Series: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Spoilers/warnings: Post-series nonsense fluff set in the magical AU where Zuko and Azula reconciled from babysitting dragons.
Wordcount: 1,066
Summary: Zuko tries to set a good example
To put it bluntly, Zuko was overwhelmed. He was only eighteen and already had to deal with being so many things at once.
Fire Lord to his people. Charged with running a nation the rest of the world still resented for a hundred years of war.
Husband to Mai, which meant keeping her happy and keeping his advisors from making inappropriate comments of “marriage duties” around her.
Son to a mother he had not seen in seven years. To the point where he barely knew her, and every conversation dwindled to silence for shame over the things they had done in each others absence.
Big brother to Azula, who was still far from sane but less prone to expressing her displeasure through fratricidal violence.
And, of course, guardian of the last dragon hatchlings in existence, which meant if he screwed up the dragons would truly become extinct. Forever. No second chances.
No pressure at all.
The dragons were such a sensitive subject that the palace servants had learned to leave matters of taking care of the dragons to Zuko. After all, he used his own fire to keep them incubated before they hatched and held a particular kinship with them. It was only natural he would assume the role of their parents. In fact, some of the advisors made comments that they would be a wonderful trial run for practice in fatherhood.
However, nobody explained that to Irah and Agni, who took great delight in the natural impulse of all youth—even dragons—to do exactly as they pleased. And one sunny morning, amongst the skittering of claws on the garden colonnades and the indignant yelp of Fire Lord Zuko, an irritating realization that he would have to discipline them started to dawn on him.
Dispersing a small trail of flames, Zuko was on the verge of resolving the scuffle until the dragons had other ideas, dashing to the garden’s pond in a flurry of hisses and lashing tails.
He arrived breathless to see Agni tightly curled around Azula’s shoulders, her head half hidden by his sister’s collar. Meanwhile, Irah stalked the ground restlessly and paused only for a moment’s hesitation before alighting on his arm in kind.
Azula looked at him expectantly. “What’s going on?”
“They were fighting,” Zuko said, all at once feeling less like the leader of the Fire Nation and more like the boy whose mother caught him breaking an expensive vase. “I was trying to break it up.”
“Let them get it out of their system. You can’t stand around protecting Irah all the time, Zuzu. How else will she learn to handle herself?”
“She was handling it, alright. She’s the one who started it. I was stopping her from clawing Agni!”
Azula could not mask the confusion on her face in time, her hand unconsciously grazing Agni’s blue scales. “...that doesn’t change anything. Siblings fight sometimes. It’s natural.”
The image of Azula engaging in any protective gesture had yet to lose its surreal quality. And Zuko felt Irah’s claws digging into his robes, a plaintive growl rumbling in her throat that sounded like an apology.
“Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean we encourage it,” Zuko sighed, giving into the urge to scratch behind Irah’s ears now. “We should set a good example.”
Azula snorted back a laugh, which made Agni flutter and regain his position once he felt sure of his footing. “And how do you propose we do that? Another dance routine?”
When Zuko’s expression gave the indication that he was seriously considering it, Azula made move to turn away. “Forget it, brother. I’m not dancing.”
“Come on, Azula! You should at least try to encourage them to get along! It’s your responsibility too.”
“Then I’ll teach Agni better defensive moves.”
“Something that isn’t fighting,” Zuko argued, trying to remember a time when they fought and what their parents did to make them stop. He couldn’t recall a single incident except when their mom pulled them apart until they cooled off, but that didn’t really resolve anything in the long term.
“Explaining is a lost cause when we don’t exactly speak dragon. Next time, just throw water on them to break it up. That’s a sufficient deterrent.”
Zuko kept thinking. He tried to remember when he first tried sincerely apologizing for his actions and trying to become friends with others. And he tried to remember the first time he felt like he was forgiven when they accepted him (except for Toph’s punching him on the arm. He understood that was her way of friendship but it seemed counterproductive in these circumstances).
“We could teach them to hug,” he suggested, throwing his arms open.
Agni and Azula drew back in tandem. Even Irah made a dubious trill from Zuko’s collar.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Zuko insisted. Leaving out the part where he would have liked to hear the same from his little sister, but there was a point to be made.
“This is stupid.”
“This is supposed to be helpful. Ty Lee is always going on how this improves your aura.”
“You are not Ty Lee. And just because she does it doesn’t make it any less ridiculous.”
“Azula, will you just try it? For their sake?” And both dragons perked their heads up at that point. Zuko sighed. “Before my arms get tired...”
Azula glowered, but took a step forward to put her arms around Zuko’s waist. “Just once. To prove how dumb this is.”
Once she was actually, literally hugging him, Zuko had his own moment of trepidation. He froze for a second, twitching before he leaned down and put his arms around hers, just below shoulders where Agni looked on in bewilderment. From Zuko’s back, Irah crawled over to headbutt Agni and then curl around him in an awkward imitation of their human firebenders. And for a moment it looked almost peaceful.
“Can we stop now?” Zuko asked.
Azula pulled back as if burned, and Irah futilely nipped at her bangs before she retreated out of reach. “You started it.”
“It was a good idea!”
“Fine. They learned how to hug. Let’s never do that again. Ever.”
Zuko didn’t say anything further but he noticed Azula let Agni nuzzle against her jaw as she walked away. He sighed. It was a good first start, but this was going to be worse than house breaking them.