#when Aang is literally just trying his best

[sillywittlebirds]

People mocking Aang's pacificism, and saying that Zuko is better because he's not a pacifist is so weird to me. Like, you guys do realize that the only reason Zuko is still alive is because Aang is a pacifist? Aang had plenty of chances to kill Zuko, especially towards the beginning where Zuko was really getting his ass handed to him by Aang. But Aang never does because he values human life, even if that human has no regard for HIS safety.

That's not even going into the fact that Aang saved Zuko’s life twice when they were still enemies. During "The Blue Spirit" episode, he could have left Zuko for dead, but he chooses to carry him away to safety. He even chooses to watch over Zuko until he regained consciousness. During "The Seige of the North" episode, Sokka was straight up willing to leave Zuko for dead. Aang was the one who took Zuko with them, and saved Zuko from being frozen to death.

I personally think it's fine to like Zuko better than Aang, or to not like Aang at all. That's your personal opinion, even if I don't share it. (I love Aang actually.) But citing that Zuko is better than Aang because he's not a pacifist doesn't make any sense. Zuko has benefited from Aang being a pacifist the most. And while Zuko is not a pacifist, he has also never killed anyone during the course of the series, even when he had clear opportunities to do so. (His Agni Kai with Zhao for instance.) Zuko is not a killer, not in the slightest, even if he pretends to be.

Sorry if this post came off as condescending, I just get tired of people pitting Aang and Zuko against each other. Both characters benefit from having the other in their life.

[firelordslove]

Aang getting so, uncharacteristically angry when Appa was taken by the sandbenders wasn’t just because of his love for his sky bison. Of course, that was a big part of it. Appa is more than just a pet to him, he’s his best friend and soulmate, someone who’s been around since Aang was very young and is meant to be a “companion for life”.

But, Aang ran away on a random Tuesday, got caught in a storm and it changed the whole trajectory of his life. He ran away because he was upset his life was changing so rapidly, he suddenly had all this responsibility at 12 years old that he wasn’t ready for but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gone back. We don’t know what would have happened; he could have needed a few days to cool off, he could have seen the start of the war and stepped up (from what we know of Aang, there’s no way he would have ignored it for his own needs), but that didn’t happen.

He got caught in the ice for 100 years and when he woke up he discovered that not only was everyone he knew and loved were dead, but brutally murdered in an act of power. That everyone from his teachers, friends (children, like him) and animals, were gone. Not only that but his whole culture; traditions, foods, clothing, music… everything important was eradicated and possibly most of the documentation of the culture, too. He’s suddenly handed this new responsibility on top of being the Avatar, trying to uphold this culture (as literally the last airbender alive) and grieve at the same time.

And Aang grieves very privately, in fact, does he even give himself a chance? He discovered the horrible truth and his immediate response it so go have some fun, maybe because he knows if he thinks too hard about it and gives into the pain, he’ll turn into something he’s not, he’ll forget what the monks taught him and he can’t let that happen.

So he tries to channel all his grief and anger into being the Avatar, even if he still has his reservations, and by his side is Appa. The only thing keeping him tethered to his life 100 years ago and his culture. He’s been with him through everything, and will continue to be, like I said “companion for life”.

And then he’s gone, he’s taken, and all of a sudden Aang cannot keep the crushing weight of his loss at bay anymore and he… snaps, he loses control. He gives into the avatar state because not only is everything he knew and loved gone, taken from him for nothing more than political gain, but now his soulmate that represented everything he lost is gone, too and he doesn’t know what happened to him. Is he dead? Is he scared? Is he fed? Who knows.

Aang losing Appa with the final straw and his grief, something he was ignoring and refusing to deal with, was brought to the forefront when he lost Appa, making it impossible to ignore and if it wasn’t for us friends trying to ground him and remind him of who he was, who knows what would have happened.

[deadghosy]

ੈ🎐༄˖°.〰˚✩彡

BEING BEST FRIENDS WITH AANG:

prompt: being the same age as Aang, mostly the avatar has it perks considering you two are polar opposites

🐚 ྀ࿓it’s dead ass funny seeing two 12 years argue who sheds more, momo or appa. Katara would have to pull you off of Aang before you slap this little Mr clean head ass boy.

🐚 ྀ࿓for shits and giggles, you have definitely got launched in the air. You were begging Aang to just launch you in the air. Because you always dreamed of it since you met this airbender.

🐚 ྀ࿓Aang is pretty much protective of you if you can’t bend. So if you are a non bender, you better believe this boy makes sure you are by his side at all times of the traveling. Even after he finishes the Hundred year war. He’s the avatar, of course there’s still petty ass people after him.

🐚 ྀ࿓now if you weren’t a non bender and had a bending skill of some sort, he is still protective of you. You could be a master at bending, and this dude will still make sure you are behind him in danger. You two are such a powerful duo when bending, now a good trio is you, toph, and Aang at all once.

🐚 ྀ࿓you two are basically platonic soulmates who are always found by each other. Like that one time you went to go shopping at a market, and Aang followed you secretly since it’s his job to protect you at all time. Or that one time you lost Aang in the crowd and he immediately found you by your voice in an instant.

🐚 ྀ࿓”I’m gonna kill that asshole…” “please don’t.” Those words basically describes your friendship with Aang. Literally after Aang got his grow spurt and he was taller than you, you better believe this now wise boy would put you on his shoulder to drag you away from fights.

🐚 ྀ࿓you are the chaos in the peace and he is the peace within the chaos. You two are two peas in a pond, yin & yang. You have your moments where it’s the opposite sometimes. But where’s the fun when you create the problems whilst Aang has to drag you away from causing more problems.

🐚 ྀ࿓smack his head…he dares you. He knows you do it for jokes. But this boy is tired of having red hand marks on his head and feeling the painful burn.. if you did one more time, he is actually putting you in rock time out. You could try to get out. But this airbender is making sure he is having a kick out of this.

🐚 ྀ࿓when training with Aang, he tries to go easy on while you don’t. Of course you care about Aang deeply like he does for you, but you ain’t no pussy. You literally used chi blocking on him cause he hesitated blasting you away with his airbending. At the end you had to smack his head for trying to not blast you. And of course he still didn’t learn his listen as he just dodges.

🐚 ྀ࿓Aang is very affectionate person, everyone knows that. So of course he is holding your hand, waist if you allow it, wrap his arm around your shoulder. He might not be that much of a touchy person, but it feels nice to have the person that’s like his other half by him.

🐚 ྀ࿓cuddles is a must if you or him have a bad day. Yes you once snored while trying to move away from the airbender in your sleep. Aang wasn’t letting that happen at all cause he pulled you to his chest as he falls asleep.

🐚 ྀ࿓random arguments with Aang is also a must as you two argue over the most stupidest things ever. Say for example, your favorite book was gone. So you accused Aang of using it for something actually dumb. Aang got offended as he dramatically gasp and blamed you instead for being so dense for not keeping up with your stuff. And that’s where you would tackle him and start hitting his head. Mostly smacking his bald head cause it’s funny😭

🐚 ྀ࿓this sweetheart of an airbender will teach you about his culture. Now if you are part of one of the nations, you teach him your nation of course. It’s like trading Pokémon cards for more Pokémon cards. He will probably do something so you can wear an airbender outfit, just so people can see you two are best friends for life. Literally.

🐚 ྀ࿓I can see you trying to ignore Aang for something petty, and Aang is not having it as communication is key. He will literally pick you up over his shoulder and put you down so he can talk to you face to face. He’s serious about you, so of course he’s not letting you be this petty.

🐚 ྀ࿓yk how Aang had his hair grown out, yeah you actually liked it grown out like that. It was cute and you told him that in confidence. At first he thought you were lying so you can make fun of it. But when he saw how you kept playing with his hair. He actually was thinking about keep his hair grown out like this. His darkish brown hair was suiting on him. He’d actually fall asleep with his head on you as you play with it.

🐚 ྀ࿓Aang will never forget the moment he almost went avatar state for you. All because you wanted to be reckless and almost died. A fire nation soldier tried to burn you alive, but you were quick to dodge it. While for Aang, he didn’t get a clear view to see if you dodged it or not. So this man’s tattoos glowed scared and worried. Mostly angry if you died as he was about to burn the solider. Kyoshi was telling him to. But that all stopped when you grabbed his shoulder. Aang stops to look at you and hug you tightly, his heart went back to normal sped.

🐚 ྀ࿓to end this off, you guys are practically platonic soulmates who are made to be by each other’s side. Aang agrees and you, you just nod while you stuff your face in food. And Aang eats calmly compared to you. So if you choke on your food, he is smacking the shit out of your back worried if you actually choke on your food.

[sapphic-agent]

So, a Kataang fan made a post about a week ago "asking" (rhetorically, of course) why it's a bad thing Katara acts like Aang's mom. And I just-

First of all, isn't that something that Kataang shippers have been trying to actively dispute for almost two decades at this point? That Katara doesn't treat Aang as a younger brother/son? There's literally an entire post about it from The Headband that's made its rounds on almost every single social media platform.

So which is it, besties? Does Katara act motherly towards Aang or not?

(The answer is yes of course, as The Runaway outright confirms it multiple times. The whole premise of that episode is that Katata acts as a mother to Toph, Sokka, and Aang)

Now, why is it a problem? The fact that I have to explain this is telling for how little a lot of Kataang shippers understand Katara.

Katara was parentified. She took care of Sokka (by his own admission) as well as her entire village after Hakoda left. Even before then really, as she says in the very first episode that she's been doing all the chores around the village since their mother died which was years before that. She was delivering literal babies while basically being a baby herself.

Traveling- and being- with Aang is supposed to represent her freedom and childhood, right? That's what the first episode shows us and what Kataang is built on. But if anything, it has the opposite effect.

Book 1 wasn't terrible. Katara was very free-spirited and joyful in addition to being caring and empathetic. Her and Aang could still goof off together, even if she was doing her best to support him emotionally. You could easily see that as her being a good friend.

But somewhere between Books 2 and 3, that changed. Katara went from being his supportive friend to being his emotional crutch. During The Desert, she bears the brunt of him lashing out (he does yell at Toph once, but he's the most volatile with Katara). He also gets frustrated with her during Sozin's Comet, even though Zuko and Sokka were the ones pushing him. It's always Katara who has to bring him back when he loses control of the Avatar State, risking her own safety.

(This isn't emotional, but it was Katara who healed Aang after Azula's attack. She was the one who stayed by his side, staying awake for hours to make sure he would be okay. I like to look at it as a physical representation of their relationship. Aang's wellbeing is always put on her shoulders. If she isn't there to lift him up, he'll fall. And if he falls, the world falls. No 14 year old should be responsible for that. But it's so easy for the show- and y'all- to shove it onto her because this part of her character is never addressed. It's just used as a testament to her caring nature)

Even without Katara's parentification, this causes a major imbalance in their relationship. It puts Katara in charge of managing Aang's pain and being emotionally unsupported in return. The Southern Raiders is proof that Katara can't depend on Aang emotionally the way he does her. She's been his shoulder to cry on through everything and the one time the tables turned, she couldn't even get that from him.

And the saddest thing about this? Katara says to him, "I knew you wouldn't understand." She never expected Aang to support her. She's become so accustomed to being there for others that she's never once expected anyone to do the same for her, least of all Aang.

(But Zuko does. He's the only one who recognized Katara's pain- admittedly, mostly because it was directed at him- and tried to help her. Without being prompted. I gotta give this one to the Zutara folks)

In what world is this dynamic healthy for a romantic relationship?

[thinky-think-brainblast]

MORE DAD AANG, because it just keeps me going.

I have come to the conclusion in my head that airbenders literally have had to had the most angelic voices, they are the best singers by far compared to any nation and they don’t even have to try, it just comes with the territory. If an airbender decides to practice singing they can become even better, if they practice enough they can even use airbending to sing, which would allow them to do literally magic with their voices. So from this we can infer is that naturally Aang has to be a hell of a singer, even so he would much rather just stick with dancing (I have dancing headcanons for all the nations BTW). However when bumi is born and is about a few months old this baby can’t fall asleep, there is some nights that by some miracle he would fall asleep at his bedtime and sleep through the night, but he would wake up at four am BAWLING. On a normal night bumi just doesn’t stop crying and katara is absolutely exhausted she just came from one of the most stressing days in the clinics and she just can’t deal with bumi at the moment. Aang notices and tells katara to get some rest and that he will deal with bumi by himself, some time passes and bumi just doesn’t stop, there are moments where he calms down to then start crying his eyes out again, Aang has done absolutely everything, he is constantly carrying bumi around, he is giving him food, he is hugging and kissing bumi, he is talking to him, nothing seems to work. By this point aang has become numb to the cry’s and honestly at this point he is very tired and just decides to sit down with bumi in his arms and wait it out, I mean he eventually HAS to fall asleep, right? Well Aang gets pretty bored about just sitting down and hearing Bumi cry so he begins to hum to himself, he hummed this song he had heard an orchestra play at a work dinner. Unexpectedly baby bumi calms down a little when he hears aang hum, as Aang notices he begins to hum a little louder and notices bumi calmed down completely. He continues shocked when he sees bumi even begin to get sleepy, when he runs out of the melody he begins to sing songs that were sung to him at the temples when he was a little boy. To this bumi finally falls asleep.

Don’t cancel me pls.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

What do you think about the claim that Zuko respects Katara more than Aang does?

"The guy that thought she should die because of her race respected her more than the best friend that had been supporting her in every way from day one" I dunno, sounds like bullshit to me.

Again, I have a lot of Hero X Villains ships, and that's a CLASSIC argument that is rarely ever true. It's just fans being defensive of their ship because OBVIOUSLY the villain will, at some point, do something genuinely horrible to the main character, while the "good" love interest usually won't go that far, and just has bad moments like a normal human being.

They know it looks bad, but instead of embracing it as just part of the trope and the contrast that is supposed to happen as the characters grow closer and thus the villain becomes less evil, they try to act like the villain never did anything bad to the main character in the first place, while the "good" love interest was the devil.

You rarely find a case of a love triangle (be it a real one or fanon one) with a character picking between the good guy and bad guy in which the dynamics are genuinely like the fandom describes them. 90% of it is just fanfic being treated as fact - hence zutarians acting like Zuko is the first male to ever do a feminism because he "doesn't refuse to fight Katara despite her being a girl", even though he's fighting her for the explicit purpose of letting his nation continue to oppress/kill her people, while Aang is TOTALLY a sexist pig that made Katara his maid, even though he was the one literally cheering for Katara when she threw hands with a misogynist that tried to tell her what she could or could not do based on her gender.

Another classic cope from fans of that kind of ship: acting like "support and respect" means "encourage them to do ANYTHING they want, even things that will hurt themselves and others", hence zutarians acting like Zuko "gets the real Katara" for encouraging her to kill Yon Rha (because he wants a cheat-code to make her forgive him) and Aang is the bad guy that "can't handle her thinking for herself" when in reality Aang was objecting to it because he's the one that actually knows Katara and understood that she'd regret killing someone, even a horrible person, while Zuko didn't realize it both because Katara is still mostly a stranger to him at that point, and because he grew up in a place that normalized, glorified and rewarded violence.

[teecupangel]

Okay, okay, my brain did the thinking. I just skimmed over the ATLA ask and it got me thinking, how about like an actual ATLA AU?

Like in, ofc following Desmond (precious boy) and him bending water (and ice (and maaaayybee later blood?))

He grows up in the northern Water tribe, learns grows up etc. is still fed up with William, but can't really leave this godforsaken huge piece of ice swimming in the ocean, until at least the raid with the fire nation (and aang). Maybe he can convince him to just take Desmond with him (he doesn't really want to journey with them, he just wants to go somewhere else).

One way or another, he either finds himself in the earth kingdom, and meeting Connor(earth) and/or Ezio (dunno what kind of element he would be) or through some unlucky coincidence finds himself on fire nation territory. Here he could stumble upon Hama and maybe somehow convinces her to teach him some blood bending. Some time later he would stumble upon Altaïr, literally, because he runs from guards for stealing something and Altaïr just pulls him into the next best alcove so the guards won't catch Desmond.

Somewhere down the line they befriend each other, while Desmond is trying to find a way out of the fire nations territory (could be the reason for him to steal something and then the guards running after him) because being a waterbender there is kind of a death wish.

Long story short, Desmond finds a way, Altaïr sticks along and they meet Connor and/or Ezio again, at least Desmond meets them again and is ofc happy. I can absolutely see the rivalry between Ezio and Altaïr.

They all travel a bit and somehow meet the Aang-gang again. Desmond being like, what's up, while the others are like wtf, you know the Avatar? Yeah like, he helped me get out of this shithole called home.

Meeting Iroh for good measure.

Like all is fun and games, until they stumble upon a town or city who completely suffers under its ruler and commanders and they take it upon themselves to get rid of them (heh, there is no murder weapon if the ice melts).

And that kind of becomes their thing? Like, while the 'canon' plot from ATLA moves forward, they unintentionally help them and destabilize corrupt power (mostly inside the earth kingdom). Along the line they could also meet others like Clay, Lucy, Malik etc. who won't travel with them, but still join their cause (or some could join, I imagine Malik, who already wishes to slam his head against a wall after only one day with them)

And bam, brotherhood in ATLA, or something

If we stretch it towards Korras time, we could use the assassins from the newer generations like Basim, Eivor, Kassandra, Arno etc. who are the successors.

Okay, this got quite long, but I still have some thoughts:

- William could be like the head of the guard for the mother's Water tribe and as such pushes Desmond further and further (but Desmond knows he won't be happy just staring at Ice for the rest of his life)

- Some of the others out of the modern era could grow up alongside Desmond, maybe Lucy or Clay

- I would have really loved to give Ezio Air, but like... That won't be really possible. I can absolutely see him using his bending to let his hair be moved by a breeze, whenever he tries to flirt

- so Ezio would come from a kind of rich family (I don't really have more, I'm sorry)

- With Connor I actually don't really know, like he could live with his mother or tribe in the woods (kind of like Jet's crew?)

- Altaïr would probably be that kind of braindead genius, who saw Azulas Lightning bending one time (his grandfather, Rashid, dragged him to one of these highly important events, when the princess visited) and decided to learn it on his own (Malik is just kind of horrified, bc this Idiot simultaneously thinks and doesn't think enough)

- Rashid would definitely stand completely behind Fire lord Ozais visions

- and ofc AltDes, bc I'm a sucker and shameless :P

Anyway, it's good to hear you are doing well, many hugs and kisses

Have a great one and take care!

I’m unsure which ATLA idea you mean but here’s the Avatar AU ask that has both “what if Desmond and his ancestors were the next line of Avatars?” and “Okay, but what if, they were like… Pro-bending pros?” and the Pro-Bending AU idea expanded.

If you want to fuck with Desmond, you can make it seem like he’s a non-Bender. To be more exact, no matter how grueling the training becomes, Desmond could never bend water even to make ripples in a tea cup.

But Bill still persisted and kept on training Desmond until Aang came along and, in the confusion, Desmond manages to escape.

The truth is Bill was trying to force Desmond to learn how to waterbend because Desmond instinctively uses Blood Bending.

To be more exact, he doesn’t realize that people become weaker or slower when they fight him because Desmond is actually instinctively blood bending.

Bill realized this when Desmond was a child and had killed a beast that attacked him with blood bending. Desmond has no memories of such a thing, remembering it as his father actually using spear made of condensed water to pierce the beast.

But the beast exploded, not because of the water spear, but because Desmond had boiled the blood inside to the point that an internal explosion occurred.

So Desmond starts traveling, thinking that he’s a non-bender and he met Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton along the way, just, you know, helping out people and doing jobs here and there to have enough money for their travel expenses.

Ratonhnhaké:ton left his village to understand the world outside as part of his training to be the next chief of their village. Her mother is the current chief and they’re hidden from the rest of the kingdom. This travel is meant to give him an idea of how to protect their village and to ‘survey’ the outside world and the danger it possesses.

Ezio is actually looking for his family and he’s a member of the Southern Water Tribe. During an attack from the Fire Nation, he was separated from his family and he’s traveling to find them. He tries his best to believe that they’re safe and sound but, sometimes, he does worry…

Altaïr though…

Altaïr is on the run because he defied orders and got into Azula’s bad side. He was meant to be just a rank and file soldier under Azula (with Rashid ordering him to climb up the ranks) but his arrogance brought unnecessary conflict between him and Azula.

Azula tried to put him in his place by dueling with him, only to learn that he copied her lightning bending after only seeing it once.

The worst part is that he showed that he copied it after Azula tried to hit him with her lightning bending during the duel itself.

In her rage, she tried to attack him hard enough to cripple him (and if she wasn’t careful, kill him). Altaïr answered in kind and he was arrested for the ‘attempted assassination’ of Azula.

He escaped his confinement with a little help from another rank and file soldier, Malik, who suggested that he hides in the Earth Kingdom.

He meets Desmond and the others while they were hunting down a band of bandits who had terrorizing the road and they actually fought because they thought Altaïr was a bandit and not… the dude who took out the bandits because they tried to rob him.

He joins them because he had nothing else to do. (Ezio absolutely noticed that Altaïr was attracted to Desmond but doesn’t seem to realize it and he plans to enjoy the ‘romance’ between these two dense idiots. Ratonhnhaké:ton will not be enjoying any show but he will also not help because he believes romantic relationship should only be nurtured by the people involved and “no, Ezio, we are not involved in this”)

And then we have the great misunderstanding where Desmond and Altaïr look similar enough that wanted posters distributed by the Fire Nation included a drawing that can look like either of them.

So Desmond assumed he’s being hunted because he did kill a few Fire Nation soldiers when he ran away during all the confusion and he was pretty sure one of them was a high ranking official.

Altaïr knows this is Azula hunting him down because he tried to ‘assassinate’ her.

And they would talk about it in ways that made everyone believe that they’re the target (aka: Desmond believes Altaïr knows that Desmond is a wanted man, Altaïr believes Desmond knows that Altaïr is a wanted man, Ratonhnhaké:ton and Ezio both think that it could be either of them and assumed both Altaïr and Desmond are on the same page)

(It would absolutely be funny if the twist is that the wanted man is actually Elijah, Desmond’s younger half-brother, who did (1) destroy multiple Fire Nation ships and (2) killed enough high ranking Fire Nation officials to be counted as a dangerous ‘terrorist’. Desmond would be like “Elijah? No. He’s a sweet boy. He’d never hurt a fly.”. Cue Elijah using water bending to waterboard a Fire Nation official. Elijah shares the same mother with Desmond who is actually a blood bender. Elijah himself doesn’t bloodbend but he, their mother and Bill are the only ones who know that Desmond instinctively bloodbends. Shaun and Rebecca are his ‘handlers’ which doesn’t really say much because they can’t stop Elijah at all. They’re actually looking for Desmond because Desmond is the only person who can stop Elijah without even realizing how bloodthirsty his younger brother is.)

thank you! things had been a bit hectic at work and I'm really hoping that I'd be compensated for it hahahaha

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Midterms, Mutual Pining, and a Meddling Roommate

*Zuko (ATLA) x GN!Reader

*Summary: Reader moves in with Sokka and his roommates when they transfer to their school. Why was one of them so cute?

*Warnings: Swearing, drinking, Sokka, emotionally awkward Zuko. Let me know if I missed anything!

*A/N: This one took a lot longer than it should have, shout out the Anon that requested this! Have I ever mentioned how much I love best friend Sokka?

Tip Jar

**********

Sometimes you questioned if moving in with your best friend was really worth it. You had grown up with Sokka and Katara, but when they moved off to college, you decided to stay back for a bit and just get some work done at the local community college. A couple years later here you were, your stuff packed into your car driving out to the apartment you were going to share with Sokka and his other roommates. You hadn’t officially met them yet, but they’d popped in to say hi a few times during your video calls with Sokka. You figured they couldn’t be that bad if Sokka lived with them.

But then you realized you actually had to live with Sokka. He was a great dude, but sometimes you wanted to throttle him. Like now, as you were trying to make dinner. “Sokka, I swear on the spirits that if you didn’t clean out the rice cooker last time I will end you!”

Sure enough, when you opened the rice cooker, there were clumps of old rice lining the bottom and stuck to the sides of the pot. You actually wanted to scream. Just as you started to throw a litany of curses out to the apartment, sure Sokka would hear you over whatever he was doing, the front door opened and one of your other roommates walked in.

“So I’m guessing dinner isn’t going well?” Zuko asked, closing the door behind him.

“I haven’t started yet, because someone didn’t clean out the rice cooker last time,” you called the last part out, hoping Sokka would hear. 

“Alright, you get started on whatever else you need. I’ll clean the rice cooker and get the rice started.” Zuko’s tone left no room for argument, so you just followed his directions. He quickly went about putting on his house shoes and putting his backpack down at the table, grabbing an apron before going to join you in the kitchen.

“You know, you really don’t have to. Like, I’ll complain about it a bit but I’m still fine with cleaning it,” you still tried to argue, even as you went to grab your ingredients from the fridge.

“Too late, I’m already washing it.” Sure enough, Zuko was already fighting to get the stuck on rice out of the pot and into the trash can.

“Didn’t know rich boy knew how to do that.”

“I literally work in my uncle’s tea shop. You know I know how to do dishes.” Zuko’s deadpan delivery without even sparing you a glance made you laugh, any irritation that you had at Sokka melting away for the moment.

You had to admit, you could definitely have worse roommates. Other than the occasional mess you expected from college dudes, they were honestly pretty chill and really considerate. Zuko, other than being rich, was honestly really chill and down to earth, which you really appreciated. He was quick to offer help with dinner or cleaning around the place, and he was mostly quiet. Aang was also sweet, and his two pets were honestly doing wonders for your mental health. You could only imagine how cathartic it would be to cry into Appa’s fur around finals time. The only downside you could really see to Aang was the fact that him and Sokka seemed to share a brain cell when the two of them were together. Actually, the three guys together all shared one brain cell when they were all together. Then there was Sokka. He was alright.

Kidding. If anything, you and Sokka had a sibling-like relationship. You spent your time complaining about him, but you knew if you really needed him, he’d cancel everything to just make sure you were okay. But when he didn’t clean up after himself, especially when he knew you’d need the things he’d used, well, you kind of wanted to kill him. It was all love though.

Cooking dinner went a lot quicker with Zuko helping you, and you had to admit, he was one of the only people you allowed in the kitchen while you were cooking. It was a big honor, not that he would admit that. Everything was great until Sokka finally came out of his and Aang’s room, and then you remembered just how annoyed you were with him.

“Oo, what’d you make? I’m starving, I was working on-”

“Fuck you, keep starving.”

“What’d I do?”

“You know what you did.”

**********

“Momo, I beg you to stop throwing shit off my shelves,” you whined, throwing your pillow over your eyes. You were trying to catch a nap, absolutely exhausted from the week you’d had. It was one of the few nights both Sokka and Aang were out, so that meant the house was quiet for once. Well, about as quiet as it could be with Momo deciding that he wanted to redecorate your shelves by throwing all your books and knickknacks down. You thought he would be nice and just take a nap with you, but you should’ve known better.

After about ten minutes of pleading with Momo - which was futile - you just got out of bed, grabbing your blanket and going off to search for a new place to nap. Your room was now compromised, and you didn’t even want to look at the mess was previously your nice and neat bookshelf. You figured the living room would be a safe bet, since Zuko normally hung out in his room, but you were surprised to see him just lounging on the sofa, scrolling through Netflix. “Oh, hey, I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“Yeah, I heard you arguing with Momo,” Zuko replied, looking back at you with a little smile. As if terrorizing you in your room wasn’t enough, Momo followed closely behind you, swatting at your blanket when you paused.

“He’s a dick, he wouldn’t let me nap. You mind if I hang out with you instead?”

“Go for it,” Zuko said, motioning to the open sofa beside him. You didn’t know if that was actually an offer to share the sofa, but it would definitely be more comfortable than the other chairs in the room, so you took him up on it. Sure, you were as close to the other arm of the sofa as you physically could be, but it was still on the same sofa. Momo opted instead to sit on one of the chairs, just watching you two. “You wanna watch anything?”

“I’m good with whatever, I’ll probably knock out anyways,” you told him, trying to hide your yawn. Zuko hummed in acknowledgement, going back to his browsing. You debated getting on your phone until you fell asleep and inevitably dropped it on your face, but instead opted to just watch him. There was something about the slight frown on his face as he tried to find something that piqued his interest - at least enough to stay put for a while. Or maybe it was the was he was completely casual, just in some black sweats and a random t shirt. Or maybe you needed to get some sleep, because why was he looking so-

“Alright, what’s going on?” Zuko asked, putting the remote down on the arm of the sofa beside him.

“What do you mean?” You weren’t sure if you should be grateful for him jolting you out of whatever spiral you were going down.

“You’re staring. What’s up?” You just decided that you weren’t grateful. Damn him and his directness. Well, not always direct, especially when he was uncomfortable.

“Nothing, sorry, I was just zoning out.”

“Okay, well zone out staring somewhere else.” You rolled your eyes at that before picking up a stuffed animal you’d won at the arcade and throwing it at him. Of course he caught it before it hit him, but you got your point across. “What the hell?”

“Stop being a dick!” Momo’s sudden loud meow interrupted the two of you, just enough to break whatever the hell was going on. As soon as you both shut up, Momo went about making the chair more comfortable for himself.

“Alright, I’m going to take a nap, pick something to watch.” You said, pulling your blanket tighter around yourself. Your exhaustion from earlier was coming back, and you just needed to close your eyes and maybe have whatever Zuko wanted to watch in the background and-

“And I’m telling you he definitely cheated!” Sokka’s voice rang through the apartment, paired with the sound of the door crashing open. 

“I think you’re just a sore loser,” Aang’s slightly calmer, but still pretty loud response came not long after. You shifted, not opening your eyes quite yet. You were hoping for the chance to go back to sleep, but there wasn’t much hope for that now that the others were here.

“Hey, can you guys shut up? They’re napping in here,” Zuko called out in a hushed tone.

“Why aren’t they in their room?” Sokka asked, his voice getting closer. “I thought they hated falling asleep in here.”

“Well, we did come in kind of loud,” Aang immediately sounded sheepish, which you definitely appreciated.

“And they tried napping in their room but Momo was being a terror,” Zuko explained further.

“Aw, but how? He’s sleeping so peacefully!”

“I believe it,” Sokka chimed in.

“Alright, so can you guys be quiet so they can finish taking their nap?”

“Since when did you get so invested in their sleep?” Sokka asked, probably leaning over the couch to look at Zuko closely. You just hoped he wouldn’t accidentally flip himself over the back of it. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Just shut up already.”

**********

You’d hoped that whatever little demon had taken hold of you and made you find Zuko (more) attractive would die down eventually as you just continued living with him, but unfortunately it just grew stronger. So that’s how you ended here, with your council: Sokka, Katara, and Suki.

As soon as you guys got to the little diner and sat in your corner booth, you looked at them and took a deep breath to signal that you were ready to drop some news on them. Immediately Katara and Suki perked up, watching you closely.

”Alright, spill it,” Katara said after a moment of you all just looking at each other.

”Spill what?”

”Whatever you brought us here to talk about,” Suki chimed in.

”Yeah, should’ve known that you don’t just offer me free food for nothing.” Sokka said.

”I never offered you free food, I asked if you wanted to get food and you jumped at the chance,” you immediately corrected. Even if you loved Sokka like a brother, your wallet could not afford his appetite.

”Whatever, details, details. Now spill.”

”Do you guys think Zuko is cute?” You asked, trying to soften the blow.

”What?” they all asked at once, staring at you like you just suggested getting rid of Appa. 

“Damn, okay, guess not. I’ll shut up now.”

”No, you don’t get to do that! Why the hell did you ask that?” Katara asked, leaning across the table to look at you closer.

”Is this why you guys have been acting weird around each other? Did something happen between the two of you?” Sokka asked, not even giving you the chance to answer his sister.

”What? They’ve been acting weird around each other? Why didn’t you tell me?” Suki asked, turning to her boyfriend.

”I thought it was weird but didn’t really think anything of it! I figured we were all just burnt out from exams,” Sokka said with a shrug.

”Spirits, will you guys just let me answer?” You finally interrupted the chaos erupting around you. “And what, you’ve never thought Zuko was cute?”

“Well,” Katara trailed off for a second before shaking her head. “Actually, no. Can’t say I have.”

“I’m telling Aang you hesitated,” you tried to use her moment of weakness to your advantage.

“Shut up. Normal people don’t ask that question.”

“I refuse to believe no one here has found Zuko attractive.” You argued.

“We just got over it,” Sokka chimed in. Suki immediately shot him a look. “What? Am I supposed to lie and say the guy’s not objectively attractive?”

“I’ll take it.”

“No, that doesn’t end the conversation!” Suki said, lightly smacking her hand on the table. “Why are you asking that? Do you have a thing for him?”

“I don’t know, maybe? Like, he’s cute and he helps me around the apartment and we hang out when the others aren’t there-”

“I’m gonna stop you there. The second you have multiple ‘and’s going on, you’re trying to talk yourself out of something,” Katara said, taking a drink of her coffee. “You’re gross.”

“I never even said anything! I just asked if people thought he was cute.” You knew defending yourself was pointless, but you would still die before giving in to your friends.

“You’re basically asking us to validate you, and I’m not gonna do that for no reason.”

“I will,” Sokka shrugged. “If you wanna be delusional, go for it.”

“That’s the kind of support I’m looking for. Sokka, you’re my number one now.”

“Okay, but good luck getting him to keep his mouth shut. This is the same guy that spilled Aang’s crush to me within a week of knowing it.”

“Yeah, but it took him like a year to even realize Aang had a crush on you in the first place,” Suki tried defending her boyfriend.

“Thanks, babe. I think.”

**********

You could practically feel the effort Sokka was going through to not say anything about your crush on Zuko. Everytime Sokka walked in on the two of you hanging out, or cooking dinner, or even the one time you ran into each other on the walk home and came in at the same time, you could see his brain short circuit. He would either go silent, which Zuko noticed, or he would walk right out, which Zuko definitely noticed. He would look at you with a confused little frown, and you would try to ignore the way you immediately felt warm at it. You’d wave him off, and he would drop it normally.

And then finals ended, and you and your friends decided to have a night in, drinking and celebrating the end of classes. Aang was designated adult, so you all had the chance to let loose a little. You were on the couch next to Zuko, listening intently as he rambled on about something his sister had done when they were children. There was a little blush sitting high on his cheeks, the cider he’d been drinking in one hand (probably) the culprit. Maybe you were sitting a little closer than you should have for a purely platonic thing, but you used the excuse of Toph’s growing volume to validate it to yourself. You should’ve known things wouldn’t be this nice for too long, especially since you didn’t exactly know the last time you saw Sokka leave the kitchen.

As you started getting into a story from one of your classes - one that Zuko had definitely heard before, not that he would stop you - you turned to fully face Zuko. You trailed off, getting caught up in just looking at him. It really wasn’t fair that he was so pretty. He gave you a little shy smile, tilting his head in an unasked question. And then suddenly, your view of him was blocked by Sokka’s face. His hazy eyes met yours, and you could feel something was about to happen, but you didn’t exactly have the capacity to figure out just what is was. Before you could say anything, Zuko spoke up.

“Hey, buddy. What’s up?” Sokka turned his attention to the other man.

“Are you guys gonna get together yet or what?” He was so nonchalant about it that you almost missed the slight slur of his words. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol all night. But you did know better, so you immediately started scanning the room for Suki, hoping she’d be able to rein in her boyfriend quickly.

“What’re you talking about?” Zuko asked with a nervous laugh. You stood, hoping that would give you a bit more visibility. Sure enough, you locked eyes with Suki. She took one look at the situation and handed her drink to Toph before grabbing a water bottle from the counter and making her way to you.

“Well, they have a giant crush on you and-” And just a second too late. Suki pulled Sokka back by the collar of his shirt, putting the water bottle in his hand.

“Sokka, honey, why don’t you drink this and leave them alone?”

“C’mon, I’m being like the best wingman!”

“You really aren’t,” Suki muttered, putting her arm around him. She then mouthed a sorry to you before redirecting Sokka back to a chair in the kitchen.

“Uh, well, I think it’s time for me to call it a night,” you said, reaching down to grab your phone from where it fell off your lap. Any buzz you’d been feeling was now completely gone and you just wanted to get out of there. Maybe just hide under the covers for a bit and watch YouTube.

“Oh. Uh,” Before Zuko could even start to form a response, you already started making your way to your room, waving goodnight to everyone you passed. As soon as you closed your door behind you, you allowed yourself to take a deep breath. You were so ready to end Sokka, but maybe there was still a way to salvage this. Sokka was way gone, so maybe you could explain it as drunken ramblings. But then what about your swift exit? And Suki saving you? You groaned, not really wanting to think about it any more. You could deal with this in the morning. You hoped Sokka’s hangover was terrible.

You went about getting ready for bed, shooing Momo off of your hoodie so you could put it on. Just as you were about to turn out the lights, there was a light knocking at your door. You looked to Momo like he would answer it, and then there were another couple knocks. “Hey, uh, it’s me.”

Of course Zuko would want to check on you. You took a breath, steadying yourself for a quick little explanation. Oh, hey. Yeah, I have no idea why Sokka said that. I’m really sorry if he made you uncomfortable. You’re covering dishes tomorrow, right?

You opened the door, half expecting Momo to barrel his way out of your room. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Can I come in? I don’t think you want everyone listening in,” Zuko asked, straight to the point. You stepped out of the way, letting him in. “So, uh, what Sokka said-”

“Listen, I’m really sorry about that,” you said, cutting him off. “Sokka’s pretty fucking gone right now and-”

“So, uh, was he telling the truth or just messing with me?”

“Wait, messing with you?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Okay, uhm, I’m confused. Why would he be messing with you?”

“Well, this wasn’t exactly how I wanted things to go,” Zuko trailed off, looking around the room and finally settling on watching Momo sleep on your bed. “Momo comes in here a lot, huh?”

“Yeah, he knows he can bully me. So are you gonna tell me why Sokka would be messing with you?”

“Listen, don’t feel obligated or anything, and I get this is weird because we live together-”

“Zuko, please get to the point.”

“Sorry, sorry. I think you’re a cool person and I like hanging out with you, and I was talking to my uncle about it on the phone and Sokka kinda just barged into my room. I get if it’s weird since we live together, and I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable-”

“Oh my spirits, I’m an idiot,” you said. Zuko looked at you in confusion, waiting for you to elaborate. “How long ago was this? Zuko, remember when I took Sokka, Suki, and Katara out to dinner a bit ago?”

“Uh, yeah. Still a bit rude I didn’t get an invite.”

“You didn’t get an invite because we were talking about you. Wait, not in a bad way. It’s just I was starting to have a crush on you and I had no idea what to do about it so I called in the council to deliberate.”

“You’re really making that sound a lot more formal than it was.”

“That’s the part you’re stuck on?” After a few seconds, Zuko’s eyes widened in realization. “There you go.”

“Wait, you’re being serious?” Even in the dim light of your room, you could see the way his cheeks burned bright. His amazement was incredibly cute, and it took everything in you not to show it.

“Yeah, do I need to call Suki in here? She can back up what I’m saying.” 

“No!” Even Zuko seemed a bit surprised with how forceful that was. “I mean, no, it’s okay. I believe you. So, uh…”

“Right, uh. What now? This hasn’t actually happened to me before.”

“I don’t actually know.” The two of you stood a couple feet apart, trying to figure out what exactly this meant. You didn’t know what came over you, but you closed the distance, reaching for his hand. His touch was a bit hesitant at first, taking a second to relax his hand into yours. You looked up at him, yearning to touch him more.

“Can I kiss you? It’s okay if-” Zuko cut you off by pressing his lips to yours, the faint taste of the cider he’d been drinking earlier lingering. It was a quick little thing, leaving you wanting more. But you didn’t know if that would make you look desperate or not. He pulled back, and you didn’t know if the flush on his cheeks was new or still lingering from earlier.

“Sorry, I’d been wanting to do that for a bit and you gave me the okay.”

“Don’t apologize, it was nice.”

“Just nice?”

“Really nice.”

“I’ll take it. So, uh, do you want to go on like an actual date? With me?”

“Yeah, I would really like that. But what if things get weird?”

“We live with Sokka, it’s not like things can get much weirder.” And just as though Zuko had summoned him, there was pounding on your door.

“(Y/n)! I’m sorry! Please don’t hate me!” Sokka’s drunken pleading quickly followed. You could hear Suki trying to pull him away and couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe Zuko was right.

[creampuffqueen]

I wanna hear more avatar headcanons! From the novels or just the avatars themselves! I loved reading your kavik and yangchen hcs 🥹🫶🏻

ahhh thank you!! i'm glad you like my random thoughts lol 🫶

here are a few more random thoughts i've been having that i just haven't quite made into posts yet (mostly yangvik because i love them but some other avatars as well):

yangchen is actually a terrible cook 💀 she's basically always had people taking care of her so she never really needed to learn! she can make a good cup of tea and that's about it. she regularly burns rice. she's also just generally bad at remembering to feed herself. kavik, who is a decent cook, is largely the only reason she remembers to eat

as for the other known avatars: kyoshi is by FAR the best cook. she's genuinely good at it. aang is a very close second. roku, kuruk, and wan are all average at it. korra has been banned from every kitchen in republic city

yangchen and kavik both strike me as people who really enjoy physical touch. they both really enjoy cuddling with each other, even before their relationship turns more romantic. acts of service is also a major love language for them

i also feel very strongly that they never used typical labels for their relationship. they usually referred to each other as their 'partner', occasionally 'lover', but most often just continued to use 'companion'. these vague labels frustrate scholars to no end, and today in the atla universe nobody can agree on the nature of their relationship. which is exactly how they wanted it lol, they were extremely private about their relationship

yangchen does have the iconic crooked smile that all the avatars share, but it only comes out when she's well and truly happy about something

her laugh is the same way. she has a very convincing fake laugh, as her real laugh is kind of 'ugly'. it's some kind of snorting, wheezing sound that kind of sounds like she's dying but is also absolutely adorable. yangchen hates it. kavik adores it, and will make an absolute fool of himself trying to hear it

yangchen is a massive, merciless flirt and takes great pleasure in seeing just how red she can make kavik's face turn. but on the rare occasion kavik gets enough confidence to flirt back, she turns into a total mess

pik and pak's favorite place to sleep is right on top of kavik's face

because of how hard she works herself, yangchen often falls asleep in the strangest places. if she's actually tired, she can fall asleep literally anywhere. it's simultaneously a superpower and a massive annoyance

a somewhat sad/bittersweet headcanon i have is that yangchen dies first. i've seen a lot of people saying that she lives to 150 but i can't find a source for that anywhere so i'm choosing to ignore it. yangchen has already watched too many loved ones die, she doesn't need to see kavik die before her as well. they both live very long lives, but kavik outlives her by a few years. after yangchen's death, he returns home to the northern water tribe

at one point, only a few months before his death, he is out for a walk when a little toddler wanders up to him all alone. he chats with him for a few minutes until the boy's parents find them and thank him for watching over their son. 'kuruk, what have we told you about wandering off like that?' the mother asks. the toddler waves goodbye, and kavik walks home feeling oddly contented. he never meets the boy again, and he dies well before kuruk is revealed as the avatar, but he feels a sense of peace from the interaction, knowing deep down that yangchen has made it safely back into the material world

when kavik dies, he wills his bone necklace to kuruk's family. they don't understand why until kuruk's sixteenth birthday. (SERIOUSLY THEIR NECKLACES LOOK ALMOST IDENTICAL ITS WILD)

that's all the thoughts i can scrape up off the top of my head, but i'm just generally thinking about avatar characters All The Time lmao. thank you for asking!!!

[bunthebreadboy]

i saw a fanart on pinterest when i decided to change my entire phone theme and i can’t get it out of my head.

the art was just after the zuko and ozai agni kai. zuko was knocked out, iroh was getting ready to take him and leave, and azula just came in and said “i took care of it”. if anyone knows what i’m talking about and has it saved or knows the og artist pls lmk!!

anyways. it got me thinking about an expansion of this au (that i will never write because i have neither the patience nor the time to do that) that (unsurprisingly) results in disasterlesbian!azula

so hear me out on this one. there would need to be an entire plot. like. what’s aang going to do??

azula killed ozai by electrocuting him. it’s the first time she discovers her lightning bending. it looks like he had a heart attack in his sleep. (don’t get too wrapped up in the details. azula’s a prodigy she can be overpowered for a bit)

why did she kill her dad? she’ll swear up and down that it was because “he really should have picked on someone with a better fighting ability than zuzu. honestly, it’s stupid he didn’t lose his honor after frying my pathetic firebender of a brother to a crisp.” it’s actually because she kind of sort of loves zuko. she will NEVER admit that.

iroh becomes fire lord, albeit a bit reluctantly. he spends the next three years attempting to end the war, stop the spread of propaganda in the fire nation, and deal with his niece and nephew bickering all the time.

so aang comes out of the iceberg. meets katara and sokka. katara convinces him to take her to the north pole because he’s the avatar, he still should probably master all four elements war or not. all of the traveling is the same (except zuko chasing them) until they get to omashu and king bumi is like “what’s up my dude, welcome back. we’re recovering from a war, so you should probably learn politics and how to not offend anyone while you master the elements!!”

(“there was a WAR?!?!!!” -aang, probably)

so now aang does a deep dive into all of the nation’s politics while also training. katara doesn’t really attend his meetings, but sokka’s a total nerd and is sat for every single one. first is waterbending at the north pole. insert canon things but add in a meeting with arnook.

this is where we introduce the REAL enemy, because the enemy can’t be the gaang attempting to learn international law at 12, 14, and 15 years old. during the full moon someone assassinates the moon spirit! (sorry yue, i love you but you still die in this au…)

so after mastering waterbending the gaang heads to the earth kingdom. they meet toph and she joins. they head to ba sing se, which, after trying to talk politics with the king, they realize is still completely unaware of the war. while in the earth kingdom, we get a name for the big bad. the dai li. after realizing that ba sing se is basically a military dictatorship, the gaang escapes and head to the fire nation.

that’s where zuko, azula, and iroh get reintroduced. aang and sokka consistently come back from meetings with the royals complaining about “oh my god, the princess is such a bitch. seriously, how is she allowed to help run this country??”

katara eventually goes with the boys to a meeting to get them to shut up. toph makes fun of her for being a people pleaser, but katara will do literally anything to get her brother and best friend to stop yapping about the same topic at her every. single. day.

azula (disaster lesbian) doesn’t say a single word throughout the entire meeting. sokka and aang walk out feeling like they were in the twilight zone. katara shows up to more and more meetings. why? definitely not cause the princess is sort of kind of somewhat cute intriguing.

insert azula’s gay awakening crisis here. she eventually starts talking at the meetings, but she’s only ever nice to katara lmao. katara does realize that azula’s an actual genius, though. she decides that the two of them could probably like, take over the entirety of ba sing se in a day if they tried hard enough. but of course that is purely hypothetical.

so one day a meeting gets interrupted by a literal dai li assassin trying to kill aang. he barely escapes the resulting fight.

so the dai li send more assassins. and even more assassins. until finally zuko gets fed up and is just like “alright i’m tired of dealing with these guys. can we please go kick their leader’s ass??”

that is how azula and zuko end up joining the gaang. and how azula can eventually lay siege over ba sing se (even if she reluctantly gives it back when katara tells her to).

—

other misc key points:

- azula and katara get together right before they fight with long feng. it happens cause katara notices that azula is nervous (nobody else would be able to tell) and so she’s like “zula. you’ve got this. we’ve got this” and kisses her lmao

- toph and azula are best friends, to katara’s obvious dismay

- the second azula calls zuko “zuzu” in front of sokka he immediately starts rolling on the floor and laughing. katara has to make sure his lungs are okay afterwards

- zuko: “im literally not gay??” sokka: “yeah, and toph can see”

- toph regularly comes back to wherever the gaang is staying with bags of money. she knows how to find every single illegal fighting ring in the world.

- this is a loooooong term plot. since there’s no reason to worry about the comet it can take place over many years. which also means that katara and azula literally pine for each other until they’re like 20 and everyone around them, especially (and surprisingly) aang, is like “oh my god make it stop”

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

DUMBASS DUO SHOWDOWN ROUND 3 BATTLE 2

JOSUKE HIGASHIKATA & OKUYASU NIJIMURA (JOSUYASU) FROM JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE VS SOKKA AND AANG FROM AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

PROPAGANDA

JOSUYASU

JOSUYASU PROPAGANDA

Josuke is fairly decent, but okuyasu, you know how in math, if you multiply a negative number with a positive one it is always negative, that is josuyasu for you. Josuke has 6 braincells and Okuyasu has -6734. Their first meeting was okuyasu trying to kill josuke, then he shows up at his house a few days later and goes "hey lets go to school! btw your mom is hot!" Josuke punches a plate of spaghetti because he thinks the chef is evil, they both fight a middle schooler who stole their cash. Okuyasu got the third most op ability in his part but he is too stupid (and kind) to realize it. Somehow they survive their entire part. They are thus far the second jojo and jobro duo to not lose each other. the second one? THEM IN AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE! (okay but okuyasu is swapped for koichi in that one, but still).

Josuke normally is pretty smart, but somewhat silly, but Okuyasu. Isn’t incredibly bright but he’s the best jojo character idc. Okuyasu brings out josukes stupid and then they are just besties and totally bouncing off each other’s stupid ideas. Idk what Okuyasu does to josukes brain but I’m here for it

I saw the post title and without reading anything else immediately went to submit them, only to go back and read the full post and realize they were included by default. They are THE dumbass duo. Ever. The worst protagonists for a detective story, but they dumbassed around so hard they somehow caught a genius serial killer. No matter who wins, they’ll always be the number 1 dumbasses in my heart.

they are the best of friends, which of course means they met by trying to kill each other.

They’re both so stupid. Like josuke isn’t that stupid on his own but he’s kinda dumb and when you put him with dumbass incarnate okuyasu they multiply each others’ stupidness. Together they are a menace.

JOSUKE AND OKUYASU FOR THE WIN BECAUSE THEY SPEND AN ENTIRE DAY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHETHER OR NOT A RANDOM ITALIAN WAS EVIL BECAUSE HIS PASTA WAS TOO GOOD

Okuyasu and Josuke share a braincell and they lose that braincell at least 5 times a day

The majority of Diamond is Unbreakable is those two getting themselves and their friends into absurd situations. There's no way the sportsboys can compete with discovering aliens are (maybe???) real and immediately trying to use the alien(??) to cheat at dice. Then they burned down someone's house

#josuyasu are DUmbass Incorporated and i love them#its literally canon that okuyasu has one of The Most Powerful Abilities In The Entire JJBA Universe#but is too dumb and good natured to put it to world ending use

this gif

GIF by hellzfire

Aang & Sokka

They are both very intelligent individually, but when put together they lose all of their braincells

they are very intelligent in their own right but loose all their braincells together

independently they are very intelligent and creative. aang is an incredible diplomat and quick on his feet. sokka is a literal inventor and war strategist. leave them alone in a room together and they get so into the bit that they end up giving each other minor head injuries or write a fake letter that they sign with a blind girl's name. they also attempt to sneak a lemur into a royal banquet under aang's hat.

[burst-of-iridescent]

Aang was indeed a bad father. It's way past time we stopped making excuses for him.

An all too common defense for Aang is the fact that he's a monk and is not well-versed in how parenting looks. Yeah! No shit! But do you know who is well-versed? Katara! They talk as if Aang is a single parent like Toph but he is not. Katara's been on Aang's side since the day they met, always stood up for him, always complimented him.

Is this really the thanks she gets? Are they really that disinterested in explaining Katara's side of the story? As if her not getting a statue wasn't insulting enough.

Another major flaw in this defense is that Aang is not just a monk. He's the avatar. This means, part of mastering all elements also means embodying all of the ideologies based on said elements. That includes elements/ideologies completely opposite of his own. His daughter's crack about Aang "cutting and running when things get tough" shows that he's learned absolutely nothing.

We never truly see him master all the elements, he just gets them and, more or less, calls it a day. I'm even beginning to doubt that he's truly mastered his default airbending and he just got his tattoos prematurely because the monks were impressed with his scooter invention.

Zuko got the privilege of understanding the ideologies of other nations, allowing him to grow, and unlearn any toxic masculinity lessons through them, and would blow a gasket if he ever saw a kid get mistreated by a parent in any way. Is it really any wonder why Zuko is the more popular character and the most requested choice for Katara, in comparison to Aang?

using the "but he was a monk!" argument to excuse aang's bad parenting is fucking baffling to me. even leaving aside that aang did have a father figure (or are we collectively ignoring monk gyatso?), i don't think you need to witness fatherhood in action to understand that showing preferential treatment to one of your children is a messed up thing to do. that seems like the kind of thing that should be common sense, especially when you're best friends with the guy who's walking proof of what happens when you play favourites with your kids.

truthfully, i also don't fully agree with katara being able to compensate for aang's supposed lack of knowledge. while i do believe katara was a good mother, and i don't think it was her responsibility to teach her own husband how to be a good parent, i have my doubts about how much, if ever, katara called aang out on his behaviour towards bumi and kya. if their relationship in atla was any indication, i suspect katara very much turned a blind eye (or at most tried to gently suggest that aang pay more attention to bumi and kya) to aang's flaws in this area, as she (unfortunately) does in most others. that's one of the reasons i was never able to get onboard with kat.aang, because katara is the only one of the gaang who is never able to meaningfully challenge aang, even when he desperately needs it. (the only time i recall her trying to push him to do something he doesn't want is in sozin's comet when the fate of the literal world depended upon it. not a good omen, methinks.)

the katara we knew in atla might not have idly sat by while aang favored his airbending child over the others, but the seeds for who she turns out to be in lok are already planted. it's not a stretch to see how katara's blind faith in aang, and her unwillingness to confront his flaws, could have easily led her down the path to the woman who would fail to stop her husband from neglecting two of their children.

it's no surprise that aang in lok is repeating all the same mistakes he did in atla, because his character arc came to a screeching halt at the start of book 3 and was never picked back up again. how are we meant to believe that aang ever became the avatar (yknow, the embodiment of all four nations in one) when he was still, at the very end of the show, prioritizing the values of one nation over the others?

truly the shocker of the century that people might prefer katara to be with a character who had a believable arc with well-written development and a satisfying conclusion, instead of the narrative equivalent of a brick wall.

[eponastory]

I'm gonna hash out some arguments that don't work here.

Make it make sense.

The colonizer/colonized argument was the first thing that was brought up. If that were the case, then why is Aang willing to accept and be friends with Zuko even though Sozin wiped out the Air Nomads? Why is Sokka friends with Zuko when he experienced the loss of his mother just like Katara? Like... come on, people. Make it make sense.

Then we go into the whole attraction argument... because Zutara shippers apparently don't like that Aang is shorter than Katara.

Height has nothing to do with it (hey, I dated a guy who was shorter than me, we were pretty good together). This argument relies on Katara and Zuko being the most attractive characters in the show... nope. That's not why we ship them. It's literally their personality and disposition that we like. That and Zuko let's Katara be Katara. He doesn't see her as someone who is supposed to be forgiving and at peace. That isn't in her nature either and she doesn't have to make that choice if she doesn't want to. Aang wants her to be forgiving, but that is not his choice to make.

Then, there is the whole childhood trauma argument.

Yes, they both have trauma, but guess what, they both overcome that trauma.

I'll start with Zuko, who not only had a narcissistic sociopath for a father, but had to deal with emotional and physical abuse from said parent. Ozai literally told his own son that he was lucky to be born because he was not the prodigy like Azula. Ozai played favorites (which is something we see Aang do with his kids later on), and that damages a child more than anything. In Book 1, Zuko is trying to please his father and be the heir that Ozai wants him to be. He is frustrated and angry because of this. This is something Zuko overcomes later on in Book 3 when he actually confronts Ozai. It's a really good scene where Zuko addresses the abuse from his father. This is where Zuko starts to heal from that trauma. He let's it go and does the right thing, ultimately learning he was trying to fill a mold his father made for him.

On to Katara's trauma... loss. Loss of a parent. Something that she and Zuko share. However, Zuko does get his mother back in his life (along with another little sister, and I love his relationship with Kiyi). Katara does get closure and is able to accept that killing Yon Rha is not going to bring Kya back. However, she doesn't have to forgive him. It's possible that she believes the man is already suffering for his actions. It's not the best way to deal with it, but for her it is. Katara is very maternal, which is a great aspect of her character. The reason she is like this is because she lost her mother. Her innocence was ripped from her the day Kya died. Her childhood was cut short.

Does this make trauma a facet to a toxic relationship? No. It doesn't. Because they both dealt with their trauma the way they needed to before they could truly become friends. Katara also helped Zuko come to terms with his trauma as well.

So, would Zutara actually work?

Yeah, it would because they have mutual respect for each other. Once they get past the past, they really don't have a problem with communication, boundaries, or expect to hold up an image of each other. Those are the foundation of a good relationship. It's all there. Even if it's 'just friends'.

Kataang, on the other hand... oh boy.

[deadghosy]

🌊⛰️🔥🌪️

MODERN! READER WITH GAANG

𖤓PROMPT: you fell inside your comfort show.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩it was during book 2, you were happy to see toph show her father that she can take care of herself. You had wished to see it in person. And booom! You were suddenly in the show where you can see Aang get busted free from the metal cage.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩after the whole fight scene, toph noticed you and pointed you out. You knew there was no chance in running, so you outed yourself out. By calmly saying you are from another world. As much as you sounded crazy, they laughed while Toph knew you weren’t lying by your heart rate. You showed them your phone and that’s when the main Trio stops laughing and got curious

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩Sokka most definitely will ask if the ladies back in your time era are attractive, you said yes and this boy was asking to see what they look like on your phone 😭

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩and that’s how you got into the gaang. You were the therapist of the group, always listening to their troubles and helping them with all the knowledge you knew about their characters.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩katara always likes to rant about her day to you, and you don’t mind which makes her feels comfortable around her. Book 1 katara was very open on making friends. Book 2, I’ll say the same. If you had meet book 3 katara, YOU BETTER HAD PRAY FOR MERCY LMAO.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩aang likes to play with you with his airbending, and you enjoy the hell out of it. Literally you would smile with the brightest smile, and Aang smiles with you along. Just two sunshines having fun.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩toph likes how you taught her swear words. You and toph curse like sailors😈 lmao. Aang accidentally got influenced and that make katara step in and shut shit down 😭😭.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩you love appa and momo! These furry cuties love you too as appa always licks your face when you show up. Momo sometimes leaps on your shoulders, maybe even trying to share a fruit with you.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩Aang steals your big shirts, and you would try to match with him which makes him even like you more as a friend. You turn into his best friend right there and now.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩with you being a non-bender..protectiveness is to the roof! Literally even if you can fight. There’s still bending that can take you down without a single thought. The people who at your body guards are Aang, toph, Katara, and Zuko. The four powerful benders. But the ones who stick the most are Zuko and toph. Toph because she likes how fierce your personality is. Zuko, Zuko is just himself. Plus he needs more friends.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩Zuko awkwardly ask you a lot of questions from your generation. Like a lot to the point you grabbed his lips shut. That’s when Zuko knew, you weren’t playing games.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩headcannon on zuko and you just being awkward teens not knowing how to start the conversation so all he starts off is, “so, is war a thing in your world?” The way you gave him a wild side glance.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩I can see you making the gaang learn slangs LMAO. You made katara understand the wordings of “What you being messy for?” And she started to use on toph and Sokka 😭😭 you’d probably give Aang a short ass but wholesome slang.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩if you had curly hair, and not some katara curly hair iykwim. I mean like 4c ass hair that I possibly have 😭. I can see katara just amazed and ask in g to comb it which you quickly say no to. Toph, just stands there but probably does touch it when bored. People who ask to touch it is suki, Zuko, and Aang. Those three are people who I can see ask before doing it. Sokka will ask, but will touch it as it ask after 🧍🏾

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩big headcannon Sokka training you on sword fighting, but then Zuko comes in because Sokka is apparently “showing” you the wrong way lol.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩suki most definitely would love to teach you her ways of fighting. Plus chi blocking. Once you mastered it, she would take it up a notch and have you spar with her. In honor of her teaching, you agree. You had the upper hand until she practically cheated by distracting you. Making you lose your focus, she nailed you down. But in all warfare, it was full of laughter and friendship.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩imainge you showing them that “car” comercial..(of course toph can’t see it lmao) 😭 ZUKO PROBABLY BURNT YOUR PHONE 😨 ALL BECAUSE HE GOT SCARED

[gaybananabread]

Could I get ler!Toph and lee!Aang from ATLA with Day 17?

TickleTober Day 17 - Raspberries

~It’s been a hot sec since I’ve written anything ATLA-related! Toph and Aang are the best duo over and you cannot prove me wrong (if you can, shhhhh). Thank you for the request, and I hope you Enjoy!~

Lee: Aang

Ler: Toph

Summary: While the group is on a calm streak, Aang is stuck with a killer lee-mood. Toph catches on after some fumbling by Aang and, with some persuasion, makes sure he gets the tickles he deserves.

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

The Gaang were having a lucky streak as of late; there had been no attacks, no close-calls during supply runs, and fresh water at every one of their campsites. They were allowed to relax amongst themselves, each enjoying the rare leisure.

Well, they were all trying to, with varying levels of success. Zuko rarely ever relaxed, Katara was almost always on edge, and Aang…

Well, he had his own problems.

On the second day of their streak, he woke up with a rather inconvenient feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t painful or sickening, but it definitely made things difficult. Especially when it didn’t go away, even after three days of trying to ignore it.

A bubbly, fuzzy feeling hummed in his chest, making him giddy and a tad jumpy. The stubborn blush on his cheeks refused to leave, no matter how much water he drank or air he’d bent to fan himself. The mood itself was nothing dangerous; it was how it affected him around others.

Aang could not handle anyone’s wiggling fingers. And, just his luck, Toph was insistent on practicing her more refined bending techniques.

The girl flexed each of her fingers deliberately, causing jagged and thin spikes of rock to jut up from the ground. It really was impressive to earthbend at such a fine scale, though he was more focused on the movement of her hands.

Why did the technique have to look so much like tickling? It was truly unfair; the butterflies in his stomach spread all the way up to his throat, turning his ears and cheeks pink. He didn’t even notice he was staring until she called him out.

“Hey, twinkle-toes! You need something, or are my hands just that pretty to ya?” A pebble hit the side of Aang’s head, startling him out of his daze. If he thought he was blushing before, it was a thousand times worse now.

“S-sorry, Toph!” Averting his gaze, Aang quickly found an interesting rock to stare at. He forgot she could sense his heartbeat; she knew something was off within a second.

“What’sa matter with you? You’re all…jumpy.” It wasn’t the right word, but it was the only one she could think of at the moment. While she couldn’t literally see him, her gaze was still intimidating; Toph was demanding a true answer.

“Uh…nothing?” Wow, his voice was so squeaky. That wasn’t even close to believable, was it?

“Seriously, Aang? Try again.”

Nope, not at all.

“...you’re gonna make fun of me.” Aang pouted, sighing as he tried to keep his voice level. He knew Toph wouldn’t be cruel, but it was still embarrassing.

“Woah, hold it. If you’ve got a problem, I promise I’ll listen. I care about you, dummy.” Toph punched his shoulder just gently enough to let him know she was there for him. Wow. He felt ridiculous and supported; it was an interesting combination.

“I…okay.” With a resigned huff, he told the truth. Well, vaguely, but still. “It’s the thing, you know?” He wiggled his fingers in emphasis, hoping she could see it with her bending.

Toph obviously could – the wording alone gave him away – but she wanted to push just a bit. “What thing?” She wasn’t being mean, as she promised – just antagonistic. “Are you doing something with your hands again? You do know I’m blind, right?”

The Avatar groaned, knowing he was gonna have to out-right say it. Jeez, why was he always the one being forced to ask?

“The…tickling thing. Mood. Thing.” He sounded very embarrassed to admit it, which made Toph’s grin soften. She knew his mood had to be pretty strong for him to act that shy.

“Alright, alright. C’mere, twinkle-toes.” The earthbender plopped down in the grass, crossed her legs, and patted her lap expectantly. No judgment, no weird questions, nothing. Man, she was a good friend…

Aang tried to suppress the already-building giggles as he laid down, a nervous grin tugging at his lips. Anticipation always got to him, especially when it came to Toph’s “assistance.”

“Okay, smiles. Try not to hit me in the face.” Pushing Aang’s arms above his head, she got to work. Slow, teasing fingers walked down his arms, going from his wrists to his armpits. Barely two seconds in, and he was already struggling to keep them up.

“T-Tohoph, thihis is- EEK! COHOHOME OHOHON!”

Toph had gone from slow teases to drilling into his pits in mere seconds, quickly driving him up the wall. Sure, he was loving it, but that drastic change had sent a tickly jolt through his whole upper body.

“I’m barely getting started, twinkle-toes. Better buckle up!” She gave him the playful warning before targeting his stomach, causing his arms to come crashing down in an instant. It was his worst spot, and she knew it.

“NAHAHAHAHA! TOHOHOPH! IHIT- IT TIHIHICKLES!” Aang started rolling around in her lap, and she let him, loving the mental sight of her wiggle-worm-ing friend. It sounded and felt so cute; she could hear his heartbeat, helping her guess what level of blush he was currently at. It was almost supernova already.

Man, he really was in a mood, wasn’t he?

“Do you want some fruit, Aang?” They both knew what she was really asking, his spike in heart rate tattling on him. His tells really were too easy to point out.

Toph let out a small hum of approval when he nodded, shoving aside his robes for the day. He was left in his shorts, the flowy fabric of his top bunched up at his shoulders.

Aang was already wiggling, fake-shoving at her head whenever she teasingly got closer. Toph’s goal wasn’t to fluster or tease him, though; her mission was to wreck the living daylights out of him. So, that’s what she did.

The second her lips buzzed against his skin, he knew he was done for. The boy shrieked, thrashing and kicking and bucking beneath her tickly torment. Not once, she noted, did he put even a fraction of real effort into pushing her head away. He really was enjoying it…

“Aww, you’re being so loud! You’re lucky nobody’s dumb enough to attack us right now; I might not even hear them coming.” Okay, now she was teasing. It was still light-hearted, but more geared towards flustering rather than amusing.

“SHUHUHU- *hic* OHOHO NOHOHO!” Aang couldn’t help but whine as he felt the hiccups begin. If he was really getting it, like he was then, little hiccups wormed their way into his diaphragm and made breathing that much harder. They also sounded completely childish, embarrassing him as the cherry on top.

“Oho yeah! Squeaky’s back!” Toph had named his hiccups “Squeaky” after the sharp, shrill noise they always produced. It was so dumb, but they both loved it.

Toph continued to blow raspberry after raspberry, making his poor stomach turn red from all the contact. The noises were utterly ridiculous, only making Aang laugh and hiccup harder.

The silly form of tickling had always been one of Aang’s weaknesses. Besides his general affinity for them, the intense sensations never failed to render him a laughing, squealing mess. Raspberries were any ler’s “Get Out of Jail Free” card for wrecking him.

His mood was definitely subsiding. He felt the constant buzzing and fuzz die down, replaced with the jolting electricity of the tickles running through his nervous system. It always amused him how he pretty much traded one embarrassing sensation for the other, but he didn’t say anything. Not that he even could, what with all that laughing.

When his hiccups became more violent and his laugh wheezy, Toph stopped her tickling in favor of patting and running a hand along his upper back. She could feel his shoulders shaking as he recovered, giggling off after effects and general giddiness.

“O-oho my…wow. Thank you, Toph.” Aang grinned sheepishly, obviously feeling a lot better after that pesky lee mood was dealt with. It had been both fun and relieving: a perfect combo.

Toph waved a hand, feigning indifference that Aang could tell was faker than Sokka’s fire nation beard. “Don’t worry about it, man. I’m always here if you need your butt handed to you again.”

That statement, no matter how juvenile, warmed his heart. Toph really was an amazing friend to him and the others. He didn’t know what he’d do without her. Knowing her, that declaration would probably get him lovingly socked one for being mushy, so he said the next best thing.

“Hey…can you show me that needle-rock thing? It looked really cool, and it’d probably be useful in fights.”

“I guess I can try. Just keep up, twinkle-toes!”

[simplyfandomish]

Imagine you’re an Earthbender

Simplyfandomish Masterlist

word count: 779 warnings: None! Named Reader?? But it’s for plot purposes🤐🤐

note: this will possibly become a very short series because I love ATLA but don’t got the time nor enters to make a full story😅 so definitely expect more parts to come!!👀👀

Aang was ecstatic to be reunited with his old childhood best friend. Of course, he was! Bumi was quite literally one of the four things that connected Aang to his previous life before being consumed by an iceberg 112 years ago; Next to Appa, Momo, and his airbending of course. 

Tears collected in both of their eyes as Aang and Bumi wrapped their arms tight around one another - Finally reunited after a century. Bumi knew all those years of chugging down onion-banana juice every morning was a genius idea! 

However, the happy moment was interrupted when an Omashu guard rushed into the throne room. “Your Highness!” 

Bumi and Aang parted from their embrace. “Yes, yes, what is it?” Bumi asked. 

The guard seemed hesitant, “We finally received news on the whereabouts of Princess Serenity.”

“ ‘Princess’?? You had kids??” Aang was both surprised and stunned. Bumim never really seemed like the family man type. Sokka and Katara were surprised that such a crazy man was even able to reproduce! They wondered if his lineage was just as kooky as he was. 

“I did, but Serenity is not my granddaughter by blood. We kind of… adopted each other a while back.” Bumi’s voice grew soft as he spoke of Serenity. His eyes hardened slightly, “Where is she?”

“She’s been captured by a Fire Nation fleet near a mining village by the Mo Ce Sea shoreline.” 

Aang and Katara gasped; Sokka gritted his teeth. 

“How long ago?”

“Just this morning. An Earth Kingdom scout heard some Fire Nation soldiers boasting about ‘hunting the last Lion Turtle’. We believe she’s been transported to the Mo Ce Sea prison rig under the control of Warden Takei.”

Bumi stroked his long white beard in thought. “Hmm. I’ve heard Warden Takei is one of the more ruthless wardens of the lot.”

“What should we do, Your Highness?” The guard asked again.

“We can go and rescue her!” Aang proclaimed. 

Bumi smiled and rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I appreciate your efforts, Aang, but I have faith in my granddaughter.” He began to erupt into laughter, “Besides I feel bad for those Fire Nation weasels! They have to deal with her!” He snorted so hard his nose hurt. 

Aang, Sokka, Katara, and even the guard shared concerned and confused looks. 

“But Your Highness, this is Omahu’s Regent we’re talking about.” The guard tried to explain. Bui cut him off, “And I taught her everything she knows. Of course, I’m worried for her, but she’s a smart girl. She’ll escape from underneath their noses as she did the other seven times.” He shrugged, beaming at Serenity’s impressive track record. 

“ ‘Seven times’?!” The Gaang gasped. 

“Yes, yes, she’s trying to break an old friend’s record of escaping thirteen times! Ambitious my granddaughter is!” Bumi chuckled and snorted again. 

The Gaang and the guard didn’t seem too convinced…

“I can not wait to send the news to Fire Lord Ozai that I have captured the Last Mighty Lion Turtle!” Warden Takei’s grin fell into a snarl, “What a stupid name that is! And to think she’s just a young girl!” The warden cackled, his laughter echoing throughout the prison rig’s metal structure.

Serenity smirked as she stared up at the air duct above her. 

As soon as she was escorted onto the prison rig in the middle of the Mo Ce Sea, she was thrown into solitary confinement deep in the belly of the large metal monstrosity. She was dressed in bland red prison garb instead of her usual bright green and gold wide-sleeved blouses and loose pants and her hair was down, flat, boring without its loops and hair accessories. 

Taunted by the warden and the guards that she had no way to escape, that her days of resisting Fire Nation rule were finished, and that she was to be shipped off to the Fire Lord’s Palace within two days time when the next shipment of supplies came in.  

Serenity stayed quiet through the tauntings. She was used to it and even grew annoyed; She had heard the same spiel from several other wardens, the same taunts and jeers from other guards, and had been promised seven times that she would be meeting Fire Lord Ozai. 

Serenity snickered as she plopped down on the cold prison floor and stretched her legs. “After seven times, you think they’d learn that they can’t contain me~” She chuckled, and a small snort came from her crinkled nose. “And eight is my lucky number!”

At least the Fire Nation was kind enough to leave her necklace and bracelets alone...