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The Fire Lily Lounge was nestled quietly at the far end of the Ember Island boardwalk, far enough from the chaos of the night market to be a retreat from the world.
Sokka had planned a date night for him and Zuko down to the last detail, as their first real evening off together in weeks. They’d left their more formal clothing behind in their suite in favour of lightweight linens, Sokka in blue and Zuko in red. The place they were in even shared Sokka’s favourite pet name for Zuko. Across the small candlelit table, Zuko looked incredibly relaxed, a sight that Sokka relished in. Zuko’s hair was undone, letting it fall loosely around his shoulders to frame his face in soft waves. He was nursing a cup of chilled tea, his gold eyes glowing under the light of the warm lamps that hung from the ceiling. Sokka thought it was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen.
For a few hours, they had managed to escape being the Fire Lord and a royal ambassador. They had managed to just be two young men in love, stealing soft glances, sharing quiet jokes and holding hands under the table where the decorative palm leaves of one of the lounge’s private booths hid them from the wealthy observers also enjoying the lounge. With Zuko for once stripped of his responsibilities, his royal robes and the necessity to always be in charge, they were able to blend in a little better and were enjoying what was an amazing romantic night out by the sea.
At least, it had been to that point.
“I’m telling you, it’s a disgrace.” A loud, booming, drunk-sounding voice echoed from the booth beside them.
Sokka sighed. Of course a bunch of drunk rich people had taken the booth right beside them, and of course they had things to whine about loud enough for everyone around them to hear.
“We’re all feeling the squeeze now.” A woman’s voice chimed in pitifully. “My brother’s shipping company had to completely restructure because of those absurd trade agreements with the Earth Kingdom. We’re giving away our hard-earned assets just to keep peace with stupid poor farmers who spent a hundred years losing a war to us.”
Zuko froze, his body going a little stiff with his teacup stuck raised halfway to his lips.
“Peace?” A third man sneered in the booth beside them, slamming his fists on the table. “It’s not peace, it’s appeasement to those who never deserved it. This young, naïve Fire Lord doesn’t have the spine for real governance. Say what you will about Lord Ozai, and I’m still glad he’s gone, but under his rule we were respected. People from outside the Fire Nation knew their place. Now, we have an immature child on the throne who does whatever the peasants around him want.”
Zuko’s jaw clenched so hard Sokka could just about hear him grind his teeth. The knuckles on Zuko’s right hand turned white as he tightened his grip on the teacup. Sokka reached under the table, laying a hand on Zuko’s knee softly.
“It’s that scar he has if you ask me.” The first male voice continued. “A mark like that, on the Fire Lord no less, it proves that he is a broken man. He was put in his place, and it’s such a shame no one has stepped up to do so again. The boy is weak. A pathetic figurehead for our once-proud nation.”
Zuko looked devastated, setting his tea down. The tea inside it began to bubble, as if his hands had started boiling it like a kettle. He started breathing heavier, and he wouldn’t look up. Sokka didn’t react straight away. He didn’t snap or yell or do anything to make a scene immediately, but Zuko could tell that he might be about to. Sokka stood up, his relaxation replaced by the stillness of a veteran warrior.
“Sokka…” Zuko muttered, worried about a public scene but knowing that he probably couldn’t hold Sokka back from saying something now.
Sure enough, Sokka ignored him, stepping out of their booth and walking around to the one next to them.
There were four people sat in the booth. Two middle-aged men sat draped in gold robes, a woman dripped in pearl jewellery, and a younger man, probably around Toph’s age, looked like he had never lifted anything heavier than a glass of wine in his life.
Sokka stood at the entrance to their booth with his arms folded over his chest, blocking the light from the lantern above the entrance and casting a shadow over their table.
“Excuse me.” Sokka started, his voice calm. “I couldn’t help but overhear the masterclass on economic policy that you’re all teaching over here.”
One of the men in gold robes, a somewhat rotund man with a thick moustache that was starting to grey slightly, frowned, looking Sokka up and down with disdain. “Boy, this is a private conversation. Run along back to whichever holiday group you’ve come from.”
That really ticked Sokka off. He stepped closer to the table to be right against it. “Right. See here’s my issue. I’m not with any ‘holiday group’. I’m actually the Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe to the Fire Nation. That young, immature Fire Lord you’re talking about is my boyfriend, who I love more than just about anything.” He gestured to the woman. “I’ll get to what you people just said about him in a moment, but while you were whining about trade policy, I couldn’t help but recall that your brother’s shipping company, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, got caught trying to dodge their taxes for years, even before Zuko’s trade agreements.”
The woman’s face dropped in an instant. “I… what… how did you know that?”
“Because I was lucky enough to accompany the Fire Lord in the meeting about what to do about the company. You’re lucky the company still exists, by the way. Some of those council members really wanted to throw the book at you. Hey, maybe the fact Zuko leans towards making peace saved you guys a lot of money, maybe even some prison time.” Sokka answered. “As for your little nostalgia trip about Ozai? Let’s see… your family’s sons I can only assume would’ve been sent all over the world to get beat to a pulp, and your tax money was pretty much being set on fire to build airships that crashed and burned in rivers, wasn’t that so much fun?”
The people sat at the table gasped. “How dare you speak of the royal family in such a way?” The first man questioned.
“I’m speaking about a tyrant.” Sokka cut in before they could continue shouting. “As for the Fire Lord?” Sokka pointed to the booth beside them where Zuko was still sitting. “Zuko is rebuilding what his father left behind. He’s fixing the huge mess Ozai made. He protects the people you want to exploit. If you think Lord Zuko is weak because he chooses peace over cruelty, then you aren’t just stupid, you’re ignorant. Almost traitorously so.”
Sokka slammed his hand down on the table, making all four people sat around it jump.
“Get up, pay your bill, pack your pretty little silk bags, and go home. If I see any of your faces again while Zuko and I stay on this island, I will personally ensure we go back over your little shipping company’s taxes for as long as we have record of. Move. Now.” Sokka growled.
For a moment no one moved, as if they’d all frozen in fear of Sokka, or of what he’d threatened. Then all at once the four of them stood up from the booth’s seats and scrambled out, shoving past Sokka and leaving the lounge at record pace. Sokka turned around and went back to his own booth to sit back down with Zuko.
Zuko looked back at Sokka, mouth slightly agape with a bit of a red flush creeping up his face. Sokka grinned back, clearly proud of his own work. They’d finished dinner and were getting ready to wind down for the night, and it felt like Sokka had successfully prevented the obnoxious drunks from ruining the night for them.
“What do you say we head back to our room?” Sokka asked, still beaming.
The walk back from the lounge to the royal villa on a private corner of Ember Island was silent, but it wasn’t a silence filled with anxiety, but a calm one, Sokka and Zuko relishing in their pure affection for each other as they held hands walking along the beach under the moonlight.
The moment Sokka pushed open the doors to the bedroom of their holiday residence and shut the doors behind them, Zuko turned around and pushed him right up against the wood.
Sokka let out a surprised grunt as his back hit the doors, but he immediately wrapped his arms around Zuko’s waist to help pull him in. “Woah there fire lily, someone a bit eager?”
Zuko let out a breathy chuckle. “Shut up.”
Zuko put his lips on Sokka’s to initiate a desperate kiss, finally doing what they’d both wanted to do all night. Sokka moved a hand up to tangle his fingers in Zuko’s hair, pulling him closer as if to erase any space left between the two of them. Zuko responded instantly, kissing him back harder. He pulled Sokka back, manoeuvring them away from the door and shoving him down onto the bed, falling on top of him. After a minute or two, Sokka noticed as Zuko continued kissing him that something felt a little off. There was something almost half-hearted about the way Zuko kept going, and when he paused for a breath, it came out as more of a sigh.
Sokka stopped Zuko from going back in for another kiss. “Zuko, hey.” Sokka whispered softly, reaching up to cup Zuko’s face in both hands. “You okay baby?”
Zuko sighed again, his breath a little shaky. He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Sokka’s shoulder, taking Sokka’s hands off his face with his own. “I just… what those rich people said at the lounge… about my scar. About… how… weak I am.”
“Zuko, don’t listen to anyone like that. Ever. They’re pathetic, bitter old people who miss being able to live off other peoples’ suffering.” Sokka responded firmly.
Sokka took one of his hands out of Zuko’s and started rubbing circles on Zuko’s back, the Fire Lord relaxing a bit. Sokka gently tilted Zuko’s face up. Slowly and softly, Sokka leaned down and pressed a tender kiss directly onto Zuko’s scar, right beside his eye. Zuko let out a shuddering breath, his body relaxing even further under Sokka’s touch.
“You are the strongest man I’ve ever met Zuko.” Sokka spoke up, murmuring against Zuko’s skin and moving his lips down from the scar to the corner of Zuko’s mouth. “You helped end the war. You founded a city. You’re bringing nations back together. Don’t ever let some drunk tax dodger make you forget that for even a second.”
“Sokka…” Zuko whispered, unable to get any more words out as he stared back at Sokka with an intensity in his eyes that made Sokka’s heart skip a beat.
“What’s up fire lily?” Sokka asked.
“Love you.” Zuko answered, finally managing to get out what he wanted to say.
“Love you too Zuko. So much.” Sokka replied, planting a soft kiss to Zuko’s lips.
Sokka kept planting kiss after kiss to Zuko’s lips for a minute or so more. Zuko needed to know exactly how special Sokka thought he was. How strong Sokka thought he was. Zuko didn’t say anything else, but after a moment longer he moved, reaching down to grab the hem of Sokka’s shirt and tug on it, looking up at Sokka as if to ask for approval. Sokka nodded, letting Zuko pull his shirt off and toss it to the side of the bed. Zuko’s hands immediately went to work tracing over Sokka’s bare torso, his fingers warm as they dragged down from his defined pecs to run down his abs. Sokka let out a low groan and gripped Zuko’s hips as he felt Zuko’s slightly calloused palms run up and down his body.
As Zuko moved his hands up to wrap around Sokka’s broad shoulders, feeling down his arms to his biceps and around to his sculpted back, Sokka grinned from ear to ear and couldn’t help the smug thought that crossed his mind. Spirits above, this is why I train. This is why I still spar with him. Every workout I’ve ever done was for Zuko to look at me like this.
Zuko stopped feeling around Sokka’s body to push him back down onto the bed, kissing him again passionately as he fell back on top. Zuko wrapped his legs around Sokka’s waist to straddle him, as Sokka grabbed at Zuko’s red linen shirt to untie it, pulling it off him to expose Zuko’s chest and chiselled abs to the cool night air. Sokka had another thought. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.
Sokka leaned up a bit to press his lips to Zuko’s neck, feeling Zuko shiver with a soft, gasping breath. Sokka’s hands slid down to Zuko’s pants, his thumbs slipping underneath the fabric at the top of them, before a sound from inside the villa prompted the two of them to freeze.
Heavy footsteps approached the door of the bedroom, and a voice called out. “My lord? I heard you return to the residence. I received a report of a disturbance before you left your dinner, so I just wanted to confirm that…”
Admiral Jee stopped dead in his tracks after opening the door, really wishing he’d knocked first. A deafening silence hit the room, so quiet it was that the now three of them could hear the waves crashing against the shore a short distance from the front of the villa. No one moved. Zuko was still on top of Sokka, both of their shirts discarded on the floor, with Sokka’s hands still anchored at the top of Zuko’s pants. Being on top of the bed, they were without even a blanket to cover up.
Sokka slowly looked around Zuko’s muscular frame to see Jee still stood there, holding a sheet of paper in his hands that surely contained a report of the altercation at the Fire Lily Lounge earlier in the evening. He looked surprised as he locked eyes with Sokka, but Jee didn’t make any scene.
For a couple of agonising moments they stared at each other, before Jee broke the silence. “Apologies my lord, I see everything is fine now.”
Jee turned around and pulled the bedroom doors shut, and the room returned to silence for a moment. Sokka turned back to look at Zuko. Zuko’s face turned a shade of red that matched his shirt lying on the floor, and he collapsed into Sokka’s chest, mortified at what had just happened. Sokka tried to hold himself back, but he couldn’t, a quiet snort escaped his nose before he began to laugh so hard it shook both of them and the bed.
“It’s not funny!” Zuko exclaimed, trying to hold back a laugh of his own. “Sokka, I’m serious! I can never look Admiral Jee in the eyes again!”
“Relax fire lily…” Sokka wheezed out as he continued laughing. “Jee’s a professional, it’s part of his duty now to be prepared for things like that!”
“I’m going to live in shame now, of a whole different kind…” Zuko groaned, trying to sound stern through his giggling.
Sokka removed one of his hands from Zuko’s pants to cup his cheek. “No time for shame Zuko, we’re not done here yet.”
Zuko looked down at him with a grin, the embarrassment slowly fading away. “Is that right?”
“It is, baby.” Sokka responded, tugging Zuko’s pants down to leave the Fire Lord in his underwear. Spirits, he looks beautiful like this. “Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”
Zuko let out a breathy laugh, reaching his hands down to tug at Sokka’s pants, eager to finish what they’d started. Nothing could wipe the smile off Sokka’s face. He was going to show Zuko just how special he thought the Fire Lord was.