#cuz he was kinda out of the know about what was going on with Zuko’s Crazy Sister or That Crazy Firebender Guy Who Called Him an Oaf

[twilight-skies]

Ok so we’re all in agreement that post canon when everything’s chill Jeong Jeong and Piandao are living their best cottagecore-but-mansion lives, and we all love the ‘Aang tells JJ about the Sun Warriors and Piandao convinces him to go see it for himself (cuz he def doesn’t believe it)’ idea BUT might I now suggest:

what if he spends longer there than Aang/Zuko/Iroh did to learn more and finds out that they have healers too. Fire Healing is a technique that exists similar to the more known Water Healing, but it’s existence got buried as one of the many secrets of Firebending forgotten with the Warriors themselves. What I’m saying is Jeong Jeong returns and spends years practicing (still terrified of burning someone who’s already hurt) and exchanging letters with both the healers he met and Yugoda until he’s mastered it, eventually becoming the Fire Nation’s first known Bending-Healer. And then perhaps at Iroh or Zuko’s suggestion he teaches it to (a stable to the point where she wants to better herself but can’t figure out how) Azula. Healing with fire is more difficult then with water and as a new art is still a rare skill by Korra’s time, but Jeong Jeong and Azula learning it and teaching it to others is how we eventually get this: (perhaps zuko has it become an essential technique for Fire Sages to learn?)

(Disclaimer I haven’t seen tlok yet so idk what else happens in this scene other then a woman using fire to figure out what’s wrong with korra)

So yes this whole post is just about the two Firebenders we never got healing arcs for becoming their nation’s first healers and both learning the essential truth that fire is more than death and destruction or rage and suffering <3

[ayoalex]

My biggest reason of why I HATE the fact Zuko is Fire Lord is more complicated than I could actually explain but I will try. Cuz u see I already hate the fact that 16/17y old Zuko had to step up and be Fire Lord even though an actual adult could have been the Fire Lord while Zuko still grew and learn to be able to be a decent Fire Lord.

I already hate the fact that is canon he SUCKS at it cuz he has 0 communication skills, only knows anger and violence to resolve things and has 0 diplomacy. If it was supposed to be his destiny then why he sucks so much, why he doesn't know a single thing about politics, I think about his actions in The Promise and I feel like slapping the writer.

But when I think about how he gives 0 fucks about his people then I hate it even more.

Wait, don't go, listen to me. LISTEN TO ME I WILL EXPLAIN MYSELF.

Ok, so Zuko by the end of Book 3 is a traitor in the Fire Nation, ok?

He goes and fights an Agni Kai in his sister (the legitimate heir at this point) coronation. We don't know if everyone knows what actually happened there (probably they do cuz the Fire Sages were there when he arrived with Katara).

So he actually loses! And it's Katara that ends up winning. So he ends up winning the throne by not only force but with foreign forces as well.

Ok now let's remember his coronation. Who do we see? A single line of Fire Nation people which I think we're the Fire Sages + Mai and Iroh. And then all foreigners which one of them is the person that took by force the throne. Not a public coronation, we don't see any other citizen of his Nation watching it.

Ok, let's remember how people were living outside of Caldera city and Ember island.

One of the Villages the Gaang end up of the Fire Nation has polluted water. The army has been polluting their water for YEARS which indicates us that they haven't actually been taking care of majority of the Villages/cities outside of Caldera city and Ember Island, the first one because is the capital and where the Royalty + Nobility lives and the second one because is a famous tourist place that Nobility and the Royalty goes to.

Zuko as a kid that grew up isolated in Caldera city, which he didn't went out that much outside of the castle(?) Has never had to face or see how actual normal people live. He then gets banished but still feels entitled to be treated like royalty.

After getting his title stripped in Book 2, he still refuses to live amongst the people and continues asking for a royalty treatment. So he ends up stealing from OTHER common people.

He lived in the lower ring of the Earth Kingdom and I never saw him understanding that the King just sucks, that he's supposed to help all his citizens but only cares about the rich and gives 0 fucks about the rest.

Now, why does Zuko wants to be Fire Lord? To make things better? To actually help his Nation?

No. It's because of destiny. He doesn't see it as a duty. Sure he wants to end the war which is a good thing but he once again sees the title as something he deserves because it's his destiny (which makes 0 zero but ok).

And I wish so badly he had Azula resolve and understanding of his duty.

Cuz you see she would probably sucked too cuz like Zuko she had 0 idea how normal people actually live and that rich people are NOT the majority of a Nation.

But she would not think being Fire Lord is her destiny and she deserves it cuz she's pretty or whateva. She would understand her duty as Fire Lord and would accept the title as such, with the respect and responsibility it comes with (which kinda happened in canon but she was in the middle of a breakdown so yeah).

And I'm not trying to compare them but sometimes is so hard cuz she has everything Zuko needs to be a good Fire Lord and so it's frustrating seeing the canon state of the world in Aang's era because the writers suck ass and think Zuko is oohhh so charming and amazing when honestly he suck ass right now.

Bring me back my dumbass kid! Let him out of that castle!

I think if he actually travel around Fire Nation without u know all his privileges, he would do much better cuz at least he would understand the actual needs of his Nation.

And honestly if I was a citizen of the Fire Nation and saw all the bullshit that was happening I would be so fucking annoyed at the Royal Family, like if someone told me to do a coup I would be so into it cuz honestly I'm here dying cuz we've been at war for 100y and this motherfucker comes and just prioritize other nations that the one giving him money and food? Yeah we going democracy, fuck the monarchy.

In my mind Azula just says fuck it and goes mia for YEARS and Aang sees the disaster that FN is cuz of Zuko and goes find her cuz everyone know Azula is like the best option when it's about politics and then he finds out she's been traveling so he joins her and Azula comes back to the FN but just to slap Zuko and teach him how to actually be a decent Fire Lord and then goes back to chilling but sometimes pop off at Caldera to slap Zuko when he does a fucking terrible decision.

[mikodrawnnarratives]

Okay I finished the BOOK

YAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYA

God I need fanfics of Molly living with Giovanni now like T-T

AHGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH JUS

JU- AHHAHHSHHSHAHDJXBJBSKSJKZBSJS

Everything I ever WANTED

AND NOW THAT IVE FINISHED

My verdict on Lorelai:

I'm glad that whatever growth she may go through, Molly won't be suffering when she inevitably backtracks along the way. It'd be nice to see the two mend their relationship but it is definitely for the better that they've been separated.

I wanna see Lorelai struggle and grow but she shouldn't get anymore opportunities to hurt Molly, much less for the sake of her learning a lesson. So it's better this way imo

And now that Molly isn't there, Lorelai's gonna have to run the shop and learn her lesson through CUSTOMER SERVICE joining zuko and others in the redemption arc trend of becoming redeemed by dealing with bitchy people

I very much don't mind rotating Lorelai in my brain a lil more cuz I don't hate her. I want to bunt her across the room when she hurts Molly ofc, I will not retract my statements, but I hate HER FATHER more than her

Cuz her father has no excuse to be the way he is. I'll get back to Lorelai in a moment cause she is definitely NOT faultless, but HIM?? He enabled all of this. He never checked in with his daughters and was always so inconsiderate of them. AND HES A GROWN MAN! It's telling that Giovanni goes off on him more than he does Lorelai cause in the end, he did nothing.

Back to Lorelai, she feels like a very intentionally immature character. Immature and selfish in a way that contrasts with Molly when Molly is the actual kid. I mean, Lorelai is 17 and all but by that age you can fairly expect someone to grasp not leaving your 12 yr old sibling to suffer under responsibilities your supposed to share.

And Lorelai being immature I think is added to by her fear that she's the reason her mother died. And the grief in all that. I think it's a good enough reason to feel sympathetic for how she's spiraled into this unhealthy coping mechanism and separates her from her father when it comes to being a rotten person.

By the end of the book it still felt like she hadn't grasped WHY what she did was bad to me and I'm kinda hoping that was an intentional writing decision. The book shows how she doesn't grasp some things like what makes someone a genuinely horrible person and so for her to still not quite see how what she did was bad, feels fitting.

By the end of seemed to me like, she KNEW what she did wasnt okay because Giovanni told her off and she was confronted with the truth that, she wasn't the good guy. Yet knowing that didn't make her understand what her actions specifically caused. Despite. Molly telling her.

I want to look up shenanigans between Molly and Giovanni in fics but I also kinda want to see Naven and Lorelai's relationship with the steps she'll make to become a better person

So def a ways away from growing significantly but I like that Naven has stuck around offering his help should she accept it. I mean Giovanni did that too but Naven's role in her story hits HARD

[EDIT: God I'm embarrassed Naven only pointed out Giovanni's card he left behind, ONLY GIOVANNI reached out if she wanted to work on herself to be better BUT I STILL LIKE TO THINK SHE AND NAVEN KEPT IN CONTACT SHUSH he could like give her some tough love]

Speaking of relationships, idk about Giovanni x Lorelai

I mean I still think it could be cute, Lorelai's crushing scenes are hilarious as much as they are sad and envoke feelings of "I just want good things for Lorelai". I def don't think she deserves him rn but I do think that, since Giovanni hasn't shut down her becoming his minion in THE FUTUREE, when she learns to be good at being bad, she has a shot.

Though, it's still a little lost on me if Giovanni has figured out she has been crushing on him HARD. Like, he picked up on her cheating and bullying but did he pick up on any of the signs for her affection?? Makes me think she's gonna have a hard time in the friendzone if she became a minion. Not sure what Giovanni with a crush would look like either tho so.

I have a bit of a hard time seeing Giovanni crushing on her but I still think their dynamic is cute enough! Just dragged down by how awful she's been to everyone and HIS NUMBER 1 MINIONNN

but the more I think about it, I think it'd be great to see them as just friends. Like, getting on the level of best buds and Lorelai loses her crush on him. Both still maintaining the dynamic they had in that last fight with all the bantering cuz they are pretty similar

If they ever became romantic though. Like. Molly and Lorelai's relationship NEEDS to be healed and I think healed for a WHILE. I just can't see it working out otherwise. This would probably need to ring true if they were to become best friends too but EVEN MORE SO if they got mushy (as in the failed baking trials that would compromise 40% of the time they would hang out. Love language quality time)

Anyway

Ngl I already got my own angsty ideas for Lorelai because self hatred + not wanting to be the bad guy is such a delicious combination of traits that contradict each other yet still exist never the less

I wonder how Lorelai reacted the morning she realized Molly was gone and gone for good. I'm betting she at first believed she'd be hanging out with her friends and would be back. Then a day passes. Then another. And another. She asks her father if he's seen Molly and is reminded he doesn't care. I wonder if she confronted Naven about where Molly was, if she'd at first lash out when he doesn't tell her, and that reminds her why this happened.

She probably couldn't wallow in self pity for very long since she'd be working now, but still vry interesting how it'll play out

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Grease ROTPL finale spoilers below

I have thoughts and questions

Jumping for fucking joy when Nancy slapped Mr Daniels and said “she is a child” LIKE YES QUEEN

Nancy this episode slayed so much like from assaulting predators to supporting the gays in the span of less than an hour you go girl

Speaking of supporting the gays the coming out scene was so amazing and it Hurt

Frenchie and Betty Rizzo were so great this episode and the siblings energy with Jane and Gil was unmatched

Watching Gil with another girl hurt but like I get it so much

If they do get another season I am excited to see how the whole Pink Ladies date T-Birds thing comes around cause like rn Hazel and Cynthia are both dating non T-Birds (not to mention Hazel’s dating a soc)

I think we can all agree on one thing and it’s that the girl from Lydia’s summer scout or whatever is gonna catch these hands

Jane Nancy and Cynthia were so real in the first song like yeah get his ass

Susan I was rooting for you we were all rooting for you

Buddy finally made the right choice and now he’s a fucking homeless high school dropout-

Somebody give this poor boy a break

The Zuko name drop at the end fucking floored me

I need to know what happened between Zuko (I’m assuming Danny’s older brother?) and Jane to make her this mad

Also btw the whole writing it down thing for the coming out scene was cute and all but I would really like to know what Nancy wrote on the paper

Also something Nancy said in that scene caught my eye so imma just rant for a bit

In the part where Nancy’s trying to guess what’s making Cynthia upset she’s says something like “did you talk to your mom?” Which brings up two questions for me

What happened with Cynthia’s mom that would make Cynthia upset if they talked (from what we see of the scenes at Cynthia’s place it seems like she’s doesn’t live with them but she’s obviously not dead so something happened there$

How does Nancy know about whatever happened between Cynthia and her mom (basically like did she hear it through town gossip, is it like common knowledge for the town, or did Cynthia tell her in which case I wanna see that scene)

Also another thing that stood out to me (because she is my favorite character) was that in the church Cynthia kept doing the like 🙏 peace be with you thing and yeah it could’ve just been her being nervous and stuff but she also does the like touch cross thing (idk what it’s called) when Jane is talking to Mr. Daniels as almost like a subconscious thing so I’m wondering if that’s possibly a thing or if I’m just grasping at straws for a Cynthia backstory

I’m really hoping if we get a season two that they flesh out Olivia Nancy and Cynthia’s backstories cuz like we know Jane’s pretty much and we get little snippets of the other three but nothing really solid

Idk kinda like the T-Birds episode except with the girls

Anyways sorry for rambling (and spending like half the time talking about Cynthia) but yeah that’s it

[gasmeros]

ask game: Anger is also a trauma response and Dumbass (affectionate) pretty please

I genuinely love all your ideas

aaaa you're so sweet

so the first one is my own take on an atla fanfic trope ive seen a lot of, which is basically after the boiling rock in s3, zuko is super jittery around hakoda cuz he has dad trauma. but like, while i enjoy the hurt/comfort in most of these fics, im kinda bothered by the complete lack of anger/lashing out in most of them. it's part of fandom's tendency to woobify the whumpee so to speak. file em down the the perfect demure victim. dont like that much. SO. it's basically a fic where zuko feels unsafe around hakoda and it manifests in him being grumpy and angry and really not nice to hakoda at all, or anyone for that matter

this one is meant to be a oneshot for sure, and has been sitting at 926 words for over a year lol. content warnings for uhh, anger?? as a trauma response?? shouting.....? i guess child abuse, but that's just cw: zuko tbh. this one is all just plotting and should probably be in my mini wips document but i haven't moved it yet. so here's the climax plotting to enjoy

fun to have a break scene like they usually happen, hakoda shouts for some reason or moves too fast towards on of this kids and zuko thinks he's going to hurt them, and there's the usual fanfic response (zuko either flinches real fuckin bad at shouting, or moves to protect the kids from hakoda). things are different though, cuz instead of zuko's nervous protection or sudden panic over misunderstanding the situation, he just gets mad. like, mad mad. like, "i thought he was mad before but hooo boy i was wrong" mad. he yells at hakoda, and maybe hakoda's finally figured it out finally, so he doesn't get as defensive as he usually would. but the sibs havent quite gotten it yet, so everything dissolves into a huge fight between all the kids.

water sibs are pissed about how zuko's treating their dad, zuko maybe doesn't see his shift in behavior and denies it, aang brings up that no actually you're kinda really bad around him, and then toph jumps in like well maybe if hakoda wasnt a bossy bitch we wouldnt have problems, and it just keeps fuckin going. zuko feels called out and, in the throes of an angry trauma response, is gonna react with hostility, and that wont help anything. (aang? "you've been acting really weird." zuko "how would you know what's weird? you don't know me enough to know what's weird. maybe im just an angry fucking person.")

at some point hakoda tries to get everyone to chill, but believe it or not, him raising his voice to be heard isn't very helpful in this moment. so zuko responds by quite literally telling hakoda to fuck off, and the water sibs get even more defensive, and yeah that made it worse. great. eventually hakoda resorts to nudging one of the kids to try and calm things down, cuz he knows he cant do anything here. aang or suki? aang as avatar mediator is nice, but gotta see where everyone stands emotionally at this point.

eventually things end with zuko storming off, and maybe the implication that that might've been it for zuko being part of the group? obviously everyone's kinda reluctant when that idea is brought up, but katara and zuko's tempers are butting heads, so no one else really gets a say when they seem to come to the conclusion that it's over. and then zuko storms off, and aang is panicked cuz first of all emotions, but secondly firebending teacher??? toph goes after zuko and the others sit and have a chat about what just happened.

i have no idea if i wanna finish this one. while i stand by my sentiment that a lot of whump disregards anger as a valid fear response because it's not "cute", i dont know if i actually think zuko would feel unsafe around hakoda. like, it's soemthing you could definitely argue, but i dont know if i care enough to be the one arguing it agdjgsjf (also i feel kinda rude with this fic cuz it's quite literally me going "i dont like how anyone wrote this ._." and that's meeean)

ok dumbass (affectionate). you know that one scene in s3 dragon episode where aang just goes "i dont care what everyone says, you're pretty smart zuko" and zuko smiles for like a second before he figures out wtf aang just implied, and we get like 4 frames of him going >:0 as he slides out of frame? that scene killed me, but ALSO. what if i made it angsty

basically there's a sort of recurrent theme in atla where zuko gets called dumb in various ways. azula's everything, iroh's valid criticism of his lack of forethought, this scene. and im like, man that would build up if you heard that kinda shit your whole life, especially if there were some valid criticisms to make like the ones to zuko's rashness. so like. new to the gaang zuko not being really able to adapt to the friendly ribbing the gaang does when it comes to calling him dumb, zuko feeling basically bullied and therefore not close to the gaang at all, and the gaang eventually figuring out how he feels and going "oh shit wait no" and preceeding to maoe zuko feel even MORE mocked by making a hard u turn into genuine praise of his cleverness and general smarts. it ends happy i swear agfjhsbf (there is no ending atm)

this one is also a oneshot, 1,067 words. no real content warnings beyond yknow, dont read it if you dont like the premise i explained

this one i stopped because i have issues with executive dyfunction and also i had to go find references to every time zuko got called dumb in the show and i love to put off tasks. cuz of the executive dyfunction

"We could—" He stops before he really gets anywhere, shakes his head, and wishes they'd ignore him. "Nevermind."

But they've all got their eyes on him now, and he's the genius who picked the lull in the conversation to interrupt, so no one's exactly itching to move on. There's just the quiet, where everyone's hoping someone else will have something to say. And Zuko's gone and offered up his idiotic somethings.

"Got an idea, Sparky?" Toph asks.

"No, it’s dumb. Don't worry about it."

Sokka shrugs, and Zuko can't tell if it's because he really doesn't care or if that's just what he expected to hear. "We're fresh out of not dumb ideas, so..."

Right. Throw everything at a wall and see what sticks. Zuko suppresses a sigh. "My family has a vacation house on Ember Island. I know for a fact that no one will be there. Really, we purposefully avoid it. And it's nearby."

The group is silent, and Zuko wants to melt into the ground.

"I said it was stupid."

"No, no, hold on." Sokka's got a hand on his chin, stroking it in a weird mix of actually serious and playing it up. "That could work."

Zuko feels himself frowning. "You don't have to patronize me."

"No, really! It's the last place anyone would think to find us! It's so stupid, it might actually work!"

Great.

[unfriedough]

‘Sleepless’- Zuko x fem!reader

Masterlist <3

An: GOOD DAY FRIENDS. So uhh this is like a modern au, where they still like, live in the western air temple, but they have PHONES! I read somewhere on wattpad about the idea that they had phones and it was way more modernistic, and I really liked it. But mine is a bit different, because the only modern thing here is the phones.

Anyways, this was fun, I liked doing texts :)

( I tried adding Image id’s and I hope I did that right, I didn’t do it as alt text cuz there weren’t enough characters allowed so I hope this will suffice :)

Summary:

Yn left during the night to think about things, what she didn’t expect was to have someone help her work through her emotions.

Warnings: Crying, bad thoughts, sad boy hours.

The moon rode high above the air temple. You didn’t know where you were going, but your feet were leading you somewhere. Your arms were folded, as you strayed further and further away from your group. This night was suffocating, it felt as if no matter what you did, this horrible feeling wouldn’t go away. It made you feel lonely. You had relatively no one to talk to. Sure your friends were great, but is it really worth it to bother them? You had decided long ago to keep to yourself, you were over reacting anyways.

You found yourself at the ledge of the far side of the temple, and took a seat. The ground cold and dusty, but you’d be surprised how easily one gets used to such a lifestyle.

Everything came crashing down. Tears flowed painfully fast, as your mind wandered. You felt yourself crumble, from the inside out. It felt like you were on the edge - edge of what? You weren’t exactly sure. Your hands rose to your face as you wiped your tears with your sleeves.

DING!

You jumped at the sudden noise, your hands making their way to the source. You pulled out your strawberry phone and checked the notifications.

(Image I.D: Photo of a lockscreen, with the time reading 00:08, the date being Wednesday 7 May. The background has multiple hearts within each other in different shades of beige. There is a notification form Messages that’s dated to have been sent just now. It’s from a contact called ‘Prince pouty’. The message simply says ‘You okay?’ End Image I.D)

You smiled after seeing the notification, for the big bad guy he used to be, he really is a big softy. You unlocked your phone before opening the messages app, and replying to his text.

(Image I.D: Photo showcasing a conversation between ‘prince pouty’ and Yn. Texts: Zuko: You okay?, Yn: Yeah why :), Zuko: Idk u just kinda- left, Yn: Ok genius why are u up then with an eye roll emoji, Zuko: That’s a really good point dianne, Yn: I’m just thinking. Zuko: Hm. Hold on I’m coming, Yn: Zuko- SLEEP, Zuko: I'M NOT GONNA SLEEP IF YOUR SAD, Yn: WHO SAID IM SAD, Zuko: Me., Yn: sends image of an emoji with big eyes looking to the side, with the text saying “I am looking away” End Image I.D)

You slipped your phone back into your pocket, letting legs sway in the air. It felt like such a long fall, yet you were extremely calm. No emotions at all. All the crying had passed, so now it was just sadness.

Not too long after, you felt a presence next to you. A really quiet presence. Zuko. You gazed at him, noting how he averted his eyes quickly. He carefully reached his hand out to hold yours, giving you time to pull away. You nodded to affirm it’s ok, and his hand fell onto yours, hands fitting together like a puzzle.

You two sat in a comfortable silence before Zuko spoke up.

“D-do you wanna talk about it?”

You tilted your head down, pondering his question. You eventually looked back to him, and opened your mouth to speak, but nothing came out. You burst into tears, breaking down yet again. The tears came running back and you were sobbing uncontrollably.

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”

You squeezed his hand to try to affirm it wasn’t his fault, although you weren’t sure if he got the message.

The firebender carefully scooted closer, wrapping his arms around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him. You brought your knees up to your chest, and rested your head on his shoulder. Your hands hid your face as you cried, trying your best to stay quiet.

After you had worked through some of the emotions, the only sound that could be heard was the occasional sniffle.

“Zuko,” you started.

He gave you a small, encouraging smile, but you still couldn’t continue the sentence.

“Yn, you don’t have to tell me what's bothering you, but I promise I only want to help.”

Those words seemed to help, as your voice slowly returned to talking capacity.

“I-I feel like I set all these expectations on myself in order to maintain friendships with the gang, but I can’t handle it anymore. A-any and every second of the day, I inch closer to a breakdown. I-I guess today was my breaking point.” you let out a strained laugh towards the end of that sentence.

Zuko coked his head to the side, you could tell he didn’t exactly understand what you meant, but feared asking.

“It’s like, if I’m not helpful enough to Katara and Suki, or if I’m not entertaining enough to Sokka and Toph, or if I’m not supportive enough with you or Aang, you’ll all abandon me,”

“Yn, that’s not true. None of us would ever abandon you. And you mean more to me then you’ll know,”

“Maybe, but what if you're wrong? What if that’s just your own opinion?”

“Listen, I know it may seem hard to see. But you’re an amazing person, and anyone who can’t see that is just dumb, well excluding Toph who can’t see - period.” That last part was said in almost a whisper, but you heard it.

You began laughing. Quietly, but it was still there. Slowly, the laugh morphed back into crying. Zuko held you tighter, stroking his hand through your hair (A/N: if this doesn’t work for you, you can just imagine him rubbing his soothing circles on your shoulder).

“I’m so sorry,”

“Yn, there is nothing to be sorry for,”

“For burdening you with my problems,” you sniffled, digging your face into his torso.

“You’re not burdening me, in fact, I’m happy you’re comfortable enough to share this with me,”

And in that second, you saw Zuko. Not as your friend Zuko, but as, Zuko.

His face began getting closer, and closer to meet in the middle with your lips. Just as you were about to touch,

“Yn?”

You hummed to show you were listening.

“I don’t want to do this when you're so emotionally vulnerable.”

You nodded, understanding where he was coming from.

“It’s not like I don’t wanna kiss you! I- Uh- Um- I do, but right now isn't the bes-”

You cut him off with a finger on his lip,

“Then, I guess we have tomorrow to look forward to.” you smiled.

He nodded, smiling, and stood up, reaching his hand out to help you up. You took it gratefully, giving him a playful nudge once you stood up.

And to your tent he walked you, hand in hand.

The next morning:

You had slept in that morning, going to bed late definitely taking a toll on you.

Not Zuko though.

Zuko had been up early, wondrous excitement in his eyes. He was less angsty than usual, still angsty, but enough of a change that it was noticeable to everyone else.

At breakfast, everyone (excluding Toph and Zuko) was exchanging weird looks at each other, referring to Zuko. He was actually smiling. That’s extremely rare. And also, where is Yn? She’s never late to breakfast.

“Uh, where’s Yn?” Katara asked.

“I think she’s still asleep.” Aang replied.

Nods of agreement were passed around,

“But she never sleeps in?” Sokka added.

“Maybe she was tired?” Suki tried.

“Or she’s just on her phone,” Toph scoffed.

Zuko was relatively quiet, and Toph took note of this.

“Do you happen to know anything, Sparky?”

“Nah, not really,”

“Liar.” She replied, way too fast.

Suddenly everyone was staring at Zuko, who looked mortified.

“Relax y'all, we just stayed up chatting,” you said, stretching as you neared the group.

You sat down next to Zuko, offering him a smile, before getting handed your bowl and beginning to eat.

Still, Sokka gave really weird glances between the both of you.

“Something here smells fishy...” Sokka observed.

Zuko raised a brow, trying to play it off cool.

“Fine, the wedding’s tomorrow,” you said calmly.

“AHA! Wait what?”

“She’s joking, idiot!” Toph snorted.

Sokka grumbled before resuming his meal. However, Toph didn’t let how fast Zuko’s heart rate accelerated at the mention of the wedding slide.

Breakfast was over, and the gang dispersed. Zuko decided to give the avatar a short break whilst he dealt with some- business. He swallowed built up fears of this moment, walking over to your tent. He knocked carefully on a nearby stone.

“Who is it?”

“Zuko.”

“Alright well come in!”

He slowly entered the tent and sat by you.

“I believe you are in debt, sir.” you started, “I would like to receive my payment now,”

“Hm, very well.” he played along.

The pair turned to each other, Zuko turning red just thinking about it. You carefully took his hands in yours, and gave him a ‘are you sure you still want this?’ look, he nodded.

In a matter of seconds, your lips crashed into his.

The kiss went on for a few seconds, both of you pulling away and resting your foreheads on one another’s. Then you turned around, and sat between his legs, facing the small mirror you had sloppily hung up. His chin rested on your head, and his arms were around your waist.

“Yn?”

“Mhm?”

“Do you want to like, be my,” you could tell Zuko was scared to finish the sentence, so you did.

“If you're asking me to be your girlfriend, then yeah, I’d like that.”

You saw Zuko smile from the mirror, blushing slightly as he gazed at you. Once he saw the mirror, particularly your eyes watching him, he became even redder.

You began giggling uncontrollably.

“Okay, well, boyfriend, we should probably get back to the gang now,”

“Okay, I love you,”

“I love you too,”

Zuko left the tent, but not before he got a shorter goodbye kiss from you. You stayed behind to clean the messy tent.

“I KNEW IT, I’M TELLING EVERYONE!” Sokka screamed, pointing accusedly towards Zuko.

So much for privacy.

An: that was a long one! So uh this still needs to be proof read idk if i’ll ever do that tho, but I had fun writing it for now. ALSO????? THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO FOLLOWED!!! <333

(UPDATE: I proof read it :D)

As always, hope you enjoyed this story, SEE YA!

[tobi-momo]

A Comfortable First Date :)

@awmahleebakugou said:

okay so i’ve never asked before (god i hope your requests are open, i’m sorry if they’re not) but i found you just now and your writing gives me life. i hope i’m not missing any rules, but i wanted to req a kind of first date scenario (the date can be your choice but i’m thinking something out of their comfort zone that the reader kinda eases them into having fun and they actually end up having a good time) with bakugou, todoroki, and dabi. a fluff type thing with a fem reader. they don’t have to be all in one, they can be separate but i really wanted to see your take on this with bakugou. thanks for your time, and i hope you can do this req cuz i love your writing :)

a/n: dflhgdfjhgdfkjgh you make me malfunction omg- i jut started writing a couple weeks ago and to hear that you love my writing makes me smile so hard kfsdjgdfkjg omg ty <3 and, lucky for you, my requests are def open and feel free to come back any time! (if you do want to see my rules tho here’s a link: rules<3 (you didn’t req anything out of my comfort zone tho so dw )

Pairing(s): Bakugou x Reader, Todoroki x Reader, Dabi x Reader

Type: Headcanons

Genre: Fluff :)

Warnings: cursing, youre uncomfy for a lil- but it gets better- FLUFF SKDJGFJSD dabi’s is SO mf short im sorry skhgdlfg

A Comfortable First Date :)

Bakugou:

Man are you glad yall came with ya friends-

You were excited, but anxious. you have never been on a date before, let alone the one and only bakugou katsuki, so ya. you were nervous asf

On the ride, the radio played loudly while you rolled the window down and caught the warm breeze in your face, you were just wildin out in the car, making katsuki laugh in hopes of relieving some stress

when you arrive, it was a different story. there were so many people and the water was dark, and this is gonna be his first time seeing *this much of your body. Your nerves were not helping

“Yo, Y/n, you nervous or somethin’?” Calls Sero, averting your attention from the packed beach

“Uh, no, not at all,” you smile walking over to the trunk of the car, picking up towels

kirishima and mina walk together to find a spot, denki and sero leave you and katsuki alone and immediately start throwing the frisbee around

��god this was so awkward’ you thought, although it really wasnt, it was just in your head

“Here, give those to me,” katsuki whispers as he takes the towels from your grasp, taking notice of the way you rub your fingers together, the way you keep looking at the ground

He can tell that youre unsure, but he knows that you wont be like this for long- i mean- its bakugou, right?

once yall get to your spot, kirishima and mina catch up to you guys, talking about whats more manly yall cant convince me they dont do this- im convinced mina teaches him how to drink his respect women juice although we know he drinks plenty

You dont even have time to realize katsukis arms around your things, picking you up and throwing you on his shoulders

You play smack his back, laughing and yelping at the same time while he runs towards the water

“kastUKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING??” all he can respond with is his laughter before he sets you down gently in the water

“What, you thought I was gonna throw you or somethin’?” he smirks

“Uh, YEAH? I DID! You scared the crap outta me, babe,” you laugh off, the water suddenly feeling a lot better than you thought it would

He’s still laughing, almost gripping his stomach while kirishima and mina join sero and denki with the frisbee

The face he makes when you splash water on him is-

hmmm

How do i say it

flabbergasted? no. thats a weird ass word. He was like that tho

His face was like 😂 > 😳 > 😶 > 😐 > 😑 > 😐 > 😏😈

yk? yk

He splashes back

hard

so skip to an hour later when you guys are tackling each other in the water holy shit this is soft i cant

yall are having a mf BLAST and yall ended up playing beach volleyball too- have yall seen the episode in avatar where azula, mai, ty lee, and zuko play beach volleyball?

ya basically that but yall actually have fun and its more playful- but yall DESTROY the other teams

you guys end up staying longer than expected and you sleep in the car on the way back with his hand on your thigh but shhh

Todoroki:

ok, this may be dif because i believe movie dates are awkward asFF and i just jfhfkg ugh yk

but anyways~

yall arrive to the theatre, buy your snacks and get your ticket ew ew ew ew

and you literally dont know what to do-

where do you sit? where do you put your hands? what do you do for the rest of the movie? all of these questions filled your head when you guys entered the room, it was empty

great.

You guys take your seats, the commercials starting while you guys start small talk

you and him make fun of the trailers while you guys are literally sitting down like 🧍🧍

So awkward even though yall are talking- like, who takes popcorn first, who gets to put their arm on the middle rest? just overcomplicating everything in your brain

until a skittle falls down your shirt sorry if you dont like skittles but cmon their skittles

coming out the bottom of your shirt, you pick it up, then look at shouto’s soft, playful smirk before he looks away like he didnt do anything

that cheeky bastard

so, you throw it back, knocking his head then falling down the seat to the ground 

he looks back at you with and incredulous expression- not a serious one, but a look of sarcastic surprised

when his hand grabs popcorn out of the bucket, your eyes widen and you quickly leap out of your seat, running out of the isle and up the stairs to the top row of seats, being chased by shouto, and eventually trapped in the corner before getting a face full of popcorn

“Shou!” you laugh out, and you can hear the faint sound of his giggles piercing through yours

Your hands are placed on his chest, and his have dropped down your forearms, holding you in place while you laugh into him

“What?”

“There’s popcorn in my hair now,”

“Oh,” he takes a gentle hand and takes the popcorn out of your hair, tossing it to the side

“This place is a mess now,” he adds

You just laugh it off, taking notice of the fact that the movie has already started

“Shou, the movie,” you point, him turning around to the big screen

“The movie’s boring”

“It’s barely started!” you chuckle

your voice was interrupted by more popcorn hitting your face, and Shouto holding the bucket

“You did not just do what i think you just did.”

“Maybe,”

“I’m gonna get you back for that!” you shout as he starts to walk back to your seat, you grab the box of candy and quickly open it, pouring everything on his head before rushing down the stairs to the other side of the room

lemme just say yall were kicked out PFT JSDHGFSDKJHF

ok but yall didnt care shsdlfsfg

you hung out more after that too, not wanting the day to end :)

Dabi: 

why 

on your first date

would you go

CLUBBING??

like- why??? 

when you arrived, you really do be FINE AS FUUUCKK and everyone is thirsting over you periodt get into it

and when you see him, his eyes widen, admiring your figure

you just smile bc you’ve never been to a club before and set your bag on the counter, taking a seat at the bar next to him

what do you do? are you supposed to order something orrrrrrr? are you supposed to talk? are you supposed to dance with him? like wtf

the most awkward feelings are making home in your stomach

just before you could rush off, his hand grabs yours, making your head whip up for your eyes to meet his, silently reassuring you

You smile before he stands up, and leads you to the dance floor, guiding you with your hips to the music

you place your hands on his shoulders, letting him sway you to the beat, before you turn yourself and dance on him, forgetting your problems

he smirks, running his fingertips down your back while you move your hips on him

after a couple drinks you guys were clicking, like really, really, really, clicking and you felt good

so did he, and he wanted to know you more, so after a couple more dances and drinks, yall were giddy and shi 😏

And yall decided it was time to get to know each other more😏😏😏

when you guys woke up with a hangover, you made him breakfast and yall talked ab everything under the stars omg yall are made for each other istg

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

thats it im sorry dabi’s is so short i just chugged rosé and im hanging out with friends be happy <3

taglist: @toosharkinternet @hitosushi @combat-wombatus @katsuhera @zerohawks

[aurieeeeeenyx]

now that i finally got around to it. can i hear about here there be dragons

omg YES ofc thank you so much for the ask i appreciate it so so much :D

ok i was assuming that you saw the first lines post i made which included this but i actually don't know for sure so . it's an atla fic and uhhh it's In The Works right now which means that i have no plot only vibes and too much worldbuilding but you didn't hear that from me

here's the first line for anyone who missed that post:

Of all the things to come out of this wretched marriage proposal, becoming a dragon was not something Zuko had expected.

so BASICALLY! the premise is that i took canon and fistfought it in a dennys at 3 am and won, so take everything you think you know about atla and throw it away now. there's no bending now but there IS magic and please ask me about it but maybe . in a little bit because i haven't figured it out yet i mean what.

essentially the world consists of the fire nation/water tribes/earth kingdom etc etc but Different because i said so and now the southern water tribe is not in the south pole they are just on a very southern archipelago that is very creatively named the southern isles (yes there are northern isles, and no those are not actually the isles' [full] names but i haven't settled on names definitively so for now and colloquially they are the southern isles). the fire nation is not Actively waging war against literally everyone and also they're called the fire kingdom now. i think. that's probably going to change but yes they are in the desert and the royal palace is on a volcano and i think i've spent too much thinking about the architectural integrity of that very palace but actually most of the plot isn't even set there so . like . yk what's a writer gonna do, ACTUALLY worldbuild the important parts of the setting???

(kidding. kind of.)

as the first sentence said, zuko gets wrangled into a marriage proposal that he is...less than happy about, because even if the world is different, ozai is still an asshole, just a little more politically minded instead of militaristic, and also azula's a bit less insane/canon-typical azula and likes her brother a bit more. slightly less dysfunctional siblings yk yk but not suuuuper important cuz she doesn't really come up a whole lot anyways

SO zuko finds out like three weeks before his arranged wedding that he's gonna be marrying some girl from an influential earth kingdom family and he takes it...honestly as well as can be expected? also the girl's name is peony and she was supposed to be bitchy but i actually love her with my whole heart and she turned out way different and yeah i really just dig myself into deeper and deeper holes don't i

well it's a bit complicated but essentially peony falls for zuko and zuko noticeably does Not reciprocate and some emotional wonky magic happens that i have to iron out the details of but in the end zuko gets turned into a dragon. which is Bad because dragons have basically been hunted to extinction in the fire kingdom and possibly also just about everywhere else in the world so he gets the hell out of there (not that he knows where he's going except Away) and eventually ends up on the southern isles, kinda because he was so exhausted from flying that he lowkey passed out over the ocean and he was lucky he's buoyant because instead of drowning the water carried him the rest of the way to the isles and dumped him on the beach, where a certain other character finds him...

aaaand i'm going to stop there because this post is super long already and i dont want to drop too many spoilers this early haha but if you are interested please please PLEASE send me more asks i'd love to talk !! thanks again for the ask !!

[joyful-soul-collector]

So this is kinda random and weird, but do you have any tips/suggestions on how to reveal backstory? I’ve got my character’s backstory all planned out and it’s essential to the story, I just can’t think of a way to talk about it with giving an info dump. Thanks!

Sure no problem! I actually have a bit of a pattern I do when doing character backstory reveals! I may or may not have learned it from watching Avatar: The Last Airbender several times, and I have named it just now: 

Little Hints, Big Reveal.

Ok so the first thing is, obviously, to give Little Hints. Don’t do info dumps at the beginning, that’s the rule about info dumps. Not at the beginning. You can have Little Hints be things like:

something a person says (Avatar Example: Iroh asks Zuko if he remembers what happened “the last time you dueled a master”, it pans over to show only Zuko’s scar, and he says “I will never forget”)

something a person does (Avatar Example: Zuko’s general aggression hinting at his past)

what their goals are (Avatar Example: Zuko is focused on finding the Avatar, and the reason for that is tied to his backstory)

honestly things they wear/what they look like (Avatar Example: Zuko has a giant burn on the side of his face. What the heck is up with that?)

how other people act around them (Avatar Example: People are pretty wary around Zuko, except for Iroh. Does Iroh know something we don’t?)

Any of other hints you can think of! As long as they don’t outright tell you what happened/their backstory, then it’s good!

Now, we get to the Big Reveal. Now, this is gonna sound a lot like an info-dump, and that’s because it is! But the key is, it’s not all the info. Here’s the thing: 

Info dumps are okay. You just don’t want an overwhelming amount on info. 

Now here’s my Avatar Example: Season 1, Episode 12: The Storm. This is the episode where you get the info dump of Zuko’s backstory. 

BUT HERE’S THE THING: You don’t just get an info dump on Zuko, you also get one on Aang. This is where you need to get creative with your info-dumping because the way the writers of Avatar avoiding the overwhelming amount of info is they alternated between storylines. There were three storylines in that episode: 1. Zuko’s Backstory, 2. Aang’s Backstory, and 3. Sokka getting caught in a storm on a fishing boat. That way, you got a bit of each story line, but didn't get bored!

Now don’t worry, there’s more than one way to do this besides having multiple storylines, though that is a great option:

my personal favorite are when something happens and a character gets angry and basically spills their heart out to everyone. It’s the one that happens most in my writing, I call them Rants (like a normal rant but with a capital R for Emphasis)

a character sticks their nose where it doesn’t belong. Oops I just read your diary, oops I went into your secret vault and found a bunch of crazy shit, oops just overheard you and your family arguing, oops I pestered your friend into telling me what was going on (needless to say, these are called Oopsies, cuz I’m original)

something tied to their backstory comes back to haunt them and they have to explain what’s going on. Some examples are: an illness getting worse, a person from their past showing up, a literal ghost coming to haunt them, etc. (I of course call these Old Ghosts)

Any other ways you can think of, this bit is usually more invested in the story, it’s different for each book!

NOW HERE’S A IMPORTANT POINT: DO NOT GIVE ALL THE INFORMATION! There must be more left to learn after this info dump!

Because here’s the thing...

They give you Zuko’s backstory, but not all of it. They make sure you still have more to learn. We learn that Zuko’s father was the one who burned him, but we still have questions! You know why?

Because they gave us more little hints!!!!! What’s Zuko’s dad look like?? Who’s this gal in the front row who looks like she’s really enjoying this??? Will Zuko learn to be better somehow??? AAAAA

And like the like the cycle of the Avatar, it starts all over again. More Little Hints, more Big Reveals. 

The number of hints and reveals varies from story to story based on how long it is, but in my experience, there are often at least 2 big reveals for a character: One at the Climax/Middle, and one at the End. This is not a required rule, it’s just something I have personally observed. 

I hope this helps!! Let me know what you all think!

[dirtyrottenraskel]

my take on yueki's personalities

yue 

notes / personality

cocky (but also like understated confidence - r e g a l af) 

kind of a nerd

maybe a little entitled, and a little bratty and suki loves to indulge her or to rile her up depending on her mood

books

seems soft but made of steel

strong sense of duty

socially intelligent - can be manipulative and suki (the dork) thinks it is so hot 

aloof queen bee typa beat

supportive, both in ur day to day and in going after your big moral life goals 

deep water - steady and powerful, often underestimated

untold depths, private yet surprisingly nurturing - master of deflecting away from herself

political nerd - well read, and when she has someone she trusts not to take advantage of her, she goes OFF 

distrusting of most people, has been used and ignored and underestimated her whole life

patient - homegirl knows how to play the long game

excellent at pai sho / chess 

she and suki have epic battles of wits - dif types of strategy but both are really into it and get a little too competitive (multiple board games have had to be replaced over the years)

loves travel bc wasn’t allowed to much, esp when she was sick 

was super repressed growing up - never let her be herself or really have any sort of independence

used to sneak out and wander around in rebellion and casually sabotage plans and decisions she didn’t agree with 

introverted, many opinions but keeps them to herself, discreet but well spoken

weaponizes secrets and information - doesn’t often use it but...she could

definitlyyyyy worries and overthinks and re-evaluates - worries ab social politics a lot

obsessive about picking things - wants it to be perfect

shes growing into her confidence as a leader

prefers quite intimate places

incredibly romantic

classic lit

planner for the future - visionary

kind / sweet / gentle - yes, but that’s also her “front” to a degree (seriously, i feel like she gets painted as so sweet and submissive and one dimensional by the fandom a lot of times and it freakin kills me)

INFJ-T (The Advocate) ((yes this is from 16p which i know is not super accurate but u can still catch her overall vibes from it ya know)

Creative/insightful/principled/compassionate/altruistic

sensitive/reluctant to open up/perfectionist/prone to burnout/not a fan of the ordinary

friendships / relationships

(<> indicates that they’re one of her best friends)

sokka - puppy love crushes, laugh ab it now, get into deep late night talks about responsibilities and leading, water tribe culture, prank wars (no one believes sokka when he says yue is a mean prank master (expect suki comes to see it in action lol))

katara - <> badass women friendship, totally would go to matches and protests together, tough girl shit, waterbending practice/duels - start of cautious, but then get rough in a good way bc they trust each other, they do water tribe food adventures together

toph - indulges her chaos, bonding over stupid royal upbringings, odd yet weirdly endearing pair

zuko - both sort of standoffish gay royals, but once they come to see that they are friends - take up similar spaces though, so only hang out in a group or rarely by themselves, they do hang out at like political parties and stuff when they get more comfortable together

aang - <> he has an impressive world view, yue is super studied and well read, so she and aang nerd out over past cultures together, and also their peace keeping nature, they have tea together often - usually after she and katara wipe the floor w/ each other

clothing / aesthetic:

blues and pale colors

classy and understated wealth

like those cute feminine button down shirts

dresses

like cold weather classy

complicated braids

sort of soft girl aesthetic?

pleated skirts !!!

i feel like she would wear ethically sourced fur (i don’t wear fur but idk how to get it in an ethical way - maybe it’s just fake??)

knit sweaters and skinny jeans and heeled ankle boots

light academia !!!

hella funky earrings - to mark her native pride and also cuz gay

from my readings, tattoos have a lot of cultural significance for Inuit women, and so i feel like yue would totally have some (when she comes of age ofc) 

suki

notes / personality 

extroverted 

also very strategic 

more spontaneous tho - will totally calculate the odds in a spilt second in her head and then just go for it

like still a careful planner, but willing to say fuck it, yolo if it seems right 

reflects on her mistakes, but more in like a healthy way - unless it was a leadership mistake, then it eats her up inside - worries more ab keeping her girls safe and making the right call

likes lively places

total bashful romantic

manages the present and the short term - realist

loves to do lists 

a little punch happy - loves to make violent threats, but also does it out of excitement and she’s just a really physical person tbh

steady, can come off as stubborn and abrasive but she really just wants what’s best for everyone she loves

harsh on herself and worries about her girls a lot 

always ends up in the oddest situations 

totally would kick someone’s ass for being racist/sexist/homophobic/etc 

dedicated to her training and her regime 

not a great cook, but she can manage 

would drink monsters 

has a weird relationship with femininity - took her awhile to reconcile strength and toughness and being assertive and aggressive with also wanting to feel pretty and feminine and embracing being a girl and how those things can coincide and amplify each other

abandonment issues - parents absent/dead 

was imprisoned - obvi she had several almost successful escape attempts, but she got really close to breaking 

was incredibly independent really early, grew up really fast and tries to make up for that now by sometimes being reckless 

tough/assertive/woman of action 

dry sense of humor/sarcastic - not good at nickname/pun humor tho

practical/dedicated/strong-willed/direct/honest/reliable/loyal/patient

stubborn/judgmental/difficult to relax/difficulty expressing emotions/too selfless 

friendships / relationships

(<> indicates that they’re one of her best friends)

sokka - <>  man they’re like platonic soulmates - she beat him up, and now they spar all the time, totally funny and crack jokes all the time, go skating together, they do shitty art together, and then show their lovers after zuko and yue come back from their high society mixers, broke her out of prison, m/f friendship !!! 

katara - also sparring buddies (suki will throw down at any literally moment (and tbh so will katara)), not close but will hang in a group - go to each other for advice 

toph - <> listen these two wreak havoc together, they help each other out a lot, i feel like they’re shopping buddies (similar enough style to frequent the same shops) toph knows suki won’t judge her for wanting to feel pretty and suki knows toph will be honest, they are both blunt sarcastic assholes and get along like a house on fire 

zuko - <> shows zuko how to like,,,enjoy things (and how to let go of some of that pressure to be always right and the adult and in charge bc they were raised with so much responsibility on their shoulders even tho they were just kids)? she is also super protective of him (once she trusts him), one of the only ppl who can match suki fully in hand to hand combat, both do the Disappointed Parent Look when the group falls into chaos, but by themselves, the two of them end up in hijinks

aang- suki enjoys his optimism and they’re just chill bros, they love exploring abandoned placed together 

clothing / aesthetic

sporty and skater mixed 

ripped jeans, crewnecks, vans 

green and yellow and dark red 

gym clothes/athleisure - lifting style gym clothes - cut off t-shirts and bike shorts

skirts too, likes to play into femininity

she’s a gold jewelry kinda girl - but stuff that won’t hinder her movements 

necklaces that end in the hollow of her throat & occasionally rings

definitely cuffs all of her jeans (it’s just bisexual culture ya know)

so many crop tops - some came like that, some were more of a diy project

yueki’s relationship!!!

nerd/jock solidarity 

feel the burden of responsibility and the weight on their shoulders 

they create a safe space between them, full of trust and warmth and vulnerability 

yue will read suki sappy passages from poetry books while suki polishes her fans 

they slow dance in the kitchen a lot 

they get good at ordering takeout - and they have some weird decision making process that only they understand - bc neither of them are great cooks 

yue would feel jealous of suki and sokka, if it weren’t for how stupid in love sokka was with zuko and yue can see that suki really only has eyes for her 

yue is taller than suki and it amuses her to no end to pick suki up and carry her away from a fight (we all know suki could get away if she wanted to, but when ur hot tall sexy gf throws u over her shoulder,,,,,,u don’t complain)

joke they’ve adopted kataang and zukka, bc they’re all dummies, but in reality every last one of them is stupid LMAO 

they love to do each other’s hair and it’s like super intimate and really cute 

sometimes it’s these epic elaborate hairstyles and then at other times, they try to see how many ponytails they can fit on suki’s head and how many little braid yue can do 

they travel EVERYWHERE 

since yue is royalty and suki is her body guard,,,, well i mean, they totally have to see these kingdoms they are doing trade deals with in person 

it helps that they're friends with a lot of them 

they stay over in everything from camping so they can stargaze to ritzy hotels with hot tubs in the bathroom 

yue gives suki rocks she finds on all their travels and suki lines them up on their mantle around the pictures of them in increasingly weird locations 

suki loves guarding yue’s meetings bc she gets to watch her absolutely rip a new one into misogynistic old men and it never fails to bring her joy 

While yue doesn’t love getting attacked, the ruthless efficiency suki defends her with is like,,,,,stupid attractive 

[imagines-dreams]

Hiya could you do a dating zuko and being really shy headcanon please X?

Ok, I wrote so mannnnyyy headcanons, starting from Book 2 to frickin marriage, so feel free to read part of it of a lot, wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading cuz holy shit this was long and i just didn’t edit it well, so... Hopefully, some people enjoy it though! So, happy reading!

Ok, look, any relationship with Zuko will need a lot of build up. He’s only been in one relationship, and that was with a girl he’s known since he was a kid. Other than her, the only person he truly trusted was his uncle.

And who could blame him? His father abused him, so becoming his friend, let alone someone he’d love, would be a long process.

So, any relationship will be a major slowburn. With someone very shy? It would be that slowburn that everyone would dream of in fiction.

First meet in Ba Sing Se when he was still going by Lee. He was very closed off, but his uncle wasn’t. Uncle would be thinking something along the lines of “A nice, quiet girl?! Who just wants to lay low and would probably make a great niece-in-law?! Perfect for my nephew who keeps getting into trouble!”

Still, neither you nor “Lee” could really deny him. 

Uncle “Mushi” had learned from trying to set Lee up with Jin. No real date. Just friends first. 

There were a lot of dinners with Lee and his uncle among other friends the two had made in Ba Sing Se. Uncle Mushi usually told funny stories, and he commanded the room. Lee was just quiet. He smiled sometimes, you could count how many times you saw him smile during dinner on your hands.

Still, you two talked sometimes, mostly laughing and sharing confused looks at his uncle’s outrageous stories. 

You also would be able to see him every so often when you were shopping or just going about your day. 

You also knew they were firebenders. Or at least Fire Nation. Fire Nation refugees weren’t too common, but they weren’t rare either. After seeing Zuko write firelily once, it confirmed your suspicions. 

You didn’t say anything though. If they wanted to tell you, they’d tell you.

One night, you saw a crowd of people. They were gathered around Lee, and Lee had a sword?! “Lee!”

The boy fighting your friend glanced at you and scoffed. “Is that even your name? Or do you lie to your girlfriend, too?”

Too distracted by your fear for Lee to even process what the other boy said, you bended the earth around his opponent. One wall to block him from Lee. Another three to keep him boxed in. 

Your legs ached. Bending took way too much energy, especially since you hadn’t used it in years. You heaved and fell to your knees. 

Someone said your name.

Lee bent down and held out his hand.

You gladly took it and let him help you up. “Sorry,” you managed to say as you fell into him. You were so weak.

Lee pulled your arm over his shoulder so he could properly support you. He was talking to someone, and from your peripheral vision, you could see the uniform of the Dai Lee. 

Scared, you leaned more into Lee. 

One of the Dai Lee came to you. “Why were you earthbending?” he asked.

“Uncle.” Lee shoved you behind him and right into his uncle’s arms. “She was defending me.”

“She shouldn’t have been earthbending regardless, especially in such a violent matter.”

“Violent?” Lee’s grip on the sword tightened. “The only one who was violent was him.” He pointed at the other boy. “Accusing my uncle and me for being firebenders.”

You reached out, regaining your energy as each second passed, and placed it on his shoulder. “Lee.”

He looked back at you and sighed. Thankfully, he let go of his sword.

“We are refugees,” Lee’s uncle explained. 

A few other people from the crowd rallied for them. They knew Lee and his uncle in for the delicious tea they served. 

All while the boy Lee was fighting was screaming at everyone, how stupid they all were when Lee and his uncle were obviously firebenders. He was taken away with the Dai Lee.

You admitted that you knew they were firebenders that night. And it didn’t go badly! Their jaws dropped, and it was comical to see Lee’s face contort into more expressions you had never seen before. 

After that, the friendship only grew stronger. You picked up a few other things about Lee as well. A father he wanted to impress. An absent mother. A weird knowledge about ships and the war. There were more glances and subtle touches, him adjusting your collar, handing him tea so your fingers brushed ever so slightly, bumping elbows at the table. You even got into the schoolgirl habit of writing Lee’s name and yours and staring at him from across the room.

Then… they disappeared. 

It wasn’t uncommon for refugees to disappear, but usually they’d tell someone where they were going, if they were in trouble. 

You expected them to reappear, but nothing happened. Of course you were sad they were gone, but that’s how life went in Ba Sing Se, and you didn’t know enough about them to go searching, nor the time. 

Especially since shortly after Lee and his uncle disappeared, Ba Sing Se was conquered. Everything changed. Benders were being rounded up. More people were disappearing. The walls were all coming down. Money was scarce. Soldiers patrolled the entire area. 

During this time, you wanted to lay low, but people were getting hurt. You could only stand by for so long. 

You started to train, every night, hoping your earthbending would get better. 

So, when Ba Sing Se went up in flames, you joined in to fight for the city you felt safe in. You found Uncle Mushi there, fighting with some organization called the White Lotus. You also found out that his name was Iroh, not Mushi.

After fighting off Fire Nation supremacists, you were invited to the Jade Dragon. 

“Hey. Zuko, or, um, I guess Lee, here.” 

You had laughed and hugged him tight. “I was so scared for you,” you admitted. “I’m glad you’re ok.”

It wasn’t until one of his friends cleared their throat that you realized this hug was the first hug you’ve given him. On top of that, you were holding onto each other for quite some time. 

So, the two of you split up. 

However, throughout the get together, you stayed close with L- Zuko. You didn’t really talk much to his friends. Just the introductions and listening to their stories. They seemed really happy to tell you about how they defeated the Fire Nation and ended the war. 

Who wouldn’t be?

“You’re the Fire Lord?” you asked Zuko, away from the others.

“Oh, yeah, I am now.”

You gazed up at him. “That’s incredible.” You laughed. “Should I have bowed? I feel like I should’ve done something.”

“No. No, it’s fine.”

“Oh, then, I can still call you Zuko?”

He laughed a little. “Just not Lee.”

Just like that, you had new friends. As the year went on, you developed relationships with everyone. Sokka loved to creatively use your earthbending. (He said Toph would never let them make toys with earthbending.) Aang loved making you laugh, so he loved to tell you jokes and play games with you. Toph loved, well, trying to train you. She wasn’t the best teacher for you, too demanding and very rude, but you did learn the basics of metalbending after a few months. 

Katara was the kindest out of all of them, and you both loved telling each other stories about your lives before the end of the war. Suki insisted on training you. Even though there was no more war to fight, you had to admit, she was the perfect teacher for you. Kind but stern. 

You started to travel with everyone, giving every long-winded plan and daring choice a logical backing. Making sure the risks they were taking weren’t too great.

You visited the Zuko the most. It even got to the point that Zuko had a room made for you, with your own closet and Earth Kingdom decor. 

There were still the longing gazes and fleeting touches. You always took the opportunity to help him with his formal attire. After all, you didn’t want him to stress himself too much with that scar on his chest. 

But nothing ever happened. Even though Zuko trusted you and you trusted him, neither of you were brave enough to make the first move. 

The gaang was very fed up with it, honestly. Sokka and Toph came up with the most obvious ways to literally shove you two towards each other. Once at a diplomatic gathering in the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka pulled you towards the middle of the dance floor while Toph shoved Zuko in your direction until the two of you bumped into each other. 

Aang was in on it, too. He requested music.

Zuko and you danced, blushing and awkwardly trying to sway without being awkward. 

“I hate my friends,” he mumbled.

You laughed, the awkwardness immediately gone. “They are kinda horrible, aren’t they?” 

Still no confession, but you still had a great time dancing with your best friend.

(The gaang wanted to pull their hair out. Seriously, you two were so obvious!)

As the years passed, Zuko and you acted more and more like a couple. Where there were brushes of skin against skin slowly became holding each other’s hand during boring meetings. Where there were short-lived gazes unseen by the other became smiles and knowing looks after an easy fight. Where there were hugs before leaving became long embraces followed by kisses on the cheek. 

There were some more intense moments, like when Ozai’s supporters attacked the palace and you ran out of safety and to Zuko. While you weren’t as great as a fighter, you could still do a solid defense, and when it came to Zuko, you defended him with your life. 

“What are you doing here?!”

You grunted as you put up a wall between the two of you and the Ozai sympathizers. “Stopping you from burning the palace down apparently!”

Even after all those years, he had a tendency to be reckless.

Or the time some Water Tribe assassins tried attacking you and him and he shoved you behind him to defend you.  “Stay back!”

“Let me help!”

Everyone just assumed you were a couple, and really, nobody could blame them. 

The confession came quietly. 

You and Zuko had just finished a shift at the Jasmine Dragon. It was a day of serving the people of the Ba Sing Se, of smiles and laughter, and of shared inside jokes between you, Zuko, and Uncle Iroh.

And when it came time to go to sleep, Uncle Iroh was distraught. “I can’t believe this happened!” He dug through the cabinets, throwing various things around the small apartment. “I knew you were coming, my dear, and I forgot to get a new bed for you!”

You laughed. “Uncle, it’s ok. You’ve been busy.”

Zuko just crossed his arms. “We’ve been preparing for her visit for weeks.”

“Which is why I can’t believe I forgot to make a bed!” Uncle iroh lamented. He stroked his beard. “Hm, I would share my bed, but I tend to snore and move quite a bit. Zuko! Why don’t you share your bed?”

While your cheeks burned in embarrassment, Zuko only glared at his uncle. “Fine.”

To be fair, Zuko and you have slept in the same bed before. Sometimes work went on for too long and you two happened to fall asleep in the same bed. But all those times before were by accident on a bed meant for two. Not on a bed meant for one and not on purpose.

After the awkward tiptoeing around and offerings to sleep on the floor, finally, the two of you agreed to sleep on the bed. Zuko held you close, your back to his chest. Both of you purposely chose that position so that no one could see the other blush. 

As the years, actually minutes, passed by, the both of you relaxed into it, and it was almost natural. 

“You know,” you said softly, “that I love you, right?”

Zuko was quiet, and you hoped to the spirits he was sleeping. After a while with no answer, you took a deep breath and tried to go to sleep. 

That is, until Zuko admitted,  “I’m not good at these things.”

“Neither am I.”

The arm around your waist tightened, and you couldn’t help but snuggle closer into his embrace. 

“I love you, too,” he said. 

That was enough for the two of you, at least for one night. You two loved each other and that was enough.

The next morning was busy. The schedule was just to serve at the Jasmine Dragon and you had an appointment with some historians who wanted to know more about Zuko’s first time in Ba Sing Se. Zuko and Iroh, however, had a meeting at the palace.

Zuko was rushing around, trying to find all the pieces of his popper attire before leaving, while Uncle Iroh was trying to get him to eat breakfast. You were just smiling at all of it, pouring some cups of tea.

Zuko glanced at the window. “Uncle, we’re going to be late! Do you even have your clothes?”

“Of course, I have. But did you have food yet? At least some tea.”

“Yes, tea!” You lifted up a fresh cup of jasmine. “Zuko, you should have something before you leave.”

“I don’t need-” 

His eyes meant yours, and you only handed him the cup of jasmine tea. “You’re welcome. Also, you have some dim sum in your bag.”

He shook his head, downed the entire hot cup, and called again, “Uncle!” He smiled at you. “Thanks, bye.” He kissed you and was out the door. 

It took a few seconds, and he had left you speechless. And judging by the way he didn’t say anything before he ran out the door with Uncle Iroh behind him, he didn’t notice.

It took you a while to realize what exactly happened. 

Zuko downed some tea you gave him.

He turned around, called his uncle, then just kissed you.

He just leaned over, pressed his lips against yours for a second, maybe less. 

Then, he left.

You loved him, and he loved you. The two of you admitted that you loved each other, but the topic was too heavy and scary to clarify it further. Was that kiss a sign? Were you two together? Was that kiss some sort of rite of passage?

The rest of your day went by in a fog. 

You served tea. You smiled and had polite conversations. You listened to historians and corrected a fact here or there. 

And when Zuko finally came home, you were preparing the food you had bought, and you were frozen for a second.

“Uncle’s gone out for dinner.” He let his hair down and ran his fingers through it. 

(He had been growing it out. You had learned that hair was really important in Fire Nation culture, and apparently, before he and Uncle left for Ba Sing Se, they cut their hair, some sort of symbol that they weren’t working for the Fire Nation anymore)

You just hummed and started to prepare a serving for Uncle’s late night snack. But then! Zuko was behind you and looking at the food you had gotten.

And you were silently screaming on the inside! Because if you just turned around, and if he just leaned down, you two would be kissing. And he already kissed you! But he didn’t seem to remember that! He was just! Casually talking to you!

“What did you get?” he asked. Such an innocent question from a man who wasn’t innocent because he had kissed you

You barely managed to stutter, “O-oh, some, uh, pho.” You smiled and handed him his share. “Here!” Immediately, you turned back around to avoid him

And Zuko, baffled, just stood there, unsure as to why you were acting so strangely. You weren’t mad. Whenever you had some sort of problem with him, you would retreat into yourself, unintentionally give him the silent treatment, almost as if he was a stranger to you.

But this, the awkward glances and the too-quick movements, that was new territory. 

At first, Zuko thought it was about what had happened the night before, but just as he was about to ask again, he remembered what had happened in the morning.

The kiss

He groaned. “I’m sorry. I told you I was bad at this!” He didn’t throw the bowl of pho on the floor, but the bowl did make a loud sound and soup did spill when he let it fall onto the table. 

You turned to see him covering his face with his hands and shaking his head. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” When he uncovered his face, he didn’t meet your eyes. 

Zuko looked so sad.

And you couldn’t have that. You loved him too much to let him be sad. 

Before you could even comprehend what you were doing, you were cradling his cheeks and looking up into his amber eyes. Under his intense gaze, you were a little nervous, but the want to comfort him was stronger. “I’m bad at this, too.”

And then, you were kissing him

And it was everything. Kissing the man you loved, it was the best feeling, because you were trying to take care of him, he was trying to take care of you. Holding you close and rubbing circles into the small of your back, all to comfort you.

And when he pulled away, Zuko told you, “You’re not bad at that.”

You laughed and nuzzled your nose against his. “Neither are you.”

Safe to say that when Iroh came home to find you and his nephew snuggled up together in the bed he forced the two of you to share, he smiled and wrote letters to the rest of the gang immediately.

There were pros and cons to Uncle finding out before you told him. Pro, you didn’t have to tell him. Con, you two woke up to Uncle Iroh cooking a large meal fit for an army and a hug for you while he shouted, “Good morning, my new niece-in-law!”

You were embarrassed, to say the least, but you felt better when Zuko tugged you closer to him and told his uncle, “You can’t possibly believe that we could eat all of this.”

“No, you can’t.” Iroh beamed. “But I can! I’m celebrating! A niece! I have a niece!” 

In two weeks, Uncle, Zuko, and you were back in the Fire Nation. 

There was a party when you arrived. Not for the Fire Lord’s return. No, it was your friends celebrating that you and Zuko were finally together.

“Double date!” Sokka was hanging off of you and pointed at his girlfriend, “We need couple friends.”

“Hey!” Aang said, “Don’t Katara and I count?”

“No, my sister and her boyfriend can’t be mine and Suki’s couple friends.” He grimaced. “I already see you guys kiss enough.”

Katara rolled her eyes and kissed her boyfriend’s cheek.

“Eugh!” Sokka hid behind you. “Save me! I’m being tortured.”

Zuko shook his head and asked Suki, “We’re leaving him home on our double dates, right?”

“Oh yeah.” She laughed and dragged her boyfriend from behind you. “Come on.”

Zuko and you were apprehensive to be seen in public, but you two have known each other for years, loved each other for almost as much time. 

“My mother was forced into marriage,” Zuko said one night, almost a year after the two of you had kissed. “My father was told by a sage that he must marry my mother to ensure the family bloodline. They were right, but in the wrong way, i guess.”

You looked up from your scroll and asked out of curiosity, “Are all Fire Nation marriages arranged?”

“No, mostly for those of an upper class. I was arranged to have a marriage with Mai.”

“How is Mai?”

“Good. I received a letter from her and Ty Lee a few days ago.”

You smiled. “Do you think they’ll get engaged soon?”

“Definitely before we do.”

Before the two of you? Even though marriage was stressful and a huge step forward, you couldn’t help the little bubble of happiness that formed in your gut and transformed into a dreamy sigh of “We?”

Just like that, the Fire Lord went red in the cheeks. “I mean, because they’ve been together longer, so I would assume if we were to get married, well-” He cut himself off by groaning, which only got you to giggle. He stared at the ceiling. “Almost a year, and I’m still bad at this.”

You smiled and took his hand in yours. “You’re not bad at this.” 

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” You shrugged, and your voice softened when you said, “I can see us getting married, too.”

He smiled at you. “How do they do it in the Earth Kingdom?”

You hummed. “In Ba Sing Se, if two people were getting married, they just decided they would and move in together.” You bit your lip as you tried to think back on the times before Ba Sing Se. “I’ve heard of a tradition where people hold a party to announce their love and the ceremony ends when the couple leave for their house.”

“I see.” Zuko played with your fingers as he explained, “Here, one partner gives the other a ring, to symbolize- Wait.” He tilted his head. “In Ba Sing Se, would we be considered engaged already?”

You laughed, as heat settled in your cheeks. You and Zuko were a well-known couple in the Earth Kingdom, and since you did move into the palace, to some, you would be. “I guess we would!”

He nodded. “You ok with that?”

There was more to that question that meets the eye. The Fire Nation loved you, sure, but some parts didn’t. There was a group trying to rebel against the peace and prosperity Zuko and all of your friends have fought so hard to gain, a group that wanted Ozai or Azula back on the throne. They have made a few attempts on Zuko, none near successful. But, if you were to get engaged, they’d come after you, too. 

Being engaged to Zuko put a bigger target on your back.

“I’m ok with that.”

But, how could you be afraid of them when you had Zuko by your side?

“Good.”

You nodded. “Good.”

Zuko and you had two weddings. One in private on Ember Island with the gaang and a few close friends. It ended with you exchanging an Earth Kingdom bracelet for a Fire Nation crown. 

There was an afterparty, with dancing and a large feast. There were also speeches.

“You know, if anyone was going to marry the Firlord, I thought it was gonna be me-”

“Sokka!” Suki laughed.

“-or maybe my sister-”

Katara only rolled her eyes with a smile.

“-but if it couldn’t be either of us, I’m glad it’s you!”

“I couldn’t think of a better couple than you two,” Suki started. 

“Hey!” Sokka did not like that statement.

“Honestly, you two are already attractive by yourselves, but together?” Suki was smiling so innocently the entire time. “Hey, (Y/n), you sure you don’t wanna reconsider. I can show around Kyoshi Island sometime.”

“Ok that’s enough!” Sokka couldn’t drag his girlfriend out of the spotlight or stop her from saying how great Zuko and you were, but he did glare at both of you throughout the speech. “I’m watching you.”

“I’m sure you are, Sokka,” you told him. 

Your husband laughed. “I mean, if anyone was to take her away, I wouldn’t mind it being Suki.”

“Don’t test me, Sparky!”

It was funny how even though all of you were well into your 20’s, Sokka’s voice could still crack. 

Toph wasn’t one for speeches. She showed her love by keeping Sokka away from you two and pushing Suki towards you. She really loved the laugh. 

(You apologized to Sokka later with the gift of leftovers.)

Mai actually had a memorable speech. 

“Ty Lee wouldn’t let me put my name on her gift, which sucks.” She glared at her wife, who only smiled. “So, this is my gift for you. Not you, Zuko, but for your wife.” She smirked. “When Zuko was five he thought he could eat all the spicy food in the kitchen-”

“Mai!”

“-it didn’t end well.”

Toph also occupied Zuko while Mai rambled on about Zuko in his childhood. It was very fun.

Uncle Iroh also spoke. “I didn’t know this was supposed to be about embarrassing my nephew.”

“It wasn’t!”

“And that’s ok, because I have something on our dear bride.”

You paled. “Oh no.”

“If you aren’t aware, I knew (Y/n) during our time as fugitives, and she loved to stare at my nephew during his shifts.”

Your husband looked at you. “Did you?”

“Not that much!”

Uncle continued, “I also caught her doodling Lee’s name-”

“Uncle-”

“Please, Uncle, continue!”

Aang shave advice to the two of you. “Please talk to each other,” he said with a laugh. He recounted the times Katara and he didn’t communicate early in their relationship resulting in an unhealthy on and off relationship for a year before the two of them sat down and just talked. 

Katara gushed over how happy she was for the two of you. “Zuko was always grumpy, and I’m glad there’s someone he can be less grumpy with!”

Azula dropped in. She had escaped rehabilitation, and Zuko had let her go. It was near the end of the ceremony, and Zuko and you had snuck out to take a breather. 

He held you close as the two of you swayed to muted music. 

“I do hate to intrude.”

You yelped and the earth beneath Azula’s feet nearly threw her into the air. While her mind was still recovering, it seemed like her agility wasn’t affected. “To be fair, I did expect that reaction.”

“Azula?” Your husband kept his hand in your as he moved closer to his sister. “I-”

“Save it. I’m here to drop something off.” She held out a pouch for him to take. 

“Azula-”

“Zuko, I am not here to talk to you.”

You gulped. “Then what about me?” You smiled. “You can come home, Azula.”

If Azula was affected by your words, she didn’t let it show. 

Zuko took the pouch and by the time the two of you looked up, she was gone. 

Inside were two rings. 

Zuko laughed. “She probably stole these.”

“She could be living an honest life, too, you know?”

“Possibly. We don’t have to use these.”

You took the rings in your hands. They were beautifully crafted, and while gold was the main color, hints of red and green were there too. “If I can’t have Azula as a bridesmaid, then we might use her gifts.”

The public ceremony took place a few months later, and it was grand and very, very public. You were not comfortable. 

You could only change so much of it, though. 

Zuko and you would pull each other to the sidelines when it all got too much. Your friends gladly made excuses when you were absent. 

By the end, you were stuffed full with food and exhausted. 

“Please tell me marriage won’t be like this all the time.”

You laughed and sluggish cuddled up into his arms. “I can’t tell you. Never been married before.”

“The first few months were nice.”

“When no one knew.”

He laughed. “No big ceremonies or dumb speeches.”

“Or embassadors or loud music.” You sighed. “Kinda terrified, to be honest.”

You could feel Zuko stiffen under you, and immediately, you added, “I’m glad you and I get to go through it together, though.”

He nodded. “I do hate life less.”

As Fire Lady, you were kind and gentle, and while you did need breathers in meetings and galas and public events, you enjoyed helping people with policy changes and additions. 

Zuko encouraged you to take risks, and when you were too tired to voice your opinions, Zuko voiced them for you. 

You also were the only one who could calm down Zuko. While his temper wasn’t too much of a problem, sometimes he was so stressed that even the training room couldn’t hold in his anger. 

You’d lead him to your bedroom and just hold him, and if he wanted to talk, you listened. 

The two of you were the definition of quiet strength, and even though assassins and Ozai sympathizers tried to take you two down, you and your family never faltered, especially you and Zuko

[ichayalovesyou]

The Undiscovered Country (Live Reaction)

CAPTAIN SULU OF THE EXCELSIOR CAPTAIN SULU OF THE EXCELSIOR CAPTAIN SULU OF THE EXCELSIOR EVERYONE STFU HE DESERVED HIS OWM GODDAMN SHOWWWWW!!!! “Should we report this?” “Are you kidding??” I love him so muchhh

Oh this one is gonna be about racism isn’t it? Yup. I know people judge Kirk for his prejudice against the Klingons in this movie, and I wanna clarify that it’s still not okay, but I just... look back on all of his experiences with Klingons, and he became less and less chill with them as they kept doing stuff to him and his crew, torturing Spock, Sherman’s planet, torturing Chekov, the ugly decisions in A Private Little War then on top of that they killed a son he never got the chance to connect with because his ex never allowed him custody. They almost cost him the chance to bring Spock back on top of that too. I’m not saying it’s not right, and whether it’s justified is subjective, but I also know he learns his lesson in this film. It makes me think of Katara’s arc in S3 of ATLA, how much she hated (understandably) Zuko and the Fire Nation, how she almost killed the man who killed her mother, but then didn’t. If we can love her still with that character growth, I see no reason to suddenly hate Jim.

“Logic is the beginning of wisdom Valeris” god I love Spock, he’s grown so much ☺️ also maaaaan everyone is old now lol, wait?! Where’s Bones?! Oh there he is! Oh wow I can smell the traitor on Valeris she is acting extremely shady! Oh hey it’s General Chang!! I’ve heard of this guy!! Apoliticality hall of fame up in here huh ST? Damn. Klingons love them some Shakespeare lol. Nice Scotty! Ohhhh Chang that was a loaded question, oof thanks for saving your grumpy husband. Ooooh man I love dinner scenes like these, the tension, the delicate conversation, the unspoken words ugh hell yeah. Oof!

Chancellor made a DAMN good point there! Calling Kirk out on his shit before they left! Yessssssss!! Lol everyone is hung FUCK WHAT JUST HAPPENED??? OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK!!! That Zero G effect is cool as fuck! Oh no oh no oh no oh no the war is being staged oh god oh no oh shit oh shit ohhhhhh no!! Ohhhhhhhhhh shittttt this is B A D. Ok so Klingon blood is pink? Huh.

Even with Jim’s prejudice he still values this peace than he does his feelings and that is a Captain Kirk ass thing to do. Bones being fucking AWESOME! Ohhhh nooooo, I liked Gorkon 😔 “Don’t let it end this way Captain.” Wowwww that was cool ass last words. “I sympathize Mr. Scott” growth 🌿 oh hey Sarek is back! Federation has an alien president now? Neat! Also I freaking LOVE Gorkon’s daughter, I am also growing progressively more confused by their kinda over exaggerated behavior in future TV shows? (I imagine they probably had a fanatical ideological takeover, kinda like the Vulcans and Surak but... violent.)

The defense attorney sounds like Michael Dorn??? I know it’s not him but still? OH MY GOD IT IS???? Cool! His name is also Worf? Weird. Awww Bones he’s GOTTA stop making me cry like this I can’t even do this oh man he’s breaking my hearrrrrt. Oh wow they really just listing everything “bad” Jim has ever done huh? Damn. CAPTAIN SULU IS BACK oh and he’s gone again damn. Ooooof penal colony punishment yiiiiikes, seems the Klingons have as outdated a prison system as we do now 😬 oh so Spock is distantly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Neat. Oh Spock don’t trust Valeris, I know you don’t know better yet but still 😬😬😬

Ooof this whole person thing is super interesting?? Who is this WOMAN whose informing them McCoy & Jim, I love her! I love this political intrigue murder mystery stuff!! Those Wargs look AMAZING wow, loving seeing TOS crew with a budget love it! “Not everyone keeps their genitals in the same place Captain.” OH MY GOD 😂😂😂 oh it’s McKirk hours boys, and awww even in a Klingon prison Jim’s prejudice is decaying. McCoy is DUDE WHAT IS WITH YOU?? And I agree, even as an old man Jim is a lil’ bit it a slut. WAIT CHRISTIAN SLATER???? That was a weird cameo. Even after he made out with that lady he was like “damn, what is wrong with me??” Lol

WAIT IS MATIRA A CHANGELING?? That transformation was VERY gooey?? I mean I know there are a bunch of shapeshifter races but still???? Hey watch McCoy is gonna give out from the cold first cuz he’s a southern damsel just you wait. Aaaaaand it took 5 minutes! 😂 he’s immune to dinosaurs but vulnerable to cold. Bullshit Uhura doesn’t know Klingon??? What was that?!?! Oh she’s not a Changeling. TWO KIRKS AGAIN???? How many times is this now, four? 😂😂

Now they’re close enough to kiss lmfao KISS DAMNIT! Aw. Uh oh. I have never, NEVER seen Spock this posed off ohhhh my god. OH MY GOD HE JUST SMACKED THAT SHIT OUT OF HER HAND. Ooof I need to sit down (I say sitting down) way to frickin kick Jim right in his soul with his own words damn Valeris... wow this is so GOOD, fuck. Oh man, the amount of personal strength, feelings of hatred and betrayal, and circumstance it takes for Spock to FORCIBLY meld with someone when we all know how he feels about consent 😨 this is like, the only ONLY situation I can imagine him, in character, EVER doing this to anyone. Wow... wow. Oh my god. OH MY GOD. Ohhhhhh wow, that’s gonna haunt Spock for the rest of his life... fuck.

SULU IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAYYYYYYY WE LOVE HIM!!! Awwww look at these too poor idiots regretting their moral transgressions :( they’re so married. Over here examining prejudices and stuff, I need to study this screenplay oh my goddddd. This is so GOOD oh my god. Kittomer Accord hours!! Here we go! Oh MAN Chang is a cool ass villain!! Here we gooooooooo!!! EXCELSIOR IS HERE TO HELP!! Aw Spones out here flirting before they go save peace in their time, love that! This battle tastes like a beautiful marriage between Balance of Terror and Conscience of A King 😍 YEAH SCOTTY!!! And thus, Kirk completes his character growth. Lol and then everyone claaaaaaped.

Man, Sulu and the Excelsior really deserved their own his Star Trek show, something I hope they will someday remedy! Awwww that little love letter to TNG and all future Treks at the end heck yeh ☺️

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Coffee’s for Royals

*Zuko (ATLA) x Reader

*Summary: Opening shift is usually terrible, but a certain prince coming in every morning makes things more tolerable.

*Warnings: Swearing. Let me know if I need to tag anything else.

*A/N: Coffee Shop AU starring a certain angsty prince. My childhood crushes on both Zuko and Mai are back in full force.

My Ko-Fi

**********

You hated taking the opening shift. You were the closing type, not the wake up at 3:30 in the morning so you could open up the store with your overly peppy coworker type. Normally your manager was amazing and let you work mostly closing shifts, but there were the rare occasions the opening shift was short staffed, and your manager would send you a text. Now, you were never one to turn down an extra shift (you definitely needed the money), but you didn’t enjoy taking the opening shift.

When you walked into the coffee shop at four in the morning, you were already fighting the urge to fight somebody. “Why the hell didn’t the closers clean up last night?” You asked as you pulled on your apron.

“I don’t know, aren’t you a closer?” Suki asked, unimpressed. She was a regular opener, having the kind of discipline to regularly wake up at hellish hours. You loved working opening shifts with her - she was a complete badass and one of your closest work friends - but she hated your habits as a closer.

“Yeah, but when I’m a closer, cleaning is a problem for the openers,” you groaned. She threw her hat at you. “Hey!” 

“And that’s why I hate you. Give me back my hat,” she said, walking towards you with some cleaning supplies.

“No, you threw it at me, now it’s mine,” you joked, taking a rag from her.

“So what the hell are you going to do with two hats? Hurry up before shift lead comes in.” You tossed Suki her hat, already feeling better about taking the shift. Sure, you were tired as hell, but you enjoyed the banter you always had going with her. “Alright, what coffee do you want?”

While Suki made the two of you some drinks, you got to cleaning what closing shift didn’t. Most of the machines were cleaned on the surface level, but you had to run some deep cleaning cycles on them. Once that was done, the two of you started brewing the base coffees, needing at least something to serve the customers that would come in during the first few hours of the shop being open. Before you knew it, it was officially time to open. Suki sent you to unlock the door, and then the two of you were just hanging out, filling the occasional order.

Once it started nearing six, you were already wondering when you could take your break. Sure, you hadn’t seen that many customers yet, but you just wanted to sit behind the counter and drink the second coffee Suki had made for you. You stood behind the register, kind of just vibing to the music Suki was playing over the speakers. A guy wearing a hoodie came in, hood pulled up to mostly cover his face, so you went to pretend like you were fully present at work. “Hi, good morning,” you said, putting on your customer service smile. “What can I get for you today?”

“Yeah, hi, uh, can I get a grande white chocolate mocha?” He asked. You knew that voice from somewhere. You didn’t know how, but you recognized that voice. You looked up, scanning his face to see if you actually recognized him or just thought you did. When your gaze landed on the scar, it immediately hit you.

“A-are you Prince Zuko?” you asked, taking the grande cup from the stack.

The guy’s hand immediately went to rub the back of his neck, suddenly shy. “Yeah, I am.”

“Cool. So is that hot or iced?” You asked, not knowing what else to do. It wasn’t like your manager trained you on what to do when royalty randomly walked into your store.

“Hot, please,” he said with a small smile. You typed the order into the computer, waiting a second for the cup’s label to print.

“Alrighty, can I get you anything else?”

“No thanks.” You nodded, finishing up the order. He handed over his card, and went to wait by the order counter to wait for his drink once you handed it back. There was no one else in the shop, and Suki was already working on his drink. You just stood behind the register, not knowing if you should make small talk with him or just try to act like you had things to do. His drink didn’t take long, and when Suki went to put it on the counter, she just lit up when she saw who was there.

“Oh, hey, Zuko!” Suki called as she worked on his drink. “You know, you should try something else every once in a while. I’m starting to get bored just making this one drink.”

“Nah, I like my white chocolate mocha,” he joked back. The two of them kept talking as Suki went about making his drink, and you just stood there, drinking the coffee Suki made for you. You couldn’t believe the way Suki was just immediately joking like that. He must have been a regular, but even with your regulars, you didn’t joke like that. It seemed like they were actual friends, but then how the hell did Suki know the Prince outside of just being his regular barista? Once Suki handed him his drink, they stayed chatting for a few minutes before he finally left.

As soon as the door closed behind him, you turned to Suki. “How the hell do you know the Prince?”

“Oh, Zuko? Yeah, he’s one of Sokka’s friends,” Suki explained. “You know, you’d see him more often if you took more opening shifts. He gets here before the rushes so he doesn’t get recognized.”

“Who said I wanted to see him more often? I just think it’s wild you’re friends with the Prince,” you explained, taking another drink to hide your little embarrassed smile. You hated being put on the spot like that, especially if Suki was implying what it seemed like she was.

“Anyways, he’s single now, not that you’d be super interested in that,” Suki continued to push. You choked on your drink, making Suki laugh. In the nicest way possible, you were going to kill that girl.

**********

It was a complete coincidence you happened to take a couple opening shifts over the next couple weeks. It wasn’t too often, but it was still more than you were usually willing to take. “You know, it’s weird that you’re taking these shifts now,” Suki commented as you cleaned.

“Shut up, I just need the extra money,” you said, rolling your eyes. “It’s not my fault no one else wants to work opening.”

“Okay, sure. Then why’d you look so bummed out when Zuko didn’t show last shift?” Suki teased. You shot her a deadly glare, which she answered with a self-satisfied grin. “He was sick, just in case you were lying about not caring.”

“Anyways,” you tried to change the topic, saying the one word louder than necessary. “Can I choose music today?”

“Yeah, dude. All you had to do was connect your phone first.” You finished cleaning the machine you were working on, already heading over to the door to open for the day. “Hey, what coffee do you want?”

“(Coffee drink of choice),” you said, unlocking the door and flipping the sign.

“No, something easier,” Suki joked, going to make your drink anyways.

“Thank you!”

There was a little rush of customers for about twenty minutes after opening, the super early commuters trying to get their caffeine fix. After that, you and Suki were able to just hang out, adjusting your playlist to whatever vibe you wanted in the shop, and tend to the occasional customer. You were kind of starting to get used to the vibe of opening shift, and you had to admit it was kind of nice. Not enough for you to want to become a regular opener, but it was still nice.

Almost on cue, Zuko walked in as soon as six rolled around. You perked up when you saw him in his red hoodie, hood up but now with a black baseball cap on his head. “Hi! Good morning, Prince. Grande white chocolate mocha?” You asked as he walked up to the counter.

“Oh, uh, hey. Yeah, how’d you know?” He asked as you put in the order.

“Sorry, I just heard Suki say you always order the same thing, so I kinda figured it was your regular,” you explained with a small smile. You could see the flush on his face at your answer, so you immediately went to focus on getting the cup.

“Yeah, it is. She’s always trying to get me to try something else.” Zuko laughed. “I just can’t handle the pure coffee flavor, so, mocha.”

“I get it, I didn’t start drinking actual coffee until I started working here. Alright, so that’ll be $4.45.” Zuko handed his card over, but instead of going over to the pick up counter to talk to Suki like he did last time, he just stayed near the order counter once you handed him his card.

“So, uh, you don’t normally work opening, do you?” Zuko asked, not meeting your gaze directly. You were a little taken aback, not expecting him to actually try to hold a conversation with you. You handed Suki his cup, and she just grinned as she looked between the two of you. “I come in like every morning and I haven’t really seen you here before, you know?”

“No, I work closing but I’ve been picking up a few shifts every now and then,” you explained. You didn’t know why you were giving him so much information, but it wasn’t like you could stop it. Zuko nodded, still looking around the shop like there was something that could take his attention away. You waited a second to see if he was going to go talk to Suki, but when he didn’t, you figured you’d keep the conversation going. “So, you’re friends with Suki’s boyfriend?”

Zuko looked at you, once again a little surprised at your question. “Yeah, we met a few years ago when we were both travelling around. How’d you…?”

“Sorry, I asked Suki how she knew you cuz you guys seemed like kinda close. I hope I wasn’t overstepping my bounds, Prince,” you apologized, looking down at your register. You could feel your face heating up, realizing admitting to the Prince that you were asking his friend for information about him might come off as very weird.

“Don’t worry about it! Oh, uh, by the way, you can just call me Zuko,” he told you. You looked up, catching a glimpse of the shy smile he had. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh! I’m (y/n)! Nice to, like, officially meet you.” The two of you just stood there, awkward little smiles on your faces until Suki decided to ruin it.

“Hey, Prince Moody! Stop flirting with my coworker and come get your coffee!” Zuko looked to you, mortified at what Suki just said. He sputtered out an apology before going to the pick up counter. You tried to ignore the rapid-fire whispering from the other side of the counter, instead focusing on what drink you were going to ask Suki to make for you next. The whispering lasted for the longest minutes of your life, but finally Zuko made his way to the front door, turning for a second to wave goodbye to you before leaving. Your heart raced at the small gesture, but the second you looked at Suki, your mood was ruined. She was leaning against the counter, resting her chin on her fist. “So, when’s the wedding? You could do spring, but I’m thinking you’re more of a fall person.”

“We were literally just talking! What, I can’t speak to my customers now?”

“Oh, so he’s your customer now?” Suki teased.

“I hate you.”

“You know you don’t.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Can you make me an iced coffee next?” Suki gave an exaggerated gasp, holding her hand up to her chest.

“Do you only like me because I can make coffee?” Suki questioned, pouting.

“Well, I can make coffee too, I’m just too lazy to make it myself right now,” you said with a sweet smile.

“You gremlin.” Suki rolled her eyes, grabbing a cup for your drink anyways. “You’re lucky you’re my friend.”

“I’m honored.”

**********

When one of the openers gave their two weeks, your manager asked if you wanted to switch over and become an official opener. Before then, you’d already been working a few opening shifts a week, only taking closing about two nights a week. You agreed to the switch, knowing you were already heading that way anyways. Suki quickly jumped in with the teasing when you told her, but you just rolled your eyes and laughed. So what if you enjoyed seeing Zuko in the mornings, just talking about whatever while Suki made his drinks?

When Zuko walked in during your first shift as an official opener, he could tell something was different. As he walked up to the counter, you already put in his order. He immediately pulled out his card and handed it to you. “You seem happy. What’s going on?”

“What, I can’t just be happy?” Zuko gave you a look that let you know he wasn’t awake enough to deal with this. “Alright. So, you’re looking at the newest opener!”

“You switched over from closing?” Zuko asked, eyes widening as you handed his card back to him.

“It wasn’t like she was actually working closing shifts anyways,” Suki chimed in, grabbing the cup you set aside for Zuko’s drink. “She’s been mainly opening because of her favorite customer.”

“Would you please just go make coffee?” you whined. You were avoiding looking at Zuko, but you could picture the blush no doubt on his face.

“Yes, ma’am!” Suki said, giving you a salute before heading to the coffee bar.

“I would say sorry about her, but you’ve been her friend for longer,” you said, finally looking at Zuko. There was the faintest blush tinting his cheeks, a lot less than what you expected. “But, yeah, I’ve been opening a lot more lately so the manager asked if I just wanted to switch over officially.”

“Well, I mean, that’s good if you’re enjoying opening shift anyways,” Zuko said. He paused, looking around the shop before turning back to you. “I’m kinda glad. I like seeing you in the mornings.”

And now it was your turn to blush. You didn’t know what to say, so you just looked down at your register as you tried to will away your burning cheeks. It took a few seconds for you to look up to him with a shy smile. “Thanks, I like seeing you in the mornings too. You know, Suki wasn’t exactly lying when she was talking about my favorite customer.”

“Your Royal Asshole, your boring coffee is ready!” Suki called out, voice clear across the empty coffee shop. Zuko groaned in annoyance while you tried to stifle your laughter. She always came up with a new nickname for Zuko when she felt he was too distracted talking to you, each one more creative than the last, always having something to do with his royal blood.

Zuko went to grab his coffee, having another whispered conversation with Suki before going to leave the shop. Just before he got to the door, he turned to look at you. “See you tomorrow, (y/n)! Have a good day!”

“Thanks, Zuko! See you!” You called back. Zuko smiled brightly as he left, while Suki huffed from beside you.

“Rude ass. He didn’t even say bye to me,” Suki pouted. “I’m supposed to be his favorite worker here. You should go back to closing.”

“And he’s the rude one?” You asked with a gasp, holding your hand up to your chest. “Plus, aren’t you all supposed to hang out later?”

“Oh yeah, I told you about Sokka’s thing, didn’t I?” Suki crossed her arms over her chest. “But still, he should’ve said bye.”

“And I’m sure he’s going to hear about it tonight,” you told her, rolling your eyes.

“He absolutely will. Alright, what coffee do you want?” You could tell that was her way of trying to make peace. It worked.

**********

You were used to your routine of being an opener now. You managed to switch up your sleep schedule, you didn’t have to deal with any overly-peppy coworkers - though there were the rare times Suki had her moments - overall, opening shifts were going pretty well. You weren’t going to attribute it completely to a certain royal that came in at exactly the same time every morning, despite how often Suki would tease you about it.

When you were working, you noticed Zuko was sticking around longer. Before, he would stay just long enough to get his coffee, any conversations had while Suki was making his drink. Now he was hanging around, chatting (which was closer to flirting, in your opinion) while he drank his coffee, leaving just before the morning rush officially started. He’d been recognized a few times, the other customers coming to the counter and whispering ‘Was that Prince Zuko?’ You and Suki found it amusing, but never let it slip that he was a regular.

Just as you were in the groove of things, you got a text from your old shift leader. One of the closers had called in sick for the next day, and she’d already spoken to the store manager about switching your shift that day from opening to closing. All she needed was your approval. It only took a few seconds before you gave her the go ahead to switch your shift around. You texted Suki, letting her know what was going on before you jumped in bed, looking forward to a few extra hours of sleep.

When you walked into the shop, ready to start your shift, your old coworker immediately lit up. Well, about as much as she could. “Hey, I thought you abandoned us,” Mai said. “I don’t know why you’d switch over to opening.”

“I have my reasons,” you joked. While Suki was your favorite coworker for opening, Mai was definitely your favorite for closing. There was just something about her stoic nature that you loved. “Why the hell do you guys leave such a mess?”

“Ugh, you definitely sound like an opener now,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Go put on your apron and help us.”

You smiled and followed her orders, going to the back to put on your apron and hat. You quickly fell back in step with everyone else, used to the more laid back nature of closing. The time just seemed to fly by, and you had a brief moment where you questioned why you switched shifts in the first place. It was only a moment before your favorite customer came into your mind, reminding you what you’d miss if you went back to closing shift.

The half hour before closing was one of the quietest times of the day, probably tied with right after opening. You and Mai were chatting about some different concerts she went to since the last time you saw each other when the door opened. You had your back turned to the front, but you saw Mai’s eyes narrow at whoever just walked in. 

“What are you doing here?” she snipped. Your eyes widened at her attitude - which wasn’t anything new, it was just never directed at the customers if she could help it.

“You know, she still scares me.” You recognized that voice from the few times he came in to get Suki after work. You finally turned to face the customers. Zuko stood there, trying to look anywhere other than at Mai, and Sokka was standing next to him. Sokka waved at you.

“Well?” Mai demanded.

“I, uh, I wanted-”

“(Y/n) wasn’t working this morning and Zuko got bummed out. Suki told me she was working closing today,” Sokka cut him off. Zuko nodded, looking at the floor.

You looked at Mai, wondering what the hell was going on. “So am I just dumb or is there something happening right now?” 

“I used to date Zuko, and I told him never come in here when I’m working,” Mai said, getting louder as she directed the last part to Zuko.

“It’s not like I knew you’d be working tonight!” Zuko tried defending himself. Sokka ignored their back and forth, walking up to the counter.

“Alright, so can I get an iced coffee?” Sokka asked you. You just nodded, going through the motions of taking his order. Zuko and Mai were still going at it, so he lowered his voice as he talked to you. “Look, I know this entire thing here is awkward, but Zuko likes you. Like, he won’t shut up about you. Ever. He was supposed to ask you out today, but, you know, this is happening now.”

“So what, you decided to just pop in so you could flirt with my coworker? You really couldn’t find anyone else in this entire city?” Mai argued. You were a little surprised she overheard.

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what? You just decided to follow one of the workers from opening to closing shift?”

“You know what, I’ll wait for you outside, Sokka,” Zuko gave in, just leaving the shop.

“I hate that guy,” Mai huffed, going to the back, leaving you to finish up Sokka’s order.

**********

The next morning Zuko came in during your shift, things were definitely awkward. You put in his normal order, not sure how you were going to address things. “So, uh, you and Mai?”

“Yeah. We dated for a couple years. I didn’t know you guys knew each other,” Zuko mumbled. “I’m really sorry for that. I shouldn’t have let Sokka talk me into coming during closing shift.”

“I mean, it did get a little tense-”

“A little?”

“Okay, very tense, but like, I guess it was kind of sweet of you,” you said with a tentative smile, Sokka’s comments at the back of your mind.

“Wait, what?”

Zuko’s confusion immediately made you question what Sokka told you the last time you saw them. You turned to Suki. “Why does your boyfriend like messing with me?”

“He’s just like that,” Suki said, obviously confused at her sudden involvement in your conversation. You just finished ringing up Zuko’s order, giving the cup to Suki so she could make the drink.

“What did Sokka tell you?” Zuko asked as he took his card back from you.

“Nothing important,” you tried brushing it off with a wave of your hand. He’d already caused you enough embarrassment, and he wasn’t even there.

“(Y/n)...” Zuko dragged out. You hated how easily he could tell you were lying. Suki was busy making the coffee, not paying you any mind (as far as you knew), but the drink would only take so long to make. “C’mon, what’d Sokka tell you?”

“I mean, he might’ve said you liked me-”

“Well, yeah, I think you’re a pretty cool person-”

“No, like, you like me as in you were gonna ask me out, but you and Mai got into it,” you interrupted him interrupting you. “That’s what Sokka told me, but he likes messing with me, and since you’re his friend he probably likes messing with you more, so I probably shouldn’t have taken it so seriously.”

You could feel Zuko watching you as you rambled, even as your own eyes stayed glued to the register. “Sokka likes messing with people,” Zuko started. He paused, probably looking around the shop as he tried to figure out what to say. Your mind raced, thinking about how you probably just made things really awkward. He was probably just figuring out a nice way to reject you, and you really shouldn’t have switched shifts just because you might’ve had a crush on this dude. What were you even thinking? This guy was a royal, there was no way he-

“But yeah, it would’ve been nice if I could be the one to tell you I like you. And I guess he kinda asked you out for me?” Zuko said, more of a question than anything else. “Well, would you like to go out? We could get coffee or something.”

You froze, not sure if you heard him right. Zuko immediately flushed, taking your shock as a bad sign. “If not that’s really fine too! I’m sorry, it’s probably weird for a customer to-”

“I’m not doing anything right now, if you want to get some breakfast or something,” you interrupted him, regaining control.

“Yes the hell you are doing something right now!” Suki called from the pick up counter. “You’re working! Go on your little date after your shift is done.”

“She’s technically right,” Zuko laughed. “I can come get you after your shift?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” You could feel the excitement bubbling up within you, the little wisps of nervousness somewhere in there too.

“That’s cute. Your coffee’s getting cold, by the way,” Suki said, holding up Zuko’s cup. He went to get it, leaving soon after with a small smile and a promise to get you once your shift was over. Once he was out of the shop, you looked over to Suki. “Question still stands. Spring or Fall wedding?”

“You’re so annoying,” you laughed.

“I called it and you know it!” Before you could say anything else, another customer walked in, calling your attention to the fact that, yes, you were still very much at work. Only a few more hours, then you would be free to go on your date. You just needed to survive Suki’s teasing until then.

**********

Permanent Tag List: @treatallwithkindness

[afuckingshipper]

Okay so I haven't written fanfics in a long time, but I got this two avatar ideas that just won't leave me alone and Idk if I should write them, but at least I wanna talk about them!

The first is a Zukka Anastasia AU. Almost canon compilant but for background, after the Agni Kai happened and Zuko was banished (but with no mision to find the Avatar, mostly Ozai just wanted him dead) Iroh arranges it so he is sent to the Earth Kingdom, telling him that they will see eachother in Ba Sing Se. While on the journey and while trying to survive on his own, he hits his head and loses his memories (I haven't decidied how exactly that should go, maybe they get in a shipwreck and Zuko ends up without memory like that Island Princess barbie movie, or maybe he just gets in a fight having just arrived in the EK and there's where it happens, mmm). Some people find him and take care of him, and he is Li now, a typical war child, all alone in the world. The only thing he's got of his own is his knife with the inscription "Never Give Up Without a Fight" made in the EK, and that he kinda remembers that something is waiting for him in Ba Sing Se. No one knows what happened to the Fire Nation prince. Years pass, Aang get's back and with the Gaang they stop Ozai, Iroh doesn't know them but the White Lotus bouches for him and he takes the throne. Now in the present, Sokka and the others want to have an in and favor with the new Fire Lord, because some of the peace talks and treaties aren't going the way the SWT wants them to(because of intervention with the EK and the Colonies and political stuff etc.) and while trying to come up with a solution to that, he realices that the new Fire Lord has never given up hope and is still looking for his missing dear nephew -one that will probably be named the crown prince, because Azula is def a no no- and Sokka gets the idea of finding the Fire Lord's "Nephew" to win the new Fire Lord's favor for the SWT. It won't be that hard, Sokka thinks, that kid is probably dead, but the Fire Lord has't seen his nephew in a long time, and there are probably a lot of orphans, war children with burn scars in the EK or the colonies. He just needs to find one that matches the Fire Prince description enough and convince him to be the prince and live a lavish life away from the streets of the EK. Easy.

The gaang recluctantly( Aang and Katara, but Toph is all in) go with the plan and while traveling in the EK, they come across with "Li". Sokka inmediatly tells him "Has anyone ever told you that you're the spitting image of the Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation?", Li, being on the streets and well, being Li, doesn't trust them and tries to run, but after Sokka sweet talks to him, and they tell him that they have a bison and that they could give him a ride to Ba Sing Se, Li is kinda conviced and goes with them. In his mind, even if he's not who they think he is, he'll at least will be in Ba Sing Se and he can start looking for what's waiting for him.

Everything is going acording to plan, but what Sokka was't counting on is on how dramatic and sacastic and funny and misteriously hot is the fake Fire Prince Zuko, and how in the way to the Fire Lord's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, his heart starts to make him fall in love with a lie...

I still have to work a looot on it, but yeah it's going to be dramatic and funny and I hope a bit angsty, but the good kind of angst...

For the second one I haven't worked on at all, I just really really want a The Handmaiden AU, I was thinking Zukka too, but now I also like the idea of a Korrasami one. This one would be angsty af, but funny and hot too, just as the movie is. I really need to see how I would work out the plot, but yeah.

Idk if I'll write them, but maybe I will, at least the Anastasia AU one. If someone has ideas on the The Handmaiden au let me know, cuz I really need inspiration for that one to work out

[gasmeros]

Can I get a bit of Step 1: die Step 2: Blue Spirit and the Time Travel Gaang sans Zuko for the ask game pretty please

yippee attention!!! this is my favorite activity

ok forst one, that's basically zuko dies saving aang from pohuai stronghold and turns into the blue spirit for real because of it. basically the spirit world was like "oh we were uh. we were using that." as this whole thing where the gaang is destined to restore balance, and that includes zuko. so when he dies, the spirits fumble for a plan B and go "let's curse him with immortality"

this one is currently 2,779 words. warnings: on screen major character death and graphic depictions of violence

Something in his chest shifts. The Avatar's jostled the arrow in him, desperately trying to hold the blood inside his body with too small hands.

"It's not stopping." He's practically wailing the words. "I— I can't— I need to get help!"

"But why are you here?"

The Avatar pulls back, and Zuko feels panic flare in his gut. A strangled cry escapes him, not from the pain of the arrow. Desperate and uncoordinated, he clutches the Avatar's sleeve.

"Pl—se, please," he begs, voice cracking into a broken whisper. "Not alone."

He's crying, ragged sobs pulled from his torn chest. The Avatar echoes him with his own hitching breaths. He doesn't try to pull back again, but instead leans forward, pressing their foreheads together.

"Thank you," the Avatar whispers, words wet and clinging to his tongue. "I'm so sorry."

This wasn't the plan. He wasn't supposed to die saving the Avatar from Zhao. Damn it, he has a whole destiny in front of him. This can't be it.

"I should take him."

The world erupts into sound, and Zuko drops into nothingness.

it's kind of all over the place cuz the original vibe was meant to be kinda spooky and unexplained, but then i started writing and it got a lot less spooky. like, the original pitch was to lean into the weirdness of spirits and their motivations and personalities, how they just dont align with humans, but i ended up writing the spirits as super human and Knowable, plus let zuko keep his human personality instead of pulling one of those "when they die, part of who you knew died too" thing, and then i was torn on how to continue. so i didn't

and then time travel one!! i actually talked a bit about that one here:

basically long story short, everyone gets flung back in time during the final battle for a do over but zuko is the only one who doesn't go back. so s3 gaang with s1 zuko shenanigans!

here is another snippet! it's uh. less shenanigans and more serious stuff ahsjhfd. content warning for major character death (sorta. debatable. and debated.)

Aang reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. "We have a second chance. That's what this is."

Sokka and Suki nodded, expressions somber, but Toph just scowled.

"But we don't," she bit out. "This Zuko isn't the same person. He doesn't have the memories that made our Zuko. And now that we've messed things up, he never will."

Suki gave a low sigh. "Toph, even if you're right, we can befriend this Zuko, too."

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Toph," Aang begged.

Toph just surged to her feet, stamping a foot on the ground. "I don't know this Zuko! He's not our Zuko!"

"He could be—"

"No, he can't! Our Zuko's dead!"

this one ran outta steam it's not really a set up im used to, and while i have ideas, i feel like it needs a bigger plot than im prepared tonwrite in order to pay off well

[theormostat-terminator]

The essey I promised about the first chapter of book 2 of TAOB

@hella1975 here you fucking go;

Firstly, I wasn't expecting it to start off pretty much where it left off with Zuko. (just a thought, not part of the actual thing, just wanted that out there) 

You can just feel from the way how he's losing hope and as he said that "in the beginning he thought he could escape" like,, first he probably thought he could take the guards and blue spirit his ass out of there, and later when he knew that wasn’t possible he probably wasn’t sure the SWT gang would come to save him, since crappy self-esteem and self-worth, but he was hoping, maybe for weeks, that the others would come save him. 

I can just imagine the first time he thought he saw Hakoda, in his sleep deprived, starved, depressed state, he was probably so happy and relieved but then when he realized it wasn’t real... that’s probably around the time he realized no one was coming to save him. That in itself just breaks my heart.

Also I just love how he just takes Zi Se under his wing immediately. How he tries to protect him is just *chef’s kiss* but then also realizes that, even though Zi Se is small and LITERALLY FIVE (i thought he was gonna be older,, like 7 or sumn) he already has had to learn how to survive in literal prison. 

That fact also kinda makes me imagine how even though Zuko is an awkward little turtleduck, he woulda tried to make it easier for Zi Se. Like, if someone died or got taken and is getting beat up, he would just sing or hum to Zi Se to help him sleep or to keep him distracted from the noises and maybe try to play a game quietly to keep him from seeing unnecessarily traumatizing things, (bodies, bad wounds, I can imagine Chan eating another dead cellmate as well *shudder*) and he would like, teach him games or sumn. Trying to give him a chance to be a kid cuz for all Zuko knows, they could be dead the next day.

AND THEN HE WENT AND MENTIONED UNCLE IROH! He better get those swords from Iroh when they meet up again!!

But whenever there’s sumn bad that happened and the people who are currently in said bad situation start talking about happy plans or sumn that was supposed to happen before shit hit the fan... it always makes me sad.

AND THE FUCKING LOTUS TILE MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM AND BAWL MY EYES OUT OML-

Them the OTHER THING that broke me; Zi Se asking Zuko to teach him how to meditate and then him thinking of Nanook and Tomkin and how hard he’s trying to block out the memories because they hurt too much im- IM IN SHAMBLES

“It was almost impressive, how quickly they’d taught Zuko to fear fire.”

THAT LINE! Because it probably took a long time to get over his fear of fire the first time he got burnt. And now he would have to relearn to now fear his own element. I’m imagining again how when he reunites with the SWT gang and meets with the Gaang how they all know him as very eager to bend fire etc. But now he refuses to use firebending unless it’s the only option and how he’d only use his swords to fight and I’m just... I break my very own heart with these headcanons and thoughts of what could happen. 

AND NOW TO THE SWT 

 I LOVE HOW HAKODA IS LIKE “BRO WTF, YALL ARE KIDS WHAT YA DOING FIGHTING A WAR THAT SHOULDN’T BE YOURS TO BEGIN WITH?!” 

Also just the shock of the “last time i saw my kids they were small and Sokka was so scrawny and katara barely could make small waves. And now they’re soldiers in this damned war.” 

Also I don’t know what I was expecting but how quick the it went from, “yeet, to the north pole” to “DAMN BA SING SE FUCKING FELL WTF-” was not it.

And I can just feel the pain Hakoda feels from being separated from his kids again so fast.

And like, I gET IT, we’re supposed to like Bato and he didn’t have a chance to be emotionally attached to Zuko. BUT WHY IS HE MAKING ME SO ANGRY LIKE AJOJLKJALFJOPWJPAOJFOIHOF. GO KILL FONG IDC BATO DON’T STOP THEM ISTFG!!!! 

And when it switched back to Zuko I was lowkey waiting for Fong to be like. “Look at this prison we have. Look how secure it is. Look how hopeless we’ve got these criminals to be.” And then they like line the prisoners in the courtyard and Zuko’s like holding Zi Se and ready to whisk him away from danger and like he’d be looking at the ground cuz they weren’t allowed to look the warden/guards in the eyes without getting beat up and he doesn’t wanna put Zi Se in danger and then he doesn’t relaize Hakoda and the others are there and when he hears his voice he’s either like “this shit is another hallucination” or whips his head up and sees them and the SWT STILL HAS TO BE LIKE COMPOSED AND NOT CAUSE A FIGHT BUT ZUKO’S RRIGHT THERE AND-  okay i’m getting carried away with what i thought was gonna happen. 

AND I KNOW IT’S SAD AND ALL BUT IT JUST MAKES ME HAPPY ZUKO HAS FINALLY FINALIZED HIS THOUGHT ABOUT OZAI AND HOW shITTY HE IS YES!

AND THE THING ABOYT HOW HE USED TO SCREAM HIS THORAT RAW WHEN BEING BEAT UP/BURNED BUT NOW HE DIDn’T JSUT TELLS VOLUMES, LIKE HOW OGFTEN DID THIS HAPPEN FOR HIM TO GET USED TO IT MY POOr BABY!!!!

The whole pendant thing was so sweet, in the middle of all that, JUST SO SWEET THANK YOU.

And it makes me sad how they have to fight for food and how Zuko is mostly doing it for Zi Se... HE IS SO SWEET BUT THIS IS SO SAD!!!??!?!?!?!

anD LASTLY THE FUCKING AUTOGRAPH THING.

THat was what finally broke me and made me cry cuz like. They were lowkey fighting(not really but kinda) and then he went to buy it but never got to give it and now he’s keeping it there and I can just feel how he’s like, regretting getting mad over something so trivial and now he won’t get to give the apology autograph (i honestly have bad memory so i don’t remmember if they made up or not so Hella if you could clarify that, then yey)

And like i’m just... There’s just so many emotions.

Your writing is amazing and really makes me feel things. I missed this so much and I’m glad you’re continuing it after THREE FUCKING WEEKS!!! I hope you don’t get tired of writing it and abandon the work, that’s my big fear when it comes to long fics that are good and unfinished, that the author doesn’t want to continue it anymore. :(

But yes, this is the end of this essey, sorry it was so long and uninteresting lmao. either way, Love your work, you have an amazing talent with writing, LOVE YOU OMFG.