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Suki lightly trailed her hand over Zuko's exposed shoulder blade. They had been comfortably laying down on Zuko's bed, the sun shining directly onto them . They basked in the warm glow, the relaxing heat nearly lulling them to sleep. The heat of the sun was nice but absolutely nothing compared to the warm heat radiating from her side. When the gaang first found out Zuko ran hot, they'd deginized her as the human heater. That was what first started the group cuddles. Toph complained at first as she preferred keeping Zuko as a personal fire place but eventually she cracked and snuggled in beside Zuko and Katara. This felt different from the usual cuddles though, it felt more personal when it was just the two of them. Although Suki could be imagining it as she really wants it to be true. They were laid down on Suki's bed, legs intangled, fingers interwoven. Zuko had her head laid down on Suki's chest causing for her head to move ever so slightly with each of Suki's breaths. Suki really hoped she couldn't feel how hard her heart was beating.
When Zuko showed up to Suki's chambers with bags under her eyes and tear stains on her cheeks, she knew not to question it. She just moved over in the bed as Zuko climbed into the it and cuddled into her.
When Suki first found out Zuko had joined the gaang, let's just say she wasn't very happy. She was a little more happy when she found out Katara felt the same. They didn't gossip about how much they hated her, it was just nice to know that she wasn't alone in her feelings of anger. So when Katara forgave Zuko she couldn't help but feel betrayed. How could they forgive her after everything she'd done? Zuko must have noticed her distain for her as one night Suki heard a knock on the door and was surprised to find it was Zuko. She immediately started rambling on about how sorry she was and how she doesn't deserve to be forgiven before going on a tirade about how cool Suki was and that Zuko wished she had as much power as her. It took every muscle in Suki's body not to smile at her adorableness that night. Still Suki didn't immediately forgive her but she made an effort not to actively ignore her which eventually started their late night talks. Suki was eventually able to forgive Zuko which felt almost freeing now that she didn't feel so bad for talking to Zuko all the time.
Recently, Zuko had been attending a lot of meetings with some 'old fashioned' fire nation generals. Basically, they were all still in support of Ozai which made them but heads with Zuko often. Zuko general lack of interest in what they had to say made them even madder. This resulted in screaming and shouting from the generals. Still, Zuko refused to entertain any of their ideas, immediately shutting them down and calling the generals 'insane men with no respect for the fire nation.' That usually shut them up.
Still, this could only go on for so long. The constant bickering and screaming was beginning to take a huge toll on Zuko. She began losing sleep, which even if Zuko didn't admit, was obvious from the huge bags under her eyes. Of course, Suki was always there to listen to her and give her advice but it only did so much. She just hoped that they'd sort out whatever they need to quickly so Zuko could go back to her normal broody self instead of this sad, tired one.
As Suki trailed her hand up and down Zuko's bare arm she noticed something. Every time she went over one spot, the skin felt slightly raised and rough. From this angle she couldn't see what it was but after the fifteenth time of brushing over it, Suki craned her head awkwardly to get a peak. Zuko, in her sleepy state, groaned a little before pushing Suki's head back down but Suki had already seen what it was.
A long scar stretched from Zuko's elbow to her shoulder. It would be completely unnoticeable if you weren't looking directly at it. The skin was only slightly discoloured in that part explaining why she hadn't noticed it before.
"Hey Zuko?" Suki asked, now tracing small patterns into Zuko's arm. Zuko let out a groan which Suki assumed to be a groan of encouragement for her to continue. "How'd you get the scar on your arm?"
Zuko made a questioning humming noise and Suki began circling around the scar to indicate what she was talking about. "Oh that." Zuko mumbled, burying her face further into Suki's chest. "That one's from Azula."
"Oh." Suki said dumbly, unsure of how to respond. "What happened?"
Zuko was quiet for a moment and Suki briefly wondered if she had fallen asleep. That thought was quickly put to rest when Zuko sat up slightly. Suki was disappointed by the loss of contact but that disappointment quickly turned into butterflies as she looked up to Zuko to see that she had a light tipped smile on her face. Her eyebrows were raised quizzically.
"Why so suddenly interested?" She asked with zero malice in her voice. Suki felt her heart begin to burst at it's seems. The sun had just begun to set and it hit Zuko perfectly through the window. It looked as if Agni were looking directly at Zuko, which Suki could not blame them for.
Suki noticed that Zuko was staring expectantly at her and she realized she'd been asked a question, "Oh- uh I just felt it when I was rubbing you arm and wondered how I never noticed before." Zuko herself looked down at the scar, lightly tracing over it. She almost had a reminiscent look on her face.
Zuko stayed quiet for another moment. "Me and Azula had snuck into the traing grounds despite mother directly ordering us not to." She almost sounded sad as she recalled the past event. "We had been playing around with swords when Azula accidently grazed my arm. I truly was just a light graze but trust me, if you'd ask younger me she would swear it hit bone." Zuko chuckled and Suki couldn't help but also laugh. Zuko's infectious laugh never failed to make her smile. "Azula felt terrible and began weeping. She was really upset that she hurt me and ran back to the palace. She ended up ignoring me for three days until I cornered her and she finally cracked and apologized profusely not only for hurting me but for also ignoring me."
Zuko now adorned a sad smile on her face and Suki could feel her heart clench. It was hard to imagine Azula, the cold, calculating war criminal, crying over giving her sister a boo-boo. I guess it was hard to think of Azula acting like a kid. What was even weirder was the fact that Katara and Azula were the same age. Despite her overall matureness, Katara still enjoyed partaking in childish activities. Azula on the other hand always seemed to be planning her next big ambush. Suki only got glimpses of what life was like as a child with Firelord Ozai through short retelling of tales from Zuko. While Azula was cocky and cold, Zuko was awkward, broody and kind. They both grew up together but grew up so differently. Azula had been raised up on a pedastool while Zuko had been used as a punching bag.
"So, you got any interesting scar stories?" Zuko asked, obviously wanting to redirect the conversation to something more lighthearted. Suki smiled.
"Check this out." She stated smugly before lifting her shirt slightly and pointed at a scar that travelled all the way down her stomach. When Zuko didn't respond, Suki looked up only to see Zuko looking away with a huge blush fanning from her face to her shoulders. Suki chuckled, "It's fine silly. You can look."
Zuko seemed to be having an inner battle before deciding, 'fuck it.' She stared wide eyed at the long scar. This scar was extremely discoloured compared to Zuko's and she wondered why she only noticed it now.
"Cool right?" Suki joked but Zuko didn't respond and continued staring at it. Suki rolled her eyes. "Here look." She said, gently taking Zuko's hand in her own before placing her palm on her abdomen. No doubt the skin felt rough against Zuko's palm, but she didn't seem to mind.
Zuko tried to made a sarcastic remark but her own voice seemed to be betraying her. Unconsciously, Zuko began trailing her hand over the marked skin. Zuko never really thought about the other gang's scars since scars in general wasn't a topic much discussed by the gaang, no doubt because of the huge one on her face. Zuko only noticed she was trailing her hand up and down Suki's scar when she felt her shiver under her touch. Immediately Zuko pulled her hand back and laid it on her lap. She turned her face away so Suki wouldn't see the ever growing blush on her face.
"What happened?" A voice whispered hoarsely which Zuko vaguely recognized as her own. Zuko looked up expectantly at Suki. Suki was looking at her weirdly, which Zuko nearly mistook as adoration.
Suki shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts, "Also a training accident." Suki answered, her voice wavering a little. "I had been practicing my stances with the fan when I swung it too quickly and it sliced down my abdomen.". Zuko looked up at her as if she was the coolest person alive to which Suki, despite her also ever increasing blush, just chuckled. "It's not as cool as it sounds." She admitted, "You should have seen how much I cried."
"No." Zuko shook her head, "Don't undermine yourself. That's totally badass." Zuko joked.
Suki pushed Zuko away, feigning hurt even though she had a huge smile plastered on her face. Zuko also had a smile on her face and they both stared at each other fondly, comfortable in the calming silence they'd created.
That silence was interrupted when Zuko began yawning loudly.
Suki remembered to save the image of sleepy Zuko for later. "Come on, let's go to bed."
Zuko didn't object and lay her head down on the multiple pillows. When Suki didn't move to lie down straight away because she was so enamoured by how pretty Zuko looked, Zuko made a noise of anger before grabbing Suki by the waist and cuddling into her.
Suki still hated those meetings but if it meant this is how the night ended for both of them, she wouldn't complain.