wraithvault

Rating: T
Categories: M/M
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Relationship: Zuko/Kuei
Characters: Zuko, Kuei
Additional Tags: Ficlet, Sugar Daddy Kuei, Established Relationship
Status: Complete
Wordcount: 554
Published on AO3: 2021-06-18

Notes: For Monthly KuZu Mini-Prompts, 2021: May - Sugar Daddy

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any associated trademarks.

Zuko squirms below Kuei's gaze. His eyes are trapped by the gift in his hands and Kuei forces down the urge to squirm as well. They're in his office, waiting for his advisors to arrive so they can finish planing their tactic for the upcoming diplomatic visit with the Fire Nation. But the advisors aren't here yet and they've been so busy lately, running to and fro. It seems like every time they turn around, there's a new problem to be dealt with.

Not right now, though.

Right now, it's quiet.

"You didn't have to," Zuko says, his gold eyes still not moving from the gift-wrapped package in his hands.

Kuei shakes his head, "It's a trinket, not a hardship. Please accept it, Zuko."

Wetting his lips, Zuko looks up. He's already wearing lots of Kuei's "trinkets", bracelets, necklaces, earrings... not to mention his clothes. But Kuei had nothing to do with the clothes, that was the advisors' unified decision! They thought it'd look better if Zuko incorporated some of the more Earth Kingdom fashions into his clothing, just so that it would be clear where his loyalty stood.

Kuei has never doubted it. Not since he first met Zuko in that teashop, flitting from table to table like a beautiful butterfly—a deadly one. But still absolutely breathtaking, perhaps even more so because of it.

Zuko opens the gift. The red wrapping is uneven and odd; Kuei isn't used to doing it. But he wanted to give his beloved a proper gift before they're swept up in formalities and bureaucracy and such things will be inadvisable. More important things require their attention. (Kuei can't fathom how anything could be more important than making Zuko happy, and trinkets like these, no matter how useless they are, always seem to at least make him happier.)

He keeps his hands steady on his lap as he waits for Zuko's reaction. It doesn't take long; it starts with a small widening of the eyes. Then he licks his lips again. He tilts his head to the side, his long hair falling over his shoulder and Kuei's eyes are inevitably drawn to the myriad of earrings decorating both of Zuko's ears. Long ones that almost reach his shoulders, short ones that are mere bulbs. All of them are gold. All of them draw Kuei's gaze once more to Zuko's expressive eyes.

"Where did you..." Zuko looks up at Kuei, his eyes brightening bit by bit.

Kuei shrugs. "A swordsmith to the south," he says, unable to continue meeting those eyes. They are too much; too bright and bold and alive and happy. They make his stomach do flips, make him unable to breathe.

How can anyone look at Zuko and not lose their breath?

Zuko smiles, softly, gently, and it's like the sunlight on a clear day, the sun roaming free of the clouds. Kuei leans forward before he can think, just wants to sit here and bask in that light. Zuko, who is kind and beautiful and the greatest person to have ever lived, simply leans forward the tiny bit of distance between them—perched as he is on Kuei's desk—and presses his mouth gently to Kuei's own. It's a caress, a soft motion that is too quick to truly feel.

Kuei's heart skips a beat.