The following weeks, Azula and her brother were joined at the hip. The princess made sure of that. It had started as just a way of her to show affection and gratitude to him, but it quickly evolved into her wanting to show everybody that they were truly inseparable now.
While the visible discomfort of everyone around them was amusing, but Zuko's cute embarrassment whenever she did anything that caught him off guard was what really motivated her to keep 'pestering' him. The first time she had noticed how intensely Zuko reacted to getting positive attention from her in public, was a bit unexpected. They had just been talking to their mother and uncle, telling them all about how much his firebending skills had improved, and Zuko just had to be all cute and say that he only managed to learn so much because he had been taught by the best.
Her heart melted the second she heard that, and without even realizing she was doing it, she got on her tippy-toes and kissed his cheek. She had never seen anyone blush so bad and so fast like her brother had. She couldn't help but laugh as he found an excuse to just run out of the room and hide.
From that moment onwards, all she did was constantly show off how close they were. They'd hug, walk through the palace holding hands, and praising each other in every way they could. She was almost fully satisfied by that closeness.
Almost.
Zuko couldn't remember his sister ever having been so sweet to him, not even before their father turned them into rivals.
But Azula wasn't just being sweet, she was being clingy. Very clingy. She was constantly following him around, she seemed to get very territorial whenever Mai was at the palace, and when her friends spent a week over, from the second night onwards, Azula would leave her bedroom, and them, in the middle of the night and just go be with him. Sometimes it was just because she wanted to play with him more, but it was usually just because she wanted to be with him and nobody else.
Zuko couldn't say he didn't like it, but it was starting to create some problems, especially with their mother, which was upsetting considering he had been hoping she would be getting along better with Azula. But now she seemed constantly paranoid that their relationship was somehow going to hurt one or both of them, and it was obviously getting to him.
But he just couldn't say no to his sister. And honestly, part of him didn't want to, despite his fear that maybe his mother was right.
Though he did have a bit of a small, major freak out about it after an "incident". He and Azula were in the gardens of the palace, playing together, this time, reenacting a few scenes from Love Amongst The Dragons, the unbelievably cheesy, embarrassing play their mother loved so much and made them watch every summer they spent on Ember Island. They were having a really good time, and Azula had actually got them lots of costumes to represent all the characters they wanted to play.
Of course, she found a way to annoy him by, as usual deciding she'd play all the best characters. She was being nicer to him, but she was still a brat. And the worst part was that she still played them all better than he ever could. But he had to admit, he did like hearing her say that he looked good in the blue robe he had on to represent the. And she looked absolutely adorable wearing that Dragon Emperor costume that was too big for her, and standing on her tippy-toes so she'd seem taller, but still being so short that Zuko had to look down to look her in the eyes - or rather, in the eyes of the red mask she was wearing.
She was holding onto his waist, both to imitate the character and to keep her balance, while he gently brought his gloved hand to the back of her nape as they finished 'their scene'.
"Thought I was trapped in the body of a mortal, you willingly gave me your heart. I cannot help but give you mine in return" his sister said in a tone that was much sweeter than the one she'd often use to imitate the actor they had seen so many times, as it would often happen when she got really into the scenes they did together, but for some reason it affected him much more at that moment than it had in the past.
"Only with your glory hidden in false form could you finally recognize my devotion" he replied, gently playing with her hair as he leaned in, pressing his mask against hers, the action feeling much more intimate than the dozens of times they had done it before.
He took off his mask, and his sister did the same, but to his surprise, she pulled him in for an actual kiss. It lasted merely a few seconds, but it was more than enough to make him freeze in place and just stare at her in shock, heart beating impossibly fast and lips trembling as he tried to think of how he was even supposed to react to something like this. Azula simply smiled, embraced him for a little while, then pulled away.
"Come on, Zuzu. Dinner will probably be ready soon" she took him by the hand, leading him back to the palace while his mind was still trying to understand what had just happened.
The young prince did not say a word during dinner, barely touched his food, and avoided looking at his sister like his life depended on it. He was too embarrassed, too scared and too weirded out by what his sister had done, and, most of all, by his own feelings about it. He kept waiting to feel disgusted, angry, annoyed or confused by that kiss, but it just felt... right. Natural. Far more normal than anything else in their lives.
And that scared him so bad he just wanted to lock himself in room and not come out until everyone had long forgotten about his existence.
But Azula just wouldn't let him. Why would she? The kiss had been her idea after all, and she had never been quite as dramatic and emotional as he was. She walked into his room, and stood next to his bed, looking completely calm and almost innocent, which perturbed him.
"What do you want?" he asked, shifting slightly on the bed, not looking at her directly.
"Just checking to see if you're okay" she chuckled "Plus, since we had to go have dinner with mom, I didn't have the time to ask you if you wanted me to kiss you"
"Siblings are not supposed to do that" he said, not sure who he was trying to convince.
"Who cares?"
"What do you mean 'who cares'? It's wrong!"
"Says who?"
"Literally everyone!" he was completely exasperated.
"So? Nobody has to know it ever happened"
"I know it happened! That's more than enough!" Zuko was almost panicking now.
"You didn't like it" Azula seemed genuinely upset and Zuko instantly regret his out-brust. He didn't mean to lash out at her, but he just didn't want to continue talking about this, and he definitively didn't want to talk about how he felt about the kiss. But he also didn't want to see her sad.
"It doesn't matter if liked it or not"
"Of course it does!" she interrupted.
"No, it doesn't. It was wrong. We can never do that again" we he said, even though Azula had been the one to kiss him "Let's just forget about it"
"No"
"Will you stop making this more complicated than it has to be?" he snapped again "You're my sister! I'm not supposed to kiss you!"
"But did you like it?" she insisted.
Zuko sighed then stayed silent for a moment, before just giving up on arguing "Yeah, I did"
Azula cheered up again "Well, then as long as no one knows I get to do it again"
He gave her a confused look "I'm pretty sure that's not how this works"
"Oh, what do you know, you dum-dum?" she asked, lying next to him "Just be happy that I like it too, and that now we have a secret nobody else knows. Isn't that something best friends do?" when he didn't answer, she continued trying to goad him, her little hands clutching at his sleeping robe "Come on, Zuzu. I always win, and you did enjoy it, so what's the point of stopping when it can just be our little secret?"
"Fine, I guess you're right" he said, mostly just so she would drop the subject already.
"I'm always right, dum-dum"
"I like you more when you don't talk" he said, making her chuckle. He kissed her forehead... then quickly pressed his lips to hers. Oh Agni, why did it have to feel this good? Why did it have to make him blush so bad?
She smiled like the happiest brat in the world and hugged him "Goodnight, Zuzu"
"Goodnight, Lala" he answered, still a little annoyed, but hugging her back anyway. She was definitively the worst of all the bad influences he could possibly have in his life, but she was still his baby sister.
And the person he loved the most in the whole world.