"Psssst! Sokka, Suki! Get up!"

Sokka whines as Zuko's husky whisper pulls him from his sleep. He reaches one hand out to bat away his housemate, pulls a pillow over his head with the other. His alarm hasn't gone off yet which means it's far too early to be awake.

"Zu?" Suki says, her voice hoarse with sleep. She shifts in her spot on Sokka's left, knocking the pillow off Sokka's head with her flailing limbs. "What's happening? The kids…?"

"Oh, no, they're fine," Zuko placates before Suki can go down one of her worried rabbit holes. "Everyone's fine, it's just… Pakku's early."

Zuko watches the game through his hands. There's only two overs to go, and his team needs thirteen more runs to win. It's not an impossible feat but they're eight wickets down after a disastrous collapse of their top order. Their hopes rest solely on Jin - in at fifth and somehow still at the crease - but she’s likely to run out of balls and partners before she can pull off a win. The new Team Avatar fast bowler - Zuko is fairly sure he heard Haru call him Aang - rushes in, bowling hard and fast at Chan. Aang's fast balls are terrifying but Chan does well, connecting his bat with the ball. It goes up high, and Zuko is terrified that Chan will be caught out, but it falls neatly into the space between Haru and Katara instead, and bounces over the boundary for a four.

Sokka wakes with a groan.

His head feels fuzzy and he's not quite sure where he is. The last thing he can remember clearly is going on that supply run to Lake Logai with Suki and Zuko but he can't remember getting back home. He has a vague recollection of getting bit by a walker and Suki preparing to chop off his leg, but he also vaguely remembers Yue turning into a walker and his mother sinking her teeth into his father's neck and Zuko confessing his love for him so Sokka's not really sure if he can trust his memory.

One hour before his wedding to Crown Prince Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, Prince Zuko looks into his bedroom mirror and sees a surprised turtleduck blinking back at him. This is surprising, dear reader, because Prince Zuko had been a handsome twenty-one year old human only moments before, dressed in the deep red and embroidered gold finery he's now laying in, getting ready for the worst day of his life.

This is where we first meet our Turtleduck Prince but it is not where this story begins. This story begins over seventy five years before either of our Princes, or their plucky and beautiful best friend, were even alive. You see, long ago the Four Nations lived in harmony.

But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked

Zuko barely looks up from his scroll as Sokka slams open the door to his study and throws himself dramatically on the chaise lounge. Having known Sokka for ten years, and dated him for one, Zuko is no stranger to his boyfriend's flair for the dramatic.

"Zuko," Sokka whines. "Zuko. Zu. We need to break up."

That gets Zuko's attention. His writing brush clatters to the table, completely ruining the scroll he's working on, and he turns to look at his boyfriend with wide, panicked eyes. "What? Why?"

[Image ID: an illustration of the stands at Faber Memorial Rink from Ngozi Ukazu's Check, Please! The words "Checks, Chirps & Cellys; a sokka/suki/zuko college hockey au" have been edited onto the boards in Samwell maroon. /End ID.]

Image ID: Images of Sokka grinning, Suki smiling and Zuko frowning made with a picrew by makówka. The text reads "Checks, Chirps & Cellys. A modern ATLA college hockey AU. Inspired by Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu."

Image ID: an image of Suki and Zuko from a picrew by @/aeggsenpai. Suki is wearing her Kyoshi Warrior uniform and is frowning. Zuko is in his Fire Lord outfit and has a neutral expression. The text reads "the most important thing - a fanfic for zuki week 2021"

I’m in love with you. I’m in love with both of you. I didn’t even realise I could love one person like this, let alone two, though I know polyamory is something you both have talked about before.

And I know you must be thinking, why didn’t I say something about this to you at literally any point during the ten years you spent in the Fire Nation instead of putting it in a letter that you’ll never read now that you’re gone?

Well the truth is quite simple.

I’m a fucking idiot.

Image ID: a handwritten letter lying under a pen, with the fic title "I love you and I miss you constantly" overlaid.