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The palace’s towers caught the last crimson light of sunset.
Zuko stood on a balcony overlooking the inner courtyard, one hand resting against the carved sandstone railing. The air carried the scent of spice gardens and sun-warmed stone. Below, servants hurried about preparing for the evening meal.
A horn sounded from the outer gate. He smiled before he could stop himself. Sokka had arrived.
The journey from the southern territories took weeks. His homeland lay beyond mountains and frozen forests, where winter lingered most of the year, and the sea turned to ice along the shores. Every visit was rare and felt too short.
Zuko descended to the entrance hall just as the massive doors opened. Sokka stepped inside, bringing the cold with him.
He was broad-shouldered and wrapped in layers of dark fur and leather despite the Fire Nation heat. A few snow-white beads hung from braids woven into his dark hair, symbols of his tribe. Dust from the road clung to his boots.
The moment he saw Zuko, his stern expression softened.
"Zukes."
"Sokka."
Sokka caught him easily when he reached him. His arms wrapped around Zuko’s waist, lifting him slightly from the floor.
"You took too long," he muttered.
A low laugh rumbled in his chest.
"I came as fast as I could."
"Excuses."
His smile widened. Spirits, Zuko had missed that smile. When Sokka finally set him down, neither of them stepped away. The hall had emptied. Servants had learned long ago to disappear when the Water Tribe guest arrived.
"You look tired," Sokka said quietly.
"So do you."
"I am."
Weeks apart stretched between them. Zuko reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear. Sokka caught his wrist gently. His thumb traced the inside of it.
It was a simple touch, yet Zuko suddenly found himself very aware of how close he stood. Also, very aware that Sokka was looking at him the way a starving man looks at a feast.
The Water Tribes favored meat-heavy diets, and generations in the harsh wilderness had left some of their people with sharper canines than most.
Sokka’s were noticeable whenever he smiled. Or whenever he was trying very hard not to.
"You're staring," Zuko said.
The grin on Sokka’s face grew.
"I missed you, too," he said.
Zuko rolled his eyes.
"You're insufferable."
"And yet."
"And yet."
His hand settled lightly against the older’s waist again. Sokka’s gaze dropped briefly to his lips. Then returned to his eyes.
The room suddenly felt far too warm.
"Come with me," Zuko said.
Sokka’s eyebrow lifted.
"To dinner."
His expression became suspiciously innocent.
"Of course."
"Dinner first."
"Whatever you say, Your Majesty."
Zuko hated it when he used that tone. Mostly because the younger knew exactly what it did to him. As he turned to lead him through the palace, Sokka caught the edge of his sleeve. He looked back. Sokka leaned down slightly.
Then, with maddening slowness, he brushed his mouth against the side of his neck. It wasn’t even a kiss; it was barely even a touch. Just enough for the faint scrape of those sharper teeth to send a shiver down Zuko’s spine.
He froze.
Sokka immediately looked far too pleased with himself.
"You did that on purpose."
"Maybe."
"Sokka."
"I was saying hello."
"No, you weren't."
His eyes sparkled.
"No," he admitted. "I wasn't."
For several long seconds, neither moved. Then Zuko grabbed his hand and started walking before he completely forgot there was an entire nation waiting outside those walls.
Behind him, Sokka laughed. The sound followed them down the corridor as the palace doors closed and evening settled over the Fire Nation.
Dinner was a disaster, not because anything went wrong. Because neither of them could focus on it.
The meal had been laid out in one of the smaller royal dining rooms, away from advisors, guards, and ministers. Normally, Zuko appreciated the privacy.
Tonight it felt like a mistake. Sokka sat across from him, somehow making the simple act of eating feel distracting. Particularly because he seemed determined to remind Zuko exactly how long it had been since they'd seen each other.
Every time he looked up, he was already looking at him.
Every time he tried to start a conversation, Sokka answered with infuriating calm instead of his usual energetic demeanor.
"You are doing this deliberately."
Sokka swallowed a bite of roasted chicken.
"Doing what?"
"Being annoying."
His expression remained completely innocent.
"I've been here for about an hour."
"And you've spent most of it provoking me."
"I greeted you."
Zuko stabbed a piece of fruit with unnecessary force. Sokka watched the motion. Then his gaze lifted to the firebender’s. The corner of his mouth twitched.
The meal dragged on for another twenty minutes before Zuko finally surrendered. The moment dessert appeared, he stood.
Sokka blinked.
"Zukes?"
"I'm done."
"You barely ate."
"I'm aware."
Sokka glanced at the nearly untouched plates. Then back at him. His face looked more pleased as understanding dawned on him. The younger man rose from his chair.
"I suppose we could continue this conversation elsewhere."
"There is no conversation."
"Right."
"Not a single one."
"Of course."
His expression said otherwise. Zuko ignored him and headed for the door. The sound of his footsteps followed moments later. The palace corridors were quieter now. Most servants had retired to other wings.
Zuko led the way toward his private rooms, not because he had planned anything!!
Definitely not.
Sokka always remained a few steps behind him. By the time they reached the carved doors of his chambers, Zuko could feel every heartbeat.
He pushed the doors open. The room beyond glowed with warm lamplight, silk curtains stirring gently in the breeze. Then the doors closed behind them. The click sounded much louder than it should have.
Zuko turned. Sokka was standing several steps away.
Watching him. The playful confidence he'd worn all evening had softened into something quieter. The younger man exhaled a small laugh.
"I haven't seen you in nearly seven months."
Seven months.
Hearing it aloud made it sound worse. The distance between their nations had always been a problem. The entire world seemed determined to keep them apart.
Yet somehow Sokka still crossed them.
Again and again.
For him.
Zuko crossed the room. When he reached him, he placed a hand against his chest. Sokka immediately covered it with one of his own.
Zuko could feel his heartbeat beneath layers of leather and fur.
"I missed you," he admitted.
The words came out softer than intended.
"So did I."
Sokka’s voice was barely above a whisper. Zuko leaned forward until his forehead rested against his.
When the tribesmen finally opened his eyes, the look he gave the Firelord made his chest tighten. His hand slid gently to his waist. Zuko tilted his head slightly. Soft lips touched his mouth.
Sokka’s hands were on him, gripping his waist, pulling him in tight. A low growl pressed against his neck, the shudder of a breath that said I missed you louder than any confession.
“Fuck, I hate being apart from you,” the younger man muttered, teeth grazing the sensitive skin just below Zuko’s ear. The nip was sharp enough to sting, yet soft enough to promise more.
Zuko arched into him, fingers fisting the fabric of his lover’s tunic. “Then don’t leave again.”
“Not planning to.”
They kissed all tongue and need. Clothes shed in lazy steps as Sokka’s hands mapped Zuko’s body as if relearning the terrain, over his chest, down his stomach, gripping his hips until the firebender gasped.
“Turn around,” the other man said, voice thick, already rough with possession.
Zuko obeyed, bending over the edge of the bed, palms flat on the sheets. The chill of the room kissed his skin, but Sokka’s heat was immediate behind him, lips tracing a path down his spine.
The other man dropped to his knees, hands spreading Zuko’s cheeks wide. The first swipe of his tongue was broad and slow. The firelord moaned, pressing back into the wet warmth.
Sokka licked him open deliberately, circling his rim, dipping inside in gentle thrusts that made his thighs tremble.
“You’re so fucking tight,” Sokka breathed against him, the words vibrating through sensitive flesh. “Been thinking about this every night.”
He lapped at Zuko’s hole like he was tasting something precious, dragging his tongue from perineum to tailbone, then back down to push inside.
The older man’s knees buckled, but Sokka’s grip on his hips held him steady.
“More,” he whimpered, surprised at his own desperation.
Sokka complied, licking deeper, fucking him with his tongue until Zuko was rocking back onto his face, moans muffled in the sheets. The heat pooled low in his belly, coiling tight.
“Please, Sokka, I need you inside.”
Sokka pulled away with a wet sound, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes dark and hungry. “You ready for me?”
“Always.”
Oil slicked Sokka’s fingers, then his cock; thick, heavy, the kind of weight that made Zuko’s mouth water and his ass clench in anticipation. Positioning himself, Sokka pressed the head against the firebender’s entrance, not pushing, just letting him feel it.
“Take me,” Zuko breathed.
Sokka pushed in slow, agonisingly, heartbreakingly slow. The stretch was a familiar ache, full of memory and longing.
Zuko’s body yielded inch by inch, gripping Sokka’s cock like it had been waiting for this reunion just as desperately. When the younger man bottomed out, his hips flush against Zuko’s ass, they both stilled, panting.
“Spirits, I missed this,” Sokka whispered, leaning over his back, mouth pressed to his shoulder blade. “Missed you.”
Then he began to move, long, deep strokes that rocked Zuko forward onto the bed. The rhythm was unhurried, each thrust deliberate, designed to reach as deep as possible.
Zuko felt every inch sliding inside him, brushing that spot that made stars burst behind his eyes.
Sokka’s hand slid around Zuko’s waist, pressing flat against his lower stomach. “Feel that?”
Through the thin wall of skin and muscle, Zuko could feel the faintest outline of Sokka’s cock moving inside him. A bulge, subtle but undeniable. Sokka pressed harder, and the other man moaned at the pressure, the visual confirmation of how deep he was being fucked.
“That’s me,” Sokka said, voice possessive but soft. “All the way inside you.”
He adjusted his angle, driving into him with a little more force, and the bulge became more pronounced, a visible swell beneath Zuko’s navel.
Sokka rubbed his thumb over it in circles, sending jolts of sensation through the older man’s overstimulated nerves.
“Please, don’t stop,” Zuko begged, fingers clawing the sheets.
Sokka didn’t. He kept that same steady, deep pace, one hand pressing on the bulge, the other gripping Zuko’s hip tight enough to bruise. Every thrust pushed the bulge outward, and Sokka’s thumb traced its shape, worshipping the proof of his possession.
When Zuko’s body started to tremble, nearing the edge, Sokka leaned down and sank his teeth into the meat of his shoulder.
I was not hard enough to break skin, but firm enough to leave a mark. The sharp pain jolted through Zuko, mingling with the pleasure, making his vision white.
“Mine,” Splla growled against the bite, the word a vibration through torn flesh.
He bit again, lower on Zuko’s back, then at the curve of his neck, each mark a brand. He moaned through the sting, clenching around Sokka’s cock, which only made the younger groan and bite harder on the next thrust.
The combination of the deep penetration, the pressure on the belly bulge, and the sharp, possessive bites wound Zuko tight. He came without warning, a broken cry escaping his lips as cum spilled onto the sheets.
His ass clenched rhythmically around Sokka’s dick, and the other man followed, buried deep, pulse after pulse of warmth flooding inside him.
They stayed like that, the tribesman draped over his back, breathing ragged, mouths pressed to skin. Sokka’s hand still rested on Zuko’s belly, feeling the faint aftershocks of his own spent cock.
“I love that I mark you,” Sokka murmured, lips brushing the fresh bite on Zuko’s shoulder. “Everyone will know.”
Zuko laughed weakly, pushing back against him. “Good. Means they know I’m yours.”
Sokka kissed the bite mark gently, softening inside him but not pulling out yet.
They stayed tangled together, the warmth of Sokka’s body pressing Zuko into the mattress as their breathing slowly evened out. His softening cock slipped free, and he pressed a kiss to the bite mark on Zuko’s shoulder.
It was another soft, almost apologetic gesture before his tongue darted out to soothe the reddened skin.
"Don't move," Sokka whispered, voice still rough with spent arousal. His hand slid from Zuko’s belly up to his chest, fingers tracing the sweat-slicked contours of his pectorals, circling a nipple until it hardened under the touch.
Zuko hummed, boneless and content. "Thought we were done."
"We're never done." Sokka shifted, rolling Zuko onto his back and settling between his legs. The mattress groaned under their combined weight. "I need to taste you again. All of you."
He started at the Firelord’s collarbone, mouth open, tongue flat, dragging a wet path from the hollow of his throat to the curve of his shoulder. Then his teeth closed down, a gentle but firm bite that made Ziuko gasp and arch up.
Sokka held it, laving over the skin before releasing and moving lower.
"You're so beautiful like this," he murmured against Zuko’s chest. "Spread out for me. Letting me do whatever I want."
His mouth found the older man’s sternum, then the dip between his pecs. Each kiss led to a bite, small, precise marks that bloomed pink against Zuko’s pale skin. Sokka worked methodically, leaving a trail of ownership from collarbone to nipple, where he sucked hard before nipping the sensitive nub.
Zuko cried out, fingers threading into the man’s hair, tugging. "Fuck, Sokka-"
"Shh. I'm not done." Sokka released the nipple with a wet pop and moved across to the other side, repeating the pattern.
His teeth grazed, clamped, soothed. By the time he finished, Zuko’s chest was a constellation of tiny crescents.
Sokka kissed down his stomach, tongue dipping into his navel before teeth scraped along his ribs. Zuko squirmed, oversensitive, but his lover’s hands pinned his hips down, holding him still.
"You can take it," Sokka said, looking up through dark lashes. "I'm going to mark every inch of you before we're through."
He reached Zuko’s thighs, spreading them wider, settling between them. The first bite landed on the inside of his right thigh.
It was a sharp, possessive clamp that made the firebender’s cock twitch, already stirring back to life. Sokka sucked the skin into his mouth, soothing the sting with his tongue before pulling away.
"I want you to feel me tomorrow when you sit down," he growled, shifting Zuko’s legs up and over his shoulders. "Every time you move, you'll remember my teeth on your skin."
He bit the other thigh, matching the mark, then kissed his way higher until his mouth hovered over Zuko’s hole, still slick and stretched from the first round.
"Oh spirits,"he breathed, anticipation tightening his stomach.
Sokka didn't hesitate. He buried his face between Zuko’s cheeks, tongue diving into the used hole, tasting himself mixed with his warmth.
The Firelord moaned, heels digging into Sokka’s back as the man licked and nipped at his rim, alternating broad strokes with sharp little bites that made Zuko’s hips buck.
"You taste so good," Sokka muttered against him, fingers spreading him wider so his tongue could reach deeper. "I could eat you out forever."
He bit down gently on one cheek, just to hear Zuko yelp, then smoothed the sting with his tongue. More bites along the curve of Zuko’s ass, each one a jewel of possession, marking the softest parts of him before Sokka finally pulled away, mouth wet and satisfied.
"Ready for round two?" Sokka asked, reaching for the oil again.
Zuko could only nod, trembling, his body a canvas of fresh bites and aching need.
Sokka oiled his cock, already hard again at the taste of his lover, and lined up, pressing in without waiting. The stretch was familiar now, the burn a comfort, and Zuko’s legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper.
"Look at you," Sokka breathed, beginning to thrust. "Taking me so well."
His hand found Zuko’s belly, pressing down as he fucked into him, feeling the ridge of his own cock move under the skin. The bulge rose with each deep stroke, and Sokka traced it with his thumb, hypnotized by the sight.
"I love that I can see myself inside you," he said, voice breaking. "That I'm so deep you can feel me in your stomach."
He leaned down, capturing Zuko’s mouth in a kiss that tasted of both of them, then dragged his teeth across his jaw, down his throat, biting at the junction of neck and shoulder, adding a new mark to the growing collection.
Zuko came again, overwhelmed, and Sokka followed moments later, hips stuttering as he filled the Firelord once more.
When he pulled out, he pressed a trail of gentle bites down Zuko’s spine, from the nape of his neck to the small of his back, before collapsing beside him, pulling the older man into his arms.
"Mine," Sokka whispered against his hair, lips tracing a final, soft bite behind his ear.
Zuko smiled, exhausted, covered in marks, and perfectly claimed.