Written for a Mousie's request on my Tumblr, "cuddling stuck in a small space/out of necessity".
Sokka gently nipped Zuko's lower lip, and he heard a needy little purring noise from himself before he was aware he was making it. He blushed but couldn't quite bring himself to really care, his fingers tightening in Sokka's shirt as he pulled his boyfriend closer.
Sokka made a soft sound low in his throat as they parted for breath, and his usually bright, clear blue eyes had deepened markedly, almost shimmering. Zuko pulled him closer, eyes dropping back to his mouth, leaning in for another kiss. He was surprised when Sokka didn't meet him for it, but instead dragged him in closer still, their bodies pressing together.
Then he was toppled off his feet as Sokka let out a muted, but strident yelp and dragged him- Somewhere. Zuko didn't see where he was before they were surrounded by dark and he was tumbling into Sokka, one ankle stinging from the impact of it slamming into . . . a doorframe?
Zuko struggled to untangle himself from his boyfriend as he pushed upright, huffing in irritation when he couldn't quite do it and only managed to free one calf from where it had been trapped between Sokka's. He was still leaning against Sokka and mostly lying over his legs. And one of Zuko's shoulders was pressed against something hard and angled that was definitely not Sokka.
"You're heavy." Sokka complained breathily, prodding Zuko in the side, just above his hip. He wriggled a little beneath Zuko, though he didn't accomplish much more in the way of untangling them himself.
"You're the one who pulled me into a closet, Sokka." Zuko said, struggling for patience. He took a deep breath. He did also shift to try and support a little more of his own weight against his knees on the floor, with the added benefit of bringing him a bit more upright. "Why are we in a closet?" he demanded, admittedly perhaps a little closer to yelling than not.
"Shush!" Sokka hissed urgently, one hand finding Zuko's face in the dark and sliding over it as though to stifle his mouth. His fingertips instead brushed just beneath Zuko's eye, over his scar.
He distractedly wondered how tall Sokka thought he was, and dragged his hand away. "You shush, what are we doing in a closet?" he demanded again, though he conceded to lower his voice. Slightly.
"Please shush?" Sokka begged, and Zuko tipped his head back against the wall in frustration. It turned out to be a little further than he'd expected, because he was still in Sokka's lap and the wall was, of course, behind Sokka.
"Sokka," Zuko said, barely above a whisper, "I am being quiet. I am not trying to get out of the closet my insane boyfriend dragged me into. I am not setting you on fire." he added dryly. "I think I am being very patient. Now." he said quite calmly. "Please. Explain."
"It was. . ." Sokka hesitated for a long moment, and Zuko sparked a tiny flame in one hand so he could see his boyfriend. It might be the slightly orange tint of the light from the fire he held, but it looked a little like Sokka was blushing. Zuko narrowed his eyes. "Katara!" Sokka said, an outburst but still quiet.
Zuko waited but he didn't say anything else. "Why are we hiding from your sister?" he asked, because he could think of no other reason but 'hiding' for Sokka to have dragged him into- "We're in Uncle's tea cupboard." he realised as he inhaled deeply again. He should have noticed before, by the rich scents of the teas - a complex but not unpleasant blend - if nothing else, but he'd been distracted.
"Katara was about to- to see us! And shh, she's still out there." Sokka said, and Zuko grit his teeth.
"Sokka, you dragged me into a cupboard inside which we are now essentially locked, you are lucky I'm not yelling, I refuse to be silent entirely." Zuko said pointedly. "We are hiding. From your sister. Because she might have seen us kissing?"
"Shut up! You don't understand!" Sokka hissed, which Zuko thought was actually exactly the point he had been trying to make, and shoved at Zuko lightly. "It's not your sister out there, nosey and ready to see you just-" He shook his head with a horrified shudder, and Zuko's eyes narrowed, fingers curling in towards his tiny flame.
Zuko just stared at his boyfriend for a moment before making himself comfortable on the floor, where he'd landed from Sokka's push. "Sokka, if it were my sister out there we would have bigger problems than your embarrassment at maybe being seen kissing me." he said harshly, though he kept his voice low. Even if it was incredibly irritating. "Also locked or not, we wouldn't be hiding behind this door."
Actually, while Zuko hoped he never had to face his sister in battle again, if she ever forced him into it he very much hoped that everyone else he cared for was far away.
Uncomfortable at the thought, Zuko shifted a little more. His legs were still tangled with his boyfriend's, but there wasn't really enough room to get away even if he'd cared overmuch about putting distance between them. At least he was no longer awkwardly stuck with one leg twisted and pinned beneath Sokka's weight.
"Maybe?" Sokka yelped, and then stifled himself with both hands over his mouth, looking at the cupboard door like it was about to eat him. Then he lowered his hands, frowning. "Wait, locked in?" he asked, and Zuko rubbed his free hand over his face.
"The door only opens from the outside." Zuko said tiredly. "There's a slide to keep it from latching while you're using it, but obviously that's not engaged now, so when the door closed. . ."
"Why didn't you do that, then?" Sokka asked, and Zuko glared at his boyfriend between his fingers.
"Because I didn't expect you to suddenly shove me in a cupboard!" Zuko told him pointedly, snorting. "I didn't realise what was going on until the door was already closed." He huffed. He actually hadn't even heard the door close, probably because he was already falling, tangled up with Sokka, when it did.
"Oh. Uh. Sorry." Sokka said, and nudged Zuko's knee gently with his own. "I mean, for dragging you in the closet and for-" He waved a hand. "I didn't mean to lock us in, at least."
"Thank you, then." Zuko said dryly. "I'm glad you were only an idiot by accident."
"Hey, I-" Sokka protested, and Zuko just eyed him across the flickering fire. "Okay locking us into a cupboard was not my most brilliant plan. But who has cupboards that lock themselves from the inside, anyway?" he asked.
"It is a cupboard. It's for storing things, not for people." Zuko told him, sighing. "Most people do not close themselves into cupboards."
"So, uh, will your Uncle come and let us out, or. . ." Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Good question." Zuko admitted with a laugh that made Sokka pout just a little. "I can't imagine he'll go too long without coming in here, no." Probably it wouldn't be too long even if the teashop weren't open today, but as it was, Zuko thought he would likely need something from the cupboard even sooner.
"That's good." Sokka said, and Zuko nodded. At least they probably wouldn't be trapped in here for very long. Sokka fidgeted silently, biting his lip, and Zuko sighed, frowning.
"I wouldn't have actually set you on fire." Zuko added, a little sheepishly. Which probably should have been obvious, he thought, since he hadn't even reflexively tried even when Sokka tackled him unexpectedly. "I promise."
Sokka laughed softly. "I know." he said, trailing a fingertip along Zuko's jaw. "Angry jerk." The old insult was almost a croon, as Sokka cupped his cheek and drew him gently closer.
Zuko's lips twitched, and he leaned into the touch, moving in easily. He gave Sokka a wry look as he settled across his boyfriend's thighs again, though this time he wasn't collapsed in Sokka's lap at least. Sokka also wasn't complaining this time, ruffling Zuko's hair where it fell along his jaw and tipping his head up to kiss Zuko lightly again.
He hummed and let his body curve into Sokka's under the lightly encouraging touch, biting gently at his mouth and cupping his jaw with one hand. He was careful to keep the flame still flickering in his other hand away from his boyfriend, even as Sokka wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him close.
Sokka moaned and pressed against him. "Are you trying to distract me from the fact that you locked me in a cupboard?" Zuko asked, voice low, biting his lip again.
Sokka gasped and freed one hand from where it had been tucked under Zuko's sash to put it to his own chest. Zuko gave him a flat stare for his exaggerated surprise. Sokka's expression faded into a not-quite-sheepish smile, and he laughed softly, sliding both hands over Zuko's shoulders and then down to curl around his ribs.
"Maybe I'm just thinking there's no better way to spend time when we're, ah, locked in a cupboard." Sokka said, grinning.
Zuko snorted, lifting his jaw, but his amused smirk bled through. Sokka's grin softened and he kissed one corner of Zuko's mouth gently. "Although I could be apologising for locking you in a cupboard?" Sokka offered, somewhere between playfulness and contrition.
Zuko bumped their noses together, rubbing his thumb up and down Sokka's throat. "I might agree with you." he admitted, close enough that his lips nearly brushed Sokka's as he spoke. Sokka made a little pleased sound and pulled him into a kiss. Zuko held back for just a moment. "But you can still apologise." he murmured, then let Sokka draw him in again, thighs shifting under Zuko's as his spine arched and hips tilted.
Zuko purred, lightly pinching the curve of Sokka's ear and letting his knuckles stroke the length of his neck. It made him jump, a low sound rumbling from deep in his throat, and Zuko put a little more of himself into the kiss, hand slipping down to squeeze the nape of Sokka's neck.
Even when their lips parted, they stayed close, breaths mingling, Sokka's eyes - gone dark, and looking darker still in the shadowy light - locked with his own. Zuko hummed, his hand playing over Sokka's neck and shoulder, lightly nudging aside his tunic, which was already loose and beginning to slide down off his shoulder.
Sokka only smiled, tipping his head and going for another kiss, which Zuko was only too happy to lose himself in, but-
"Ah!" Zuko looked up, squinting at the amount of light the now-open door allowed to spill into the small, dark cupboard. "I do hope I am not . . . interrupting anything too much, my boys." Iroh said with a smile, looking down at them, and Zuko closed his eyes for a moment.
"Hello Uncle." Zuko said faintly, letting the fire he held go out.
"I simply needed some more of the gui hua oolong, but I'm certain if I'd known my tea cupboard was," Iroh paused meaningfully, "currently required for other purposes I would have made do until later. The huang jin gui oolong would do nicely." he mused absently.
Zuko sighed and reached behind himself, leaning forwards a little more into Sokka, and felt along the shelf on the other side of the cupboard. When his fingers found the small, carved box he was looking for, he grasped it and brought it carefully around without tipping it upside-down - although it should seal well enough not to be a problem - and held it up to his Uncle.
"Ah, the gui hua oolong!" Iroh said happily, accepting it. "I take it you would like me to leave you alone again, nephew?" he asked slyly, and Zuko dropped his head to rest on Sokka's shoulder, his boyfriend's body hiding his face from his Uncle. "Very well! I shall speak not a word." he promised, and then he stepped back and swung the door closed again, leaving them alone in the dark of the cupboard.
"Uh." Sokka said quietly, and his hand slid up Zuko's thigh to curl around his hip.
Zuko didn't move, save to nudge his face a little closer to the base of Sokka's neck, his hips shifting further towards Sokka's knees in the process. Sokka shifted under him, shoulder curving to welcome the angle of his jaw to rest there and one hand sliding up his back. Zuko sighed.
"Hey, could you do the light thing again?" Sokka asked after a minute or two.
Zuko sat up a bit. "Tell me that wasn't worse than being seen by your sister." he said, wincing, but he obligingly puffed a tiny flame into his left palm.
"That was so not worse than my sister!" Sokka said immediately. "Your Uncle was fine about it! My sister would have-" he broke off with a shudder. "Your Uncle just left us alone, with, I mean," he waved a hand, "some odd comments but it'll be fine."
"Exactly. He was fine." Zuko said darkly. "And Uncle's almost absolute favourite thing is to give advice. Favourite being narrowly beaten out by tea. Also he didn't say anything even though he clearly thought you were despoiling me in his tea cupboard."
"Despoiling-"
"Do you know, he's going to try and give me advice about you and I can't even begin-" Zuko shuddered himself, and Sokka wrapped his arms around Zuko's waist.
"So your Uncle might, uh, try and give you . . . relationship advice," Sokka flushed, "I'm pretty sure he was going to do that anyway."
"I hope he only tries to give me advice on being in a relationship." Zuko said, shuddering delicately. "If that's what we have. I'm afraid he'll try and offer . . . other advice. Books of it. And talk about them with me. The books he found last time we were in Ba Sing Se, when he was trying to encourage me to- No."
"That's. . . Wait," Sokka made a vague gesture, eyes widening, "books?"
Zuko cringed, remembering some of the illustrations. "You don't ever want to have the kinds of conversations Uncle and I had when he was trying to find me a girlfriend while we were running the tea shop." he told Sokka fervently.
"I. . ." Sokka trailed off, his eyes wide. "Okay so. Uh. More than relationship advice. Got it." he said in a high-pitched voice.
Zuko shuddered, trying to block out the memories. He glared at Sokka for putting him in this situation.
"Uh. Zuko?" Sokka said softly, and Zuko sighed and met his eyes expectantly. "Do we- 'If that's what we have'? Is. . . Is it not?" he asked, his voice quiet, and Zuko- He growled softly. "Zuko," Sokka said, a little more firmly, "isn't that what we have? Why would you put it like that?" He tugged gently at the back of Zuko's robe.
"I don't know, Sokka, you're the one who dragged me into a tea cupboard so that we wouldn't be seen kissing." Zuko said, narrowing his eyes. The tiny flame he held flickered and jumped without his intention behind the increased energy.
Sokka eyed the fire, but didn't seem alarmed at its sudden flare. He met Zuko's eyes, then looked down and away, his hand smoothing over Zuko's back again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I mean. . ." Zuko's temper eased again as Sokka floundered a bit.
"You panicked?" Zuko suggested wryly, lips quirking.
"I panicked." Sokka agreed apologetically. "Also . . . like, I figure- We do have . . . um, a relationship. Right?" he asked, and Zuko smiled slightly and nodded, a little shyly. "Well my sister, I figure- I mean, of course she'll, erm, know, but maybe not. . ."
"You don't want her to see-"
"No!" Sokka said, looking faintly horrified. Zuko frowned. "I mean," Sokka drew his hand down Zuko's forearm towards his hand and the flame he held, "you were heating up and your hands were. . . Just a kiss would- I didn't really want my sister to see you, er, singeing my shirt off, or whatever." Sokka's hand slipped into Zuko's and he went instantly still, alarmed, but Sokka avoided the tiny flame flickering just above his fingers and it was too small to put off much heat.
"I," Zuko paused, trying to remember what Sokka had been saying, "I wouldn't have-" he broke off, because now that he thought about the idea. . . He had been worked up as his hands toyed with Sokka's shirt, having ventured just inside the loosened wrap of his tunic, although Zuko hadn't noticed his body heating. As it was now, at the thought Sokka had given him. Muscles tightened low in his belly.
"I, uh, wouldn't mind if you did." Sokka said, rubbing tiny circles in Zuko's palm with the tips of his fingers. "Try that, I mean. If you were really . . . excited."
". . .oh." Zuko said faintly, feeling his face flush.
"You know, not in front of my sister." Sokka said, laughing quietly and flushing again himself. "And," he paused, dipping his head and eyeing Zuko sideways, "just . . . sometime. I trust you, I know you wouldn't hurt me."
"Never." Zuko said softly, and he wanted to fold his fingers around Sokka's but the flame was still playing in the air just above them. Instead, he lifted his other hand, sliding it up Sokka's thigh to curl his fingers into the fabric over his boyfriend's hip.
Sokka leaned forwards and kissed him softly. Zuko sighed through his nose as Sokka pulled back, smiling, and nuzzled his boyfriend lightly, tugging at his tunic. Sokka hummed and initiated another kiss, and Zuko's hand slipped inside his tunic to catch hold of his shirt again, as he had earlier.
Sokka pulled himself closer, the kisses softer this time, gentle and playful. Zuko let them ease away the thought of advice on dealing with your boyfriend conversations, after making a silent vow to somehow intimate to his Uncle that Sokka needed one at some point. Probably Sokka didn't quite deserve that, but if Zuko had to suffer that horror, he wasn't doing it alone.
"Uh, Zuko?" Sokka said, pressing a firm but quick kiss to Zuko's lips and trailing a light caress over his scarred cheek that made him blink rapidly. "I know your Uncle seemed, er, fine with. . . But if he was trying to push you at girls before. . ." Sokka said tentatively.
"I suspect it's what he thought would work out best." Zuko said, shaking his head. "It was easier. Some people in the Earth Kingdom are a little weird about . . . boys, sometimes, and anyway there were a couple of girls that, uhm." he broke off, flushing.
"Um?" Sokka smirked, prodding him. "Ummm what?" he pried, raising his eyebrows.
"That came in a . . . lot. And. They. . ." Zuko helplessly waved the hand holding the tiny flame. "Stared? And giggled." Zuko shuddered a little at the memory of being sent off to serve a table of three of them together, none of them willing to look him in the eye and all giggling every time he walked away. It had been nerve-wracking.
Sokka stifled laughter, and Zuko frowned at him. Sokka shifted, one of his legs nudging a bit higher under Zuko's own thigh, and tipped his head, kissing Zuko's jaw. "I'll bet they did." Zuko huffed at him and he gently pulled Zuko into a light kiss. "You're pretty cute when you're being awkward and actually nice to people. And they didn't even know you as 'that angry jerk' first." he added, and Zuko pinched him. "Ow! Zuko. . ." He pouted.
Zuko snorted and ignored his protests, but stayed close, hand splaying over Sokka's side where he'd just pinched. Sokka made a little bit more of a production of pouting, but he wasn't actually pulling away, either. He tightened his arm around Zuko instead, muttering indecipherably and snuggling into him.
"Zuko?" Sokka said after a few more minutes.
"Hm?" Zuko responded absently, half-lidded eyes watching the low burn of the flame he held from his comfortable position tangled up with his boyfriend.
"So I know he's," Sokka paused, "okay with us, but does that mean he plans to let us out of the cupboard, or was locking us in some sort of . . . weird supportive gesture?" he asked.
Zuko blinked, lifting his head, confused. It took a moment to parse. "Oh. Oh, no, the door's not locked any more." he explained, shaking his head. He leaned down to rest against Sokka's shoulder, having to slide a little lower in the confined space to manage. "Uncle engaged the slide that disables the lock before he closed the door again."
"Oh." Sokka trailed a hand over Zuko's hip and back, looking up at the door. "So now we're sitting in the cupboard because. . ."
Zuko shrugged. "It's not uncomfortable, and Uncle already knows now." he said idly, though actually he just hadn't thought, having become used to the idea of being stuck in here. And not really unhappy to be stuck tangled up with Sokka and basking in long, slow kisses. At least for a while. "We can-" he began, unfolding his legs.
Sokka tugged him back down by his Earth Kingdom robe as he started to rise, and Zuko's eyebrow rose as he dropped squarely into his boyfriend's lap this time, his right side snug against Sokka's chest.
"It's . . . fine." Sokka said, tucking his fingers beneath Zuko's sash again, gripping it lightly. He made no move to try getting up, nor to nudge Zuko off him again, and Zuko only moved enough to settle more comfortably across Sokka's lap. "We can . . . go out later." Sokka said quietly, nuzzling a kiss to Zuko's throat and making him shiver. "I don't mind so much being . . . stuck."
Zuko laughed softly, tilting his head to let Sokka have free access to all of his neck.
Because I'm sure it's very important to everyone:
Huang jin gui oolong and jin hua oolong are similar oolong leaves with two different varieties of the same flower and additives. (I've not tried either personally. Confession: while I am a tea geek and minor snob, I don't even like most oolong.)
I'm still accepting prompts on Tumblr, especially as I chase my goal of posting a new story every day in May!