#luzhao

This is LuZhao, Zutara and implied Azulon/Ilah and didn't quite make it into a fully fledged fic so here's a few more details:

This is set in a No War AU

Wei is Angie's name for Zhao

Zuko is a Commander in the Navy and Lu Ten is a General in the Army.

Zhao isn't military at all in this AU and instead is a very popular Fire Nation poet.

The wedding tattoos are a headcanon shamelessly stolen from Angie as well.

Dadzai combined with LuZhao? You spoil me, anon, truly.

Honestly, Ozai was one of the first people to realize that Zhao was in love with Lu Ten, before even Zhao himself. He saw the way that Lu Ten's schoolboy friend looked at him and followed him and he knew. The only question in his mind was whether or not Lu Ten loved him in return.

Good uncle Ozai is, in this AU, actually one of the first people Lu Ten tells about his relationship with Zhao. They're not the closest, but particularly when Lu Ten is in his two years between graduating school and joining the military, and Zuko and Azula are in their lessons, Lu Ten and Ozai find themselves spending a lot of time together. Lu Ten just blurts it out over tea and Ozai just kind of stares at him for a few moments before going "okay...?".

That being said, he does soothe a lot of Lu Ten's worries. He also tells Lu Ten that he's almost certain something went on between Jeong Jeong and Iroh before Iroh married Chika.

(Lu Ten trains under Jeong Jeong and he can't look him in the eyes for the first three weeks.)

He also straight up asks Lu Ten if he wants him to tell Iroh and pretend it had been a mistake (Lu Ten nearly died of laughter before realizing his uncle is, in fact, serious. He refuses, but only barely).

If either of his children were to come out to him, Ozai would be similarly unfazed. He would simply ask them if they had a partner he had to threaten or not. Ozai is supportive in the least caring way: it changes nothing other than their marriage prospects.

LuZhao is problematic because I headcanon Lu Ten as a nonbender (my headcanons are, of course, The Actual Canon) and bender x nonbender ships are Bad.

Also, that many sideburns cannot be allowed in one ship.

BRO

Whoever started the Moon Spirit!Zhao prompt owns my heart mind and soul 🤍

In appreciation, have some of the one and only Zhaozai (with next week’s theme sprinkled in)

- - -

The moonlight is humbling.

A radiance that doesn’t sear through paper-thin retinae, smudged red rings and white toadstools dissolving between hard blinks... Agni’s was a blinding grace that disarmed the onlooker, left them clumsy-footed and batting away sharp pinpricks.

This glow is a gentle bathe. Catching on pale fingertips, a mesmerizing dance in and out of stolen crevices where shadows frolic instead of burn in stark lines against the sun. This glow entices him. This glow emanates power as secretive as its host, and he’d tangle his hands in the roots and tug, if only he could slip close enough.

The admiral is changed - and far from granting him permission.

He’s found atop a courtyard pond as fish dart underneath rippling foam. His feet brush the surface instead of capsize, only the pads wet, a lotus twining his skin as if the touch gives it life. Palace attendants have to usher him past corridors to the summoner’s chambers, seat him and comb the crusted salt from his pearlescent hair, and attempt to cut the flower loose - the spirit relents, a ringed hand motioning for get out.

His lips thin as wine turns in the glass before him, no force between it but the table and a cloak of heat. The Firelord is oriented a sailing cutter’s length across, a sea of ice churning at their feet.

“This must have been difficult for you.”

Before the spirit’s lips part, insofar so muted that the seam between top and bottom is adhered, Ozai finishes, “... deserting your post. A man of your status, allying with the enemy.”

A snow-white brow quirks. “Like master, like pupil, I suppose.” Before the Firelord can cluck, a dry tongue that rakes the back shelf of his teeth, Zhao finishes,

“Did you enjoy allying with the Dai Li to repel the two-year siege? You advised them to strike the general where he was weakest. He returned days later, an heir without a progeny...”

“Please.” Mincing words wasn’t remotely their preference; blunt edges couldn’t throw off sparks. “We’re not strangers. Your mind is mine, and mine yours. The throne is worth its weight in blood as much as gold.”

“Ozai,” he hisses, a name only feared and praised. The wine freezes, micro-movements gripped in suspension.

Zhao’s voice is clawed. “I knew him.”

“Everyone knows a dead man.” Airy, curt. “They pass on. You and I will not.” He rises in a smooth curtain of silk, extending an arm for his - the lotus shrinks back, fastening to the elbow. “You and I...”

He rips loose. “His name was Lu Ten.”

“What happened in the North wasn’t my choice, but what I do with my fate is. I know more than I did. People pass on, but their spirits...” Zhao scrambles for the words, finds only silence, thick and painful.

“... I hear him, in the cold morning wind. His laughter in the waves. His power in every storm. They don’t leave. Spirits - they become a part of something greater. They govern all nations, not just their own. Even your rule won’t reach every leaf on every tree. I am one, just without crossing over, without leaving this world and moving to the next... I see them. I don’t know if they see me.”

His eyes are hard. Icy as the rock that shines off the sun, phases of a whole brilliance. “You don’t see them. You can’t see anyone but yourself.”

Their gap narrows... Ozai clasps him without effort. The protest is little, but there, balled knuckles that bend the wine in his cup to gleaming points.

“I see opportunity. I take it.” Hunger winds around the golden ribbons of each iris. The Firelord’s stare is bottomless; no amount of power would be enough.

A nail grazes a lip. A tip of speared wine lights on the back of Ozai’s neck. His tone is unruffled. “And I see worlds beyond our own, in you.”

“Only you. Always you.”

LuZhao requested by @fire-lady-ilah

---

Zhao didn't cuddle. He wasn't a touchy person. It was something that had been trained out of him throughout his childhood. 

Touch wasn't something he looked forward to and he generally avoided it at all costs. Personal space, he had discovered, was a weapon just as much as any other.

His boyfriend wielded it well.

When he had first started dating Lu Ten he had assumed it would be a few hookups to occupy the prince before he let Zhao down gently. He expected maybe a shared bed or small corner of the Academy here and there but nothing more.

What he hadn't expected was for Lu Ten to crawl into his bed to snuggle or for him to plop all of his weight into Zhao's lap at inopportune moments. He didn't predict the hand that would squeeze around his own or the foot that latched around his ankle under the table during meals. He didn't plan for sweet kisses shared in hallways or a head resting heavily on his chest.

He had no defense against whatever tactic Lu Ten was using.

Slowly he became used to causal touches again as Lu Ten continued his unprompted attack on Zhao's emotions. Zhao didn’t flinch when Lu Ten pushed hair out of his eyes or hugged him from behind anymore. 

Instead he leaned into the touches and caresses Lu Ten gave him. He soaked them up like a man dying of hunger before returning the favor.

An arm slung around Lu Ten's shoulder was replied to with a kiss. A sweaty hug after training was returned with no hesitance. 

The first time Zhao felt comfortable enough to lay his head in Lu Ten's lap he nearly melted at the hand petting through his hair.

Lu Ten had broken down the walls Zhao had put up to keep people back.

Which left them here, with Lu Ten sprawled over the top of Zhao, snoozing on and off, as Zhao tried to study for a terrain tactics exam.

Lu Ten's breath ghosted softly over Zhao's neck in warm puffs that distracted him every time.

Finally Zhao placed the book down before gathering Lu Ten tightly into his arms. Lu Ten snuggled closer in response.

"If I fail this exam I'm blaming you," Zhao said, rubbing his hand down Lu Ten's back.

His boyfriend stretched cutely before pointing to himself as if to ask "who, me?"

Written for @avatar-sunken-ships-week Day 1: Forbidden

Also written for @zhaomas prompts: Teenager and Huddling for Warmth.

I'm warning you now, this is not a happy story even if it's a happy ending.

Lu Ten and Zhao are not having a fun time.

Rating: Mature (for violence)

Ship: LuZhao

Summary: When caught in a teenage dalliance, Senior Cadet Zhao and Prince Lu Ten's lives get put on the line.