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Sokka wakes to an empty bed.
That in itself is not unusual. What is unusual is the fact that it is definitely much earlier than when Sokka usually wakes up. Absent is the late morning haze that Sokka has grown used to; in its place is a crisp yellow light that bathes everything in a buttery glow. A single square of sunlight slants across the room at an unfamiliar angle and illuminates the sheets in a blinding white-gold. Sokka squints against the glare and rolls over, pillowing his face against his crossed arms.
The balcony doors are open. A crisp breeze rolls in, raising gooseflesh on his bare skin, and he can just make out the distant chirping of birds. Zuko stands out on the balcony, wrapped in a thin red robe, face turned to catch the early morning sun. He looks luminous, haloed by the light, and peaceful in a way that Sokka rarely gets to see. He almost doesn’t want to disturb him.
Almost.
“Hey,” Sokka says. His voice is rough and gravelly with sleep.
Zuko turns. He looks surprised to see Sokka awake. “Hey.”
“What time is it?”
“Early. The sun just came up.”
“Ugh, firebenders.” Sokka scoffs. “You’re all insane.”
Zuko smiles. His face is soft and open in the light of dawn, and Sokka’s stomach twists unexpectedly.
“Come back to bed,” Sokka says and makes grabby hands. “I’m cold. And lonely.”
“You’re so needy,” Zuko says with a roll of his eyes, but goes anyways. The balcony doors stay open.
There’s the soft pad of Zuko’s bare feet against the hardwood floor, and then the mattress dips as he climbs back into bed. Sokka turns to face him and tips his head up expectantly. With a long-suffering sigh, Zuko crawls over to him and plants a kiss on his lips. Sokka hums and lifts his arm to tangle his fingers in Zuko’s long hair, hanging loose around his shoulders.
“Good morning,” Sokka says when Zuko pulls away.
Zuko smiles down at him for a second, and then suddenly makes a face.
“What?” Sokka laughs. “You don’t like my morning breath?”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Mhm.” Sokka leans up to kiss him again, but Zuko stops him with a hand on his face. Sokka presses a kiss to his palm instead. “But you love me anyways.”
“Whatever,” Zuko says, and buries his face in Sokka’s neck.
The familiar weight of Zuko’s body settles comfortably against Sokka. Zuko’s lips are soft and warm against Sokka’s skin as he kisses his throat, his collarbone, the underside of his jaw. Sokka closes his eyes, feeling warm and content, on the verge of drifting back to sleep.
The sheets rustle as Zuko shifts closer, and suddenly Sokka can very clearly feel Zuko’s arousal, hard and pressing against his hip. He cracks an eye open and gives Zuko a sleepy frown.
“How can you be so horny so early in the morning?” Sokka asks, his voice tinged with disbelief.
Zuko shrugs as he continues to kiss Sokka’s neck. One hand makes its way to Sokka’s thigh and squeezes. “I rise with the sun.”
Sokka lets out a long breath. “Unbelievable. Are you like this every morning?”
Zuko doesn’t answer, just traces his fingers up Sokka’s thigh, which is honestly answer enough. His touch is feather light, and Sokka tries not to twitch as he slowly draws closer to his crotch…and then stops. Just out of reach, not close enough to touch.
Despite his complaints, Sokka can feel himself getting hard, his skin lighting up beneath Zuko’s touch.
“So…” Zuko says.
Sokka licks his lips. “So.”
“Can I blow you?”
Sokka can’t help the snort that bursts out of him. “Straight to the point, huh? You’re so romantic.”
He feels Zuko shrug against his side. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“Uh, duh, of course I want you to blow me. When have I ever said no?”
“Consent is important, Sokka,” Zuko says seriously.
“Yes, I know that. You have my consent. Are you gonna blow me or what?”
Zuko answers by cupping Sokka’s cock through his pants. Sokka sucks in a sharp breath, and his hips twitch upwards into Zuko’s palm.
“You’re such a dick sometimes, you know that?” Sokka says. His voice comes out breathier than he would like.
“Mhm,” Zuko says, muffled against Sokka’s neck. He presses a wet kiss to the soft skin there, and Sokka squirms, pushing his head back into the pillows. It’s so early that his brain hasn’t completely woken up yet, and he can’t do much more than lie there as Zuko turns him to putty beneath his touch.
Zuko dips his fingers beneath the waistband of Sokka’s sleep pants, and Sokka gasps at the feel of Zuko’s hand on his cock. Zuko strokes him once, twice, light and teasing, before he rolls to straddle Sokka’s thighs, his weight a familiar anchor in the unmoored hours of dawn. Sokka’s hands settle instinctively on Zuko’s hips; it’s like they were meant to be there.
“You’re so gorgeous,” Sokka mumbles as he blinks dazedly up at Zuko. It’s always true, but it’s even truer now: the yellow-pink light coming through the open doors is soft and lovely against Zuko’s skin, and his robe hangs loose off of his shoulders to pool around his arms and waist. Sokka loves Zuko like this: all pliant and soft, no hard edges, a certain kind of carefree in the hours before the rest of the world catches up to them. He only wishes he could see it more often.
Zuko blushes under his gaze, but his eyes go soft, a gentle smile tugging at his lips. “Says you.”
“Oh?” Sokka raises an eyebrow. “Go on, then. Tell me all about how gorgeous and dashing and sexy I am.”
Zuko laughs. It’s a wonderful sight—like he lights up from the inside. “As if you need anyone stroking your ego any more. If your head got any bigger, I think you’d have to start going around shirtless.”
Sokka smiles bemusedly at him. “And why is that?”
“Because it wouldn’t fit through the shirt hole anymo—but wait, your shirts don’t work like that, do they? Fuck. You know what? Nevermind.” Zuko buries his face in his hands.
Sokka laughs. “You’re cute, but you should leave the jokes to me, babe. I’m the funny one in this relationship.”
Zuko glares at him through his fingers. “And the annoying one.”
Sokka presses a hand to his chest, mock hurt. “Ouch. You wound me, Your Majesty.”
“Yeah, well, and now I’m about to blow you.”
“Oh, is that what you were doing? By all means, then, carry on.”
Zuko rolls his eyes. “You’re so obnoxious. Why do I put up with you?”
“Because you love me, or something,” Sokka says sagely.
“Or something,” Zuko agrees. “Help me take your pants off.”
That’s something that Sokka can get behind. He lifts his hips and Zuko tugs his pants down so that they’re bunched around his thighs. Sokka feels kind of stupid lying there with his dick out, but the way that Zuko is eyeing his cock helps mitigate the feeling a bit.
Zuko wraps his hand around Sokka’s cock, and Sokka twitches minutely, his fingers tightening around Zuko’s hips. Zuko’s palm is warm and dry—almost too dry—but Zuko must be able to read him like a book, because he lets go for a second to lick a wet stripe across his palm. It’s so simple yet erotic that Sokka can’t help but let out a groan.
“Fuck, you’re so sexy,” he says. Zuko flushes but doesn’t say anything as he takes Sokka’s cock back into his hand, and spirits, it’s perfect now.
Zuko always has a singleminded drive and intensity when he’s focusing on something important, and it’s no different during sex. Sometimes it feels like Zuko is studying him, cataloguing what he likes and what makes him squirm and filing it away for later use. Sometimes it’s a little weird, if Sokka is being honest, but he is nothing but grateful for it in this moment as Zuko twists his wrist in the way that he knows drives Sokka crazy, and Sokka arches off the bed with a garbled curse.
“I, ah, not that I’m not enjoying myself right now,” Sokka pants, “but I believe I was promised a blowjob?”
“Agni, how are you so impatient?” Zuko says disbelievingly.
“Not impatient,” Sokka corrects. “Just worried that we won’t make it to the main event if you keep that up.”
Zuko feigns a sigh, but shifts off of Sokka’s legs so that he can pull his pants off all the way. Sokka doesn’t like to sleep with a shirt, because they literally live inside a volcano, so he’s completely naked, while Zuko is still mostly dressed in his open robe and sleep pants. Sokka would be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on a bit.
He spreads his legs, and Zuko settles on his front between Sokka’s thighs, face-to-face with his cock. Zuko shoots him a wry look. “You happy now?”
“Ecstatic,” Sokka answers, and winds his fingers into Zuko’s hair. He gives a gentle tug, and Zuko’s eyes flutter shut, his mouth falling open on a silent gasp. Sokka doesn’t miss the way his hips shift against the mattress, just for a second.
Tui and La, Sokka doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of this. Zuko’s head between his thighs, his long hair loose and flowing over his shoulders, face flushed and open, honest in a way he almost never gets to be as the Fire Lord. The rest of the palace is starting to wake up around them: footsteps in the courtyard, the distant crowing of chicken pigs, the muffled murmur of servants moving within the walls, but Sokka almost feels as if he’s trapped in a bubble of hazy pleasure, removed from the rest of the world.
Zuko takes Sokka’s cock into his mouth, and Sokka moans, his fingers tightening in Zuko’s hair. If only he could freeze this moment, live in it forever. Zuko’s mouth is a delicious wet heat; Sokka clenches his eyes shut and lets his gasps drift up into the empty air.
When he comes, it’s with a curse, muffled into the crook of his elbow. Zuko pulls off just in time, and Sokka comes all over his own chest. Zuko stares up at him, breathing hard, colour high and hectic on his cheeks. His eyes are blown wide, nothing but a thin ring of colour around the black; an errant sunbeam catches it and turns it a brilliant gold.
Sokka’s mouth is dry. He swallows, licks his lips. “C’mere,” he says, and Zuko obliges, crawling up Sokka’s body to slot their mouths together.
“Fuck, how are you so perfect?” Sokka says once they separate. He can feel Zuko’s erection, hard against his thigh. “Want me to get you?”
Zuko shakes his head. “No, I can do it. Just let me…here.”
He settles his weight back against Sokka’s thighs, straddling him like before. Sokka watches as he pulls down the waistband of his pants, just enough to pull his cock free, and begins to stroke himself.
Sokka swallows. “You sure you don’t want me to..?”
“No, just…talk to me.”
“I can do that,” Sokka says. A thrill runs through him, and he runs his hands up Zuko’s thighs to clutch at his hips. “What do you want me to say?”
“Anything. I just want to—” Zuko’s hips stutter, and his breath catches. “Just want to hear your voice.”
“Fuck.” Sokka groans. “You’re so sexy, you know that, right? So pretty. I could stare at you all day.”
Zuko whines, and his hand starts to move faster. He braces his free hand on the bed next to Sokka’s head, pitching forward so that his hair falls around the both of them in an inky curtain. Sokka takes one hand and smoothes Zuko’s hair back off his forehead, tucks a wayward strand behind his ear.
“If I could I’d spend the whole day in bed with you. We could take all the time we wanted. Fuck you nice and slow, make you come over and over again.”
“Fuck,” Zuko moans. His face is flushed, lips bitten and pretty pink. Something squeezes inside of Sokka at the sight.
“Agni, you’re so beautiful, Zuko.” Sokka cradles Zuko’s jaw in both his hands, marvels at the way his face twists up in pleasure at his words. “You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
Zuko lets out another whine, high-pitched and needy. Sokka really is lucky, he thinks. He’s the only one who gets to see Zuko like this, so open and vulnerable as he falls apart beneath Sokka’s hands.
“Come on, baby,” Sokka breathes. “I want you to come for me.”
Zuko moans. Sokka pulls his face down until their foreheads are touching.
“Come for me, Zuko,” Sokka says. He can feel Zuko’s breath, hot against his lips as he pants. “Please?”
Sokka feels Zuko’s hips stutter once, twice, and then he’s pressing his head against Sokka’s so hard that it’s almost painful. He comes onto Sokka’s chest with a strangled-sounding groan, his fist tightening in the pillow next to Sokka’s head.
They stay frozen for a moment as Zuko’s breathing evens out. Eventually, Zuko pulls away and rolls to the side, stretching out next to Sokka all loose and languid, a line of heat against his side.
“Fuck, that was hot,” Sokka says. He’s half-hard again, and he would honestly be up for another round, but he can feel exhaustion creeping in at the edges of his mind.
Zuko hums. “You should wake up early more often.”
“Fuck no,” Sokka laughs. “Don’t get me wrong, morning sex is nice and all, but I need my sleep.”
“Mm, loser.”
“Jerk.” Sokka grabs his discarded pants and wipes the come off his chest, then turns to wrap Zuko up in his arms. “You’re not falling asleep, are you?”
“No,” Zuko says, burrowing his face into the crook of Sokka’s neck.
“You’re a shitty liar.”
“Shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”
Sokka snorts and presses a kiss into Zuko’s hair. “Okay, princess. But don’t get mad at me when your advisors get pissed because you missed your 8 o’clock meeting.”
“My advisors can suck it,” Zuko mumbles, already sounding half gone.
“Mm. That they can.”
Sokka doesn’t even bother with the covers. As the sun climbs higher into the sky, the morning breeze goes from brisk to balmy, and it washes over the both of the them like a comforting blanket. The palace is still shaking itself awake, like a giant beast slowly stuttering into motion; the day won’t begin for another few hours. Sokka closes his eyes and lets the gentle cadence of Zuko’s breathing lull him back to sleep. There’s no need to worry. They have enough time.