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"I think we should sentence him to death."
"Sokka, that's not a move in this game," Katara said, moving her scowl from the board to him.
"It is now," Sokka said, laughing harder when Toph launched a pebble at his face. "Sorry, Toph, but he has to go! I vote to kill off Zuko."
"You can't kill him," Toph said, grinning. She punched Zuko's arm hard enough to make Sokka wince. He was grateful to not be on Toph's team. She sucked at every board game execpt checkers.
"Sokka, killing is--wrong," Aang spluttered, holding some dice.
"But he's good at this. Do you want to win or not? Because the only way I can see that lets us win is if we kill off Zuko," Sokka said, leaning closer to Aang on the couch. He glared at their competition, because the table in the middle of them didn't stop anyone from leaning closer and trying to listen. They weren't even pretending to be doing something else. "Quit eavesdropping. You too, Katara, even if you're gamemaster. That doesn't mean anything."
"I won't tell them anything!" Katara lied. "And anyway, I'm just overseeing. This game doesn't have a gamemaster."
"Oh, you'd totally tell them, then," Sokka laughed. He squawked as she dipped her hand in her cup to flick a pile of water at him.
"Hey--thats not fair, I don't have any water! I can't defend myself!" Sokka cried.
"You have a pencil. Or that dice. There's plenty to throw, don't be a baby," Toph laughed, throwing another, even bigger pebble at him.
"Stop picking up rocks!" Sokka said, pushing Aang forward. "Defend me. They won't throw stuff at you."
"Katara won't, but I will," Toph cackled.
"I won't," Zuko said weakly. He was always shyer on game nights.
"You would," Katara said, eyeing him.
"Not anymore," Zuko replied, hackles raised.
"Remember when you hated him?" Toph said.
Sokka reeled. "Um, Toph--"
"I said sorry!" Zuko said. "I thought we were fine."
"We are," Aang replied frantically. "Guys, its fine. You know I forgive you, Zuko."
Zuko squirmed in his seat, blowing out a breath.
Sokka exteneded a hand over to him, unable to stop his pleased smile when Zuko took it, still a little uncomfortable looking. But the action made some of that leave. "Man, I still wish you were on my team."
Katara groaned and Aang just smiled.
Toph faked retched, "You lovebirds make me sick."
"You guys seperated us. I still can't believe it, just because were too good together," he sang.
"I thought you were done whining about that," Katara said, rolling her eyes. But she was smiling.
"We did win a lot," Zuko said, a simple fact.
Sokka latched onto it like a hound. "Fuck yes we did, dude. They're just scared because we're too powerful together. Always remember that."
He yelped as another rock hit him in the forehead.
"You're gonna give him brain damage," Aang said, frowning.
"He already has tons," Katara said. "He used to trip all the time."
"No I didn't!" Sokka said, gasping, clutching his chest with a free hand. He wouldn't stand for being accused of that. "I never trip! None of you have ever seen me do that."
"You tripped yesterday," Zuko said, frowning at him. "Down the stairs."
There was a beat before everyone at the table was dying of laughter except Zuko, who looked torn between grinning and letting the flush dusting his face spread.
"You traitor!" Sokka cried, tears in his eyes from laughter. "Why would tell them? I can't believe this! My own boyfriend, telling my secrets."
"You didn't tell me not to tell anyone!" Zuko said, slouching down as his shoulders hunched, apprehensive, like for a moment he thought Sokka might actually get upset.
Sokka squeezed his hand and shot him a meaningful look while everyone was still laughing their brains out, and then grinned when Zuko gave a small smile back.
"Its alright that you told everyone," Sokka said, mischievous, "But you know what you've got to do for me now?"
"No kinky stuff at game night," Toph said, rocking back in her wooden chair.
"Gross, Toph," Katara said.
"No, that's--" Sokka groaned. "I meant, give me the dice."
"You're still going to kill me?" Zuko spat, shocked.
"Sorry man, you're still weirdly good at this game. You try too hard, you've got to go. Toph's nothing without you," Sokka said, shrugging. "Hate the game not the player."
"It's hate the player not the game," Toph said. "I think."
"Guys, stop fighting," Aang said. "Here's the dice."
Sokka grinned. "Thanks." He shook for fifteen seconds with his eyes closed. The chance bit of the game was always the worst part. He shook and prayed to something above that him and Aang could pull this off, before letting go of the dice.
It rolled a perfect twelve.
"Zuko died!" Sokka whooped, hugging Aang, both of them giddy. "Oh, we're so winning."
"Now you betrayed me," Zuko said, but he was smiling at their antics.
"What're you going to do about it, huh?" Sokka goaded, leaning across the table with his smugness fully loose.
"Just wait until tonight," Zuko said, leaning back cooly. He looked so fucking confident that Sokka wanted to kiss him silly.
"Quit flirting!" Katara spat, giving them all new dice and taking away Zuko's pieces.
"Yeah, not at game night," Toph cackled.
"Were talking about after game night," Sokka corrected, shooting Zuko a grin, and loving the way he flushed a bit.
"What's after game night? Zuko didn't say," Aang said, moving their pieces up forty paces on the map, gathering another two hundred chips.
"Um. Nothing, man," Sokka said.
"Something," Toph replied.
"That's not what I meant," Zuko sputtered.
"Its not?" Sokka said back, eyes wide, before Katara whacked him on the head with the rolled map she kept tucked beside her chair.
"All of you be quiet," Katara said.
"Yeah, it's my turn. Even without Zuko I can win," Toph said.
"No you can't," Sokka said, his arms behind his head. He wanted her to see how confident he was--because he was that confident.
Zuko was the breadwinner of that team, just like Sokka was the breadwinner of his. Not that Toph and Aang were bad, but their strategies didn't usually pan out. And Zuko was an enigma. He just always rolled the rolled the wrong thing with his infinte bad luck, but tried to right it so hard that he ended up winning anway. It started happening so suddenly one day that Sokka thought maybe the guy had rigged the map or something, but that didn't seem right. Zuko wouldn't cheat.
"Watch me." Toph rolled a five, which got Sokka sent back fifty steps, but didn't do much damage.
"Aang, listen." Sokka waved the rest of the group off as he huddled closer to his favorite fidgity friend. "I need you to distract Katara. Just, like, for a second, so I can grab that map that she has--"
"But that's cheating!" Aang whisper shouted, drawing glares from everyone. He had the nerve to look guilty. "Um."
Sokka scraped his hands down his face. "Now were never going to win."
"You wanted to cheat?" Katara said, her arms crossed.
"No! I just wanted the map."
"That's cheating!"
"Not really! I just needed to see where the closest tree was."
"All you have to do is ask me!"
"Im supposed to be able to, but you never tell me!"
"Because it's unfair to the other team!"
"What! But why do they get to know where the trees are, then!?"
"Because they can't just guess like you do! If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you looked at the
map beforehand--"
"Guys!" Aang shouted.
Sokka reeled, giving a guilty look to his stressed friend. "Sorry, buddy."
Aang blew out a hard breath. "I agree with Sokka, though. Knowing where the trees are is part of the game. Its unfair that their team gets to but we don't."
"That's what I'm talking about, man," Sokka agreed.
"But then you guys are gonna win," Zuko said, frowning.
"That's a good thing," Aang shrugged with a smile, a little sheepishly.
"They won't win," Toph said, stupidly, wrongly confident. "Let them see the trees."
"Toph, if Sokka knows where the tree is, you're definitely losing," Zuko said, sitting deeper in his chair, scowling over at their team.
"At least someone here recognizes how smart I am," Sokka said, flipping his tied back hair and grinning wider at Aangs clapping.
"Yes, Sokka, you can win a game." Katara rolled her eyes. "I still don't think you should see the trees."
"Katara, come on," Aang said, giving her his biggest, saddest eyes.
Katara worried her lip for a second before sighing heavily, smiling a bit. "Fine. Here. The tree is twenty paces to Aang's left."
Sokka elbowed Aang lightly, grinning as he whispered loudly. "Good job." He yelped as he was once again smacked with the map.
Toph only managed to kill off Aang with her roll, and that left Sokka enough time to find the tree and use it to kill Toph, claiming victory at game night.