Rebecca Hb. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beckyh2112) wrote2009-10-11 12:27 pm
beckyh2112) wrote2009-10-11 12:27 pm
Avatar Fic Dump
A bunch of mostly short stuff I've written for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
atlaland for various reasons. All of which were written without titles or (usually) summaries, so that means I'm having to come up with them off the top of my head.
Sometimes the headers are almost as long as the stories, too.
Title: Fire and Shadow
Characters: Zuko/Mai
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: Zuko doesn't like vivid girls.
Author's Notes: Won third place onatlaland's drabble contest.
***
Zuko didn't like vivid girls. It was a failing; all the great love stories were about vivid, burning women. Women who stood out and shone in the darkness. He had to be weird for finding vibrant, glowing women to be threatening.
Of course, Azula was his sister, and if there was ever a girl that shined harder or stood out more vividly, he couldn't imagine them.
Mai was shadow at the edge of light, a banked fire. Quiet, dark, and still dangerous because the threat couldn't be seen clearly. She was a counterpoint to him, the shadow to his flame.
End
---
Title: Trouble
Characters: Lieutenant Jee
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: There's always a next time.
***
Another ship, another superior officer who hadn't been a gleam in his parents' eyes when Jee enlisted.
Another bunch of fellow officers who looked at his shorn hair and tried not to get too close in case whatever disgrace he had was contagious.
At least the sailors treated him well enough, but that was the same on any other ship too. He'd been Fire Nation Navy for close to thirty years now, and people respected experience.
"Something different next time," he said to his friend, Admiral Chan's aide.
"There's going to be a next time?"
"There's always a next time."
End
---
Title: Refuge
Characters: Song/Ozai
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Summary: Song knows her lover is dangerous.
***
He was not her husband, and she was not his wife.
That they slept together meant nothing. He enjoyed sex, and he was very fond of her. She enjoyed sex, and while she could not say she was fond of him, she did not dislike him.
That was, perhaps, a mistake. Or worse, a failing.
He was a horrible man, Lee's father. Taut violence ran through his body even during sex, and while he cared for her, he did not care for anyone around but her.
Song would have said 'in the world', but she knew his wife still lived.
End
---
The rest of these are gift ficlets written for various people.
Title: Fear
Characters: Zuko/Song
Rating: G
Word Count: 100+
Summary: Song is braver than Zuko thinks is sensible.
***
"Be still," she tells him, "You are dead."
Zuko shakes his head and hisses at her, "You don't know these girls like I do. Let me take care of this!"
The Earth girl sighs softly, and she touches his arm softly, and Zuko isn't aware of the soft prick of the needle until it's already sliding out of his skin. Then a heavy numbness like fatigue comes over him, but unlike fatigue, he can't shake it off.
"Be still," Song says again as she pushes him down and covers him with blankets. "Trust me."
Then she goes to face Azula, and all Zuko can do is scream inside his head that Azula will hurt her, will break her, will burn her.
End
---
Title: Festival
Characters: Ty Lee/Song
Rating: G
Word Count: 400+
Summary: Ty Lee takes Song to a Fire Festival, and they browse the pretty crafts.
***
"Oh, you've got to see this! It's so pretty!" Ty Lee twisted to look behind her, then abruptly raised one leg and pressed the sole of her foot against her other knee. She seemed to do it for the sheer delight of doing it, balancing with ease.
Song ambled through the Fire Festival, nibbling on little flame-shaped candies of maple sugar. It was a nice bit of familiarity amid all the changes of the war ending, even if no self-respecting Earth mother would make fire-shaped candies.
Before the war ended, the Firefolk never knew the secrets of the maple trees.
"Come see!" Ty Lee said insistantly, the Fire girl dressed all in bright green like she was Earth born and bred. She stood out next to Song's modest browns and creams, stood out amidst all the reds of the Festival.
Which was just what Ty Lee wanted.
Song at last arrived at the booth Ty Lee was so insistent she come and look at. A handsome Fire lad stood behind a simple plank table covered in a drape of white cloth. All the better to show off his wares - hair sticks.
One of them caught Song's eye, and she reached out, hesitated to touch until he nodded, then picked up one of a matched pair. It was rhinoceros-bird horn, carved simply, then topped with a small jade bead and a larger piece of watermelon tourmaline. Dangling off a gold wire were three more jade beads, ending in a leather-crafted white dragon bloom.
"Leatherwork's my sister's," the Fire lad offered, grinning a bit. "That's one of my best pieces. Look real lovely on you, miss."
"I don't have the money," Song said regretfully, cutting him off before he could even make an offer.
Ty Lee's expression fell, then she brightened and pushed Song gently towards one of the many booths selling beer and wine. "I'm really thirsty for some firewine, Song! Would you get me some, please?"
Song gave her a look, and Ty Lee just grinned and pushed her all the harder. "Ty Lee, you don't-"
"Firewine!"
Song sighed and went. Ty Lee most certainly didn't have the money for those hair sticks either. Her parents certainly wouldn't send their youngest daughter money, and it wasn't as if she had a trade.
The firewine was easy to buy, and then Ty Lee was at her elbow again, pecking her on the cheek.
"I got them!" She said brightly, reaching for her glass of firewine.
"How?" Song refused to hand it over.
"I asked sweetly. And maybe bought another set that I told him I'd send to my friend the Firelady." Ty Lee grinned impishly.
End
---
Title: Matters of Pride
Characters: Jeong Jeong, Mariko, Akio, Juro (OCs except for JJ)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500+
Summary: Three young hotheads plus one very lovely woman equals...
Author's Notes: I love writing young!Jeong Jeong. He's an asshole. Mariko has previously appeared in Faded Petals.
***
"What's a peasant like you doing with as fine a lady as her?"
"Boring her to death, looks like. Pai sho?"
Jeong Jeong tilted his head to regard the two Navy officers speaking to him and Mariko. Ah, his fellow lieutenants on Captain Li's ship. Behold his complete and utter lack of surprise.
He stood and cracked his neck. "You lordlings got a problem?"
Mariko leaned back from the game, a white lotus tile held between two fingers. "It does sound like they do, doesn't it?"
"My problem is with this uncouth merchant bothering you, lady." Akio grinned, showing too many teeth. He was second-son to a daimyo, and he tended to lord it over everyone at his rank or below. Nobility was supposed to mean nothing in the Fire Nation military, but a lot of people still had too many bad habits from being civilians.
Juro stayed silent. He'd had a bit of a run-in with Jeong Jeong three months ago. Something about the responsibilities of a junior-most lieutenant, and how Jeong Jeong didn't like being sent on wild goose chases for other people's amusement.
Jeong Jeong grinned back at Akio. "'Least my family's got money. My sister doesn't have to whore to put food on the table. Or, wait, does she even bother asking for money, or do her lovers just give it to her to make her leave them alone?"
Mariko and Juro both sucked in a breath.
Akio's expression twisted with rage. "You- AGNI KAI!"
"Gladly." Jeong Jeong cracked his knuckles. "Here and now?"
"Yes," Akio hissed. "I'm going to kill you."
"I won't return the favor."
***
It was easy enough for them to step a bit away from the game table. The breastplates of their armor hit the ground with a crash, followed by the shirts they wore underneath. Mariko openly admired his body, and Jeong Jeong didn't feel at all bad about blowing her a kiss before taking his boots off.
Juro clapped his hands, and the duel began. Akio leapt forward with a lash of flame, which Jeong Jeong deflected with a shield of fire.
They were about evenly matched skill-wise, though Jeong Jeong suspected that would not be the case in a few years. However, Jeong Jeong had sheer power on the daimyo's son.
Once he didn't feel like playing anymore, it was over very quickly.
"Finish it," Akio demanded as he lay on the ground, only not bleeding because Jeong Jeong had cauterized his wounds accidentally.
"It must be humiliating," Jeong Jeong said, "Lying there while a merchant's son refuses to kill you. Mercy's the mark of a great man." He paused, then flicked a fire-dart into Akio's shoulder. "I guess I'm only a good one, though."
He turned away, walking back towards Mariko. Then he paused, turned back to Akio, and sent a fire-dart skimming across his face deep enough to scar. "Well, I'm all right."
End
---
Title: Longing
Characters: Roku/Ta Min/Sozin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 600+
Summary: Two weeks into her marriage, Ta Min is concerned that her husband doesn't understand why she married him.
Author's Notes: This is my new OT3.
***
Ta Min is a lady of the Fire Nation. She is beautiful and elegant, and she understands the value of marriage and the difference between love and sex. She also understands that her husband does as well, and that even though they have been married for two weeks, he still fears she chose him only because he is the Avatar.
She had lovers before Roku came to court her. Guardsmen and nobles' daughters, and one daimyo's son. She loved some of them, certainly, but they never had enough to offer to make a marriage worth her while.
The daimyo's son did, but she did not love him.
Roku, though, Roku she loves, has loved for a long time. And he is not the foundling boy anymore, not Prince Sozin's strange but dear friend. He is the Avatar.
There is much to be said for that.
She brushes her hair, one hundred slow strokes. It disturbs her that Roku doesn't believe in her love. He doubts her. Doubts like that could poison a relationship, but she doesn't have any idea what she can do to make him believe her love.
A sensible person didn't marry for love, and they were both sensible people. But that didn't mean love couldn't exist between married couples.
She wishes he would look at her with the same shining trust and love he turned on Sozin.
She knows she will never match Sozin, though. Not in Roku's eyes. No one could ever match Sozin, no matter all the new friends her husband has now from his journeys. Sozin was there first, and Sozin burns brightest and fiercest.
She remembers the heat of his hand through her robes when he leaned on her shoulder at the wedding. He burns even hotter than Roku.
Ta Min feels like a hearthfire between the two of them.
She sighs and lets her brush tumble from her fingers. She doesn't bother to pick it up as she pads to the window, looking out over the bay and its three volcanoes.
***
"Roku?" Sozin glances up at the manor, looking away from their spar long enough to get wrapped in a water-whip.
Roku gives his friend a stern look. "I know you're better than that. Wasn't it you who told me to keep aware of all my surroundings?"
"Wasn't it you who married Ta Min?"
Roku tilts his head slightly, looking at him as if he's mildly deranged. It was a trait he picked up on his travels that makes Sozin want to smack him and tell him to stop looking like a broken doll.
"You have an absolutely beautiful wife pining from sheer neglect," Sozin forces the cheer in his voice. Ta Min is beautiful, yes, but she's the one Roku chose, and he's still not sure what he thinks about that yet. (Roku should have chosen him.) "If you don't do something about that, I will."
"I doubt you could do anything for my wife," Roku says, his smirk just a little too sharp.
Sozin wonders about that, but he answers with a grin and a lick of fire between his teeth. "Want to bet?"
***
Ta Min opens the door to leave to find Sozin on the other side, and the Firelord sweeps her into a kiss that leaves her breathless.
Roku is right behind Sozin, and she doesn't imagine the flash of hurt in his eyes when she gasps at Sozin's caresses, so she holds her arms out to him.
He comes to her, but Sozin does not leave, and Ta Min finds she has no problems with this situation at all.
Sex on the floor, she does have a problem with, and the next round, she drags the two of them by their hair to the bed.
End
---
Title: Breakfast
Characters: Bato/Hakoda, Ozai/Ursa
Rating: G
Word Count: 500+
Summary: Bato and Hakoda have breakfast in the Great Hall and deal with the usual morning problems.
Author's Notes: It's another Hogwarts crossover! Because I love writing Harry Potter crossovers. Also, for some reason, it's really difficult for me to write Bato/Hakoda without putting Ozai somewhere in their vicinity.
***
"Give me that," Ozai commanded, settling on the bench next to Hakoda. His hands deftly undid Hakoda's Gryffindor tie while the newly rejuvenated Water Chief ignored him.
Bato did not, but he only undid Ozai's green and silver tie and handed it to Hakoda. Earth Kingdom colors were so much better than Fire Nation colors, even if they weren't the blues either would have preferred.
Ozai quickly replaced his tie with the red-and-gold of Gryffindor, then sauntered off to his house table.
Ursa stopped by a few minutes later to trade her yellow-and-black tie for Bato's, then went to join Ozai instead of her own House. The two of them snuggled together in a way that Bato found slightly boggling. It was strange to think of the destroyer of their world as a man (well, currently a fifteen-year-old boy) so in love with someone.
Hakoda snorted. "I'll never understand what she sees in him."
"You could ask," Bato said. He had asked once, and the reply had been both enlightening and told him more than he wanted to know about their sex life.
"I don't think I care that much." Hakoda grinned and speared sausages onto his plate, then stole a spoonful of kipper from Bato's. Bato retaliated by swiping all of Hakoda's bacon.
It was so strangely easy here to be comfortable, truly comfortable, with each other. At home, they could be the best of friends and sometimes they could sneak a night here or there, but there was the War. There was always the War, and Hakoda must lead them, and Bato must support him.
A lover's quarrel could doom too many people, if one of them hesitated where they should not. A lover's love could do the same and in the same ways.
They were men, and they knew their duty.
Except here, they were not men. They were boys again, and the War was far away, and the greatest threat to the world was right here with them and much more interested in chasing his wife's skirt.
It was easy. Bato smiled as breakfast ended with Hakoda's knee hooked over his, eating off each other's plates.
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Draco Malfoy drawled in that lazy, weirdly-not-Fire way of his. "Educational Decree Thirty-One, you know."
Hakoda tilted his head to look up at the boy. "Isn't that the one about girls and boys remaining at least a meter apart at all times?" He grinned. "I know Bato's damned pretty, but he's not that pretty."
"Maybe he's suggesting you're effeminate," Bato said softly. "Ozai might be rubbing off on you."
Hakoda grinned harder and twisted on the bench so he could lean back against the table. "Come on, Bato. Everyone's favorite Slytherin asshole isn't effeminate. He just likes to wear long hair and dresses. Nothing girly about that." He cocked his head slightly. "Of course, Malfoy, if you're doubting my or Bato's masculinity, I can demonstrate that we have all the right parts."
"Of course," Bato said, somehow managing to keep a straight expression on his face, "Then we'd have to check on you. Turnabout."
Malfoy spluttered, and the two Water Tribesmen rose from the bench, Hakoda laughing and Bato smiling.
End
---
Title: A Kiss is Just a Kiss
Characters: Zuko/Azula
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100+
Summary: Azula didn't mean to.
***
Azula didn't mean to.
That was a lie. She meant every moment of it, every careless little gesture, every word from her bloody red lips.
She didn't mean for this to happen.
Zuko kissed her like he knew how to kiss a girl, and she tried to kiss back. But she felt awkward in it. Like she was doing it wrong. Like Zuzu knew how to do it better than her.
That wasn't right. Zuko never knew how to do things better than her.
He broke the kiss and pulled back, and she looked up at him in puzzlement. His taste- she could taste him on her lips. She licked her lips experimentally, trying to figure out what he tasted like.
His mouth curved in a way that might have been a smirk on their father. "Good night, Azula."
Then he left her, and Azula blinked at the shut door. She felt again the strange sensation-idea that Zuzu knew how to do this better than she did.
End
atlaland for various reasons. All of which were written without titles or (usually) summaries, so that means I'm having to come up with them off the top of my head.Sometimes the headers are almost as long as the stories, too.
Title: Fire and Shadow
Characters: Zuko/Mai
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: Zuko doesn't like vivid girls.
Author's Notes: Won third place on
atlaland's drabble contest. ***
Zuko didn't like vivid girls. It was a failing; all the great love stories were about vivid, burning women. Women who stood out and shone in the darkness. He had to be weird for finding vibrant, glowing women to be threatening.
Of course, Azula was his sister, and if there was ever a girl that shined harder or stood out more vividly, he couldn't imagine them.
Mai was shadow at the edge of light, a banked fire. Quiet, dark, and still dangerous because the threat couldn't be seen clearly. She was a counterpoint to him, the shadow to his flame.
End
---
Title: Trouble
Characters: Lieutenant Jee
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Summary: There's always a next time.
***
Another ship, another superior officer who hadn't been a gleam in his parents' eyes when Jee enlisted.
Another bunch of fellow officers who looked at his shorn hair and tried not to get too close in case whatever disgrace he had was contagious.
At least the sailors treated him well enough, but that was the same on any other ship too. He'd been Fire Nation Navy for close to thirty years now, and people respected experience.
"Something different next time," he said to his friend, Admiral Chan's aide.
"There's going to be a next time?"
"There's always a next time."
End
---
Title: Refuge
Characters: Song/Ozai
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Summary: Song knows her lover is dangerous.
***
He was not her husband, and she was not his wife.
That they slept together meant nothing. He enjoyed sex, and he was very fond of her. She enjoyed sex, and while she could not say she was fond of him, she did not dislike him.
That was, perhaps, a mistake. Or worse, a failing.
He was a horrible man, Lee's father. Taut violence ran through his body even during sex, and while he cared for her, he did not care for anyone around but her.
Song would have said 'in the world', but she knew his wife still lived.
End
---
The rest of these are gift ficlets written for various people.
Title: Fear
Characters: Zuko/Song
Rating: G
Word Count: 100+
Summary: Song is braver than Zuko thinks is sensible.
***
"Be still," she tells him, "You are dead."
Zuko shakes his head and hisses at her, "You don't know these girls like I do. Let me take care of this!"
The Earth girl sighs softly, and she touches his arm softly, and Zuko isn't aware of the soft prick of the needle until it's already sliding out of his skin. Then a heavy numbness like fatigue comes over him, but unlike fatigue, he can't shake it off.
"Be still," Song says again as she pushes him down and covers him with blankets. "Trust me."
Then she goes to face Azula, and all Zuko can do is scream inside his head that Azula will hurt her, will break her, will burn her.
End
---
Title: Festival
Characters: Ty Lee/Song
Rating: G
Word Count: 400+
Summary: Ty Lee takes Song to a Fire Festival, and they browse the pretty crafts.
***
"Oh, you've got to see this! It's so pretty!" Ty Lee twisted to look behind her, then abruptly raised one leg and pressed the sole of her foot against her other knee. She seemed to do it for the sheer delight of doing it, balancing with ease.
Song ambled through the Fire Festival, nibbling on little flame-shaped candies of maple sugar. It was a nice bit of familiarity amid all the changes of the war ending, even if no self-respecting Earth mother would make fire-shaped candies.
Before the war ended, the Firefolk never knew the secrets of the maple trees.
"Come see!" Ty Lee said insistantly, the Fire girl dressed all in bright green like she was Earth born and bred. She stood out next to Song's modest browns and creams, stood out amidst all the reds of the Festival.
Which was just what Ty Lee wanted.
Song at last arrived at the booth Ty Lee was so insistent she come and look at. A handsome Fire lad stood behind a simple plank table covered in a drape of white cloth. All the better to show off his wares - hair sticks.
One of them caught Song's eye, and she reached out, hesitated to touch until he nodded, then picked up one of a matched pair. It was rhinoceros-bird horn, carved simply, then topped with a small jade bead and a larger piece of watermelon tourmaline. Dangling off a gold wire were three more jade beads, ending in a leather-crafted white dragon bloom.
"Leatherwork's my sister's," the Fire lad offered, grinning a bit. "That's one of my best pieces. Look real lovely on you, miss."
"I don't have the money," Song said regretfully, cutting him off before he could even make an offer.
Ty Lee's expression fell, then she brightened and pushed Song gently towards one of the many booths selling beer and wine. "I'm really thirsty for some firewine, Song! Would you get me some, please?"
Song gave her a look, and Ty Lee just grinned and pushed her all the harder. "Ty Lee, you don't-"
"Firewine!"
Song sighed and went. Ty Lee most certainly didn't have the money for those hair sticks either. Her parents certainly wouldn't send their youngest daughter money, and it wasn't as if she had a trade.
The firewine was easy to buy, and then Ty Lee was at her elbow again, pecking her on the cheek.
"I got them!" She said brightly, reaching for her glass of firewine.
"How?" Song refused to hand it over.
"I asked sweetly. And maybe bought another set that I told him I'd send to my friend the Firelady." Ty Lee grinned impishly.
End
---
Title: Matters of Pride
Characters: Jeong Jeong, Mariko, Akio, Juro (OCs except for JJ)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500+
Summary: Three young hotheads plus one very lovely woman equals...
Author's Notes: I love writing young!Jeong Jeong. He's an asshole. Mariko has previously appeared in Faded Petals.
***
"What's a peasant like you doing with as fine a lady as her?"
"Boring her to death, looks like. Pai sho?"
Jeong Jeong tilted his head to regard the two Navy officers speaking to him and Mariko. Ah, his fellow lieutenants on Captain Li's ship. Behold his complete and utter lack of surprise.
He stood and cracked his neck. "You lordlings got a problem?"
Mariko leaned back from the game, a white lotus tile held between two fingers. "It does sound like they do, doesn't it?"
"My problem is with this uncouth merchant bothering you, lady." Akio grinned, showing too many teeth. He was second-son to a daimyo, and he tended to lord it over everyone at his rank or below. Nobility was supposed to mean nothing in the Fire Nation military, but a lot of people still had too many bad habits from being civilians.
Juro stayed silent. He'd had a bit of a run-in with Jeong Jeong three months ago. Something about the responsibilities of a junior-most lieutenant, and how Jeong Jeong didn't like being sent on wild goose chases for other people's amusement.
Jeong Jeong grinned back at Akio. "'Least my family's got money. My sister doesn't have to whore to put food on the table. Or, wait, does she even bother asking for money, or do her lovers just give it to her to make her leave them alone?"
Mariko and Juro both sucked in a breath.
Akio's expression twisted with rage. "You- AGNI KAI!"
"Gladly." Jeong Jeong cracked his knuckles. "Here and now?"
"Yes," Akio hissed. "I'm going to kill you."
"I won't return the favor."
***
It was easy enough for them to step a bit away from the game table. The breastplates of their armor hit the ground with a crash, followed by the shirts they wore underneath. Mariko openly admired his body, and Jeong Jeong didn't feel at all bad about blowing her a kiss before taking his boots off.
Juro clapped his hands, and the duel began. Akio leapt forward with a lash of flame, which Jeong Jeong deflected with a shield of fire.
They were about evenly matched skill-wise, though Jeong Jeong suspected that would not be the case in a few years. However, Jeong Jeong had sheer power on the daimyo's son.
Once he didn't feel like playing anymore, it was over very quickly.
"Finish it," Akio demanded as he lay on the ground, only not bleeding because Jeong Jeong had cauterized his wounds accidentally.
"It must be humiliating," Jeong Jeong said, "Lying there while a merchant's son refuses to kill you. Mercy's the mark of a great man." He paused, then flicked a fire-dart into Akio's shoulder. "I guess I'm only a good one, though."
He turned away, walking back towards Mariko. Then he paused, turned back to Akio, and sent a fire-dart skimming across his face deep enough to scar. "Well, I'm all right."
End
---
Title: Longing
Characters: Roku/Ta Min/Sozin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 600+
Summary: Two weeks into her marriage, Ta Min is concerned that her husband doesn't understand why she married him.
Author's Notes: This is my new OT3.
***
Ta Min is a lady of the Fire Nation. She is beautiful and elegant, and she understands the value of marriage and the difference between love and sex. She also understands that her husband does as well, and that even though they have been married for two weeks, he still fears she chose him only because he is the Avatar.
She had lovers before Roku came to court her. Guardsmen and nobles' daughters, and one daimyo's son. She loved some of them, certainly, but they never had enough to offer to make a marriage worth her while.
The daimyo's son did, but she did not love him.
Roku, though, Roku she loves, has loved for a long time. And he is not the foundling boy anymore, not Prince Sozin's strange but dear friend. He is the Avatar.
There is much to be said for that.
She brushes her hair, one hundred slow strokes. It disturbs her that Roku doesn't believe in her love. He doubts her. Doubts like that could poison a relationship, but she doesn't have any idea what she can do to make him believe her love.
A sensible person didn't marry for love, and they were both sensible people. But that didn't mean love couldn't exist between married couples.
She wishes he would look at her with the same shining trust and love he turned on Sozin.
She knows she will never match Sozin, though. Not in Roku's eyes. No one could ever match Sozin, no matter all the new friends her husband has now from his journeys. Sozin was there first, and Sozin burns brightest and fiercest.
She remembers the heat of his hand through her robes when he leaned on her shoulder at the wedding. He burns even hotter than Roku.
Ta Min feels like a hearthfire between the two of them.
She sighs and lets her brush tumble from her fingers. She doesn't bother to pick it up as she pads to the window, looking out over the bay and its three volcanoes.
***
"Roku?" Sozin glances up at the manor, looking away from their spar long enough to get wrapped in a water-whip.
Roku gives his friend a stern look. "I know you're better than that. Wasn't it you who told me to keep aware of all my surroundings?"
"Wasn't it you who married Ta Min?"
Roku tilts his head slightly, looking at him as if he's mildly deranged. It was a trait he picked up on his travels that makes Sozin want to smack him and tell him to stop looking like a broken doll.
"You have an absolutely beautiful wife pining from sheer neglect," Sozin forces the cheer in his voice. Ta Min is beautiful, yes, but she's the one Roku chose, and he's still not sure what he thinks about that yet. (Roku should have chosen him.) "If you don't do something about that, I will."
"I doubt you could do anything for my wife," Roku says, his smirk just a little too sharp.
Sozin wonders about that, but he answers with a grin and a lick of fire between his teeth. "Want to bet?"
***
Ta Min opens the door to leave to find Sozin on the other side, and the Firelord sweeps her into a kiss that leaves her breathless.
Roku is right behind Sozin, and she doesn't imagine the flash of hurt in his eyes when she gasps at Sozin's caresses, so she holds her arms out to him.
He comes to her, but Sozin does not leave, and Ta Min finds she has no problems with this situation at all.
Sex on the floor, she does have a problem with, and the next round, she drags the two of them by their hair to the bed.
End
---
Title: Breakfast
Characters: Bato/Hakoda, Ozai/Ursa
Rating: G
Word Count: 500+
Summary: Bato and Hakoda have breakfast in the Great Hall and deal with the usual morning problems.
Author's Notes: It's another Hogwarts crossover! Because I love writing Harry Potter crossovers. Also, for some reason, it's really difficult for me to write Bato/Hakoda without putting Ozai somewhere in their vicinity.
***
"Give me that," Ozai commanded, settling on the bench next to Hakoda. His hands deftly undid Hakoda's Gryffindor tie while the newly rejuvenated Water Chief ignored him.
Bato did not, but he only undid Ozai's green and silver tie and handed it to Hakoda. Earth Kingdom colors were so much better than Fire Nation colors, even if they weren't the blues either would have preferred.
Ozai quickly replaced his tie with the red-and-gold of Gryffindor, then sauntered off to his house table.
Ursa stopped by a few minutes later to trade her yellow-and-black tie for Bato's, then went to join Ozai instead of her own House. The two of them snuggled together in a way that Bato found slightly boggling. It was strange to think of the destroyer of their world as a man (well, currently a fifteen-year-old boy) so in love with someone.
Hakoda snorted. "I'll never understand what she sees in him."
"You could ask," Bato said. He had asked once, and the reply had been both enlightening and told him more than he wanted to know about their sex life.
"I don't think I care that much." Hakoda grinned and speared sausages onto his plate, then stole a spoonful of kipper from Bato's. Bato retaliated by swiping all of Hakoda's bacon.
It was so strangely easy here to be comfortable, truly comfortable, with each other. At home, they could be the best of friends and sometimes they could sneak a night here or there, but there was the War. There was always the War, and Hakoda must lead them, and Bato must support him.
A lover's quarrel could doom too many people, if one of them hesitated where they should not. A lover's love could do the same and in the same ways.
They were men, and they knew their duty.
Except here, they were not men. They were boys again, and the War was far away, and the greatest threat to the world was right here with them and much more interested in chasing his wife's skirt.
It was easy. Bato smiled as breakfast ended with Hakoda's knee hooked over his, eating off each other's plates.
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Draco Malfoy drawled in that lazy, weirdly-not-Fire way of his. "Educational Decree Thirty-One, you know."
Hakoda tilted his head to look up at the boy. "Isn't that the one about girls and boys remaining at least a meter apart at all times?" He grinned. "I know Bato's damned pretty, but he's not that pretty."
"Maybe he's suggesting you're effeminate," Bato said softly. "Ozai might be rubbing off on you."
Hakoda grinned harder and twisted on the bench so he could lean back against the table. "Come on, Bato. Everyone's favorite Slytherin asshole isn't effeminate. He just likes to wear long hair and dresses. Nothing girly about that." He cocked his head slightly. "Of course, Malfoy, if you're doubting my or Bato's masculinity, I can demonstrate that we have all the right parts."
"Of course," Bato said, somehow managing to keep a straight expression on his face, "Then we'd have to check on you. Turnabout."
Malfoy spluttered, and the two Water Tribesmen rose from the bench, Hakoda laughing and Bato smiling.
End
---
Title: A Kiss is Just a Kiss
Characters: Zuko/Azula
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100+
Summary: Azula didn't mean to.
***
Azula didn't mean to.
That was a lie. She meant every moment of it, every careless little gesture, every word from her bloody red lips.
She didn't mean for this to happen.
Zuko kissed her like he knew how to kiss a girl, and she tried to kiss back. But she felt awkward in it. Like she was doing it wrong. Like Zuzu knew how to do it better than her.
That wasn't right. Zuko never knew how to do things better than her.
He broke the kiss and pulled back, and she looked up at him in puzzlement. His taste- she could taste him on her lips. She licked her lips experimentally, trying to figure out what he tasted like.
His mouth curved in a way that might have been a smirk on their father. "Good night, Azula."
Then he left her, and Azula blinked at the shut door. She felt again the strange sensation-idea that Zuzu knew how to do this better than she did.
End