#the idea of whatever he’s holding bursting into flames whenever he sees/touches sokka

[believenthlie]

“Get ahold of yourself, Zuko.”

[turtletimewriting]

Tickletober Day 1- Teasing

Summary: Sokka just can’t take it any more and finally gives in to his curiosity.

Note: HAPPY T-TOBER!!! This is part of a mini AU I’m doing for Tickletober so this will leave on a mysterious cliffhanger, mwuahahaha!  Next Day!

_._._

It was a perfectly ordinary day. Nothing unusual or even noteworthy about it. Sokka got up at his usual time of noon and slumped over to the kitchen to make pancakes. He bickered about how his roommate Zuko must be eating his Nutella when he wasn’t looking despite knowing for a fact it was his secret chocolate toast at two in the morning habit. Zuko came in a bit later to grab a quick lunch before diving back into his room to copy up more notes. He then quickly did his seminar prep work before rushing off to his own seminar at two and had only just walked back in. There was nothing else to do but sit around and enjoy the free time. Again, nothing remarkable at all.

He was sitting in their living room with the television blaring as he scrolled through his phone. He paused as he heard faint mumbling through the wall. Ah yes, and it wouldn’t be a normal day without Zuko making his tickle teasing thing for his tumblr.

That, admittedly, had been a bizarre conversation. Zuko had meant to keep it completely hidden and so had exploded when he had questioned why he talked to himself in the middle of the night. He ran a blog dedicated to tickling. Yeah, Sokka didn’t even pretend to understand it. But hey, everyone has their thing! And out of all the things, tickling seemed the most innocent someone could have. I mean… it was a little bit completely adorable. Can you imagine! Boring grumpy pretending to be more emo than he is Zuko, liking tickling. Zuko would occasionally record teases for his following. It was clear that the tickling thing was a sensitive topic (get it! Like sensitive as in ticklish!) and so he didn’t tease too much about that. But that was never going to stop him from teasing Zuko talking about best times to post and how many notes he got. Zuko, the social media influencer! That was at the beginning of term he learned that weird little fact and it had since been three months?

 Surely that’s where the story ended, right?

Well… Sokka could admit to himself that he was starting to get curious. And didn’t that make his face burn. He hadn’t been tickled since he was only knee height. And even then, he remembered squealing and desperately running away. Surely, he didn’t like it, right? But it’s not like he could remember what it actually felt like. Surely, he wasn’t missing much! He knew he wasn’t missing much. Right?

But that curiosity slowly crept in. Surely, he was missing something though… Zuko liked it. And Zuko never liked anything! But Zuko clammed up whenever he tried to ask why he enjoyed it.

 It was only last week that Sokka gave in to that curiosity and ended up searching for tickling on Tumblr himself. It seemed… fun enough? He didn’t really get it still. It felt that bit too impersonal looking at gifs or fanart. That didn’t make him feel him anything! But yet…

 “Heh, what? What has you all giggly? I’m not doing anything! Just sitting here… I’m not even touching you… yet. Tickle tickle tickleee.” Zuko’s voice was already muffled through the wall and he was speaking softly and extra raspy anyway. But still it seemed to pierce through the living room. Sokka cleared his throat and slightly turned up the volume of the TV.

 It was a silly thing to think about. Totally not worth his time. It was just tickling! Stupid childish tickling!

 “Coochie coochie coo…”

 It was whatever. It was beyond stupid.

 “Tickle tickle tickle…”

 Wow, his television show was definitely so interesting…

 “Stop squirming…”

Sokka sat bolt up as he realised, he had been squirming around. His feet gently rubbing each other and him sitting up and adjusting constantly. Hah, that was stupid. He was just uncomfortable. Whatever. It was nothing. He definitely wasn’t getting a little flustered.

 “Or else. Try to hold still. Unless you want to uh… get t-tickled more… That’s dumb. Right, start again,” Zuko’s now awkward voice rattled through the room and Sokka now felt like he could breathe again.

 He sighed and buried his face in his hands. This was all so ridiculous. He opened up his phone again and tried searching again. Yep, none of the results made him feel anything like what he just did. There truly shouldn’t be anything he’s missing out on! Like a month ago, Katara tazed his side and he couldn’t say that he really wanted to feel that again. But that curiosity still lingered. That was surely his biggest flaw. Once a thought took hold, it would never leave until he satisfied it.

But what did he even want! Zuko to tickle him! That would definitely be weird. Zuko wasn’t the most affectionate open person in the world, that’s what made the first tickle conversation on this so weird. But yet… Maybe he did want to be tickled, just to finally move on.

 There was a moments pause. Sokka found himself holding his breath. What teases would he be doing now? He usually just focused on the word tickle. The way his raspy voice curled out the word was so… A lot. He could really see why people would follow for that. He felt more ticklish just listening in. But instead, Zuko’s door opened. Sokka felt his face burst into flames. He sat upright like a child caught sneaking extra cookies. Zuko walked in the kitchen like nothing was unusual at all.

 It was as Zuko was pouring himself a glass of water that Sokka snapped to. This could not keep happening. He had to grit his teeth and just face the music.

“Heeeeey Zuko, you up to much right now. Well, other than drinking,” Sokka spoke like the functioning human he is. Zuko looked over completely innocently.

“Not much. I’m uh… doing stuff for my blog. Sorry if that’s getting in your way,” Zuko answered honestly. “What were you doing? What you watchi-“

“Would you, like would it be… W-well talking of your blog… What would you say if… Like I just wanted to know,” Sokka tried to fumble about for the words as Zuko looked on. As if Sokka was actually going anywhere with any of what he was saying. Ugh, why did he have to have a nice roommate! “Like… listening to what you were recording… Not that I was like d-deliberately listening in! J-just like out of curiosity… why do you like ti-tickling so much?”

As expected, Zuko then also exploded into a blush. “Uh, I don’t know? I just guess I always did? It’s like… a fun thing.”

“Cool. Cool. Cool. I… guess all I wanted to say was you’ve now made me curious.” Sokka looked down and completely missed Zuko’s confusion.

“Curious?”

“Like… I even tried searching myself! So I guess… I don’t know. I don’t want to pressure you or do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with.”

“Wait, are you asking to be tickled?” Zuko finally stepped out from the counter and sat next to him.

“Yeah?” Sokka responded casually like his voice hadn’t rocketed several octaves. “I-I don’t know. You know me, once I have an idea I need to…”

“Um. Yeah?” Sokka finally looked up again. Zuko looked extremely flustered but also vaguely optimistic, “That could be kinda fun? I… I don’t tend to tell people if they wouldn’t understand. But… if you’re curious then it could be fun to actually do… If you’re ever uncomfortable or want to back out then just say. There’s no shame!”

Sokka perked up, “Are you sure, dude? Yeah, that does sound ‘fun���,” He teased at his awkward wording, finally feeling his confidence pick itself back up.

“Sure.” Zuko finally smiled.

 (Stick around for day two!)