Azula knew that this was going to happen the moment she decided to spend the night with her brother. Even though they had had a lot of fun at the hot springs, they would inevitably end up jumping each other's bones again the second they had an excuse to do so - and considering their absurd lack of self-control around each other, simply waking up together was more than enough excuse for them.

She couldn't complain about her brother's practically unsatiable lust, or feel ashamed of her own. Even back when they had no idea what they were doing, it had always been so good, partly due to the danger and the forbidden aspect of it. And now that Zuko knew exactly what she liked and how she liked it, it was even better. He was unbelievably sweet, even when he was being rough...

... Like at that very moment. They had been completely wrapped up in each other since before the sun started to rise, rolling around on the bed, making out, whispering sweet, dirty nothings to each other. Zuko held her down and was just giving it to her hard without a single care in the world.

Until the bed broke.

He immediately pulled away from her, leaving her incredibly frustrated, and just walking in circles through his room, rambling on and on about how there was no way they could cover this up, and looking like he was two seconds away from breaking down pulling out his on hair.

"Do you have to be so dramatic all the time?" she said as she brought him back to bed.

"Dramatic?" he yelled, then lowered his voice again when she gave him an angry glare "How the hell are we gonna explain this?"

"Simple, we'll just say that I came into your room to tease you about something, and we ended up fighting. We've been destroying things during fights since we were kids. This isn't that serious" she didn't really believe it, but it was better to pretend she did so Zuko would calm down. If this trick was going to work, which probably wouldn't happen if their family suddenly decide to use their brains for once, they'd both need be completely calm "Now, where were we?"

He gave her an incredulous look "You cannot be serious"

"Of course I am, dum-dum" she pulled him closer, kissing his neck "You can't get me all worked up and then not finish me off.

Zuko chuckled and even though he was still very nervous, she managed to 'distract' him for quite a long time. She was pretty sure they broke the bed even more.

Once the others were up, the two of them made sure to act like they usually did whenever they had a fight, or even just a minor argument - which wasn't all that different from how they acted with each other pretty much every day. Azula basically had to beg Zuko not to panic when their step-father didn't seem to be as convinced by their excuse as their mother and uncle were. Lu Ten's death glare lasted pretty much the entire day, and he convinced the others that, since they were the ones who broke the bed, they should be the ones to spend the morning fixing it, and he wouldn't even hand the tools while berating them.

"Be honest, are you two trying to get caught? If you are, can you just go ahead and tell everyone you're together and spare the headache of covering up for you guys?"

"This time it wasn't my fault!"

"Poor you" Azula mocked "I could tell you hated every second of it"

"I don't care whose fault it was!" Lu Ten screamed, his face turning red and vein on his forehead looking like it was about to burst "Just be careful for once! Is that really too much to ask?"

Yes, Azula thought about saying. She knew that keeping it a secret for a few more months, so she'd be 18 and leave the house with Zuko, would make things more convenient since there'd be less screaming and crying and 'are you out of your minds?' to put up with, but she truly was tired of not being able to just openly enjoy her relationship with her boyfriend at their own home, and was only doing so because her brother was obviously afraid of how Ursa and Iroh would react.

So, she and Zuko promised their cousin that they'd be more careful, and Azula assumed that since at least one of them was sincere, it meant things wouldn't change for some time.

Despite that morning's awkward situation, or perhaps because of it, their mother and step-father decided they should all go to the woods for some quality family time in the afternoon, and Iroh not only agreed, but pretty much forced everyone out of the house. Azula had to admit she was a little too pleased with herself (and by Zuko's poorly disguised embarrassment) as their family cluelessly walked past the hot-springs where the two of them had had so much fun the previous day.

As soon as they got to the spot where they usually built snow-men at, Azula threw a snow ball right in Lu Ten's face as revenge for making her and Zuko fix the bed. He threw one at her in retaliation, and Zuko - at that traitor - took his side. Luckly, Kiyi helped her out (though that still didn't mean she was forgiven for blackmailing her into wearing that horrible sweater).

Ursa and Iroh were not so slowly taking some steps backwards, knowing full well that they'd be Azula's next targets the second she was done murdering Zuko and Lu Ten. Ikem however, foolishly stayed close by, and Kiyi was the first to launch an attack at him.

Azula didn't have the time to enjoy laughing at her step-father's misery, because her brother and her cousin begun chasing her, throwing snow balls at her direction. When she begun using her fire to attack them, they complained that she was cheating, but she didn't even listen. Iroh and Ursa basically had to remind her that murdering them wasn't the brightest of ideas.

Kiyi then very loudly demanded them to build snow-men together like they were supposed to be doing already, but Azula didn't know if it was because she had already had her fun attacking her dad, or because she wanted to save Lu Ten and Zuzu. Either way it worked, and she somehow managed to convince everyone to make snow angels as well.

It was already night-time when they went back to the house, and Azula immediately ran to her room to put on some warmer clothes, only to have her brother barge in, hugging her despite her protests.

"Sorry for annoying you today. It was part of the act" the playfulness in his voice said otherwise.

"I could tell by how much you were laughing" she complained, sticking her arms in his coat to warm them up, while Zuko made sure to bring it all the way to her back. Once she stopped shaking, he spoke again.

"Would making you some hot chocolate help you forgive me?"

"Yes" she mumbled, holding tight just a little longer before letting go.

"Anything for my little sister" he said, kissing the tip of her nose and leaving, making her forget his truly unacceptable behavior.

He was so lucky he was cute.