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This is the first out of 2 Avatar/Pern Xover's I have. The second should be posted sometime tomorrow. (Damn you, headache!!!)
Title: Queen Flight
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Sokka/Zuko slash
Summary: Only someone like Jouneyman Sokka could name his gold fire lizard "Goldie" and she's about to rise to mate for the first time.
Notes: Please be aware that male dragonriders in Pern shorten their names and put apostrophies in. So Zuko = Z'ko and Aang becomes...er.. A'ang.
********
Keep an eye on your loud friend, his little one is about to rise.
Honorath’s voice drifted into his rider’s head almost lazily, as if the dragon were commenting on the shape of today’s clouds, or that a piece of leather on the riding harness was running a little thin. This was done on purpose – Z’ko almost sloshed hot klah all over himself.
No one else at the table noticed. All eyes were on A’ang who was currently entertaining his friends, juggling at least five bright red-fruit at a time. The young bluerider had been apprenticed as a harper before his impression to Appath. He was a born performer.
Casually, Z’ko slid his gaze across the table: Sokka was sitting by his sister, laughing with the others. There was nothing to indicate something was wrong, indeed nothing in his expression that he knew what was coming at all. The two high spots of color of on his tanned cheeks could have easily been from the wine. The slightly glazed expression, however…
Z’ko frowned down into his cup and his eyes slid out of focus as he concentrated on his dragon. How do you know?
I’ve been watching, was the bronze’s pragmatic answer.
Everyone at the table burst into applause. Aang had finished his juggling act with a flourish, catching three round fruit’s in one hand, two in the other. He bowed low, almost cheekily, to Katara who grinned back and motioned for him to sit on her other side.
Normally Z’ko would have been amused at the two – it was strange to see such affection between such riders with incompatible dragon colors. (Who ever heard of a goldrider falling in love with a blue?). But he wasn’t one to talk – Honorath knew his heart better than any other. There had been a reason why he had alerted his rider about Sokka’s fire lizard.
His heart pounding, Z’ko got up from his seat and walked over to the other side of the table. “Hey Sokka, can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Right now? But they’re about to serve dinner, and I’m starving.” Sokka looked up at him – and there was no doubt about it – his blue eyes had taken on a glazed sort of appearance. Somehow, Z’ko doubted that Sokka was feeling his own hunger right now. He probably just didn’t realize it yet.
He shook his head. “This can’t wait.”
“But—”
“Sokka, you can’t already be hungry already. You had, what, two platefuls at lunch?” Katara teased.
A sudden flash of hot irritation crossed her brother’s face. He whirled around to her. “Not everyone has a dragon to fly them everywhere. I actually have to work for a living,” he snapped, loud enough so that more than a few people turned to stare at him.
His sister rocked back as if she had been slapped. She opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated at Z’ko’s warning look. Then her eyes unfocused slightly – her dragon apparently filling her in on what exactly was going on. Her mouth went into an ‘o’ of surprise, and Z’ko didn’t like the sudden appraising look she shot him.
But he had other things on his mind. Sokka was clearly agitated, casting about the table as if hunting for something he had lost.
Z’ko closed a hand around Sokka’s upper arm, nearly lifting the other man out of his seat. “C’mon, Journeyman, you need some fresh air.”
“What are you talking about?” Sokka sniped, but followed him anyway. A passing drudge walked by on the way to the high tables, his tray laden with food. Sokka unceremoniously snatched a sweetroll from it and bit almost ravenously on it as they walked.
Z’ko set out for the fastest route out of the lower caverns and into the main bowl of the Weyr. Benden Weyr was cut from the shell of an oblong shaped extinct volcano. Tall rock walls surrounded them on every side, riddled with caves and dragon-dens upon sheer faces. Z’ko and Honoarth’s own weyr sat high up on the eastern wall, a place where they caught the first morning sun, but that was not where he was leading Sokka now.
Sokka seemed twitchy and nervous all of a sudden. He blinked up at the bright daylight, like a man just waking and shook his head in a distracted sort of way. “What… why is it so sharding hot all of a sudden?” he asked, and his fingers started pulling at the ties of his own vest, opening them to let in some air. “Where… Where are we going?”
“Somewhere you won’t embarrass yourself.”
Sokka was now tugging at the collar of his shirt. “…What?” But he didn’t really seem to be listening, or expecting an answer at all. Beads of sweat had collected at his forehead and he winced, shaking his head again.
Z’ko quickly looked away from the flash of bare skin on Sokka’s chest, feeling his own cheeks heat. He could see his destination up ahead and he lengthened his stride. “Sokka, how’s Goldie doing?” he asked, with forced casualness.
“Goldie? My fire lizard?” Sokka peered at the bronzerider. “I dunno… Um… fine? I guess. Why?”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Sokka seemed to come into himself again in an instant. One second dazed, the next focused – and furious. “What’s this about, Z’ko?”
It took a force of will for Z’ko to keep his voice level. Sokka was far along, already. Thank the egg that this wasn’t happening around people. Or around his sister. “Because I don’t think you’re really hungry all of a sudden, and I don’t really think it’s you yelling at me right now.”
He had reached the door at last and tested the handle. Unlocked. Good. He wouldn’t have known what to do next if the room was in use – he had never been here before himself, when he was sane.
“What are you talking about?” Sokka paused, staring at the door, then rounded on his friend. For a moment it looked it looked like he was going to punch him. “YOU BROUGHT ME TO THE FLIGHT WEYR!?!?!”
“Yes.” Z’ko said, calmly. “Honorath told me your fire lizard is rising to mate. Any moment now she’s going to wake up, starving. She’ll go out by herself and make a kill— No, Sokka listen to me,” he said, when the craftsman opened his mouth to speak. “It’s important that you tell her not to eat the meat. It’s for her own good that she drink the blood only. She needs to fly as high as she can, and the bronzes will chase her. You should be able to keep in your mind – it’s not a dragon flight – but the feelings will be intense, and—”
“Are you telling me I can’t manage my own fire lizard?” Sokka demanded, cutting him off. His blue eyes were blazing. “She’s my pet, Z’ko! Mine! I think I would know if something were wrong with her. I—“ Then he stopped suddenly, eyes closing, swaying where he stood. “Ohhh, I don’t feel so good…”
It was happening. Z’ko reached past him, pushing open the door. “Get inside, you idiot, and just… just take care of your business. I’ll be out here.” He tried to shove Sokka inside, but the other man whirled around, catching his tunic.
The anger was gone… he looked almost himself again, except for his ashen skin, and his wide scared look. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes you can.” He relaxed his grip and slid his hands up Sokka’s arms until they rested on his shoulders. “It’ll be easy. You’ll jerk off during it, but that’s what these rooms are for.”
A visible rolling shiver went up and down the other man’s frame. Z’ko tried to ignore the answering flutter in his own stomach, and stepped back. But Sokka was following his movements and in an instant Sokka was pressed up against him, arms throne around Z’ko’s shoulders. It might have looked like a hug, but Sokka was gripping him with the strength of a drowning man.
“Come with me…” Sokka turned his head, breathing it into his ear. Then, when Z’ko didn’t answer right away he gave the lobe a sharp nip… and Z’ko couldn’t hide his own shudder of pleasure. Not with Sokka against him like that. “These rooms are meant for two, you know. It’d be a waste.” It sounded for a moment a lot like the Sokka he knew. There was a slight huff of warm air against Z’ko’s neck. Then, “I can’t just jerk off alone, with you outside. Help me.”
Z’ko closed his eyes. How long had he wanted to hear those words? But it wasn’t right, wasn’t proper for even a scarred failure of a bronzerider to be lusting after a man. After a queenrider’s brother. This wasn’t how it should be, though. Sokka was under the influence of a mating flight. It wasn’t right.
“You’d hate me in the morning.”
“No I wouldn’t. Please, Z’ko? Please…” Sokka was shaking now. Some internal passion making him cling to the dragonrider harder than ever. He was nearly vibrating with it. “Please… please…”
“I can’t. No, Sokka, it’s not—“
Suddenly he was pushed backwards, slammed into the rock wall. The back of Z’ko’s head cracked hard against the stone, and distantly he heard Honorath roar a protest out in the Weyr…
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Sokka was screaming right in his face, spittle clinging to his bottom lip. “DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!”
Z’ko hit him hard in the stomach. Sokka wheezed, doubling over and clutching at his middle. Z’ko took the moment to grab him and shove him through the open door to the flight room. He had every intention of shutting it and throwing the bolt… but something stayed his hand.
Sokka was right. He couldn’t leave him like this.
Z’ko let out a long breath, almost a sigh, and stepped into the room. The door closed with a click behind him.
Sokka was still gasping on the floor, but he stirred at Z’ko’s footsteps. “… Guess I sort of deserved that, didn’t I?” he asked, sounding thick but almost like himself again.
The other man gave a sort of half-hearted shrug and bent to help him back onto his feet. He wondered how long Sokka’s clarity would last… probably not very long. Already his eyes were looking vacant again.
Carefully, he led him to sit on the spare bed in the room. “When Honorath rises to chase, I… I’m not myself anymore. I’m him. I know fire lizard flights aren’t supposed to be as bad, but…” He let the rest of the words trail off, not wanting to insult Sokka. The fact was that dragonriders were trained from weyrlinghood about these sorts of things. Regular folk without dragons, weren’t.
Sokka was no longer listening. He gave a low groan, folding over again. This time it hadn’t had anything to do with the punch. One look at his face, and Z’ko knew that the little fire lizard queen had woken at last – hungry and lusting… and about to take her owner’s mind with her.
“Geez Goldie…” Sokka whimpered, his eyes closed.
“Don’t let her eat what she kills. She must only drink the blood.” Slowly, tentatively, Z’ko sat on the bed beside him. It was stupid – Sokka was out of his skull with impending flight-lust and volatile. In fact he had straightened up again, muttering something about being too hot… and was grabbing at his own vest and shirt again, trying to rip the fabric away.
Z’ko helped him the best he could, so that Sokka didn’t get tangled up in his own Journeyman rank knots, or rip his shirt. The other man didn’t seem to notice now – or care – his gaze was inward on something Z’ko couldn’t see, but could easily guess at.
A proud fire lizard queen, a real dragon in miniature, raising her bloodied snout to the air and screaming out a challenge to a circle of bronzes and browns…
Sokka was still whimpering, making inarticulate sounds of distress deep down in his throat. His hand fell down to the buckle of his pants. Z’ko swallowed hard and looked away.
Strong fingers grabbed his chin, his face turned back, and eager lips met his own – Sokka’s tongue licking into his mouth.
It was a brutal, rough kiss – full of teeth and almost unpleasant except for Sokka’s sweet taste on his tongue. Nevertheless, Z’ko felt the knot of arousal he had been trying to surprise loosen and expand, melting into his body and tingling his limbs.
He reached up, grabbing Sokka’s knot of hair and pulling him back a little – giving Z’ko room to breathe, to turn the kiss from something forceful to something passionate.
Somehow, Sokka’s skilled fingers had untucked the jerkin from his wherhide pants without him knowing, because suddenly his hands were there, scratching up his hard stomach and almost teasingly at his chest. Despite the fact that he was trying to inhale Z’ko’s mouth. Sokka was teasing with his hands, almost flirting.
The queen called again to the males, equal parts sweet trill and challenge. She was larger than them all, the blood in her belly glowing hot and giving her strength. Her golden wings unfurled, testing the air. Then, with a powerful leap she was up in the sky – a gold streaked arrow shooting for the clouds.
Sokka pulled back – a high wildness distorting his features. Z’ko nearly balked at it, but he was an experienced bronzer, having done many flights. He grabbed the other man before he could back away, twisting him around in his arms until Sokka’s back pressed into his chest.
The Journeyman didn’t complain. His back arched, sensuality in every line. “Please…” he said again – hissed through clenched teeth. “Please…”
Z’ko barred an arm around Sokka’s chest, holding him there. His free hand felt downward, pushing down at his pants and then finally in. Sokka was hard and ready and when Z’ko wrapped his hand around him he threw his head back, his mouth half open and panting.
Touching Sokka like this was pure torture to him. Especially when Sokka greedily thrust into his hand – a rhythm in time with the wingbeats of his fire lizard – fast and frantic. He grabbed back for Z’ko’s hip, dragging him forward and backwards with him, rubbing against his strained erection until Z’ko dipped his head, groaning into Sokka’s neck.
It wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be the sane one, here. Sokka would hate him for taking advantage during flight-lust. But his iron resolve was crumbling. Sokka turned in his arms and was pulling again at the remainder of Z’ko’s clothing, ripping what could not be pushed out of the way. And then they were naked against one another, Z’ko pushing Sokka down, and Sokka’s legs tangling with his own. Z’ko reached down and curled his hand around both of their erections and the breathy, needy sound Sokka made zipped down his spine like pure lightening.
The queen was tiring now, her wings stuttering. She dared a look over her shoulder, calling out distain to the remaining males. Tired she may be, but she would never be caught. They were weak, and she was strong. She—
But one male had broken from the pack. A bronze, young and supple. He powered forward, trumpeting his own challenge in the air. The queen shrieked insults at him, and flew on, but he was gaining on her with every wing-beat.
Strong claws caught her shoulder, a neck twining about hers. The queen caught a flash of bronze. She cried out—
-- and Sokka cried out -- every muscle tight and taunt as the queen’s orgasm joined his own. He gripped onto Z’ko’s back, raking a searing length up his spine, curling up in against him again. Z’ko followed him, not a moment after, shuddering.
He seemed to crumple over Sokka, shaking.
*****
He came back into himself, some minutes later, feeling sticky and overheated. He was on his side, an arm wrapped possessively around Sokka’s naked waist.
Sokka lay facing him, quiet and watchful, and Z’ko half expected to be hit. The Journeyman didn’t say anything at first, just reached out to touch careful fingers along the side of the bronzerider’s face – keeping clear of the deep red thread-scar that had nearly taken his eye.
“So… that’s a mating flight, huh?” Sokka asked, at last.
“Yeah.” Z’ko searched his face, but Sokka seemed calm, a little amused, but unreadable. “That’s a flight.” He twitched a little as Sokka brushed some of the hair out of his eyes. “I didn’t… I mean, I…”
But Sokka cut him off. “You know,” he said, “I used to think that you were some jerk of bronzerider who was sniffing around my sister because of her queen. But that wasn’t it, was it?”
Mutely, Z’ko shook his head. “A’ang loves your sister. I… it was never her.”
And Sokka broke into a smile, his teeth brilliant against his tanned face and the fading light from the dying glowbasket on the table. Then he scooted closer and drew him in for another long kiss.
“You wanna go again?” Sokka asked impishly, when the broke apart, sometime later. “At your place?”
Z’ko followed his gaze and noticed for the first time the ratty bed-sheets, and the suspicious stains on the mattress that most certainly weren’t theirs. Well, this was a flight room. He winced. “Good idea.”
Sokka grinned and reached over, grabbing Z'ko's torn shirt and tossing it to him. “I’m full of good ideas.”
*******
Title: Queen Flight
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Sokka/Zuko slash
Summary: Only someone like Jouneyman Sokka could name his gold fire lizard "Goldie" and she's about to rise to mate for the first time.
Notes: Please be aware that male dragonriders in Pern shorten their names and put apostrophies in. So Zuko = Z'ko and Aang becomes...er.. A'ang.
********
Keep an eye on your loud friend, his little one is about to rise.
Honorath’s voice drifted into his rider’s head almost lazily, as if the dragon were commenting on the shape of today’s clouds, or that a piece of leather on the riding harness was running a little thin. This was done on purpose – Z’ko almost sloshed hot klah all over himself.
No one else at the table noticed. All eyes were on A’ang who was currently entertaining his friends, juggling at least five bright red-fruit at a time. The young bluerider had been apprenticed as a harper before his impression to Appath. He was a born performer.
Casually, Z’ko slid his gaze across the table: Sokka was sitting by his sister, laughing with the others. There was nothing to indicate something was wrong, indeed nothing in his expression that he knew what was coming at all. The two high spots of color of on his tanned cheeks could have easily been from the wine. The slightly glazed expression, however…
Z’ko frowned down into his cup and his eyes slid out of focus as he concentrated on his dragon. How do you know?
I’ve been watching, was the bronze’s pragmatic answer.
Everyone at the table burst into applause. Aang had finished his juggling act with a flourish, catching three round fruit’s in one hand, two in the other. He bowed low, almost cheekily, to Katara who grinned back and motioned for him to sit on her other side.
Normally Z’ko would have been amused at the two – it was strange to see such affection between such riders with incompatible dragon colors. (Who ever heard of a goldrider falling in love with a blue?). But he wasn’t one to talk – Honorath knew his heart better than any other. There had been a reason why he had alerted his rider about Sokka’s fire lizard.
His heart pounding, Z’ko got up from his seat and walked over to the other side of the table. “Hey Sokka, can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Right now? But they’re about to serve dinner, and I’m starving.” Sokka looked up at him – and there was no doubt about it – his blue eyes had taken on a glazed sort of appearance. Somehow, Z’ko doubted that Sokka was feeling his own hunger right now. He probably just didn’t realize it yet.
He shook his head. “This can’t wait.”
“But—”
“Sokka, you can’t already be hungry already. You had, what, two platefuls at lunch?” Katara teased.
A sudden flash of hot irritation crossed her brother’s face. He whirled around to her. “Not everyone has a dragon to fly them everywhere. I actually have to work for a living,” he snapped, loud enough so that more than a few people turned to stare at him.
His sister rocked back as if she had been slapped. She opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated at Z’ko’s warning look. Then her eyes unfocused slightly – her dragon apparently filling her in on what exactly was going on. Her mouth went into an ‘o’ of surprise, and Z’ko didn’t like the sudden appraising look she shot him.
But he had other things on his mind. Sokka was clearly agitated, casting about the table as if hunting for something he had lost.
Z’ko closed a hand around Sokka’s upper arm, nearly lifting the other man out of his seat. “C’mon, Journeyman, you need some fresh air.”
“What are you talking about?” Sokka sniped, but followed him anyway. A passing drudge walked by on the way to the high tables, his tray laden with food. Sokka unceremoniously snatched a sweetroll from it and bit almost ravenously on it as they walked.
Z’ko set out for the fastest route out of the lower caverns and into the main bowl of the Weyr. Benden Weyr was cut from the shell of an oblong shaped extinct volcano. Tall rock walls surrounded them on every side, riddled with caves and dragon-dens upon sheer faces. Z’ko and Honoarth’s own weyr sat high up on the eastern wall, a place where they caught the first morning sun, but that was not where he was leading Sokka now.
Sokka seemed twitchy and nervous all of a sudden. He blinked up at the bright daylight, like a man just waking and shook his head in a distracted sort of way. “What… why is it so sharding hot all of a sudden?” he asked, and his fingers started pulling at the ties of his own vest, opening them to let in some air. “Where… Where are we going?”
“Somewhere you won’t embarrass yourself.”
Sokka was now tugging at the collar of his shirt. “…What?” But he didn’t really seem to be listening, or expecting an answer at all. Beads of sweat had collected at his forehead and he winced, shaking his head again.
Z’ko quickly looked away from the flash of bare skin on Sokka’s chest, feeling his own cheeks heat. He could see his destination up ahead and he lengthened his stride. “Sokka, how’s Goldie doing?” he asked, with forced casualness.
“Goldie? My fire lizard?” Sokka peered at the bronzerider. “I dunno… Um… fine? I guess. Why?”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Sokka seemed to come into himself again in an instant. One second dazed, the next focused – and furious. “What’s this about, Z’ko?”
It took a force of will for Z’ko to keep his voice level. Sokka was far along, already. Thank the egg that this wasn’t happening around people. Or around his sister. “Because I don’t think you’re really hungry all of a sudden, and I don’t really think it’s you yelling at me right now.”
He had reached the door at last and tested the handle. Unlocked. Good. He wouldn’t have known what to do next if the room was in use – he had never been here before himself, when he was sane.
“What are you talking about?” Sokka paused, staring at the door, then rounded on his friend. For a moment it looked it looked like he was going to punch him. “YOU BROUGHT ME TO THE FLIGHT WEYR!?!?!”
“Yes.” Z’ko said, calmly. “Honorath told me your fire lizard is rising to mate. Any moment now she’s going to wake up, starving. She’ll go out by herself and make a kill— No, Sokka listen to me,” he said, when the craftsman opened his mouth to speak. “It’s important that you tell her not to eat the meat. It’s for her own good that she drink the blood only. She needs to fly as high as she can, and the bronzes will chase her. You should be able to keep in your mind – it’s not a dragon flight – but the feelings will be intense, and—”
“Are you telling me I can’t manage my own fire lizard?” Sokka demanded, cutting him off. His blue eyes were blazing. “She’s my pet, Z’ko! Mine! I think I would know if something were wrong with her. I—“ Then he stopped suddenly, eyes closing, swaying where he stood. “Ohhh, I don’t feel so good…”
It was happening. Z’ko reached past him, pushing open the door. “Get inside, you idiot, and just… just take care of your business. I’ll be out here.” He tried to shove Sokka inside, but the other man whirled around, catching his tunic.
The anger was gone… he looked almost himself again, except for his ashen skin, and his wide scared look. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes you can.” He relaxed his grip and slid his hands up Sokka’s arms until they rested on his shoulders. “It’ll be easy. You’ll jerk off during it, but that’s what these rooms are for.”
A visible rolling shiver went up and down the other man’s frame. Z’ko tried to ignore the answering flutter in his own stomach, and stepped back. But Sokka was following his movements and in an instant Sokka was pressed up against him, arms throne around Z’ko’s shoulders. It might have looked like a hug, but Sokka was gripping him with the strength of a drowning man.
“Come with me…” Sokka turned his head, breathing it into his ear. Then, when Z’ko didn’t answer right away he gave the lobe a sharp nip… and Z’ko couldn’t hide his own shudder of pleasure. Not with Sokka against him like that. “These rooms are meant for two, you know. It’d be a waste.” It sounded for a moment a lot like the Sokka he knew. There was a slight huff of warm air against Z’ko’s neck. Then, “I can’t just jerk off alone, with you outside. Help me.”
Z’ko closed his eyes. How long had he wanted to hear those words? But it wasn’t right, wasn’t proper for even a scarred failure of a bronzerider to be lusting after a man. After a queenrider’s brother. This wasn’t how it should be, though. Sokka was under the influence of a mating flight. It wasn’t right.
“You’d hate me in the morning.”
“No I wouldn’t. Please, Z’ko? Please…” Sokka was shaking now. Some internal passion making him cling to the dragonrider harder than ever. He was nearly vibrating with it. “Please… please…”
“I can’t. No, Sokka, it’s not—“
Suddenly he was pushed backwards, slammed into the rock wall. The back of Z’ko’s head cracked hard against the stone, and distantly he heard Honorath roar a protest out in the Weyr…
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Sokka was screaming right in his face, spittle clinging to his bottom lip. “DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!”
Z’ko hit him hard in the stomach. Sokka wheezed, doubling over and clutching at his middle. Z’ko took the moment to grab him and shove him through the open door to the flight room. He had every intention of shutting it and throwing the bolt… but something stayed his hand.
Sokka was right. He couldn’t leave him like this.
Z’ko let out a long breath, almost a sigh, and stepped into the room. The door closed with a click behind him.
Sokka was still gasping on the floor, but he stirred at Z’ko’s footsteps. “… Guess I sort of deserved that, didn’t I?” he asked, sounding thick but almost like himself again.
The other man gave a sort of half-hearted shrug and bent to help him back onto his feet. He wondered how long Sokka’s clarity would last… probably not very long. Already his eyes were looking vacant again.
Carefully, he led him to sit on the spare bed in the room. “When Honorath rises to chase, I… I’m not myself anymore. I’m him. I know fire lizard flights aren’t supposed to be as bad, but…” He let the rest of the words trail off, not wanting to insult Sokka. The fact was that dragonriders were trained from weyrlinghood about these sorts of things. Regular folk without dragons, weren’t.
Sokka was no longer listening. He gave a low groan, folding over again. This time it hadn’t had anything to do with the punch. One look at his face, and Z’ko knew that the little fire lizard queen had woken at last – hungry and lusting… and about to take her owner’s mind with her.
“Geez Goldie…” Sokka whimpered, his eyes closed.
“Don’t let her eat what she kills. She must only drink the blood.” Slowly, tentatively, Z’ko sat on the bed beside him. It was stupid – Sokka was out of his skull with impending flight-lust and volatile. In fact he had straightened up again, muttering something about being too hot… and was grabbing at his own vest and shirt again, trying to rip the fabric away.
Z’ko helped him the best he could, so that Sokka didn’t get tangled up in his own Journeyman rank knots, or rip his shirt. The other man didn’t seem to notice now – or care – his gaze was inward on something Z’ko couldn’t see, but could easily guess at.
A proud fire lizard queen, a real dragon in miniature, raising her bloodied snout to the air and screaming out a challenge to a circle of bronzes and browns…
Sokka was still whimpering, making inarticulate sounds of distress deep down in his throat. His hand fell down to the buckle of his pants. Z’ko swallowed hard and looked away.
Strong fingers grabbed his chin, his face turned back, and eager lips met his own – Sokka’s tongue licking into his mouth.
It was a brutal, rough kiss – full of teeth and almost unpleasant except for Sokka’s sweet taste on his tongue. Nevertheless, Z’ko felt the knot of arousal he had been trying to surprise loosen and expand, melting into his body and tingling his limbs.
He reached up, grabbing Sokka’s knot of hair and pulling him back a little – giving Z’ko room to breathe, to turn the kiss from something forceful to something passionate.
Somehow, Sokka’s skilled fingers had untucked the jerkin from his wherhide pants without him knowing, because suddenly his hands were there, scratching up his hard stomach and almost teasingly at his chest. Despite the fact that he was trying to inhale Z’ko’s mouth. Sokka was teasing with his hands, almost flirting.
The queen called again to the males, equal parts sweet trill and challenge. She was larger than them all, the blood in her belly glowing hot and giving her strength. Her golden wings unfurled, testing the air. Then, with a powerful leap she was up in the sky – a gold streaked arrow shooting for the clouds.
Sokka pulled back – a high wildness distorting his features. Z’ko nearly balked at it, but he was an experienced bronzer, having done many flights. He grabbed the other man before he could back away, twisting him around in his arms until Sokka’s back pressed into his chest.
The Journeyman didn’t complain. His back arched, sensuality in every line. “Please…” he said again – hissed through clenched teeth. “Please…”
Z’ko barred an arm around Sokka’s chest, holding him there. His free hand felt downward, pushing down at his pants and then finally in. Sokka was hard and ready and when Z’ko wrapped his hand around him he threw his head back, his mouth half open and panting.
Touching Sokka like this was pure torture to him. Especially when Sokka greedily thrust into his hand – a rhythm in time with the wingbeats of his fire lizard – fast and frantic. He grabbed back for Z’ko’s hip, dragging him forward and backwards with him, rubbing against his strained erection until Z’ko dipped his head, groaning into Sokka’s neck.
It wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be the sane one, here. Sokka would hate him for taking advantage during flight-lust. But his iron resolve was crumbling. Sokka turned in his arms and was pulling again at the remainder of Z’ko’s clothing, ripping what could not be pushed out of the way. And then they were naked against one another, Z’ko pushing Sokka down, and Sokka’s legs tangling with his own. Z’ko reached down and curled his hand around both of their erections and the breathy, needy sound Sokka made zipped down his spine like pure lightening.
The queen was tiring now, her wings stuttering. She dared a look over her shoulder, calling out distain to the remaining males. Tired she may be, but she would never be caught. They were weak, and she was strong. She—
But one male had broken from the pack. A bronze, young and supple. He powered forward, trumpeting his own challenge in the air. The queen shrieked insults at him, and flew on, but he was gaining on her with every wing-beat.
Strong claws caught her shoulder, a neck twining about hers. The queen caught a flash of bronze. She cried out—
-- and Sokka cried out -- every muscle tight and taunt as the queen’s orgasm joined his own. He gripped onto Z’ko’s back, raking a searing length up his spine, curling up in against him again. Z’ko followed him, not a moment after, shuddering.
He seemed to crumple over Sokka, shaking.
*****
He came back into himself, some minutes later, feeling sticky and overheated. He was on his side, an arm wrapped possessively around Sokka’s naked waist.
Sokka lay facing him, quiet and watchful, and Z’ko half expected to be hit. The Journeyman didn’t say anything at first, just reached out to touch careful fingers along the side of the bronzerider’s face – keeping clear of the deep red thread-scar that had nearly taken his eye.
“So… that’s a mating flight, huh?” Sokka asked, at last.
“Yeah.” Z’ko searched his face, but Sokka seemed calm, a little amused, but unreadable. “That’s a flight.” He twitched a little as Sokka brushed some of the hair out of his eyes. “I didn’t… I mean, I…”
But Sokka cut him off. “You know,” he said, “I used to think that you were some jerk of bronzerider who was sniffing around my sister because of her queen. But that wasn’t it, was it?”
Mutely, Z’ko shook his head. “A’ang loves your sister. I… it was never her.”
And Sokka broke into a smile, his teeth brilliant against his tanned face and the fading light from the dying glowbasket on the table. Then he scooted closer and drew him in for another long kiss.
“You wanna go again?” Sokka asked impishly, when the broke apart, sometime later. “At your place?”
Z’ko followed his gaze and noticed for the first time the ratty bed-sheets, and the suspicious stains on the mattress that most certainly weren’t theirs. Well, this was a flight room. He winced. “Good idea.”
Sokka grinned and reached over, grabbing Z'ko's torn shirt and tossing it to him. “I’m full of good ideas.”
*******
