Sokka leaned back against Appa's saddle and sighed deeply. After a moment with his eyes closed, he sat back up and kissed Zuko on the cheek, "I'm glad you're okay," He said with a light smile.

Zuko smiled. With an effort he pushed the recent events to a distant corner of his mind, and thought of nothing but the feeling of Sokka's arm still around his shoulders. So that only Sokka could hear him, he whispered, "thank you for finding me." He turned to kiss Sokka, but froze when he sensed Katara's eyes on him.

Katara's expression bore straight into his soul. "Why the hell would you do this to my brother?"

The feel of Sokka's arm was not enough to stop his emotions from boiling over. He had been kidnapped, tortured, raped, and now Katara was trying to separate him from one of the only things that made him happy. Weak as he was, fire erupted from his hands and he met Katara's glare head on.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he growled, trying his best not to blast her to cinders.

"Woah Zuko, calm down," Sokka tried to say.
"I don't know what I'm talking about?" Katara interrupted him. "You don't know what you're doing! I knew you were going to be trouble from the very beginning but this is ridiculous!" She sneered. "You've turned my brother-" She paused and shuddered slightly before finishing, "-that!"

Zuko opened his mouth to spit back a retort, but Sokka beat him to it.

"Katara stop!" Sokka burst in. "Why do you think you need to run my life? I'm my own person and I don't think exactly the same as you! Every other part of my is the same, even this was somewhere deep down before even I knew about it. Nothing should be different!"
"Sokka, I-," Katara said blankly.

"If this is any sort of argument, shut it. If there's anything I don't need right now, it's this type of thing. The person I love was just raped, tortured, and kidnapped."

Zuko shifted uncomfortably next to him, shoving the memories even deeper into his mind. He opened his mouth but was once again interrupted, this time by Aang.

"Katara, you know that I would never tell you how to feel about anything. But why exactly do you hate them so much for this? It doesn't make any sense," Aang said with serious eyes.

"Two guys shouldn't feel that way for each other! There's no way it could work out!," She argued.

"But everyone's love matters. Who it's with shouldn't make a difference. The monk's always taught me that love has a million forms. As long as everyone intimately involved is happy, the people surrounding them should be happy," Aang smiled slightly, trying to make sure he didn't look angry or upset.

"The world needs people like Zuko and Sokka," he continued. "The world is all about balance, and they balance people like you and me just like water balances fire, or air balances earth. Do you hate me because I bend fire?"

"Well, no. Of course not Aang," Katara's expression softened. She looked away after realizing he was right. She took a deep breath before looking up again and towards Zuko and Sokka. "I..." She paused again and let her eyes fall to the surface of the saddle, another moment passed and she looked up, made direct eye contact with Sokka and said firmly, "Sokka, I'm sorry."
The watertribe boy stared at her for a second. His lips curved up in a smile.

Zuko squeezed Sokka's hand, and gave Katara a tentative smile.
"So... you don't hate me for going out with your brother?"

Katara sighed, "...no. But I'm watching you!" She leaned close to him, "If you end up hurting him emotionally, be expecting an ice burn to match your fire one." She scowled.

Zuko laughed nervously, not sure if she was kidding or not, but suspicious that she wasn't.
"Aww you guys bring tears to my eyes!" Toph broke in suddenly. "Sokka got his girl"- Zuko scowled at her-"we've destroyed the bad guys base camp, and Katara actually admitted she was wrong for a change! What a happy ending!"

Katara furrowed her eyebrows at Toph.

Still smiling, Sokka pulled Zuko's face towards his and kissed him deeply. He broke from the kiss and stared at the pink and orange tints from the sunset that accented Zuko's facial features.

Zuko looked back at him, and smiled. Happiness filled him, and he turned his head to look at the setting sun. The fiery tips of the waves flashed by far below them, the deep blue waters touched with red. High above them, the cream colored clouds were lit with a delicate pink, streaked with orange. The wind whipped his hair back from his face as he turned back to Sokka and kissed him, letting Sokka's smell wreath around him.
"You know," Toph said, breaking their kiss by throwing her arms around Sokka's and Zuko's necks. "I have always had a thing for girls..."

The End

Thank you so much for reading our story! Sorry it always took so long for us to upload the chapters. Hopefully uploading the last five all at once will make up for it! Hoped you guys enjoyed it.