Story: Avatar: TLA, "Remember" [Jet/Zuko]
Mar. 1st, 2010 01:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxysquidalsoA meme request, written for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
boredgods, set in the AU of her Jet/Zuko comic.
Title: Remember
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Word Count: 1000
Pairing: Jet/Zuko
Rating: 18+
Notes: After the war. Zuko is Firelord, but he has not forgotten what his life was like before.
Remember.
His labor was endless. He had known it would be, but that did not make the burden any less. Not that he would complain of the burden, when others had suffered so much more. He would bear with it. Any good ruler gave up something of himself for his people. If ease and comfort were all he had to sacrifice, that was a small thing.
He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He breathed in deeply and then out, conscious of the heat of his own breath. In spite of his determination to work as hard as he could, he did grow weary, like any man, and he was weary now.
There was no one to tell him to keep on. If he decided to go to bed now, he would not be chided. Mai would accept his presence with one of her small smiles. Yet he was his own strictest taskmaster, and he could work for a few more hours tonight, he knew. He needed no more than a brief rest, and he'd be able to forge on.
Zuko opened his eyes. The layers of parchment still filled the writing table before him. The matter of reparations for the Earth Kingdom was no simple affair. They wanted more than the Fire Nation had to give, and he could not meet their demands. On the other hand, they had lost so many of their people--so many tears, so much blood shed. They deserved as much as he could give them.
His gaze moved from the table to the wall before him, filled with the world map he had had placed there to remind him that he must consider all four nations in every decision he made, even as he kept in mind what was best for his own people. Thinking of the Fire Nation as a place apart had caused too many problems. He would put an end to that mindset in his lifetime.
On the map, the great expanse of the Earth Kingdom was a pale yellow-green, a pleasant color, and crowning it were the concentric rings of the walled city of Ba Sing Se. Zuko had traveled there several times since his coronation, and he would visit it again, for reasons both political and personal, but when he took in the sight of the familiar circular shape, the first memories that stirred in his mind were earlier ones.
The closeness of a small apartment; the scent of his own sweat rising from his worn clothes; voices calling in the street below, sounding throughout the night, some high and jarring, some quiet and low. Children and merchants and drunkards and lovers. The streets of that district had been crowded, packed with refugees. After a long day of working in the café, he had wanted to escape from the world, but the world had not let him. The thick, too-sweet odor of incense had risen from the apartment below, reaching for him, and only the tang of Uncle's tea could cut through it.
He remembered other moments, too, more fleeting and more furtive: the roughness of callused hands against his skin, a mouth pressed against his mouth, the scent of someone else's sweat rising from someone else's clothes--clothes as worn as his own. His hands moving through tangled hair. His body clutching at another's, almost fitfully. Desperately. These memories were frightening, not because he had been afraid, but because he had feared himself, the desire that had moved through him.
It was not all fearful, however. When the urgency passed and the tension eased, there was a light touch on his shoulder. A kiss on his ear. Nimble, clever hands making shadow pictures on the walls. Look. That one's a rabbitbird. And that's an otterfish. The rough but sometimes gentle voice, the soft breath against his ear. A tongue that drew shapes on his skin. A weight that settled in his lap. The muscles and lean limbs that bared themselves beneath his hands, eager for his touch.
Zuko grew aware that his breathing was faster now, his breath hotter. Back then, he had struggled to keep his temperature down. Firebenders were warm. Not abnormally so, if they had control of themselves, but that had been a strange, difficult time. He had worried that his control would slip, as the boy in his lap eased himself down, so tight around him. He had bitten his lip and told himself to focus, so he didn't give himself away. He had held himself in.
Now he was free to grow as warm as he liked. There was no danger of fire, but Firebenders were very warm to the touch, and as Zuko shifted his robes, finding his cock and wrapping his hand around it, he could feel for himself how warm he was, especially his hands. That warmth suffused his cock, made it twitch, made him arch his back and sigh.
He recalled skin against his lips, not as hot as his own, but very warm. The taste of it. The giving the impression that the speaker was always joking (except later on, when it grew harsh with anger). Urging him on, flattering, praising, asking Zuko to speak. Go on, say my name. The low laughter.
Now, sitting in his study, Zuko closed his eyes again, conjuring up that earlier time: more difficult, lonely and complicated, but with a streak of pure simplicity, pure hunger, running through it. The present was not forgotten, but it faded into the background for this brief time, as the hunger returned to him. He stroked himself. Faster now. Part of him wanted it to last--but no, he did not want it to last. There was pain, too. An ache he couldn't understand that made his chest tighten, though his hand did not falter.
Go on, say it, that teasing voice laughed in his ear.
"Jet, Zuko hissed as he came. "Jet, yes."
boredgods, set in the AU of her Jet/Zuko comic.Title: Remember
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Word Count: 1000
Pairing: Jet/Zuko
Rating: 18+
Notes: After the war. Zuko is Firelord, but he has not forgotten what his life was like before.
Remember.
His labor was endless. He had known it would be, but that did not make the burden any less. Not that he would complain of the burden, when others had suffered so much more. He would bear with it. Any good ruler gave up something of himself for his people. If ease and comfort were all he had to sacrifice, that was a small thing.
He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He breathed in deeply and then out, conscious of the heat of his own breath. In spite of his determination to work as hard as he could, he did grow weary, like any man, and he was weary now.
There was no one to tell him to keep on. If he decided to go to bed now, he would not be chided. Mai would accept his presence with one of her small smiles. Yet he was his own strictest taskmaster, and he could work for a few more hours tonight, he knew. He needed no more than a brief rest, and he'd be able to forge on.
Zuko opened his eyes. The layers of parchment still filled the writing table before him. The matter of reparations for the Earth Kingdom was no simple affair. They wanted more than the Fire Nation had to give, and he could not meet their demands. On the other hand, they had lost so many of their people--so many tears, so much blood shed. They deserved as much as he could give them.
His gaze moved from the table to the wall before him, filled with the world map he had had placed there to remind him that he must consider all four nations in every decision he made, even as he kept in mind what was best for his own people. Thinking of the Fire Nation as a place apart had caused too many problems. He would put an end to that mindset in his lifetime.
On the map, the great expanse of the Earth Kingdom was a pale yellow-green, a pleasant color, and crowning it were the concentric rings of the walled city of Ba Sing Se. Zuko had traveled there several times since his coronation, and he would visit it again, for reasons both political and personal, but when he took in the sight of the familiar circular shape, the first memories that stirred in his mind were earlier ones.
The closeness of a small apartment; the scent of his own sweat rising from his worn clothes; voices calling in the street below, sounding throughout the night, some high and jarring, some quiet and low. Children and merchants and drunkards and lovers. The streets of that district had been crowded, packed with refugees. After a long day of working in the café, he had wanted to escape from the world, but the world had not let him. The thick, too-sweet odor of incense had risen from the apartment below, reaching for him, and only the tang of Uncle's tea could cut through it.
He remembered other moments, too, more fleeting and more furtive: the roughness of callused hands against his skin, a mouth pressed against his mouth, the scent of someone else's sweat rising from someone else's clothes--clothes as worn as his own. His hands moving through tangled hair. His body clutching at another's, almost fitfully. Desperately. These memories were frightening, not because he had been afraid, but because he had feared himself, the desire that had moved through him.
It was not all fearful, however. When the urgency passed and the tension eased, there was a light touch on his shoulder. A kiss on his ear. Nimble, clever hands making shadow pictures on the walls. Look. That one's a rabbitbird. And that's an otterfish. The rough but sometimes gentle voice, the soft breath against his ear. A tongue that drew shapes on his skin. A weight that settled in his lap. The muscles and lean limbs that bared themselves beneath his hands, eager for his touch.
Zuko grew aware that his breathing was faster now, his breath hotter. Back then, he had struggled to keep his temperature down. Firebenders were warm. Not abnormally so, if they had control of themselves, but that had been a strange, difficult time. He had worried that his control would slip, as the boy in his lap eased himself down, so tight around him. He had bitten his lip and told himself to focus, so he didn't give himself away. He had held himself in.
Now he was free to grow as warm as he liked. There was no danger of fire, but Firebenders were very warm to the touch, and as Zuko shifted his robes, finding his cock and wrapping his hand around it, he could feel for himself how warm he was, especially his hands. That warmth suffused his cock, made it twitch, made him arch his back and sigh.
He recalled skin against his lips, not as hot as his own, but very warm. The taste of it. The giving the impression that the speaker was always joking (except later on, when it grew harsh with anger). Urging him on, flattering, praising, asking Zuko to speak. Go on, say my name. The low laughter.
Now, sitting in his study, Zuko closed his eyes again, conjuring up that earlier time: more difficult, lonely and complicated, but with a streak of pure simplicity, pure hunger, running through it. The present was not forgotten, but it faded into the background for this brief time, as the hunger returned to him. He stroked himself. Faster now. Part of him wanted it to last--but no, he did not want it to last. There was pain, too. An ache he couldn't understand that made his chest tighten, though his hand did not falter.
Go on, say it, that teasing voice laughed in his ear.
"Jet, Zuko hissed as he came. "Jet, yes."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 08:40 pm (UTC)Ohhh, my heart! Can you hear it? It started breaking when I got towards the end ;;
Thank you so much! Would it be alright if I shared this with the J<3Z community and posted it along with an illustration later this week?
no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 09:55 pm (UTC)You're very welcome. You know I love to do things for you, when I can.
And yes, that would be more than all right! I'm flattered that you want to do so. I've unlocked the entry for you, in case you want to link to it.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-02 12:25 am (UTC)