“We already agreed on a signal,” he said, letting out a low moan as you licked him from base to tip. You took the head of his cock into your mouth for a swift second before pulling off with a pop.

“Which was…?” You brought both hands into play, stroking him. You were sure the slick noises were barely audible over the noise of the grand hall outside the doors.

He reached down, tugging the lobe of your ear with hardly any force. “The ear tug.”

“I didn’t see you! We have to think of another one.”

“Yeah... let me think,” he rasped, his hand moving to the nape of your neck to guide you back toward his length.

Under his firm grip, you bobbed your head, supporting his weight with one hand while tasting every inch of him. From this angle, he was breathtaking: his robes were an absolute mess, but the gold shoulder plates of his outer coat made his shoulders look even broader. His eyes flicked down to meet yours, his mouth parted, making no effort to hold back the moans spilling past his lips.

You kept going, gripping him tight and using your hand to complement the thrusts into your mouth, right up until his hand tightened in your hair and pulled your head back.

“Not yet. Get up,” he growled, gesturing toward his large desk.

You obeyed, gathering the slick beaded pre-cum from the corner of your mouth with a tip of your finger. “But we have to be back in—”

“Aang is currently trying to convince the Earth Kingdom delegates not to pull out of the council,” Zuko interjected, his voice thick. “I saw Katara on her way to bail him out. That gives us ten minutes, minimum.”

You licked your finger clean. “I like your math. Plus, Sokka is even chattier than usual after three cups of fermented plum wine… That’s another ten minutes right there. If we hurry, we can—”

Zuko shut you up with a kiss, his hands gripping your hips to lift you onto the edge of the desk. Before you could even catch your breath, he pushed you back until you were lying flat against the cool surface.

His hand cupped the side of your breast through your loosened dress. His lips trailed down the column of your neck, down to your chest, kissing one breast while massaging the other. He lavished his tongue over your hardened nipples like a man starved, alternating between them until you were writhing.

“I love to hear you talk,” he said against your skin, “but I love hearing you moan for me even more.”

He tracked a trail of fiery kisses down your abdomen, hooking his arms under your knees to spread your legs wide until he was kneeling between them. Without wasting another second, he dove straight for your center.

“Agni…” you gasped, your back arching off the hard desk. “Mm, I love—fuck taking a break!”

“Mhm…” he hummed against your heat. The vibration forced your hands to scramble for purchase on the edge of the desk, recklessly scattering parchment and official seals in the process.

Your whimpers only encouraged him. Zuko pinned you steady with a heavy arm across your lower abdomen. His free hand drove two fingers deep inside you, slipping in and out in tandem with the punishing work of his tongue against your clit.

He was rsdiating heat. His breath burned sweet against your skin, his eyes locking with yours through the haze of pleasure, absolutely devoted. You reached down to touch his face, carefully avoiding his hair; the golden Fire Lord crown was still pinned into his formal topknot, holding the half-updo required for the gala you’d just escaped.

Seeing how desperate you were becoming, Zuko suddenly pulled away and straightened up.

“What…?” you pleaded, already missing the heat of him.

“You forget,” he said, a smirk pulling at his lips. “If you want something, all you have to do is ask.”

He reached up, unclasping the Fire Lord crown and pulling the gold pin from his topknot, letting his dark hair fall loose around his shoulders. He shed the heavy red tunic of his state attire, tossing it aside to reveal just his dark under shirt and loose trousers, his cloth belt already untied.

“Wouldn’t want anything getting in the way of the Fire Lady.”

“In that case, lose the shirt already,” you panted, propping yourself up on your forearms. “Oh, maybe that could be the signal. You fixing your collar or undoing a button…”

“I don't think you'd notice that from across a crowded banquet hall,” he teased, unbuttoning his shirt. “Unless you’re always watching me?”

You slid a hand down and circled your own clit a few times under his gaze, making a deep flush creep up his neck to his cheeks.

“I am always watching you, Zu.”

“We wouldn’t even be in this room if it weren’t for my discreet whispers in your ear between greeting dignitaries,” he murmured, leaning down to press a single peck to your clit. “But keep brainstorming…”

He took his shirt off, dropping it somewhere in the study alongside the rest of his discarded attire, and stepped right back into position between your thighs.

The light of the moon, streaming through the grand window behind him, illuminated the flex of his broad, muscular back, highlighting the faint battle scars across his skin as he leaned over you.

His mouth resumed its wicked attack. Without the crown in the way, you finally held Zuko close, burying your fingers deep into his hair.

“Zu—Spirits! Don't stop…”

You pulled his head even closer, rolling your hips into every stroke of his tongue until you were unraveled. The climax hit you hard, shattering your composure as you cried out his name into the empty study.

With a final and lingering kiss to your belly button, Zuko worked his way back up your body, capturing your gasps in a tasting kiss as your high slowly began to settle.

Your hand cupped his cheek, breathless. “I really think now we should—oh!”

Without a word of warning, Zuko scooped you effortlessly off the desk. You wrapped your legs tightly around his waist and hooked your arms over his shoulders, the remnants of your formal dress draping over his forearms.

“Maybe you could just shout,” he suggested, carrying you across the room.

You laughed. “I don’t think screaming your name is very discreet, Fire Lord,” you teased, pushing a stray lock of dark hair from his eye. “It might attract a little attention.”

“Yes, but…” He lowered you onto the plush divan in the corner of his study, his usual spot for informal tea and private council. “…it would be effective. You could just pretend you dropped something.”

You watched him kick his trousers, your eyes tracking the movement of his hands as he stroked his length.

“I drop things all the time. How would you know which stumble is a signal and which is just me being clumsy?”

“Easy,” he said, kneeling on the divan and straddling your thighs. He gave his cock a few pumps that made your mouth water. “If you drop something more than three times in five minutes, it’s definitely a signal.”

You shook your head, a smile breaking through when he leaned down to kiss you, positioning his head at your slick entrance.

“Everyone would make fun of me,” you whispered against his lips, guiding his tip to your center.

“Next thing you know, the High Council will be debating the Fire Lady's tragic lack of coordination.”

He chuckled and pushed inside you in one deep slide.

Both of your moans were muffled together as your lips locked. When he began to move, you could have sworn he was even larger than before. You were so tight around him, wringing sounds from his chest with every heavy thrust.

Zuko leaned his weight onto his hands on either side of your head, his face burying into the crook of your neck as his pace picked up. You closed your eyes, your hands gripping the skin they could find like his back and shoulders, your nails digging in hard enough to leave marks as he drove you wild.

He moved, grabbing both of your legs and hooking them over his shoulders. He thrust once, twice… so hard and so deep that a loud scream escaped your throat before you could stop it.

“Fire Lord?”

Your eyes flew open. You slammed a hand over your mouth. Zuko froze, towering over you.

Normally, if an attendant interrupted, he’d quickly bring you to a hand finish, help you smooth down your clothes, and play the stoic ruler.

Instead, his eyes locked onto yours, and he drove his hips forward in another thrust.

Your eyes squeezed shut, your hand pressing against your lips to muffle the cry that tore from your throat.

“Fire Lord, are you in there?” the attendant called out, knocking.

“Zuko,” you whimpered against your palm, “maybe we should—ah!”

Another deep roll of his hips. You bit down on your hand. Outside, the knocking stopped.

“I’m not stopping,” Zuko stated in a whisper. “Not yet.”

“… Fire Lady?” came another voice from the hallway.

Zuko kept up a merciless pace, giving you just enough time between dragging thrusts to keep from screaming aloud. The only sound in the dimly lit private study was the slap of skin against skin and the heavy sound of his breathing. The fullness of him inside you was overwhelming, to say the least.

“They’re not in there,” the first attendant's voice said.

“They’re probably in the grand kitchen. The Fire Lady mentioned wanting spiced plum cake earlier. Let’s check there..”

The footsteps faded down the corridor. With the threat gone, Zuko lost all restraint. He seized your hips with both hands, pounding into you with force, watching the exact point where his body met yours. You rolled your head back.

When he finally pulled out, he reached down and grabbed your hand, hauling you up into his lap. He caught you in a messy kiss, his hands massaging your hips with a eager heat.

“I could send an attendant to fetch you,” you panted, resting your forehead against his as you sat straddling his lap. “Something official, but not suspicious.”

He stroked your thigh, encouraging you.

You took hold of his cock, guiding him back to your slick entrance, lowering yourself down his length.

“That’s good,” he rasped, his fingers digging into your waist as you took him all the way in. “We could use a code word... Like, ‘The Fire Lord requires a delivery of fire flakes.’”

You stopped mid-motion, looking at him incredulously.

“Are you serious? I’m riding you right now and you’re thinking about snack food?”

Zuko let out a laugh, his hands urging your hips to move. You couldn’t help the smile that tugged at your lips as you began a rolling rhythm on his lap, swallowing his groan with your mouth.

“I can’t think straight when you’re close to me,” he admitted, eyes half closed.

“That’s a bit of a problem considering we’re married,” you teased, setting a rhythm that made his head fall back against the divan. “And I happen to like being close to you. Exhibit A…”

His hands roamed over your bare skin. His heat was rising, radiating from his skin like an oven.

You picked up the pace, riding him harder, feeling the coil in your gut tighten to a snapping point.

Zuko’s hands clamped tight onto your waist, guiding your movements, his hips snapping up to meet yours.

“Spirits… right there!” you gasped, tossing your head back.

He let out a growl against your neck, his thrusts becoming erratic. The friction was electric. You came around him, your internal muscles pulsing tightly against his length, which pushed him over the edge.

With a groan, Zuko poured himself inside you. The sudden release sent a wave of heat rushing through his veins, steam rose off his shoulders and chest in the cool night air of the study.

He held you against his chest, both of your heartbeats hammering together in the quiet room as the steam dissipated, leaving you collapsed against him in blissful exhaustion.

He didn't pull away or rush to sit up. Instead, his fingers trailed lazily up and down the curve of your bare spine, pressing tender kisses to the top of your head, your temple, and finally your lips.

“You okay?” he whispered against your ear.

“More than okay,” you hummed, pressing your face into the still warm crook of his neck. “Though we’re going to be hopelessly late getting back…”

“Let them wait,” Zuko said, his smile pressing into your collarbone. He smoothed back a lock of hair from your forehead, his thumb resting on your cheekbone with an understated tenderness. “I’m in no hurry to go back out there.”

For a few quiet minutes, you stayed wrapped in each other's body. Yours naturally rocked against his in slow pulses, savoring the friction and radiant heat of him inside you, enjoying the rare stillness away from the overwhelming demands of the court.

Zuko sat up, taking your hand to help you gather your discarded robes. There was no desperate scramble at all, he helped you drape the heavy silk back over your shoulders, his fingers taking their time to tie the intricate waist sashes for you. You returned the favor, leaning in to replace the golden flame coronet into his topknot and smoothing down the structured collar of his coat.

As your fingers touched his tunic, you looked up into his eyes and double tapped the flame crest embroidered on his collar.

Zuko raised his eyebrow.

“What’s that?”

“Our signal,” you whispered, smiling with pride. “Next time we're stuck at one of these long banquets, I’ll find a way to walk past you and double tap your crest just like this. It means you have ten minutes to clear your schedule, find a private room, and wait for me.”

Zuko’s lips curved into a smirk, he reached up to cover your hand with his own, pressing a kiss to your knuckles.

“Consider your signal officially approved.”

Before you could kiss him again, three loud knocks rattled the doors of the study.

“Hey, guys!” Sokka’s booming voice carried right through the thick wood. “Aang’s speech went great, Katara didn’t have to freeze anyone, and I’ve successfully eaten my weight in Fire Nation food! But the delegates are asking where their hosts ran off to!”

You both looked at the door, then back at each other.

“...Unless you two are doing 'official Fire Nation business' in there? Because if you’re making me stall the Earth Kingdom council by myself, I’m drinking the rest of the good plum wine!”

Zuko closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

“We’ll be right out, Sokka!” you called back, trying to keep a laugh out of your voice.

“Take your time! Just make sure your crown isn’t crooked, Zuko!” Sokka teased, his fading footsteps echoing down the hallway alongside his triumphant laughter.

You giggled. As for Zuko, instead of pulling away, he leaned in closer.

“Ready to face the court?” he asked, his thumb trailing a path over the inside of your wrist.

You turned your head, pressing your lips in a touch right to the sharp angle of his jaw.

“Anything for you, Fire Lord.”

Zuko’s breath hitched. His gaze dropped to your mouth.

“Is it too soon for you to tap my crest?”

note: hii!! sorry for going mia 🫶 i’ve been busy as usual, and on top of that i’ve had a lot of family events lately. i wanted to post this as a little thank you for being so patient while i disappeared.

next up will be the too little too late-inspired one shot, which i’m super excited about!! hope you liked this one! thank you so much for reading and for all your support. xx