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Sokka ambled into their shared bedroom, hummin as he noted the drawn lines of focus on Zuko’s face as they worked on their laptop at their desk. They were sitting with one leg pulled up into their lap, one arm bent over the desk and the other stretched out behind their head, tapping rhythmically on the back of their chair behind them. Black headphones covered their ears, and as Sokka came closer, he could hear the faint pulse of the music. They wore soft and faded red joggers, with a black hoodie from their uncle’s tea shop. Their black hair was just starting to curl behind their ears, a grown out fade from a haircut a few months ago.
Pausing to kiss the top of their head, Sokka draped his blanket over their head and shoulders, swaddling them from behind, while pulling the headphones back from their ears - which startled Zuko making them yelp before realizing it was just Sokka, being dramatic. Sokka stood, arched over Zuko at their desk, his bare arms warm and brown across Zuko’s chest, his greying cross country t-shirt pulled up across his middle, now getting too small, and black joggers with one ankle rolled up. His dark hair was half up, pulled loosely into a knot at the back of his head, soft waves brushing his shoulders, his glasses pushed up onto his forehead.
“It’s 2pm which means it’s peak Sokka-is-unproductive-hours and I was gonna go nap - do you want to take a break?” Sokka murmured, his cheek pressed against theirs, humming as he skimmed the twenty-three tabs open on their laptop and sighed. Just looking at the various subjects of the tabs made his head hurt.
The corner of Zuko’s mouth quirked up in a smile as they leaned back in their chair, enjoying the pressure of Sokka’s arms around them. They reached up to pause the music still playing, and fully slid the headphones off. They sighed, finding one of Sokka’s arms and rubbing it absentmindedly while they spoke,
“I wish, but I really need to keep going on this essay,” Sokka deflated a bit at this, pouting, until they added, “but I’m almost done, I can probably join you in a bit?”
“Sounds good to me!” Sokka grinned back, kissing their cheek briefly before abruptly pulling his blanket cape back around his chest, and swooping out of the room.
Zuko watched him leave before pulling their headphones back over their ears, pressing shuffle on their stimming playlist and sinking back into their essay. The quiet rhythm of their typing followed Sokka out of the room.
Sokka had chosen the couch as the perfect nap spot because the sun had already been warming it up for the past hour and according to their cat, Miyuki, who had already passed out on the couch cushions, it was ideal. Miyuki was a short haired tortoiseshell cat with tender pink toe beans and an even cuter pink nose. Her green eyes currently closed as her whiskers twitched with sleep, her tail flickering while dreaming.
Flopping down onto the couch, careful to avoid Miyuki as she stretched and repositioned herself to accommodate Sokka, he flipped his blanket cape over his legs, and pulled a pillow, which had been tossed to the floor earlier, up and behind his head.
He sighed, feeling his body melt into the warmth of the couch. Pulling his phone out, he skimmed his to-do list for the day, and cleared the assignments he’d already finished. He added, “take a nap” and set a reminder to order food for dinner, figuring Zuko would be too wiped to make any decisions about groceries when they finished. He tossed his glasses and phone onto the side table before turning on his side, and pulling the blanket up and over his head, feeling Miyuki curl up by his feet. Sleep settled over him in a matter of seconds as he felt the sun warm his blanket cave.
An hour or so later, Zuko hummed contentedly as they submitted the final draft of their essay, pausing the music in their headphones and closing their laptop. Sliding on the slippers under their desk, they went to find Sokka.
Still passed out on the couch, Zuko couldn’t determine exactly which end was supposed to be Sokka’s head, as he had turned himself into a cozy lumpy cocoon of warm blankets. Miyuki had relocated to her own bed across the room, where the sun was now shining. Zuko could hear the quiet snores from Sokka where he slept, and smiled.
A brown hand shot out from under the blankets, grabbing onto Zuko’s as the snoring stopped suddenly, and Zuko giggled as the blankets shifted back to reveal a very sleepy and glazed over pair of blue eyes. Sokka’s hair was now completely tousled and loose from the hair tie, hanging in his eyes.
“C’mere” came a sleepily mumble from Sokka, as he rolled over, lifting his blanket cave to make room for Zuko, who, still smiling, slotted themself between Sokka and the couch.
“Oh, it is so warm - you’re gonna get too hot in 5 seconds with me under here” Zuko whispered, tucking an arm around Sokka’s already warm back, rubbing gentle circles into his shoulder blades. They moved to kick the end of the blankets off their feet, already feeling too warm.
They felt Sokka frown, and pin the blanket between his feet in resistance. Zuko raised an eyebrow, their arm pausing it’s movement.
Sokka’s eyes were closed again, but he snorted before smirking, “Heh, I’m already too hot,” at which Zuko giggled.
They pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before settling their head against his shoulder, and their eyes fell closed as they breathed in the warm scent of his detergent, spruce and lavender.
Sokka’s breathing deepened as he sighed, tightening his arm around them, bringing them snug to his chest, content and cozy.
Across the room, Miyuki stretched lazily in the fading sunlight, her pink toe beans suspended mid air as she fell back asleep.