He drifted a hand over the curve of her bare hip, scooting closer to her to press a soft kiss to her mouth before reaching up to brush a sweaty tendril of hair away from her sticky forehead. His lips sifted across her cheek and then the top of her head as he pulled her closer still. She sighed in contentment, closing her eyes, dropping her head against his naked shoulder and breathing in his scent as her breath began to deepen and quiet. For a long moment, they just lay there together, the flickering candlelight the only movement in the room other than their hands seeking each other out to intertwine their fingers.

"I think it should be Sokka," she whispered finally.

There was a pause as he looked at her, gray eyes shimmering in the candlelight. He favored her with a small, adoring smile.

"I think that's perfect," he whispered back.

"Need a hand?"

Sokka glanced up at her from sharpening his fishing spear, his face breaking into a grin at her amused expression. "I will have you know that I am a perfectly competent fisherman, thank you very much," he answered haughtily.

She giggled, crossing her arms and quirking one eyebrow. "I can see that. But still. I can help you catch a lot more, a lot faster." She grinned cheekily. "Waterbending and all that."

"Not inaccurate," he admitted, gesturing for her to join him.

An hour later, they sat side by side in the large community tent with companionable ease, de-boning, gutting and cleaning the myriad of fish that they scooped out directly from the net. Katara grimaced in disgust as her brother yanked each bone out, one by one, tossing it into the can at their feet before sliding it down to her for slicing and de-skinning. He laughed at her expression.

"Oh, come on. I'm giving you the easy job," he teased. She laughed, rolling her eyes.

"It's still gross," she volleyed back, gracefully slicing through the soft flesh before delicately placing it on the rice paper to be wrapped. Sokka glanced over at her, grinning at her look of concentration.

"So," he drawled. "You ready?"

She glanced up at him, raising her eyebrows. "Ready? Ready for what?"

Now it was Sokka's turn to roll his eyes. "For tomorrow."

She smiled, loosing a small laugh. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be? It's not that big of a deal."

Sokka's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Not that big of a deal? It's your wedding day!" He paused for a moment, glancing down at the mess on the table. "Your wedding day that you're helping prepare the food for, apparently. That's weird."

She shot him a look. "Not really, considering the fact I've already been married for 2 months."

Sokka nodded in acquiesce, yanking out yet another tail. "True, but that was an Air Nomad wedding. It was just the two of you and Guru Pathik. This is different. This is the big one. Everyone is gonna be there," he teased, grinning devilishly. "Watching you. Eyes boring into you. Waiting for even the slightest mistake, the slightest mess up, the littlest – "

"Yes, you've made your point, dear brother," she deadpanned, tying up the latest packet and laying it aside before reaching for the next one. "But if you're asking if I'm nervous, the answer is no. As far as I'm concerned, I've been a married lady for quite a while now."

"Yeah, a whole 60 days. A lifetime. Truly."

She flicked him with a small piece of fish. He shuddered, wiping it away with a warning look, which was only met with a sweet smile from Katara.

"The point is, this is just a nice ceremony for everyone we love since they weren't there for the real thing. We purposely kept it relaxed for that very reason. There's no need for anyone to be nervous."

"Fair enough," he conceded, wiggling a particularly stubborn gill open. Katara watched him for a moment, before swallowing roughly.

"That being said…" she trailed. He glanced up at her.

"That being said…?" he prompted, urging her to continue.

"We did want to ask you something," she said softly.

He put down his tool, his teasing demeanor dropped. "What's up, Katara?"

"Well," she said carefully, turning towards him, "this morning, Aang asked Zuko to be his best man."

There was a small moment where a flash of hurt appeared in the warrior's striking blue eyes, but he masked it quickly. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Oh," he said lightly, nodding. "I didn't think you guys were doing that sort of thing. But yeah. Okay then."

"Well, he asked Zuko because we both wanted you for something else," she explained gently. Sokka tilted his head to the side, intrigued.

"And what's that?"

"You nervous?" Zuko leaned in towards him, his tone low. Aang smiled over at him, smoothing down a wrinkle in his formal robes.

"Not at all. It's kind of nice to do a Water Tribe thing for her. And to share this with everyone we know since they weren't there the first time."

"Still," Zuko continued, looking out over the rather sizeable crowd, "it's a bigger turnout than I thought there'd be. A lot of pressure for a guy who just turned 17 two weeks ago," he teased. Aang rolled his eyes in response.

"Zuko, take my word for it, when you 'save the world' at 12, there's very little that phases you after that. At any age," he reasoned. Zuko nodded, conceding his point.

"True. I do wonder why Hakoda all of a sudden decided to officiate, though," Zuko murmured, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the Water Tribe Chief, who stood proudly behind them. Aang flashed him a small smile.

"Well, he is the chief. It makes sense."

"Yeah, but wasn't that other guy, the elder – Kanaraq, I think? Wasn't he going to do it? Why the last-minute switch?" He looked around, suddenly becoming very aware of a glaringly obvious fact.

"Hey…and where's Sokka, anyway?"

Aang simply smiled, at the exact moment that the flaps to the tent were swept aside and the crowd turned to receive the bride. Zuko looked up, his question forgotten as Katara appeared at the end of the aisle, dressed in traditional Water Tribe wedding garb and looking beautiful beyond description. The Fire Lord glanced over at his friend, who had an expression of such infatuated adoration on his face it was outright comical. He bit back his laughter, finding his own wife's eyes in the front row. He and Mai shared an amused smile before returning their attention to Katara, who began to make her way down the aisle.

It wasn't until she was almost halfway there that he realized she was on Sokka's arm.

"Your new wife is looking for you," Sokka joked, sticking his head outside the tent to where the avatar was nursing a hot cup of cider, using the occasional firebending to keep it from going cold. Aang grinned at him as his brother-in-law loped up to his side, the reception in full swing under the tent behind them.

"She's been my wife for a while now, friend," Aang corrected him, his smile widening. Sokka nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But still. Now it's like, official in both nations." Aang let out a bark of laughter.

"I suppose you can look at it that way if you want." He took a sip of the cider, allowing the hot liquid to warm his insides. "How is the party going? I was planning to head back in in a few minutes. I just needed a bit of air."

Sokka grinned. "It's great. Although I'm always blown away by how much liquor Toph can pack away. She drinks everyone in that room under the table."

Aang chuckled. "She may be small, but she's no lightweight, that's for sure."

"Truth."

The sky was clear, the myriad of stars forming a canopy above them. They stood together in companionable silence for a moment, before Sokka spoke.

"Thanks, Aang. To both of you. It…it really meant a lot," he said thickly.

Aang grinned warmly at him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "You were there when I first laid eyes on her. You were there with her whenever I was in trouble or needed you, and you were there all along the way the entire time while we fell in love. You were there for all of it, Sokka. It was always the three of us, at the end of the day." He paused, his words heavy with emotion when he spoke next. "There was absolutely no one else it should have been. Even Hakoda knew that."

Sokka ducked his head sheepishly. "I think you're giving me too much credit," he said gruffly. Aang shook his head.

"Not even remotely."

There was a moment where they just looked at each other. Then, simultaneously, they stepped forward, embracing each other in a firm, warm hug. When they shrugged away, Sokka looked slightly embarrassed at the emotional display, but undeniably happy as well.

"You're the only one I would trust with her," he said hoarsely. "You know that, right?"

Aang blinked back the tears in his eyes, nodding. His throat bobbed.

"I know. And I will never, ever betray that trust. You know that, right?"

Sokka nodded. "Absolutely."

They glanced up at the sky again, just in time to see a shooting star streak across the heavens.

"You are forbidden to tell her I said any of that," Sokka said sardonically, not taking his eyes off the sky. "I have no desire to be skewered by my own fishing spear any time soon." He shot him a look. "We clear?"

Aang grinned, throwing his arm around his neck and leading him back towards the party, and the warmth the tent provided.

"Your secret is safe with me."

The End.