#bc ty lee was already gone by that point)

[ultranos]

Oooof, just read your last snippet of the smallest nail au. Zuko jost got hit by reality aka how much Oza truly cares about Azula.

Continuing from here, because I'm in a mood right now.

Zuko almost rocks back on his heels. The words "worthless" and "Azula" don't even belong in the same sentence, at least not without his own name or the word "not". Ozai might as well have just said that the sky was green and he was thinking of giving Air Nomad philosophy a try for all the sense that made.

Either Ozai is completely unaware of the absolute nonsense he's saying, or he's twisting the knife because he continues. "Although, truth be told, she was near-worthless before, so it isn't that much different."

"What?" Zuko shakes his head. "No. She was 'born lucky', remember? That's what you said, right when you said I was 'lucky to be born'. You cared!"

"I did say that, yes," Ozai agrees. "And I stand by it. Because if your sister was born with even a shaku less of talent, she'd have been snuffed out like a candle."

This is a lie. His father is lying, he has to be lying. He's twisting his words, the same words Zuko's heard ringing in his brain for over a decade. Zuko knows this phrase, it was all but burned into his mind long before any of his father's fire touched his skin. Ozai does not get to rewrite history like this. Doesn't get to turn this onto him, like Zuko just...misunderstood it all these years.

"That, and only that, is where your sister had any worth at all." His father's eyes are cold. "She was 'born lucky' enough to be fit to be a weapon. Nothing more, and in everything else, a miserable failure." He must read the absolute shock in Zuko's face because he scoffs. "You truly are a fool, Zuko."

Zuko clenches his fists so tight, he's sure he's nearly drawing blood. He feels the rage building in his chest, hot and quick, flames licking up his throat. "You burned my fucking face off and I'm supposed to believe you didn't favor Azula? How stupid do you think I am?"

Ozai bares his teeth. "Between an idiot and a degenerate? Even you should be able to see that there was never any way your sister would sit upon the Dragon Throne."

Zuko blinks, completely thrown. What? He can't have heard that right.

His father chuckles. "Yes, a degenerate, maybe even a shirabyōshi. A stain upon the house of Sozin." He leans closer to the bars, and Zuko would swear he feels the words scorching the air between them, if his father still had his fire. "Your sister desired women, Zuko, and refused any attempt at correction. What use is an heir that won't continue the line? I sent the girl out to bring you home, into enemy territory, over a hostile sea, because she would die when she completed it, or die trying."

(When Aang took his bending, did he leave ice in the place of fire? The words used to sear. Now, they burn the way ice does.)

Zuko stares at the man who is supposedly his father. Their father. His mind sparks like lightning across the sky; for the first time, Zuko thinks, he really sees the man. Hears the poison words dripping from his fangs, eating away at the thin connections between him and Azula.

(How much more will this man take from him? How much hate can one man hold?)

These are not the answers he wanted. But they are answers of a sort. And Zuko...he doesn't have to listen to this man, doesn't have to swallow down this poison or walk through this fire anymore. Doesn't have to listen to lies and pretend they may be the truth, or truth and pretend they're lies.

One of them is trapped, and it is not him.

Zuko meets Ozai's gaze, then spins on his heel and walks out. His hand clenches into a fist so tight that it hurts when he shuts the heavy door, the torches in the cell going out in an instant.

The metal muffles the shouting behind him as Zuko strides back into the light outside.

[primmrot]

Hello, I present to you a messy AU idea:

Everything is canon until about two years before Azulon is killed. Zuko is still born a weak bender and Azula is still the favorite up until a certain point. As the months pass, their roles begin to shift. Zuko starts to show more progress in firebending and Azula's talents slowly start to dwindle (in the eyes of Ozai anyway). Soon, it's Zuko who surpasses her and Azula who is seen as weaker in the eyes of Ozai. This, of course, is going to disrupt the family dynamic that had already started to form.

Azula, who grew up getting her fathers attention, is suddenly being criticized whenever Ozai even remembers to look her way and all of a sudden he is praising Zuko and talking about how he only said those things to "make him stronger". Despite this shift, Zuko still favors his mother and would rather be kind instead of demanding. He isn't really sure what to do with Ozai's very sudden shift in character. This tends to make Ozai angry but he doesn't do anything because Zuko is starting to make him look good (so instead, Ozai starts limiting his time with his mother and encourages Zuko's anger as long as he doesn't direct it at his father)

Azula isn't sure what went wrong with her bending and doesn't know why her father all of a sudden doesn't think she's worth his time. It isn't as if she lost her bending, she simply isn't progressing at the rate she was. She doesn't think she can go to Ursa either because even though her mother tried to talk to her when Ozai started being mean all she could think about was how Ursa always mumbled about  something being wrong with her.

If we look at this AU from Azula's perspective:

Azula believes that her parents hate her after she jumps up to show off her progress to Fire Lord Azulon and apparently doesn't match up to Zuko (when it had been a very different story the last time she did it). She  figures that one way to show them all up is to run away and hunt down the missing Avatar. So after the death of her cousin Lu Ten, she runs away (maybe with Ty Lee bc I don't think Mai would go- Oh! And maybe Iroh would help because I want him to be a part of Azula's journey).

Edit: Mai would want to go when the idea presented itself but actually bringing herself to leave would be another story. In the end she would stay due to what she’s been taught about keeping up family reputation (and for zuko).

From Zuko's perspective:

Instead of Azula, Zuko is the one who overhears Azulon's request for Ozai to lose his son. He isn't sure what to do and considers running away before his mother finds him listening. Zuko tells her what he heard and she says not to worry, that she'll take care of it. The next morning his mother is gone and his grandfather is dead. Ozai, according to Azulon's wishes, is now the new Fire Lord and Zuko is certain something is fishy. He hates his father but doesn't have anyone else to turn to. His mother's dead (if his father is to be believed), his sister and uncle disappeared two years ago, and now he's supposed to be the crown prince and he doesn't have a single clue how to approach that.

Also the ages are changed here:

Azula is 10 when her bending progress starts to even out. She's 12 when she runs away and 15 when Aang comes out of the iceberg.

Zuko is 12 when his bending progress starts to pick up. He's 14 whenever he hears of his father becoming Fire Lord. He's 15 whenever he gets his scar and 17 whenever news of the Avatar reaches his father.

Anyways this would be a really angsty AU on both sides and I'm conflicted on if Ozai would banish Zuko (since he most definitely would still speak out during the war meeting). Like Ozai would still challenge him to the Agni Kai, expecting Zuko to fight bc he taught him to react to things with anger, but Zuko was told by his father to never go against him so he still wouldn't fight in the end. He'd still get the scar. I think in the end Ozai would keep him in the palace instead of banishing him so he could still have him under his thumb.

Azula meanwhile is having a terrible time. Around two years into her search, Ty Lee and her broke off because Ty Lee wanted to return to the Fire Nation and join the traveling circus and wanted Azula to come with. Azula didn't want to give up and she knew she couldn't return home after running away empty handed (and after stealing supplies, a boat, and men that were loyal to Iroh). Her and Iroh have bonded because he's helping with her fire bending but they tend to disagree on Azula's mission to capture the Avatar. Iroh would rather her live her life while Azula believes that the only way to do that is to go back to her family and finally be seen again.

There's a lottt of differences in this AU whenever it comes to the two, but it shows more when the chase for the Avatar begins. Azula is going to be more calculating than Zuko and that'll make up for her lack of bending ability. Zuko, whenever he is sent out, takes off with Mai and obviously won't be as calculating as Azula was in Book 2/3. He's definitely not going to be the one to take control of the Dai Lee and siege Ba Sing Se. That'll still be Azula in an attempt to gain her But of course, even once Azula is welcomed home for shooting down the Avatar, Zuko is terrified of his father and would keep at least one trump card (that of course being that he saw the waterbender heal the avatar before they ran off (let's just say that Katara healed him before they escaped but so much was going on no one saw and simply thinks she escaped with him still dying).

[reinerispretty]

rotations. (zuko x f!reader) pt 14

hi everyone!! i hope you’re doing super well :) thank you so much for reading rotations and for sending me so many kind words!! you all mean the world to me and i rlly mean that bc i am a very emotional person hehe

pt 1

pt 13

pt 15

There were enough rooms in the house for everyone to have their own and, out of habit, (Y/N) picked the room that had once been hers whenever she stayed with the royal family. It was eerie how little it had changed. It was like it had been frozen in time since she had been eleven. Half-finished letters to her friends on the mainland remained on the desk, their scrolls crinkled at the edges with age. An old painting of her and Zuko hung at her bedside. She took it down immediately and shoved it into a desk drawer. 

“This place is amazing!” Sokka yelled as he ran up the steps of the beach house. After being attacked by Azula and being forced to flee the Western Air Temple, at Zuko’s suggestion, the group decided to fly to Ember Island to hide in plain site among the Fire Nation. On their way there, Zuko and Katara had gone on a separate mission to track down the man that killed her mother. While (Y/N) understood the necessity of Katara finding closure, she disapproved of her doing it with Zuko. She especially disapproved of how friendly the two seemed when they returned. Katara had always been her confidant in disliking Zuko and it seemed he had won her over, too. 

(Y/N) stopped at the end of the stone path, looking up at the ornate designs carved into the wood that symbolized to who this house belonged. The last time she had been here was years ago, but it felt like it was a lifetime away. So much had changed since then. 

Katara nudged her shoulder with her own. “Everything okay?” She asked, a small smile etching into her features. (Y/N) pursed her lips. Katara was the first person that she had ever told the full story of her past. She remembered choking on her words a lot because she was unable to find the happiness in her once good memories. Now that they were back on Ember Island, it was like everything was flooding back to her at once. 

“Yeah,” she said with a nod, but it was just a second too late to convince Katara that she was being honest. “Being back here just weirds me out.” 

Everyone had once again changed back into their Fire Nation clothes and while (Y/N) was comfortable, she felt completely exposed. Like anyone could recognize her at any moment. She had to keep reminding herself that it had been years since these people had seen her. 

There were enough rooms in the house for everyone to have their own and, out of habit, (Y/N) picked the room that had once been hers whenever she stayed with the royal family. It was eerie how little it had changed. It was like it had been frozen in time since she had been eleven. Half-finished letters to her friends on the mainland remained on the desk, their scrolls crinkled at the edges with age. An old painting of her and Zuko hung at her bedside. She took it down immediately and shoved it into a desk drawer. 

She dropped her bag and began taking the sheets off the bed so she could wash them. A flash outside of her door caught her eye and she leaned back to see what it was. In the room across the hall, Zuko was hanging clothes in his wardrobe. She tensed. How could she have forgotten that their rooms had been across from one another? It would be doubly difficult to avoid him now. 

She tried to talk to Zuko as little as possible if it could be avoided. It made her upset, seeing that all of her friends were gradually becoming more friendly with him. She had been happy before he had entered their group and she would be happy again once he went away. All she had to do was wait it out. 

Quickly, she gathered her bedsheets into a bundle and darted out of her door, down the hall, and down the stairs, where Katara had already set up buckets of water and soap to wash their clothes. She silently sat down beside her friend and began scrubbing. 

“You’re gonna rub a hole into those if you keep scrubbing so hard.” She looked up to see Katara raising an eyebrow at her. 

“These haven’t been used in years, I just want them to be clean.” In reality, she wanted to scrub those sheets free of the long, sleepless nights she had spent thinking about her future with Zuko. 

“I’m surprised that Zuko wanted to come back here,” Katara said in an effort to start a conversation with him. “The last time he was here, he was with Azula and those two girls.” 

“Mai and Ty Lee.” 

“You knew them?” (Y/N) nodded. 

“I went to school with them. They were all a grade below me. Ty Lee ran away and joined the circus and Mai had the biggest crush on Zuko.” She frowned and Katara must have noticed it, because her friend giggled. “What?” 

“Are you jealous?” 

“Why would I be jealous? Zuko can date anyone he wants. I don’t care.” Katara hummed knowingly and (Y/N) splashed her with soapy water. It irritated her that friends were always trying to act like they knew something she didn’t. 

After they had finished doing laundry and eating lunch, the entire group wanted to sit on the back steps of the house to enjoy the nice weather. Despite being in the Fire Nation, Ember Island was beautiful and its weather was almost always temperate. Everyone besides Aang and Zuko sat while the two boys practiced their firebending. Aang was getting better with each passing day, but (Y/N) noticed he was still holding back. With firebending, you have to give it your all, or else your flames would be weak. She told him this as he ran back to the steps for a water break. 

“I want to be able to be in control of my fire,” he said. He glanced over at Katara, who looked away. She knew he still blamed himself for accidentally burning her. 

“You can be in control and still put your whole being behind it. Firebenders attack with their whole self, because we have fire inside of us. You have it too, you just need to let it out.” 

“(Y/N) knows what she’s talking about,” Zuko said. “She was one of the best prodigies back in the Fire Nation.” 

“Don’t do that,” she snapped at him. Zuko looked at her, surprised. “Don’t just bring up the past like we’re reminiscing on good times.” She stood so she was eye level with the former prince. “And you’re crazy if you think you can get back on my good side just by complimenting me.” 

“(Y/N)-”

“No! You’ll let me speak. For years I tried to reason why you would just drop me like I was nothing to you. Like we didn’t spend ever summer for years on this island, together, and that I didn’t spend almost every waking moment of every day at your side. You left me in the Fire Nation and even after our fights, even after you captured me to take me back to the Fire Nation as a war criminal, I still believed that there was some good in you. You sure fooled me! You had been fooling me for years and I just never realized it. And then, after everything I said to you in your uncle’s tea shop, you betrayed me. You ran home to the people who had been nothing but evil to you from the moment we met and left me in a prison to rot!” 

This was the most she had spoken to Zuko since he had joined their group. The fire that raged in her eyes was apparent, and Katara was close enough to see the flames dancing on her fingertips. 

“And then you want to come here and act like everything is fine? You want to befriend my friends, the people that cared for me when you didn’t, and bring up the good times we had and just completely forget that for the past three years you treated me like I was nothing! Every fight we had, I held myself back because no matter how hard I tried to, I couldn’t hurt you!” 

She shot a fire ball at him that missed by a few inches. Zuko stepped back as (Y/N) walked down to the beach. “You want to be here so badly? Prove it! Fight me!” 

“(Y/N),” Zuko began. 

“I challenge you to an Agni Kai!” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. She and her friends realized the weight of what she had said quickly. Zuko set his jaw, his fists balled at his sides. 

She regretted what she had said as soon as it came out of her mouth. She was just so angry and as she looked at Zuko, it was hard to not get angrier. Angry for leaving her behind in the Fire Nation, angry for betraying her in Ba Sing Se, and angry for being able to fit himself back into her life so easily. 

(Y/N) made the first attack, which Zuko dodged. She shot flames at his head, body, and feet and their friends watched in astonishment as they jumped, flipped, and kicked their way around each other. 

“It’s like they’re dancing,” Suki said. Aang narrowed his eyes. 

“He’s on the defense,” he said. 

“What?” Toph asked. 

“Zuko isn’t fighting her back.” 

Their friends could feel the flames get hotter as her anger toward Zuko eventually took control. She was getting sloppy with her movements and instead chose to shoot fire at Zuko every chance she got. Katara stood to diffuse the situation, but Sokka grabbed her arm. 

“They have to do this,” he said. 

(Y/N) was ruthless. She knew she didn’t want to hurt Zuko, but she couldn’t stop herself. Years of anger were reaching their boiling point in this battle. 

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Zuko shouted at her. 

“You already did!” She shouted back, jumping into the air and smacking her fists to the sand, sending a wave of fire at him. The flames had spread around them, encircling them in a ring of fire. Her fists were lit with fire blasts. “Fight me back!” She screamed, shooting balls of fire at him. He had been dodging her attacks and slashing through her flames. Not once had he shot fire at her. “Do something!” 

“I won’t!” Zuko shouted over the roar of the flames. “I don’t want this!” 

(Y/N) could feel the tears streaming down her face. If he fought her, she would have a reason to retaliate. She would have an answer for hurting him, just like he hurt her. Zuko’s amber eyes stared in to her own.

“I won’t fight you.” 

She was twelve again, watching with tear-filled eyes as Zuko knelt to the ground in front of his father, begging him for mercy. She remembered the fear in his voice and the way he screamed when his father burned him right after he had said the very same words he was saying to her. “I won’t fight you!” 

The flames died down instantly. (Y/N) brought her hands to her mouth and slowly fell to her knees, her body shaking with sobs. Her tears hit the hot sand around her. 

She felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her body close to theirs. Zuko rested his chin atop of her head and rubbed her back, his own tears sliding down his cheeks. She pulled away to look up at him. Her eyes were red, her cheeks puffy from her tears, and her bottom lip quivered as she held in a sob, but Zuko still felt his heart skip a beat. 

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t mean--I didn’t want--” 

“I know,” was all Zuko said. She wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him tightly, tucking her face into his neck like she had when they were kids. They sat like that for what felt like hours, until one by one, they felt their friends wrap their arms around them. 

---

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[wildshadowtamer]

inspired by @aboutiroh, @azu1as and a few other tumblr blogs’ thread about Child!Zuko being Firelord at 7 years old.

In this AU, everything’s set 8 years in the past and the comet arrives early.

Feel free to ask questions about this in reblogs/asks.

More in-depth explanation below. (warning: long)

It starts with Sokka, who has stolen a kayak and gone fishing with his sister. Sokka is 7 while Katara is 6, meaning their father hasn't left yet and their mother is still alive. Katara tries to practice her water-bending while Sokka hunts with his spear, things go almost-canon until Katara canonly yells at Sokka, instead she gets scared and loses control of her bending, resulting in the iceberg breaking

Once they find Aang, a still twelve-year-old boy, they bring him home along with Appa and explains what happened to their parents. Kya is worried and Hakoda gives them a talking to due to the kayak-stealing.

Zuko, having already gotten his scar at 8 years old bc Ozai's just Like That, has been banished along with Ursa and Azula, who is not old enough to hate her brother yet, so she tried to stand up to Ozai and got banished as well Of course, Iroh and Lu Ten are there, however the burning of Iroh's 8 year old nephew's face made both of them realize jut how cruel and coldhearted the Firelord is and just how messed up the fire nation in general is.

So, their on a boat. Lu Ten, Iroh, Ursa, Zuko and Azula. A big family of banished 'traitors' They get down to the south pole so Iroh can study water-bending and thus create the lightning redirection technique. However, Zuko and Azula find Aang, Sokka and Katara, hear about their quest to the northern water tribe, and decides to join. The adults on-board decide to let them, as Iroh has already figured out Zuko's destiny to help stop the war, no matter what age. Ursa stays with Kya and the water tribe while Iroh and Lu Ten head to Ba Sing Se.

General Zhao is the one hunting for the avatar, and since he's Like That, he doesn't care if the Avatar and his friends are literally 4-12 years old.

They get captured by Kyoshi Warriors, but their like 7 year olds, and since Sokka hasn't quite gotten the sexism in his head yet, he doesn't get mad about *girls* beating him up, he's just mad he got ambushed so easily. He gets a childhood crush on the 7-year-old Suki, but is bad at the whole 'socializing' thing so he tries to bully her and gets his butt royally whooped.

At some point along the way, the Gaang picks up Toph, a 4 year old girl who was playing with badger-moles and *still* more badass then all of them combined.

Azula and Zuko get Sibling Bonding after seeing how Sokka and Katara bond, and actually become really good friends.

Eventually, they get to Ba Sing Se and settle down for a few weeks, planning their next moves and all, until they realize the Dai Li are up to something. Soon, Zuko and Katara get captured, Iroh hears of it and comes to the Gaang for help w(ith Lu Ten, of course) Zuko explains to Katara how he got the scar, burned after speaking up to his father after Ozai threatened a servant, and the two bond over their loving mothers and siblings.

However, instead of Azula chasing them down, it's Mai and Ty Lee, angry about being abandoned by Azula when she got banished. (Mai is 7, Ty Lee is 6) Zuko refuses to betray his friends and family, and neither does Azula. However, when their having the big fight in the crystal caves, a lightning bolt reflects off a crystal and hits Avatar State Aang in the back, killing him.

Iroh, after seeing how dangerous it is for Zuko and the Gaang, decides to go back to the Fire Nation with Mai and Ty Lee, leaving Lu Ten to look after this gaggle of toddlers.

After a week or so, Aang wakes up on a fire navy ship, with the Gaang and parents on-board. The crew is: Zuko, Azula, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Hakoda, Bato, Kyo, Lu Ten and Ursa. However, Aang runs off into the storm and canon generally goes on from there.

The Fire Family becomes a thing, Sokka somehow convinces the principle he is in fact an adult and definitely not himself and Zuko in adults clothing. (Sapphire Fire is Katara and Suki in a dress) However, things go wrong at the Eclipse and the adults get captured, Ursa, Zuko and Azula get to speak their mind to Ozai as Iroh and Lu Ten forces him to stay against the wall. The Gaang, along with young Teo, The Duke and Haru, travel to the Western Air Temple. Mai and Ty Lee, after having a very stern talking to by Iroh, ask to join the Gaang, to which they accept after an apology from both of them to Azula, Aang and Zuko specifically.

From there, Aang mostly masters all four elements, they go watch that god awful Boy In The Iceberg show, Aang talks to his past lives and Ozai eventually gets defeated by a bunch of children and toddlers.

Who does Zuko and Azula fight at the end, you may ask? Zhao. Everyone was so busy worrying about the comet and Ozai, nobody had even realized Zhao didn't die at the NWT, simply thrown into the ocean and got rescued by a ship. And, turns out, learnt to generate and shoot lightning somewhere along the way. and everyone knows Zhao isn't above harming a bunch of children.

in the end, Zuko ends up jumping in the way of the lightning bolt, but survives and Zhao gets thrown in jail to rot some more.

And yes, Zuko does become Firelord. in fact, Lu Ten becomes his advisor while the Kyoshi Warriors are his personal guards. Iroh doesn't take the throne, but becomes the most popular tea shop in the Fire Nation after making the Jasmine Dragon a multi-nation Tea Shop chain. (Some trusted Earth Kingdom friends of Iroh and Lu Ten become the managers of the original Jasmine Dragon shop)

[vocalxtributes]

[Tw// Violence, mentions of blood and death]

13 tributes. No guaranteed number of winners.

No more practices or do overs. This is it.

This is the beginning of the Décès Match.

The first batch of tributes were revealed to the whole nation. The reigning champion. Académie céleste, in other words, Yoon Jeonghan's team.

Trumpets were blaring. Camera's were flashing. Cheers could be heard everywhere. People were excited for this year's match. Almost everyone was watching the match. It would be the first ever match where all four of the cursed abilities would be present. Three of which Jeonghan had.

To say that the tributes were nervous was an understatement. Almost all of the five tributes were being affected by pressure and worry. Jihoon was pacing back and forth the waiting area, Joshua was muttering words to himself, Seungkwan was bouncing his leg up and down, and Seokmin was already crying while talking to someone on the phone. However Jeonghan... He seemed the most calm out of all the tributes but if one looked closely, they would see the leader's eyes constantly flashing from red and black as his fingers twitched, small amounts of smoke appearing and disappearing.

It was not until it was announced that the tributes would be transported in five minutes that Jeonghan snapped out of his little moment and walked towards his members.

"Gather around everyone. I have a few words to say to all of you."

Everyone did as the leader said, gathering around and linking arms with each other. "I want you all to remember that the first thing we have to do is find each other okay? We need to stay alive and find each other. That's our best straight to keep everyone alive", The leader reminded. "And please keep in mind that no matter what happens out there, I am proud of you. You've all come such a long way to be as amazing as you all are right now. I'm sure everyone will do great. And... You all mean a lot to me. Let's all survive yeah?" His members nodded and hugged each other tightly, "We can do this! We've trained hard for this!" Jihoon exclaimed, trying to hype up the others, the healer smiled "We'll win. We have the best team ever."

"Yes we do. They should be nervous." Seungkwan joked. The team was in good spirits, ready for the game when a staff member approached the team, informing them that they would be transported to the arena now.

One by one the tributes were taken to random safe places in the arena where they would wait.

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

The buzzer goes off.

The match has officially begun.

Each of Jeonghan's members spread out, doing their best to locate each other without having to run into the other tributes. All his members were doing well, some of them pausing the search to create weapons for themselves, some trying to look for food.

[The paragraph after this will be focusing mostly on Jeonghan.]

Jeonghan sprinted into one direction, fast enough to explore the area quicker, while still trying to be quiet in order to not attract the attention of others.

Slash.

A sharp wooden spear came flying from nowhere, grazing the leader's arm. Jeonghan hissed in pain, there was no way that that was a normal knife. He gripped the wound and looked around before he was tackled to the ground, the spear pointed against his throat.

The leader looked up at his attacker, reading the name and position embroidered on the male's uniform.

'Xu Minghao/The8'

Jeonghan met the eyes of the attacker, a merciless glare in his eyes. "Would you rather die here right now from this spear? Or would you like to suffer and die from my poison that entered your body him?"

"How touching that you're letting me choose how to die in such a threatening way." Jeonghan chuckled. "You have no idea who I am don't you?"

"And why would I care about who you are?" Minghao replies, pressing the spear harder against the leader's throat, puncturing Jeonghan's skin. Jeonghan let out a gasp as he felt a sticky substance from where the spear was at, he didn't need to see it to know that it was his own blood. "Well, you should care about who I am because if you knew who I was, you would've known better and just leave me be." He smiles and uses his ability to stop Minghao from moving, paralyzing him temporarily and getting him off of his body.

"You're t-the cursed one-" The attacker mumbled.

"Indeed I am." Jeonghan says as he ripped the sleeve of his uniform, tying it around his neck to slow down his bleeding. "Lucky for you, I'm not in the mood to kill yet. I'll leave you alone. You'll be able to move in a couple hours. Goodluck." He says, chuckling as he walked away from the attacker.

The leader continued to explore his surroundings, only to be caught in an illusion just a few hours after his first encounter with another tribute.

Hours into the match, the exact moment the leader was caught in an illusion, Seokmin felt an intense feeling that his leader was in danger. And he set out to find him.

Only to cross the paths of two other tributes.

He was sent into a fit of panic, and he froze on the spot.

"See hyung? I told you there was another tribute around here." The Oracle snapped his head towards the owner of the voice, seeing a male with dark brown hair, on his uniform the word 'Oracle' and the name 'Dino' were embroidered, the other male having 'Leader/Healer' and 'Hoshi' on his uniform.

Seokmin calmed down a bit after knowing that he encountered two people who were the least likely to attack him.

He was wrong.

The two ganged up on him and it all happened too fast. Seokmin was on the ground clutching his eyes that was burning in pain.

"You're a h-healer- You're supposed to h-heal people. N-not hurt them-" Seokmin says once he's steadied his breathing. "Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do." Hoshi shrugs as he nods at Dino, giving him a knowing look. Dino grabs a vial of water and opens it, splashing water on Seokmin's face. "The water will help with the pain." Hoshi mutters, a slight smirk appearing on his lips.

The Oracle removes his hands from his eyes, opening them slowly once the pain has subsided. But... He couldn't see anything.

He was blind.

"How dare you take away my sight..." The oracle weakly spat.

The two teammates erupt in laughter. "We wanted to have our fun with you." Dino says, trying to calm himself down as Hoshi crouched in front of Seokmin, holding onto his jaw.

"Fun time is over."

Snap.

Meanwhile, Jeonghan was still trapped in the middle of the illusion, a scene that Jeonghan had always dreamed of was happening to him right now. He was seated on a swing, next to the love of his life. And slowly they both leaned in. His wildest dream was about to happen, he wanted to stay in the moment forever.

A loud canon sound booms through the entire arena, followed by a robotic voice.

"Two Oracles have been eliminated."

That statement snapped Jeonghan out from the illusion. He realized he was in the match and what has happened was all fake. Rage and worry filled his system and he unleashed his smoke, hearing the screams of the trickster responsible of the illusion. And he kept going. Until the illusion was gone and the screams were no more.

The leader walked up to the dead body hidden by some fallen trees, reading the name of his first victim.

Wen Junhui.

Another canon.

"A trickster has been eliminated."

He suddenly remembered the robotic voice alerting them of the elimination of two oracles and he started running frantically looking for Seokmin.

He stumbled and fell, landing next to a body. Eyes pitch black, neck snapped. He propped himself up, looking closely at the body, and then realization struck him.

"SEOKMIN NO!"

[This is based from a story that admin wrote. Everything is purely fictional.]

[PS. Don't come @ me]

Tags: @moonlit-jaemin @yanlee (og) @ekjjh @m00n-purplerose-chatbot @seventeen-chatbot @boxer-joshua @decadewonwoo @marcelinethevamp-cb @bimbo-sana @bimbo-somi @iceskater-sana @vampiremomo @seleneminnie @yanderechae @bossladylisa @baristadahyun @kaanghana @vampireprince-jeonghan @shin-haneul @yandere-bc @maniac-yeonjun @badboyjjh @shyboicya @midari-jieun @fairy-twice @demon-lee @heathenxbovs @hunter-chaeyoung @scholar-lia @thewolfpack-cb @split-jiu @la-soleilmafia-cb @urboys @camboy-superm @yourlele @yanderejoy @playboyyoungk @hybridteez @yanderetzuyu @neodaddies @npc-haechan @m-brian (DM for +/-)

[firelxdykatara]

If Zutara were to be canon,thanks to Aaron Ehasz,how will this affect Legend Of Korra?

This is a difficult question to answer, mostly because it would of necessity rely on a whole lot of assumptions and biases, and without asking Aaron himself (in private, where he wouldn’t have to worry about kicking off another fandom war), it’s impossible to answer with any degree of certainty.

Now, I can talk about how I, personally, think things would have been different if Zutara had been canon–which, for me, means that the epilogue of book 3 was just the tea shop scene, and we got a book 4 where, as Aaron briefly mentioned on twitter and in various interviews, the consequences of energy-bending were explored, the lost Air Nomads were found, Azula had her redemption arc (which would probably have tied into the search for Ursa, which I would’ve loved to see Aaron’s take on in book 4, especially considering the crap the comics handed to us), and Zuko and Katara grew closer and entered into a relationship by the end of the season.

(Before I start exploring this in more depth, I want to head off ‘delusional Zutarian’ arguments at the pass–I’m not saying it’s 100% confirmed that Aaron was planning to make ZK canon in book 4. I am saying (as I’ve said before) that, given the set up and development in canon, and the way Aaron himself has talked about how he develops characters and relationships, I believe he (and other writers/artists/crew members) was leaning heavily towards that particular relationship and would have explored it further in book 4 had he been allowed to.)

Putting the rest under a read more cause this got long.

We know some of what Aaron had plans for–Azula’s redemption, the consequences of energybending, the lost Air Nomads–but nothing super concrete. Going from that, then, I believe that in Book 4, the Gaang would have split up for a good chunk of it. (Please note that most of the rest of this is pure speculation.) There’s a lot of ground Book 4 would’ve had to cover–the Gaang in the beginning would’ve split off to head to their respective homes (Sokka and Katara to the SWT, Suki to Kyoshi Island, Toph… ok, Toph probably just stuck around Caldera and this would’ve been a great time to have the Toph&Zuko life-changing-field-trip episode we were denied in canon) to touch base with the families and friends they’d left behind to go on their save-the-world tour.

For his part, Aang would’ve returned to Guru Pathik. While he got a last-second Hail Mary (in the form of a conveniently placed rock, which still boggles my mind, but whatever) when fighting Ozai, he still was not a fully realized Avatar, and since I’m bitter that the Guru Pathik/chakras plot was almost entirely dropped after the book 2 finale, I’m saying he’d have gone back to finally finish that training because it makes sense and because I can. Anyway, he returns to the Guru, and by this point he has accepted that Katara doesn’t return his feelings the way he’d like her to (a call back to The Fortuneteller, which should have been foreshadowing for Aang’s emotional growth, barring the last twenty seconds of the episode).

Furthermore, he’s learned that ‘letting her go’ doesn’t mean he can’t care about her or want her in his life to be the Avatar (after all, previous Avatars have had love and even been married–Kuruk isn’t that great of an example, given that his love life got him killed, but Kyoshi lived over two centuries and had multiple loves over her incredibly long life, and Roku was married and had descendants of his own), it just means letting go of his expectations–letting go of the selfish aspects of his love, the parts that lead him to nod in agreement when actors on a play told fake!Katara ‘I thought you were the Avatar’s girl’, and that lead him to expect her to return his feelings and push against her boundaries when she told him she wasn’t sure and was confused. (He said “We kissed at the invasion and I thought we were gonna be together, but we’re not.” even though a) he kissed her without any warning, she did not kiss him, and she looked away and frowned afterwards, and b) she never once brought up the kiss again or hinted that her feelings towards him had changed and become romantic, so he had no reason to believe they’d ‘be together’.)

Ok that was a bit of a tangent, but the upshot is, Guru Pathik helps Aang fully master the Avatar State. While on that particular journey, Aang has to deal with the consequences of energybending–he pulled Ozai’s energy into himself, and he has to deal with the sudden darkness that was absorbed into his spirit. He also receives some sort of hint, possibly from a dream or meeting with a spirit, that with balance returning to the world, the Air Nomads can start to return, too.

Sokka, Suki, and Toph wind up going with Aang on his journey to figure out just what the spirits meant by that. They discover that the Air Nomads weren’t totally eradicated by Sozin (which would’ve been impossible, since we already know that inter-nation relationships happened in the past [Avatar Kyoshi’s mother was an airbender], and they were, well… nomads), but those who survived (because they weren’t at the temples at the time, or some who hadn’t attained mastery managed to escape) assimilated into the Earth Kingdom and even some in the Fire Nation. Because the world was incredibly out of balance following the decimation of the Air Nomad population, and because many of them were suddenly in a situation where showing they were airbenders was a death sentence, their spirit as a population was almost completely broken, and they stopped being able to airbend. In the present, Aang finds descendants of Air Nomad survivors, including Ty Lee (and, in my HC, Jet, who shows up alive bc I want him to get the healing arc he didn’t get in canon) who are beginning to discover they can airbend.

Meanwhile, Zuko asked Katara to accompany him on his journey to find his mother–it’s a callback to TSR, when he helped her gain closure for her mother’s murder, and since he wants to bring Azula too, he asked for Katara’s help sister-wrangling. They eventually find Ursa (who did not willingly forget her children, and who did not send a letter to her former lover to make Ozai question Zuko’s paternity, because in the show she was not a horrible person and she loved her children more than anything tyvm), as well as Kiyi (the only good thing to come out of that comic), and Azula finally gets the sort of closure she could never have before, and there is a heavy focus on her emotional journey. Zuko is there to support her, and Katara is there to support Zuko. In the process, Katara winds up with an odd sort of mildly antagonistic friendship with Azula, who gets to a point where she can good-naturedly tease Katara about her growing feelings for Zuko.

ANYWAY. I realize you were asking primarily how it would affect LoK, and I went on a whole ass book 4 tangent. So here’s how I see it changing the landscape in LoK.

First of all, Katara is granted the importance she is due. She has a statue in most major cities, including both Caldera and Republic City. Katara married Zuko and became one of the most beloved Fire Ladies in Fire Nation history, partly because she didn’t assimilate and give up her own home and culture, and she never hesitated to speak her mind during council meetings. It put off much of the nobility, especially in the first few years of their marriage, but Zuko had survived many an assassination attempt by then, and he valued his wife’s input above his closest advisors and never made a secret of it. The nobles could either accept it or risk losing their titles, which several of them did because they figured the Fire Lord was bluffing, only to find out he wasn’t in the slightest.

Katara was also active in the White Lotus, which she wound up leading along with Sokka and Zuko (who’d passed the mantle of Fire Lord onto their eldest daughter, Izumi, once they felt she was ready to lead), and when Aang passed away, they immediately began the search for the next Avatar.

Most of Korra’s early life would’ve been the same, Katara and Sokka saved her from the Red Lotus’ kidnapping attempt, and she wound up raised at the White Lotus compound where she learned waterbending, firebending, and earthbending, and was on the cusp of learning airbending from Tenzin (who was Aang’s kid with someone else–given his design, his mother could’ve been literally anyone, Toph or one of the returned Air Nomads or someone else entirely) when he got called back to Republic City, and she followed.

From here, well… ok, there’s a lot I would change about LoK just in general. Thinking specifically of how Zutara would have affected things, and with the stipulation that Aaron was still the head writer for LoK, I like to think that Katara wouldn’t have been rendered weak and useless (seriously, a bloodbender locked away Korra’s bending, but Katara–allegedly the most powerful waterbender alive, and the one who single-handedly got bloodbending outlawed–couldn’t undo it with bloodbending???), and would have been allowed to, for example, fight to protect her family (while Tenzin and his children wouldn’t have been her direct relations [unless, instead of Pema, he wound up marrying Zuko and Katara’s youngest daughter??? that’s an idea], they would still have been family, as Aang’s only living descendants) and taken a more active part in the water tribe civil war (which would have been given the narrative arc it was due instead of being a half-assed vehicle for ridiculous spirit world shenanigans). And besides, a gaang reunion episode where Zuko, Katara, Suki (because screw LoK for having her just up and disappear lmfao) and Toph fight the Red Lotus together just like old times??? That would’ve been fucking amazing.

(We got to see old ass men in AtLA fight like they were in their prime, including one who was over a century old. What was LoK’s excuse???)

Since we got the return of the Air Nomads in book 4 of LoK there would be no need for the spirit portals or the ‘harmonic convergence’, and instead Korra’s spiritual journey hinges on her trauma from the end of Book 1. The biggest difference, here, is that I have always been incredibly dissatisfied with the fact that Korra just stared sadly over the edge of a cliff and was suddenly able to unlock the Avatar State and get her bending back. Keeping in mind the way Aaron Ehasz excelled at character journeys in the original show, I think she should have ended book 1 with her bending locked completely. Katara was able to reverse whatever it was Amon did to her (and Amon, by the way, didn’t get killed–the Equalists also didn’t just disappear, and the thread of nonbender oppression carries through the rest of the series, to be revisited and finally resolved in book 4), but it didn’t give Korra her bending back, because the trauma she suffered was just as psychological as it was a physical block to her bending.

Book 2, therefore, would’ve included a narrative thread of Korra needing to go on her own spiritual journey to unlock her chakras and regain her bending, finally able to reac the Avatar State when the civil war between the water tribes reached a head, and she is finally able to broker peace, having learned a great deal about herself and her connection to the past avatars.

I realize that I’ve kind of derailed pretty far off the original point, so I’ll stop here with a general note that while Zutara, as a relationship, doesn’t affect a whole lot of this directly (for the most part it would just affect the parentage of the Gaang kids who showed up, the designs of some, and their relationships with each other and possibly with Korra)–however, with the addition of Book 4 and keeping Aaron’s writing talents for LoK, the landscape of the entire sequel would be altered. I’d like to think that he would’ve preferred writing a coherent narrative that did justice to the characters even if it meant ending the show with unresolved plot threads (especially since they could wrap things up with comics which, in this alternate timeline, are actually good and in character because I want to have my cake and eat it too), so rather than being disconnected plots that didn’t make much sense when each individual villain could’ve served as the entire series Big Bad, much of books 2 and 3 would’ve involved smaller scale plots and villains, with Amon returning for book 4 and everything getting wrapped up far more neatly than it did in canon.

TL;DR: while Zutara itself wouldn’t necessarily change a whole lot (it would affect Book 4 and the post-atla comics more) outside of the different Gaang kids and their dynamics, the show as a whole would’ve been vastly different if the writing team for LoK had been the same–including Aaron as head writer–as the writing team for AtLA.

Bryke were great Big Picture guys, great vision and visual guys, I’ve never disputed that. But they sucked at not missing the forest for the trees. They sucked at romance. And they really sucked at coherent plot and character development, especially in the small scale.

[vyvesvi]

im so interested in bighit buying out these midtier companies...i wonder if anyone's next 👀👀👀

if i had to guess i would say cube, except for the fact that gfriend and seventeen (as the current main moneymakers of source and pledis) are the pinnacle of unproblematic faves/gp sweethearts like...they don't say jack shit their reps are truly flawless and i feel like thats a selling point, albeit not the biggest. seventeen and gfriend are like...so unproblematic its actually crazy, like i'd say loona is super unproblematic and they've never said or done anything like that but they don't have that international branding of being unproblematic...does that make sense? probably not.

anyways.

all that to say, i think cube has too many scandals for bh to want to acquire (bh ain't looking for any problems, no ty).

on the other hand, cube has amazing trainees locked in their dungeons (lee joohyun, female middle school jungkook please watch her dance vids omg, comes to mind) that could kill if they were managed by big hit/jointly manages btwn bh and cube.

the main selling point of svt/pledis and gf/source is that they've achieved so much success already with their own respective agencies. like, bighit is not trying to start any passion projects here, lmao. they want to capitalize on existing success and help them experience prolonged success, which i respect tbh.

i also dont think they'll acquire cube bc the only group that fits bh's buying profile thus far is idle (see above), but i dont think they're enough to be a selling point nor do i think their sound aligns like bh/pledis/source does so far.

starship, fnc, and wm, with mx/wjsn/everglow, aoa/cherry bullet/sf9/nflying, b1a4/omg/onf are all about the right size for bh to acquire but im not sure they will for various reasons:

Starship

mx is gaining in the west! they would allow bh to maintain a stronghold in the abroad/give bts a break/open a new revenue stream for bh

but the wonho "scandal" :(

wjsn fits the profile in terms of talent but they're not doing well enough on their own

stable fanbase though, might be worth investing in and attempting to grow

same for everglow actually

i think overall starship would fit bh but the main complications are:

1. partnership btwn yueha and starship, all chinese members of ss groups are yueha artists, idk how contracts would work but it seems tough

2. ss has been super successful on produce (all of their new groups have at least one pd winner (or might have one joining soon)) which is tough with the scandal. bh likes clean slates is my impression

3. ss is planning to debut a new bg, which could be a good thing except they'll most likely have a fresh concept (source: hyeongjun's face and perm and general demeanor) which might conflict with txt. bh is also long overdue for a gg which leads into the next point:

4. ss probably doesnt have female trainees to offer bc they just debuted everglow

5. sistar was such a big iconic group idk if ss would feel some typa way about being acquired tbh

FNC

see last point about sistar but replace aoa

nflying would def diversify bh's portfolio, i believe that day6 has been charting a little better as of late but nflying is pretty much the best moneymaking band otherwise (and bh cant acquire jyp so)

sf9 is doing well but not well enough for bh to acquire imo. also not really bh's style i think

cb...isnt really doing well imo, so bh wouldn't necessarily gain from a money perspective

WM

i think omg would be a really good acquisition for bh actually! like they just need money and to nail down their dual concept thing

idk much about onf but they seem to be a different concept than txt so they wouldn't clash much

b1a4 is basically gone but their composers would be even more legendary with money

similar to prev. comment about sistar and aoa, i dont think dsp (kara), woolim (infinite), or jellyfish (vixx) would go for a merger for the same reason.

i could see mbk (t-ara) thinking the same, esp with their pdx success but they're messy bitches so anything's possible lmao

i think bh stands a good chance at acquiring fantiago (weki meki, astro) though, for p obvious reasons. wm and astro haven't been as popular as svt and gfriend though, so they would be a bit of a project for bh.

companies i want bh to acquire:

blockberry (loona), so long as bh only provides money, connections, and funny variety content and doesn't touch their concept. bh would also give them more rapping i think, which i support. loona has proven international success so i think it could happen

8d creative (onlyoneof) this would never happen but i need to get these boys some better exposure and more money. pls all of the blurry girls who didnt make loona are trainees here so bh could source their new gg. oof's concept doesn't conflict with txt's either!

i decided that in spite of the above i want bh to acquire starship and yueha. give these kids ur money. bring uniq back. yueha would also help them establish a foothold in china, which they dont currently have

wm for prev. mentioned reasons!

Individual Groups/People I want BH to Acquire (Mostly Unrealistic)

Cube trainee Lee Joohyun

Idle's Soojin

CLC's Eunbin & Seungyeon

All of NCT WayV

Twice Chaeyoung

AKMU

Kisum

Rothy

Groov1in (yes ik theyre a company shh there's like 4 of them)

M.O.L.A

[blue-collects-things]

The Losers Go To Prom

Warnings: swearing, light mentions of sexism and homophobia

Requested: No

Author’s Note: Guess who has two thumbs, saw IT, and almost shat herself at an alarming velocity?? (If you guessed me, you are correct.) Of course, as a result, I was scrolling through the losers club tag on this hell site and stumbled upon this post, so give @awkward-imp​ credit for the their idea. And because I hate Stephen King’s canon, nobody has left/died/forgotten. Anywho, here are some losers take prom hcs! (Edit: this got really, really, really long {I’m not fucking kidding}, so i’m going to put an under the cut. You have been warned.)

through the rest of their middle school years and into their high school ones, the losers club remains, well, losers for the most part

however, they’re all known as bill denbrough’s friends because that boy is so popular from all the sports and clubs he does

but in their senior year, mike convinces them to go to prom despite their popularity issues

part of it could be that mike is on student council and he’s looking for some free labor in set up/clean up but mostly he wants his friends to have a good time

so in the three months leading up to the end of the school year and prom, we see our losers stressing about college, finals, and of course who they’re going to ask to prom

richie, being the little shit he is, asks every single one of the losers, plus some others and everyone knows its a joke and never takes him seriously

richie, down on one knee with a dandelion in his hand: bev, oh sweet bev, will you be my date to prom?

bev, not looking up from her book: that’s a weed, you idiot

richie, using his southern Voice: that stings, ma’am, truly it does mah de-ur. stanny boy, how bout you?

stan: in your dreams, tozier

ben wants desperately to ask bev, but he has this sinking feeling that she’ll say no in favor for someone like bill

he says as much to eddie and he laughs

like full on guffawing in the middle of study hall

ben’s like wtf? what am i missing?

and eddie says, “bill has the biggest, gayest crush i’ve ever seen on our buddy stan uris, pal”

it takes a minute for ben to process this (even though eddie used blunt wording for this express purpose) and then he laughs too

“gayer than your crush on trashmouth, eds?”

“shut up” but eddie is redder than tomatoes

so ben asks bev one day after calculus and even though he’s stuttering more than bill on a bad day, bev thinks it’s sweet and endearing

she gives him a kiss on the cheek to cut off his rambling and says yes with a smile before walking to psychology

ben, shellshocked and eyes wide as saucers, immediately pumps his fist in success the second bev turns the corner

his mom is the first to know

bev is also very happy and excited that ben asked her and she calls her own mother the first moment her father leaves their apartment

speaking of good ol’ big bill, he’s so nervous to ask stan

like, more nervous than he was when he had to debate in government

he’s super worried that because stan is jewish, he’ll be disgusted with bill and then stan won’t want to be his friend, and it’ll all go to shit

he actually goes to bev for advice because he feels most comfortable asking her about... feelings stuff than any of the other boys

she tells him that he’s a dumbass if he thinks stan will a) say no and b) stop being his friend

“i mean, have you seen the way he looks at you during lunch and chem and history and-”

“oh-k-k-hay, b-b-bev, i get ih-it”

bill is still very wary about asking

bev: *sigh*

stan, ironically, has also gone to bev for “feelings advice”

bev, under her breath: “i should start charging for my services”

stan: what?

bev: nothing, continue

stan doesn’t want to do the asking, but wants more than anything to go to prom with bill, even if it means making his father upset

bev encourages him to ask bill (bc she know that bill won’t do a damn thing unless he is 100% certain that stan likes him back)

he makes a sign (precious boy) because he can’t even comprehend saying the words aloud and drives to bill’s house when he knows both his parents and bill’s will be at work

stan takes mike with him

“just in case things go wrong” he tells mike when asking him to be his get-away driver

mike is flabbergasted because even he and haystack, the most oblivious of the group, can see that bill is totally in love with stan

when mike pulls up to the denbroughs’ house, stan looks visibly ill

he fidgets with his yarmulke, the sign, makes sure he look good before mike literally leans across his lap, opens the door, and kicks stan out of his own car, locking the door behind him

stan knocks three times on the front door before stepping back and holding the sign reading simply “prom?” in big blue letters and waits

there’s a brief moment of fear that stan tries his hardest to brush off

he reminds himself all he needs are 20 seconds of insane courage (A/N: anyone get my reference?) to pull this off

his confidence trickles away slowly as the seconds tick by without the door opening

his thoughts go i mile a minute

is he still at swim practice? no, that’s wednesday. and speech therapy is saturday. his car is in the driveway. is he- is he ignoring me?

(what stan doesn't know is that bill saw stan’s car pull up through the window and the whole ordeal, read the sign, and felt panic set in his stomach: my hair is still wet from the shower! gotta change. clean shirt? brush hair. oh god oh god oh my god oh my god ohmygod ohmyfuckinggod)

stan is about to leave until bill pulls the door open, clearly frazzled

even though he already saw the sign, bill scans the one word again carefully to make sure it’s not another illusion to trick his brain

stan    can’t        breathe

20 seconds of insane courage, stan thinks 

“bill?” he meets stan’s eyes “prom?”

bill is nodding before he can comprehend what’s going on

“yes, stanley, yes, yes, a thousand times yes”

he didn’t stutter once

he meets stan halfway in a blindingly tight hug, not stopping his talking all the while

“i was g-g-going to ask y-hoo. b-b-bev told me i-hi should. i honestly-ee can’t be-lee-ieve this. s-s-stan, are you re-al? this isn’t some tr- hmmmph!”

(stan finds another 20 seconds of courage to kiss bill quiet)

“i’ll see you tomorrow, bill” stan says agents bill’s lips before smiling  and forcing himself off the porch before he squeals with happiness and embarrasses himself

bill walks back inside with his sign to hide it in the back of closet where his parents will never look

he absently touches his lips for the rest of the evening

this is the happiest he’s been since... georgie

mike is smiling smugly in the car when stan returns

“good job, stan” is all he says, though

“thanks, mikey”

mike loves the happy smile that stan can’t seem to wipe off his face

richie wants to ask eddie and he does

several times

but eddie thinks it’s joke

“cut it out, rich. the first two times were funny, not it’s just getting old”

it stings, sure, but richie figures this is his punishment for never being serious

but he’s never been more serious about anything in his life

the only person that knows is bev (go figure) and she says the same thing she said to stan and bill: suck it up and go fucking ask him, you big baby

so he does

it’s like every other time he’s asked eddie: walking home from school

“eddie, will you go to prom with me?” he doesn’t use a Voice, he’s just richie, which is sometimes harder than the accents and impressions he does

eddie must hear this and looks up from his keds to see that richie has his eyes glued to the ground

“richie, are you still joking with me?”

richie suddenly meets eddie’s eyes and places both his hands on either side of eddie’s face

they’ve stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, two teenagers looking at each other, but they don’t care

“not with you, eds. never.”

eddie looks at richie’s eyes, still strange without his glasses even though he’s been wearing contacts for nearly three years, and sees the honesty in his baby blues

“yes, richie, i’ll go with you” eddie says and smiles lopsidedly at his grinning best friend

they hold hands the rest of the way home

mike honestly can’t find someone to go with

there’s his lab partner, linda, but she seems to be the snooty type

one day, about two months before prom, ben points out a girl staring at him from across the cafeteria

her name is june and she’s in the asian student union (founder and president) and the treasurer of student council

she’s really sweet and mike asks her on a couple of dates over the next two weeks

he asks her on the fourth date to be his prom date and of course she says yes

bev is stoked to have another girl in their group

“i still love you guys, though, so don’t worry. you’re my boys.”

richie gives her an only semi-joking hug, “thanks, bevvie. you really scared me for a minute”

(because even though he’ll never say it, he loves her a lot)

ben and richie’s mothers offer to help tailor suits and a dress for bev

bev is clueless in that department

her mother got smart and left her father but couldn’t win the custody battle because she didn’t have a steady income and, y’know, sexism in the 60s

so she doesn’t know a damn thing about makeup or hair or fancy dresses

and mrs. hanscom always wanted someone to pass her knowledge onto, so she offers to help bev and june get ready

the rest of the time passes quickly with final exams and preparing for graduation until finally the day of prom arrives

mike has succeeded in persuading the losers to help him set up the gym that friday after school and it looks amazing

the gym is swathed in blue and green tulle and streamers with a camera in the corner and glitter curtains hanging on the stage where the band will play

the losers split to the hanscoms’ place and the toziers’ house to get ready

bill, mike, stan, and richie at the toziers

ben, bev, eddie, and june at the hansoms

when ben asks his mother for help tying his tie, she literally says to him “ask eddie, i gotta go help your date” and leaves

bev is a nervous wreck and she doesn't know why

she keeps thinking it’s just ben but really is it?

recently, she’s been feeling more anxious around ben and can’t figure it our for the life of her

june has to spell it out for her: “you like him!” and bev guesses she does

the whole time they get ready, bev can’t stop thinking about how good ben will look in his suit. even if he hadn’t slimmed down and shot up another seven inches, he would’ve looked good.

when ben sees bev in her dress, he nearly passes out and eddie has to keep him upright, a particularly hard job considering that eddie is the same hight as bev: seven inches too short

ben delicately places the corsage on her wrist and she pins the boutonniere to his jacket

eddie and june smile at each other watching this interaction

meanwhile at the toziers’, stan and mike are getting ready in the living room and bill and richie are getting ready his room

bill, sitting on the edge of richie’s bed: i th-th-think i’m go-hunna p-puke

richie: not on the tux, mrs. hanscom will have my head on a plate

bill: i’m s-s-eri-ous, r-r-rich

richie, kneeling in front of bill: listen to me, billy boy, stan is waiting out there for you and you and him are going to be just fine. he got up the courage to ask you, now be a man and give him a great night.

bill: wow, eh-eddie must be r-r-rubbing oh-ff on y-you

richie, winking: you got that right

stan is fidgety in the living room waiting for bill to come down the stairs, literally wearing a hole in the floor where he’s pacing

mike: stop it, you’re giving me anxiety just looking at you

finally, richie comes down the stairs looking very dapper and at least attempting to tame his unruly hair

“let me, dear friends and neighbors, introduce the one and only bill denbrough”

and bill descends the stairs in his white suit and if angels are real, stan figures this is what they look like

when bill lays eyes on stan, he stops coming down the stairs

stan had slicked back his hair which had gotten a little longer and his hazel eyes shone with anticipation

neither can speak, but mike and richie are smiling and elbowing each other

bill finally clears his throat

“you l-look am-az-zing, st-st-stan”

stan    can’t        breathe                   (again)

“you look great too, bill”

they pin their boutonnieres to each other just as the limo pulls up

all the losers pitched in money they had gotten from working odd jobs (the diner, the drive-in theater, babysitting, tutoring, lawn mowing) to rent a limo for the evening

the four at the toziers’ pile in and head to ben’s house

richie has gotten exceptionally nervous in the ten minutes it has taken to drive to haystack’s

bill is really concerned cause he’s never seen richie so quiet

“ta-ake y-your own ad-ad-advie, trashmouth, and m-man the fu-uck u-up”

“shut the hell up, bill” but he’s smiling so bill is happy

when they get to the hanscoms’, mike and richie get out to pick up their dates

june runs out first and leaps into mike’s arms and he spins her around and plants a kiss on her cheek before sliding a corsage on her wrist

ben and bev step out next, each complementing richie and giving him a hug

lastly, eddie steps out, and richie is totally gone

“wow, eds, i- you- um”

eddie laughs “you too, rich”

eddie offers richie his hand and they walk together back to the limo

(A/N: psst, this is what they look like- ben // stan // richie // bill // mike // eddie // bev // june // god bless pinterest) 

the limo ride there is... hectic, to say the least

everyone is singing, even stan who almost never sings

bev and june are cracking jokes that make the boys laugh

it’s a really good feeling

and suddenly they’re there and handing over their tickets

they all go to the camera first while they still look nice

all of the couples go first, bill and stan and richie and eddie getting a strange look from the photographer but they ignore the obvious disgust in his eyes because they’re already having the best night of their lives

then all eight of them together. there’s three of these pictures: one where nobody is looking and smiling at each other, one where they’re all making funny faces, and the last one that actually looks nice

they all are enjoying themselves and dancing and singing and laughing and smiling

until the first slow song starts

as “can’t help falling in love” starts, couples begin to pair off

mike and june sway and smile and talk to each other softly as they dance

stan apprehensively places his arms around bill’s neck, extremely concerned for the stares they’ll likely be getting, but now it’s bill’s turn for 20 seconds of courage because he puts his hands on stan’s waist and pulls him flush against his body

stan smiles and places his forehead on bill’s and bill smiles back. they kinda just look at each other fondly for the whole dance

bev lets ben lead her away from the group and bev looks up at ben staring down at her and decides that if she has to have a staring contest with him during this dance, she’ll lose it

so she places her head on ben’s chest and listens to his heart beat and it’s so sporadic that she thinks surely ben will have a heart attack but he squeezes the hand that bev put in his lightly and she smiles against his dress shirt

richie pulls eddie toward him by the hand and delicately places a hand on his waist, being more careful than eddie thought capable

eddie reaches up (and it is quite the reach) and tangles his fingers in the hairs at the nape of richie’s neck

they avoid eye-contact

about half-way through the song, richie begins to sing softly “but i can’t help falling in love with you” and looks at eddie so piercingly that eddie gasps

they kiss and neither of them knows who initiated it, only that it’s sweet and slow and amazing

the rest of the evening goes by in a blur

bill, eddie, and mike ditch their suit jackets and roll up their sleeves

richie’s bowtie hangs loosely around his neck, untied

june removes her gloves and bev takes off her high heels

then the crowning of prom king and queen happens

it’s no surprise that bill wins prom king, because he is so well liked and even some of the teachers voted for him

but everyone is blown away when bev wins prom queen

they dance the dance and laugh at each other the whole time

(stan may or may not be a little jealous but all that goes away when they return from the dance and bill places his arm around stan’s shoulders and plants a kiss on his cheek)

after the dance ends, everyone is sweaty, their feet hurt, and they no longer have voices

they all decide the best thing to do is to go to the diner that’s open until 1am on the other side of town in their limo

they all cram into one booth

eddie holds richie’s hand under the table and absently strokes the scar on his palm

richie is so taken aback that he can’t speak

everyone’s like “trashmouth is so quiet, what’s up?” and eddie only smirks

they all order milkshakes and three orders of the big basket of french fries

that poor waitress who’s there for them

suddenly richie finds his voice and starts telling stories his Voices that are getting significantly better

when it’s closing time, the owner kicks them out, but smiles at their loud laughter on the way out

they all drive to eddie’s house, pay the limousine driver and crowd in the living room to watch movies until they all fall asleep

richie’s head is in eddie’s lap

eddie is leaned against bill’s legs hanging off the couch

bill is laying his head on stan

stan is curled up on the couch, his feet touching bev’s

bev’s hand is dangling and holding ben’s

ben is asleep with his legs crossed over mike’s

mike has his arms around june

june has her head on richie’s legs

they’re all still in their evening wear

mrs. kaspbrak finds them like this in the morning and, even though she doesn’t like the no-good friends eddie has made, can’t help but take a picture of how cute they all are

~ ~ ~

Hope you enjoyed this! I had a lot of fun writing this and if you’re reading this, thanks for trooping through this! Don’t forget to like, reblog, and comment. Got a request? Submit one here. See my masterlist here.