#platonic otps

[likealittleheartbeat]

talk to me about the theme of emotional isolation for zuko and aang

It's the main reason I'm obsessed with the show tbh.

Can we overstate Aang's isolation within the show. He's not only a survivor--a sole survivor--of a genocide, he's also knocked out of time and history. These are the facts of his physical isolation. But his emotional isolation is such a different beast. It began before any deaths did. He is set apart by the monks and by the whole world as a savior. Shortly after his status as the avatar is made known, his peers exclude him, his power too great. His humanity is denied because he's too divine. Only Gyatso seems to still regard him for who he is rather than his gifts. Of course, that's why the council decides Aang needs to be further separated from worldly relations like that, and vote to send him off. For Aang, it's the last straw. He can't bear further exile from others. To regain some sense of control, he tries to run away from the heavy burden and those who have put it on him. At least this time, he's the one choosing his loneliness. It has become so clear that no one can understand his feelings about the Avatar State.

This is the emotional state he enters the series with, icon rather than human. He starts off concealing his revered identity in an attempt to indulge in simple pleasures, penguin sledding, coy fish riding, etc. But the shame is secretly right there at the surface. He's lovable but mercurial. Friendly and animated with everyone when he first meets them but in a way that's fleeting. The knowledge that he will have to leave the village, in an episodic fashion, having helped the members of the town, even having sacrificed himself for their well-being, is an understood fact of the plot and his life. At most he sheds some of his grief by putting it into words with Katara's encouragement. But despite the whole world fighting through their own grief from the fire nation and Katara's sole-survival of her own culture's genocide, they each have people in their families and cultures who, however bitterly, hold them and hold the broken memories together with one another. No one is as physically isolated as Aang, but, more importantly for his character development, no one is as isolated by their significance to the world.

No one, except Zuko. Zuko, the banished prince. Isn't that what Aang as the Avatar is in many ways: a spiritual prince, an heir by birth to power and legacy, who has been banished from his inheritance. Only, Aang's inheritance would be peace. Zuko's would be the Fire Nation, but because of his humanity, Zuko, like Aang, is without a nation. This is one reason Zuko and Aang are such incredible narrative foils. Aang is rejected from humanity's compassion because of his divine status while Zuko is rejected from divine rule because of his human compassion and failures to demonstrate perfection. (If you're interested in this dynamic in media, Fruits Basket has fantastic explorations of these themes with Kyo vs. Yuki and Tohru vs. Akito.)

How early did Zuko start to notice the disappointment he brought to his father and grandfather? As early as we can see, Zuko seems alone. The episode with that phrase in the title reflects back on his childhood, which, noticeably, lacks the friends Azula manages to keep. He mimics and mocks her cruelty, as well, in an attempt to impress his mother. His insecurity seems already set, a sense that no one can understand. While Aang recognizes that everyone thinks he's too good to belong, Zuko lives in an environment in which he's not good enough to belong.

The reactions to their rejections correspond, too. Zuko's reaction of antagonistic pursuit of anyone and everyone--like Aang's reaction to run away (literally and sometimes emotionally with a smile or joke)--helps keep others in a framework of enemies so he can control his exile rather than the other way around. Yet these behaviors put them in dynamic relation to one another--Zuko is drawn to the endless pursuit of the strangely kind Aang, whose instinct is to behold others while remaining untouchable, while Aang becomes clearly intrigued by the person who refuses to treat him like an untouchable hero, the person who refuses to give up on the possibility that the Avatar can be flawed and fail, no matter how many times he slips away proving his divine destiny.

It's obvious that Zuko is supposed to hate Aang, as the Avatar. "The Headband" illustrates how education in the Fire Nation portrays him if the fact that Zuko's only possibility for regaining his title under his father is bringing the Avatar back isn't enough evidence for you. But Aang ought to hate Zuko just as much, if not more. Instead, they are drawn toward one another with an remarkable intensity, established within the first half of the first season, "The Storm" x "Blue Spirit" combo punch! In fact, the blue spirit episode really reveals what they can mean to each other. Not only in Aang's question at the end that invites Zuko back into the past with him, but in the way that Zuko is made to be the divine entity for a brief period while Aang is helpless in the fort. Then, that question at the end: "Do you think we could have been friends?" Isn't that the opposite of the isolation they feel. In the woods, without a nation or an allegiance, Aang, remembering the people and time that he was forced to leave asks Zuko, who has just betrayed the people who banished him, in another version of life where they were both simple people rather heirs of vast power, if they could have formed a kind of union that would have dissolved the loneliness that consumes both of them. But it's momentary and they have to return to the world that defines them as the Avatar and the Banished Fire Prince.

This becomes one of the cores of the show, as echoed in the finale, where Zuko and Aang consummate their friendship, but by then, through traveling the winding road toward one another and aiming to take on a part of what the other person represents, they have found a balance that refused the binaries of divinity and fallibility that had previously separated and defined their lives, binaries that exiled them from connecting with others, binaries that built towers to isolate them from the world. The victims and survivors of genocide, the subjects of colonial violence, nor the sufferers of abuse need be pure to claim their pain, nor must the people who want and work towards justice be saints to do that work. Harder for many audience members to absorb, despite their love for Zuko who's arc is meant to emphasize the point, there is a spark of divinity in everyone, from the most unloved to the most violent and tyrannical. This second fact must exist alongside the first, or else the premise won't hold. How you choose to act and engage with that spark of divinity is a human choice we each make on our own, but that does not deny it's existence. The divine ideals must be allowed to fall apart into comedy and tragedy, while the mundane, the profane, and the cruels horrors of life must be allowed to be seen as something that hold the possibility to become beautiful and part of a grander design. The Avatar must be allowed to be Aang and Zuko must be allowed to be the Firelord so that we can have Avatar Aang (the last title of the series) and Firelord Zuko (the most celebrated character arc of the series). They need one another to assuage the fear, isolation, and dread that black-and-white perfectionist thinking boxes us into.

[belphegor1982]

Top 5 platonic OTPs?

YOU. YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE 💜

Pike Trickfoot & Grog Strongjaw (Critical Role/Vox Machina) (buddiiiess 💖)

Arthur Pendragon & Perceval (Kaamelott)

Louis LeBeau & Peter Newkirk (Hogan's Heroes)

Leonardo & Miyamoto Usagi (any iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Usagi Yojimbo)

Don Lope de Villalobos y Sangrin & Armand Raynal de Maupertuis (De Cape et de crocs) (French comics series, check it out, it's great - and even more if you're in the furry fandom)

I made a point of not including siblings or related characters :o)

[plantsonplutoart]

Moonflower study dates! Because it’s possible to be both academic rivals and the best of friends 🌙🪷😌

James and Sirius are definitely sitting across the table drooling over them

[urfriendlywriter]

prompts that has me lying on a highway:

(feel free to use <3 10, 15, 20 are my favs omds. yall tag me when u writeeee I'd love to read :))

"I'm glad you were strong, love."

"i notice the little efforts you make for me.. and i just want you to know i appreciate it." whos cutting onions

SMILING during a kissss >>>>>

the gaze that softens as soon as it lands on you.

hand holding, twirling in their arms, slow dancing > <

telling a joke just to see them laugh

"love.. isn't a word enough to express what i feel for you."

"you were my bestfriend, before you were anything else, love." <333

hugging. especially if they're not much of a hugger, but they keep hugging you because you feel down. (this is my bestfriend aaah ilovehersm :( )

"tell me what you want, baby." in the deepest, nearly inaudible murmur AAAAH

when they always feed you their last bite

"give me a hug."

"i can't even act mad at you, love."

flirty BANTERS!!!!

"I'll come over there and make you shut up then." "you can try."

"i love you." "say it again."

caressing one's cheek (the one in the face.)

running into each other's arms after barely surviving

enemies but one is admitting, confessing and crying to the another after almost losing them!!!!!

collecting your injured lover,

^ "don't you dare die on me, [full fckn name]." "i won't, my love, i want to live for you... with you. for a long time." they strain but their smile after makes you cry.

"this is so wrong," "if so, then stop me, love," "you tempt me, [name]-" cue a KISSSSS "-and you drive me insane."

being curled up together on the bed, their face buried in your chest.

"i like how you did ____ today/that day."

forehead kisses. cheek kisses, knuckle kisses.

[euthymiaaa]

— longing for someone prompts ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡

im bathing in angst rn, enjoy!

them haunting your mind constantly, but are you even in theirs?

unconciously searching for them wherever, whenever

itching to text them, yet the guilt of pestering them hits

your stomach being on edge whenever you see someone who has a similar figure to theirs

regularly scouring their social media for any updates

them acting so sweetly which turns out to just be a cruel dream

envy creeping up your throat whenever other people hangout with them

taking them off your mind by hanging out with your friends, just for you to only see bits of their personality in your friends

weeping frustruatedly on your knees because you can't stop recalling your memories with them

surrendering to your insecurities; perhaps they truly are better off without you

hopelessly persuading yourself that you were able to go on with life before knowing them, so you can definitely do it after they left

urging the universe to see them one last time before letting them go (it never happens anyways)

"if anyone is listening, please let our paths intertwine again before the day I take my last breath"

[kaenith]

Winter's Delight (@fswintersdelight), day 26

Happy December! Hope everyone's been staying safe and warm (or safe and cool, if you're in the southern hemisphere!)

[promptlywritingideas]

"I would die for you."

"I don't want you to die."

"I would kill for you."

"I don't want you to kill."

"Then I have nothing to offer you."

"If I ever find the person who made you think you're worth nothing more than that, they'll pay dearly."

[scealaiscoite]

*ੈ🎄✩‧₊ christmas prompts

¹⁾ tangled lights

²⁾ fresh gingerbread

³⁾ secret santa

⁴⁾ hidden bunches of mistletoe 

⁵⁾ a broken bauble

⁶⁾ spiced mulled wine

⁷⁾ knitted jumpers

⁸⁾ iced sugar cookies 

⁹⁾ cheap tinsel

¹⁰⁾ snow angels 

¹¹⁾ hot chocolate 

¹²⁾ carols 

¹³⁾ fireplaces laden with stockings 

¹⁴⁾ sleigh rides 

¹⁵⁾ clumsily-made gingerbread houses 

¹⁶⁾ scraps of wrapping paper

¹⁷⁾ a roaring fireplace

¹⁸⁾ candy canes

¹⁹⁾ candlelit churches 

²⁰⁾ old holiday movies 

²¹⁾ familiar festive music 

²²⁾ stacks of cards

²³⁾ red wax candles 

²⁴⁾ christmas eve

²⁵⁾ badly-wrapped presents

²⁶⁾ nutcrackers 

²⁷⁾ illuminated stained glass

²⁸⁾ paper stars 

²⁹⁾ gingerbread men

³⁰⁾ thick, pure snow 

³¹⁾ holly wreaths 

³²⁾ lit lanterns 

³³⁾ fluffy socks

³⁴⁾ sweet-smelling candles 

³⁶⁾ snow globes 

³⁷⁾ flannel pajamas

³⁸⁾ glittery baubles

³⁹⁾ a santa hat

⁴⁰⁾ a sky heavy with snow 

⁴¹⁾ homemade dinners 

⁴²⁾ last-minute gift shopping 

⁴³⁾ cold evenings 

⁴⁴⁾ fresh-baked cinnamon rolls 

⁴⁵⁾ craft fairs 

⁴⁶⁾ ice rinks 

⁴⁷⁾ fragrant pine trees 

⁴⁸⁾ christmas cactuses 

⁴⁹⁾ bear hugs 

⁵⁰⁾ family dinners 

[sonseulsoleil]

Ghosts don't sleep. They don't even really get tired. At least, not tired in the way sleep would fix. When Charles first dies, he attempts to sleep, but he never can manage it. No matter how many nights he tries. Eventually he gives up.

But he never gives up asking Edwin to read to him at night. Edwin's voice as he reads is warm and steady. Comforting, even. Charles may be dead at sixteen, but he isn't alone. He thinks his best chance at falling asleep is if Edwin is there to read him a bedtime story.

It's probably silly. But Edwin doesn't seem to mind.

Edwin reads him mostly detective stories at first. Sherlock Holmes, anything by Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, of course—which is where they get the idea for the agency in the first place. But Edwin loves books of all sorts, so it isn't long before he's branching out into other genres.

Usually it's old books. Books from before Edwin was even alive. Books Charles would've avoid reading in school. Pride and Prejudice. Frankenstein. Jane Eyre. Oliver Twist. Somehow hearing them in Edwin's voice makes them much more tolerable.

And some are fun. Treasure Island is one Charles finds himself requesting over and over again. He always liked pirates. Lord of the Rings is another favorite, although maybe Charles is just excited that Edwin finally found a book that was published after he died.

Niko introduces Edwin to much newer literature. Teen romance novels with bright covers and cutesy, wordplay titles. Edwin even reads some of the books about boys kissing boys. An adorable, pink blush creeps across his cheeks every time still, but he's getting more comfortable.

Ghosts don't sleep, or even get tired. But Charles thinks he almost gets drowsy sometimes, late at night, when their living friends are sleeping, and he is curled safely and comfortably into Edwin, listening to him read.

[eloquent-edits]

🗡️ “I’m all for platonic intimacy but this…?”

the subtext of romance is really peeking through 🗡️ friends to lovers scenarios

Person A going to person B’s house to watch a movie but getting looped into playing drunk card games with B and their parents

Working out together and A insisting on spotting B and adjusting their form

B playfully poking A in public and promptly getting tackled

B patting A’s cheek only to accidentally linger as they notice how the light catches in A’s eyes (A is DESPERATELY trying to not blush)

“Here’s the garage code.” “… Why am I receiving this information?” “You’re already over here a lot. My parents think it’s better than a key.”

Forced close proximity at a LAN party because there’s not much room at the table (and A’s arm keeps brushing against B’s, messing up their aim, but if anything the space between them decreases as the night goes on)

The “Oh, is B coming too?” to “A kidnapped me to come here and hang out” pipeline

Going from quick and funny head scratches to absentmindedly stroking/detangling their hair while chatting with friends

“Do I smell okay?” “You smell normal.” “Which is…?” “Like lilac and gooseberry.”

A melting into B’s hug after a long and stressful week

B helping A deal with a major headache by rubbing/scratching their back

A heating up B’s ears with their hands because B forgot ear muffs in winter

“My mom thinks you’re really pretty/handsome.” “My mom thinks you look like Adonis/Aphrodite.” “Can you ever take a compliment?”

Candid pictures give away the softness in B’s eyes when they look at A goofing around

B not minding when A gives them a long hug in public, even though they aren’t big on PDA in general

B drawing a shitpost and sending it to A, A setting it as their lockscreen, and months later B realizes that A still hasn’t changed it

B’s family automatically assuming that A might join for any family function and making A’s favorite dish accordingly

“I have to go into the office this week. Can I crash at your place since it’s closer?”

Hanging out for hours —> “I don’t want you to drive home this late.” —> waking up in each other’s arms because they both refused to let the other sleep on the floor/couch

“My clothes reek of you.” “You could’ve just told me to take a shower.”

[youneedsomeprompts]

~ YOU ARE MY SUN ~ SUMMER PROMPTS FOR FRIENDS

requested by: anonymous request: Hi! Can I ask for some prompts for friends, spending summer together? Thank you so much for your work <3

Feel free to use and reblog!

making a bucket list for their summer together

wanting to learn new things together

making a bunch of friendship bracelets (which cover their entire arms)

their friendship bracelets leave tan lines that are just another sign of their friendship

wanting to go camping together but struggling to build the tent

sitting at the bonfire at night

telling each other their biggest secrets during long nights under the summer moon

sleeping under the open sky

remembering past summers they've already spent together

thinking up dares for each other when they get bored

so much time together inevitably leads to a big fight

making promises to always stay (best) friends

making up scenarios for the future

knowing the other a lot better after the summer together

buying matching accessories/souvenirs

making a lot of pictures to remember the special time together

being more alike after spending the summer together

going on a spontaneous road trip

having their parents' house for themselves and living the life they've always wanted together with their friend

planning a trip together for the winter

[censoredhysteria]

i think he likes her guys

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

SCOGUE-“Tember” (2024)

Day “6”: 🫂💕

I love it when media shows a guy and a girl having a relationship that is GENUINE friendship.

Regardless of whether I also interpret them as a romantic couple or not, I believe we could benefit having more characters of the opposite sex that have a healthy, positive connection.

[eggsdrawings]

he’s my best friend! best of all best friends!

[casually-eat-my-soul]

Bitches constantly being thinking about the implications of a person taking the armour off their lover. Being quite literally stripped bare of their armour, of their defence against the world. Bringing them back from being a soldier to being theirs, to being human. The brush of gentle touch against skin. Leaving them in a vulnerable state and being trusted with it.

It’s me, I’m bitches

[nexttrickanvils]

I came out of No Straight Roads shipping May and Zuke a little but this is absolutely their ship dynamic to me.