Notes: Written for Zuki Week. The prompt was "dragon".
"Are you sure about this?" Suki asked in a hesitant voice, eyeing the large, scaled beast waiting patiently behind the Fire Lord's back. As the dragon turned its head to the side, a little gout of flame shot out of his nostrils, along with a thin plume of smoke. Druk's red eyes peered at her curiously, as if wondering what was taking so long. His wings twitched, spreading with a leather flap in his impatience to launch into the sky.
Zuko pulled a lopsided grin and patted Druk's red-scaled leg with one leather gloved hand. "Of course I am. Besides, I want to test his maneuverability with two passengers."
"And what if I weigh too much and we fall out of the sky and die?" she pointed out tightly.
Zuko's topaz gaze flicked down her body and then slowly rose back to meet hers. She felt a blush rising in her cheeks. "You look just fine to me."
She shifted in place, not sure how to respond to that. "Umm…"
He cocked his head at her, peering at her in much the same way as his dragon. "You're not scared, are you?"
"Scared? Me? To ride a fire-breathing lizard into the stratosphere, where I could fall off and die? No. Why would I be scared?"
"I didn't know you were afraid of heights. You've driven my airship before and you've ridden on Appa dozens of times."
"That's different."
"How is that different?" Zuko grumped.
"I don't know! It just is."
He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment and then glanced back at Druk. "Suki, I promise, you won't fall off, and we won't crash. Druk's half-grown. He can handle the two of us."
She studied his face, noting the eagerness and sincerity there. She trusted him; that was the damnable part. Since he'd started Druk's flight training, he hadn't let anyone else ride him. That he had asked her made her feel inexplicably proud, and despite her reservations, she'd known that she was going to say yes the moment he'd asked her.
"Okay. Let's do this."
Zuko's face split into a happy grin and he called over his shoulder, "You hear that, Druk? You're going to have another passenger!"
Druk's long neck snaked out around Zuko's body and he pressed his face along Suki's whole body, rubbing at her like an oversized cat. She laughed and ran her hands through the course yellow hair sprouting from his jowls. Then she found the spot below his jaw and scratched just the way he liked it. His large eyes closed in an expression of bliss.
"See? He likes you. He'll take it easy on you."
Suki looked up at Zuko, who had swung his feet up into the leather stirrup dangling down Druk's side. "And what about you?"
Zuko looked down at her as he settled in the saddle, flicking a stray strand of his dark hair out his face. He bit down on his lip for a moment and then leaned down and held out his hand to her. "I like you, too. Come on."
A fluttering sensation erupted in her mid-section, causing her toes and fingertips to tingle. She was sure she was blushing again as she reached up her hand and took his. He hauled her up as she put one foot in the stirrup.
Instead of putting behind him though, Zuko pulled her up in front of him. She settled down on the saddle between his thighs.
"Umm, shouldn't I be behind you?" she asked as she felt Zuko's warm body pressed against her back.
His breath stirred against her neck. "It's a lot safer if you sit in front of me, that way I can…um…hold you. So you don't fall. Here, put your feet in the stirrups."
She glanced to her left and saw that he already had his feet in a pair of stirrups, but there was another set in front of those, and she stuck her boots in them, pushing downward, testing them. They seemed stable enough.
"Got it."
"Good, now see the handles on the saddle in front of you?" Suki looked down at the leather-padded saddle in front of her and saw two handles there. She grabbed them immediately, feeling Druk shifting restlessly beneath them. "Don't let go."
"Trust me, you're probably gonna have to pry my hands off of this thing when we get back to the ground."
Zuko laughed a little bit, the sound and the heat of his breath sending shivers down her neck. She hitched in a breath as his arms snaked around her and grasped hold of the reins attached to Druk's horns.
"Alright, buddy! You ready?" he called, tugging on the reins.
In response, Druk stood to his full height, shifting beneath them with a muscular, lumbering flex. It felt strange, as if she were straddling an earthquake instead of the dragon's long neck. His wings snapped out to their full extension. She could see the thin membrane, the early morning sunlight shining through the red flesh, showing off the map of veins inside the dragon's wings. Druk lifted back his head, another plume of smoke and fire erupting from his open mouth. His wings mantled at the air with a few powerful strokes that fanned her hair back from her face and ruffled her clothing.
"So how does he st—OH!" Suki exclaimed as Druk launched into the sky with a great, lurching movement that pushed her back against Zuko's hard chest. The ground fell away from them with blinding speed as she clutched desperately at the handles on the saddle. "Whoa! Oh…fuck, we're high!"
Zuko chuckled, his voice vibrating through her back, and sliding into her ear like warm honey. "Wishing you'd stayed on the ground?"
"More like wishing we'll make it safely back."
"I won't let you fall."
"I know you won't," she replied softly, because she did know that. She trusted him completely. Besides, he'd been flying on the adolescent dragon for months now, and aside from a few rough landings in the beginning, he always made it safely back.
Doesn't do my heart any good to watch him take off or land though. Assassins and citizens with a grudge to grind I can protect Zuko from, but himself? That's a full time job.
Not that she didn't try it anyway.
She glanced to the side, watching the palace sink away from them as Druk flew them higher and higher. She could see for miles now, out across the island and into the bay. Capitol City was a mass of gray below them, with miniature ships creating frothy white wakes as they entered or exited the great port. It was breath-taking.
A smile crossed her lips for a moment. No matter how often she flew on Appa, or rode in an airship, she knew that she was never going to get over the splendor of the landscape spreading below them. It was too beautiful.
Druk had stopped climbing and was starting to turn in slow, lazy circles as Zuko guided him with the reins. He didn't seem to have any trouble steering over her shoulder. In fact, he seemed very comfortable there, with his arms around her, his thighs pressing alongside hers, his breath on her neck.
"He doesn't seem to be having trouble carrying the both of us, does he?"
"No," she answered, the wind snatching at her voice. She glanced back over her shoulder at him and lifted an eyebrow.
"Guess I was right."
"First time for everything," she teased him.
Zuko gave her an inscrutable look and then shouted back, "You'd better hold on tight."
"Why?" she started to say as Zuko tugged the reins to the right. Druk immediately dived to the right, tucking his wings alongside his body. Suki screamed, clutching the saddle, her thighs squeezing as she dug her feet into the stirrups to keep from flying off of the dragon's back.
Zuko's arms tightened on her ribs as he leaned into the turn, laughing in her ear.
I am going to kill him!
The world rushed up at them with a whoosh of deafening wind. Below them, there was only the ocean, the glistening blue expanse promising pain and death as the water swirled beneath them.
"Zuko!"
A hundred feet from the glassy water, Zuko tugged the reins. Druk's massive wings snapped open with a leathery fwoomp! Abruptly, they were thrown forward with the momentum. Her breath came out in harsh gasps as Druk's feet skimmed the water. Then they rose into the air again and she found herself laughing, though she could still feel her stomach in her throat.
"Having fun yet?"
"You could have warned me!"
"I did!" he said, flashing another grin that had her adrenaline-soaked nerves singing.
Damn him.
They rose up as they had before, Druk undulating beneath them with the effort, spiraling through the air as they climbed higher. Her heart pounded in her chest, and not just from the sudden descent. She was starting to enjoy herself.
Druk plunged and rose through the air in a series of stomach-churning movements that had her holding on as tightly as ever, though her fear had started to wane. She laughed as they banked to the side and glided across the tops of wispy, wet clouds that left droplets of moisture clinging to her lips and eyelashes, and then plummeted three hundred feet, only to rise again with a swooping swirl.
She learned the rhythm of Druk's body, taking her cues from him, and from Zuko, who leaned into each movement with a subtle ease. Though her grip on the saddle didn't loosen, she found herself relaxing back against Zuko's chest as Druk leveled off and skated across the zephyrs.
"Now you're definitely having fun," Zuko said into her ear. She glanced back at him and grinned.
"Maybe."
Eventually, Zuko steered them back toward the island. They soared across the city, low enough to pick out the tiny shapes of people moving down the streets. Some of the stopped and stared, pointing upwards. She pried one hand off of the saddle and managed a short wave at them.
They soon soared past the city, and banked upwards, clearing the rim of the dormant volcano and breaching the Caldera. They dropped down into the square with a teeth rattling jolt, Druk's nails digging furrows in the bricks.
He folded his wings in as Zuko dropped the reins. They were both breathing a little harder than normal as he put his hands on her waist, squeezing a little. Then he slid off of the saddle and hit the ground. He held up his hands to her and she swung her leg over the side, sliding out of the saddle. Zuko caught her by the waist and gently lowered her to the ground.
She was unsurprised to find that her legs were a bit wobbly from the adrenaline. She looked up at Zuko, seeing the anxious expression on his face.
"So, how was that?"
"Exhilarating," she said honestly. "No wonder you go out every morning."
"I think Druk and I both like the quiet up there, to be honest. I definitely liked taking you for a ride, though. Maybe we could, uh, do it again sometime?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked delicately, her stomach lurching at the way his eyebrow lifted and his wind-burned cheeks flushed an even darker red.
"Would you say yes if I did?" he asked her after a brief hesitation.
"Maybe," she said, even though everything in her was screaming YES! YES! YES!
A look of deep consternation rippled across his features. "Would you like to go on a date with me?"
"Maybe," she said with a shrug. Zuko crossed his arms over his chest.
"Would you like to go flying with me again tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, I'd love to," she said immediately, grinning at him. "See you then."
She walked toward palace door, feeling warm to her toes. When she reached the door, she heard Zuko call out to her, "So it's a date then?"
She stopped and looked back at him. His dark hair was as windblown as hers was, his cheeks red, his expression excited and expectant, but also nervous.
She knew exactly how he felt.
"It's a date," she agreed, and then walked through the door, but not before she saw the pleased expression on his face, which was quickly knocked off by Druk, who had nuzzled his face against Zuko's back, nearly knocking him off of his feet.
Suki bit back a smile and walked away, her legs like jelly and her insides filled with butterflies. She couldn't wait to fly again. The wind, the view, the feeling of freedom, and most of all, Zuko at her back, his voice in her ear and his warmth surrounding her.
She could really learn to love flying.
(end)