Fitful nights – Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Once again, I lie over a towel while the umbrella casts a tolerable shade over me. This should be the time for me to joke about how improper it would be for the imperial scion to get a tan, but… I already have a quite permanent one over half my face, and, in my years of wandering across the world, I haven’t cared overly much about my appearance. Not to mention I am awful at making jokes.

Not that surprising. It’s not like there are that many things I excel at.

My last attempts to keep up with my princely looks have been thoroughly abandoned after letting down that ridiculously uncomfortable ponytail. It may be inappropriate for me to sport my current mop of shaggy hair, but it is, at least, comfortably inappropriate.

“Your aura looks nice today!”

I open my eyes to find Ty Lee’s beaming smile directed at me, gleaming white teeth competing against the sun for the brightest object on the beach.

I am already exhausted.

“Thank you?” I try to be polite with her, I always have, because I know how hard it is to compete against benders without using my own fire, and Ty Lee manages to be a terror on the battlefield even without any weapons.

It doesn’t mean I always manage.

“You are welcome! It’s so much smoother than yesterday, I can’t quite believe it; I guess burning down that jerk’s house really relaxed you, uh?” Her beaming smile is complimented by a conspiratorial wink.

I almost choke on my tongue.

Because burning down a house is definitely the last thing that’s been on my mind since I woke up this morning next to a far too lonely sister, and likely a very small contributor to any smoothing of aura, imaginary or otherwise.

“How do you even—”

“Azula’s also looks so much prettier!”

And now I am definitely coughing.

I look toward where my sister is grinning down a formerly haughty minor noble while Mai remains as thoroughly uninterested as possible by her side. We have barely spoken since last night, as I faked being asleep so that she could sneak out of my bed and go back to the mask she wears by daylight unbothered, but…

She looks…

It’s awful of me to look at her like this, to even remember what the covered parts of her body looked like when beaded with sweat as she—

No. Not that. But she looks… better. The smirk is cruel, yes, but there’s ease beneath it, a loosening of something that is always bound far too tightly.

She looks more… normal. And I hate myself a little bit just for thinking it.

And then a palm settles on my shoulder.

Ty Lee is still leaning down, effortless grace keeping her in balance so that the hand reassuring me does not press down, but just offers a hint of warmth and light. Her smile is not so wide, not so bright, but…

“Zuko… You aren’t that strong, you know?”

“Wha—I don’t need you to remind me of that.”

“Uh uh, you sure do,” she nods in a way that I am certain she thinks comes across as solemn and thoughtful, just after insulting the prince of her nation to his face, and I can’t help the small, fleeting smile at the sheer absurdity. Never change, Ty Lee. “Because I don’t know what you were thinking, but I’m sure it was something like: ‘Grah! Once again, the world is not doing what I think it should! How dare the order of the cosmos defy the will of Prince Zuko! Rawr!’”

I pause to look at her, dumbfounded.

I must admit it wasn’t that bad of an impression. Better than what the Ember Island players could manage, I‘m sure.

“So your point is that I’m not strong enough to change the world by myself, so I shouldn’t act as if it is my fault when things aren’t as they should be?”

“Uh… Sure?” And now she’s looking at me like she’s trying to figure whether Koh the Face Stealer is pulling a prank on her.

“Ty? Something wrong?”

“No, I was just expecting more pushing back.” She tilts her head and looks up, a slender finger tapping her chin. “I don’t know, don’t you feel like crossing your arms and sulking for a bit before accepting I am right? Maybe lecture me about the demands of your honor?”

And now I finally laugh.

It’s… not as harsh as it used to be. Not quite as bitter, because Ty Lee has always been so utterly bright and cheerful, so contagiously positive, that it’s hard to sulk when she’s around. I am halfway convinced Mai treats it as a challenge of sorts.

She… She even joins in, after a while, rather than staring at me in confusion. Because she may not understand what’s going through my head, what it is that I am finding so funny, but she understands joy, and she always shares in.

It’s… sad, actually, that Azula is so close to the person who should be able to help her the most and yet remains so thoroughly… Azula.

And now I think about Uncle in his cell, and I realize how blind I can be to irony.

“I… have had practice in accepting irreverent wisdom, Ty Lee. Thank you for offering yours.” I sit up the bare minimum required to nod my head at her, and she immediately straightens up and brings her hands to her mouth.

“You think I’m wise?!” she positively squeals.

“What-uh, I mean, I guess I—”

“Too late! No backsies! Hey, Mai, Zuko thinks I’m wise!” And she’s off, cartwheeling toward Mai and Azula in a way she most definitely shouldn’t while she’s wearing those white scraps she thinks are an adequate bathing suit.

“… Do you need a thicker umbrella, Zuko?” Mai asks in a way that makes it perfectly clear Ty Lee should be pouting at the implied insult.

It fails, because the cheerful girl keeps bouncing around, trying to drag her two friends to whatever it is she thinks is more interesting and fun than bullying snooty heirs.

So, now that I’ve been given a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet, I lie back on my towel and close my eyes, intent on catching up on all those naps I missed while obsessively training to fight a being out of legend who turned out to be a bratty kid.

Without meaning to, I smile. The umbrella is just thick enough.

***

Ember Island is far too hot at night, which I guess shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows the name of the place.

Knowing doesn’t do anything to keep me comfortable, as can be attested by my laying on top of my sheets, my silk robe sticking to my skin even though it’s parted down to my belt. I have been tossing around, hoping to fall asleep quick enough to—

My door slides open.

I freeze, eyes closed, faking once again, unwilling to face her like this, at this time, in this context.

After last night.

Unwilling to face the Azula that comes out at night, the one who shared my bed so often, the one who…

It was my first time. Our first time.

“I am not sure I…” A soft whisper reaches me. Hesitant, her overtly abundant energy subdued for once. It is not Azula.

“Shush, Ty Lee, it is just a prank. You love pranks, don’t you?” The answer is… The voice I have come to expect. The cruelty and mockery still there, but always cracking at nighttime, always allowing me to hope for something hiding beneath them.

But… It has always been just for me. Why did she bring…

Soft footsteps cross the threshold, and the door slides closed before the pair (one sure and deliberate, the other irregular, stopping along the way) get to my bed.

“Look at him, so peaceful, so unsuspecting.” A flicker of soft warmth caresses my scar and dim light spears through my eyelids, once again reminding me that I hate the heat.

Silence stretches as Azula’s flame moves up and down over me in an almost caress, in what would be loving and tender if not for the distance and the fire.

“Zuko, why are you pretending to sleep?” Ty Lee asks, and the flame flickers.

“… What?” Azula asks, tone jarred, as if suddenly brought out of a daydream.

“His aura. He isn’t sleeping; it’s far too active,” she says with a hint of confusion.

… Of all times to finally confirm whether she actually sees auras, now may not be the best.

Azula lets out a small, soft giggle, still trying not to disturb my fake slumber.

“Ty Lee, no need to keep up the façade; it’s just the two of us in here.”

“I am not—” she starts, before she cuts herself off and continues in the furtive whisper my sister is using. “I am not pretending. Unlike him. Or you. You also think he’s awake, don’t you?”

And Azula lets out a sharp breath and the flame is gone.

“No. No, I don’t.” Nobody argues with Azula when she speaks like this.

“But—” Nobody except Ty Lee. Because, as much as my sister has worked to bend her to fear and respect, she’s still her friend, and friends stand up to one another.

I think. It’s been a while since I had any.

“Ty, sweetie, if Zuzu was awake, would he let me do this?” she asks.

And undoes my belt.

The silk still sticks to my skin, matted with sweat, but soft, careful hands drag it away in a caress that stretches across my whole body. And now I am exposed. To my sister. To her friend.

If I fake waking up now, it’s going to be the most awkward moment of my life.

Yes, that includes that one time, Uncle.

Ty Lee gasps, and I can picture her wide eyes, her hands once again covering her mouth. I don’t know whether her cheeks would redden, nor whether disgust would color her expression. I don’t know, and it’s far too hard to keep up my apparent calm while doubt and anxiety start to creep in.

“See? Perfectly asleep. He isn’t even reacting… down there.”

Azula… I recently found out a way to shut you up, and I swear—

No. Bad idea. Bad idea.

“Isn’t that… mostly involuntary?”

“I don’t know, weren’t you the expert?”

“On flirting! I mean, maybe I have… but, you know, nothing too… What are you making me say?!”

“Apparently, that you get far too embarrassed by playing a simple prank on Zuzu. Your cheeks are about to burst, dear. Are you sure you weren’t a firebender, after all?” Guess that answers my question. Partially.

“You keep saying that, but… what prank? Isn’t undressing him enough? More than enough?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Azula says, a cheerful note and a return to a normal volume of conversation. And a weight drops down on me.

My eyes shoot open to find Ty Lee’s bewildered gaze right in front of mine. Her cheeks actually look far redder than I’ve ever seen from the effusive girl, and her body is lying right over mine, her softness melding to my own hard muscle and…

No. That isn’t hard. Nor a muscle.

“Surprise, Zuzu, I just brought you a bedwarmer! Do you like it?”

“Azula!” Ty Lee and I scream in unison, neither of us happy at the implication.

“What? I thought you both got along well enough. Didn’t you say she was wise, brother? Weren’t you ever so happy at his praise, my dearest friend?” Azula brushes her chin with her finger in a mockery of thoughtfulness, the sleeve of her crimson robe dangling under equally red lips.

“But—but, I—he’s Mai’s!”

Oh. Oh, Ty, you shouldn’t have said that. Not now. Not after nightfall.

“See, that’s where you are mistaken, darling.” Azula leans down, pressing Ty Lee right against me as she leans over her, her words directed to the acrobatic girl as her eyes lock straight on mine. “Zuzu isn’t Mai’s. He never was. Zuzu’s mine. I only lend him from time to time.”

“Azula…” My eyes wander from firebender amber to an almost waterbender gray. Fitting, because Azula has always been far too intense, while Ty Lee’s flightiness, annoying as it can be, has always managed to be somehow soothing. “Azula, stop this. She’s scared.”

“… Why?” And there’s confusion, and hurt, and shock, and a myriad things that I so dearly wish I could believe weren’t faked.

“Because she doesn’t know what’s going on.” I try to explain, my voice soft, steady, and definitely fake as gray eyes widen in something I can’t identify as I speak to my sister as if I was explaining something to a small, hurt child. “She doesn’t know this part of you, does she?”

“She’s my oldest friend. She shouldknow me.” She states, imperious and almost petulant.

“I want to!” Ty lee interrupts. And I think that’s the worse thing she could have said, except that I see the way Azula’s lips tremble, and I can’t help the wave of relief that washes over me at her words.

“You... do?” Frail. More than she ever allows herself to show.

And Ty lee turns around over my naked body, uncaring of her skin gliding across my own, of her bottom resting against… me. And hugs Azula.

“Of course I do. I have never seen your aura be less prickly.”

…

I… I don’t even know how to process this.

Neither does Azula, apparently, because her eyes go from mine to the girl clinging to her, again and again, like she’s asking me how to handle the situation. Which…

All right, I also don’t know.

I am clueless, have always been, and years of working with the army while searching the world over for a century-old myth haven’t precisely prepared me to handle… feelings?

But…

Still hesitating, far too uncertain of what I am doing, I lift my arms and…

Well, not much else I can do at this point.

I hug them both.

Ty Lee lets out a pleased sound when my arms drag Azula down against her, and my sister’s eyes widen once again when she feels herself thoroughly surrounded by the two people she intended to play with tonight. She’s always been the cunning one, two steps ahead, always knowing what her adversaries are about to do before they even realize they are playing her game. Spirits know I have fallen for that time and again.

But Ty Lee…

Ty Lee is kissing Azula’s forehead.

“You are too scary, you know? I understand you are afraid, but you don’t need to—”

“I am not afraid! Everyone else is! And they should be!”

So my sister tries to get away.

And Ty Lee, gently, with a wide smile, pokes the back of her neck.

She immediately stops moving, her arms limp by my sides, and her friend turns around, carefully depositing her to my right as she lies over both of us, chin perched on her hands, elbows on Azula’s and my chest, feet kicking behind her.

It is suddenly very apparent that she’s still wearing her bathing suit.

“Zuko told me I’m wise, and, you know, no one has ever said that to me, because they get caught up on my seeing their aura, and they think it’s nonsense because they can’t see it, but I do, and I shouldn’t lie just because the world I see is not the one they see, so…” She leans down, and kisses the tip of my nose. I am pretty sure I am blushing.

Also, Azula’s growl is surprisingly charming when I know for a fact that she can’t do anything to back it up.

“Thank you, Zuko. For saying that. You are pretty cute when your aura swirls like that.” And she smiles, wide and bright, far more than the lamp she brought in.

And I am mesmerized.

“And you, my dearest friend,” she turns her face away from mine to Azula, and there’s a hint of something unpleasant there, something I haven’t heard before. “You are far too jealous for your own good. Also, plenty cute when your aura crackles like that.”

So she leans down. And kisses her lips.

The room is still, the both of us struck speechless by what she has so boldly decided to do.

“Well, Zuko, what are you waiting for?” She looks at me, cheerful and inviting, her words coming from lips that are still brushing against whom I have always thought as the more dangerous woman in the Fire Nation.

I… may have to rethink my hierarchy.

So I turn on my side, Ty Lee effortlessly shifting her weight around so that she ends up hugging us two siblings as I tentatively slide an arm around my sister and another over the girls whose actions I would currently describe as anything but wise.

Then, while Azula glares at me like I’ve just burned her favorite doll (which, again, it was an accident), I kiss her brow.

Her glare melts, something else taking its place, but Ty Lee’s takes its place. Which… it is quite novel to see. And disturbing.

“Not like that.”

“What?” I look at her, uncomprehending.

“Not like that, Zuko. You know what she wants.” A glare and a pout should never pair so harmoniously.

Azula’s eyes flit frantically between her two captors, lips thinning in a way that makes it clear only her paralysis is stopping her from worrying at them with her teeth.

“Ty Lee, I really don’t think—”

“Precisely!” She bounces on top of us, the thin mattress somehow seeming far more springy than when I do it. “Don’t think! Thinking is what got us all into this mess, so don’t bother stubbing your toe twice on the same stone!”

“That’s not how that saying goes—”

“Perfect, then don’t do it!” And she grabs my head and pushes me straight against Azula’s lips.

Sister’s eyes couldn’t be wider even if she regained the use of her muscles, and I don’t think mine are far behind. This… I don’t know what Azula intended, bringing Ty Lee here, at this time, at our time, but… I don’t think she wanted to reveal this much. Not yet, and likely not ever.

And then she looks to the side, and I follow her eyes to look into a beatific, slightly excited smile. And my sister closes hers just as Ty Lee caresses the side of her neck. Then her lips part, her tongue licks at mine, and she leans forward as a moan escapes her.

“I knew it. Your auras fit so well together.”

I… I should be ashamed, mortified. I should fight this harder.

But… But my sister is…

She isn’t fighting this. She’s showing herself to her friend, not lashing out, and if Ty Lee could…

I think of an old man sitting in his cell, pretending to be insane, likely plotting something with that incredible mind he so brilliantly hides. I think of wise words clad in casual humor, of wisdom so irreverent a fool will always overlook it, of strong arms holding a broken boy until he can begin to pull himself together.

And I think of Azula, who never had something like that.

But she could. She could have this support, this new chance to be someone who doesn’t need a mask of cruelty to face the world, to be something else than what she thinks Father demands of her.

So my arm that rests under the pile of bodies hooks around her, my hand clasping her neck, my tongue dancing with her like dragons courting.

I follow Ty Lee’s demands so that Azula will, and I drink of my sister.

My naked body shows my response, and Azula’s leg hooks over my hip, pressing herself against me, bringing that heat I should hate so much closer to me, and calling on my own heat in response.

And Ty Lee sighs.

“I really wish you could show this to everyone.”

Azula straightens, her pliable body suddenly rigid, and she turns to look at her friend.

“What do you—”

“You will need somebody to cover for you. Hmmm, I wonder if we could hire somebody for when you get pregnant.”

“Ty Lee!” I surprise myself by shouting.

“What? This is where this is headed, isn’t it? Azula won’t let you go, and you won’t let her get hurt, so… Well, kind of obvious.” She smacks her lips, her pondering gaze pointed at the ceiling, as if discussing the solution to far too easy homework.

And so, both the royal heirs to the throne look at one another, utterly baffled.

“Also, I don’t think Zuko is going to be able to hold much longer like this,” the incarnation of chaos says as she grabs my member, and Azula looks down in shock.

Frankly, the only reason I don’t do the same is that I’ve given up.

“So, Azula, you asked me for tips on flirting? Well, the tip is really sensitive. There you go!” And she giggles. While pressing my member against Azula’s naked sex, while coaxing two siblings to have sex in front of her.

Once again, I find myself with a problem I will never ask Uncle about.

“I could remain single… No need to hire a pretend husband…” Azula muses, in a way that sends a thrill of horror down my spine.

“Uh? Oh, no, I meant a body-double, silly! Of course you aren’t marrying anyone.”

“But then—” Azula looks like she’s trying to decide what her actual response should look like, and her face isn’t keeping up with her demands. It doesn’t help that Ty Lee is far too much Ty Lee.

“You talk too much! There!”

And she presses a spot right where my spine meets my coccyx, and I jerk my hips forward.

Burying myself in Azula, whose eyes are far too wide to even pretend at a hint of control.

“There, isn’t that so much better?” the acrobat purrs, her hand still caressing my back, brushing the hint of fuzzy hair below my waist as if petting a favored pet.

“Ty Lee… what are we doing?” I manage to bite off, Azula’s wetness and warmth turning the simple question into a colossal effort.

“Uh? Well, you two are making love—” and we, as siblings for once in agreement, gasp. “As for me? .. I don’t know, I am just going along with the flow!”

And she bounces once more on top of us, a movement that both Azula and I feel far too much given our current predicament.

“If you ever tell anyone about this...” I don’t think Azula means anything by it, she just resorts to threats as a matter of course when she’s on unfamiliar territory.

I don’t know whether Ty Lee understands that about her, but… Well, She’s currently shoving her tongue down my sister’s throat. While I am buried inside her.

I really, really wish I could ask Uncle for advice on this.

“I am sure you will find some way to silence me, bestie.” And she grins in that far too wide and bright smile. Which isn’t diminished at all by the thread of saliva dangling from her bottom lip that still connects her to a princess who has never been so thoroughly silenced in her life.

And she pushes against that particular spot, and I thrust forward again, Azula’s glassy eyes widening as she lets out a moan.

“Ty Lee!” I try to admonish her.

“Rude, Zuko! You should be screaming the name of the woman you are inside of!”

And I give up.

There’s no thing I can say to reason my way out of this, because there’s nothing that makes sense here. Ty Lee should be terrified by Azula, not playing her like a fiddle; Azula should be throwing fire around now that Ty Lee has given it back to her; I shouldn’t even be inside my sister.

Nothing here is as it should be, as it always is. Nothing in this room follows the rules I know the world works by.

So, why should I?

With the hand that is still grasping her nape, I pull Azula into a kiss that has her contracting around me, and my other hand grabs the leg hooked around my hips so I can turn her over. I push with my hips, grinding against her nub all the while I remain buried inside her, and set Azula on her back, below me. I separate just long enough to look into surprised, lidded amber, and then I hook her knees on my shoulders, as I feel Ty Lee’s naked breasts (because why not, at this point) on my back.

“You know, yesterday I thought a thing I never thought I would say to you,” I mention, almost casually.

“What… what is it, Zuzu?” she asks through gritted teeth that clench every time I complete a small circle of my grinding motion.

“That it’s a pity I can’t do this in a duel.” And, as Ty Lee bursts out laughing and Azula tries to say something scathing, I pull myself almost completely out of her raised hips and push back down with all the strength years of elite training have given me.

And Azula howls.

“A real pity,” I say with a smile so wide it pulls at my scar. And I don’t even care about it.

Ty Lee’s hands snake between us, pulling Azula’s robe open so that her bouncing breasts are exposed to me as I start getting into a rhythm, and one slender hand plays with them while another trails my chest.

Every time I move, I feel her body rubbing against my back, her hips accompanying my every motion, and at points guiding them; and every time Azula tries to say something, I either drop my whole weight on the point we are joined, or Ty Lee masterfully tweaks her nipples in a way I am sure implies more esoteric knowledge than mundane skill.

Not that she isn’t skillful, because both the hand that plays with me and the spectacle she’s making of my sister’s breasts is far too much for my inexperienced mind to process, so, when Azula’s whimpers become more frequent, when her face and her chest redden in a way I never thought I would learn to recognize, I am almost as relieved as I am aroused.

Ty Lee pinches and pulls, Azula bites her lip, I grind on top of her.

And the princess of the fire nation screams.

I start to pull out and panic for a moment when Ty Lee’s weight doesn’t shift fast enough, but I am on time, and just as I exit my sister’s lips, the slender hand on my chest drops down to tug on me once, twice—and I see white.

The climax is long, far too long, extended by both my arousal and Ty Lee’s dexterous fingers as she aims each shot at a different part of Azula, as if she wants to be sure she becomes thoroughly branded.

And then I remember to breathe.

Three sweaty bodies on the heated night of Ember Island, sheets matted with all manner of bodily fluids, a sister who still isn’t able to talk, and a friend I dearly hope won’t try to.

And I drop on top of Azula, uncaring of my seed staining both our bodies as I hug her and, finally, exhausted in more ways than one, I fall asleep.

I mean, I may have pretended for a second or two, but Ty Lee was kind enough not to comment on my active aura.

***

The next morning I wake up to find a dreaming, sobbing Azula cradled on my chest, calling for her mother not to abandon her.

As always, as usual, as if there’s been no progress nor improvement. As if the whirlwind of chaos with a bright smile didn’t drag enough things to the surface to have shaken up the odious routine of learning anew how broken my Azula is. Not the other one. Not father’s Azula. Mine.

So I hug her, and, once again, I mutter those soothing, calming lies.

“Yes, Azula. I am here for you.”

And then there’s a hint of motion, a face rising up from behind Azula, waterbender grey under chestnut hair.

And Ty Lee doesn’t smile. Doesn’t say anything.

She just shifts, and hugs the both of us.

This time, I don’t have to fake falling asleep.