#the same can be said for zukka before someone brings it up

[survivalove]

blah blah something something about how fandom gravitate towards more individualistic characters because they’re easier to understand compared to community-oriented characters whose character development is very much tied to their culture/nation because understanding a single character is easier to understand than a character AND an entire culture, especially when said culture is based off a marginalized community that exists in real life 🫠 and said fandom is majority WHITE.

[riddlerosehearts]

your post about mailee says everything i’ve felt about how this fandom (and many others) treat female characters, especially in the context of sapphic shipping.

i could never personally get into mailee due to the annoyance that is it’s fandom. the constant bashing of certain sapphic ships by proclaiming them as toxic (as if that isn’t the appeal) was so annoying to see in 2020 that it sadly left a sour taste in my mouth.

it also just fits into the most boring stereotypes of cute and fluffy sapphic ship!! something that tends to be the case nowadays.

but even with all that aside it’s obvious why mailee exists. they’re a side pairing for more popular ships and oh what a surprise, it’s a mlm ship leading it. i can’t deny that zukka fans mostly contribute to mailee content because they do but also how deeply annoying it is to see this pattern of wlw side pairing for mlm over and over again.

especially with atla of all shows. a show that actually has a complex female character whose unintentionally lesbian-coded but people will not bother exploring her queerness because shes “mentally ill” or “too much” or “she doesn’t need that rn” or whatever excuses people come up with.

it’s a shame to see all this play out but i’m not surprised. at the end of the day it’s always going to be mlm or f/m at this point.

oh wow i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one feeling this way!! like i mentioned in my previous post, i honestly don't really like mai, but i've tried to get myself to over the years. in 2019 i had rewatched the show and thought "hey, mai and ty lee are kinda cute together, i still don't love mai but maybe i could if i try to think more deeply about her character and see if i can find some meta and fics and such that flesh her out and examine her good points. maybe ty lee could be someone who really understands her and brings out the good in her". but mailee was very much a rarepair back then and i could only really find fluffy drabbles to read. i like fluffy drabbles and all, but they just weren't what i needed in this case. so then in 2020 the show gets put on netflix, i come back from a tumblr hiatus to see there's been a massive fandom renaissance, and now mailee is so popular it's getting to high numbers on weekly fandometrics lists! great!

so then i again look for content about them and see that a ton of it is either zuko-centric or zukka-centric with them as a side pairing at best, and zukka just isn't for me. i have a close friend who ships it so i understand the appeal, but i'm always and forever a zutara stan. i could've multishipped (i do reblog cute fanart of them on occasion) if i didn't keep seeing things from the zukka side of the fandom that really frustrate me, this being one of them. and every time i choose to dive back into the fandom and see if things have improved it's still the same, i should not have to go through 53 of the most kudos'd fics in mailee's tag before i find a fic about them especially since they have less than 1/5th the amount of fics as zukka in the first place, and it just makes me sad that this is an issue in almost every fandom. i may not like mai, but you would really think the people making shippy content involving her would like her and be willing to actually focus on her in said content!

as for the constant bashing of other more "toxic" f/f ships and unwillingness to examine another female character's complexity and potential queerness while using her mental illness as an excuse... i believe i know exactly who and what you're talking about it's an issue with certain mailee content for me as well. see, even though i've loved ATLA since i was a kid and have been on the internet just as long, i used to always dismiss the concept of tyzula because i myself never appreciated azula enough and wasn't interested in ships with her (and because frankly i really hate how azula's voice actress sexualizes the ship). but on my current rewatch of the show i've started loving azula a lot more and now like to imagine her redeemed and happy, repairing her damaged relationships with her family and friends and maybe even falling in love. i've realized that part of the appeal of tyzula for me is that while, yes, azula's entire dynamic with both mai and ty lee is toxic and messy during the show, i don't personally think it always was. i think the three of them were genuine friends until things gradually got fucked up because of how ozai's treatment of azula fucked her up. and i think that if azula were to have a redemption arc, the 3 of them could salvage what once was and have a healthy friendship again.

a lot of mailee fans do not seem to agree with this, though, because i've seen several metas and headcanons that rely on the idea that the two of them were always just afraid of evil, nasty azula and that they can bond over how much they hate her. i am not here for that, and yeah, i'm also not here for the whole "this ship would never work because [insert character] just isn't ready for a relationship, i ship them x therapy!!" thing fandoms love to use as a way to demonize certain ships. mentally ill people can be in happy, loving relationships and they can go to therapy while in said relationships. they can even use therapy to--gasp--figure out how to keep their mental health issues from getting in the way of continuing to have healthy relationships! this happens in real life and i fully believe it can happen in a fantasy cartoon for children. also, i know some people use the comics to justify the idea that mai and ty lee have just always hated and been afraid of azula, because apparently it's implied in those that they were fake friends? but fuck the comics, they're OOC and horribly written lmao.

this ended up being a much longer reply than i initially intended but yeah, all this is to say that i 100% agree with you and thank you for sharing your thoughts, anon. sapphic ships and the female characters within them deserve just as much space in fandom as m/m and m/f ships get, to be fully explored and appreciated in their own right and even to sometimes be complicated and imperfect.

[firelxdykatara]

I’m just really confused as to where this idea that Zuko is gaycoded came from. Like people are allowed to have that headcanon but I don’t understand where people are coming from when they try and claim that he was undisputedly gaycoded and trying to deny it is homophobic when he’s only ever shown romantic interest in women.

I made a pretty long post on the topic a while back, but the ultimate gist of it is this: there are a lot of elements of Zuko's status as an abuse victim and trauma survivor that resonate with queer folks. This is understandable and completely fine! However, there are some parts of the fandom who have taken that to the other extreme and will now insist that those elements are uniquely queer, and that they can only be read as some sort of veiled gay/coming out narrative, even though that doesn't make much sense since there is no part of Zuko's narrative which is unique to any sort of queer experience.

I think the problem really does stem from two things being conflated--Zuko's history of abuse and trauma, and trauma&abuse being something a lot of queer people have experienced. I suspect it goes something like 'I see a lot of myself in Zuko, and I was abused for being gay, therefore Zuko must be gay too in order to have had similar experiences.' This can then lead to feeling dismissed or invalidated when other people point out that those experiences are not unique to being queer--but on the flip side, abuse victims and trauma survivors whose abuse&trauma do not stem from queerness (even if they are queer themselves) can feel invalidated and dismissed by the implication that their trauma must be connected to their queerness or it isn't valid.

This is also where the 'people don't actually know what gay coded means' part comes in, and I realize now that I didn't actually get into what gay coding (and queer coding in general) actually means, since I was so hung up on pointing out how Zuko doesn't really fit the mold. (And the few elements that exist which could be said to count are because of the 'villains historically get queer coded bc Hays Code era' thing and mostly occur in Book 1, not because of how he acts as an abuse&trauma survivor.)

Under a cut because I kind of go on a tangent about gay/queer coding, but I swear I get back to the point eventually.

Queer coding (and it is notable that, with respect to Zuko, it is almost always framed as 'he couldn't possibly be attracted to girls', rather than 'he could be attracted to boys as well as girls' in these discussions, for... no real discernible reason, but I'll get into that in a bit) is the practice of giving characters 'stereotypically queer' traits and characteristics to 'slide them under the radar' in an era where having explicitly queer characters on screen was not allowed, unless they were evil or otherwise narratively punished for their queerness. (See: the extant history of villains being queer-coded, because if they were Evil then it was ok to make them 'look gay', since the story wasn't going to be rewarding their queerness and making audiences think it was in any way OK.) This is thanks to the Motion Picture Production Code (colloquially and more popularly known as the Hays Code), which was a set of guidelines which movies coming out of any major studio had to adhere to in order to be slated for public release and lasted from the early 1930s until it was finally abandoned in the late 60s.

The Hays Code essentially existed to ensure that the content of major motion pictures would not 'lower the moral standards' of the viewing public. It didn't just have to do with queerness--cursing was heavily monitored, sex outside of marriage was not allowed to be seen as desirable or tittilating, miscegenation was not allowed (most specifically interracial relationships between black and white people), criminals had to be punished lest the audience think that it was ok to be gay and do crime, etc. Since same-sex relations fell under 'sexual perversion', they could not be shown unless the 'perversion' were punished in some way. (This is also the origin of the Bury Your Gays trope, another term that is widely misunderstood and misapplied today.) To get around this, queer coding became the practice by which movies and television could depict queer people but not really, and it also became customary to give villains this coding even more overtly, since they would get punished by the end of the film or series anyway and there was nothing to lose by making them flamboyant and racy/overly sexual/promiscuous.

Over time, this practice of making villains flamboyant, sexually aggressive, &etc became somewhat separated from its origins in queer coding, by which I mean that these traits and tropes became the go-to for villains even when the creator had no real intention of making them seem queer. This is how you generally get unintentional queer-coding--because these traits that have been given to villains for decades have roots in coding, but people tend to go right to them when it comes to creating their villains without considering where they came from.

Even after the Hays Code was abandoned, the sentiments and practices remained. Having queer characters who weren't punished by the narrative for being queer was exceptionally rare, and it really isn't until the last fifteen or so years that we've seen any pushback against that. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is famous for being one of the first shows on primetime television to feature an explicitly gay relationship on-screen, and that relationship ended in one of the most painful instances of Bury Your Gays that I have ever personally witnessed. (Something that, fourteen years later, The 100 would visually and textually reference with Lexa's death. Getting hit by a bullet intended for someone else after a night of finally getting to be happy and have sex with her s/o? It wasn't remotely subtle. I don't even like Clexa, but that was incredibly rough to witness.)

However, bringing this back to Zuko, he really doesn't fit the criteria for queer coding for a number of reasons. First of all, no one behind the scenes (mostly a bunch of cishet men) was at all intending to include queer rep in the show. This wasn't a case where they were like 'well, we really wanted to make Zuko gay, but we couldn't get that past the censors, so here are a few winks and a nudge', because it just wasn't on their radar at all. Which makes sense--it wasn't on most radars in that era of children's programming. This isn't really an indictment, it's just a fact of the time--in the mid/late 00s, no one was really thinking about putting queer characters in children's cartoons. People were barely beginning to include them in more teen- and adult-oriented television and movies. It just wasn't something that a couple of straight men, who were creating a fantasy series aimed at young kids, were going to think about.

What few instances you can point to from the series where Zuko might be considered to exhibit coding largely happen in Book 1, when he was a villain, because the writers were drawing from typically villainous traits that had historically come from queer coding villains and had since passed into common usage as villainous traits. But they weren't done with any intention of making it seem like Zuko might be attracted to boys.

And, again, what people actually point to as 'evidence' of Zuko being queer-coded--his awkwardness on his date with Jin and his confrontation with Ozai being the big ones I can think of off the top of my head--are actually just... traits that come from his history of trauma and abuse.

As I said in that old post:

making [zuko’s confrontation of ozai] about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.

is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.

And, regarding his date with Jin:

(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)

Zuko is socially awkward and maladjusted because he was abused by his father as a child and has trouble relating to people as a result. He was heavily traumatized and brutally physically injured as a teenager, and it took him years to begin to truly recover from the scars that left on his psyche (and it's highly likely, despite the strides he made in canon, that he has a long way to go, post series; it's such a pity that we never got any continuation comics >.>). He was not abused for being gay or queer--he was abused because his father believed he was weak, and part of Zuko's journey was realizing that his father's perception of strength was flawed at its core. That his entire nation had rotted from the inside out, and the regime needed to be changed in order for the world--including his people--to begin to heal.

That could be commingled with a coming out narrative, which is completely fine for headcanons (although I personally prefer not to, because, again, we have more than enough queer trauma already), but it simply doesn't exist in canon. Zuko was not abused or traumatized for being queer, and his confrontation with Ozai was not about him coming out or realizing any fundamental truth about himself--it was about realizing something fundamental about his father and his nation, and making the choice to leave them behind so that he could help the Avatar grow stronger and force things to change when he got back.

TL;DR: at the end of the day, none of the traits, scenes, or behavior Zuko exhibits which shippers tend to use to claim he was gay-coded are actually evidence of coding--they aren't uniquely queer experiences, as they stem from abuse that was not related in any way to his sexuality, and they are experiences that any kid who suffered similar abuse or trauma could recognize and resonate with. (Including straight kids, and queer kids who were abused for any reason other than their identity.) And, finally, Zuko can be queer without erasing or invalidating his canon attraction to girls, and it's endlessly frustrating that the 'Zuko is gay-coded' crowd refuses to acknowledge that.

[milf-harrington]

for the ask meme- what are you thinking about rn? and also do you have more fic recs 👀 i want to read taob eventually but it feels like such an undertaking lol i might wait until its done

what are you thinking about right now?

im trying to figure out how to explain the design for my oc's apartment in the story im writing. cause it's, like, an industrial loft with brick walls and those really pretty big windows and there's a second floor that's balcony-styled where his bedroom is and right underneath is the kitchen. and it's tricky trying to figure out how to fit that into the paragraph i've written without just sounding like im listing stuff. not to mention all the stuff that makes it his apartment, like the massive bookshelves and the plants and the decorations and stuff.

writing is hard.

fic recs

oh man, i always have so many but the second someone asks my brain just turns into a ghost town lmao.

i had to go through my ao3 recs for this one lmao, most are probably gonna be sterek bc they're really good and that's what i've been reading lately ajkdfj sorry

Like a Paperback Novel, the Kind the Drugstore Sells - i love the way it's written, and the way the split pov brings in a bit of accidental comedy (they view eachother v differently) and also the relationship between siblings is very realistic and it was easy to imagine me and my sister being in the same scenarios.

sterek, 22K words, 1 chapter, actor!stiles + writer!derek

Five Times Derek Walked in on Stiles in the Shower and the One Time He was Invited - despite the title, this is a very soft no porn story. it's really funny and well written, and i love that the walking-in-on-stiles-showering is always out of a place of concern and never just to be creepy. i also really loved the way that not every time was funny, there's a pretty gentle and sad one mixed in which is,, not nice but nice yknow?? also there's so much casual pining, derek literally zones out bc he's thinking about how pretty stiles is

sterek, 25K words, 1 chapter

do you know how to do take-aways? - god this one is so fucking cute, it absolutely melted me and i couldn't stop smiling and laughing the whole time i was reading. it's basically a little girl calling the sheriff's station bc she needs help with her homework and the adults in her life always told her to call 911 when she needed help and stiles just does it bc he's a sweetheart and then they become friends and it's just very sweet and fluffy

sterek, 2K words, 1 chapter, human AU w deputy!stiles

The Real You - this one was actually on the list to put on as my favourite fanfic, before i remembered taob. i love the way it's written, along with the relationships between all the characters and the endless amusement i get from peter + boyd being disappointed in how stiles treats his car. also jackson and stiles being brothers is not something i thought i'd love as much as i did. dereks a bit of an ass at first but he comes around.

sterek, 34K words, 1 chapter, mechanic au but they're still werewolves

Better Fortunes - the note on the bookmark for this fic says "this changed me as a person" so do what you want with that. i don't really know how to describe the plot without giving a lot of the juicy stuff away so just know: stiles is really cool at magic, lydia is the goddess she always is, derek said "is anyone else going to keep this half-dead man i just found on the side of the road in the rain?" and then didn't wait for an answer ft. magic overload that's really sexy and sad

sterek, 39K words, 1 chapter

please don't leave me with a love that burns - i drew art for this fic actually!! it's a really nice mix of fluff and angst, and i really gelled with sokka bc i too clean and seek the comfort of my sister when im stressed or anxious. it's really well written, and there's some very soft and tender scenes towards the end that made my heart hurt in the best way and just aaa it's v good!

zukka, 8K words, 1 chapter, modern au w firefighter!zuko

Spark Rocks - the bookmark note for this is just: "*muffled screaming* zuko and toph being adopted siblings is something that can be so personal" and i feel like that says everything that needs to be said.

toph & zuko, 7K words, 1 chapter

Boiling Point - i love summer fics so much and this is definitely one of my favourites, it's basically just zuko + toph + sokka chilling in a blow up kiddie pool ft. soup jokes, zuko running in thongs (flip flops to non-australians) and sokka pretending he's not in love with zuko

zuko & toph & sokka, 3K words, 1 chapter

[hello-yue-here]

About your atla ship songs, I have a couple of questions (sorry if my phrasing comes out wrong, english isn't my first language and I worry it might across as accidentally defensive): how did you end up with the choices for zukka, jetko and yuekka (note: I haven't seen the great comet, so feel free to obsess over it, I'm intrigued now and the hype is appreciated!)? Sidenote: I think the mailee choice is HILARIOUS and the tokka one just make me sad, I didn't expect to be attacked like this😭

kdjfha;s i love you im gonna obsess SO HARD over great comet now. you may regret this

this is gonna be so long so the rest is under the cut whoops

yuekka: no one else from great comet

where do i even begin. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN

okay so background information on this show: it's based off of a 76 oages excerpt from war and peace and its centered around a woman named natasha (and this guy pierre but he's irrelevant to this song so we wont worry about him) and natasha's bethrothed is off fighting in the war right now. she hasn't seen him in a while but she is in love with him.

every single lyrics of this song SCREAMS yuekka to me. the innocence and purity of their love. the love at first sight. and even the melancholy ending just- i go apeshit for this song. i love this song so much. and denee benton's voice??? kljsdhflwksugf please listen to this song if you haven't already. listen to the whole show. your life will be changed forever.

onto the lyrics (i stg this is ab to be the whole song whoops)

"the moon"

THOSE ARE THE FIRST WORDS ON THE SONG. natasha and andre (her bethrothed) met underneath the moonlight. Sokka and Yue first spoke to eachother at night and always met each other for their most intimate moments under the moonlight. also yue is LITERALLY the moon so like: right of the bat with those two words it's yuekka.

"and i saw your eyes / and i saw your smile / and the world opened wide"

sokka fell in love with yue the moment he saw her in the canal. she literally enchanted this motherfucker. everything about her made his heart go crazy. and 'the world opened wide' to me is from yue's perspective. Yue had never left the north pole and sokka had seen a good chuck of the world at the point. He took her on appa, he told her about his adventures. he saw the world yue wished to see and you know damn well that Sokka would have done anything to give it to her.

"oh the moon /oh the snow in the moonlight / and your childlike eyes and your distant smile / ill never be this happy again / you and i and no one else"

natasha sings fondly about the moon and the snow, seeing as it was where she fell in love with andre. yue and sokka LITERALLY fell in love in the same place: in the snowy nothern water tribe under the light of the moon. childlike eyes: THEYRE CHILDREN!!! distant smile: this is where it gets a little sad. theyre both children with way too many duties during a world that has known nothing but war for the past century. they want to be happy but yeah, theyre smiles are distant and far away because happiness seems out of reach for them most of the time. i'll never be this happy again: the moments yue and sokka shared together were probably the happiest either of them ever were. they were able to ignore the war and the world in the moments they shared together. and with no one else. no one else would be able to give each other this sense of peace and happiness and love.

"joy and life inside our souls / and no body knows just you and me / it's our secret"

Yue and Sokka had to sneak out in secret at night to go and see each other. Yue and Sokka couldn't be together for real because Yue was already engaged, but they were literally in love so she decided to see him anyways in secret. kasdjfhklasjd im losing my mind over them at this point.

"this winer sky / how can anyone sleep / there was never such a night before / i feel like putting my arms around my knees / and squeezing tight as possible / and flying away"

these are my FAVORITE lines in the entire song. yue and sokka had never felt this strongly about anyone before and that's why they are so drawn to each other. they had never experienced love before and they wanted to hold onto it for as long as they could even though they knew they couldnt. Sokka takes yue up on appa and she is wistful and wishes she could live like he does every day: ie flying away. oh my god these two deserved so much better. so much fucking better.

now for the saddes part. the saddest fucking part.

"maybe he'll come today / maybe he came already / and he's sitting in the drawing room / and i simply forgot"

natasha misses andre so intensely at this point. when i first listened to this show and heard this song i was like "wait a min... is andre like... dead?" and im sure i wasnt the only person who assumed that this was why natasha felt so sad by the end of such a beautiful song. (spoiler alert andre is fine)

but this line really exemplifies how sad natasha is, and hints at the fact that andre may never come back. it implies that their relationship is doomed (at least in my opinion) and that's all yuekka. Sokka misses yue intensely when shes gone. Yue accepted her fate almost immediately but sokka was in denial. he thought there had to be another way. but in the end it wasn't meant to be. and sokka will go on, loving yue, wishing for her back, even though it's not possible.

fuck im gonna cry.

zukka: all i've ever known- hadestown

"i was alone so long / i didn't even know that i was lonely / out in the cold so long / i didnt even know that i was cold"

sokka is from the swt so theres where the cold comes in. also in the gaang (initially) it was just him katara and aang. and katara and aang were much closer to each other than sokka was with aang and the two of them were benders so sokka was kind of an outsider with the two of them. He also represses a lot of his emotions and feels the need to do everything himself so i do see a lot of loneliness in sokka. and the fact that so many people in his life have left him (his mom, yue, his dad, suki briefly, etc...) he is known to keep people at an arms length. i see a lot of loneliness in sokka.

zuko's loneliness is a lot more obvious: he has literally been cast out and abandoned by everyone except iroh. and even then he still feels the need to be alone (remember zuko alone? thought so) these boys look after themselves and push others away and revel in their loneliness in order to keep themselves from getting hurt. at least in my opinion on canon and also some fanon because id be a liar if i said fanon didnt influence how i view ALL my ships (not just zukka)

"all ive ever known is how to hold my own / but now I wanna hold you too"

COME ONE MANNNN, they just wanna hold each other. theyre both very big protectors as well and kljhflkasdhg they wanna protect eachother like kljdhfl im gonna lose it rn.

"You take me in your arms / And suddenly there's sunlight all around me / Everything bright and warm / And shining like it never did before / And for a moment I forget / Just how dark and cold it gets"

SUNLIGHT SYMBOLISM. zuko is literally powered by the sun. i don't think i even NEED to elaborate on this one anymore lol. They find comfort in each other away from all of their trauma. when they're together nothing else matters and i personally love that for them. they both deserve love.

"I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet / All I know is your someone I have always known"

these two are extremely similar in canon. many parallels. older brothers overshadowed by their prodigy little sisters. longing to make their fathers proud (granted one dad is good and one is fuckin evil), both are pretty bad with emotions. both are seen protecting others before themselves (sokka protecting suki during the serpant's pass, sokka protecting toph on like multiple occassions, zuko protecting katara in the final agni kai), the list goes on. they know who the other is because they see themselves in the other person. they already know each other because they are each other (in a way, not entirely, but the similarities are strong in my opinion)

"I'm gonna hold you forever / The wind will never change on us / Long as we stay with each other / Then it will always be like this"

i just think this line is so cute and sweet (ignoring all the symbolism and foreshadowing that comes with the last line in the musical itself. im gonna pretend this is nothing but happy) and i think these boys deserve happiness so yeah. this song is zukka to me lol.

jetko: thrill of first love- falsettoes

if you've never listened to this song go an do it now. you will know INSTANTLY that it is jetko because of the dynamics alone. marvin and whizzer are pure jetko and i take no crticisms.

marvin and whizzer are both extremely stubborn, and they don't always get along, and they fight a lot, and they get mad at each other a lot, and they are both passionate as hell, and they will bring this passion into everything. they love each other that is without a doubt, but they arent perfect and they are once again stubborn and determined as fuck.

sound familiar? it's literally jetko.

the lyrics aren't what remind me of jetko, but the dynamic itself. the lyrics are too on the nose for a gay couple in 1970's america so that rlly cant apply to jetko all that much. but the way these two characters bounce off of each other and get annoyed with each other and argue with eachother reminds me of jetko. because let's be honest: these two are the most stubborn characters in the whole show. they will fight for what they believe and it will take literally everything to change their minds.

i love jetko but i think they would have petty arguments all the time and get aggravated by one another so easily. and this is even seen in canon: they work so fucking well together but they did not even HESITATE to fight one another after neither of them would give in and let the fight about whether jet was right or wrong about zuko being a firebender. like i cannot say it enough they are stubborn as fuck.

but underneath all that stubborn pettiness and bickering: marvin and whizzer still love each other. and jet and zuko would still love each other. because even though they are stubborn when it comes to arguments, they are even more stubborn and determined when it comes to each other. these two passionate motherfuckers are in love.

(now when i chose this song i decided to ignore the fact that this song literally spells out the fact that marvin and whizzer's relatinoship is doomed because they literally say passion dies. thats the difference between jetko and whizzer and marvin because i dont think passion dies. i chose this song strictly for the bickering lmao)

and i know you didnt ask about tokka but,,,,

i rlly wanna talk about the tokka one

so im going to

tokka: on my own- les mis

look. i KNOW this song is about unrequited love and i love tokka as a couple but,,, the unrequited love in this song just SCREAMS unrequited tokka to me so thats what i went with.

eponine is a girl who has neglectful parents who lives life by her own rules: toph. eponine is shown to be tough and confident and spunky to others but behind all of that she has emotions, she feels love, she hides her vulnerability so much: toph. she is in love with a guy she cant be with because he loves someone else: TOPH

eponine is toph to a t and toph is eponine to a t. this is not up for debate lmao

"without him i feel his arms around me"

toph is always seen grabbing onto someone (and its almost ALWAYS sokka) when she's somewhere where she can't use her feet to see. FEEL and ARMS cmon. look at it.

"and i know / i know that he is blind"

COME ON. IMAGINE TOPH SINGING THIS LINE. this line is already powerful enough in les mis but having toph, a blind character, sing it just makes the symbolism even deeper. toph sees the potential relationship they could have together. toph sees that sokka is oblivious to this. toph is not blind to the truth or the potention, but sokka is blind to her feelings. im about to lose my mind over this line.

"I love him / But every day I'm learning / All my life / I've only been pretending / Without me / His world will go on turning / A world that's full of happiness / That I have never known"

i need to sit down for a moment. toph grew up in a household where her parents did not understand her. she has learned to hide her true emotions and vulnerabilities from everyone. and its the fact that toph knows that she and sokka will never be together and the fact that she still loves him in spite of that is what makes this even more heartbreaking.

"but only on my own"

TOPH AND EPONINE SWEETIES I LOVE YOU

thank you for indulging my theatre kid nonsense. you are very sweet and kind and lovely and awesome and i hope you have a lovely day bestie :) <3

ask me why i think these songs go with these ships

[amberskywrites]

Soulmarks and Surprises

First fic for this fandom! A bit iffy on how well it turned out- but! Hopefully as I write more for this fandom the more comfortable I can become with the characters and writing fics with them! Anywho- enjoy!

Masterpost

Pairing: Zukka

Fandom / Genre: Avatar the Last Airbender /  Fluff

Summary: Soulmarks and soulmates were something that was pushed to the back of people's minds once the fire nation attacked... Suddenly, it was no longer a priority to find the one you were supposedly destined to be with, all according to black images somewhere on your body. 

Well, Sokka at least doesn't have to look too far to find his soulmate.

-------------------

Sokka had noticed the mark a long time ago, when they were staying in Ozai's old house. He was watching Zuko teach Aang firebending one day, and couldn't help searching the prince's torso for that telling mark. He was curious if Zuko even had a soulmark.

He never usually thought much of soulmarks. They were common, but often overlooked at this point. It was difficult for most to find their soulmate after the fire nation started trying to take over the world, and suddenly soulmates weren't the most important thing in cultures anymore. But with the war hopefully ending soon… Sokka wondered if people would become more determined to find their soulmate.

Suki wasn't his, he knew that. The two had compared their marks late one night when they had become curious, and although they looked kind of similar, it was clear they weren't the same. Sokka's was a wave that crashed and turned into flames, and Suki's were flames being blown into a night sky by a fan.

Sokka had never seen Katara's soulmark, and Aang… Aang didn't seem to have one. Sokka assumed it was because he was the Avatar, so maybe he just wouldn't ever have a soulmate. And Sokka hadn't tried seeing Toph's.

But he was curious about Zuko's soulmark. And so, watching him train Sokka observed and searched until he spotted it. It was on the same side his scar was on, on his lower back, easy to hide if he wanted. And Sokka's heart stopped beating for a few moments as he stared at the mirror image of his own mark.

Sokka had trouble sleeping that night, but with the comet arriving soon, Sokka decided that he could bring up the soulmark another time.

-

The day before Sozin's comet, Sokka finally pulled Zuko aside. He couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of one of them dying and Zuko not at least knowing that they were soulmates. Sokka thought he had a right to know, so that if Sokka did die and Zuko lived Zuko could at least not spend years hoping to find his soulmate. 

Zuko tilted his head at Sokka, frowning slightly. "What's going on with you?" he asked. "You're more jittery than usual."

Sokka let go of Zuko's arm, instead folding his own arms over his chest. "I… I really need to talk with you about something, something that I've known for a bit now." Sokka didn't meet Zuko's eyes as he spoke, trying to gather his thoughts.

Zuko waited patiently, watching as his friend worried at his bottom lip. He'd never seen Sokka appear this nervous before, really. "It's about soulmarks, specifically yours."

Zuko stiffened slightly at that, frown deepening. He thought no one cared about those anymore… he certainly didn't like them, especially knowing he had one and that some poor soul was quite possibly destined to be with him. As a child, because of the water mixing with flames in his soulmark, Azula would tease him because his soulmate would probably be a waterbender, or from one of the water tribes at least, something not really sought after in his family.

"Yeah?"

Sokka nodded.

Zuko also really didn't like the idea that a stupid mark told him who he would end up loving, if they ever met at all-

"I um, I have the same one."

Zuko blinked at Sokka in confusion, his thoughts having come to a sudden halt. It took a moment for Zuko to process what Sokka had said, and he was shaking his head at the water tribe boy.

"No, you don't."

Spirits, Sokka had to be lying. Zuko couldn't think of why Sokka would lie about being his soulmate, but there was no way Sokka was Zuko's. Zuko knew Sokka was destined to be with someone much greater.

"I can show you if you don't believe me." Before Zuko could say anything, Sokka was moving his tunic aside and turned slightly, showing the back of his shoulder. Black swirled together in a pattern Zuko very easily recognized, and he felt his throat closed as he stared at the mark. Sokka took a deep breath as he shifted his clothes back in place. Zuko shook his head again, trying to catch up with his thoughts. "This was probably the worst time to tell you- I should have when I first found out but I couldn't cause I wasn't sure how to bring it up or how you would react or even feel about that, but you deserved to know, especially if things go south and something happens."

The silence was worse than any rejection Sokka could have imagined, it just felt so tense and Zuko looked blank, and Sokka needed just some sort of reaction.

"Zuko, say something, please," Sokka didn't speak loudly, taking a hesitant step towards Zuko. Zuko didn't move away from him, instead, he glanced towards where the others had all made camp. When he returned his gaze back to Sokka, something seemed to switch and he reached out for the young warrior and embraced him tightly.

Sokka was frozen for a moment before he returned the hug, feeling Zuko bury his face in the crook of Sokka's neck. "Don't you dare let things go south," Zuko mumbled, pressing closer. "I want to be able to properly talk about this when we aren't gonna go end this war in about a day."

Relief washed over Sokka for a moment, and his arms tightened around Zuko. "Will definitely try."

-

Things luckily worked out in the end. They talked in the infirmary of the palace and had agreed to try dating, see if they were actually a good match, but they also wanted to take it slow. Things were already moving so quickly in their lives, they didn't need another thing to pile on.

That was roughly three years ago, though. Zuko had been crowned Firelord, and after Sokka healed he returned to the southern water tribe to help rebuild and to also help improve his tribe's home. They exchanged letters for those two years, each letter growing sappier the longer they were apart.

Zuko was reading over a document, one he was planning on proposing to the school administrators soon to change curriculums. He was so focused he barely registered the loud knocking on his door. It was fairly late, he realized as he rose from his desk, back stiff and aching, and he wondered who would even be up at this hour besides some guards.

The knocking continued until he finally opened his door, sighing, about to scold whoever for possibly disrupting some visiting ambassador's sleep. Zuko snapped his mouth shut though at the grinning face in front of him, and the smile was infectious.

"I thought you weren't going to be able to make it for another week?"

Sokka shrugged. "I couldn't help myself from making a surprise visit," and he nodded towards Zuko's room, a silent question. Zuko moved out of the way, letting Sokka inside and Zuko thanked the guard who had escorted him before closing the door.

Sokka was already settled on Zuko's bed and he reached out, beckoning his boyfriend over. Zuko rolled his eyes as Sokka started making grabby hands instead, and he shrugged off his formal robes. He had started wearing more comfortable clothes underneath them so he could feel a bit more relaxed in meetings. Zuko put the robes in a hamper, knowing the servants would come and retrieve them by morning, and he accepted Sokka's embrace, practically melting into the water tribe boy's arms.

"You've been working too hard," Sokka muses as he kicks off his shoes before shifting them both under Zuko's blankets. He did it with ease, Zuko curled up on his lap basically made it easier for him to move and lie down. Zuko nestled into his chest, and felt Sokka remove his hair from the bun he always kept it in. The crown was also taken out, set on the nightstand near Zuko's bed.

"I've gotta if I want to keep improving the fire nation," Zuko says, listening to Sokka's steady heartbeat. Sokka hummed knowingly, fingers combing through Zuko's hair. Zuko sighed at the touch and relaxed further.

"Missed you," Sokka mumbled, and Zuko nodded slightly in agreement. "I can stay longer than I did last time, too."

Zuko glanced up at him, curious. "How long, exactly?" Last time, Sokka was able to stay for about a month. But that was last year. Sokka grins down at him, hand not in Zuko's hair moving down Zuko's back and slipping under Zuko's shirt, tracing the soulmark there.

"As long as I want, if you'll let me."

Zuko returned to his previous position, and he nodded slightly. "Of course, you could stay forever if you truly wanted."

Sokka laughs at that, and he presses a kiss to the top of Zuko's head. "I'll keep that in mind. You look tired though, so how about we sleep, and tomorrow over breakfast you can complain about the boring meetings like you do in your letters."

Zuko huffs, but doesn't object to sleeping and he falls asleep faster than Sokka thought he would. Sokka doesn't mention the pendant he made, that's something he could bring up after he caught up with his soulmate.

[that-was-anticlimactic]

oKAY BUT AVATAR FROZEN AU (ft. Zukka)

I was listening to Frozen on Broadway in the shower and it literally won’t leave my head y’ALL (sorry this is long, but I didn’t know how to do the read more thing because I suck so if anyone knows how, please lemme know!)

Katara: Elsa

Sokka: Anna

Zuko: Kristoff

Aang: Olaf

Azula: Hans

Druk: Sven

The Trolls Are: Iroh, Toph, Suki and Kyoshi Warriors, Mai, Ty Lee, Jet and the Freedom Fighters, maybe Yue idk yet

(Cabbage Man is Oaken)

Okay, so I know Sokka is the older sibling and Katara has Anna’s trust, but Katara is the last Waterbender in the SWT so

idk I’m still working it out since as soon as I got out of the shower I started typing this, but I think Katara and Sokka were a family ya know with Hakoda and Kya and Katara had her bending but the Fire Nation was still like iffy so they didn’t publicize it

Sokka thought it was SO COOL and always wanted to play with her powers ya know? They probably created Aang together, not sure about that yet anyways

Katara hits Sokka with her powers (ice maybe?) on accident and he’s dying, they go to “the trolls” but what imma call White Lotus and Yue is there or she was but had to give herself to the moon, but the moon spirit saves Sokka, has white strip in his hair like Anna, they wipe his memories of Katara’s bending

Katara is sad and scared and terrified so she shuts herself in her room and will not go penguin sledding or fishing or anything with Sokka and now Sokka is sad

Hakoda and Kya are eventually like Katara needs to learn how to control it or just rid of her powers, let’s go to the NWT and see if there is a good chi blocker or a master for Katara to learn from

they die on the ship, probably Fire Nation

(also, the war is still technically going on but also not? Not as intensely as it was in the show, but like, it’s there)

I’m not sure what to do about the chief stuff, so we’ll ignore that for now

It is Sokka or Katara’s coronation, Sokka is excited because he can leave their palace and Katara is not excited because she still doesn’t know how to bend or control it

Sokka runs into Azula and now let’s talk about the Fire Nation for a second

Ozai is still ruling, Ursa is gone, Zuko was banished and Iroh went with him

Ozai did burn Zuko’s face, probably for the same reason, so Iroh took Zuko and they went to the Earth Kingdom and met up with other people who had been hurt by the Fire Nation and they became a family and Zuko eventually leaves and finds an egg and it’s Druk! They become besties but Zuko leaves kind of for the same reasons as in Zuko Alone

Ozai is pretty pissed at the Water Tribes because they’re thriving or something and wants to rule them so he’s like “Azula, go hit on one of the siblings and make them love you and then marry them and I can- I mean, you can control the SWT and NWT”

and she’s like “dope I shall bring destruction onto their land eventually” because poor girl is getting manipulated:(

So, Azula and Sokka run into each other, Azula is a terrible flirt but so is Sokka and they bond over how terrible they both are at human interaction and Sokka is like “yeah after I turned ten, they never let me leave the castle so I have zero friends”

and Azula is mentally like wait I have no friends too:(... but is like “yeah I feel, I’m only the Fire Nation Princess, but it’s a boys only club, ya know? So no one takes me seriously”

and Sokka is like “you... I like you...” and definitely starts crushing and asks her to do an activity and yada yada yada

someone gets crowned, idk who yet

Azula and Sokka spend more time together and Azula is like “wow he is so starved for affection that if I asked him to marry me he’d probably say yes Father what kind of mission is this this is so easy”

so she tries it out and he’s like “SURE” and they tell Katara and she’s just not having it

“Sokka! The Fire Nation killed our parents!”

“Yeah, five years ago--” (or more, idk timeline yet) “--besides, this would be good treaty-wise and politically, ya know?” (so I guess this means Katara would become chief? Idk how that happens but we’ll figure it out)

and Katara is just “... SOKKA you just met this girl. Also, she’s Fire Nation!”

and he’s like “well you aren’t in charge on me so imma do whatever I want”

and Katara is like ahhhhh and he ends up pulling a glove off and she waterbends and everyone is like hbfvrvunyuibtuy wHAT

and Azula is like “ooh so there really is still a waterbender left in the SWT...”

Katara runs away and accidentally freezes everywhere she goes (for purposes of plot convenience, she goes to the Earth Kingdom without knowing it and freezes that too I guess? She’s pretty powerful, y’all

and Sokka is like “I gotta go after her!”

and Azula is mentally lie death mission, that gets him out of the way “sURE! I’ll stay here:)”

so Sokka goes and runs into Zuko and Druk

“Dragons are better than people, Druk, don’t you think that’s right?”

and he sees Sokka struggling to paddle a boat or something, again, don’t have land and stuff figured out here yet

Sokka basically annoys him into helping him

(and Zuko won’t admit it, but he kinda liked Sokka’s vibe and was like I haven’t spoken to a human person in years is it selfish to want this? He’s not disgusted at my scar...”)

Zuko does not tell Sokka that he is a fire bender, he mentions he used to live in the Fire Nation, though

Katara makes maybe not an elaborate ice castle, but she is like “LET IT GOOOOOOO” when she finds open land and just makes it so pretty and guys imagine Katara in an Inuit-style Elsa dress? Wouldn’t that be the most gorgeous thing??

Maybe she misses home so she remakes her village out of ice, maybe if she’s lonely (because Katara really hates being alone but she’ll do it for the good of her people) she’ll make ice sculptures of people from the village like her mom and dad and Sokka

also ya know what? No, I don’t want Katara to be completely alone. She finds Momo trying to hide from the cold and takes him in so it is Katara and Momo

Sokka and Zuko are riding Druk, but he’s tired so they aren’t super high, and Sokka is explaining what happened to Zuko and Zuko starts laughing because “you planned on marrying someone you just met? From the Fire Nation?”

“You’re from the Fire Nation!”

“yeah, it sucks. Why do you think I left? But seriously? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in three years!” (because I just decided it has been three years of him alone)

and Sokka doesn’t mention that it’s Azula yet because Zuko was already laughing at him but wait Zuko has a really cute and precious laugh--

they talk a bit and Sokka kind of mentions the strip in his hair and how it happened because he got pneumonia as a child and almost died but the moon spirit saved his lifeand Zuko doesn’t know how the frick to respond so he just “... that’s rough, buddy”

Actually, imma take back something I said earlier, they don’t make Aang, her unleashing her powers shakes the earth or water or something and the iceberg pops up and Zuko and Sokka find it and Sokka is like “Imma touch it”

and Zuko goes “wait no don’t touch i-- you touched it” and Aang pops out and is like “HELLO!”

and they’re like who the frick are you?

and Aang is like “I’m the Avatar, Aang”

and Zuko and Sokka just :0

or maybe Katara and Sokka like created him as a kid or like believed he would come back to save them and that kind of like manifested into what happened? Idk but somehow, and maybe more plot convenience, he knows who Katara is, maybe the monks told him she’d be his waterbending master before he got trapped?

“Katara? you’re looking for her? I’m looking for her too! She’s the most powerful waterbender in the world and I need to learn how to waterbend!”

“Woah cool! You should join us!” says Sokka

and Zuko facepalms because “sOKKA again with the people you just met!”

and Sokka is like “I just met you”

“Fair point”

“besides, you guys are some of the first people I’ve talked to in like 5-8 years!”

and Zuko and Aang get kind of quiet because wow now that Sokka mentions in, that’s super true for him, but also true for the both of them... they’re all lonely

so Aang is like “okay let’s find Katara!” and they talk and stuff on the way and Aang mentions being excited to visit the Fire Nation and see Kuzon and all of his airbender friends and Zuko and Sokka just ??? then it hits them that oh boy he’s been in that iceberg for a long time--

so Zuko tells him and Aang is big sad and goes into the Avatar State or something and idk imma come back to this

plus also more friendship bonding happens and more feelings between Zuko and Sokka happen

they eventually reach Katara and they’re all like wow this is gorgeous

and Aang is about to walk in and stuff and Zuko stops him “maybe Sokka should go first? Since she’s his sister?”

Sokka goes into the village, finds the one that looks like their house / hut / palace, sees Katara and they both start crying and hug each other and Katara goes “I’ve missed you so much”

and Sokka is like “why did you leave? Please come back, I’ll help protect you from the Fire Nation! No one will get to you!”

and Katara is like “that’s not what I’m worried about” and her eyes flicker to the white strand in Sokka’s hair. “I don’t know how to control it and I don’t have a teacher and I’m dangerous.”

“I have some friends who can help you find a teacher! Aang and Zuko!”

Aang hears his name so he runs out and is like “Hi, I’m Aang, the avatar, want a hug? You look sad”

and Katara is like this boy is a sweetie and must be protected at all costs so no hug from em because I hurt those I love:(

and then Aang says “The monks told me about you! It was like a hundred years ago, but they told me Katara would be my waterbending teacher! You’re the most powerful waterbender in the world!”

and she laughs and almost believes him but “No, no I can’t control it. What if I hurt people?”

And Aang is like “we can learn together then!”

and Sokka and Katara talk more, Sokka is like “please come back, we’ll protect you from the Fire Nation and help you find a teacher I need you I miss you” and Katara wants to so badly

but she says no

they talk and Sokka mentions that basically everywhere is frozen and Katara is just ???? and Sokka is like “please, you can unfreeze it and people will see you aren’t a threat!”

and Katara flips out, they argue a bit, she hits him in the heart on accident and screams so Zuko and Aang (who left) run out and see Sokka on the ground and Katara hyperventilating and Zuko helps Sokka up and kind of has to hold him up for a couple minutes and he begs Katara to come with them because she’s his baby sister and he’ll protect her and she’s crying and her hand instinctively touches her mother’s necklace and she tells him no and that if they won’t leave, she’ll make them leave and then Aang and Zuko start begging her too because Zuko just met her but he knows that she’ll play a huge role in stopping the war and that she is incredibly powerful (and also she’s so kind when she isn’t accidentally being dangerous, he thinks-- based off of the stories Sokka had told him and the look on her face after she struck Sokka

Sokka says no and Aang and Zuko stand firm beside him so Katara makes a giant sky bison named Appa or something who chases them out of the village and they all end up falling into the freaking cold water and Sokka helps pull Aang and Zuko out since he’s the best swimmer and we love Zuko but he’s kind of a terrible swimmer

and Zuko goes “thank yo-- what’s with your hair?”

“My hair? We just gout out of the ocean, you should see your hair”

And Aang pipes up with “no, your hair is white”

“Wait it’s what? Does it look bad?”

“... no?” - Zuko

Sokka goes “you hesitated you think it’s baddddd”

and Zuko says “no, no, not like that... it’s because your sister struck you, isn’t it?”

and Sokka thinks and realization kind of dawns on him “I never had pneumonia...” and it hits him and he groans “that’s why she stopped playing with me! We need to go back, I need to talk to her--”

and he falls as he tries to get up

Aang and Zuko share a look and are like “yeah, no, you need help or you’ll actually die again”

Zuko suddenly is like “wait? the moon spirit saved you that one time, right? maybe She can do it again! Come on! I have some friends who can help you!”

while all of that is happening, Azula is planning on assassinating Katara and the people of the SWT and visitors from the rest of the world are freezing so she’s like “I guess I’ll go stop her since she must have killed my fiance”

some others go with her and they find where Katara is hiding out and Azula kills Appa:( and faces Katara with her people

Katara easily get the others out of the way and then it’s her and Azula

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Katara says

Azula puts her hands down and says “I don’t want to either. Just come with us, fox the weather, and we can help you”

“Why should I trust you? Your nation has wanted to kill me for years!”

“mmm fair point”

they fight a bit, Katara ends up getting knocked out and they take her back and lock her up

going back to the trio and Druk, they’re going to the little corner of the Earth Kingdom where the White Lotus is and Sokka’s hair is getting progressively more white and he’s getting more cold and Zuko is starting to panic so he says “I’m going to show you something, but you have to promise not to freak out”

so Sokka nods and Aang is chill with it because he doesn’t hate firebenders like the rest of the world

so Zuko creates a fire and holds it close to Sokka who does indeed freak out and crawls to the other side of the dragon

and Aang is like “wow! That’s so pretty! Can you teach me that? I need a firebending teach too! It was going ti be Kuzon but...”

and Zuko goes to Sokka again and says “I didn’t want you to hate me. I’m not evil or anything like Ozai. You’re freezing, please, let me help you warm up.”

and Sokka is silent then says “I trust you” and Zuko kind of pulls him in and wraps his arms around Sokka to warm him up and Aang looks left out so Sokka tells him to join

and all three are like “wow. This is the most human contact I’ve had in years... it’s nice”

somewhere here I think would be a good time for Sokka to ask about Zuko’s scar and so Zuko tells the story and Sokka and Aang are pissed and ready to kill but before Sokka and piece together that Azula is his sister, they arrive

Zuko is like “hello, Zuko here! But you guys probably knew that, or at least Toph will-- oof!” because Toph runs at him and gives him a super hard hug and suddenly the White Lotus is surrounding him and are like “how are you?” “where’ve you been?” “we missed you!” etc, etc

and Zuko is like “haha I missed you guys too but um, I’m actually here for something else... he helps Aang and Sokka off of Druk and Toph immediately feels the change in their heart rates when Zuko helps Sokka and Sokka leans against Zuko so she goes “you got a boyfriend!”

cue matching looks of horror on the two’s faces and suddenly everyone is interrogating both of them and Zuko is like y’all!!! He needs help! Where’s Iroh?

he is ignored:/

“Zuko looks grumpy and he acts grumpy but really he’s a sweetheart and mushy!” says Ty Lee

“make sure you give him lots of hugs and attention because he will not tell you when he wants it” Suki says

and Zuko’s whole face is red and it’s the funniest thing Sokka has seen and he’s so invested in all of these people and their stories and wants to stay forever but then remembers Katara and Zuko finally is like “IROH!”

Iroh comes and sees Sokka and he’s like welcome back

and like at this point Sokka can barely stand and Zuko is supporting all his weight

and Zuko is like “you helped him when he was younger, please help him now!”

and Iroh is sad “there is nothing I can do, nephew. The moon spirit is generous, but to touch the same thing twice... an act of true love is the only way to fix this”

and Zuko gets sad and says “your fiance”

and Sokka kind of mutters “... yeah... my fiance” because now after spending a week minimum a month max with Zuko, Aang, and Druk, he definitely has feelings for Zuko but he’s confused

and everyone else gets sad and Toph is confused because she can feel their heart rates

but Zuko sucks it up and helps Sokka back onto Druk and they set back for the SWT and all Sokka is thinking is for Katara for Katara for Katara for Katara... was she right? Maybe I was too fast with Azula... but we connected and she wanted to talk to me and... for Katara for Katara...

so Katara is locked up and Azula is like “this would have been fine if you did not put up a struggle. If you surrendered peacefully we would not have to resort to this”

and then leaves because she hears that Sokka is back and Katara is like “I’m a monster, but so is Azula and I need to find Sokka and apologize and fix everything I’ve done, even if I die” so she escapes because Katara is cool like that

Zuko and Azula see each other and it’s awkward, but she sees Sokka in his arms and she realizes that he didn’t die and her idiot brother helped him they make eye contact and Zuko can kind of tell what her plan is in her eyes but Azula feigns worry for Sokka and grabs him from Zuko’s arms before he can stop her and Sokka is like “Azula...” and she’s pretending and stuff and then she sees Aang and her eyes widen at his tattoos and Zuko shoves Aang behind him and says “You aren’t taking the avatar to Father. Just save Sokka, he doesn’t have much time left”

her eyes linger on Aang with interest but she turns and leaves and sets Sokka down in a room and Sokka explains it and tries kissing her but she just laughs and is like “oh, if only there was someone out there who loved you” and in his hazy and near death mind, Sokka understands it all because he may be naive, but he’s clever

“You’re Zuko’s sister”

“I am. You really were so trusting and naive to fall in love with the first person you see.”

“I’m sorry”

“What?”

“Zuko told me about your father... I’m sorry he’s manipulating you.”

and Azula shrieks, lights her hands on fire and is just barely able to stop herself from burning him, makes sure the fire in the room dies, mentions killing Katara and Zuko and capturing Aang, then locks Sokka in the room

and Sokka is crying because he should have listened to Katara and he just wants her to be okay and he can barely move, he can’t do anything to protect her from problems he caused and Aang is going to get hurt and he misses Zuko

and Zuko misses Sokka and Aang is like “okay, something’s up”

Zuko tells him about how Azula is his sister and he doesn’t trust her and that he thinks he loves Sokka, or has feelings for him at least

Aang goes “do you think Azula really loves Sokka?”

“... no”

“then we need to turn around. Druk!”

Azula tells everyone Sokka died because of Katara and that they nee to kill her and his last words were marriage vows

the door handle rattles and Aang comes in and Sokka shakes his head and he’s crying and says “you need to get out of here, she’s gonna kill you”

and Aang is shaking his head and saying “no, don’t worry! Zuko is here and he’s on his way! It’s storming really bad outside right now and he’s fighting off some guards, but he came back for you” and Aang helps Sokka up and out of the room but guards see them and Aang stays behind to fight them

Katara stumbled upon Azula as she tries escaping and they start fighting, kind of like the Agni Kai fight and it’s really epic and cool and stuff and then Azula says something like “stop fooling around and wasting everyone’s time. I am now the ruler of the SWT and I am ordering you to stand down!”

and Katara goes “ruler... where is Sokka?”

“Sokka? Oh, he returned weak and cold. His heart was frozen. Your brother is dead because of you”

and Katara falls to her knees and cries and Azula is like “ha weakness time to kill”

and Sokka sees Zuko and he’s “running” to him but then sees Katara and Azula about to kill her and jumps in front of her despite Zuko’s pleas and Sokka is frozen and when Katara looks up and sees what happened, she loses control and freezes Azula like she did in the Agni Kai and the storm dies down and Zuko and Aang run to her and she’s clinging to Sokka and crying and so is Zuko and then sibling love and he comes back

Zuko is like “love. It doesn’t have to be a kiss.”

and they hug and Sokka is back to his normal self except his hair is still white maybe, but he introduces Katara to Zuko and Aang formally and they all hug and then the White Lotus comes and Toph and Suki and Mai and Jet are all sad because they missed the fight but are happy that Sokka’s okay and Azula is still kind of there and idk what they do with her, I’ll come back to that, actually, maybe Azula manages to escape

but so it would end kind of ambiguously because Ozai is still there and the SWT is untrusting of Katara still so they have to flee maybe and they return to the White Lotus hide out and Zuko and Sokka have a moment where they are like “hey I think I like you”

then Sokka and Katara have a great sibling moment

and that’s how it ends

okay wow that was long and took an hour and a half to type but y’all this would NOT leave my head!!!! I feel like this doesn’t have enough Katara in it, so know that if I actually made this a thing, there would be a lot more Katara and more sibling moments and Zuko and Aang and White Lotus and stuff but uhhh yeah idk if this has been done before but it was living in my mind rent free (p.s. Mai and Ty Lee do have a history with Azula in this AU and there would be an Azula redemption at some point)

if anyone has any thoughts or feelings or anything to add, please do:) I wasn’t sure if I should make Sokka or Katara Elsa, but I went with Katara because she had the powers and Zukka happening worked better with Sokka as Anna, idk

[donvex]

Does zukka fit a flower shop/tattoo shop trope? No, absolutely not. Am I writing head canons for it anyway? Yes, because I want to, and I said so, so I’ll make this work

-zuko loves the arts. Has loved the arts since he was young. He passion starts in the theater, and that’s where he starts to branch out

-maybe, just maybe, he leans away from theater a little bit because of his dad

-he doesn’t really talk about it, but he knows that he ended up going into his field because it was a little bit more masculine

-it takes a couple of years and a lot of therapy for him to separate his history with his dad from the work he very much loves to do, even if he started for all the wrong reasons

-but he’s good at it

-he’s a really good fucking tattoo artist

-zuko does almost exclusively in blackwork

-on occasion he does spot color, and ok of course his signature spot color is red, because its BOLD

-but he really really loves blackwork

-there’s a flower shop on the same block as the shop he works at

-but lets get this straight sokka absolutely does not own this flower shop

-aang does. Sweet sweet aang, who’s a vegetarian, who gifts his beautiful girlfriend katara flowers every other week despite the fact that its literally from his work

-katara loves it no I do not take criticism

-sokka just likes to stop by to bully aang hang out

-a lot

-its also because katara hangs out there so often and sokka just really loves his sister okay

-plus sometimes he brings his work (he’s an engineer, what a smart boy) and works in the back room, paperwork and math and all the administrative stuff

-there’s a little restaurant around the corner that the gaang goes to all the time, its cozy and warm and they don’t mind when their group gets a little too rowdy because they’re nice and they tip as best as they can for young adults in these trying times

-anyway every single person in the goddamn world works on this street okay

-yes this restaurant is iroh’s. We like it that way

-iroh is very nice to them and they are very nice back

-zuko does live in the area but come on, cities are big, you don’t run into people you know ALL the time

-even when they hang out at your uncle’s restaurant all the time

-zuko also has weird hours. He kinda sets up his own schedule, especially around his clients appointments

-but one day zuko is at the shop and a client is a no show, which always sucks even though he has their security deposit, so instead of sulking and going all the way home, he grabs his bag and heads to iroh’s

-settles down in a corner there, out of the way, with a sketchbook and headphones in so he can work on a flash sheet

-his uncles presence is warm and inviting just like his restaurant and zuko feels better just for being there

-and then, even over his music, he hears someone go “hey! He did my tattoos!”

-and zuko looks up to see the gaang, only one of which he recognizes - ya know, cuz you kinda don’t forget doing a massive body-scale blue arrow tattoo?

-and aang didn’t really intend for it to become anything, he was just excited, but zuko also isn’t sure because he’s awkward so he does say hi

-and the gang just kind of hovers over his flash sheet for a while and invites him in and somehow he ends up at their usual table

-(maybe its because he’s AT their usual table, he realizes. Small world, everyone wants the corner)

-now let’s not forget

-sokka is a bisexual disaster

-zuko is beautiful and sokka kinda wants to hate him for it? He doesn’t but he would love to

-also he doesn’t see any tattoos on zuko so he’s skeptical like aang are you SURE you didn’t hit your head

-toph is delighted no I did not forget her she just is too good of a character for me to write her justly

-but anyway she punches sokka (with affection) any time he voices too much skepticism

-on a different day, sokka goes in to zuko’s shop, because he’s around and he wants to see it for himself

-he isn’t allowed to watch zuko work of course, but he does get to watch zuko come out with a finished client and take some pictures of it

-it’s very impressive, and okay, maybe he DID do gang’s tattoos

-which just means sokka is smitten

-zuko is also smitten do not worry. They are both disasters

-zuko gets adopted into the gaang and they start to hang out. Their shops are so close, they love iroh, their ages are similar, and they get along after enough time. Its nice. Zuko likes it

-one day it rains, and gets really humid, and its fucking hot. So zuko finally takes off that dumb beat up leather jacket he always wears, only this time its not covering a long sleeves shirt, he’s wearing a tank top

-and sokka takes it back because zuko not only has tattoos, but they WORK for him

-zuko doesn’t have any shitty tattoos, because he spent so long dreaming of the theater and thinking that he couldn’t have tattoos if he ever wanted to be on stage, that by the time he finally acknowledged that his dreams had changed, he was working with and around tattoo artists and could afford to jump straight to full on intricate sleeves that took several sessions each

-it is the only good thing his father has ever given him. Jk he doesn’t credit his father for shit and somewhere in this universe there is room for his father to go to jail. Its already happened, and he’s sure he’ll have to tell his new friends at some point, but not now. He doesn’t wanna

-anyway his tattoos are beautiful. And all botanical

-they all have little scientific names nestles between the branches and stems, it dips below his clothes line, but they’re gorgeous

-pretty much everyone wonders why the fuck he doesn’t show them off, but he shrugs

-“I do, just not. here.”

-he likes to be recognized for his OWN work on his street, by his shop. Not for the work that’s on him

-aang is very excited and begs him in that way where you don’t REALLY have the option to say no to come look at his flower shop

-zuko does, its very pretty

-sokka pays attention to all the flowers and colors he likes

-color was hard. Zuko only does blackwork, how is he supposed to know which color flowers to give him?

-if he ever asks zuko out. Which he’s gonna at some point, because aang may be happily oblivious (or is that just his own way of playing the game? Sokka never knows) but katara is onto him and he has a limited amount of time to ask before katara does it from him

-they meet at the shop, the whole gaang, but this time everyone shuffles out early to leave the two dumb boys alone, and sokka asks to walk zuko home

-“idiot! You’re supposed to take him OUT not HOME”

-but the walk is nice and sweet and then, sadly, too short

-but sokka does make it a habit

-eventually he gives zuko a package and dashes away after their walk

-its a picture frame, with a bunch of pressed flowers, collaged in with snippets of poetry. zuko can tell they’re from different books, because the sizes and kerning and fonts are all different, and that’s a nice touch of detail

-when he looks them up, he finds a couple of them are from plays, not poetry books, and he binges the plays

-it also comes with a note from sokka that says “you get what I’m saying, so just. Text me if you wanna talk about it”

-he does text sokka

-they go out on a very nice date to a restaurant that ISNT owned by zuko’s uncle, and then go out on many more dates after that

-aang is always happy to give sokka discounts on flowers. sokka’s favorite thing to do is (have aang) make bouquets up of the flowers zuko has tattooed

-(Occasionally, when he gets The Zuko Bouquet, he tells aang a new flower to add to it. aang doesn’t ask, but he does smile. He’s very happy for sokka)

-(turns out zuko’s entire back is covered in tattoos too. sokka is going to lose his mind)

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

Zukka Soulmate AU part 6

@mypureessence

@chaoticidiott

@ari-shipping-stuff

@knightedbot

@idkhowbutimgayer

@swampy-beans

@angrylittleintrovert

"I'll see you after the war prince Zuko" Jee said while leaving with Zhao

"Traitor" Zuko snipped at him with an angry stare, how could he just leave? He honestly saw him as a friend at that point, not that he ever had a good Idea of friends.

Jee just gave him a sad look and whispered "I'm sorry."

Once left on the boat with just him and his Uncle Zuko felt panicked. He paced back and forth on the ships deck until Iroh pulled him into a hug "don't panic too much Prince zuko, you'll dry out your scar. Say, why don't we go for a short walk together? Perhaps we could find some native flowers along the way"

"I dont want to go for a walk" Zuko pouted "Im going to sleep, dont be out too late, I hope to leave by dawn"

"Do you remember your sailing training?"

"Of course uncle, I went over it every morning with the captain"

Iroh gave him a nod and was off on his walk. Zuko looked towards the moon, it was getting close to a full moon. Maybe he's watching the same moon right now. He flushed at the thought and shook his head before heading to bed.

So they were at the northpole now? Of course he knew they were traveling to find Katara a wonderbending master. Given that there were none in the south pole. That's weird isn't it? Of course the firenation had done something to get the advantage over them but what happened to all the waterbenders? That village did seem rather... small? Why was Sokka the only warrior there? Perhaps the warriors left with what few benders they probably had?

Thinking back to the day he first saw Sokka he remembered only the glare from the boy with war paint covering half his face. He hated him, clearly he did, of course he did, why wouldn't he? What was Zuko but a traitor to his own nation and an enemy to every other nation. He only had one option right? He had to capture Aang and bring him back to his father. That was the only way he'd ever get his fathers love back and he knew that... didn't he? If he knew that then why was it so tempting to take Katara up on her offer to join them, why was he so tempted to try with Sokka?

A sound outside his room brought him out of his train of thought with a start. "Uncle?" With no response he went on the defense, stalking down the hall outside his room. He held a firebending position, ready to defend himself at any given moment.

When he reached the captains room he looked around at the map. A screech from outside caught his attention and he looked up to see that parrot from the pirates he screwed over. "No" it flew off and he heard explosions go off only managing to encase himself with fire as protection a split second before it reached him.

Screaming he flew out the window, gaining a few cuts and scrapes before falling into the water several feet away from his ship. When he came up for air he stayed low and hid behind another ship. The timing was fairly obvious, those pirates were sent by Zhao to kill him.

Meanwhile at the northpole Sokka was laying down on his cozy fur bed ready for sleep when he felt his whole body heat up and pain on his right eye and cheek. "Sokka?" Katara said from the doorway "oh my gods what did he do now?"

Sokka brought his hand up to his cheek and lifted it away to reveal blood just before he had the breath knocked out of him for a good few seconds. Gasping for air once it was flowing again he looked up at her "I..."

"Look you dont have to admit anything but I think someone just tried to kill Zuko... or maybe they succeeded..."

"What? No, he's indestructible, he probably got away and fell or something" He hopes... wait... why would he hope that? Zuko is a prick, he doesn't care if he dies or not.

"For both of your sakes I hope he survived" Katara said, reaching to her necklace

"You never did tell us how you gor that back... did you?" Sokka narrowed his eyes

Katara gave a shy smile "well, I told Aang... guess I forgot to tell you, my bad... Zuko gave it back actually."

"What?" Sokka's shock was more than clear in his voice

"Oh dont sound so shocked Sokka, when the pirates attacked he gave the necklace to me before tying me up and... he actually was the one to give me back the scroll and cut the string... called it a favor and told me to get lost though" she gave a shrug "here, let me help you with those cuts, maybe it'll help him too"

Sokka smiled at her and closed his eyes when she reached him with that glowing water. The sting of the cut was soothed by the cold water almost instantly. "Thank you Katara"

"No problem, now get to sleep so you can get back to wooing the princess tomorrow" she teased

"I am not wooing her, I'm just... I like her okay? And she doesn't have a soulmate but she likes me... or at least I hope she does... I just want to make her happy while I'm here." He paused "I cant be her forever abviously" he gestured to his scar "but I can at least be there for her now right? I think that would be enough to make her happy for a short while" Katara gave a knowing look and juat nodded before Aang came back

"Pakku trained you longer today huh? Early tomorrow we're doing one on one?"

"Yeah, he wanted to make sure I didn't have any distractions" Aang rolled his eyes "and yeah, one on one's are tomorrow, you're gonna kick their butts"

Back on a firenation ship away from the found family and heading towards Ice and cold Zuko was harboring with Iroh on Zhao's ship "you didn't have to do this" he whispered to his uncle while sliding the front cover of his helmet off

"No son of mine is going to stow away on a ship without some back up" wait... son?

"Son?" Zuko asked in a stuttered whisper

Iroh gave a soft chuckle "sorry, I misspoke dear nephew... anyhow, do you have a plan?"

"Im working on it" Zuko slid his cover back on and averted his eyes "When will we reach the pole?"

"By late evening tomorrow.. hide out in the life boat docks, nobody checks those besides me and Jee"

And thats just what he did, resting between the barrels surrounded by ropes and oars. That night Jee managed to slip in to check on him. "Prince" he heard Jee call out to which he sturred and snapped his fingers to alert him to where he was "ah, prince, I came here to give you this"

Jee held out the hair ribbon that had fallen from his hair when he fell out of the ship. "Thank you Jee, I guess I should wear it somewhere else for now"

"Your neck would be best, though that would be more of a placement for a betrothal necklace in their culture so I suggest you wear it around wither your wrist or ankle"

"Betrothal? Like engagement or marraige?.is that what Katara wore? I thought she was fourteen.."

"Yes, that is what she wore, though I feel it was probably passed down in her family and likely does not symbolize engagement." Jee spoke softly while Zuko lifted his sleeve for Jee to tie the ribbon around his forearm

"They've been through alot, I just hope it doesn't mean something too terribly important since I gave it back to her"

"You what?" Jee said as he finished tying the ribbon and pulled down Zuko's sleeve

"Hah, yeah, I wanted to do something... nice I guess..."

"Are you coming around for him" Jee wiggled his eyebrows at Zuko with a grin

"Oh my Agni, shut uuuup" he shoved Jee who only laughed

"Y'know... you remind me alot of my younger brother... before he well.. yeah, the war isn't nice to anyone" Jee gave a small sigh

"How do I remind you of him?"

"Oh you know, stubborn, dramatic, gloomy," Zuko glared at him but Jee only chuckled "and a heart of gold covered in dust laid there by others"

That statement stayed with him the entire time he was breaking into the northpole. A heart of gold. His mind echoed as he came out of the water to find the seal turtle cove. Covered in dust. Rang out as he leapt into the next tunnel. "Laid there by others" he gasped out once he resurfaced in the icetunnel.

He let out a small breath of fire and looked out over the village he was now in. This village would be attacked come sunrise. He only had a small amount of time to rest and get his bearings before then.

He had to find Sokka... no.. no he had to find Aang, though he hoped Sokka was safe with his sister.

Why was he here, what was he doing here? He was here for the avatar... but he couldnt stop thinking about Sokka and his bright blue eyes and his quick thinking. He couldnt help but think about how this would likely hurt him.

He gave a sigh before standing... there was something warm calling him. Not so much calling, but... pulling. He wasn't about to ignore it so he walked towards the heat, but made sure to keep out of sight.

The cold was bitter but not unwelcome... he could live here if he had to right attire. "Look princess, you don't have to have a soulmate to find love" was that... Sokka? He hid behind the wall and peered around it to look at him

"I know that Sokka, but we both know you're already chosen for someone. I appreciate you helping me feel loved while I was here but he will need you" the princess spoke and Sokka looked out away from her

"I know.. but I doubt he'd ever even choose me over his stupid honor" he looked back to her "is it bad to say that I like him? I mean, Yue, Ive always hated my scar, its just so... terrible, you know? But on him?"

Sokka gave a sigh "its not so bad... I mean his eyes Yue, they're so.... so gold its like they're glowing, he's beautiful Yue... but not only that he's strong... and I... I just rambled didn't I?"

Yue laughed "you did" she placed her hand on his unscarred cheek "but that is alright, perhaps Zuko will be able to listen to you ramble on after the war"

Zuko's face was practically boiling at this point, he had to get out of there and find Aang. That is exactly what he did. He found the oasis and spotted Aang and Katara. Wow, so thats what a calm avatar glow is? Nice to not have it detroying your fucking ship.

How he managed to get Aang tied up and in a cave is between him and a specific waterbender who could and would kill him but he'd never actually kill her. No amount of money could convince him to actually kill someone. But here he was with Aang waking up and giving him not a scared or angry look, just a... disappointed look.

"Really?" The airbender said with irritation.

Zuko sighed and just untied the rope and handed it to Aang "yeah yeah, I know, again right? Just tie me up and leave me here"

Aang certainly tied him up but he also tossed him onto the back of Appa when he landed and flicked Sokka's nose so he'd feel it. "I said leave me" he pouted

"And I didnt agree to it" Aang chirped and landed at the lead for Appa

"You didnt even say anything to it"

"Exactly now shut up and accept the help flippy"

"Flippy? Where did that come from?"

Aang just turned to him and then back to where he was steering Appa "You know where"

"Whatever" he pouted and turned away from them.

Watching the scene with Zhao, his uncle and the trio plus Yue play out Zuko worked on untying himself and luckily Sokka left his machete on the saddle and he was able to utilize that because dang were those knots good.

He ran after where he knew Zhao would flee and gave chase as soon as he spotted him. Throwing a fire blast at him and watching his face turn from defense to confusion to shock was amusing. "You? Impossible!"

"You tried to have me killed!" He screamed out as he landed on the ice beside Zhao

"Of course I did, youre the blue spirit, a traitor to the firenation!" The fight went on

"I had no choice!" Zuko cried out

"You could have chosen to accept your failure! Maybe then you could have lived!"

"Why would I want to live knowing a man who's biggest threat was a fucking fish beat me when I can easily break through his supposedly impenetrable fort and steal a twelve year old right from under his nose!" Zuko taunted with a laugh

"Because then you might have a chance to see your father one last time!" Zhao taunted back while jumping to the bridge

Zuko gave a shout and swept a fire circle under Zhao's feet and sent him to the ground "I dont want to see that bastard again unless he's six feet under when he loses to the avatar"

"So you are joining them?" Zhao growled out.

"No. I'm just accepting what needs to happen." He didnt manage to make his final blow because the water spirit swallowed up Zhao who refused his helping hand when offered.

The trek to Iroh and Jee at the small raft was easier than the journey in. He sat cross legged on the edge, just simply watching the waters "uncle... can you cut my hair?"

Iroh turned to him "of course Zuko... might I ask why?"

"Because I'm not on the side of fire anymore"

Iroh gave a small sigh but nodded "let me cut my hair with you? I've been waiting for you to decide this for some time" And so Zuko and Iro shed their high hairstyles, watching the hair float away.

"Are you planning on reaching out to young Sokka soon?" Jee asked with a small smile

"No, I just want to sleep"

"Then you should rest prince Zuko," a gentle but firm hand was placed on Zuko's shoulder "a man needs his rest" Zuko looked at Iroh who had placed his hand there and then to Jee who jusf nodded

"Okay" was all he said before laying down on the raft and drifting to sleep.

[fearfulkittenwrites]

Zukka Youtuber AU (pt 1)

Youtuber au inspired by @ratatosk-express – Link to the post (https://ratatosk-express.tumblr.com/post/622032956613115904/okay-so-idk-if-youtuber-aus-are-still-a-thing)

Sokka has a channel dedicating to his inventions and other projects, but his live streams are particularly famous for the amazing stories he tell.

Basically everything is the same, except it’s in a modern setting and Sokka is relatively internet famous.

** Hey, just a little heads up, I change some things from the original post, I hope it’s not a problem! **

Sokka tells his audience a lot of stories during his streams. Most of them are from his journey with the avatar, although he occasionally talks about his childhood in the Southern Water Tribe. Many of his fans watch these streams because of them, even if the overwhelming majority believes them to be fake. After he came back and decided to expand his content, Sokka found out he is particularly good at storytelling, and it granted him an audience that didn’t even followed his main channel but appreciated the contents of his lives.

He got annoyed sometimes when he recieved comments that treated his life experiences as a fantasy. His biggest mistake was sharing Yue’s story with his fans; all of the teasing and ‘yeah right’ comments really got to him, but there wasn’t much to be done. It was quite a surreal story, and if they wouldn’t believe him there wasn’t much he could do to prove it. Too many people have already forgotten the old spirits of the moon and the ocean and how crucial they are to water benders, so if they didn’t believe that, they wouldn’t believe Yue’s sacrifice.

They did believe his stories about the Kyoshi Warriors. After all that happened the girls became quite famous, and even if they thought the details were too exagerated and fake (I mean, the avatar was there? And he dated one of the warriors? Please.), it wasn’t impossible, that’s for sure. I mean, he did talk about attending formal events with his boyfriend, so, yeah, why not? The Kyoshi Warriors attend those too, don’t they?

Speaking of his boyfriend, he told them little about him. His audience knew he existed, but he was never seen on camera and there were many stories or commentaries involving him, but he never went too deep into it. When asked about it, he told them his significant other was a private guy, and he himself didn’t feel like there was a huge need to share their romantic lives online. Most people were pretty respectful from that point onwardars, although there are always some exceptions.

More often than not, his quick comments about his daily life involved him, and everyone though they were super sweet, although most of them gave his audience the impression that he was dating a very socially awkward and overly emotional man. They weren’t exactly wrong, they just didn’t have the whole truth; still they always asked Sokka to see them at least once during his lives. One of the most know and loved stories about him had been told in a stream as he built a new house for the turtle ducks’ lake. The last one was getting too old, and he had nothing else to do with his time.

“Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time my boyfriend brought like, eight little turtle ducks home?”

The comment section was filled with negative responses, although some were very panicked.

“Yeah, it’s true. Happened about two weeks after I moved in. They were all babies and their mom got hit by a car? Some jerk was probably speeding and the poor creature died, leaving her children behind. He brought them here because they were too young and he was afraid they’d die if left alone.”

Many comments were praising him for the action, and some were worried about what happened to the little creatures.

“It was kinda of cute but I got a little freaked out about where to put them. Then he told me we have a pond? I swear, this place is so big I could die from starvation after getting lost on my way to the kitchen.”

He laughed. Once again, a lot of comments talking about how full of shit he was flooded the chat.

“I’m serious guys. I’d rather bring him to my tribe, but that’s really not an option, unfortunatly. So I moved here, and I think I only know about 30% of this building even after being here for like, almost a year.”

Someone told him to write a map.

“Hah, yeah, I should probably do that.” He smiled. “Actually, that reminds me of that time me and my friends got stuck in a cave with a bunch of crazy hippies while trying to get to Omashu. We were looking for an earth bending master for Aang. It was wild, the tunnels kept moving so I couldn’t keep a map of the labyrinth, and a badger mole almost ate me.”

The comment section went wild again. Some people were excited because he was finally telling a story, some people were calling bullshit on the moving tunnels... It was chaotic, and Sokka loved that. He was pretty chaotic himself, so this crazy comment section always amused him.

Sokka didn’t care that his stories weren’t believed. He understood that his situation was... unusual. Besides, many stories he told were of public knowledge already, he just set the record straight for most of them, adding unknow details or straight up correcting lies. There was only one thing he couldn’t stand being questioned on; his skills. When he mentioned he once built an armor for Aang’s sky bison, he wasn’t mad when they laughed at the idea that he was the avatar’s friend, no, he was mad when someone commented that he was lying about knowing how to build an armor. After that, he put out a series of videos on his channel in which he forged an armor for himself from scratch, even if he knew he’d never use it (And every single one of them started with a screenshot from said comment).

So his irritation at this moment really shouldn’t be a surprise. After showing off the sword he made for his channel, he told his audience about how he learned all he knew in the art of the sword from Piandao, who told him he had great potential to surpass even him. Of course, the comment section laughed again.

“It’s true!” He exclaimed, exasperated “Why would I lie about something like that? Okay, I see why I would lie about something like that, but really, I’m not lying. I swear!”

The comments still went on.

“Okay, you know what? I’ll prove it.” He got up and moved some furniture around to open enough space for a duel “HEY JERKBENDER,” He yelled from his door “GET IN HERE! AND BRING YOUR SWORDS!”

The audience heard a voice.

“What is it, Sokka? Did something happen?”

“No babe,” They heard Sokka answer, with a much softer tone this time, before planting a kiss to the other’s face “My viewers think I’m lying about being a swordsman, so I need to prove myself.”

“Really?” They heard an unimpressed voice.

“Hey, you’re all about honor, aren’t you? Help me defend mine for once.” Sokka apeared in the picture again, smiling, followed by Zuko, as in the Firelord Zuko. Many jaws were dropped.

“Fine, but I won’t make this easy.” He swung his dual swords.

“Me neither.”

They attacked each other for some time, occasionally getting out of the frame before jumping back in. Sokka eventually tossed an used shirt at Zuko’s face to throw him off. It made him confused, but he didn’t give up so easily.

“Unfair!” He exclaimed, getting up and defending himself from another one of Sokka’s attack “I’ll fire bend if you keep this up.”

“You’re getting me a replacement for anything you burn!” Sokka complained, jumping on his bed for leverage, but Zuko kicked it and he fell with an emasculating yelp. The fire bender had the upper hand now, but Sokka was quick to get up.

Eventually, Sokka managed to disarm Zuko, and used the tip of his sword to lift his chin up.

“You really ought to practice more with the swords.” He said, a smug smile on his face.

“Shut up, you dork.” Zuko answered, a little frustrated from the loss, but mostly proud of his boyfriend’s mastery.

He walked up to his boyfriend, replacing the blade with his fingers.

“Thanks baby. You’re the best.” He leaned in and softly kissed him. Once he tried to step back, he felt Zuko gripping him by the waist, holding him and deepening their kiss.

“I miss you. We barely had any time together this week.” Zuko complained “Go by my room when you’re done, okay?”

“Sure babe.” Sokka smiled, still being held by Zuko “Wait, why don’t you say hello, then I end the transmisson, huh? They’ve been wanting to see you for a while.”

“Really?” Zuko asked, a little amazed and curious.

“Yeah! I think they fell in love with you after I told them about the turtle ducks. But, honestly, who wouldn’t.” Sokka smiled and guided him to the camera “See guys, I told you I’m a...” He turned his face to the screen again “Oh.”

“Oh.” Zuko mimicked, watching as the comments rolled in faster than he could read, all of them some sort of variation of ‘Is that the fucking Firelord?’.

“I-I...” Sokka stuttered “I mean, I’m pretty sure I mentioned his name.”

A comment said ‘Yeah but there are many Zukos in the world’.

“It’s not my fault you don’t believe my stories! I told you I travelled with the avatar, the same avatar who is friends with the Firelord, who happens to be my boyfriend. I thought it was kinda obvious.”

‘Wait’ Said another comment ‘SO IT’S ALL TRUE???’.

“What do you mean it’s all- Yes it’s all true. Of course it is.” He looked at the comments flooding in and sighed. “Y’know what? I’ll deal with this tomorrow. I love you guys, but I’m a little too tired to do this now. Byeeee!”

With that, he turned the stream off. Zuko had an amused smile on his face.

“What?” Sokka asked.

“Nothing.” He answered “I’m just... I don’t know, when you said they wanted to see me I thought it was because I’m the Firelord and all. But... They didn’t know. They wanted to see me from the dumb stories you tell them about me.” Zuko smiled at the ground “You must’ve painted me in a very kind light, love.”

“I mean... There’s no way I can paint you in a bad light, really.” Sokka placed his hands in Zuko’s waist “You know that, don’t you?” Zuko kept his gaze fixated on the ground “Zuko, baby, you’re a great, kind, brave man. And I’m madly in love with you because of it.”

“I love you too Sokka.” Zuko smiled, but still couldn’t bring himself to look at Sokka. After some time together, Sokka figured it was best to just let him look at wherever, if it made him comfortable. He already had to sustain too much eye contact as fire lord, so when he was in his arms, Sokka just wanted the man to be at ease. Even if that meant he wouldn’t always look him in the eye.

“C’mon,” He squeezed his sides slightly “Take me to your room, my lord, because mine is too messy for the cuddles you deserve.” Sokka teased, getting a small chucke from Zuko as he turned to walk out of his boyfriend’s chaotic room.

“It is impressive how messy your room is, considering our maids clean it everyday.”

“What can I say? It’s one of my many talents.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know that originally Zuko’s supposed to win, but like... In my mind, after all that happened, their skills were pretty much on the same level, and considering that Sokka would have more free time to practice than the Firelord would, well... I think his victory is not all that surprising plus i think his smug smile directed at zuko would be so cute and make him melt af

[flameo-hotman]

write the 'firebenders give off extra body heat' headcannon into a zukka fic! sokka (and by extension, katara) growing up at the south pole sleeping in groups to retain warmth. one night riding appa when the wind is sharp and cold, sokka accidentally falls asleep ON zuko. sokka doing the 'oh your hands are WARM!' move on zuko. people keep unconsciously shifting closer to zuko around the campfire on chilly nights. ensuing confusion/affection follows.

Fire Benders Are Made For Snuggles

Their group was currently flying away from the Western Air Temple and en route for Ember Island. Zuko was sitting as far away from Katara on the saddle as he could due to the glares she was currently giving him. He wasn’t scared of her. He was just cautious and did not want to give her any excuse to hate him more than she already did. Did he wish he had made a different choice back in Ba Sing Se? Of course, he did, but there was nothing he could do now to go back and change that. He could worry about earning her forgiveness once this whole ordeal was behind them. Not that he felt he deserved that forgiveness.

Really, why anyone had forgiven him was a mystery. Except for Toph, maybe, because she hadn’t been there for most of his time hunting her friends. But she had forgiven him for burning her feet, which once again was something he didn’t understand.

Still, having friends, because that was what they were, was nice. He hadn’t really ever had friends before. Sure, he had spent some time on Ember Island bonding with Azula and her friends, but that didn’t really count. Not when he had thought they only tolerated him for his sister’s sake, but then Mai had gone and confused him during the Boiling Rock and betrayed Azula to save his life, and Ty Lee had done the same to save Mai’s life…

Still, what he had with Aang, Toph, Suki, and Sokka was different. It was deeper. He glanced at Sokka and felt his stomach do that weird little flip it had been doing since their hot air balloon ride to the prison. It had been the first time he’d been alone with the guy and Sokka wasn’t treating him like the enemy. Sokka had said some hawk bat crazy shit about his last girlfriend turning into the moon, which Zuko wasn’t even about to figure out because what in Agni’s name was that even a metaphor for? Was that the water tribe way of saying someone’s girlfriend had died? He knew according to his uncle the Northern Water Tribe Princess was with the spirits now, but Uncle always said cryptic things that were proverbs for finding a deeper meaning in life.

Looking at everyone else in their little group didn’t bring up the same feelings it did when he looked at Sokka, so maybe he just felt closest to the Water Tribe Warrior. Was this what having a best friend was like? Your stomach filled with giddy joy and the sight of them sent your chi racing?

Sokka saw him looking and smiled, before getting up and walking over to plop down next to him. “It can get cold up here, and I figured that you-” Sokka went quiet as he leaned into Zuko’s side and then full-on groaned, “Toasty! You’re like a human heat pack!”

“Uh…” Zuko stammered, “I’m a fire bender? I run hot?”

“You weren’t this toasty in the cooler.” Sokka pointed out.

“Yeah, because it was a cooler? It’s meant to keep fire benders too cold to bend?” Zuko offered in explanation before Sokka pulled him into his lap and wrapped his arms around him. Zuko had felt himself panic for a moment, his heart hammering, but then Sokka hummed contentedly into his ear, “You’re like a gift from the spirits.”

Katara snorted at the blush that was suddenly burning the fire bender’s face, “Yeah, if murderous traitors are what you’re into, then I guess Zuko is a gift from the spirits.”

Zuko decided to ignore that comment, but Sokka didn’t, “Hey, the guy risked a lot by coming here, and he has been nothing but helpful since he joined us!” 

Katara made an unhappy sound before she went back to ignoring the fire bender.

Sokka snuggled closer into Zuko’s warmth, with a happy sigh of, “I hope you’re comfortable because I am never letting go of you know that I know how amazing you are to cuddle.” 

Zuko didn’t know how to respond to that, so instead, he relaxed and shifted to make himself more comfortable. It felt nice… Zuko couldn’t remember anyone ever holding him like this.

Sokka removed one of the arms from around his waist to start petting his hair and Zuko turned his face to press it into the other’s neck, the remaining tension draining from him.

“You’re hair is ridiculously soft.” Sokka scoffed, threading his fingers through the silky strands. “How is it this freakishly soft?”

“Hair treatments… Good conditioner…” Zuko sighed with a small smile, and he nearly shuddered at the soft scrape of nails against his scalp.

“I call dibs on living with Zuko when this is all over.” Sokka declared dreamily, before shifting so they were laying on their sides, with Zuko pulling himself closer into the embrace. When Sokka’s finger’s slowed and stopped, he nudged his scalp back against them, and Sokka snicked, “Greedy” before resuming his ministrations.

Zuko felt sleepy now, and for once in his life, he didn’t fight its call. Falling asleep cuddled up against Sokka.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22462120/chapters/53700247

[kawaiijellymonster]

So I’ve got a note in my notes app called “Fanfic lines that should be in a hall of fame” and it’s gotten pretty long so I figure I’ll toss it on here so yall can enjoy it, most of them are: mha, zukka, miraculous ladybug, harry potter, and I think one is from a comment on a hannibal amv, But here you go:

Stain sold papers because he just had an aura about him that drew people in, like people who slow down to look at car crashes.

“The Rumor Come Out: Does Todoroki Shoto is Gay?”

Izuku spent the next week going to his normal martial arts classes, studying, and drinking gallons of coffee. Not healthy but he could deal with it. His body was never meant to be permanent.

So no one was watching when Mei placed her forehead against his, breath fanning across his face as she spoke. "Wake up Loki… the world needs you."

“No probs ‘lil listener!” Hizashi said, striking a dramatic pose. “I’ll be your DJ all through the night, bringin’ you such rockin’ hits as safety, security and sweet dreams!”

“This is stupid! Screw the waiting and screw these stupid butterflies. They're not paying rent, the little shits--”

Experimenting with unstable genetic mutant abominations is more of an art than a science, really."

Several looks pass across both their faces. “No flying for a month,” Sirius declares. That sucks, actually. But he’s also a hundred percent certain he can get them to cave on that in two weeks tops. “Okay. Is that for the breaking into the Ministry, destroying the Department of Mysteries, making a bargain with Voldemort, or bringing all my friends with me?” “It’s for recklessly endangering your own life again,” Remus says, “and while the punishment very much doesn’t fit the crime, we’re a bit at a loss for what else to do.” “It wasn’t reckless!” he protests. “We had a plan and everything, and we even brought an adult! An adult Order member! Also what else were we supposed to do, let Snape die?” Sirius takes a deep breath, but Remus steps on his foot before he can put it in his mouth. “Which is why you’re only getting flying privileges taken away and not thrown in a cell in Azkaban for our sanity and your safety.” As if any cell could hold him. “I accept your terms.”

“Who’s Theophania?” Sirius asks. Harry hesitates. Perhaps bringing her up was his smartest decision, strategically speaking. “If I tell you you’re not allowed to throw me in Azkaban. Or ground me.” “This isn’t a negotiation,” Sirius repeats. If Blaise has taught him anything, it’s that everything is a negotiation. “She’s a friend.” “And?” Sirius repeats. Remus suddenly grabs onto Sirius’s shoulder, “Wait. Petrifying - during your second year - is Theophania - she’s not the basilisk.” “No, they killed it,” Sirius says automatically. Harry remains silent. “Harry!” He rubs his nose. “It turns out I’m not that good at killing things. Unkilling things, however? My specialty.”

“It’s okay,” Nanaia says, “you don’t know. What do you do when you don’t know something?” “Try something you do know and hope it doesn’t make everything worse?” For some reason, Horace looks sad at that answer, and Dumbledore shifts from one foot to the other. “No,” she says, “you ask for help.” Oh.

“It’ll piss off your son,” he answers bluntly. “Fuck that kid,” Riddle Sr. says

“You played me!” “Like a cheap kazoo”

Batman sighed, before speaking in a voice that was so unlike his usual growl that most of the other League members almost fell out of their chairs. Diana and Clark seemed to be used to it. “Damian,” he started. His voice was still deep, but a regular-deep, instead of I-just-swallowed-six-buckets-of-gravel deep.

“She loved James too,” she assures, and the confidence she says that with allows him to breathe, like someone has let go of his lungs. “It is possible to love more than one person at the same time. She loved your father with the type of love that’s – that was like a shooting star, burning and bright and touching everyone around them. Her love for Severus was different, and in the end it wasn’t the type of love either of them could handle.”

You’re better at it now then many people are after leaving a full apprenticeship, and you’ve only had a year of lessons a couple of times a week instead of years of intensive study. Do you know why that is?” “Luck?” he offers weakly. For some reason, he doesn’t like the direction this is going in. “No,” she says. “To be good at healing, the way you are, the way I am, you need a certain combination of things. Intelligence, power, control, but more than that. Stubbornness, a tricky balance of flexibility and inflexibility, and a constant, brutal assessment over your own skills. And something else.” “A propensity towards poor life choices?” he suggests. Poppy shakes her head, not taking the bait. “No. You have to care. You have to care about everyone, even people you dislike, and you have to care so much that if feels like it’s killing you, you have to care and that care has to hurt, until the only thing that hurts worse than caring is not caring. To be good at this, you have to let it hurt you.”

“You two shouldn’t have bothered dressing formally for Albus, he’s a bitch.” Harry doesn’t have any idea what’s going on, but he’s loving it.  

“It was on the syllabus,” Zuko whispered conspiratorially to his mother. Sokka gasped. “You know I don’t read those!” “This is your own fault then.” “I like to be surprised. The procrastination keeps me humble.”

sometimes you remind me of the stars youre gorgeous and happy and can always brighten me on the darkest days and even when youre dampened you can guide me home

“imagine you are the only person who loves to play chess more than anything but nobody else in the world has ever heard about chess. and then you see a person holding a chessboard. it’s like your whole world was reborn”

"I wanted to be a stripper in middle school," Izuku said. Yup, that's a good cover.

What you’re asking for isn’t fair or right. You can’t ask a person for more than they’re willing to give

In Mei’s words, “You have about five minutes of ‘fuck that one thing in particular.’ Make them count.”

“Mei, let me introduce your new best friend. This is Momo. She has a Quirk that lets her make anything as long as she knows its composition inside and out. All you have to do is buy her dinner,“ Izuku said,

The cameras were looped. The bots were hacked. It was a good day to be a villain.

“None. The alarm never left the building.” “Really? Why is that?” “Mei finished first and decided to do you a favor. However, you've got the fire alarm just starting to go off and that's on a different circuit. Take a fast way down.” “Understood,” Hitoshi drawled. A moment later he was looking back at the crew. “Ladies and Frenchman. We take the express.”

Quinn is talking like that actually answers his question when it really, really doesn’t. “If you don’t start making sense, I’ll cry.”

“You’re one of my best students,” ze says. “You should understand the importance of timing. Speaking of, you’re late for your next class.”

Fuck, he totally is. “Thank you for that very confusing answer. I’ll think of you while crying myself to sleep.”

He’d wondered if that was what bravery was, to be quiet even when you were hurting so much you wanted to scream.

maybe bravery was also running screaming at the thing that nearly killed you, to keep it from killing someone else.

“Apologies are not difficult. Good apologies revolve around three basic points. One, I acknowledge what I did was wrong. Two, I regret that you were harmed. Three, this is how I plan to make sure it does not happen again. That’s all. Apologies are easy.” Then she’d glanced at them all again, evaluating. “And if you become very, very good at your job... they will be the absolute hardest thing you ever do.”

“Even though we’re a bunch of migraine-inducing hellions who are smart enough to know when something is a bad idea and stupid enough to still do it?”

“You’re like the nice china that Al only brings out for Christmas. Except Bruce just realised that I stole it, and chipped it. Maybe it’s time I give it back before I shatter all the pieces.”

she won’t co-parent my perfectly reasonable and well-behaved children.” Clark snorts. “Damian’s trying to stab Tim, right now.”

"Oh, my knight in shining armour. What would I do without you?" the teen droned, placing a dramatic hand on her head. 

"I think you mean 'knight in shining leather', M'Lady. And without me, you would be left alone in this kingdom of lies.”

"It's a kingdom, alright. It'll topple sooner or later." "That's the spirit!" Adrien laughed.

Here’s something that a harbinger of tragedy would never find the courage to admit: there are moments in between the bitter self-hatred and the visceral, tangible consequences of your sins in which you almost think you’re worthy of forgiveness; of second chances; of a life beyond your greatest regrets. It’s a unique brand of pain,

“Go directly to horny jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.”

“You can’t wait around for him to be sorry,” Izuku says. He’s quiet now. This isn’t something that’s meant to be shouted. “Maybe he’ll never be sorry. Maybe he doesn’t know he did anything wrong, or he doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter.” Cautiously he takes a step forward. “You can’t depend on the people who hurt you to be the ones to make it better, or it’s never going to get better. They’ll only disappoint you, or hurt you even worse, and then they’ll be gone and you’ll be waiting forever.”

Midoriya may be strong as hell, but that just means looking out for him has to be a team effort.

How would his new adoring fans react if they knew he raised a villain? He's no All-Might. His pillar's made of toothpicks, and it's not gonna take much to crack it.”

Tensei approaches Rei, “Okay, this plan is childish, unprofessional, and a discourtesy to this school's reputation. That being said, when do we nail the little twat?

Hinata is dead. Deceased. Passed away, laid to rest with a headstone that reads Here Lies Hinata Shouyou, Killed By A Wink And A Blown Kiss.

It’s dangerous to be a bad father when you have life insurance

[ladyxxdaydream]

37. The two of you wear costumes from the same fandom at a costume party. (Yuri on Ice?)

Sorry it took me so long to get to this prompt, anon! Sadly, I’ve never seen Yuri on Ice (its on my list!!) so I had to go with a different fandom. Hope you like it!

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

#37 (from this prompt list here. Feel free to submit your own! I’ve already filled 20, 32, 47 & will be filling 2.)

Iruka walked into the party alone. Kotestu and Izumo opted to “watch scary movies” instead, which Iruka knew was code for fucking all night. They were still high off their new relationship. They’d invited him over, but he really wasn’t in the mood to be the third wheel while they made out and fondled each other under a blanket, waiting for a polite time to kick him out. Besides, he liked dressing up, and he thought he did a hell of a job on his costume this year.

Iruka prided himself on his craftiness, which was part frugality, part creativity. He already had the boots, and the navy pants. The blue tunic was fashioned from an old bed sheet. He brought the design to a friend in the theater department and asked her to stitch it up with white trim. All that was left was to bandage up his arms to his elbows, pull on a pair of fingerless blue gloves (the middle and index cut at the knuckle instead of the palm), and fasten the white choker around his neck—he’d ordered the flat, square wooden beads online, which were less than $5.

He made a damn fine Sokka.

Several people had already told him so on his walk over from the dorms. Some had even asked to snap a picture with him, which Iruka shyly obliged.

Upon entering the house, Iruka went straight to the kitchen and poured himself a beer from the keg. When he turned back to face the rest of the room, his eyes landed on a folding table lined with snacks. Iruka knew it was Kurenai’s idea, because Asuma didn’t have that kind of courtesy. What really caught his attention though, was the rather tall person in a fuzzy Appa suit.  It looked like a onesie for a 10-year old, given that it cuffed at the guy’s knee, revealing pale calves, instead of reaching his ankles. The flat, wide tail swayed as he moved. It was oddly adorable. Iruka wondered what kind of face went with that swath of silver hair.

His curiosity got the better of him.

“Nice costume,” Iruka said as he approached, biting into the rim of his red plastic cup to try and smother his smile.

The guy looked up from the table, and swept his eyes over Iruka in obvious assessment. It made a heavy kind of heat settle into his skin. Iruka wasn’t prepared to be met with someone so attractive.

“You too,” the guy said. “I see you’ve got excellent taste in television.”

“Did you get that in the kid’s section?��� Iruka smirked. He couldn’t help himself. It was so incredibly dorky.  

“How’d you guess?” the guy grinned. “The best part is the hood.”

He pulled it up over his head, the arrow bisecting it through the middle, while two brown horns stood out on either side.

It was the cutest thing Iruka had ever seen in his life. His heart beat hard against his chest.

“Hm,’ Iruka hummed. “You’re missing a few legs.”

“Well, we can’t all look like professional cosplayers. Didn’t anyone tell you this was a halloween party? Your costume should either be slutty, cheap, or tacky, judging by the look of this crowd, and yours is none of the above. I went for cheap,” he said, placing a hand on his chest.

“Mine barely cost a thing. I made it. Minus the boomerang,” Iruka said, placing a hand on the object slung at his hip. “I bought that.”

“Huh. Look at you,” the silver-haired stranger said, clicking his tongue. “And you shaved the sides of your head for it, too? What dedication.”

“Ha,” Iruka laughed. “I had this hairstyle before today, believe it or not.”

“Hm. I don’t know if I do,” the guy said, narrowing his eyes at him a bit.

Iruka’s breath caught in his throat.

He’s flirting.

—

Kakashi was flirting. He couldn’t help himself. Not when this sexy fucking water tribe fantasy was standing right in front of him, dark skin and all. Admittedly, he’d searched for fan art of an older Sokka before and it definitely tickled his fancy. And uh, he may have bookmarks of Zukka in his browser, but this was… this was a million times better.

“Kakashi! I see you’ve met my brother!” Asuma all but shouted, slinging an arm around his interest’s shoulder.

It took everything in Kakashi not to scoff.

“He looks nothing like you,” Kakashi said bluntly, in pure disbelief that he’d be attracted to anyone related to Asuma. Asuma was about as far from his type as you could get. A loudmouth, grizzly jock, who ironically didn’t give a shit about his health, if his diet and terrible smoking habit were any indication.

“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t,” Asuma said, yanking his supposed brother’s neck to his chest, whose face flushed with embarrassment as Asuma rubbed his knuckles against his scalp. “He’s my adopted brother.”

The Sokka look-a-like gave Kakashi a weak smile beneath Asuma’s headlock.

“He’s a newbie. A freshman. Ain’t that right, ‘Ru?” Asuma said, letting him go.

“It’s my first year here, yes.” Asuma’s brother said, meeting Kakashi’s gaze for a second, before flicking his eyes down, smoothing out his costume. He readjusted his ponytail, giving Kakashi an opportunity to check out his biceps. Oof.

“I’ve been trying to get him to hang out with us forever, but he’s too busy with chess club and being…”—Kurenai walked by, derailing Asuma completely— “…gay…”

“Being gay? I’m too busy being gay?” Asuma’s brother deadpanned.

“Yeah, you know…” Asuma said, still staring at Kurenai. “You’re part of that organization or alliance or whatever… hey..” he said, bringing his attention back to them for a second. “I’ll be back.”

Yeah right, Kakashi thought, before Asuma left the both of them standing there. He wasn’t about to complain though; he could get back to flirting now, especially since he knew his interest was attracted to men.

“It must take up all your time. Being gay,” Kakashi teased.

“Yeah, my whole life really,” the younger man rolled his eyes with a laugh.

It was such a fascinating, genuine sound. It was full of warmth. Kakashi wanted to wrap himself up in it.

“Uh, Ru was it?” Kakashi asked, needing to know the name of the man he was quickly coming to adore.

The man blushed profusely, scratching at the scar that cut across his nose.

Shit. That was not helping.

“Ah. T-that’s a nickname. It’s Iruka.”

Iruka. Hm.

“Kakashi, if you didn’t catch it earlier.”

“It was hard not to with my brother’s dulcet tone,” Iruka said, sarcastically.

It was Kakashi’s turn to dissolve into laughter.

—

“I should… go home,” Iruka said, standing up from the couch, only to sway a bit. Kakashi placed a steadying hand on Iruka’s hip, before standing up himself.

“Uh, Iruka. You’re a little drunk.”

They had played a partnered game of beer pong (which Kakashi was excellent at, and Iruka well… Iruka tried), before settling into the couch to chat. That was over an hour ago.

Iruka swiveled towards him, bringing their faces a little too close for comfort. Kakashi tried to keep his eyes off Iruka’s lips.

“Am not,” Iruka protested.  

“Iruka, your eyes are so glassy, I could drink from them.”

They stared at each other for an awkward moment, as Kakashi wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole, before Iruka burst out laughing.

“That was weird as hell. How—what. Was that a pun on the word glass or were you saying you could literally suck liquid from my eyes beca—”

“Okay, I get it.” Kakashi cringed, feeling his cheeks heat up. “It was weird. I-I don’t know why I said that. It just happened. Will you,”—Kakashi took a deep breath—“let me walk you home? Please?”

Kakashi rubbed a hand at the back of his neck, feeling self-conscious. This damn fleece costume was making him sweat beneath Iruka’s stare.

Iruka huffed out another laugh, stifled by the way he was biting into his bottom lip.

“Okay.”

—

When they made it out to the sidewalk, Iruka appeared a little lost.

“What dorm are you living in?” Kakashi asked, as Iruka scrutinized a particularly large tree.

“Uzushio”

“It’s that way,” Kakashi pointed.

“I… knew that,” Iruka said, changing direction. “I was just… admiring nature…”

“Mhm. Sure.” Kakashi quipped, not believing him for a second.

Kakashi watched as Iruka not-so-gracefully began to walk, sparking an idea to pop into his head.

“Wanna ride me?” Kakashi asked, looking Iruka dead in the eyes with an impossibly straight face.

Iruka tripped over nothing, blushing all the way to his ears.

“E-excuse me?”

Kakashi knew what he said, and how he said it. It was completely worth it. He got the reaction he wanted. It was payback for Iruka embarrassing the hell out of him earlier—stupid glassy eyes comment.

“Do you want a ride? On my back?” Kakashi asked, innocently. “You look like you’re gonna fall over.”

Iruka studied him for a moment, his face scrunched up in contemplation. It looked like he was struggling to connect with the last of his brain cells.

“Stop overthinking it,” Kakashi laughed. “You look like you’re going to combust. Come on,” Kakashi said, bending his knees, offering his back.

There was a few seconds of hesitation before he heard Iruka move behind him.

“I’m heavy,” Iruka protested.

“I can handle you.”

He heard Iruka sputter.

Really, it was too easy.

“Do you need help getting yourself up Iruka?” Kakashi taunted him, which resulted in a sharp tug on his costume’s tail.

“Shut up,” Iruka said, hopping on top of him. He yanked the hood over Kakashi’s head in retribution.

“Hey,” Kakashi laughed, as he pushed himself to stand. “That’s covering my eyes. The whole point of me accompanying you home, is so that you get there safely.”

Iruka felt a wave of heat wash over him, as his crush increased tenfold.

“I-I wanted the full effect,” Iruka said, tugging on one of the plush horns, before he smoothed the hood back to Kakashi’s forehead, away from his eyes.

The real reason he pulled that damn hood up was because he needed a barrier between his face and Kakashi’s bare neck, lest he sunk his teeth into it.

Iruka smashed a smile into Kakashi’s shoulder, encircling his arms around Kakashi’s neck, before he picked up his head and said—

“Yip yip.”

—

Iruka woke up the next morning to find his facebook page blowing up.

Someone, a random girl apparently, had taken a picture of Iruka being carried on Kakashi’s back last night with a caption that read:

Cutest couples costume ever!!!

Asuma had tagged him.

[hyperfixationisamust]

Sailor + Merman AU

Did someone say Sailor Zuko and Merman Sokka? No? Well you're getting it anyway

Ships: Zukka, with a side of Yuekatlee, Azujin, and Maisuki

Zuko's banished sent by his father to look for something that will restore his their name

Zuko's crew consists of Suki, Mai, Ty Lee, Aang, and Toph

Suki and Mai are co-first mates and act like the ship parents; Ty Lee's the hyper lookout, and Aang and Toph are like the chaotic younger siblings that like to cause trouble, but Aang does it accidentally and Toph does it purposely

The merfolk chief is Hakoda, and while he loves his kids, he worries about Sokka and how he always sneaks out to explore

Sokka always sneaks out because 1) life is boring in the palace, 2) ever since Katara got engaged to Yue, Hakoda's been pressing Sokka about marrying as well, and 3) the human world seems so interesting and, well, free

Sokka gets caught up in a storm and washes up on a beach

Suki finds him and brings him onto the ship

Zuko: Suki wtf is this

Suki: dunno just kinda found him on the beach

Zuko: you what

Sokka acts like he has amnesia to cover how he doesn't know shit about human life and so no one asks about his past

Someone: *says something inaccurate about merpeople*

Sokka: *does everything in his power not to correct them so he doesn't blow his cover*

Zuko hears Sokka singing one night and feels mesmerized by the sound; he's so certain that Sokka is a merperson but the rest of his crew laugh it off and tells Zuko he might be falling for Sokka instead of being hypnotized by him

They stop at a place with a pub. Guess what happens.

By the end of the night, Aang's singing incoherently on top of one of the mast poles, Toph's throwing up over the side, Ty Lee's lying on the deck mumbling about something, and Mai and Suki are nowhere to be seen.

Zuko wanted to get drunk as well, but Sokka, having never touched alcohol before, underestimated his limit and got really wasted, so Zuko tasked himself with taking care of him

Sokka lets it slip that he's the prince of the merpeople but Zuko takes it as drunk babbling and doesn't acknowledge it; what he does acknowledge, though, is when Sokka leaned in really close to Zuko only to burp and pass out on him

No, Sokka does not remember what happened last night and oh no did he say something?? Luckily Zuko forces himself not to act weirdly around Sokka but this means of course he does act weirdly but Sokka is also doing the same thing and the rest of the crew are just done with their bullshit, they don't need to see this gayass flirting this early in the morning ffs

Mmm the merpeople kingdom is in shambles because where in the seven seas is Sokka?? Katara is considerably moodier, Hakoda's breaking down every three seconds. remember this bc it's vital

Late night talks?? Maybe??? Zuko knowing what the mission his father sent him on is really about and Sokka understanding the feeling of feeling trapped under a parent's expectations

feelings begin to blossom weewoo

The crew encounter a merperson and while most of the crew get mesperised by them, Sokka confronts them and maybe they have an epic underwater battle but it ends with Sokka not being able to kill them so he lets them go

Oh yeah Azula is also a captain of her own ship and regularly checks up on Zuko under the guise of passing on important information, but she's really just annoying her brother

Azula: oo who's your new crewmate?

Zuko: why are you here, just say what you need to and go be gay with Jin somewhere else

Azula: you're no fun

Azula interrogates Sokka when Zuko isn't around and she knows something is a little off about Sokka

Azula: what are you hiding?

Sokka, visibly sweating: hiding? who's hiding? not me haha

he's very lucky that Jin calls Azula away before she can question him further

Zuko: sorry for my sister, she can be very pushy

Sokka: pushy?? pushy??? I felt like I was being grilled alive, what in Tui. she must be a delight at parties

The rest of the crew knows before they do? Of course, it's practically a staple in my AUs, come on

They try to make the two confess but no, neither of them realize how they feel or they do know and don't want to ruin anything

Azula reports to her father that nothing has changed with Zuko except for a new member was added to Zuko's crew. Ozai, however, had no idea and demands more information from her

So. remember how I said the merpeople are freaking out about Sokka? right well, Ozai gets wind of this and puts two and two together; oh boy, the blackmail he can do

Ozai claims he knows where Hakoda's son is and in return, asks for riches. Hakoda accepts and Ozai tells him that his son had been captured by no good sailors oh no

Hakoda is rightfully furious and goes to destroy the ship; Ozai's fuckin pumped bc he's gettin rich AND he gettin rid of his good-for-nothing son. win-win!

lmao nah tho; Iroh overhears him (he's probably a retired captain) and tells Azula, who warns Zuko

Zuko confronts Sokka about the truth but before Sokka can answer, Hakoda arrives! He sees his son in tears and his vision goes red; Hakoda almost tears Zuko's ship apart and is about to harm Zuko when Sokka steps in and refuses to let Hakoda hurt him

Hakoda: step aside, Sokka. This man hurt you!

Sokka: He never hurt me, Dad! I was the one who hurt him. I lied to him because I didn't want to leave this wonderful place. I didn't want to leave him because...I love him.

Zuko: he loves me?

The rest of the crew: fuckin finally

Ozai rages over this and attempts to kill Zuko himself but he gets stopped by so many people and also gets yeeted by Hakoda <3

The merpeople rejoice at having found their prince; they're happy that he's found a lover as well (tho some are like "ugh a human man?" but they get shut up pretty quickly)

Katara and Yue congratulate Sokka and Ty Lee maybe has a little bit of a gay panic over pretty ladies

Sokka and Zuko get married on the beach where Suki found him with Hakoda officiating

[majorannah]

#mini rant #fandom problems #aka #atla fandom problems #yes this is about #katara #cuz when am i not talking about katara #and how this fandom does NOT understand her #because y’all don’t bother to learn about the cultures the white men took from for this show #and how katara’s entire character revolves around her community and her role in it #which is also why that horrible ship is allowed to prevail #because this fandom downplays katara’s loyalty to her tribe #and the cultural implications of that ship #anti zutara #anti zutara fandom #the same can be said for zukka before someone brings it up #in fact #anti zukka #when the tags longer than the post #lmao #i’m not even gonna mention who the individualistic characters are because

blah blah something something about how fandom gravitate towards more individualistic characters because they’re easier to understand compared to community-oriented characters whose character development is very much tied to their culture/nation because understanding a single character is easier to understand than a character AND an entire culture, especially when said culture is based off a marginalized community that exists in real life 🫠 and said fandom is majority WHITE.