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Zuko is seventeen and he is the Firelord. He has been the Firelord for the past 6 months, and in that time there have been 23 attempts at his life, only 4 of witch his family and friends know about, it's starting to become an inside joke between him and his guards.

So to say that Zuko is stressed is an understatement, between the assassination attempts and the oh so easy task of ending a fucking war and trying not to make another start while still trying to heal his country, he hasn't slept more that 3 hours in the last 4 days, he is running on caffeine, and if his Uncle ever found out, he would rant to him why coffee is garbage compared to the divinity of tea.

And on top of everything, both his guards and his newly appointed advisors have been trying everything to make him rest. He has to much to do he can't   rEsT !!!

He changes idea one night during dinner, the sun is just setting, and he is eating (more like picking at his food, he has been doing it a lot these days), when suddenly he finds his face in his plate of tai-meshi, rice sticking to his face and hair.

Ok, so maybe he is a little bit tired.

At the end he doesn't even get a say in the matter, the next morning the servants give him some casual clothes, he doesn't even notice the change from what he usually wears to his meeting with his ministers (AKA Assasination Strategists) until his caffeine added brain decides to pop up the information that his guards are leading him to a carriage and not the meeting room.

His protests about having too much work to just leave the palace go on deaf ears, and at this point he is starting to question himself about who really his the monarch of this Nation, because he is having doubts.

At the end he finds himself in the carriage with his two most trusted guards, they probably think he is going to sleep in the carriage.

Zuko is not going to give them the satisfaction.

He doesn't really know where they are going, but for the whole 3 hours and a half that it gets to arrive at 'The Place', he doesn't sleep, just looks defiantly at his guards who lost the hope to convince him to just sleep after the first hour.

While he takes extreme satisfaction in it, his staring contest with the guards means he hasn't looked out of the window, not even once.

To sum it up, he hasn't got the slightest idea of were the fuck he is.

The carriage stops and he finally looks out, he is confronted with a pair of very big doors with a white lotus design.

A very familiar white lotus.

A very, very familiar white lotus.

...They bought him to dad's castle.

Shit... he's fucked.

The moment dad sees him he is gonna go in mother hen mode and he'll fuss over him for days.

He gets that sometimes he talks about his dad and pops, but he always thought that he did a good job at not showing how much he cared about them.

Since he is here right now, it seems he did pretty poorly at the end.

With a resigned breath he gets off the carriage ad stands in front of the door.

"Since I'm probably staying for a few days, please return to Caldera"

"But sir-"

"No one knows I'm here, in there there is the best sword man in the whole fire nation, and one of the best fire benders, this place is a fortress, I don't think I'm in any danger. And you put me up to this, so at least let me suffer alone"

His face reflected the drammaticness of his words perfectly, and after some more protests from the guards, Zuko finally won the argument.

Now he stands alone in front of the doors. Now that he is finally alone he can hear the pounding of the waterfall against the rocks, the chirping of the birds and the howling of the wind. He starts to fell drowsy, that day's less high than usual caffeine consumption and the hours he forced himself to stay awake are starting to take a toll on him.

Some minutes after knocking on the massive door, he is let in by Fat, and taken to where he remembers, by pure muscle memory, the training ground being.

At this point he is practically sleep walking, the feeling of protection that embraces him every time he enters the castle makes some of the knots of tension, that seem to be ever present these days, dissipate until the only thing he can understand is that someone is training and that it isn't dad, since he is drinking tea and watching.

More like he was drinking tea and watching, because now he is coming towards him and Fat, training guy compleatly forgotten to check on his son.

" Zuko, did something happen?! "

No one told him I was coming, and seeing his face he is alredy thinking of the worst possible scenario.

" Hi dad, no, sleep "

And with that Zuko drags Piandao to the spot hidden by a shadow, where only seconds before his dad was drinking tea.

There is a rug on the ground and a cushion to sit on, the tea cup is left forgotten by it's drinker in favor of the sleepy teenager in his arms.

Knowing said teenager, Piandao doesn't cross his legs, fully expecting the boy to put his head on his lap. Zuko doesn't disappoint, and on the first occasion he gets, he uses his dad as his personal pillow.

Zuko firmly believes this isn't cuddling, and that he is just using him as a pillow, Piandao, who often becomes his kid's pillow, thinks otherwise. His theory is supporter by Jeong Jeong who, even if he becomes a pillow less often, strongly believes in Zuko's not-so-well-hidden cuddly nature.

Zuko is fast asleep in moments and Piandao frees his hair from the precise and simple top knot, that without the crown is identical to his own, to scratch at the boy's head, who seam to relax even more at the gentle touch of his father. And you can't blame Paindao for smiling when the scratching makes Zuko unconciusly curl closer to his dad.

This touching scene is watched by two other individuals, Fat, who by now is very used to Zuko cuddliness and doesn't bat an eye, and Li, who is very much not used to seeing his serious and solemn Master cuddle a teenage boy who looks seconds away from passing out from sleep deprivation.

So while Fat has decided that this is a good time as any to go search for Jeong Jeong and tell him that his son just arrived, Li is having an existential crisis, and is brain is blocked on two aspects of this whole mess, ' Master Piandao is being soft?! ' and  ' Who the fuck is this kid!? '

While his brain is working around those two questions Jeong Jeong arrives and sits hip to hip with Piandao, and takes his place in scratching the kids head, at this point Li wouldn't be surprised if he just started purring and transformed into a pygmy puma.

When is brain started working again, and he had gathered enough courage, he climbes the steps that divide him from what is now a full cuddle session, since now Master Jeong Jeong has his arm around Master Piandao, who is leaning on him while still having his full attention on the sleeping teenager.

"... Master Piandao...?"

His uncertain question was answered by the raised brow of the master, signaling him to continue.

"Master, is my training finished for today?"

"Did I say it was?"

"...No..."

"Then continue"

Needles to say he was far to distracted, and his training was a complete flop. This granted him a warning eye from the master, who still had the teenager on his lap and continued to look compleatly unfazed by the fact. By then Master Jeong Jeong was returning inside, and while doing so he had said something to Master Piandao's ear, but Li wasn't able to ear what

Then like a clock, the moment the sun reached his highest peak, signaling the arrival of midday, the boy woke up. It looked like someone had turned a switch on, the second before he was compleatly gone, and the second after he was stirring and was the epitome of a grumpy tigerdillo.

"Since you're awake now, you could do us the favor of presenting yourself to our guest"

The master spoke, and if looks could set someone on fire, the master would be incinerated right now by how hard the boy was glaring at him, for a moment Li saw smoke behind the master, but it was probably a trick created by his head.

The grumpy teenage got up, in Li's opinion far to easily for someone who had spent the last two hours practically sleeping on the floor, and looked at him with resignation painted on his face.

"Hey, so... my name is... Jian, I'm Piandao's son, but you have probably alredy realised that..."

Li hadn't, in fact, realised that. FUCK.

"Sorry for before, I just got here from the capital and I'm pretty exhausted, you know, new job and all..."

It took Li a few seconds to realise that he needed to present himself to.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Li, and I'm here studying under Master Piandao"

After the brief presentation the boy Jian looked at the Master, that seemed to get whatever message he was channelling trough his eyes. More like eye, Jian had an enormous scar that covered nearly all of the left side of his face, leaving one of his eyes in a permanent squint, he hadn't seen it before.

"I think it is time for us to have lunch, would you mind joining us Li?"

"It would be an honor Master"

He was very much serious when he said so, and even if he would prefer not to admit it, a little bit excited.

It was the first time the Master asked him to join him during meals, and he couldn't deny that he felt honoured to share a moment of cohesion with his Master.

He entered the dining room after father and son, Master Piandao promptly sat at the head of the table, and Jian at his right.

Now came the problem, where was he to sit, next to his master on his left or next to Jian. He wont lie saying that he wouldn't have liked to sit at his master's right, but it made sense that it would be Jian to sit there, while he was his honoured student, he couldn't compare to the man's son, and the fact that the teen had been away, for what he presumed was quite a long time, emphasized it even more.

At the end he didn't have to choose, while he was thinking, Master Jeong Jeong sat at his master's left, leaving only the seat next to Jian free.

The meal was, for the most part, a quite affair. There were only some questions asked at Jians way, about the capital and how he was fairing there.

He really didn't know how it happened, he only saw Master Jeong Jeong and Jian look at each other a couple of times, an then all of sudden Jian was getting up slamming a hand on the table, grinning and Master Jeong Jeong was grinning back.

"Your on!"

That was all that was said, he still doesn't understand how only that could have brought to this.

It was around two P.M. and both teen and man where shirt less, soaking the sun light and preparing to fight.

Li had just found out Jian was a fire bender in addition to being a sword master (the sword master bit hadn't been made explicit, but he'll put his hand in a fire if he wasn't, come on the was Master Piandao's son he was probably born with a sword in his hand).

Li had heard stories about Master Jeong Jeong and his firebending, some even compared him to the Dragin of the West, so he was taken aback when Jian was more that able to keep up with him and even nearly landing some hits.

Everything finished when Master Jeong Jeong noted that Jian was returning to his sleepy state, deciding to stop the fight, completely ignoring Jian, who was insisting that he could continue.

In that moment Master Piandao intervened putting himself between the fire bending master and the... other fire bending master? At this point he had few doubts about Jian being a master even in that discipline. The boy was very good, and from what he had seen, he has been half asleep for the whole time he had been sort of awake, he must be a force of nature while properly rested.

Master Piandao had his arms crossed, and he looked very much like a mum that had just caught you after you returned home late covered in dirt, and just like a mum in that situation h took the boy and dragged him inside while ordering to take a bath and then go straight to bed.

It was very mum like.

_________

He was bringing Zuko inside, the kid really shouldn't have put even more strain on his body like that, he was alredy exhausted.

Piandao remembered similar times, when Zuko was younger and he would find him training in the middle of the night, to get better... to be better.

During thise moments he gently talked to the child, convincing him to go to sleep.

More time passed, and the two had gotten closer, Zuko didn't shy away from his touch, he didn't flinch at the hand he put on his shoulder anymore, instead he would sit next to him, take his hand to drag him to something that had caught his eye, and after some trial even hug Paindao.

The first time Paindao heard his new title was when Zuko was eight, he had been staying with Paindao for two years now, only returning to Caldera a couple of times a year for official business. It would have been a normal night like many others if it weren't for the fact that the next day Zuko would return to Caldera, not knowing when he would be able to see Piandao again.

He had decided to dedicate the day to the boy, they spent the whole day together, going to the markets and to the waterfall near the castle. At the end of the day Piandao had given Zuko the Dao swords they had forged together with the help of Zuko's newfound fire bending, the day was perfect and joyful, it's sad undertones only really dominating when the sun started to set, declaring the day finished.

/// Zuko was hugging him, and he was crying against his robes. A striking sadness was gripping Paindao's heart, he hated seeing the child like this, and thinking about the fact that the day after he would not be next to him anymore only made it worse.

Zuko was cring and mumbling something against his robes.

"I don't want to go, I want to stay here with you!"

It had become a little mantra, the child had been changing the words a little, but the meaning was the same.

Every plea broke Piandao a little further, made him cradle the child a little closer to him, "Just for another minute, just for another second". That was Paindao's own mantra, repeated in his head instead of being whispered to the wind.

He wanted to talk, wanted to say " I don't want you to go, I want you to stay here!", but he knew that if he did say it, than he would act on it too. He would see the hope in the child's eyes, a hope that screamed, "You want me!? You really want me?!" and he would be done for, he'll just take the child and hoard him like a dragon did with his most precious belongings.

And wasn't that a good metaphor, the child was indeed the most precious thing he had, nothing could compare, not the most perfect sword. He has had the child this whole time, trying to protect him and at the same time teaching him how to protect himself.

Oh, but just how much he wanted to keep the child compleatly for himself, the child that was so sweet, so understanding. The child that was treated with bitterness and was misunderstood my all those around him.

It was then than it happened, Zuko was getting tired from cring and was getting sleepy, his words were getting more and more mashed but he didn't give up.

At the time he wasnt sure if Zuko meant it, or it was just something made up from the child's sleepiness numbed head, but he heard the words clearly.

"I don't want to go dad. I want to stay with you dad"

Zuko had called him dad.

The child had called him dad

His child had called him dad 

Only moments after, Zuko was asleep, still in Piandao's arms where he remained for the rest of the night, hoarded by the dragon that preferred his fangs and talons over fire. ///

It wasn't the last time, he clearly remembers a whisper, barely audible the next time he met Zuko, more that eight months later, at the start of winter.

"I missed you dad"

And then again, and again, and again, always in little whispers, always in secret, their secret. They didn't mention it, they didn't speak of it, not even when other words joined in the whispers...son...little flame... my kid... my child... my ... my... mine.

Then one day when there was a bed and a child on it, half his face covered in bandages, his eye slowly opened and it wasn't a whisper anymore.

A declaration and a denial at the same time.

Now his child has become his teenager, who's better at making life choisess for others than for himself.

A small smile graces his lips as he makes his way to the teens old room, identical, even if the child that was his inhabitant doen't live there anymore.

The fluffy bed is covered in pillows, it wasn't a coincidence, his child loved fights and cuddles, and cushions are the best for both.

He gently deposits the teenager, who was alredy half asleep, on the bed only to end up finding himself unable for free himself from the teenager.

"...Stay dad..."

His child mumbled while clinging to him, he wondered about his duties for the day, he had some things to do, but he would be damned if he renounced the chance to cuddle his boy.

He was realistic, so he knew that teenagers and young adults don't cuddle often, and even if they do, it's not with their parents.

This knowledge didn't help him to come to terms with the fact that now anytime that his child would curl against him, it could be the last one.

And so he compleatly discarded everything that didn't have to do with his Zuko for later and laid on the cushioned bed, with an arm full of teenager curled against him.

The world could crumble and he would not move.

And it was like that that the great Master Swordman Piandao fell asleep, later to be found by his husband who covered both with a blanket.

Little bonus  (because I couldn't resist) :

Tree days had passes since the arrival of Jian, after the first day he stopped looking like he would fall asleep standing, and with that moat of Master Piandao's fussing stopped. 

In the successive two days we sparred, and he beat my ass more time than I'll like to count, and we also sort of became friends, the guy was pretty cool at the end of the day, is you didn't count his self destructing tendencies that is.

It was the morning of the fourth day when a heavily ornate carriage stopped right in front of the gates of the castle.

At first I taught it was just some other noble visiting Master Piandao, but then two royal fire benders stepped outside, saying they were palace guards, and asked Fat to call the Firelord.

Saing I was surprises was an understatement, why the fuck would they think the Firelord would be here?!

So this is where I am now, waiting with them for someone that, if they were to be believed, was the Firelord.

And then Jian stepped out with Master Paindao, and they called him Lord...

Fuck, he had seen that scar from somewhere.

If now they could just let him faint properly.