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Zuko would be the first to admit he was not the most sociable person. And, frankly, he preferred it that way. He didn't need a large group of friends or anything of the sort. But Zuko could be social and amicable with people who did not try his patience. Was that a very limited number of people? Yes, but well. Better than nothing.
Sokka was one of those people. He was toeing the line with his personality but he saved Zuko's ass and semestrial average in advanced math when they got paired together for a project so he was afforded some mercy.
(Zuko hated advanced math and this whole business degree but he had a point to prove to his asshole of a father even if he barely seen the man in person two times in the fourteen years since his mom divorced him.)
So, when Zuko saw Sokka through the window of a local popular coffee shop, he made to stop and decided to say hi. He'd have knocked on the window as Sokka was sitting next to it, but he got up before Zuko had the opportunity to.
Well, he could say hi when he left the building. Which Zuko would have done if Sokka hadn't emerged with his arm wrapped around another person. Now, that wouldn't have necessarily stopped Zuko. But the woman leaning onto Sokka's side did. He did not manage to get a good look at her, they were walking in the opposite direction, with their backs to him. But he got the smallest glimpse of her profile when they exited the door before turning. Zuko didn't need any more than that. He knew that profile. And even now, watching them walk away, it was painfully recognisable who that woman was.
He felt bile rise in his throat.
Why was Sokka out and about with Zuko's mom?
Zuko was not stalking them. This was a reconnaissance mission. Gathering intel. Could it be done in a better way than crouching behind a bush in the park across the street from the arcade? Probably. But a good mission required sacrifice. Including getting your face pricked by thorny branches. Zuko grunted in annoyance as he tried to make his binoculars fit through the shrubbery enough to get a clear view of the arcade. They were working surprisingly well, and he could see some figures inside the arcade, but the semi-opaque glass windows and loud neon signs obstructed the view.
He raised slightly, grateful that he had the foresight to create himself a camouflage hat from some branches and greenery. He peeked just above the bush, ignoring the way some particularly prickly thorns were nudging his ribs through his shirt.
They went in there about two hours ago. Zuko has been trailing them from a distance since they left Sokka's neighbourhood. He kept his distance enough that they didn't notice him, but he could see them hand in hand, laughing as they strolled through the streets. It made no sense. What was his mom even doing in Republic City? She was meant to be in Ba Sing Se, filming for that political drama that will probably land her another round of nominations during award season.
And most importantly, why was she with Sokka out of all people?
Zuko was not stupid, despite what the vast majority of people thought. He could recognize a date when he saw one. But the idea of his mom being on a date with Sokka made him want to hurl all the food he had eaten in the past 24 hours.
Zuko knew, objectively, that his mom was attractive. She was a movie star, for crying out loud. And even when he was growing up and she was on an extensive break from acting, he still had to deal with the dire consequences of having a conventionally beautiful mother. The very memory of his stupid school classmates singing that ridiculous song, 'Zuko's mom got it going on', made him recoil in disgust. He thought that nonsense was over once he graduated from high school. Clearly not. And even if a bunch of university students had crushes on his mom, it's not like she would date one of them, right?
And even if she had to do it — Agni almighty why —…. Sokka? Really? What would anyone see in that guy? Sure, Zuko had admitted he was not the most unbearable person in the world, but he was hardly the best one either. Then again, despite all his deeply rooted love for her, Zuko had to admit, his mom had horrendous taste in men. She had been married to Ozai for twelve years after all.
He might have contemplated the issue further if two familiar figures didn't emerge through the arcade's doors just then. Zuko dove back into his bush to avoid any chance of detection. When he finally managed to get his binoculars fit through the branches again, to get a closer look at what was going on, he was met with the two of them making out. He almost dropped his binoculars in disgust. Almost. He had to hold on for the sake of the mission. He needed to confirm this madness.
Zuko cringed as he reluctantly watched the public affection display. He could not get a good view of her whole face, but the side profile was enough. He could recognize his own mother. He pulled away from the binoculars and shook his head in disgust. Why was this his life?
Glancing back again, he noticed the two of them finished their make-out session — and yes, he felt bile rise in his throat at the sight of that. Sokka picked her up and spun her around like this was some pretentious romcom, not real life. Her laughter echoed across the street as she clung to him, face buried in his shoulder. Zuko gritted his teeth and raised his binoculars again, only to see them already departing, arms wrapped around each other.
He jumped up, ignoring the way the small thorns of the shrubbery ripped at his shirt and scratched him. If eyes could melt concrete, there would have been a crater in the corner of the road that Sokka and his mom took.
He felt his breath uneven, as his fingers dug into the binoculars until the casing of them dented.
"How dare he?" Zuko hissed through gritted teeth to no one in particular as the binoculars cracked further under his grip.
A small bird landed on Zuko's camouflage hat and chirped.
"I did not ask for your opinion!"
His oatmeal tasted like cardboard. And the tea was bitter. By no fault of his, mind you. Uncle Iroh drilled the semantics of tea making into him during his teenage years, and he stuck by them successfully. But this situation was making even tea taste like hatred.
Zuko slammed his spoon into his bowl, splattering milk everywhere.
"I'm going to kill him."
Sokka was having a fantastic morning. Sleeping in, a hearty breakfast in bed, which he was rather proud of preparing, his girlfriend in his arms, her beautiful voice echoing through the room, driving him mad with pleasure. He took one of her breasts into his mouth, lazily sucking onto her nipple as he leisurely twisted the other one between his fingers. Under him, she moaned, her long, sharp nails digging into his back.
"Enough foreplay, I want you to fuck me already!"
Sokka did not get the opportunity to retort.
There was a loud set of knocks - or rather loud bangs produced by fists forcefully pounding on the door.
Sokka stopped his ministration and looked in the vague direction of the noise with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not expecting any delivery."
Azula bit him. "Then get back to what you were doing, will you?"
Sokka shrugged before turning his attention back to her, one of his hands cupping her breast and kneading it, making her hum pleasantly.
The banging on the door continued, even louder.
Azula anticipated that would distract him, and already latched onto his throat, biting and sucking the senstive skin there and driving him mad with pleasure. She really knew all of his sweet spots.
"Maybe I should.. Mhm… it sounds… fuck, princess…. It could be urgent."
Azula let him go for just a moment. That was a mistake which she instantly regretted as he sprang from the bed, scrambling to get on his feet. She might have grabbed him and pulled him right back in if she hadn't got distracted by his hard-on. Curse him for having such an aesthetically pleasing dick.
Sokka rushed out of the room, grabbing a pair of sweatpants from the back of a chair in the process.
Azula propped herself on her elbows and glared after him.
"This better be good or so help me…"
Sokka did not hear that, as he was already halfway to the door, managing to put his pants on somehow successfully.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." he grunted out in annoyance. Not the type of coming he wanted to do right now, that's for sure.
He yanked the door open, his annoyance shifting to confusion. "Zuko?"
His acquaintance slash classmate slash vaguely distant friend looked ready to commit murder.
"YOU!"
Sokka blinked in surprise, pointing at himself. "Me?"
Zuko didn't afford him the courtesy of a clarification before he stormed in, kicking the door shut in the process, and lounging at him.
"What the fuck?" was the only thing Sokka managed to say before trying to counter Zuko's attempt at strangling him. He went for the throat, and Sokka barely managed to grab his arms and push him slightly to the side as he side-stepped. He attempted a kick, but Sokka evaded. Good day to be grateful for all the footwork in his fencing classes.
Zuko didn't allow all that to stop him, though. He lounged again. Sokka managed to grab his right wrist but failed to do so with the other, which latched onto his throat.
"How dare you?!" Zuko shouted "Just who the fuck do you think you are? With my mom, you piece of moosow dung?!"
"Zuko!" Sokka shouted right back, as best as he could while his windpipe was getting squeezed anyway, wondering if he could talk some sense into him even though right now it looked well past the point of conversation. "Just what in the Spiritsworld got into you?"
Zuko glared something fierce, looking nothing short of ready to scorch his head off.
"Perhaps I shall be able to shed light on that."
Sokka's face lit up at the sound of that voice, distracted enough that he did not notice Zuko freeze.
"Hey Princess!" he said cheerily despite the fact that he was doing his best to escape Zuko's strangulation attempt. "Sorry for the mess, I'll call an ambulance cause clearly someone" at that he glanced at his assailant with a glare. "Got a concussion."
"Oh, no, he doesn't. Though I do have a theory he was dropped on his head as a baby."
Sokka raised an eyebrow as he watched his girlfriend's smile become malicious. At the same time, he was surprised, though not ungrateful, that Zuko's grip on him went slack, as his eyes bulged.
"Greetings Zuzu. Didn't mother dearest teach you it is rude to barge in people's houses and not even afford them the smallest courtesies?"
Zuko finally seemed to snap out of whatever shock he was in and turned around slowly, almost reluctantly. He was met with Azula crossing her arms and tapping her bare foot on the wooden floor impatiently.
"Put some clothes on, will you?" he mumbled through gritted teeth as he averted his gaze, thus avoiding the eye roll Azula offered.
Sokka moved around him to go stand next to his girlfriend, setting his hands on her shoulders. In his opinion, she was perfectly dressed in one of his blue shirts. He'd, of course, prefer her in the state she was in about ten minutes ago, which was wearing nothing at all. Could Zuko fuck off already? Sokka had Azula time blocked in his schedule, and he was rudely interrupting it.
"So," Sokka began eyeing a grimacing Zuko with a raised eyebrow. "You two know each other or?"
Azula leaned onto him and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. "Why darling," Azula drawled out teasingly, rolling the r, and prompting him to blink in surprise — she was not the one for nicknames in general, and she has never ever called him anything remotely close to darling. "Don't you see the family resemblance?"
Sokka looked at her, then at Zuko, then back at her. "Uh..."
Azula laughed, short and snippy. "That mannerless porcupine with temper issues is my brother."
Finally Zuko turned her attention back to them and glared. "Cut it, will you?"
"Me?" Azula gasped in mock indignation. "Whatever did I do to be at the receiving end of such temper?"
Zuko pressed his palms against his eyes and groaned. In retrospect, maybe he jumped to an outrageous conclusion. And maybe he needed to get his eyes checked, he hasn't been to an ophthalmologist in over a year. But he'd rather boil himself in hot oil than ever admit that out loud to Azula.
"You know what?" he grumbled, deciding this day had somehow gone from bad to worse. "I'm not dealing with you."
He glared at Azula, who was still smirking while latched onto Sokka like a hog monkey, probably in an attempt to be obnoxious and annoying. She had always enjoyed torturing him, the absolute sadist. And unfortunately, the possibility of seeing his breakfast again was growing stronger with the wave of headache-induced nausea that had been tormenting him since this morning.
Zuko glanced at Sokka with a grimace. As much as Zuko hated admitting he was wrong, the guy did not deserve to be on the receiving end of his wrath. "Sorry for barging into your place and trying to kill you."
Sokka simply shrugged, as if it were a normal occurrence. The man was surprisingly chill with most things — sans not respecting schedules, which Zuko learned first-hand and never forgot — and it made Zuko almost feel bad for him. He was together with his sister, out of all people. He had either been tricked or he was some sort of masochist. Who in their right mind would willingly date Azula?
Well, that was not Zuko's business, and he didn't think he wanted to know the answer anyway.
"I'll see myself out."
"Oh, now hold on." Azula's voice cut like a knife. "I do have to know what could have possibly possessed you to do this."
Zuko didn't have the opportunity to answer.
Sokka barked out a laughter. "From what I gathered, he thought I was going out with his mom. Your mom too, I guess or?"
"She did give birth to me, yes." Azula tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at her brother. "Did she get some cosmetic procedures done or is your eyesight getting that bad? Really Zuzu, you should try laser, it does work wonders."
Zuko did his best to stay calm. That headache was getting worse. Maybe that childhood theory of his that Azula's presence induced an allergic reaction in him had some merit. He glanced from Azula to Sokka, both wearing similar mocking smiles and looking on the verge of laughing.
You know what?
The two of them deserved each other, assholes that they were. Whatever shred of sympathy he had for Sokka and his clearly dysfunctional self-preservation instincts just went up in a smoke. Let Azula eat his heart and feast on his soul or whatever it was that she did to attempt to form human relations.
Zuko glared and turned on his heels, rushing to the door.
"I'm leaving." he announced and yanked the door open.
Except he didn't. Zuko cursed under his breath. There goes his dramatic exit.
"It locks automatically when it closes." Sokka explained, amused, as he came behind him and unlocked the door.
Zuko only managed an angry growl as he stormed out. What a shit show of a day. At least the one good thing that came out of it was learning that Sokka was, in fact, not dating his mom. And especially that he did not catch the two of them…
"Wait." Zuko's eyes widened, and he whirled around just as the door slammed shut in his face.
"You're fucking my sister?!"
In the apartment, the noise went ignored. Sokka turned away from the door, walking into the living room and dusting off his hands.
"Now that all this nonsense is done…" he eyed his girlfriend appreciatively from her long bare legs, to the curve of her hip, to the small bit of cleavage visible from under his shirt and to her breathtakingly gorgeous face.
Azula met his hungry gaze with a smirk as she began undoing the top button of the shirt. Sokka watched intently as more and more skin was made visible with each meticulously measured button undoing. When it was all done, Azula stretched up lazily, raising on her tippy toes and gave a fake yawn. When she lowered her arms, she let the fabric slip down her shoulders and arms. The blue button-down shirt fell to the ground. Azula began walking backwards towards the bedroom with measured slowness. She tilted her head, her long, dark hair falling aside and revealing the tender flesh of her neck, speckled with purples and blues. "Shall we?"
Sokka did the most logical thing. He sprinted towards her, swinging her up into his arms and carrying her back into the bedroom, as they began kissing.
Finally back on schedule.