Chapter Text
Zuko is an omega.
The fire prince is babbling, trying to insist he’s harmless. Sokka doesn’t believe it; time after time Zuko has proven just how horrible he is. There’s no reason they should believe him. The truth is as obvious as the cloying scent in the air. Zuko found out Aang is alive and decided it was the perfect opportunity to revive the time honored hobby of chasing them across the world.
So no, Sokka doesn’t believe him. He pulls his lips back in a threatening snarl to show just how much he doesn’t believe Zuko’s change of heart.
Frightened omega scent, sharp and metallic with fright, swells in the air before being chased away by smoke. Zuko looks as terrified as a pup during a raid, or maybe more accurately an omega saved from the Fire Nation’s grasp. Fire escapes his hands, flaring up his arms before Zuko drops to his knees and presses his face in the dirt to beg for forgiveness.
Sokka doesn’t believe that Zuko has had a change of heart, doesn’t trust the jerkbender as far as he can throw him, but he does believe that the omega is terrified of what will happen if he’s not accepted into their pack. Sokka wants to turn Zuko out on his ear. The omega has certainly never given any consideration for their safety. It wasn’t so long ago that Zuko took advantage of Katara’s naivety to help Azula murder Aang.
But all Sokka can think is that scar had to have come from somewhere.
For one delightful moment, Sokka indulges in the fantasy of literally kicking the princeling over the cliff’s edge. Then reality sets in and he’s kneeling next to a trembling form that seems so much smaller in reality than it has always appeared in memories. Even if he couldn’t scent the pre-season rolling off Zuko in waves, Sokka can’t ignore the fact this obeisance isn’t just a last ditch effort. It had been too immediate, too instinctual.
It reminds Sokka too much of one of the sled polar bear dogs that had to put down after it had been terrorized by its master when he was young. Hakoda had made him watch, wanting a newly presented Sokka to know the consequences of misusing his strength.
Sokka doesn’t want to think about just who would have had that power over the Fire Nation’s crown prince. He certainly doesn’t want to think about just why the crown prince, the omega crown prince, was sailing the known world in search of a myth long before anyone would have dreamed Aang still existed. He’s not going to think about the scar that they had always mocked, twisting Zuko’s eye and ear and bringing up questions of just how well hhis senses function. Sokka can’t think about any of that because if he starts thinking about it then his carefully controlled scent is going to get aggressive and the last thing any omega in pre-season needs is an unfamiliar aggressive alpha.
Sokka is the oldest, ignoring technicalities. He’s the son of the Southern Tribe’s chief. His word is law when he needs it to be and that’s not something he likes to abuse but he needs to be listened to right now. So he raises his voice and stares his little sister dead in the eye as he speaks. “We don’t need your help, Zuko. You can wait out your season with us and then you’ll be on your way.”
Zuko lifts his face just enough that Sokka can see the resignation settle on his features. He bows again though, forearms pressed to the ground and his forehead pressed to them. His words are spoken tonelessly—a dull repetition of a ritual chant. “Thank you, alpha. I place myself in your care to be used as you see fit.”
Ignoring every instinct that screams at him to comfort the omega, Sokka stands and gestures to be followed.
Zuko follows without even a flicker of annoyance at being called to heel. He stays two steps behind Sokka and just enough to the side that Sokka can see most of him easily. His posture is perfect and his gaze demure and it’s so jarringly the opposite of the aggressive prince that Sokka met in his home village. Neither speak as they walk through the crumbling relic of a temple until they reach a distant room. It’s close enough that Zuko won’t be unmonitored, but far away enough that pups won’t be bothered by the hormones of a stressed out and nesting omega.
“I’m sure it’s nothing like you’re used to in the palace, but it’s got a bed and a door.” Sokka is pointedly not watching the way Zuko enters the room looking for a catch.
It’s not like they had a lot of omegas in the Southern Water Tribe, but they had enough. Since leaving, Sokka’s been living on top of Aang who’s the most omegan omega he knows. Sokka recognizes a stressed omega when he smells one and it’s messing with his head. So he growls to clear his mind and asks, “Did you bring anything from home that you need us to fetch from your camp?”
“I—home?” Zuko’s gaze is troubled as he drops onto the ancient cot.
Sokka snorts and waves his hand absently as he leans against the doorframe. “Yeah. You’re telling me you grew up in a massive palace lined with silks and you didn’t bring any of your nest with you?”
“The palace hasn’t been my home for three—four years.” Zuko picks at the skin of his palm with the thumb of his opposite hand. “There is nothing from there I want. Not anymore.”
“Riiiiight.” Sokka drawls uncomfortably. Even after making allowances for different cultures and the fact that Zuko is facing a season surrounded by the enemy, there’s something off. It makes the back of his neck crawl with the antsy urge to protect. “Well, let me know if you need anything. I’ll just—“
“Wait!” Zuko’s outburst startles them both, but the prince recovers first. He stands elegantly and crosses the room to drop to his knees at Sokka’s side. The scarred skin of his cheek presses against Sokka’s hipbone as the omega’s hand slips underneath Sokka’s tunic. Every movement is enticing and practiced. “I... I’m willing to earn my place. Please don’t share.”
Bile rises in Sokka’s throat. He has so many protests rising along with it that he’s not quite sure which one he’s voiced until Zuko has flinched backward. “You’re the crown prince of the Fire nation.”
“Of course. Forgive me.” Despair floods Zuko’s features before being hidden underneath a carefully blank acceptance. He lowers himself further to press a kiss against Sokka’s calf. His breath burns hot through the fabric. “I understand my position here.”
And Spirits grant him mercy, Sokka’s almost tempted.
Almost tempted isn’t tempted though and he drops into a flat-footed crouch. As pretty as Zuko is, and as tempting as it always is to hurt the bane of their existence, Sokka’s not that sort of alpha. Instead he strokes through Zuko’s hair and hopes it will ease the sting of rejection that’s been no doubt amplified by heat hormones. “I don’t know what it’s like in the Fire Nation, but when the Southern Water Tribe offers protection to an omega we leave the omega alone.”
“I’m not diseased.” Zuko’s eyes have already started to glass over. His fingers clench tightly in the fabric of Sokka’s pants as his breath comes faster in tiny hitches. “I’m untouched, if that’s what you’re worried about. I was, I was always chaperoned.”
“Believe it or not that wasn’t my concern.” Sokka knows his words are too harsh, too dry, but he’s sort of trying to keep from vomiting. Unsure what else to do, he continues to stroke through Zuko’s hair. He can see Katara and Aang looking equally concerned out of the corner of his eye. “More surprisingly, I am actually relieved to learn it. Look, let’s get you through this season and then we can worry about everything else.”
“No.” Zuko’s hands are smoking and the stench of burnt wool covers up everything else in the room. “No. If you won’t take my aid then this is all I have left.”
If it weren’t for the fact that Zuko very clearly shouldn’t be left alone in a season, Sokka would be regretting not kicking him over the cliff edge. He shifts so he’s sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and nudges Zuko into a similar position beside him. “I know, given your family and previous companions, that this might be hard to believe but some people are just good people. We’re not going to hurt you just because we can.”
“We both know you have more reasons to hurt me than that.” When he’s not angry, Zuko is scarily resigned. The prince presses the heel of his hand against his bad eye, startling Sokka with the realization that he’s on Zuko’s bad side. “No one helps simply because they can.”
“Your uncle didn’t seem to be getting a lot out of his relationship with you.” Sokka shifts so he’s facing Zuko and isn’t surprised by the shocked relief at having a line of sight that fades to suspicion and then hurt when Zuko realizes what was said.
Zuko turns his head so his scar faces the wall and, probably not coincidentally, his good eye now has a field of vision that encompasses the whole room. “Uncle grieves the son he lost at Ba Sing Se, and it doesn’t matter. He... he’s gone now.”
Right. So Sokka’s not going to touch that one with with a ten foot spear. One crisis at a time, but this is the second time Sokka’s learned of a previously unknown Fire Nation royal and he’s really starting to become sick of how much their twisted family dynamic effects the entire world. So instead he stands and takes the bedding that Katara set on the threshold and drops it on the cot before turning to Zuko. “This is what we have to spare for your nest.”
“Nest?”
Sokka definitely doesn’t like the way that sounds like a foreign concept to the prince so he starts aggressively arranging the blankets. “You are an omega in season, yes? A nest. Where you can den up and be safe.”
When he looks back over Zuko has pulled his knees up to his chest. For someone with half their face frozen, Zuko is extraordinarily expressive. Instead of anger, annoyance, agitation, or basically any emotion that would be expected from a normal omega watching their nest be built for them, Zuko just looks lost. “I don’t need that.”
“Do you want it?”
“I don’t—” Zuko’s face falls into something closer to the irritation Sokka expects from an omega in season. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Right. So it doesn’t matter where I put this then?” Sokka dangles the pillow over the half formed nest.
Zuko is across the room and snatching the pillow out his hand before either of them realize it. For a moment Zuko just freezes and stares at the object like he’s never seen one before nudging the pillow into the corner against wall. “It doesn’t matter. But... that’s where it makes sense.”
Sokka feels, more than sees, Katara and Aang leave. They’ve got a long conversation waiting for them later, but first he's got to get a recalcitrant omega to nest. He nudges a bundled blanket over to form another wall. “Right. Well, what about this?”
There’s a fine line between irritating Zuko enough to be productive without aggravating the prince enough Sokka gets singed but he learns to walk it over the next half hour. By the time the nest is built, Zuko’s sunk down into the muted dissociation characteristic of a season and doesn’t protest when Sokka nudges him down amongst the bedding. He does shiver though, and burrow deeper.
“Are you hungry?”
Grumpy yellow eyes peek out over the nest from behind a very pale arm. It takes Zuko a couple tries to speak common, but when he finally manages it the words are only lightly accented. “I thought you said you left your omegas alone.”
“No one is going to force in you into something you don’t want.” Sokka’s voice is softer than he ever thought it could be when directed at the prince. “But don’t you want an attendant?”
“Never needed one before.” Zuko hides his face again. “If you’re not going to fuck me, go away.”
“Right, well....” Sokka hesitates anyway. “We‘ll send someone with food later. You can let us know if you need anything then.”
Zuko just grunts.
And with that Sokka finally sees fit to flee.
Chapter 2
Notes:
How’sit going guys? I hate college lol. This is a canon divergent AU that’s still going to mostly follow the show but I’m going to focus on what we didn’t see on screen. AtLA is one of the best examples of pacing I’ve seen within a TV show, especially for its time period, but I’m a character person not a plot person. That means I need more of those good good in between scenes. Also I want you all to know that while conducting research for this fic I came across the movie wiki. Now you all owe me money for the therapy I’m going to need to handle the trauma.
Specific warnings at the bottom.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Nobody wants to admit it, but listening to Zuko’s soft whimpers echo through the temple is putting them all on edge. Sokka would almost believe that this was a grand plan devised by Azula to use her brother’s distressed hormones as a way to work them all up, except he doesn’t want to believe that anyone would be willing to put their sibling through the experience.
Then again if anyone would do this to their brother it would be Azula.
Sokka huffs and knocks at the door. There’s no answer, but he didn’t expect one.
Zuko hasn’t answered once in the two days he’s been staying with them. He doesn’t do much except lay curled up with a pillow pressed to his abdomen. Sometimes he’s sleeping and sometimes he stares at the wall, but he never speaks and never moves. It’s a direct contrast to Aang who gets desperately cuddly. Toph hasn’t had her first season yet, so it’s hard to say how she’ll react but Sokka doesn’t see her dissociating from everything like Zuko has.
“Toph and The Duke got into a fight today.” Sokka announces as he kneels next to the nest. Always closer to the foot than the head so Zuko can see him. He fusses with the chopsticks before raising rice to Zuko’s lips. “I guess they found some sort of airbender toy and can’t decide who gets to keep it.”
Today, instead of accepting the food bite by bite with eyes unfocused, Zuko turns his gaze on Sokka. His eyebrow furrows and his bad eye, never fully open, closes to a slit. “You kept your word.”
“You thought I wouldn’t?”
Zuko shrugs and his gaze goes back to the wall, but he uncurls slightly. “I’ve known alphas who waited to try anything because they wanted to imagine I was there by choice. You’re the pack alpha, if anyone was to ‘enjoy’ an omega captive it would be you first.”
“If you’re going to be traveling with us, we’re going to have a serious talk about how we run things here.” Sokka shakes the chopsticks at Zuko playfully. He would be offended by how poorly Zuko seems to think of him, except it doesn’t feel personal for once. “Now eat up, princeling. We couldn’t get nearly enough into you during your season.”
“Omegas are supposed to fast during heats, especially firebenders.” Zuko pushes up into a half sitting position and shudders at something, maybe the movement. “We consume too much otherwise.”
“Consume too much?” Sokka snorts quietly. “Because you guys are really struggling with resources as you conquer more and more of the known world.”
For someone who’s eaten little more than a single bowl of rice while undergoing one of the most intense states of energy burn known to humanity, Zuko is unnaturally restrained as he eats what Sokka pushed into his hands. Every bite is dainty and they come at a slow pace.
It reminds Sokka of Yue and he kinda wants to kill someone for it.
Zuko doesn’t speak between bites either. He eats the entirety of his portion and then sets the bowl aside to turn back to Sokka. “I’m sure you’ve seen during your travels that my country isn’t nearly as prosperous as we’d like it to be. War leaves no one untouched. However, I also spent three years in exile before becoming a refugee. And... my Uncle requires more sustenance than most.”
“Is that a joke?” Sokka swipes one of the chopsticks and uses it to poke Zuko in the forehead. “I thought your people outlawed those.”
Damp hair clings Zuko’s face but he doesn’t swipe at it when he tips his head back. Zuko’s voice is raspier than normal, probably a result of his season, but his lip twitch into a half smile. “Seeing as this is at least the third time they’ve tried to get rid of me, I’m not sure how effective they are at outlawing things.” The almost smile drops. “How is the earth bender girl?”
“Healed.” Sokka knows his voice goes hard, but honestly Zuko is really great at reminding people why they hate him. “No thanks to you.”
“Healing never was my area of expertise.” Zuko grimaces, or it might be a smile those don’t seem to be his area of expertise either, and gestures to the left side of his face.
It leaves Sokka feeling a very irritably confused mix of wanting to laugh and cry. Unwilling to do either, he leans across to gather the empty dish and other chopstick and deliberately ignores the way Zuko flinches back out of his reach. He stands with the dishes and shifts his weight side to side. “How long do do you think we’re looking at for your... y’know, season?”
“Why? Is Azula here?” Zuko stumbles to his feet, tripping over the blankets before he catches himself against the wall. “We’ve got to move.”
“La’s fins, be careful. Your homicidal sister hasn’t been seen anywhere near here.” Sokka lunges to steady Zuko. “Don’t stand so fast. You’ve eaten next to nothing and you’re on the edges of your season, you’re going to be dizzy.”
Zuko’s teeth bare and he snarls with pure aggression, but he doesn’t move to firebend and when the snarl fades it’s into a thin whine. “I’m fine. The heat’s gone.”
“Okay. Good, that’s good.” Slowly, Sokka runs his hand down to Zuko’s elbow and gently tugs him back into a sitting position. Too late he’s realized that he grabbed the omega’s bad side so he’s careful to project his movements through touch; sliding fingertips across while maintaining contact rather than lifting his hand to adjust his grip. “I just wanted to know if you needed anything else to keep comfortable through the last of it.”
“Like an alpha’s knot?”
Yeah. That’s definitely going onto their ‘list of cultural differences to address’.
Sokka shuffles to face Zuko head on and keeps his palms face up in his lap. As much as he hates the prince, he’s not a monster and he sort of resents being treated like one. After another deep breath to center himself, Sokka shakes his head. “No. Like more food, or some of Appa’s fur. Maybe supplies from your camp because you didn’t get chance to get your things.”
“I don’t need to be coddled.” Zuko snarls again, this time flames do flicker across his palms before he extinguishes them. “You provided me with a den to wait out my heat, demand your price.”
“I don’t think Sokka and Katara want us coming this way.” Teo’s voice cuts through their argument.
Toph appears in the doorway seconds later, stomping as though she owns the place. She might as well, she’s far more territorial than anyone else in the pack. Her finger jabs in Sokka’s direction. “Get back from him.”
“I’m sorry.” Zuko gasps as he stumbles from the nest to drop on his knees in front of Toph. The anger is gone, instantly replaced by desperation; Sokka is starting to wonder if the omega has more than just those two emotions. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—“
“It was an accident.” Toph drops into a cross legged position with a heavy thump in front of him. She’s abnormally gentle when she takes Zuko’s hand and pulls it down to her feet. Toph never lets anyone touch her feet. “There’s no scarring. I’m fine and it wasn’t your fault. I should have known better than to come crashing onto a denning omega during their estrus. Especially one who’s half deaf.”
“How do you—“
“Your uncle. We had tea once.” Toph guides his hand up to her face, letting the Fire prince’s fingertips trace just below her eyes. “He saw that I’m blind and asked if I had any suggestions on how to make it easier for you. The deaf thing just kind of came up.”
“I’m not blind.” Zuko jerks his hand back like he was the one burned and hugs his knees close. “I still have a good eye and the bad one sees movement.”
“Not the point, Cinders.” Toph leans forward and jabs Zuko in the ribs. Whatever else she was going to say is cut off aggressively when she reaches forward to jerk at the neckline of Zuko’s tunic. “Are you trying to kill yourself? Did you take these off at all during your estrus?”
“Toph.” Sokka doesn’t snap or snarl, but he does step in firmly. “Zuko is in a strange den with an unfamiliar alpha on the edges of a season, he’s not going to want you pulling at his clothes.”
“I can speak for myself.” Zuko snaps, pulling the wrap of his under tunic tighter. He doesn’t make to defend himself further—though whether that’s because he’s actually alright with Toph trying to undress him or because he’s terrified of hurting her is unclear.
Toph turns to Sokka, her gaze somewhere just below his collarbone. “Then leave and we’ve taken care of the alpha problem.”
“Toph.” Sokka stresses because he doesn’t know how to tell the unpresented omega that Zuko is pretty sure that they’ve only kept him to rape him and so it would be really really great if she could leave Zuko dressed. She was way too sheltered by her parents but Sokka thinks that with this topic he understands the impulse.
She ignores him of course, snarling and spitting at the ground. “Sokka, this idiot has been binding this whole time and he’s going to do a lot of damage, if he hasn’t already, if we don’t get that loosened up now.”
Red flushes Zuko’s face to a crimson nearly the same color of his scar.
It’s a reaction that Sokka shares. It takes him a second to clear his throat enough to gather some of his thoughts together. He gathers up the dishes again but turns back to Zuko. “I can leave her here if you want help, but no one is going to force you to take anything off.”
Zuko stays frozen, his gaze darting between them before he slumps forward. “She can stay.”
“Okay. If you change your mind, just yell at her to go away. She’ll be angry but she will leave.”
“Bye Sokka.” Toph bends him out of the room with a swipe of her hand over the ground.
It’s disorienting and he feels nauseous, but when he hesitates outside of then now closed door, he can hear Toph speaking gently with all of her high society manners and Zuko isn’t yelling or growling or setting things on fire. Once he’s certain that Zuko is, in fact, alright with Toph helping him loosen his bindings, Sokka collects a worried Teo and heads back out to wash dishes.
Katara and Aang are waiting for him, like they have been every time he’s made the trip in to coax Zuko into eating something. For once he has an empty bowl and improvement to report. “Zuko’s awake. Toph’s talking omega stuff with him and I got thrown out.”
“You left him alone with Toph after what happened earlier?” Katara turns on him. “How could you?”
“I didn’t have a choice. She did her earth bending thing and whoosh. I was out the door.” Sokka mimics the movements. “And they’re talking about omega stuff, Katara. I don’t want to know if the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation needs new underwear.”
Toph and Zuko emerge seconds later, saving Sokka from a further tongue lashing, as they head straight for a ledge.
Despite himself, Sokka finds his eyes drawn to check and yes indeed that is a soft swell that wasn’t there before. It’s smaller than Aang’s, who doesn’t even bother with a shirt most of the time, so Sokka’s really not sure what the point of binding is, but he pulls his gaze away to stare at the wall and doesn't let himself consider that line of thinking further.
If he’s considering the Fire Prince’s breasts, he and his hand are probably due a very personal trip off into the mazes of these lovely ruins.
By himself.
“What are you guys doing?” Sokka calls out, drawing the attention of everyone around them. It wasn’t what he meant to happen, he was just curious what was so important that Zuko was going to miss more food so soon after his season ended. And also maybe to keep Katara from attacking him again.
Zuko’s gaze skips over him, studying the small ragtag pack they’d managed to save from capture. His lips thin out, and Sokka can sympathize because as much as he loves the others they’re all pups. Only he, Katara, Haru and Aang—barely—have passed their first season. Toph, The Duke, and Teo are all still children with a milk sweet scent that won’t fade for a few more years at least. Even Aang still half smells of sweet milk tea.
Then Zuko points at Aang and gestures for him to join them. “Meditation. When you begin fire bending, it’s easiest to connect to flames around you than produce them yourself.”
“We never agreed that you were going to teach Aang.” Katara steps in front of Aang protectively, alpha growl already bubbling in her throat. “And I don’t want you fire bending around the others.
“Whether I teach him or not, I’m going to meditate. There’s no active bending, just passive sensing. He can join me and perhaps learn something or,” Zuko doesn’t glance back—just takes a deep breath and the candles Toph had set out in a half circle behind him light as one, “he can refuse the opportunity to learn new knowledge because he doesn’t like the one to teach it.”
“It’s alright, Katara.” Aang touches her shoulder as he lightly steps around her. Sometimes Aang has so much energy that Sokka doesn’t know how they’ll ever run him down in time for bed. Others, like now, he’s reminded of the stillness of the frozen ocean. There’s water running swiftly beneath, a current that whisk will you away given half a chance, but on the surface there’s nothing at all. He folds one hand into a fist and rests an open palm on top before he bows to Zuko. “I would be honored to join you in meditation.”
With one hand pressed to his lower ribs, Zuko jerks his head towards the half circle of flames. “Don’t bother. I was disowned, no one owes me respect anymore.”
“I was taught by the monks to respect all masters of their craft.” Aang says. His tone is underlaid with that same steel he gets any time anyone suggests maybe adapting the traditions of a people who died out a hundred years ago might make his life easier.
It gets Zuko to suppress a snort as sits in an easy cross legged position. He rests his cupped palms upright in his lap, fingertips brushing each other. His bad eye closes, and, presumably, so does his good—though it’s impossible to know for sure since Sokka can only see his profile. “I’m no master, not like the rest of my family, but I am competent. Have you breathed with the flames before?”
“My previous master, Jeong Jeong, focused on meditative techniques but I was... impatient.” Aang grimaces. “I lost control.”
Sokka feels his heart clench sympathetically. It hadn’t been on purpose, but seeing those fresh wounds on hands so similar to his mother’s... it’s not a memory he likes to revisit and he wasn’t even actively involved.
Zuko on the other hand has completely missed the point and is squinting at Aang like he’s been told a particularly bold lie. “Jeong Jeong? Uncle’s pai sho buddy?”
“Uhhh...” Aang seems to realize alongside Sokka that Zuko is Fire Nation, and that means he actually knows people from the Fire Nation and doesn’t just run around trying to kill children. “Well, I think he’s usually known as Jeong Jeong the Deserter. I guess he might play pai sho.”
“I thought he was dead.” Zuko’s single eyebrow furrows in what might be surprise. “Uncle will—would have been pleased to know he survived. I’m surprised to hear he was teaching breathing exercises. The little time I spent under him, he was more focused on getting me to hit the targets.”
“You trained under Jeong Jeong?” Aang falls out of the meditation pose completely.
Zuko unfolds just enough to kick at Aang’s leg and nudge him back into position. “If you know the basics, I’m not going back over them. Crossed legs, palms ready to cup the flames.” He waits until Aang has complied before he shrugs again. “My time with Jeong Jeong was brief. I was betrothed to one of his students. Studying under each other's masters is part of the process to solidify the contract.”
Sokka can’t stop himself from breaking in. “I’m sorry. Jeong Jeong left the war over ten years ago. You’re telling me that you and the gloomy girl trained under him as toddlers?”
“Mai’s not a firebender and we were never officially betrothed.” The flames of the lit candles surge for a moment before Zuko breathes out and stares at the cave ceiling above them. Almost immediately the flames dim to almost nothing. It’s an impressive display of control that Sokka didn’t know he was capable of. After another deep breath, Zuko lowers his gaze again. “I was four or five when I studied under Jeong Jeong, and he left the army shortly afterward. My betrothed isn’t going to be a problem because he had the foresight to die and is not going to care where I am. Any other questions?”
“You’re an omega, can I sit in your lap?” The Duke dodges around Toph, who’s sitting at Zuko’s side like a particularly stern chaperone, and leans over Zuko’s good shoulder. For once he’s got his helmet off.
Sokka wants to lunge forward and swipe the pup away. He’s far, far too young to be exposed to jerkbending. He’s especially too young to be cradled in the lap of said jerkbender. Fire benders killed his family and burned his second home, he doesn’t need to be surrounded by the cause of his trauma.
Before he can do anything, Zuko has shifted his posture minutely and nodded in acquiescence. There’s nothing visibly softer about Zuko, he speaks to The Duke like he’s talking to an irritable adult, but the energy around him has changed. “Fire is dangerous so you have to stay still. Can you meditate?”
“Never tried.” The Duke curls up in Zuko’s lap before the fire bender can finish, one arm thrown over Zuko’s neck and nose pressed against his scent gland. It’s been too long since the pup has been around an omega with an adult scent and as much as Sokka wants to pull The Duke away, he doesn’t. He can’t take that away from the pup. One of The Duke’s fingers tangle in the hair at the base of Zuko’s neck. “Jet wasn’t big on waiting.”
“He wasn’t, was he?” There’s a faint amusement in Zuko’s voice, which makes Sokka question when he could have met Jet, as he wraps one arm around The Duke’s back. He gives a low hum as he shuts his eyes again. “Now, both of you, eyes shut and match my breathing. Today, we want to keep the flames still. Sometimes it’s better to grow and shrink them with your breathing, but I haven’t worked with the flame in a few days and this is easiest.”
The Duke’s eyes squeeze shut as he does his best to do as he’s bid without moving. “Got it.”
“Is it hard to reconnect with fire after an extended period of disuse?” Aang asks. His tension is palpable.
Zuko opens his bad eye to squint in Aang’s direction. “No, but it’s best to test your control in a situation with as low stakes as possible. Fire on its own isn’t dangerous, but you have to respect it. Being careless during training results in injuries—if you’re lucky.”
They all, except for Toph, look toward’s Zuko’s scar involuntarily and wonder whose carelessness caused that accident.
Before anyone can get up the courage to ask, and after several of them have already looked away guiltily, Zuko kicks Aang’s knee again with his toes. “The Duke is my favorite pupil. Breathe and maybe you can surpass him.”
The pup in question is already asleep and snoring, which draws a soft laugh from Aang as he settles in. “Aye aye, Sifu Hotman.”
Notes:
Zuko obliquely mentions several times that he’s surprised Sokka didn’t rape him.
If you guys need something else warned, whether it’s shown up yet or not, just let me know and I’ll make a note of it in my running list. I tend to write darker fics and so I try to catch the big ones, but even if it’s just a personal squick I want to do my best to not spring things on people.
Chapter 3
Notes:
Hi y’all. Surprise. I’m not dead. Just very very tired. 😂 but I love these cuties so here we are.
Chapter Text
Sokka sharpens Boomerang while Zuko and Aang meditate. Seeing Aang check out is pretty normal, but watching Zuko look almost peaceful feels wrong. It’s weird to think of him as an actual person and not the face of genocide. He was always so aggressive, lacking restraint. It was easier to heap the sins of an entire nation on Zuko when he was burning down one village or another.
A year ago Sokka watched this bald little man threaten Gran-Gran but now he’s small and scruffy haired and cuddling an eight year old like it’s natural.
The sky has long gone dark when Zuko snuffs out the flames with a twitch of two fingers on one hand. The chill from the absence of fire is immediate. Zuko blinks down at his hands for a few moments and mutters a soft phrase that Sokka doesn’t catch.
Aang does though, looking deeply puzzled. “You worship Agni?”
“You speak Imperial?” Zuko returns.
Whether it’s from the introspection inherent to meditation or whatever Zuko said, Aang looks pained. “No, well, not modern Imperial. A hundred years ago, I had a friend and he worshiped Agni. I went to the temples with him.”
“Oh.” Zuko grimaces and looks down at the sleeping pup draped across his chest. “Uncle taught me the proper way to end a meditation is to thank Agni for her gifts to us. Officially, anyway. The sages are bound more to my father’s will now than those of the spirits.”
“I gathered that from my visit to the temples.” Aang says stiffly and it’s the closest to outright hostile that Aang has been yet as he stands with a burst of air to pull him to his feet. Immediately he drops into a bow, hand over fist. “Thank you, Zuko. I appreciate your company during the meditation.”
With his expression drawn tight, Zuko dips his head in a returning nod. “I thank you for allowing me the protection of a den.”
Aang winces, but doesn’t say anything else. Instead he joins Katara’s side as they leave to check on the others who had all climbed into their beds long ago. The novelty of watching two people breathe faded quickly, so Sokka’s surprised that most of them stayed as long as they did. Even Toph had created her little mini tent and gone to sleep, though she hadn’t left Zuko’s side even then.
With the return of Zuko’s breathing to normal, The Duke fusses on his shoulder. In response Zuko croons, a soft omegan noise of comfort. When that doesn’t settle him, Zuko stands and rocks gently. “It’s a long, long way to Ba Sing Se, but the girls in the city they look so pretty. They kiss so sweet that you’ve really got to meet, the girls of Ba Sing Se.”
Still humming, Zuko moves towards the The Duke’s little nest next to the fire. He doesn’t seem to notice that Sokka is still there watching. His entire focus seems to be in keeping the pup asleep as he gracefully transfers The Duke into the small pile of bedding. “Your song is so sweet that I pledge my heart to thee, my girl of Ba Sing Se.”
“It’s a long, long way to Ba Sing Se.” It’s criminal just how much longing Zuko can put into a song about a city that he helped destroy. He strokes a hand through The Duke’s hair as he hums the last few notes of the final verse. Then he curls up with his forehead pressed to his knees, face tipped ever so slightly so that he can bite his own wrist to stifle a whine.
Deciding that waiting to reveal himself was just going to make the situation more awkward, Sokka sheaths Boomerang and approaches. “Are you aware of the irony contained within your rendition of an Earth Kingdom marching song or...”
Zuko jumps to face him, frightened expression quickly turning to stone. Right, he can’t see on that side. Sokka keeps forgetting. “No less ironic than when my uncle sings it.”
“I dunno, man. He did sort of save our butts in Ba Sing Se when you and your sister were doing your very best to murder us.” Sokka shrugs and kind of wishes he didn’t sheath Boomerang because there’s really no way to get him back out subtly in case of jerkbender attack.
“And before that he laid siege to the city for six hundred days.” Zuko gestures broadly with one hand. “The only reason the city didn’t fall earlier is because Lu Ten died. And I wasn’t trying to murder you.”
Lu Ten, important name. Follow up later. Sokka notes to himself and then decides to take the more predictable path of conversation. “Right. Well, forgive me for misunderstanding your attempts to invite us over for tea. Where I come from blasting fire at someone’s face is a death threat.”
“I didn’t! Azula did, but I wasn’t going to risk it. How was I supposed to know the avatar state made death permanent?” Zuko hisses, no less threatening for his low tone, as he hunches in further on himself.
Right. He was blasted by someone in the face—maybe in a situation involving tea. Good job Sokka.
Before he can apologize, Zuko presses on. “I spent three years combing the four nations for an airbender, I had no interest going back to the poles to steal babies.”
“Yeah... that’s quite the hobby you picked up.” Sokka grimaces. “Most of us pick weapons, or bending magic, or food. Y’know, reasonable things.”
“Most of you had a choice.” Zuko answers darkly, and that’s another one of those conversation topics Sokka’s not touching with a ten foot spear.
He decides to circle back around. “So... Lu Ten. A brother?”
“Cousin.” Zuko uncurls slightly, staring down at his hands with that same unseeing gaze from his season. “He and Uncle fought together during the siege. One of your Earthbenders crushed him. I’m told it wasn’t pretty. He was Uncle’s only son, and since Uncle’s so old I guess Grandfather Azulon figured it was better to skip straight to my father. Uncle’s kept the title of Crown Prince, but everyone knows Azula will be the next Firelord.”
Yikes. Sokka’s seen Aang and Toph’s training bruises. Crushed until you pop sounds like a really bad way to go. At this point he’s starting to get the feeling that any conversation about Zuko’s family is going to be touchy, and really that should have been obvious, but Sokka can’t help himself. “Aren’t you older? Why don’t you take the throne?”
“I’m an omega.” Zuko’s annoyance is somehow better than the dark emotion from earlier and honestly Sokka isn’t sure he likes that. “My job is to produce more soldiers to defend Azula’s throne.”
“Right. And capture the avatar.”
“And capture the avatar.” Zuko agrees with one of those almost smiles. “Chasing children around the world has been excellent practice for chasing children around the palace grounds.”
“See, we strap our pups to our backs. Much less chasing.” Sokka dons his most obnoxious smirk. “Unlike you jerkbenders, we’ve got actual work to do.”
“I’d be a little more insulted if I wasn’t classically trained in three instruments and several forms of embroidery.” Zuko snorts with another maybe smile before adjusting The Duke’s little nest, fussing with the blankets to make the walls sturdier. “I haven’t seen this one tied up.”
“He’s Earth Kingdom, first, and second he’s like eight. A little too old for an amauti.” Sokka can’t quite hold in his own laugh at the image of a grumpy Zuko with a baby in his parka. The knowledge that it would probably be a stolen water bending avatar baby makes his chuckles die quickly.
Zuko just pulls a face, seemingly unaware of Sokka’s change of mood. He shifts so his elbow is balanced his raised knee and rests his chin on his open palm. “Well forgive me, but there weren’t many water tribe omegas willing to let me study their childcare.”
“Imagine that.” Sokka remarks inanely.
Shame, heavy and syrupy sweet, weighs down Zuko’s already sweet scent. The omega’s turned his gaze to the campfire and reaches out towards it absently, fingers playing with the flames like Aang would play with a catowl. “I know it doesn’t make it better, but I am sorry. I didn’t want to hurt your people, I just needed Aang.”
“I know.” Sokka feels his own scent rising up in response, a faint note of protective heat threading through the mint and tobacco. It’s instinctual, sending out alpha scent to reassure a pack omega and hide their distress from anyone who might prey on them. It’s embarrassing. “You could have done a lot more than shake my grandma around, and you didn’t go back after Aang’s escape.”
“Mmm. You were lucky it was me and not Zhao.” Zuko agrees, tipping ever so slightly in Sokka’s direction. Before Sokka can decide whether or not he wants to give in to the urge to scent the sad omega, a furrow builds between Zuko’s eyebrow and the corresponding muscle beneath his scar. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my heat was still this strong. I’ll take my leave.”
“I’ll walk you to your room—not because I don’t trust you.” Sokka is quick to add, as he stands and holds out his hand to Zuko. He shouldn’t be startled by the rough callouses or shiny scars on the firebender’s hand when it rests in his, but he is. He tightens his hold on those slender fingers for a moment after pulling Zuko to his feet, and then lets go. “Instincts, y’know? If it bothers you, just tell me to back off. Aang and Toph do it enough that I’m used to it.”
That gets him another odd look from Zuko. “You’re the alpha.”
“Here, in this pack, you have most of the say on that sort of thing.” Sokka corrects and doesn’t like the flash of want he gets when the omega takes the arm he‘d jokingly offered.
He and his hand are definitely due some me time.
Zuko shakes his head slightly. His stride is measured; toe to heel with a soft sway but there’s a forcefulness to it that hints at aggressive bending forms. “I’m Fire Nation, and an omega at that.”
“Yeah, well, we’re not going to set you loose on Appa or anything but,” Sokka shrugs lightly, “in the Water Tribe omegas are the heart of the family. That means they decide how familiarly an alpha is allowed to treat them. It also means they get to decide who’s allowed in their nests.”
Sokka adds that last part a little pointedly, still not a big fan of Zuko’s very blatant assumption that he’s being tolerated so Sokka can have sex.
Zuko hums a quiet note of acknowledgment but doesn’t speak until they’ve reached the room he was staying in. “So, if an omega is being courted by an alpha they despise they could turn him down even if they were betrothed?”
Everything about Zuko sends Sokka’s mind straight back to Yue and he really hates it. “Well, the Northern Tribe can be different but where I’m from yeah. Omegas are precious, to be protected. A happy omega is a jewel in its pack’s crown.”
“Heard that line before.” Zuko grimaces and rubs lightly at the bottom of his scar. ”Minus the happy part. Omegas are ornaments tasked with raising soldiers.”
And ouch. Sokka might have said the same thing before Suki. There’s a lot he could say to that, a lot he wants to say to that, but he doesn’t. They’re not friends, not even allies really. So instead he forces a grin and says, “I wouldn’t mind if the fire nation omegas birthed less soldiers actually.”
It gets him just the faintest twitch at the corner of Zuko’s mouth as he steps away from Sokka and bows low. He hesitates in the doorway to his nesting room for half a second and Sokka barely catches his reply.
“Neither would I.”
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Notes:
I’m still not dead! Lol. And I’m still obsessed with these boys. I just want to smush them together and watch the cultural misunderstandings fly.
Chapter Text
They settle into something of a routine. Zuko rises with the dawn to meditate while The Duke climbs all over him. Sometimes Aang joins him, but Zuko never presses the issue. Afterwards, Zuko joins them for breakfast where he picks at what is offered. Usually he presses the rest of his portion into the hands of one of the children. Then he disappears into his den until supper when he does his candle light meditation.
Alright. So maybe Zuko is the one settling into a routine that Sokka is obsessively cataloguing.
It’s only good practice though!
Zuko is a jerkbender and the more he learns about Zuko the better prepared he’ll be when Zuko inevitably turns on them.
Their stores are running low though. Hunting can be done alone if necessary but it’s safer and more profitable to hunt in pairs. The issue lies in finding a partner.
Katara won’t leave the pups in the pack’s den without an alpha protector. Toph hates hunting because remaining still and quiet for so long brings back bad memories. Teo and The Duke are too young and as fondly as he looks back on teaching the Tribe’s pups, he isn’t eager to do it ever again. Haru probably wouldn’t need much more than minimal advice but Sokka is doing his best to stay out of the Katara’s messy love triangles. Aang would actually be pretty useful but he’s a vegetarian and while Sokka will never understand it, he is willing to respect that.
If he has to.
By process of complicated and very necessary elimination that leaves Zuko.
The omega broke from his pattern today, taking the pups and the laundry to a shallow part of the lake to wash up.
Sokka and Katara both tried to protest but Toph had skillfully argued that she was the most powerful bender and that she could trap Zuko easily. The Duke less skillfully argued that he was an expert combatant and could knock Zuko out anytime he wanted. Zuko for his part had looked so pitiful at being denied a chance to earn his keep that Sokka nearly chased him off just to avoid more offers of the fire prince’s body.
It’s a beautiful body, probably made all the more attractive by the severe lack of beautiful bodies around Sokka, but it doesn’t matter how attractive a body is if it’s terrified and unwilling.
Quite frankly Sokka is growing tired and quite worried by Zuko’s immediate assumption that every misstep will be paid for by his body. He knows—everyone knows—how terrible The Fire Nation is but he always assumed that they would be better to their own people. The longer he shares living quarters with one of the most important people in the nation, the less he’s certain of that.
At any rate, it’s clear watching the pups splash around with Zuko that their worries were unfounded in this instance. The Duke is perched on Zuko’s shoulders, shouting loudly in his native tongue while Toph stomps about arguing back in the same language. Teo is out of his seat, legs unwrapped, sitting in the shallowest part of the water. He’s also arguing, but with Zuko. It would appear the omega refuses to allow help with the laundry he’s scrubbing and is instead insisting that Teo enjoy the nice day out.
Zuko meanwhile is red faced and sweaty as he scrubs soap through the clothes against a large rock. He also has his hair pulled back and his shirt off—although the binder that Toph had complained about is on and Sokka tells himself that he’s not disappointed.
Again, lonely alpha meet the only omega in the vicinity who isn’t a child.
Then Toph and The Duke both go silent. It’s a warning sign that has Sokka, Teo, and Zuko on immediate alert. Sokka is still too far away to interfere but if he runs he might still mediate the worst of it. Everything happens in slow motion and Sokka is helpless to watch as Toph kicks up a rock wall that sends a wave to drench Zuko at the same time The Duke dumps a helmetful of water over Zuko’s head.
The whole world freezes as they wait to see the jerkbender’s reaction.
Then Zuko reaches up behind him and swings The Duke around in a high arching circle, growling out some threat Sokka can’t make out.
Sokka reaches the bank just as The Duke is tossed out towards the deeper waters, screaming and laughing all the while. The pup is still cackling as he swims back towards Zuko with long, skilled strokes. Young as he is, it’s clear that he grew up near a deep river bed and spent a lot of time there before the devastation of his home.
Zuko has already turned towards his next victim Toph. The Earthbender is keeping to the shallows, running as best she can with the water lapping at her calves. With his longer legs, and his sight not distorted by the water, Zuko catches up quickly and tackles her from behind. They both go tumbling down as Zuko pretends to get ready to throw her but never actually lifts her feet off the ground. Teo has joined in too, play sword fighting The Duke with reeds growing nearby.
The swords catch Zuko’s attention and he releases Toph, calling to get the boy’s attention as he mimes a basic stance. He barks corrections like a field officer, even as his expression seems amused. “Angle your arm, Teo. The Duke, your feet need to be grounded. Jumping comes later.”
The unexpected domestic scene hurts more than anything Zuko ever did to them previously.
It comes crashing to a halt when Zuko catches sight of Sokka. All emotion drains from the omega’s expression as he drops into an immediate bow of deference. “Greetings, alpha. I trust you are well?”
“Yeah. Doing great.” Sokka grimaces. It’s not that he wants to be best friends with Zuko, and this weird tension is actually preferable to whatever was going on during his heat, but it still feels wrong. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“We were doing the laundry.” The Duke informs Sokka, abandoning his reed sword to climb up Zuko’s back. He clings to the omega’s shoulders, one hand fisting in Zuko’s curls making them stick up every which way. The Duke has become Zuko’s shadow, baring his little puppy teeth at the others any time he feels they’re threatening his new friend.
Explaining that his new friend is half the reason that the free world lives in terror hadn’t gone over too well for Katara.
“Laundry? Is it too much to hope that mending is up next?” Sokka doesn’t have to try too hard to dredge up a grin for the kid. “Katara refuses to stitch up the holes in my pants anymore.”
“It’s because you always say something sexist when you ask her.” Toph tells him, hooking her hand through the crook of Zuko’s arm. She tugs lightly and Zuko helps her back to the water’s edge where she’ll be able to see best without hesitation.
Sokka shoots her an irritated glance that he knows she can’t see but he still hasn’t figured out a way to send angry vibrations through the Earth at her so he’s settling for what he has. “I do not. I mean, I haven’t since Suki!”
“You sound defensive.” Zuko says mildly. He doesn’t glance over at Sokka as he wrings out the last of the clothing and sets it inside the basket. “Your sister is an alpha, shouldn’t Aang do the mending?”
Sokka is trying really really hard to prove that he’s not sexist anymore but he’s still a hot blooded alpha and Zuko is a very attractive omega with a pup on his back and a basket on his hip. He tears his gaze away and sloshes through the water to help Teo up onto his chair. “Aang is a pup and Katara did the mending back with the other women back home.” After half a second he adds, “And I don’t think that anymore.”
“So you’re willing to do the mending?” Zuko asks.
Sokka grins and takes the basket from the jerk bender when he approaches, swinging it up onto his own hip. They start the walk back. “I’d do the mending, but unfortunately the most I can do with thread is make nets and string up fish.”
“How alpha of you.” Zuko says. His gaze stays straight ahead and his face stays as frozen as it always is, but there’s the faintest twitch of a smile on the good corner of his mouth. “Very unsexist.”
“Someone needed to fish.” Sokka protests, fighting back his own laughter. “Might as well be me. I was good at it.”
“Mmhmm.” Zuko glances at him sidelong, absently reaching back to adjust The Duke to a more stable position. “I suppose the water bender wouldn’t be naturally adept at navigating the water and thus would be very bad at fishing.”
“We were trying to hide her.” Sokka pouts and maybe gets his hand wet for the sole purpose of flicking water at Zuko’s face. “And anyway, I said I’m not sexist now, not that I wasn’t then.”
Zuko snorts and steam sizzles from where the droplets hit his skin. The omega shrugs, making the pup clinging to his back giggle and hold tighter. He doesn’t say anything else though, moving ahead to steady Teo’s chair as Toph builds a ramp back to their campsite.
That small reaction definitely doesn’t make Sokka want to try harder to make the omega actually laugh.
Once Zuko has the pups back in Katara’s care, he returns to Sokka and holds out his hands for the laundry. “I’ll take the mending from here.”
“Actually.” Sokka rocks backward on his heels. “I was wondering if you would go hunting. The others either won’t or are too young and—“
“Hunting is dangerous alone.” Zuko interrupts, glancing at the others. “You don’t think you’d be safer without the fire bender?”
“You can jerkbend me here just as easily as you can out there.” Sokka answers truthfully. When it’s clear that Zuko isn’t buying it, he adds, “I trust that you won’t risk whatever scheme you might have playing out on a easy shot at the one non-bender. And besides, I’m trying to prove to Toph I’m not sexist.”
“I fail to see how that’s my problem,” Zuko gives that same little half twitch of his lip again as he takes the basket from Sokka, “but I am tired of eating vegetarian. I’ll hang this up and then join you. You cleared it with your sister?”
Sokka huffs and crosses his arms in mock outrage. “Katara isn’t the boss of me.”
“Sure.” Zuko raises his eyebrows before turning and heading to the makeshift clothesline set up near their fire. “I want to be there when you tell her that.”
—
The omega prince is much better at hunting than Sokka had been willing to give him credit for. Dressed from wrists to ankles in loose clothing with twin swords strapped to his back and a knife hilt poking out of his boot, Zuko slips through the forest with little noise. It’s clear that he’s had more practice moving among the trees than Sokka would have predicted given the little he’s seen of the Fire Nation’s landscape.
Zuko is excellent at tracking too but Sokka had expected that given how often he’d stalked the Gaang during their early days.
Sokka lines up boomerang, taking that extra breath to make sure that he has the shot, and then throws. Neither so much as twitches a muscle as they watch boomerang spin a curved arch through the air before striking the tendons of the skunk-deer’s back leg.
It cries out as it falls. The others of the herd all release their putrid scent as they flee. If they had the luxury of being picky, Sokka would have passed on the beasts for the smell alone. Unfortunately their meat stores are nearly depleted and a single skunk-deer doe will be more than enough to last them a few weeks.
Zuko is moving before the poor creature hits the forest floor with a heavy thud. Without hesitation, Zuko cuts the poor creature’s throat and holds it down as it thrashes out it’s last moments.
Meanwhile Sokka tugs his boomerang free and scans the area around them to be sure that nothing lies in wait to attack.
By the time he’s certain that the noise hasn’t attracted anything opportunistic, Zuko is already beginning to clean their catch. Sheathing Boomerang, Sokka pulls out his knife to start the process at the other end. “You’re better than I thought.” Then he winces because examining his biases is becoming depressingly familiar but not any easier for the practice. “Sorry, not because you’re an omega. We didn’t even know you were an omega. Just, Fire Nation Prince… I didn’t think you dressed yourself.”
“I didn’t.” Zuko gives his little half snort. His delicate hands cut through the hide deftly, tearing it from the flesh without damaging it. “You should have seen us after our exile. Uncle tried to make a tea and nearly killed himself.”
“That bad?” Sokka asks. He leans back on his heels as he rolls up the hide and then moves to help Zuko with the entrails. “Surprised you made it long enough to become a thorn in our side again.”
“Yeah, well.” Zuko shrugs. His expression is decidedly more self-loathing as he manages to disembowel their catch without puncturing anything nasty and spilling the steaming half fermented rumen contents across their future meal. “My one redeeming quality is that I can be taught eventually. The accent could be explained away as growing up in one of the early colonies and… well, with a change of clothes I don’t exactly look like a fire bender. People bought the idea that we were refugees easily enough.”
It makes sense. Zuko has proven himself nothing if not resourceful. As they moved further inland and closer to Ba Sing Se—further away from the war—people probably did get less suspicious of a useless teenager and his uncle. Especially when coupled with his burn scars. It’s galling to think about even if Sokka is sort of glad Zuko made it.
He still wishes that Zuko and his uncle had stayed in hiding rather than nearly killing Aang again, but he didn’t bring Zuko out here to continue yelling at him over being born into a nation of jerks. Katara has that pastime handled all by herself. So instead, he ties together the skunk-deer’s legs and hauls it up onto his shoulder with a grimace that he can almost force into a grin. “I bet your hair looked horrid. They probably all pitied you for that alone.”
“I’m sure it didn’t hurt.” Zuko snorts and wipes his knife off on his pant leg. He doesn’t seem to notice the stench of the hide he’s holding. They’ll soak out the smell and it’ll make a nice bedroll for the extra bodies they picked up after the failed invasion.
Not for the first time Sokka wonders if the Fire Nation army chose that exact shade of red for it’s blood hiding properties.
Zuko bites his plush lower lip and shifts his weight from one hip to the other as he seems to debate what to say next.
He does that a lot Sokka’s noticed over the past few days. The good side of his face will twist into an angry scowl that looks like he’s plotting murder and he won’t speak. Then, maybe ten minutes later, he’ll ask a question and it’ll be so benign but Sokka gets the feeling that Zuko thinks he’s risking death to ask.
It’s the case this time too. They’re more than halfway back to the temple when Zuko finally speaks. “With your permission, I would like to bathe and cut my hair. Lady Beifong—Toph—said I didn’t need to ask but I didn’t think disappearing on my own would endear me to your group.”
“No. Probably not.” Sokka says. The tight flash of emotion in his chest is definitely because he doesn’t like the idea that Zuko’s afraid to bath without permission and not because he’s thinking about the fire prince naked. They’re fighting in a war—his father and friends have been captured to be tortured while he runs free so he’s most certainly not using that freedom to fantasize about their quasi enemy naked.
Belatedly, he realizes that Zuko is waiting for an answer and so he nods. “Yeah, I mean. I really don’t see a problem with it. Katara will probably want to send someone with you—maybe Aang—but that’s not because we don’t trust you! Or not just because of that.” He groans and finishes miserably. “It’s safer to do things in pairs.”
“I thank you for your consideration.” Zuko rumbles in response, expression unreadable. “I will talk to your sister.”
Sokka scrambles after him up the slope. This means that he’s going to have to find a chance to sneak away from preparing the meat to have a talk with Katara first. There’s no way that Zuko asking Katara for anything is going to go over well.
And… he really wants to give Zuko the one thing he’s asked for.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Summary:
Sokka, Katara, and Aang talk.
Notes:
It’s just a baby chapter but I’m in a professional school now and if I thought I had no time before this…
Anyway, a look at what the original trio are thinking about their newest pack member.
Warnings below, but this is a fairly mild chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sokka thinks that even though fortune telling is bullshit, he has an unfortunate knack for prediction.
Katara glares down at him with crossed arms while Aang sits at their feet with a guarded expression. She’s, as Sokka thought, extremely unhappy with the idea of letting Zuko go off again. “He was just at the water. Why does he need to go back?”
“He wants to bathe, Katara.” Sokka understands her concern but is still struggling to restrain his annoyance. Zuko’s been with them almost a week; several days past his season. Either they have to let him officially join the pack or they have to send him away. They frankly don’t have the man power to keep him as prisoner.
They both know it and so does Zuko, but the omega still defers to them as if he is one.
Taking a deep breath, Sokka drops to the ground next to the Aang and forces his voice to stay reasonable. “He’s an omega, used to court life, who hasn’t gotten the chance to do more than wipe down since his season ended. You saw how Yue was raised, and Toph. He was a prince.”
“Of the fire nation.” She answers with a low growl, ignoring Sokka’s attempts to deescalate. It makes Aang flinch. “How can you forget what they’ve done to us, what he’s done to us?”
“I’m not forgetting.” Sokka swallows down his own growl, not interested in posturing back. “I’m not. I don’t think we should just set him loose, but Aang can go down for a ‘mega spa day or something with him.”
“Aang’s just a kid. You want to send him out alone with one of those monsters?”
“The fire nation is bad, I know that, but I don’t want to be like them either.” Sokka holds up his hands, glancing at Aang. The omega pup hasn’t truly recovered from Ba Sing Se, as much as he pretends otherwise. Turning his attention back to Katara he shrugs helplessly. “We can’t be as bad as they are, or what’s the point of this? He’s not done anything yet and Aang’s the avatar who’s going to have to face Zuko’s dad. I’m not saying trust the omega, but Aang’s going to have to deal with worse later. Maybe he could learn something.”
“Sokka’s right.” Aang speaks up, cutting them both off. He floats back to his feet with a gust of air. As awe inspiring as all his bending is, there’s something about watching the way he manipulates his birth element. He has a natural ease that Sokka’s never gotten to see in any other bender.
It makes him ache for a world where people like his sister were never forced to see their bending as something foreign and dangerous.
Dragging his thoughts back to the conversation he tries to attempt for humor with a overly shocked, “I am?”
It pulls a huff from Katara but Aang smiles and that was Sokka’s goal.
The omega pup nods, touching the back of Katara’s arm. “Zuko’s had more than enough opportunity to assassinate or call his family down on us. If he’s honest about having turned his back on them, then we have to take advantage of that. Of anyone we could find, who else would know the fire lord better?”
“Azula?” Sokka volunteers and that gets both Aang and Katara to laugh.
Aang’s grin doesn’t fade as he shakes his head.
Even Katara seems to relax, resting one arm on Aang’s shoulder so she can lean against him. “On second thought I think I’ll take the crazy fire royal we have.”
“That’s the spirit!” Sokka jumps back to his feet so he can scent them both. It’s a familiar gesture, something he’s done for Katara since she was a baby. After denning with Aang for almost a year, grooming the omega pup has grown almost as comforting. “And if he messes up, we take him out. But, he… he’s living on eggshells here. Every time I talk to him it’s like he expects me to mount him right there.”
“Still?” Katara grimaces.
Sokka nods with a hum as, with the argument dismissed, he turns back to prepping their meat for storage. “It’s getting better, and he’s not accusing me outright anymore but… but it’s the way he watches me, and you. He’s terrified even if he won’t say it.”
Sokka glances to the cliff’s edge where Zuko is stretching the hide on a makeshift frame. He’s teaching The Duke, carefully showing each step. Seeing the two together is growing less surprising as time goes on, as is watching him with Toph, but it doesn’t grow less uncomfortable.
The omega who talks to the pups with the serious of addressing a superior is a devastating contrast to the fire nation solder who drove his boat into the wall’s of Sokka’s home. There’s still that same, now restrained, anger as he moves but now Sokka can see beneath it to the desperation that drives it.
Sokka doesn’t like it. It was easy to hate Zuko when he was a solder committing war crimes. It’s harder when he’s picturing a delicate omega wrapped in silks being trained to be the perfect decoration for whatever alpha he’d been promised to as a baby.
It makes him wonder what happened to change that trajectory.
He turns back to his work before Zuko can notice his staring and start to worry. “If he’s going to betray us, it would be better that he does it now when we can bend him off the cliff or something rather than waiting until we’re closer to the fire lord.”
“Alright, alright. But if something goes wrong, I’m blaming you.” Katara finally relents, nosing at the top of Aang’s head. “We need to decide what we’re doing about the fire lord soon.”
Sokka nods in agreement. His stomach sinks at the idea of coming up with another plan after his last tactical maneuver failed so badly.
“Soon.”
Notes:
No warnings other than Sokka mentions Zuko is still afraid of them. Also a hint at Zuko’s betrothal, but Sokka has no idea just how bad that situation was.
Coming up soon, sparky sparky boom man. You didn’t think I forgot about him did you?
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Notes:
Warnings for discussion of sexism and some light talk Zuko’s childhood and betrothal. Sokka asks if Zhao (not knowing that’s who) ever hurt Zuko.
Chapter Text
Zuko returns a few hours later, smelling sweet and with his hair a few inches shorter than before but no less shaggy. His mood seems to have been boosted by the bath but Aang’s certainly has not.
The little monk pup with him is sullen and doesn’t respond to Katara’s prompting. He brushes past her and settles into a loose cross-legged pose next to the fire. He stares into the flames, with the pensive expression that he seems to wear near permanently, like they hold the secret to ending the war.
Zuko on the other hand is swarmed by pups immediately.
The Duke clambers up and doesn’t seem to mind that Zuko doesn’t have the same space for perching that Pipsqueak has. The pup hooks his legs around Zuko’s neck and crosses them at the ankles before peering down at him. “Where’d you go with Aang?”
The omega must be stronger than expected because he doesn’t sway at all beneath the weight of the dense earth pup. He just puts a steadying hand on the kid’s thigh and then ruffles Teo’s hair. “Bathing. It will be your turn tomorrow.”
“What if I don’t wanna?” The Duke asks, shoving up his helmet so he can see.
Zuko snorts quietly and takes a seat, legs folded beneath him in that leg cramping manner all ashmakers seem to prefer. He, to no surprise, ends up seated next to Toph. “You’ll take your bath tomorrow and be grateful we aren’t within the walls of the fire palace. Lady Aikeno tended to all apprentice’s baths, even those of the royals, and your experience was as good as your performance that day.”
So no doubt the pampered omega prince had been lounging for hours in a heated spa every evening.
“What was the palace like?” Teo asks with the same quiet trembling that all children get when they’re asking a question that they know has a bad answer–they’re just not sure how bad yet.
Zuko freezes for a moment and then sets The Duke down into Toph’s lap so he can tend to the teapot set over the fire. “It was… very different.”
Sokka's rolls his eyes and tries to turn his attention away from Zuko so he can focus on the cord he’s weaving.
“I bet Zuko wants to tell us about all his suitors.” Toph teases with the wide grin of shared terrible experiences.
The omega in question snorts a soft puff of smoke that isn’t at all endearing as he begins serving the tea. His posture is as perfect as ever, shoulders back and hands delicate as he pours, smelling of sweet spices and damp river when he leans over Sokka’s shoulder to reach the water tribe cup, and then kneels with equally perfect posture in his original position. “I don’t remember having any. The future of our royal line is far too important to leave to such trivial things as a prince’s emotions.”
He says it with such seriousness. Like he isn’t the prince in question. Like he doesn’t get to have an opinion about it.
“Father betrothed me at five, when I showed I could harness Agni’s gift, to a… to a promising Lieutenant under the understanding he must become a general before claiming me. He died during my exile so when I returned, Azula gave me one of her lovers.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Sokka drops his work in his shock and then rushes to pick it back up.
Zuko’s amber gaze slides to Sokka at his interruption before settling back on his tea cup. “Azula and Mai could never be married and I was in need of a husband. I would marry Mai, Azula would marry Ty Lee, and I could take a companion if I chose later. One of Azula’s better plans actually.”
Even his sips are delicate.
“That’s messed up.” Toph says and crosses her arms with a shake of her head. “And I thought my parent’s schemes to find me an alpha were bad.”
The firebender hums.
Sokka didn’t know a person could sound so sad and bitter. He wishes he still didn't know.
Zuko shrugs one shoulder. “My father strives to be the best in all things. Even being the worst.”
“Gotta admit, he’s doing great at that.” Sokka says, because what else is there to say? Then he turns to stare at Toph as what she said registers. “Wait, your parents are trying to marry you off? You’re twelve!”
Zuko seems to agree, but for an entirely different reason. “You’re a powerful bender, surely there was someone suitable among the earlier offers.”
“Calm down, snoozles. They weren’t going to marry me off for another five years or so, but dangling me on the marriage market?” Her shrug is similar to the one Zuko usually gives but with a lot less resignation and a lot more ‘fuck em’. Then she turns to pat Zuko’s thigh, startling the omega enough that his hands flare red on the teacup before dousing entirely seconds later.
Oblivious, she answers him next. “It’s a little different in the Earth Kingdom, especially depending on which kingdom you’re in. For me, my parents introduced me to the market like a little doll and then they were supposed to start fielding offers. By the time I’m an adult, they’ll have picked the perfect family to complement Dad’s business and I’ll be married off.”
“It’s not so different.” Zuko muses, leaning over to pour himself more tea. “Some of the minor nobles wait until their children are older too.”
“ Older .” Sokka scoffs, sipping at the tea Zuko poured. It’s not the best tea he’s ever had, actually it’s kind of bad, but there’s something that has him savoring it. “You’re both children.”
“I’m older than you.” Zuko says primly over his teacup and for the first time Sokka can see him as an older brother with an annoying little sister.
Sokka decides to respond in the time-honored tradition of sticking his tongue out. “I’m not betrothed.”
Zuko set down his cup to glance between Sokka and Katara with a puzzled blink. “Truly? Neither of you? But I thought your father is the Chief of your tribe.”
“And who would we be betrothed to?” Katara snaps, arms crossed as she stands over the soup pot. “You saw our tribe. Everyone else is an elder, a pup, or a married omega.”
“I assumed they were with the rest of your troops.” Zuko’s pink tongue darts out to lick nervously at his bottom lip. It’s chapped and Sokka is definitely not noticing that.
Turning his gaze away quickly, Sokka tugs lightly at the cord to test its strength. It’s definitely because he needs to focus on his work and not because Zuko is distracting. It’s also not because he doesn’t want to watch Zuko’s expression change when he says, “Why would the omegas go? Fighting is alpha work. Omega’s stay home and watch the pups.”
“Ah.” Zuko’s voice goes tight and it’s a really good thing Sokka isn’t looking at him. “I see.”
“Don’t listen to bossy britches.” Toph breaks in. “He doesn’t think that anymore.”
“Omegas can fight for the Fire Nation?” Haru asks with a slight frown. He’s leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed. “I’d figured you’d keep them locked up tight.”
“ I’m an omega.” Zuko answers dryly and even though it’s clear that he was a special case, he still has a point. Zuko was clearly trained in combat from a young age. “So is Ty Lee. It doesn’t really matter what you are as long as you can fight. If you can’t, or you don’t want to, that’s when you don’t have as many options.”
“And being heir didn’t expand your options?” Sokka can’t help but butt in.
It gets him a tight, funny little look from Zuko who shakes his head. “I was like third at best. Omegas can die for our country, not lead it. La–er Azula said I was going to be her royal advisor, but she’s a liar so…”
“Right.” Sokka isn’t really sure what he was going to follow up with but it doesn’t matter because Katara decides to join the conversation.
She leans in over her mending to sneer at Zuko through the flames. “You were going to be the advisor, not your betrothed?”
Zuko’s wince pulls at Sokka’s protective instincts. The omega doesn’t seem offended though—he’s never offended by Katara’s aggression. Even this reaction seems to be more from whatever Zuko’s thinking of rather than Katara herself.
“I don’t know.” The omega takes another sip of his tea to steady himself. “Azula keeps her own counsel, whether she would have appointed me or the Admiral is impossible to say. She hated him though.”
“He’s dead right?” Katara asks. “Did you kill him?”
It’s only because he’s paying attention that Sokka can see the tremor of Zuko’s fingers as he sets down his cup.
Zuko places his hands flat on his thighs and straightens his posture as though facing an inquisition. “I considered it.”
“But you didn’t.” Aang speaks up for the first time. Gone is the playful child and in his place sits a wise monk with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Sokka prefers the kid.
There’s a pause before Zuko answers. There often is. The omega considers his words a lot more than his past behavior would lead anyone to believe. He eventually dips his head in agreement. “I did not.”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t necessary. He died before I was released from exile.” Zuko shrugs.
Aang’s energy is as restless as the wind howling outside the cave’s mouth. “Would you have?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.” Dropping his gaze to his lap, Zuko speaks quietly. “Azula hated him more than I did. She might have taken care of him. He was ambitious and would likely be away on campaigns more often than not until the war’s end. I could have borne his presence long enough to become with child. The pups would have eased things, I think.”
“Until they were sent to war.” Haru accuses.
The smile Zuko gives Haru is pained and sad. “I would have lost them before that. If they were benders, my husband would have taken them to train when they were weaned. If they were not I would have smothered them.”
“You would kill your pups?” It’s the first time The Duke has sounded unsure of Zuko since his arrival.
Zuko seems startled to realize the pup is still present. He hesitates and then reaches out a hand to the pup, easily shifting to a cross legged pose to accommodate The Duke as he curls up in Zuko’s lap. The omega croons softly, fingertips wrinkled by scars smooth back the pup’s hair. “Any death I gave them would be kinder than allowing my father or husband to do it. I would not make that decision now.”
“Why not try to send them away?” Teo asks.
“To where? No one in the fire nation would raise a marked pup and outside no one would raise a fire child. Better to save them suffering.” Zuko answers, clearly distracted by comforting The Duke.
The pup tugs at Zuko’s collar, exposing pale skin where his scent is the thickest. He doesn’t say anything else as he hides his face against Zuko’s scent gland. Zuko curls around him, wrist running over The Duke’s hair and cheek. Whatever he says next is soft and in another language but it gets the pup to quiet.
Sokka didn’t think the Fire Nation was the type to teach their children the languages of lesser nations, but then again Zuko had been in hiding as a refugee. He might have picked it up then. It makes Sokka wonder how Zuko’s accent would change the vowels of the Tribe’s language.
Solely for strategic regions. He needs to know if Zuko understands it before he says something to Katara the jerkbender doesn’t need to know.
Around them, the conversation moves on. Plans are talked about obliquely, no one wants to say anything concrete until they know for sure whether they’re leaving Zuko behind.
The care seems lost on Zuko. He’s too focused on comforting The Duke to be paying much attention to anything else.
Sokka blames that and their previous conversation for the turn his own thoughts take. It doesn’t much focus to work on cordage so he’s left to picture of Zuko chasing after a small litter of pups.
They would all have fire nation dark hair, Sokka decides, and Zuko’s terrible attitude. Sokka can see him gently wrapping each child with the soft red and pink silks of the fire nation but that idea quickly gives way to the image of Zuko wrestling furs onto a squirming pup while another chews on their pudgy hand from within Zuko’s amauti.
They could distract the older ones with gathering the fishing equipment and extra furs. They’ll just make a bigger mess and cause more work, Sokka’s taken the tribe’s pups fishing enough times to know that, but the distraction will buy them the time they need to get the younger ones ready.
He thinks Zuko would be a good mother if given half a chance. He can see those fingers worn shined and smooth by blistered scars wiping away tears.
It’s not until Katara jabs him in the ribs that Sokka realizes that he’s staring; realizes that the pups he’s picturing are theirs . It’s an unsettling thought so he pushes it away to turn to his sister. “What?”
“Are you still taking first watch?” Her lips are pressed together in displeasure but Sokka doesn’t think she’s guessed where his thoughts were at.
Actually he’s positive she hasn’t because he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t give him the chance to have pups with anyone in the future if she did.
He glances down at the pile of raw material by his thigh and then at what he’s managed. It’s a decent yield, but still not enough. He nods. “Yeah. I’ll wake you when I’m done.”
Her gaze softens. Sokka knows having the omega, a threat, with their pack is wearing on her. The uncertainty of another betrayal is wearing on all of them. Especially when it’s coming on the heels of the eclipse. Sokka half wants to throw Zuko out and book it so they can recoup and lick their wounds in peace.
Aang is still clearly undecided on the path they should take though, and Sokka isn’t arrogant enough to make that choice for him.
“Go get some sleep.” With a soft snort, Sokka reaches out and tugs on one of Katara’s hair loopies. Soft wisps of hair have already escaped it. It reminds him of when they were pups and she would run crying to their mother about how he’d ruined her hair. His gaze drifts to the necklace she’d inherited and he switches to their first language so he can tease her, “And see if you can get Aang to nest unless you and Haru?”
She laughs despite herself and shoves him with mock anger. It’s good to see her happy, even just briefly. She presses a kiss against his head and then she leaves with Aang and Haru without a glance at the firebender.
Two and Toph have already headed to bed. Teo likes Zuko but he doesn’t seem as enamored as the other pups. Toph still hasn’t eased on her protective posturing, but she does let him out of her sight—well, direct presence—more readily.
It probably helps that her magic feet can see everything.
That leaves just Sokka and Zuko by the fire. The Duke is snoring away, his helmet relegated to the ground by Zuko’s hip. Whatever the omega said, it seems to have put the pup at ease once more.
The silence, broken up by the crackle of a low fire and the noise of wildlife, isn’t as awkward as Sokka thinks it should be but he breaks it all the same. “She shouldn’t have pried.”
“They were curious.” Zuko replies softly. His gaze flicks to Sokka and then back to the fire. “You can ask questions too.”
“Will you tell the truth?”
“If I lie, you’ll know it. I wasn’t made for court intrigue. Leaving that behind is the highlight of my banishments.” Zuko breathes out hard and the flames ripple with his amusement. It should make Sokka nervous.
It doesn’t.
Instead he watches the way the light flickers across the prince’s face. It's flattering and Sokka hates that. He hates that he can see the obvious yearning Zuko holds for the element, despite the way it had clearly hurt him in the past. He hates that the Fire Nation is so terrible to its own people that Zuko is still skittish around him.
He hates that he doesn’t want to be someone that makes Zuko nervous anymore.
“Is a detailed itinerary of the Fire Nation’s war plans off the table?” He asks instead with a smile he hopes makes it obvious he’s teasing.
The soft snort Zuko makes is gratifying but there’s a serious edge to his reply. “My hands are full tonight. Ask me in the morning.”
“You’d give up your people?”
Zuko’s jaw tightens and he looks down at the pup in his lap. “Would you slaughter them if I did?”
“I—“ Sokka wants to reassure him but he doesn’t want to lie either. This is a war and lives will be lost. His people aren’t the ones instigating everything, Zuko’s are. “We try to keep the casualties at a minimum.”
“Ask in the morning.” Zuko repeats, voice rougher than usual. It’s clear he’s as aware of their circumstances as Sokka is. “Anything else?”
Sokka starts to shake his head but what comes out is, “What is courtship like in the Fire Nation?”
“Uncomfortable. Tedious.” Zuko grimaces but his muscles relax. This is safer waters, even though it’s clear that the topic is almost as distasteful. “It’s mostly paperwork and bride prices and dowries when you’re young. We trained under each other’s masters once I was able to make enough flame that it was worth it. Once I had my first heat, the dinners started.”
“Dinners?” Sokka rests his cheek on his first, not bothering to stifle his laughter. Distantly he wonders if Zuko is being so open as a manipulation tactic; to make them let their guard down. “You sound like you’re talking about a funeral.”
“It felt like a funeral.” Zuko mutters, waving one hand fervently to express his annoyance without raising his voice enough to disturb the pup in his lap. “I had to wear so many layers and my hair was always tied so tight it’s a wonder I still have any. And the perfume! So much perfume. And I would sit next to him and let him feed me and not say anything . It was terrible. After we would walk through the gardens and it was so hot and my robes would drag in the grass and he would give me some jewelry that I would have to pretend to love and wear. It was terrible. I’m glad he’s dead.”
Sokka’s not sure why he asks it. Maybe it’s the privacy of the dark around them or the intimacy that comes from being the only ones awake. Maybe it’s the way that Zuko still looks like he’s waiting for Sokka to take things from him that it’s clear he’s not willing to give.
“Did he hurt you?”
Surprise widens Zuko’s good eye—highlighting the way his other eyelid droops beyond control. There’s something, confusion Sokka thinks, that quickly follows. “No, he… I was a prince with Agni’s favor at the time. He risked execution if he blemished me.”
Like Zuko is a piece of fruit to be plucked and bruised and then discarded for his imperfections.
Sokka has to swallow down a protective rumble. It’s the same feeling he gets when he thinks about the way Yue was forced into a betrothal with a bully who didn't care enough to get to know her. It’s the same need to scent Toph and then set her loose on the world when he remembers how she was in her parent’s home.
Sokka was one of Katara’s primary caretakers for years and they’re instincts he isn’t used to needing to smother. Still, smother them he does. “That isn’t what I was asking.”
Zuko examines him closer then, head tilting toward his scar. “What are you asking?”
“Zuko…” Sokka swallows hard and he knows he has no right to ask this. They’ve been enemies since birth, even if neither had known each other until a year ago. This fever dream of the past few days aside, they’re probably still enemies now. He asks anyway. “Has anybody ever touched you in a way you didn’t want?”
Zuko, with half of his face slack and the other twisted beyond recognition, blinks at him for just a moment and then he laughs for the first time since joining them—like that’s any sort of answer at all.
Except it is.
It’s just not one Sokka likes.
Pages Navigation
Venus in pisces (OTD) on Chapter 1 Sat 10 Apr 2021 05:57AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 05:20PM UTC
Comment Actions
hyattdeath on Chapter 1 Sat 10 Apr 2021 06:04AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 05:21PM UTC
Comment Actions
GellsBells on Chapter 1 Sat 10 Apr 2021 01:06PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 05:21PM UTC
Comment Actions
OceanBird291 on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 12:11AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 05:35PM UTC
Comment Actions
amberg93 on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 03:02AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sun 11 Apr 2021 05:37PM UTC
Comment Actions
Saiyajin_27 on Chapter 1 Thu 17 Nov 2022 07:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Thu 20 Apr 2023 03:16AM UTC
Comment Actions
Account Deleted on Chapter 1 Thu 31 Aug 2023 11:18AM UTC
Last Edited Thu 31 Aug 2023 11:18AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 1 Sat 31 May 2025 11:49AM UTC
Comment Actions
GellsBells on Chapter 2 Tue 13 Apr 2021 01:10AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Tue 13 Apr 2021 02:50AM UTC
Comment Actions
hyattdeath on Chapter 2 Tue 13 Apr 2021 01:48AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Tue 13 Apr 2021 02:53AM UTC
Comment Actions
OceanBird291 on Chapter 2 Tue 13 Apr 2021 12:54PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:04PM UTC
Comment Actions
Drarrywillcoshipper7 on Chapter 2 Wed 14 Apr 2021 01:59AM UTC
Last Edited Wed 14 Apr 2021 01:59AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:07PM UTC
Comment Actions
Mary_fandomsownmylife on Chapter 2 Wed 14 Apr 2021 02:37PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:13PM UTC
Comment Actions
amberg93 on Chapter 2 Wed 14 Apr 2021 03:36PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:17PM UTC
Comment Actions
antonita on Chapter 2 Wed 14 Apr 2021 08:46PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:19PM UTC
Comment Actions
sid_pinetree on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 03:20PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Apr 2021 04:22PM UTC
Comment Actions
BlackStar1702 on Chapter 2 Sun 02 May 2021 03:50PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Fri 14 May 2021 06:36AM UTC
Comment Actions
pop510 on Chapter 2 Fri 28 May 2021 04:32PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Sat 05 Jun 2021 01:41AM UTC
Comment Actions
TCMP on Chapter 2 Sun 30 May 2021 12:08PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Sat 05 Jun 2021 01:41AM UTC
Comment Actions
Ella Symphony (LaurenX) on Chapter 2 Tue 08 Jun 2021 08:43AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Fri 18 Jun 2021 10:23PM UTC
Comment Actions
Ella Symphony (LaurenX) on Chapter 2 Sat 19 Jun 2021 05:07AM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Thu 20 Apr 2023 03:17AM UTC
Comment Actions
weaselblossom on Chapter 2 Sun 04 Jul 2021 06:07PM UTC
Comment Actions
MxrBoneless on Chapter 2 Sun 18 Jul 2021 01:10PM UTC
Comment Actions
Pages Navigation