In 106...

[beliefovermisery]

When Katara has nothing to do, she gets up early and 'bends all day. When Sokka is given the day off... he sleeps in.

Like a normal person.

That's where he is now, just rolling out from under his blankets at what is probably a few hours before noon. Who can really tell at this point? Still, it feels late to him and Sokka yawns, groggy as the blankets are thrown back and he searches for clothing. Pants are found, pulled on and tugged up before he gets up and wanders to the bathroom for more morning-necessities.

Visitors will be grunted at in a I'm-totally-not-all-there sort of way, shirtless with his hair floppy in his eyes.

Comments

[notahick.livejournal.com]

Paige must be part Firebender, because she is up with the sun; she jogs the interior of the wall, hits training, and then comes back for engineering abuse. But when she finds that he's not there...

...she goes looking. He wasn't at training either! Is he getting lazy? Lazy boys are a turn off, Sokka...

So she's knocking on the apartment door, wondering if he's in there... and then cracks the door open to peer into the living room to see.

"Sokka?"

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

He had permission! Harper wanted him to come in early, so he trained with Iroh twice the day before, once in the morning and once at night. Then Harper cancelled that and Sokka didn't feel any need to have twice the straining while his body still protested so...

He slept!

But now? Someone's looking for him and Sokka, still groggy despite the splash of cold water thrown on his face, picks up a towel to dry it as he wanders out of the bathroom. "Nn?"

Did we mention Sokka's been having one several-hour , rigorous training session every morning for the past six months? And that he trains between that and engineering with the exercises Spoon had once shown him?

In short, Paige is greeted with a brown, muscular, shirtless, bleary-eyed boy... who definitely didn't look like he had all that beneath his t-shirt.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

....................... oh my.

Ask him to put a shirt on? NEVER. But good girls don't oggle. Much.

"...so have you slept all morning?" she asks, training her eyes on her face.

Mmmmmmmmmm, pectorals.

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

If she asks him to put a shirt on, there will be a lot of teasing.

But bleary-Sokka is still not all there, nodding as he uses the towel to dry his face. He yawns once, a jaw-cracking movement, and then gropes for a hair tie by his pile of blankets. "I-- had some-- free time," he says finally, running his fingers through his hair, unconsciously tightening muscle when his arms rise.

But hey, since she's here and he's slowly noticing that she isn't about to leave, Sokka clues in as his hair is tied back. "Did I miss anything important?"

[notahick.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head no; she apparently missed that you are amazingly comfy beacuse you're delightfully ripped though, Sokka m' boy.

But she keeps her libido to herself, and just replies, "I hadn't seen you all morning, so i started to wonder."

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

She hadn't-- so she started to-- because she--

likes him?

The thought wakes him up all right and Sokka smiles at her, simply... pleased.

"...Sorry. Harper didn't tell me until last night I could just sleep in and--" He forgot to tell the girl that likes to use him as a pillow! "But, uh, I'll go with you now, if you're going to work."

A pause follows before he glances down at himself and laughs a little, raising a hand to rub at the back of his head as he looks around the room. "As soon as I find a shirt, anyway."

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"Don't rush on my account."

The smirks says it all. You have her permission to be sweaty and shirtless all day if you like.

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

But he's not sweaty! And why would she--

...oh.

And sweet, shy, bumbling, blushing Sokka... smirks.

"And you called me a pervert."

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"I," she says loftily, "am sexualing a perfectly normal human boy with muscles. Not a walkin' rock-girl."

Just so they're clear no the difference here!

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

"Most rocks don't have nipples," Sokka points out grinning. And then proves, buff or no, he's still a total dork:

He poses, arms up, muscles flexed.

"Am I helping you sexualize?" he asks her, grinning wide.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

For a girl, Paige hits pretty damn hard, and she makes a face. "Glad you inspected!" she snaps, and then manages to blush.

Yes, she tries not to think about the DETAILS OKAY?

"Y' ain't now. I'm thinkin' of cleanin' your clock, mister. Oh, you're terrible!"

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

"Ow!" But he's still laughing at her, looking totally amused as he drops his arms. "I didn't inspect! They were there!"

He grins at her now, stepping out of the way of another hit. "If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't-- I mean I didn't-- you know... look at you like that, while you were-- y'know, that's why I always wanted you to husk back and--"

Because he thought she was a crazy weirdo using her sexual powers to keep him from arguing with her! He only started liking her when she was CLOTHED.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

Cue a roll of eyes. "You're such a boy."

But at least this one LOOKS at her breasts. That's NORMAL. She shakes her head, and then says, "I know what I want. But -- I don't need to use that to get it."

No matter WHAT Ms. Frost once said...

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

"Well, I didn't know that then," Sokka points out, still grinning at her.

But wait-- she came to find him, didn't she? "Did you want help with work or...?" Just curious to see why she had to work and he didn't?

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"...has it occured to you that I might-- just-- y' know, wonder where you were?" Paige asks, cocking one brow.

That maybe she just... wanted his company?

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

"...Does right now, just as you said that, count?"

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"No."

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

Somehow, he doesn't think that admitting he never thought her intentions might be purely, innocently because of him will score him any points.

Rubbing at the back of his neck again, Sokka moves to slowly plop down on his bedding, shrugging slightly. "You're kinda... dealing with a stunted guy here, Paige. I'm not really used to-- this."

Assertive women? Certainly. Functional relationships? Oh, hell no.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"...stunted?"

Paige is giving him that Are You That Stupid look again. Because, really, he's saying he's STUNTED? Oh, he's not stunted. She's seen STUNTED. And...

...okay, she feels a little guilty indulging this otherworld fling (and this is what it is, isn't it? An X-Man right of passage, pratically, getting crushes with the natives; or in this case, other refugees) but not ... ... in the way you might imagine.

She feels guilty because she prefers the fling to what's waiting for her at home... beacuse she dosen't really KNOW what's waiting for her at home.

"You're not stunted, Sokka. You're just fine."

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

Buh? Why is he stupid? He blinks at her, surprised by the look and tone before venturing quietly, "Fine is a guy that assumes you only come looking for him when you need something?" Because a second ago, she seemed a little irritated that he was assuming that.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

She blinks at that reply, and then says, "Fine is a guy who doesn't mind that I come looking, at all."

That's good, isn't it?

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

More blinking. Before the smile anyway.

"Paige, the guy that minds a pretty girl coming to look for them would have to be a lot more fond of peaches than I am."

Thanks for that bit of cultural information, Zuko!

[notahick.livejournal.com]

"...peaches?"

Houstan, we have a problem. Paige missed that metaphor ENTIRELY.

[notanoptimist.livejournal.com]

Oh, good - someone besides him doesn't know that reference. Sokka just grins and shakes his head. "Nevermind."

And then-- well. She wanted to see him, right? Just him? So surely she won't mind having her hand caught in his and tugged, trying to get her to sit down beside him.

That's okay, right? Despite (or because of?) shirtlessness.

[notahick.livejournal.com]

Paige is busy trying to wonder what peaches have to do with pretty girls. Was this some sort of cultural thing she was missing?

But she gets caught, tugged, and captured easily, but does blush delicately while she gets comfortable there.

But... now what?