Work Text:
Misty air whistled past the envelope of crimson lining the balloon above Zuko’s head, the hum matching the feeling drumming lightly in his chest. He hadn’t seen Aang in about half a year- much longer than they’d grown used to in their regular schedule of duties as leaders. While Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph were able to settle down- Aang and Zuko’s lives were much more unpredictable. Political appearances and diplomacy dragged them all over the world, but most of the time they at least had the company of one another.
By tomorrow afternoon there would be hundreds of people from all four nations pouring into the Southern Air Temple to celebrate the festivities of Aang’s 27th birthday celebration. Zuko carved a day out of his schedule to arrive early- he wanted to surprise Aang with a gift. He wrote to him to ask if they could spend one day together before the festival- just the two of them. There was an unexpected lurch in his stomach as he unfurled his letter that read “Come as many days early as you can make time for” in Aang’s flowy script.
As the balloon lowered onto an outcropping near the base of the mountain, Zuko could see that the temple was whirring with life. He made out dozens of Air acolytes buzzing through the terraces and courtyards, hanging lanterns and strands of pale blue and tangerine pennants.
His gaze skittered across the sea of nomads, searching with a small smile and a quickening heart.
Stepping out onto the sun-warmed earth to help his guards unload their belongings, he heard a familiar voice booming “Zuko!” accompanied by footsteps breaking into a sprint. He turned around, bemusement splayed across sun-stained cheeks as Aang closed his arms around him. Zuko breathlessly pressed his fingertips into the corded muscles of Aang’s half-exposed back.
Aang was the first to pull away- a tender smile pulled his mouth wide as he placed strong hands on Zuko’s shoulders. As of a few years ago, Zuko had to tilt his face up slightly to look him in the eyes- he was about 3 inches taller than him now.
“It’s been months, Zuko.” Aang breathed before pulling him in for another hug. This time Aang lifted a hand to cradle Zuko’s head into him, and Zuko breathed in the salt and sandalwood of Aang’s skin.
“It’s so good to see you, Aang.” Zuko murmured into his chest before they stepped away from one another. “And, to get to celebrate you, for once.”
Aang clicked his tongue with a tch and waved his hand in Zuko’s direction. “It was all Yee Li's idea. Besides, it’ll be more of a celebration of the restoration work we’re doing. She thought it would be good for us to gather key people from all four nations for something celebratory.” He knit his brow, “Considering the trouble Republic City’s announcement has been causing across the world.”
Zuko couldn’t help but make a note of Aang’s use of the word us.
“It’s a great idea. I see why you appointed her to the Air Acolyte Council, she's brilliant.” His lips still curled at the edges, but the smile had faded slightly from his eyes.
“Speaking of!” Aang turned as Yee Li approached them from behind. “Yee Li, you remember Firelord Zuko.”
“Your majesty, we are honored by your presence,” she said, meeting his eyes before bowing with her fist in a flame. Zuko took note of her wide brown almond eyes and sun-freckled skin- noticing, perhaps for the first time, that she was a delicately beautiful woman. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Zuko is fine, really,” he said as he returned her bow. “Thank you for planning all of this.” He placed a hand on Aang’s shoulder, noticing the way her gaze flitted to his fingers before returning to his eyes. “Diplomacy or not, Aang deserves a birthday celebration.”
“Well said.” Yee Li returned with a smile in her eyes. “I’ll show your guards where they can place your things and leave you two to catch up.” When she turned to leave, Zuko waited to see if Aang watched her walk away. Instead, Aang’s eyes were on him with that usual, enchanting grin.
“Let’s make some tea, yeah?” Aang wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they walked up the winding path. Zuko would be annoyed at the explicit demonstration of his height difference if it weren’t so damn good to see him.
~
“I swear,” Aang nearly snorted, laughing as he leaned over the table between them to refill the small ceramic cup in Zuko’s hands, “you should have seen Kuei’s face when it happened. Bumi was mortified, but hey- Flopsie has needs .” He added, shrugging as he settled back against the sun-splashed wall behind him.
“That’s horrifying, ” Zuko took a sip of warm jasmine, waving his other hand between them as if to swat the image from his mind, “and the visual? I could have gone my whole life without that, thank you.” Zuko let the last bit of laughter subside as they breathed in the reprieve of each other’s silence in the sunlight.
As people whose lives were spent in service to the common good, there weren’t many ways they could find shelter from the unrelenting needs of the world. This was one.
“I missed you,” Zuko said as he noticed the sharp angle of Aang’s jaw as his head tipped against the wall behind him.
“I missed you, too.” The way he whispered felt like it was just for him- like he wouldn’t want anyone who might pass by to hear it. “Let’s not let six months pass before we see each other again, okay?”
“Yes. Agreed. What else has happened since the last time I saw you?” Zuko asked- instead of the question he wanted to.
“Nothing interesting, just busy around here. So much restoration work to do and decisions to make,” shaking his head, the sun shifted over his cheeks, “I’m excited about what we’re doing, but those spirits-forsaken meetings with the Council are a lot.” He noticed Zuko’s eyes shift as he spoke. It had been a while, but Aang could tell when Zuko was trying to seem like he wasn’t falling apart a little bit.
“Everything okay?” He tilted his head to the side in bright, eager curiosity. The same way he used to when they first met. The most formidable man across all 4 kingdoms, he still had the spirit of a boy with a heart on his sleeve.
“Of course,” Shifting awkwardly, he figured this would be a good time to tell Aang why he had come early in the first place. “There is something- I have an early birthday present for you.”
“Present? Zuko, you didn’t have to get me anything,” For some reason, Zuko noticed just then the low timbre of Aang’s voice. It reverberated something in him he couldn’t place. “This,” Aang gestured with his hands to the tea set and to Zuko, “is the best birthday gift I could have asked for.”
Underneath Aang’s kindness, Zuko sensed a strange formality.
“Of course I’d be here, Aang. That’s a given.” He said, trying to sound like he wasn’t offended. But, Aang could hear it. He always could.
“I know that. I’m just,” he reached across the table to take Zuko’s hand into his own, “really grateful you’re here- is all.” The warmth in his eyes was genuine, but there was an unnamed current running beneath them.
Squeezing Zuko’s hand tightly before releasing it, his eyes shined whimsically, “So you got me something, huh?”
“I did, and it’s good.” Mischief dancing like fire in his eyes, “You’re still free tonight, yeah?”
“Yes, I do have to attend a Council meeting to finalize some business before all the diplomatic guests arrive, but I can meet you in a few hours after sundown. I can have one of the Acolytes show you around the temple for the next few hours, or you’re welcome to wander if you'd like.” Aang offered as he collected the tea kettle and cups in his arms.
“I think I’ll wander, if that’s alright?” Zuko said, recognizing his rising need for a moment of solitude.
Aang nodded. “Don’t get into any trouble without me, okay?” Devilishly charming, as always. “There’s a small courtyard with a fire pit on the third floor terrace just beneath this one, would that work to meet later?”
“Without giving anything away,” Zuko cleared his throat, “this might be a gift best received in private.” The peculiarity of his words pricked their ears sharply, like the clinking of porcelain cups in Aang’s hands.
Aang's eyebrows shot up, “You have my attention. It’s been a while for me so don’t be upset if I’m rusty.” Aang winked playfully as he spun on his heel to leave the terrace, calling behind him “You know where my childhood bedroom is- see you there at sundown!”
Zuko rolled his eyes, “It’s a really great present, and you’re going to ruin it with your vulgarity,” he yelled after Aang, seeing him wave his hand in the air behind him dismissively, “But, yes that will work.”
Zuko was about as used to Air Nomad’s nonchalance with sex as he would ever be. Culturally, he was well aware they were much more casual and free about things that happened behind closed doors. But, the implication still made Zuko’s cheeks burn. Especially when it came from Aang.
As he watched Aang disappear down the hall, a memory of learning about the Air nomad practices of the group sex in the temple floated to him. Traditionally, nomads swore off marriage. But, they were encouraged to find the release of human companionship in community. Until today, seeing Aang in his home, now buzzing with burgundy-clad acolytes, he’d never considered it could be a practice they might have already revived. He swallowed past the lump forming in his throat at the thought.
~
With a few hours to kill before meeting Aang, he strolled unhurriedly through the halls that wove in and out of the mountain. He remembered the first time he laid eyes on the Southern Air Temple in search of the Avatar. As a banished teenager, there was a glow of reverence he’d hidden behind his grimace as he searched these halls. The whimsical freedom of Air Nomads, imbued delicately into the slope of each arch, the twisting lines curving around each structure- hinted at a freedom that was so alien to him.
The restoration project was well under way- crushed hallways and broken statues had been slowly and faithfully restored by a small team of earth benders with an affinity for Air Nomad culture. Air Nomads lived so differently from the rest of the world, they naturally attracted the devotion of people hungry for personal liberation. Zuko had always been quite taken with their culture, himself.
In the spirit of this sacred place, he saw Aang everywhere. His other-worldliness usually just beyond the veil, laid in the stones beneath Zuko’s feet. As he meditated on his friend and the work he’d done to rebuild his nation after everything the Fire Nation had taken from him, a sullen reverence caught in his chest. Considering their shared history- there was something so unlikely, yet so inevitable about their friendship. But, it wasn’t the first time the Avatar and the Firelord were best friends.
Lost in thought, he stumbled upon a group meditation in a courtyard near the base of the temple. Dozens of Air acolytes and a few earth benders sat cross-legged and completely still. Zuko settled into the ground at the edge of the group. Assuming proper lotus form as Aang had taught him years ago, he let the feeling of warm wind in his hair soothe the tightness in his chest that he couldn’t seem to shake since he’d arrived.
~
Summiting the steps to the seventh floor of the temple with a small wooden box under his arms, Zuko took in the languid sag of roaring orange beyond the horizon as he pushed the door to Aang’s bedroom open. He’d assumed when Aang said ‘childhood bedroom’ that meant he slept somewhere more fitting for him. He was the Avatar, after all. But the half-burnt candle on the table beside the cave of his bed, and the two medium sized canvas bags against the wall suggested otherwise. For an esteemed world leader, Aang was always, still Aang.
Zuko smiled at the inkwell and paper on the small desk in front of the window- shaking his head to himself as he imagined the most powerful man alive sitting at a desk too small for him in his childhood bedroom; writing sensitive diplomatic letters to the Earth King, Chiefs of the two tribes, and of course- himself.
Opening the box, he pulled out a handful of candles and lit them in the center of the floor. Next to it, he placed sandalwood incense cones and the small wooden chest itself.
Placing the two floor cushions opposite one another on either side of the gift and lights, he breathed through the whirring static creeping into the edges of himself as he waited.
A few moments later, Aang opened the door to see Zuko seated in the fading light filtering through the window.
“Hey,” he said, meeting the surprise in Aang’s grey eyes.
“So dramatic,” Aang chuckled, “and sexy?” he took a seat facing Zuko. “You know I was just kidding earlier. You don’t have to seduce me, Zuko.” Aang said, one eyebrow raised above a coy grin.
“If I was planning to seduce someone, you think I’d choose their childhood bedroom?” Zuko shot him an incredulous look. If Aang was going to force him to talk about seduction, he knew it would be easier in the third person. “I have a little more game than that.”
Aang narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, candlelight flickering over the curl in his mouth. “Do you?”
Zuko slapped Aang’s knee lightly, laughter cutting through the twilight.
Settling into his cushion, Aang’s voice was slower as he said, “I know I haven’t really asked,” he swallowed, “But, how are you?” He didn’t have to clarify for Zuko to know that he was asking about his romantic life. For some reason, among everything else they never held back, they usually skirted this topic in their friendship.
Maybe it was because they shared an understanding of the isolation that came with their positions. They couldn’t exactly date casually or freely for pleasure or love. There was so much more at stake. Zuko and Aang learned that lesson painfully as teenagers with their first loves. Since then, with everything else they had to pay attention to- it naturally fell by the wayside.
Zuko looked down at the stream of smoke whispering from the gold plate between them.
“It’s... I’m used to it, now.” He glanced up at Aang grey eyes, studying him, “Obviously, it gets lonely. Don’t you think?” He was searching, trying to see if Aang was adrift at sea with him in the murky, isolating sea of power. He didn’t want Aang to feel alone. But, he wasn’t sure it would make him feel any better to know that he wasn’t still with him in the forced seclusion of duty.
Aang nodded with a small frown. “Yeah. It does.”
Zuko’s curiosity threatened to spill the burning, shrouded questions that lingered in the back of his mind. Instead, he leaned forward and rested his palm against the burgandy linen covering Aang's knee. “At least we have this,” their eyes met, the warmth of Zukos palm seeped through to Aang’s skin, burning them together in a precariously tender moment before Zuko added, “to commiserate.”
Aang breathed an amused sigh as his shoulders lurched forward. “Until you have to make an heir, that is.” It didn’t come out as light-hearted as Aang had intended.
Zuko straightened his back has he said, “Or until you have to make more airbenders.” In the intimate seclusion of Aang’s candlelit bedroom, the words echoed with a bizarre pitch. They rarely opened the door to this conversation, and the night before a celebration couldn’t possibly be the right moment. They shared a breathy laugh, silently deciding to move on.
"Are you ready for your gift?” Zuko smiled the kind of smile Aang only got to see in private. The boy with play in his heart buried deep under layers of banishment and shame- was never far when they were alone together.
“Yes, should I close my eyes?” Aang eyed the box between them suspiciously.
"Open is fine. The gift still isn't a sexual favor, sorry to disappoint.” Zuko said.
Delight pulled Aang’s mouth into a wide grin, “That’s okay. So, what is it?”
“I was going through some old things in the palace, and I found this box,” he gestured with a nod to the box between them, “There’s letters inside. When I opened the first one, I realized I wanted to wait until we were together to read them.” He slid the box towards Aang, “Go ahead. I’ve read this one, but I haven’t seen the rest.”
“Okay,” Aang breathed, lifting the top of the box, his fingers unfurled the first letter.
Zuko chewed on the corner of his lip while he watched expectantly for Aang to read a few sentences.
My Dearest Roku,
Aang recognized Sozin’s harsh, blocky script from nights in the Fire palace poring over old decrees they’d been working together to change.
I know all of this was my doing. But, still I wonder if I made the wrong choice. I believe in the glory of the Fire Nation, it’s power to transform the world... but at what cost? That question haunts me in the dead of night. As does the other, this poisonous root I can never seem to kill.
That day in the gardens- I should have run away with you. I should have done... anything other than what I did. I should have taken you to bed one last time. I should ha--
Aang’s eyes widened, his hand lifting to cover his mouth as he sucked in a slow breath. Lifting his eyes from the angular characters he met Zuko’s gaze to see that he was leaning toward him with shining, anticipatory eyes.
Aang removed his tattooed hand to reveal his mouth agape.
“Yeah,” Zuko said nodding exaggeratedly, “Uh-huh. Yes. I know.”
There was too much to say for Aang to say anything just yet- his dropped jaw turned into a forced frown and then a fit of laughter that seemed like it would never stop.
They sat there, dumbstruck and grinning at each other between bursts of cackling. The sheer absurdity of this discovery flowed through their veins like electricity and good wine. Aang stood up, hands on his hips, and took a few steps before returning to the cushion opposite Zuko on the ground. “This!” he waved the letter in his hands around, eyes wide, “I mean!” He put his hand over his mouth again and shook his head, eyes closed.
“I know,” Zuko said before another laugh cracked forward beyond his control.
“Zuko!” Aang slapped Zuko’s knee, his eyes flung wide again, “Zuko! What,” his head was swimming, “an enlightening discovery.” Aang could barely get the words out past his disbelief.
“I know. I guess I don’t know exactly how to feel about it other than... things makes a lot more sense now.” Sharing the joy of this secret bemusement with Aang in the flickering light of his room, he couldn’t seem to stop the convulsions of belly laughs.
“They were... in love?” Aang whispered, struck by dizzy amusement but also now by the weight of what they’d discovered.
“They were...,” a giggle-shaped breath left his lips, “a lot more than in love,” Zuko raised his eyebrows, “this one gets a lot dirtier, but I have no idea what’s in the rest of the letters. He never sent these. They were just collecting dust in the palace until I found them.”
Aang took a deep breath, adrenaline still making his ears ring. A grin splayed across his face as he jumped up to his feet. “We need to read all of these,” surprise still sending shockwaves through him, “And we need wine. I'll be right back,”
Zuko watched him disappear through the doors with a stupid little smile on his face. Alone with himself, he wiped his damp palms off on the fabric of his trousers covering his thighs.
Aang twirled into the room like a tower of fire, the energy of what he’d just learned jumping from him like crackling embers. He pulled his cushion next to Zuko's and took a seat, their arms brushing. He set two teacups in front of them. Uncorking a small jug, purple liquid slipped into each glass as he said, “Should we alternate? I read you one and then you read me one?”
“You want to read them to each other?” Zuko asked, his mouth dry all of a sudden.
“Of course! How else did you imagine we’d read them?” Aang smiled deviously as he placed his palm on the ground just behind Zuko, leaning onto it so his partially bare chest was brushing against the back of Zuko’s shoulder.
Zuko looked back, noticing briefly how the dim light cast a mesmerizing glow over Aang’s exhilaration.
Aang nudged his shoulder into Zuko’s back, gesturing to the box with his chin, “You first?”
Lifting his teacup, Zuko initiated a toast. “To...” the quirk in his brow asking Aang to finish.
“Forbidden love.” Aang breathed into the small space between their faces, clinking his cup to Zuko’s and taking a swig.
Picking up the letter Aang hadn’t finished, Zuko said “Where were we?”
“I think I stopped at the part where he said he wished he had taken Roku to bed one last time,” the insanity of the string of words coming out of his mouth almost made Aang spit his wine out as he giggled. The shaking of his shoulders brushing lightly against Zuko’s shoulder blade, Zuko’s attention torn from the letter in his hands for an acute moment.
Clearing his throat, he started to read out loud.
I should have taken you to bed one last time. I should have drank you in, breathed you in again. The nights are lonelier with someone warming my bed that isn’t you. On the seldom nights I enter her bed, it’s in search of you- my beloved, my flame, my heart. I close my eyes and imagine it’s you falling apart at the ministrations of my fingers-
“Agni ,” Zuko’s breath caught in a stilted sigh, heat rushing to his cheeks, “I need way more wine in me for this.”
“I can help with that,” Zuko felt Aang’s breath on the side of his neck as he exhaled a laugh before reaching for the bottle and topping off their cups. Glasses full, Aang slid down, his back against the ground and his head resting on the edge of Zuko’s lap. “Okay, I’m comfortable, continue.”
The natural physical intimacy of 14 years of friendship came to them like breathing- hugs, an arm across shoulders, a held hand in moments of pain, even sharing a bed when their duties called them to small villages with few accommodations. But here, in Aang’s childhood bedroom with lusty yearning jumping from the pages to fill the moonlit air- Aang's head in Zuko’s lap sent a heat wave rippling through him.
Aang blinked up at Zuko expectantly, “Well? What were you saying about the ministrations of fingers?”
Zuko smirked and went on, the twinkling of laughter and the sound of teacups clinking against the ground flitted through the air like the stream of incense dancing in front of them.
~
They’d burned through a handful of incense cones and a quarter of the way through the candles as Zuko dropped the fifth letter into the box.
“I didn’t even know that was something that men did to each other... did you?” Zuko asked, laughing harder than he probably should. His cheeks were splashed red with joy and wine.
“Well...” Aang shot Zuko a devilish look that was a little more telling than Zuko would have liked.
Pushing the strange tinge in his stomach down, Zuko decided to stay with the feeling emanating between them. He had nothing to be jealous of - Aang was an adult. He could do whatever he wanted- and although Zuko decided not to dwell on it- he knew that Aang was no stranger to the exploration of pleasure with different types of lovers. The thought made him feel a little dizzy- or was it the two glasses of wine, he couldn’t tell.
“Okay,” Zuko nodded emphatically with an incredulous look across his face, “Mastering more than all four elements lately, are we?”
Aang slapped Zuko lightly on the chest, “I'm the Avatar, but I’m also a man.”
The wine was making Zuko feel fiery with freedom, “I guess I just really need to know, then.”
Aang’s breath stumbled as he looked up into Zuko’s golden eyes in the dark. “Know what?”
“If this,” Zuko picked up the letter he’d just finished and waved it around, “Is your go-to move?” They snickered at each other in the soft light.
“It’s a little more of a once-in-a-while thing to be honest,” Aang smiled up at him from where his head was resting in his lap.
“I didn’t realize I had so much to learn,” lucid joy pulling at his lips, “And from my fucking great-grandfather of all people.”
“ ’Fucking’, yes, that is the right word.” Aang jabbed, “That man’s desire was... profane.”
Zuko gagged, “It’s enough to be reading these erotic letters from my great-grandfather to,” Zuko took a deep breath, “to my other great-grandfather.” They looked at one another in stunned, hilarious silence before bursting into sobs of laughter.
After uncurling from themselves, Zuko wiped his tears away as he said, “I don’t need you to keep rubbing it in my face.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Aang raised his hands in apology, “I’ll stop.”
Zuko narrowed his eyes with a knowing smile, “No you won’t.”
Another laugh rolled through them before Aang placed a firm hand on Zuko’s shoulder and said, “You’re right, I'm never going to let you live this down.” A smug, electric smile plain across his lips as he propped himself up to pour them both another glass of wine.
~
“Fuck, I can barely read this line out loud,” Aang slapped the letter down on the ground as a wine-soaked giggle split through his lips. He was laying on his stomach with his elbows propping him up next to Zuko who was laying on his back, hands folded behind his head. "I'm sorry Zuko but your great grand grandfather was a freak- even by my standards.”
“Your standards?” Zuko said through a grin, candlelight reflecting off the ceiling and dancing frivolously in his eyes.
“Do you want me to elaborate?” Aang quirked his head to look down at Zuko’s face next to him, lifting his teacup to his lips to take a sip.
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Zuko pressed his mouth in a hard line and furrowed his brow in mock-thought, “You don’t seem to think that my prudish, chaste, virginal self would be able to handle such salacious, outlandish details.” He glanced sidelong at Aang with a cheeky smile.
Aang gasped in feigned, amused offense, “It’s not a competition, Zuko,” laughter tumbling through him as he poked Zuko’s side with his elbow.
“But if it was, you’d win- am I getting that part right?” Zuko asked, eyebrows raised above a sassy twist of his lips.
Aang stretched an arm to shove Zuko lightly as they let another wave of laughter and wine take them under.
Aang caught his breath before picking the letter back up to continue. Straightening out his face before he began reading he slid in a smug and quiet, “Probably.”
Zuko rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, “Just keep reading, sex god.”
~
Aang leaned over Zuko, now laying on his back in front of him as he sat cross-legged, to light new candles to replace the ones that had just burned out.
“Something I can’t stop thinking about is how Sozin kept this to himself his whole life,” Aang settled back in, knees resting on Zuko’s side. “Do you think his wife knew? And, if she didn’t, how lonely for him to be thinking of someone he could never have.”
Propping himself up on his elbows, Zuko took a swig from his porcelain cup. “Yeah,” Zuko breathed, his eyes going flat as he stared at a point on the ceiling. “But, Firelords must think of the good of their people before themselves.” The words marched past his lips with the cadence of a faithless oath. “Imagine the political uproar it would have caused. Not just in the Fire Nation, but across the world- for the Firelord to take a man as his companion,” Zuko swallowed dryly, “And not just any man- the Avatar. ”
“No, I understand.” Aang said, although he wasn’t quite sure exactly who Zuko was talking about. “But, at a certain point, isn’t it the responsibility of world leaders to set an example for everyone, even if it means dealing with the backlash?”
“I guess I haven’t decided on my answer to that question yet.” Zuko’s eyes flitted to Aang’s for a brief, electric second. “But, you’re the Avatar. What do you think?”
“I think,” Aang tipped his head, scanning the ceiling for the right words, “I think we shouldn’t have to sacrifice everything. It wasn’t really our choice after all.” Aang drank a slow breath of the sandalwood-tinged air, that perilous pang of loneliness he fought so hard to keep out of reach bubbling to the surface in the silence. “We should be allowed a few selfish decisions, at least.”
Zuko nodded, a smile finding it’s way to his lips. “Well said,” he breathed before quickly pivoting, wanting badly to find a way to change the subject. “Your turn?” he asked as he lifted the wooden box up to Aang.
“Yes, right. Back to your smutty great grandpas.” Aang said in jest with that frivolous glimmer returning to his eye. Clearing his throat, he began.
Roku,
How damnable this torment, how twisted this longing. How have I cursed Agni to deserve this perverse punishment of longing for the touch of another man. If I could burn this dark need from my chest I-
Aang paused, his eyes pressed closed.
Zuko lifted his hand to Aang’s thigh- stroking the fabric with his thumb, “Aang- I’m sorry. We can skip this one,” he looked up at Aang, brow pinched.
Aang sighed, his free hand moved to cover Zuko's, their fingers intertwining in the curious darkness. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Zuko. You... you’re undoing a lot of this.” He squeezed his hand, thinking of one of Zuko’s earliest decrees to abolish laws against same-sex marriage and co-habitation, and to outlaw all types of legal discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. “I don’t think I ever expressed how grateful I am to you for that.”
“You don’t owe me your gratitude, it’s the least I could possibly do. Plus, there’s still so much more work to do.” He sighed heavily, the weight the world still riddled with injustice creeping into their carefree bubble for just a moment.
“But I am grateful, and I’m proud. Proud to be,” Aang glanced over the mystifying tangle of their bodies, “your best friend.”
Zuko smiled up at him, captivated by his grace. The last airbender, robbed of his people and his childhood at the hands of Zuko's forefathers. Unfolding his heart to the Firelord on the eve of a festival to celebrate the hard-won revival of Air Nomad culture. The cursed irony sat on his chest like a two-ton panda.
“I don’t know if I deserve that,” Zuko looked away for a moment, the shame behind his eyes threatening to leak out.
“Zuko,” Aang’s whisper a honeyed balm on Zuko’s self-inflicted wounds. “You do. Just believe me, for once.”
And, for some reason, Aang released Zuko’s hand to fit his palm against the side of Zuko’s neck, his fingertips tangled in his hair as his thumb traced the skin in front of Zuko’s ear. Zuko stiffened, then settled into the touch of Aang’s hand.
There was a brand new wistfulness in the way they looked into each other's eyes. To Aang, it felt like relief, like he was returning to his physical body after entering the spirit world. Homecoming.
Zuko was the first one to cut the burning, enigmatic silence, “At least we can say things have come a long way from when these letters were written.”
“A long way,” Aang nodded, his thumb still padding over Zuko’s skin. “If they could see the Avatar and the Firelord now.” A smile quirked at his lip as his grey eyes rested on Zuko’s gold.
They stayed there, breathing through the unfamiliar stillness. Aang could feel Zuko's pulse quickening under his palm against his neck. A hint of a question rose to Zuko’s eyes after a few labored breaths, his lips parting gently as he sucked in a shaky inhale, his thumb still rubbing slow circles into Aang’s thigh.
Aang was the first to move, he leaned down- placing his other hand on Zuko’s chest. Zuko pressed himself up in response, their faces stopping a few inches short of one another. As their breathing quickened to fill the narrowing space between them, the grip of Aang’s hands on Zuko's body tightened ever slightly to match the clenched feeling closing in on Zuko’s chest.
“Aang,” Zuko whispered like a holy question, blinking into this uncharted shade of desire.
Aang nodded gently in response, as if to answer the question on Zuko’s furrowed brow before saying, “I think you should kiss me,” Aang’s words danced over Zuko’s wine-stained lips.
Zuko pressed upward, his mouth surging into Aang’s soft lips like a rush of warm spring air. Their mouths found a rhythm that felt hauntingly familiar, like a lock- rusted and forgotten by time- finally cracked open by the turn of it’s long lost key.
They moved against one another like teenagers discovering the wild freneticism of lust. Aang sucked the corner of Zuko’s lip into his mouth, raking it with his teeth- a raw moan vibrated through Zuko's chest.
Without breaking the contact of their hungry lips, Aang lifted himself to place one knee on the other side of Zuko’s lap, straddling him between his legs. As Aang pulled Zuko to be sitting up beneath him, the hardening of their bodies was already giving them away.
Zuko's lips explored the sharp line of Aang’s jaw, and Aang panted for breath as he twisted his fingers into Zuko’s black waves.
“Zuko,” Aang breathed, eyes lidded with pleasure at the feeling of Zuko’s hot lips on his neck. “Zuko, wait.”
It yanked Zuko from his work of tasting Aang’s skin and he looked up into his eyes, lips wet and glistening in the candlelight. “Is this okay?” Aang asked, his breathing labored with the heavy burden of desire. Lifting his hands to Zuko’s jaw, he thumbed at the pomegranate-colored flush across his cheeks. Looking from one golden eye to the other in a bewildered daze as if searching for something, he asked “Is it just the wine?”
The shadowed lines of Zukos face softened, his hands on Aang’s waist pulled him in a bit tighter as he said, “It’s not just the wine, Aang.”
“Are you going to regret this?” Aang asked, his dark, curious eyes spattered with worry.
For all the uncertainty floating through the flame-licked night, Zuko didn’t have to think twice before he pulled Aang’s lips down into his, pressed a needy kiss into his mouth and whispered, “No.”
~
They’d found their way to Aang’s bed at some point in the last few hours. Their clothes littered the room and the candles on the ground were flicking their last flames.
Zuko traced lazy lines up and down the blue of Aang’s tattoos as they came back to themselves- their bodies a pile of dewy, enamored peace.
“You are so,” Aang sucked in a sharp breath, heat rising to his cheeks at the fresh memory of their bodies tangled together, “So, sexy, Zuko.”
Spellbound delight radiated across Zuko’s body as he planted a wide kiss onto Aang’s nipple, flicking his tongue over the stiffening bud between his lips. A hiss rattled through Aang’s teeth.
“That’s you.” Zuko whispered into his skin.
“You learned a few things from those letters, didn’t you?” Aang mused with a satisfied grin.
Zuko slapped him on the arm, smiling at the shake of Aang’s laughter against his cheek.
Aang’s fingertips wandered up and down Zuko’s spine as he whispered, “why didn’t you tell me?”
“I guess I could ask you the same thing,” Zuko picked his head up to rest his chin on Aang’s sternum to look into his eyes.
“I had every reason to believe you wouldn’t be interested.” Aang breathed, a shadow falling over his eyes. “If you’ve ever known you were attracted to men, you never told me about it. You usually tell me everything. ”
Zuko tilted his head, taking in the sharp features of Aang’s face with a little smile, “I didn’t really know until you.”
Eyebrows shooting up, Aang nodded, incredibly pleased with himself. “Wow,” he gasped, “Sex god strikes again, turning them left and right.” Aang said, lifting his hand into the air in a clenched fist with a stupid grin across his face.
“You are such an idiot.” Zuko shook his head, his lips pulled wide in a smile.
“But in a hot, hunky, sex god kind of way. Right?”
“I’m already regretting it, I’d like to take it back.” Zuko said as they smiled at one another with a new enchantment that somehow didn’t feel new at all.
“It's way too late for that,” Aang winked, wrapping his arms around Zuko and pulling him up so they were face to face. Planting a sweaty kiss into Zuko’s lips he pulled back and swept over the details of his face, as if he was seeing it for the first time.
“You didn’t answer the question yet.” Aang said.
Zuko nodded slowly for a moment before saying, “I was starting to wonder if maybe you and Yee Li... I don’t know.”
“Yee Li? What? No, why would you think that?” his brow furrowed in surprise.
“She’s intelligent, she’s beautiful- She’s an Air nomad, she could mother children in your culture. It would make so much sense.”
Taking a heavy breath, Aang responded, “Just because it would make sense, doesn’t mean it’s what I want. I want,” Aang studied the lines of Zuko’s scar, the generational curse of hatred and denial made flesh, “I want us not to make the same mistakes we made in our past lives.”
“But,” Zuko breathed as he lifted his hand to gesture to the box on the floor. Silence covered them for a few beats before Zuko spoke again, “What if this is the mistake. Look at what happened when it didn’t work out between the last Avatar and Firelord.” Zuko sighed heavily as he looked back into Aang’s eyes, hoping to find some solace in his grey.
Lifting his hand to tuck a strand of Zuko’s hair behind his ear, Aang furrowed his brow and shook his head- his lips curled in a gentle smile. “It’s you and me, Zuko. We’re not them.” Looking back and forth between Zuko’s concern-laden golden eyes, he continued, “Well, in a way we are. But, what if this is the cycle where we get to choose each other.” Aang readjusted, taking Zuko’s face between his hands. “Besides, it’s us. We already saved the world. If we really have to, we can do it again.”
As the candles flickered out, their lips found each other again. In the shadow of an inheritance of unfulfilled longing and destruction, the consecration of their bodies gave birth to a new era. This would be a cycle of love.