Circus Dinners by OceanMyth

Dinner at Aang and Katara's is always chaotic— just how Sokka likes it. This time, it's because Kya won't eat her sea-prunes, and is waterbending up a temper-tantrum. He’s enjoying watching Katara deal with her daughter— it’s a sweet balm after having spent his entire childhood terrorized by her waterbending tantrums.

"Young lady, stop that this instant! Sit down, and eat your sea-prunes!" Kya's face scrunches up, and she starts to wail.

"But I don't wanna! Dad doesn't like to eat sea-prunes— why should I?!" Katara glares at her husband, and Sokka remembers the argument that they’d had about it when Bumi was… about the same age as Kya now, and refusing to eat his sea-prunes. 

Katara had been frustrated that Aang was teaching the kids bad habits by visibly not enjoying the sea-prunes. They were half Water Tribe after all, eating sea-prunes was a part of their cultural heritage, just as much as being a  vegetarian was. Aang had retorted that he couldn’t lie to the kids, that would just teach them worse habits than his dislike of sea-prunes.

The argument had stalled out after that.

Aang throws up his hands— well, hand, Bumi’s holding the other one pretty tightly— in response to Katara’s glare, eyes wide, before pointing down at Bumi, who'd fallen asleep on his lap, hands fisted in his father’s robes. He’d finished dinner long before his sister, and crawled into his dad’s lap right after. Sokka’s not really sure when he’d fallen asleep though. Aang scoops Bumi up and leaves the room, probably trying to put him to bed, before Kya’s wailing wakes him up. Bumi is exceedingly difficult to put to bed— the little nugget has far too much energy to go peacefully—so Sokka gets where Aang is coming from.

Katara rolls her eyes, and turns back to Kya. He can tell she’s unimpressed— it’s a look he’s seen on her face many times, mostly directed at him. This time it’s directed at her husband, for his masterful avoidance of dealing with Kya. Sokka leans back in his chair, glad that he’s never had kids of his own, though he wishes that he’d had the chance. Suki would have liked kids — he swallows, reminded of the other reason that he’s spending so much time with Katara and Aang. It’s so warm here, full of life and light and family, so different from the empty mausoleum his house has become.

Kya’s screaming increases in volume. Sokka’s glad for the distraction, and he goes back to watching Katara try to deal with her daughter.

Sokka loves visiting his sister’s for dinner. It's the best damn show in the city.