The Quiet Boy
Prompt: #14 Cursed Flame by teamabodo
Title: The Quiet Boy
Author: persephone_blue
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 3265
Warnings/Pairings: Sokka/Zuko
Summary: Sokka has been kidnapped by the Fire Nation. Instead of prison, he serves as personal valet to the prince.
Notes: In which I turned a beautiful drawing into smut. My apologies to the artist if this wasn’t what she/he exactly had in mind, but the plot bunny hit and I suddenly wondered just why Sokka and Zuko-two fantastic characters-weren’t paired together more often.
****
Sokka doesn't like the taste of Zuko's cock-he loves it. He is, without a doubt, the happiest prisoner of war this side of the Fire Nation.
He's certainly the happiest one on his knees, anyway, giving head to the enemy. He does not forget this, but in his time at the palace, he still finds things to enjoy.
Sokka comes up for air, wiping his mouth. The cock in his hand is still hard. "Okay, be honest. I'm the best butler you've ever had. I can buttle with the best.”
Zuko looks pained, his erection probably killing him. His dress robes are pushed up to his trim waist, still thin after starving on the road with his uncle for the past few months. "Valet. Not butler. Butlers are--hnn--house servants. Valets are private servants."
Sokka rubs Zuko's silky cockhead as precome pools at the tip. He smiles; Zuko winces. "Well, you know me. I’m pretty private." Then he bends down again and licks at the protrusion, flared at the top like a mushroom.
His hand encloses around the base of the cock as he sucks the end of it. Trying to deep throat Zuko is out of the question, remembering that they tried it when they first started fucking inside the castle walls. Sokka gagged in a large vase and Zuko spilled his thick white spunk on his own clothes. They both had to clean up quickly before Azula sauntered into the room, demanding to know why her brother had decided to add a prisoner to the serving staff.
Sokka breathes raggedly. “Pretend my hand’s my mouth and my mouth’s the back of my throat, fucking you.”
Zuko covers his face. He’s red. When he and Sokka are alone and intimate like this, he has a tendency to blush. “Please, just finish.”
“Mmm.” Sokka puts the prick into his mouth again, sucking the head gently. His thumb runs along the blue vein at the bottom of Zuko’s shaft.
With his other hand, he massages his own erection through his robes. It’s straining against his underwear, an article of clothing that’s made much thicker in the South Pole. Here, it’s light on his skin. He feels the shape of his hard cock.
Sokka pushes his mouth down lower. The head briefly scrapes against the front of his teeth, eliciting a hiss from Zuko. Sokka changes the position of his mouth and tries again.
Zuko comes suddenly, spunk coating Sokka’s tongue.
“Should have warned you,” Zuko breathes, laying back on his mattress. His erection begins to flag.
Sokka swallows with difficulty. His spunk is thick, an asset to any future ruler looking to sow heirs. “Don’t worry. We’re not done yet.”
“We aren’t?” Zuko sits up on his elbows. “Do you want me to do you, next?” He looks nervous in the half-light of his room. Sokka’s prick is a lot longer and, they both discovered a few nights before, harder to service.
“No, I want to do you.” Sokka pushes the prince’s knees apart and lays on top of him, aligning their chests. Zuko is half bare and Sokka tweaks one of the nipples revealed through his disheveled robes. “Think we can do that tonight?”
Zuko goes still; his cock begins to rise between their bodies, again.
Sokka laughs. “Guess so.”
“Yeah, well. The oil’s in the bureau.” Zuko turns away. He sighs when Sokka reaches forward and massages his face.
Sokka really digs into the scalp, too, his fingers carding Zuko’s hair like koala sheep wool. Out of politeness, he avoids touching the scars. He feels sorry when he has to stop, but the oil won’t get itself.
He uncorks the bottle with his teeth and spits out the stopper, letting the contents pool in his hands.
“Not all of it!” says Zuko. “Just a little.”
“What, you want it to hurt?”
“No, I just want to feel you. That’s all.”
Sokka puts down the bottle carefully and wrestles Zuko down, though the prince doesn’t seem to want to put up much of a fight. “And how much do you want to feel?”
Zuko’s laugh is dry and breathless. He lifts his hips and wraps his legs around Sokka. “Hurry up.”
“All right, all right.” Sokka finds Zuko’s puckered entrance and probes it carefully, first with one finger and then two. He thinks he might be moving too fast until he hears a moan from Zuko’s parted mouth.
Sokka says, “Yeah? Good?”
“All of it,” Zuko says, eyes screwed shut.
Sokka pushes in a third finger, putting it in to the knuckle. “Slut.”
“Mmm.”
“It’s totally true, huh?” Sokka works his fingers in and out, easing the muscle.
Now, though, he’s thinking of the other servants in the palace who whisper about him, the Water Tribe savage who charmed the prince into being his personal servant. It’s to his credit as a young, virile warrior that he manages to maintain his erection at the thought of gossip. He twists his fingers in the hole. “Make you take it all,” he says.
Zuko cries out. “Please!”
Sokka pulls his fingers out. He presses the head of his cock against Zuko’s entrance. He teases. “Now?”
Zuko shudders. “Yes!”
Sokka pushes inside. The slick grip of the prince’s ass is like a fist but the warmth is human and gentle.
He lays his hands on either side of Zuko skinny hips as the boy beneath him works to accept the intrusion. The meat of Zuko’s insides squeezes like a vise. Sokka watches Zuko’s stomach move in and out.
Maybe he should have used more oil after all, he thinks.
“So good,” Zuko says. “I want you to-ahh!”
“Pound you?” says Sokka. He leans forward, his mouth above Zuko’s lips.
Sokka can feel the prince’s breath stir the hairs above his lip as he exhales. “Yes.”
Sokka pushes the rest of the way inside, pulls out slightly, and pushes back in. He pumps his hips harder. His balls slap against Zuko, causing them both to grunt.
When Zuko licks his lips, Sokka comes inside him. He lets his cock stay there as he reaches forward to pull at Zuko’s cock. He wants him to get off again.
“It’ll get all over you.” Zuko is panting.
“Let it,” says Sokka.
Zuko’s come hits his chest.
Sokka pulls out and, hesitantly, kisses Zuko. Zuko, who’s already half asleep, groans and tries to kiss back, only managing to find his chin. After that, they lie together.
The canopied bed is much softer than the cot he has in the servant’s quarters.
Outside the window, the sky begins to brighten. Dawn is coming soon.
So is the Day of Black Sun. In a few days, he’s going to have to leave the palace behind and search for everyone else. Maybe he’ll find them in time. They have to be in the vicinity of the Fire Nation, maybe even the capital.
Part of him wants to wait until the actual eclipse to escape. It certainly diminishes his chances of being cooked by palace guards, of which there are a disconcerting number.
He also wants to be there when Aang takes down Fire Lord Ozai.
Because Aang is alive. He’s sure of it.
Sokka doesn’t sleep. Instead, he leaves Zuko’s room and heads down the hallway. Maybe if he reaches the servants’ quarters in time, he’ll be able to have a few minutes sleep before it’s time to start the day.
If not, this certainly isn’t his first sleepless night in the palace.
He returns to the room as Set, a kitchen attendant, leaves the room yawning. “Did the prince require much attention tonight?” he asks, laughing when Sokka looks away.
***
“What is the exact relationship between you and my brother?” says Azula.
She’s cornered him folding Zuko’s laundry. He takes a deep breath, which he hopes she doesn’t see, and plays it cool. “I persuaded him I could be of use outside of prison.”
“As a launderer?” Azula leans forward and inspects the silk shirt Sokka is folding.
“A valet,” says Sokka.
“And when did you persuade him? Before or after he captured your hide when we took Ba Sing Se? Be honest. He was in league with the Avatar in that city. I have witnesses who were at the opening of Uncle’s teashop. They saw all of you together.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He continues folding the shirts.
“When he became a turncoat, though, you clung to him as your friends ran,” Azula continues. “Your powers of persuasion sure look like cowardice to me.”
Sokka says nothing.
“Maybe Zuko hasn’t changed sides at all. You did.”
“Just what are you trying to ask, you highness?” Sokka puts down the clothes. He gets very close. “Do you want me to persuade you, too?”
She laughs. “Is that a threat?”
Sokka smiles and moves so that their noses nearly touch. He tastes her breath on his tongue and it’s spicy. “Consider it an offer.”
This is a gamble, but it pays off when Azula withdraws. She blusters out of the room. “I hope you miss your precious Avatar.”
Sokka breaks out in a cold sweat when she’s gone. He begins to whistle, though, just to give the effect that he’s perfectly at ease. She could be right outside the door.
Azula’s choice of words are cruel. In his absence, Aang really has become precious to Sokka. He finally understand his sister’s devotion to him.
He now realizes that whole palace thinks Sokka’s so devoted to the prince, he’s become his whore.
***
Azula’s spies did not misinform her. Iroh was bent on helping out Aang as soon as they stumbled into the teashop where he worked. The former Fire Nation general did them the honor of assuming they had tracked him and his temperamental ward down to the walled city. The group, however-even Toph-had only been out shopping. It was an awkward entrapment.
Upon discussing things over with Iroh, Toph and Aang were gung-ho about getting the miserable prince to join them in an alliance. He was the prince, the future of the Fire Nation! They needed him.
Zuko didn’t seem very keen on the idea. Actually, he yelled until the manager of the shop threatened to fire him.
So the entire group had to return to the teashop again the next day and the day after that. For weeks.
It was a sort of courtship to gain the prince’s trust. Aang and Katara would grin widely, offering snacks bought from the market and the deepest of friendships.
But as Sokka ended up examining Zuko’s eyelashes over tea or watching his hands as he wiped down the tables with swift, murderous strokes, the platonic courtship (on his end, anyway) became a seduction.
Not romantic, though. This wasn’t about feelings, it was about Zuko’s pouting mouth. Physical. Sokka had never been with a man. He was curious to know what that was like.
“Hey, um,” Sokka had said when he had cornered the prince in the teashop’s supply room. He cleared his throat and made some effort to smooth back his hair. He even leaned on the doorframe and crossed his arms to look a little cooler. “Hi.”
“Are you and your friends gone yet?” Zuko was sorting through jars of dried leaves. Their yellowed labels were faded and peeling. He wore his usual frown, though the line between his eyebrows had softened since the gang’s first visit to the teashop. But not by enough. “I’m going to stay back here until you do. I’m not as foolish as Uncle is.”
Sokka edged closer, wanting to smell his hair. Or his skin. Anything. Something in the air tasted good and he wasn’t much for tealeaves. “We don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.”
The prince looked at him. “What are you doing?”
Zuko did not, much to Sokka’s surprise, back away when he grabbed his shoulders.
It wasn’t even a very good kiss, Sokka reflected. He had closed his eyes prematurely and, much to his embarrassment, had ended up making out with Zuko’s beautifully pointed chin for a full minute.
He readjusted the tilt of his head and tried again. Zuko still didn’t fight back, even opening his lips slightly to allow Sokka’s warm tongue to touch his.
Zuko was flushed when the kiss ended. “You really, really want me join your side, don’t you?” He grabbed a shelf of jars and looked like he was about to fall down.
“What? Yes, I mean, yeah, but.” Sokka kept his hands on the guy’s shoulders. He found himself studying the scar up close, noticing how the remains of the prince’s left ear were shaped into a fish’s gill. “That’s a separate thing. Separate from this.”
“All right.” He nodded. “What’s this, then?”
“Me wanting to, you know, do stuff. With you. If you’ll have me.” He pressed his thumb into the meat of Zuko’s lips, now soft and raw. To his surprise, the prince sighed and closed his eyes.
Zuko must have found this charming, because they were quietly humping on his cot back in his rooms-covering each other’s mouths, gasping wetly into one another’s palms-by evening.
After that, Zuko was a little more open to the group’s visits. He never said he would join them, though, and Sokka was smart enough to realize no amount of fucking could change his mind.
But why did Zuko say yes to a weird, secret affair?
Well, Sokka thinks, war is stressful. They recognized something in one another, even if that something was mutual horniness.
Sex was obviously powerful, though. Zuko saved Sokka’s life. In the cave, he grabbed him before Azula could strike him down as Ba Sing Se fell around their ears.
In the Fire Nation, Zuko is happy because he’s no longer betraying his people. Sokka is now the miserable one because, if he serves the crown for much longer, his honor will evaporate far quicker than the prince’s ever did.
***
When he finishes folding Zuko’s shirts, which vaguely smell of him, he decides he will leave the palace in a few days. He wouldn’t mind having something sharp to take when he leaves, though. Stealing a knife, even from the kitchens, would be risky, though.
Then Sokka remembers the courtyard and the stones around the perimeter of the turtle duck pond. Perhaps one of them is sharp and small enough to be of use.
***
Sokka waits for evening, knowing he has to be very careful.
Despite his best efforts, though, someone is in the courtyard when he arrives. From a distance, it could be Azula.
But no, it’s Zuko. His hair’s no longer in its topknot, but it’s definitely the guy he’s been fucking for the past few weeks, standing in the garden alone in the near dark.
The prince traces his index and middle finger along the air. A lazy trail of flame follows, making it look like he’s trying to etch a picture into the sky.
It’s not, Sokka thinks, the violent fire bending he’s seen done during practices. He watches those because he has to hand Zuko a towel afterward. It’s intimidating to be around all that heat, but Zuko’s body drips with sweat in a way that is not at all hard to watch.
When he sees the prince’s face in the courtyard, briefly illuminated by the fire, it’s sad.
Sokka’s heart doesn’t break at that expression. He doesn’t think he’s that soft. He’s just confused.
Zuko’s line of vision is wider than he thought, however, because the prince sees him. When he looks up from the fire he’s tracing in the air, he stops.
In the near dark in the courtyard, they are looking at each other.
“Sokka,” says Zuko.
“Your highness?” Sokka makes sure to bow deeply. Maybe Zuko thinks someone is watching.
“I want you in my rooms, please. Now.”
“Of course.” Sokka turns immediately.
***
In Zuko’s bed, there is a d-shaped hook on the headboard. Sokka has used it for a handle numerous times during their late night activities. He doesn’t realize until today that cuffs can be strung through the hook, at least not until he’s clapped himself into them.
He faces away from the prince as Zuko takes him. It’s a good, long fucking, too, and Sokka groans on each thrust. His chest is being clawed up-welts that sting beautifully-and the other boy’s breath is hot on his neck.
He tells himself, when his brain is no longer goo, that it’s best if he leaves soon before his body becomes addicted to Zuko’s.
When the prince pulls out, and Sokka feels the sweat leak down his back and the come pooled on the pillow beneath him, he realizes it’s too late. Right now, he can’t imagine ever leaving this on his own.
Zuko whispers, “I talked to my father, today.” As bedroom talk following a personal revelation go, it’s not very desirable. He’s come to admire Zuko’s poor sense of timing, though. It’s sort of sweet.
“Yeah?” He pants.
“He says he knows how it is between us.”
Sokka shuts his eyes tight and tries not to pull against the cuffs right there. “Do you know when they’ll take me to prison?”
“They won’t.”
“Why?”
“They think I’m forcing you.” Zuko takes a deep breath. “I’m not, am I?”
“What? No!” He jerks his head around. “I would have beaten you unconscious with my club if I didn’t want to! What are you talking about? Anyway, I made the first move!”
Zuko, eyes wide, leans forward and kisses him.
Sokka shivers. He wonders if he’s going to be fucked again.
But then he pulls back. “My father told me he knows you have a sister.”
Sokka examines Zuko’s hardened face in the candlelight. It looks like the quiet expression he wore on his face in the garden.
Zuko swallows. “He said he’d make her his concubine, too.”
His cock immediately limp, Sokka slips out of the cuffs. He never bothered to fasten them properly, anyway. “Really.”
“If, you know, if she’s captured, we’ll try and do something. Uncle told me the Day of the Black Sun is coming.” Zuko runs his hand through his hair and looks away. “We can aid them. When they attack. I’m okay with that, now. I’ve decided. I really have.”
“You’re with us?” Even though Sokka is naked in the middle of the prince’s bed, rubbing feeling back into wrists, he has never felt less like a prisoner than he does now.
“Yes,” says Zuko. “And I know it’s taking a chance to trust me. I don’t even trust myself, yet, you know?”
Sokka privately agrees. “Zuko?”
“Yes?”
“Pack your things. We need to leave by the morning.”
***
Within the next hour, they’re climbing over the wall that runs along the perimeter of the palace. Zuko says he knows the way to the wharfs. Sokka worries that they won’t be able to find a ship that they can stow away in, but the hand in his, he admits, is comforting.