Chapter Text
Sitting amongst his council in a bone-dry meeting, Zuko hikes up the red and gold collar around his neck, he does this almost subconsciously and so far, no one really seems to pay much attention to him when he does readjust his collar because he does it almost as often as he does other things during the meeting, like pinching the bridge of his nose, shifting in his chair, and adjusting the scrolls he's writing on.
And ultimately, he is thankful for lack of perception amongst the people he’s in a meeting with because if anyone were to see the marks trailing up from his shoulders to his collarbones, and peppered along the sides of his neck, then the news of it would spread around the palace like a forest fire (pun not intended). The gossip would even continue to make its way into the daily conversations outside of the palace and finally throughout the entirety of the Fire Nation.
The scandal alone would be one not seen by Fire Nation royalty in centuries and Zuko wouldn’t be able to take the hushed voices and prying eyes from everyone around him. It would be horrendous if his marks were made public knowledge, he wouldn’t be able to contain his embarrassment if he had to talk to someone who knew about them.
However, having his marks known by certain unrelenting noble men and women trying to either marry him themselves or marry him off to their children would be pretty effective in shutting down their persistent flirting or matchmaking.
But in this situation, the cons definitely outweigh the pros.
And later that night when he’s laying on his stomach, satin ruby sheets covering the lower half of his body, he lets out a low moan while the younger man hovering above him leans over and gives him yet another mark on the back of his shoulders, claiming him and making him feel more loved than he’s ever felt in his entire life.
But even if he’s careful, sometimes he’s not careful enough and the marks that are indented into his porcelain skin do end up getting noticed by someone who’s somehow in the right place at the wrong time.
“Whoa! Damn Zuko, those look pretty serious.” Sokka says as he barges into Zuko’s room as he’s changing for their sword training session.
“They don’t hurt if that’s what you’re asking,” Zuko says as casually as he can as he folds his fancy robes and changes into something a little more dirt and sweat friendly.
“It looks like an alligator-dog bit you, who would even—oh! Oh! No! Gross!" Sokka screams and Zuko shouts at him to keep his voice down or the guards might get the wrong idea. Sokka composes himself and then says, "Okay, I did not need to know that! I do not need to see physical evidence of yours and Aang’s sex life, ew.” Sokka then sticks his tongue out, fake-gaging and quickly turning around to face away from Zuko.
“You’re the one who barged into my room while I was changing, you don’t get to be grossed out.” Zuko sighs. "Please don't make a big deal about this okay? It's embarrassing."
Sokka only hums and then says “not gonna lie, I’m impressed, I didn’t peg the kid to be into anything kinky let alone a biter.”
“He’s not a kid, he’s 21.” Zuko groans as it seems like Sokka is just ignoring his previous statement and is purposefully keeping the subject going.
“Still, nice, it's still gross though...but uh, congrats on the sex?”
“If I threaten to light your rat-tail of beard on fire will you drop the subject so we can go train?”
“Rude! It’s taken me months to grow this baby out to its full potential.” He says as he strokes the beard in question.
But Zuko just ignores him and instead snaps his fingers together, creating a flame between his thumb and forefinger, getting Sokka to immediately leave his room.
But it’s one thing having only one his friends find out about his boyfriend’s tendency to bite him because after they train, Sokka announces it to the entire gang who is again, somehow in the right place at the wrong time. But because it's Sokka, Zuko should have already known that there was no way this was going to stay between the two of them and Aang.
(Said boyfriend isn’t even phased when Sokka tells everyone else about the quote, “love bites” and even he encourages Sokka by answering his extremely private questions.
“What do you get out of it?”
“I guess I’m a bit possessive towards those I love.”
“So it’s just you marking your territory? Like a tiger-dillo?”
“Guess so.” Aang shrugs with a wide grin).
Zuko tries not to dwell on the fact Aang has no shame when it comes to discussing their sex life with their friends because it’s his own lack of self-control that—when in the heat of the moment—makes him moan out louder than he intends to whilst under his uncle’s roof.
Zuko doesn’t even register that his uncle overheard him and Aang last night until he sees the wide teasing smirk on the older man’s face as he serves them tea that morning.
“I do not know the details of what you two were up to last night,” Uncle says, “but I had no idea my nephew was such a vocal lover!”
Zuko doesn’t apologize for the tea that sprays out from his mouth and onto the table in front of him. But Uncle cleans it up anyway, chuckling to himself in an almost evil tone.
“Oh, were we too loud?” Aang asks with an unapologetic grin.
“No, no, I was up late last night tending to some of my things, sleep becomes much more difficult to achieve when you’re my age.”
And then the two of them continue to talk amongst each other, not even the tiniest bit affected by the previous conversation. But Zuko's stunned silence worries both his boyfriend and uncle so they ask him if he's alright.
“I think you’re going to have to go to the meeting with King Kuei alone today…” Zuko groans.
“Oh? Why’s that?” Aang asks, suddenly concerned, and under different circumstances, Zuko might feel a bit guilty for worrying him.
“Because I think I’ve just died of embarrassment,” Zuko says, hanging his head in shame and allowing it rest on the mahogany table in front of him.
Aang only laughs and drags Zuko up off the table by his sleeve. He then pulls him close to his chest and places a kiss on the top of his head, “I love you but you can be such a prude sweetheart.”
“I’m not a prude!” Zuko shouts as he jumps out of Aang’s arms. The look of disbelief Aang gives him almost goes unchallenged but then Zuko says, "I just, don't think this sort of thing should be discussed with my Uncle..." he grimaces and slumps his shoulders.
“You are in love Zuko, there is no shame in indulging in the throes of passion.” Iroh smiles before adding, "you know...when your aunt and I were first dating each other we could hardly stay out of the bedroom!" He shares, overshares, and the thought of his Uncle and late Aunt having sex is just too much information than he ever needed to know about them.
“I hate both of you so much,” Zuko mumbles while staring into his empty teacup.
“At least he hasn’t seen the love bites,” Aang smirks and tells him in an all too loud whisper.
“But now he knows about them!” Zuko exclaims as he feels heat rise to his cheeks. If he’s not careful he might just firebend out of sheer embarrassment.
“Oh, actually, I’ve seen them,” Uncle says with a full-belly laugh and Zuko stares at him in horror, desperately trying to replay all the times he’s gotten dressed in his room and had his uncle just casually walk by his half-open door and easily giving him a view of his marked body. “It makes me happy to know you two are happy.” Uncle quietly adds.
“Thanks, Iroh!" Aang exclaims and then says, "Zuko might be a grump right now, but I know he’s grateful too,” Aang says with a smile before taking a sip of his tea.
“Menaces, both of you.” Zuko sighs. “You for putting your boyfriend into an early grave,” he says to Aang and pointing an accusatory finger in his direction and he raises his hands in mock surrender and then Zuko groans and turns toward Uncle, “and you for making me have this conversation in the first place.” He says pointing the same finger to the older man.
Uncle opens his mouth to say something else but Zuko gives him a hard look and he quickly shuts his mouth and instead takes a sip of his tea, smiling from his eyes as he watches as Aang laughs and throws his arm around Zuko’s shoulders and pulls him in for a pitiful attempt of a comforting hug.
His boyfriend has no shame but it seems his uncle is even worse and that knowledge is enough to mentally scar him for life.