficult to remember a single kind of tea.
“Um… jasmine, please,” Sokka said, and immediately wanted to smack himself. Only an idiot would order jasmine tea at The Jasmine Dragon. But Zuko just smiled slightly and took down Sokka’s order.
“That’s one of my uncle's favorites,” he said, and began to turn away. Sokka caught a glimpse of something red and angry hiding behind Zuko’s curtain of hair before his back was turned.
“Oh, Zuko!” Katara piped up. “Make that two cups of jasmine; Sokka and I are waiting on a third.”
He nodded and disappeared towards the back, Sokka’s eyes trailing after him.
“Katara,” he started, and she looked back at him innocently. “How, in all the times you’ve tried to convince me to come here, have you never mentioned how hot the server is?”
She smiled. “Didn’t know he was your type.”
He glared back at her. “Please, he’s practically carved by Michaelangelo.”
“Well, Sokka, you know I’m not exactly the best person to judge a man’s attractiveness.”
“Are you going to tell Dad about that?”
Katara crossed her arms. “Maybe if it comes up.”
“Well, why wouldn’t you? I know he’d love to meet Yue.”
“What do you expect me to say?” she questioned. “Hey Dad, I know it’s been seven years, by the way I’m a lesbian and I’m dating Sokka’s ex girlfriend? How about you tell him you’re bi first and then I’ll spill.”
“I’m not the one in a committed relationship,” Sokka grumbled, but he knew why his sister was reluctant. It wasn’t that he thought their dad would be homophobic; in fact, he was probably the opposite. It was just hard. It was hard enough to figure out in the first place, and verbalizing it was another difficulty that wasn’t easily brushed aside in the face of the person he most wanted to be proud of him. So he dropped it.
A few minutes later, at the jingle of the bell on the door, Katara’s face lit up, and Sokka turned to see Hakoda walk into the tea shop.
Immediately, all the anxiety that had been rushing through Sokka faded away. Because here Hakoda was, right in front of him, and the look on his face put all of Sokka’s worries to rest. This was his dad, and before anything else, they loved each other.
“Dad,” he breathed out, and then Hakoda was rushing over to the open arms of Sokka and Katara, and for a few minutes the family barely shared two words with each other, deigning instead to hug in a tangle of arms by their couch as tears spilled down their faces. Eventually, they sat back down, and soon after Zuko brought them their tea, looking like he had hastily wiped away tears of his own off his face. He must be happy for them, Sokka thought, as there was so much happiness in their corner of the tea shop that he could hardly imagine feeling anything else.
The family fell into easy conversation. Hakoda asked them about their studies, and it turned out he was incredibly engaged with everything Sokka had to say about engineering, which made him practically glow with pride. Each took turns telling stories about how their lives had been going for the past seven years. Hakoda was happy to hear they were still friends with Aang, and eager to hear about their new acquaintances (though Katara only referred to Yue as her friend). In the end, however, Katara didn’t need to bring up the possibility of a queer romance, as Hakoda told them all about his buddy Bato in the army and how close they had gotten, and one raised eyebrow shared between the siblings later, Katara asked him outright whether there was something more there, and the blush on Hakoda’s cheeks made it pretty obvious.
After that, it was easy for Katara to tell him that Yue was actually her girlfriend, and for Sokka to explain his own attractions, and he felt so much lighter afterward that he thought he might just float away.
Also, Katara was right. The tea was delicious. It was the best he’d ever had, and, if he really admitted it to himself (though he would never tell Katara), maybe even better than coffee. Okay, definitely better. He would definitely be coming back, for more than one reason. Eventually, the inevitable question came up.
“So, how long are you going to be here?” Katara asked.
“Two weeks.”
Two weeks. Two weeks was an incredibly long time, an eternity, and it was no time at all. Two weeks to see his dad before he was shipped away again and then who knew how much longer he’d have to wait. It was a lot. Taking a sip of his jasmine tea and a shaky breath helped manage it a little bit, though.
“Okay.” Sokka said. “We’ll have to arrange some time for you to meet Yue, and I want to show you my favorite lunch spot, and maybe we could walk around the shopping district, and–” He cut himself off. There was so much he wanted to do, and not nearly enough time. He sighed. “Well, let’s just start with Yue. When are you free?”
With another time set, and other obligations to attend to, the family reluctantly hugged one another goodbye; which lasted just as long as their first hug and had only slightly less tears. And then they left the famed tea shop, twisting off into their separate paths across the city, bursting at the seams with love.