#the only exception is that sokka & zuko do make each other better unfortunately | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

august-anon · 3 years

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Complete Masterpost (as of 7/30/2021)

Here is a complete rebloggable masterpost of all my works sorted by fandom. Beneath the fandoms, they are sorted in order of when I posted them (except for series, which are sorted together). You can also find these on ao3 under august_anon, or on the Masterpost Page on my blog (which is sorted better tbh). Thanks for reading my works!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

(’20) Tickletober Day 3 - Stocks - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Aang, Ler!Sokka, Katara, Toph, Zuko - What else is Aang supposed to do when he finds a set of stocks in an abandoned town? NOT see if he could fit in them? 1151 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 9 - Ganged Up On - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Zuko, Ler!Aang, Toph, Katara, Sokka - They’d been plotting all week, and it was driving Zuko insane. The actual reason turned out a lot more innocent than Zuko was worried about. 713 words

You’re Dead - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Zuko, Ler!Aang - Aang has a little fun at Zuko's expense. 131 words

Lullaby of Laughter - [ao3] - Suzukka - Lee!Sokka/Ler!Zuko/Suki - Sokka's a bit too restless to fall asleep, and unfortunately all his fidgeting is keeping Suki and Zuko awake. Suki decides to show Zuko just how she tires Sokka out enough to sleep. 2038 words

Boku No Hero Acadamia (My Hero Acadamia)

(’20) Tickletober Day 18 - Holding It In - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Aizawa/Ler!Yamada - Hizashi demands Husband Cuddles on their day off, but Shouta is being difficult. Luckily, Hizashi knows how to get his way. 799 words

Unrestrained Revenge - [ao3] - EraserMic - Switch!Aizawa/Switch!Yamada - Hizashi decides to take advantage of Shouta getting a little tangled up in his capture weapon. Shouta, of course, can't let that go without revenge. 1872 words

Lounge Day - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Aizawa/Ler!Yamada - Shouta had made it rather clear how he wanted the day to go, but what fun was that without a chase? 934 words

We Can Try - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Yamada/Ler!Aizawa - Hizashi comes clean about something he's been craving for a long time, and Shouta is more than happy to assist. There's only one problem... Hizashi's convinced it won't work. 4347 words

Carry On/Simon Snow Series

On Love’s Light Wings - [ao3] - SnowBaz - Lee!Simon/Ler!Baz - Simon and Baz are having a quiet moment together under the stars, and Baz discovers something interesting about Simon's wings. 2888 words

Detroit: Become Human

(’20) Tickletober Day 16 - Massage - [ao3] - RK1000 - Lee!Connor/Ler!Markus - The new software patch has come through, and androids can now feel sensations a lot more similarly to humans. Markus plans to use this to treat his overworked boyfriend to a massage, but things don’t quite go as planned. 1770 words

Gravity Falls

(’20) Tickletober Day 1 - Unusual Spot - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Dipper, Ler!Mabel - Mabel not-so-accidentally reveals one of Dipper’s tickle spots. 610 words

Good Morning series

(’20) Tickletober Day 13 - Wake Up! - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Dipper, Mable, Ler!Stan - Stan may have difficulty recalling anything now, but at least he knows the kids will be a constant. 1691 words

Tickle Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Ford, Stan, Dipper, Mabel - Dipper and Mabel complete their mission, distracting Great Uncle Ford, with flying colors. Unfortunately for them (and for Stan), Ford knows how to fight back. 1720 words

Miraculous Ladybug

(’20) Tickletober Day 15 - Stuck - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Adrien, Ler!Marinette - Thanks to a little yo-yo malfunction, Ladybug finds out something very interesting about her partner. 989 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 17 - Revenge - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Marinette, Switch!Adrien - In Marinette’s humble opinion, this was one of the most ridiculous scenarios she could imagine them finding out each other’s identities. 799 words

Sanders Sides(/Cartoon Therapy)

High School AU

Still Got It - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Virgil/Ler!Roman - Roman is frustrated that he’s never heard Virgil laugh. Logan presents a solution. Turns out, after all these years, Virgil is still ticklish. 2350 words

You Brought The Laughter Back - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Virgil may not have the experience Roman has, but his fingers definitely work magic, if Roman’s reactions are anything to go by. 2170 words

I’m Not Ticklish - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Logan has had a thing for tickling as long as he could remember, and he’s rather good at hiding it. It only takes one slip-up for Roman to find out and make his fantasies come true. 5588 words

Calorie Counting - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman is struggling with his new system of trying to lose weight. Luckily, Patton is always there for him. 1496 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 1 - Feather - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton, Roman, Virgil - Someone’s been sneak-tickling Logan, and he’s determined to find out who. 727 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 2 - Fingers - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton - Logan is ever so rudely awoken from his nap. 278 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 3 - Unusual Spots - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman finds a rather unusual method of warming his hands, leading to the discovery of a rather unusual spot for Patton to be ticklish. 278 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 4 - Stocks - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Roman agreed to help Logan with some of his “experiments.” He would never admit how much he loved it. 864 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 5 - Tools - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - It’s Virgil’s turn to help with an experiment, and he’s getting a little impatient waiting for what he truly wants. 684 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 6 - Gang Tickling - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan, Roman, Patton - Virgil’s been in a certain kind of mood for a number of days, now. It’s a shame no one’s noticed enough to take advantage of it. 674 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 7 - Light Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil -Logan isn’t sleeping. Again. Luckily, Virgil has a remedy. 461 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 8 - Hard Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton really wants to be wrecked. Logan is happy to oblige. 455 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 9 - “I’m not ticklish” - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Roman insists he’s not ticklish. Virgil insists that’s impossible. What else is there to do except test it out? 446 word

(’19) Tickletober Day 10 - Arms Up - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil did ask for this, after all. Now all he needed to do was actually hold out. 218 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 11 - Sneak Attack - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton is really much more sneaky than anyone gives him credit for. They really should start expecting it by this point. 233 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 12 - Unusual Tool - [ao3] - Royality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Roman - A not-so-peaceful moment together of doing chores leads to the discovery of a new possible tool of torment for Roman and Patton. 269 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 13 - Feet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Virgil can finally get his revenge on Patton for all the tickling, with the help of a few little piggies. 289 words

(’19) Tickletober 14 - Favorite Spot - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman, Patton, Logan - It was no secret that everyone in the mindpalace had their favorite spots, whether to tickle or be tickled. The rare thing was that, for one specific side, the favorite for everyone was unanimous. 194 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 15 - Cuddles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil, Patton, Roman - Logan’s been overworking himself and refuses to relax, even when everyone forces him to take a break. Luckily, his fellow sides know just what to do. 661 words

Work of Art - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Roman just really wants to paint on his super attractive boyfriend. Logan, surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), is very willing. 1357 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 16 - Tickly Kiss - [ao3] - Moxiety - Lee!Patton/Ler!Virgil - Patton’s having one of his “bad for no reason” days. Luckily, Virgil always seems to know what to do. 578 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 17 - Tickle Fight - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Patton - Virgil wasn’t sure how it started, but he was going to try his hardest not to lose. 211 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 18 - Chase - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton, Virgil, Logan - Roman may have wanted it, but he certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for them. 194 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 19 - Stuck - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman probably should’ve thought this through before he did it… 242 words

Hysterical series

(’19) Tickletober Day 20 - Hysterical - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - It’s Virgil’s turn to experiment. He wants to know what it takes to make Logan hysterical. 343 words

Broken Logic - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Logan had done enough ticklish “experiments” on the others to know that they would be ruthless in their revenge, but truly? He wasn’t complaining. And he certainly wasn’t complaining when he heard Virgil’s threat to absolutely break him. 2689 words

The Attack of the Garra Rufa - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman recently acquired a new spellbook and he is very excited to test out the new spells inside. 712 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 21 - Accidental - [ao3] - Logicality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Logan - Logan didn’t mean to brush against Patton’s side, but he definitely didn’t expect the reaction it produced. What did Patton expect him to do when he realized the mind palace’s tickle monster was ticklish? NOT tickle him? 642 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 22 - Tickly Massage - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Logan’s been overworking again, which was causing his back pain to flare up again. Roman comes by to make sure he has a break. 994 words

We’ll Be Here, Always - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan, Virgil, Roman - Patton can’t always be happy, as much as he loathed to admit it. Sometimes he had bad days. Sometimes, those bad days had no rhyme or reason or cause. Luckily, his family’s always there to support him. 5039 words

Could Use a Laugh - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton’s got his hands on Roman’s new spell book. He can’t wait to put it to use! His first target? A grumpy little side who could use a little more laughter in his life. 1063 words

The Prettiest Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - All Roman wanted was to teach Patton makeup. He didn’t expect to be playfully attacked in response. 1054 words

Feathery Feet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman has decided it’s his turn to play with his new tickle spells on the mind palace’s favorite emo. 664 words

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Bright - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Logan knows that Patton is plotting on coming for him next with those silly new spells. He figures the best way to counter that is by getting him first. 892 words

It’s Christmas, Wake Up! - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Roman, Logan, Ler!Patton - Patton thinks his fellow sides are taking a little too long to wake up, and he’s ready to start the day’s festivities. Luckily, he has the perfect idea for getting them out of bed. 1224 words

Even Santa’s Elves Need Naps - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Patton’s been attempting to take on the monumental task of planning and setting up Christmas all on his own. Roman has decided he needs a break, and maybe a good laugh. 751 words

Dancing Around the Issue - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - They were supposed to be rehearsing. It wasn’t Roman’s fault he was so ticklish. 1665 words

The Featherswords series

Prince Feathersword - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan, Patton, Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman’s been on a bit of a nostalgia binge, recently, and couldn’t help but remember a special sword a certain tickly pirate had… 3878 words

Professor Feathersword - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Roman/Ler!Logan - Roman didn’t expect revenge, but he wasn’t necessarily complaining. 2107 words

The Tickle Monster Always Wins - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman really shouldn’t have doubted Patton’s skills as a ruthless tickle monster. He was really in for it, now. 3220 words

Content (Valentickle) - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Switch!Virgil/Switch!Roman - It was meant to be some cuddling after a Valentines Day well-spent. Not that either of them were complaining with the playful turn things had taken. 1605 words

Kitten’s Got Claws - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Virgil’s suspicious of Logan’s motives now that he’s started using Roman’s tickle spellbook as well. He figures he might as well be proactive and get the nerd, first. 895 words

Giddy Kisses - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Roman has a quite the sweet gift for Logan. It’s not his fault his boyfriend is so ticklish. 599 words

Scooch - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - The couch may be a comfortable place for a nap, but Virgil is sorely mistaken if he thinks he’ll be able to commandeer it for long. 401 words

Joyful Noise - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan, Roman, Patton - Virgil tiredly lets something slip on his Christmas list, but it doesn’t turn out as bad as he fears. 1222 words

Cold Fingers, Warm Laughter - [ao3] - LAMP - Switch!Virgil, Logan, Roman, Patton - Maybe Patton was right and Roman should’ve worn gloves during their snowball fight, but was that going to stop him from starting something? Absolutely not. 1109 words

Color By Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Ler!Virgil, Lee!Roman - Virgil was feeling more confident with these spells, now. Meaning it was the perfect time for revenge on a certain Prince they all knew. 961 words

Connected - [ao3] - Gen - Ler!Logan, Lee!Virgil - What, did Virgil think that Logan wouldn’t get revenge? 596 words

Fluttery Feelings series

Fluttery Feelings - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Magic(?) - Roman had planned the perfect prank for movie night. He just really hadn’t anticipated it backfiring on him. 2229 words

Fluttery Feelings 2: Helpless Revenge - [ao3] - Gen, Lee!Virgil, Patton, Logan, Ler!Roman - Roman had the perfect prank planned for movie night. This time, he would make sure it didn't backfire. 419 words

Provoked - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton should have known to provoke Logan so far, but really, maybe that was exactly what he’d wanted all along. 967 words

TacTickle Advantage - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil should know better than to accept a challenge from Patton when he has that devious grin on his face. 716 words

Distraction - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Emile, Ler!Remy - Emile slips up and gets a bruise. Remy has just the thing to distract him from the pain. 512 words

So Close - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Patton - Logan was so close to winning the bet, all he had to do was not laugh for another five minutes and he would be in the clear. Of course, it was at that moment Patton had to drop the secret to one of his biggest weaknesses. 945 words

Asking for Attention - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Roman’s been pulling pranks all day. Virgil knows what he’s really after. 509 words

Patty-Lee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Logan - Patton’s in a dangerous ler mood, but the others decide it’s high time he got a taste of his own medicine. 1137 words

Learn Your Lesson - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Patton should’ve known better than to go after Virgil alone. Now he was really in for it. 1181 words

“Feared” Ler - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Patton, Logan, Ler!Virgil - When Virgil gave you that grin, you knew to submit yourself to your fate. 1660 words

Get Up - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Patton just wants to get up and have breakfast! Roman, unfortunately, is being a little stubborn. 1076 words

Changing Channels - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Logan, Switch!Virgil - Virgil’s sick of Logan’s documentary, but he’s not exactly keen on changing the channel. Needless to say, a playful little fight breaks out. 846 words

Dance if You Can - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman held the unofficial title of “Best Dancer” whenever their friend group played Just Dance. Virgil, the new addition, was about to show him how it’s done, but Roman was nothing if not competitive. 2975 words

Broken Rules - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil knew the consequences if he broke the rules of the challenge, he really did. And yet, here Patton was, needing to give him his “punishment.” Maybe it wasn’t a punishment at all, based off Virgil’s reactions. 702 words

Helpful - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Logan’s neck has been hurting him. Virgil’s only trying to help. 551 words

Prince Gigglee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil, Patton, Logan - Roman’s in a very giggly mood. Logan finally figures out why. 1021 words

Not So Fast - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - Virgil isn’t quite as sneaky as he thinks he is, asking for something indirectly. 634 words

Let’s Hang Out - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - If Roman was going to (albeit accidentally) ignore him, then Virgil was going to ignore Roman right back. He just didn’t expect the consequences that followed. 2085 words

Shark Attack - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Virgil, Switch!Logan - Logan and Virgil are together again for summer break, and Virgil decides he’d like to play one of their childhood games to reminisce. 1210 words

Countdown - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Logan, Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman has a favorite game he likes to play with the other Sides. While most of them would never admit it, they like playing it with him, too. 1085 words

Bedtime - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, LerLogan - Patton is refusing to go to bed, but Logan has a few tricks up his sleeves. 685 words

If You Do… - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Roman had asked Virgil to do his makeup, but he hadn’t anticipated how much the makeup brushes would tickle. 536 words

Bonding Exercises - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Emile - Emile thinks that he and Virgil need to bond, and he has the perfect idea as to how. 699 words

Better Than Coffee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - All Virgil had really been after was a hug. It wasn’t his fault Logan was so sensitive. 280 words

Losses and Laughter - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Really, Logan should’ve known better than to make that bet. But was it really the worst way to lose? 332 words

Tricks and Teases - [ao3] - Analogical - Switch!Virgil/Switch!Logan - Logan had been planning to tickle his boyfriend silly. Not have it go the other way around. 548 words

Instincts - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - It wasn’t Patton’s fault he squirmed so much at even the threat of being tickled! 316 words

Delicious Laughter - [ao3] - Logicality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Logan - Patton had the perfect plan set out to get Logan to tickle him. Logan just happened to go a little off script. 425 words

Fall of the Fortress - [ao3] - Logicality - Switch!Patton/Switch!Logan - Really, all Patton had wanted to do was cuddle. But when a tickle war was started? He was not going to go down without a fight. 733 words

Bully - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Logan’s been teasing Roman all day, and he really hopes there’s a laughter-filled payout after all this. 400 words

Begging For Lies - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Virgil should’ve known better than to provoke Roman, seeing how ruthless he could be. But maybe that was exactly what Virgil was counting on. 469 words

Cookie Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Virgil helps Patton pass the time until his cookies are done. 560 words

Dr. Monster, M.D. - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman - Well, if Logan thought his ideas were too fantastical and unrealistic, Roman would just have to use that against him, wouldn’t he? 458 words

Please? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Virgil isn’t normally so bold, but with Roman looking at him like that, how could he resist? 390 words

Noisy Giggles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Patton had no idea that vocal cords could tickle someone so well. 503 words

Learn to Lie - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Virgil just wants his makeup back. If only Roman would own up to his thievery. 425 words

It’s Okay to Laugh - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - During some late-night bonding, Virgil decides to help Logan loosen up a bit. 586 words

Cuddle Time - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton’s in the mood to cuddle. 202 words

Strange Spot - [ao3] - Remile - Lee!Remy/Ler!Emile - Emile makes a fun discovery about Remy. 265 words

Glittery Giggles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Logan thinks he deserves some payback after Roman’s latest prank. 522 words

Lazy Day by Law - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman’s made it his job to make sure Patton obey’s the laws of “Lazy Day.“ 425 words

Problem Solving - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - After a long day of Roman being purposefully irritable, Logan finally finds out the reason. What kind of friend would he be if he didn’t help Roman out? 537 words

The Labyrinth - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - When Roman finds himself in a certain kind of mood, he knows who to ask. 677 words

Bready or Not - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman - Logan should’ve known that Roman noticed his moods. At least he was willing to help out. 795 words

Anywhere? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton - Logan’s managed to avoid Patton’s tickle-monster rampage for this long. Will he be able to hold out? 182 words

Cuteness Quota - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton never missed an opportunity to make Virgil smile.133 words

As Long As We Need - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton really didn’t know what he was getting into when he agreed to help with one of Logan’s experiments. He found that he really didn’t mind. 247 words

Sugar Sweet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Patton’s run out of ingredients for his cookies. Luckily, Roman has something even sweeter in mind. 206 words

Shadowhunters (TV)

Your Lips Create a Symphony - [ao3] - Malec - Lee!Alec/Ler!Magnus - Early on in their relationship, Magnus makes a little discovery while he and Alec are making out. He exploits this weakness to the fullest. 2236 words

Late Night Discoveries - [ao3] - Malec - Lee!Magnus/Ler!Alec - Alec makes a little discovery in his efforts to get Magnus to sleep. He takes full advantage of it in the morning. 1320 words

Star Trek: The Next Generation

(’20) Tickletober Day 5 - Drawn On - [ao3] - DaForge - Lee!Geordi/Ler!Data - Data had only wanted to experiment with a new form of art, Geordi couldn’t fault Data for his own sensitivity interrupting them. 674 words

Star Trek: The Original Series

(’20) Tickletober Day 14 - Light Tickles - [ao3] - Spirk - Lee!Spock/Ler!Jim - In a quiet moment, Jim discovers something new about Spock. 961 words

Energy Well-Spent - [ao3] - Spirk - Lee!Spock/Ler!Jim - Jim is determined to show Spock the perks of doing things the human way. 694 words

Liar, Liar - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Bones, Scotty - The tranquilizer's got Scotty and Bones feeling a bit silly. 602 words

Demonstration - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Uhura, Ler!Spock - Perhaps Uhura should know better than to tease Spock, but it's just too much fun. 685 words

Supernatural

(’20) Tickletober Day 12 - Hard Tickles - [ao3] - Destiel - Switch!Dean/Switch!Castiel - Dean should know better than to start a tickle fight with an angel. 349 words

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

How to Ask - [ao3] - Danbrey - Lee!Aubrey/Ler!Dani - Aubrey's been craving some playful affection lately, but there's no way she can just ASK for it. No, this requires a plan. 1135 words

I’m Not Scared - [ao3] - Danbrey - Lee!Aubrey/Ler!Dani - Aubrey and Dani want to try something new, despite their nerves. Dani happens to make a new discovery in the process. 1305 words

The Adventure Zone: Balance

Touch - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Taako/Ler!Kravitz - Touch and Taako have always had an interesting relationship, but it was time he started figuring it out with this new world, since they seemed to be sticking around. 2349 words

Not-So-Silent Treatment - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - When Taako decides to give Magnus the silent treatment, he decides that that just won’t do. 324 words

Taaco Fight - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Lup, Switch!Taako - Tickle fights aren’t exactly an uncommon occurrence between the twins. 346 words

Need Something? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Lucretia - Taako is the type to annoy people until he gets what he wants. Lucretia isn’t the type to take that sort of behavior. 484 words

Attention and Affection - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - Magnus knows exactly how to deal with Taako when he’s looking for attention. 418 words

Don’t Stop - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - It wasn’t the response Magnus was expecting from Taako, but who was he to deny such a request? 301 words

Sore Loser - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Lup - Taako lost the bet, and now he had to deal with the consequences. 460 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 8 - Interrogation - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Magnus, Ler!Taako - Taako’s hat is missing and he’s going to find the culprit, no matter what it takes. 707 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 11 - Death Spot - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Kravitz/Ler!Taako - Kravitz had long know Taako’s death spot, having found it far too easily. Taako has to work a bit harder to find Kravitz’s. 1096 words

His Impatient Song - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Kravitz/Ler!Taako - Taako thought this was meant to be a romantic night, and so far Kravitz had done everything right. So why was he now fiddling with something in the corner, ignoring Taako entirely? 403 words

Dr. Magnus Will See You Now - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - Taako's been hiding an injury, but Magnus is determined to convince Taako to get it healed. 683 words

Cold Hands, Warm Hearts - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Taako/Ler!Kravitz - Taako would love nothing more than to cuddle close with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, the heat of the kitchen and the chill of Kravitz’s hands don’t quite mix. Kravitz doesn’t intend to give up so easily. 1736 words

Witcher

Like It series

You Like It - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - For a man who claims to know what tickling is “in theory,” Geralt certainly has a lot of questions. He might even require a demonstration. 2018 words

Maybe I Like It, Too - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier knew that everyone had to be at least a little ticklish somewhere, and he wasn’t going to give up until he had Geralt laughing underneath him. 3239 words

We Like It - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Geralt wants to test out a few things that Jaskier showed him the other day, and it just so happens that he's decided to make Jaskier his test subject. 1975 words

Just Let Go - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt would never admit it out loud, but he quite enjoys the touches that Jaskier blesses him with. And then Jaskier figures out that he’s sensitive to a different kind of touch. 1470 words

Fresh Discoveries - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt, Switch!Jaskier - Jaskier makes a rather interesting discovery while helping Geralt during one of his baths. 617 words

Get His Attention - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Jaskier/Switch!Geralt - Jaskier was determined to get Geralt’s attention, no matter what it took. 905 words

Wake-Up Call - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Geralt is awake and ready to go, now the only issue is getting Jaskier up. 819 words

Beauty in Strength - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier’s found a new game: brushing against scars and asking after them. If only it wasn’t so ticklish when he did so. 2271 words

Snickers and Snorts - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - It was one of Jaskier’s favorite games to play, “How Long Until the Big Bad Witcher Admits He’s Ticklish.” As of yet, Jaskier hadn’t technically won, but that didn’t mean he was going to give up. 1119 words

Dissonance - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt thought that Jaskier should know better than to annoy him. Jaskier proved to him that Geralt should know better than to provoke him. 906 words

Does This Tickle? - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier insists that he’s not that ticklish. Geralt proves otherwise. 599 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 2 - Feathers - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/LerGeralt - Jaskier seems to have misplaced his quill. He finds himself in a rather ticklish position once Geralt finds it. 1663 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 4 - Spidering - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt/Switch!Jaskier - Geralt is not nearly as amused with Jaskier’s Halloween decorations as Jaskier thinks he should be. 1216 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 6 - Kiss - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt’s a bit weird about having his neck touched. Turns out, it wasn’t for the reasons Jaskier thought. 1863 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 7 - Unusual Tool - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt/Switch!Jaskier - Jaskier’s impulse-buy leads to a rather giggly evening, in the Rivia-Pankratz household. 854 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 10 - Feet - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier’s complaining about the roughness of Geralt’s feet, so Geralt gives him something else to complain about. 317 words

Swearing Off Sewers - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - After a nasty fight with a zeugl, Jaskier tries to help Geralt wash the stench of the sewers off. Unfortunately, Geralt is a little too sensitive for that. 1693 words

Lazy Days and Late Mornings - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier wants to stay in bed. Geralt thinks it's time to get up. 788 words

Shut Up, Bard - [ao3] - Gen/Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier, Ler!Geralt, Lambert, Eskel - Jaskier causes a little too much annoyance, and the witchers decide it's about time they took him down a peg. 682 words

Habit - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier has a little habit of tickling Geralt whenever the urge strikes. Geralt seems to have finally hit his breaking point, ready for revenge. 1657 words

Certain Sensitivities - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt accidentally finds himself drenched in a very potent sensitivity potion. Unfortunately, attempts to neutralize the effects prove to be rather... ticklish. 809 words

#tickle fic #masterpost #atla tickling #bnha tickling #dbh tickling #carry on tickling #gravity falls tickling #miraculous ladybug tickling #shadowhunters tickling #sanders sides tickling #star trek tickling #taz tickling #the witcher tickling

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sukifans · 4 years

Note

May I request a Zuko x Reader with prompt number 2 from the 50 cliché prompts? I'm desperate for some fluff

SWEATSHIRT // zuko

WC: 1.8k

PROMPT: “your shirt/jumper was in the laundry pile and i couldn’t help but steal it”

WARNINGS: none

A/N: if you want fluff you came to the right place—tooth rotting fluff is my specialty. the title may or may not be a jacob sartorius reference. yall remember when tik tok was music.ly?

⇦ 𝘔𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘓𝘐𝘚𝘛

Living with Sokka certainly had its ups and downs. On the one hand, he always kept things interesting—you never knew what you might come home to find, and he often made you laugh so hard you had tears streaming down your cheeks. He could also MacGyver just about anything that broke in your apartment (usually broken by him, however). You’d only had to call maintenance once, when you’d found him stuck under the kitchen sink, absolutely drenched, and shouting for help as water viciously sprayed from the pipes and the garbage disposal made some sort of ear-splitting shriek.

On the other hand, his mind moved a hundred miles a minute and he often forgot little things, like closing the kitchen cabinets or starting the dishwasher. One such thing he tended to forget was to finish his laundry. Often you’d find his still-wet clothes in the washer or his clean clothes in the dryer, having finished several hours ago. The two of you had worked out a deal: if Sokka did the dinner dishes and bought the snacks for Movie Fridays, you’d make sure the apartment ran smoothly despite his forgetfulness.

That’s how you found yourself dumping a load of his clothes onto his bed after finding them in the dryer while trying to do your own chores. You picked through the shirts and boxer briefs before settling on stealing a deep burgundy sweatshirt—an unspoken part of your deal was that if you found his clothes, you were allowed to steal a t-shirt or sweatshirt of your choosing because he knew you liked to wear the oversized tops on lazy days.

He came back later that night to find you standing in the kitchen, scrolling on your phone while you waited for your tea to steep. Your wet hair hung around your face and you wore the red hoodie with sleep shorts and thick, fuzzy socks.

“Hey,” he said, dropping his backpack on the ground by the door and kicking off his shoes.

“Hey.” You looked up at him as he bustled around the kitchen, tossing something into the microwave. “How was work?”

“Annoying,” he sighed in irritation, making you grin. He turned to you and frowned, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of your sweatshirt. “Where did you find that?”

“I stole it from your laundry, stupid. You left your stuff in the dryer again. I’ve never seen this one before, did you just get it?”

“Uh... yeah. Thanks for doing that for me.”

“Mhm.” You slipped your phone into the front pocket and cradled your mug. “Why do you ask? Do you want it back?”

“Nah, it’s okay. In fact, keep it. Red doesn’t suit me, I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it.” He had a smirk on his face that made you very suspicious.

You raised an eyebrow while you slowly sipped your tea. “If you say so, Snoozles.” You flicked his arm as you passed him to retreat into your bedroom for the night. “Don’t forget to pick up your bag. And snacks for Friday night!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded through a mouthful of noodles.

You and your friends were gathered in the living room like every other Friday, this week to watch Jurassic Park (yet another classic that neither Aang nor Zuko had seen, much to everybody’s disbelief). Katara and Aang sat together on the armchair, Zuko sat between you and Sokka on the couch, and Toph sat on the floor with her back against the sofa next to her service dog, Badger. You had your legs thrown across the guys’ laps and all eyes (except Toph’s) in the room were glued to the screen. Well, for the most part—Zuko kept looking over at you all night. You tried to keep your attention on the dinosaurs, but you could feel him staring at you. Eventually you caught his eye and raised your eyebrows expectantly. He simply flushed and looked away. You furrowed your brow and turned back to the movie, pulling your hands inside the sleeves of Sokka’s red sweatshirt and sticking them in the pocket.

“Did you guys know that Spielberg wanted the raptors to be taller for the movie and then a few months after they wrapped shooting, paleontologists found a new species of raptor that actually fit the movie portrayal really well? They almost named it after him,” Sokka said with his mouth full of popcorn.

“That’s nice, Sokka,” Katara responded absently, obviously not listening.

“Yeah, and they made the T. Rex sounds with an alligat—oof!” He wheezed when you jabbed your foot into his stomach. “Asshole!”

“Pack it up, IMDB,” you huffed.

“I just thought it was interes—ouch, Toph!” he yelped when Toph punched his shin.

“Stop talking, I can’t hear anything!”

“Just watch it!”

“I can’t!” Toph barked. Sokka crossed his arms and slumped down, grumbling to himself. You and Zuko glanced over at each other and broke out in grins, pursing your lips to hold back your laughter.

As the movie progressed, you noticed the tension in Zuko’s shoulders. He had his jaw clenched throughout the whole scene with the kids trapped in the car with the T. Rex attacking. You nudged him with your knee and he turned to look at you.

“You scared, Zu?” you teased in a low voice, leaning forward to squeeze his bicep. “You want me to protect you from the dinos?”

He rolled his eyes but still lifted his arm, inviting you sit up and tuck yourself into his side. As you leaned against him he seemed to loosen up, settling into his seat and resting his head against yours. Sokka noticed this and looked around Zuko to waggle his eyebrows suggestively and very conspicuously, making your face heat up in embarrassment. Unfortunately, the idiot had caught wind of your crush on his best friend and had been relentlessly tormenting you about it ever since. You glared at him until he sat back, looking disgustingly smug.

After the movie finished, everyone got up to stretch and refill their drinks before the next one started. While talking with Toph in the kitchen, you noticed Zuko standing outside on the balcony by himself. You excused yourself from the conversation and made your way out to him while all your friends hooted in the background. It seemed everyone knew about your attraction to the boy, except for the boy himself.

“Hey,” you said softly, stepping outside. He looked around at you and gave you a small smile that made your head spin. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “just getting some air. It’s getting hot in there with everyone in the room.”

You nodded and stood next to him to lean against the railing. After a few beats of silence, you could feel his stare on you again. You met his gaze curiously. “What’s up, Zu? You’ve been looking at me all night.”

“Nothing, it’s just—“ he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side as if inspecting you “—is that my sweatshirt?”

You frowned. “No, I took it from Sokka.”

“Lying bastard.” His eyes widened at your offended look when you rounded on him. “Not you! I—um, it is mine. I gave it to Sokka the other day and when I asked for it he insisted he already gave it back to me. The fucker gaslit me over a sweatshirt.”

“Sounds about right,” you giggled. “I’m sorry. I’ll give it back before you leave.”

He pulled at one of the drawstrings. “You can keep it, if you want. It’s, uh—“ he cleared his throat “—it looks better on you.”

You stood facing each other now, barely a breath away from being chest-to-chest. “I can’t take your sweatshirt.”

“You take Sokka’s all the time.”

“Yeah, because he always forgets his laundry in the machine. He owes me.” Zuko laughed a little at that, still fiddling with the string. You could feel your heart racing at his proximity. He sucked in a breath and seemed to brace himself for his next words.

“I kind of like how you look in my clothes, though. Might have to start leaving my stuff around here so you stop wearing Sokka’s.” The confidence in his voice was betrayed by the rising blush on his face that surely rivaled your own as you stared up at him with wide eyes.

Your lips parted to speak, but no words came out. All you could squeak out was a soft, “Zuko,” when he raised his hand to brush a loose piece of hair back behind your ear. You felt frozen, rooted to the spot, when his fingertips grazed your cheekbone. His hand lingered there, palm radiating heat into your already flushed cheeks.

“I—“ he pulled his hand back and chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly “—sorry.”

“For what?” you asked.

“I don’t know.” You grinned at each other and in that moment it could’ve been just you and Zuko left on the planet and it wouldn’t’ve mattered; everything you wanted and needed was right there in front of you, if you were bold enough to take that final step toward it.

“Zuko—“

“Hey, we—oh!“ Both of you whipped your heads around when the door slid open to reveal Aang standing there. His whole face went red and he laughed in embarrassment. “Sorry! Just wanted to tell you guys we were gonna start the movie, but no rush! Take your time!” He started to back away and you felt yourself release from Zuko’s magnetic pull now that your small bubble had been invaded.

“It’s okay, Aang.” You smiled gently at your friend and started to make your way back inside. “We were about to head in anyways.”

Aang shot Zuko an apologetic look before nodding and hurrying away. Zuko couldn’t find it in himself to be bitter about the ruined moment when you reached out towards him and gazed up at him with those warm, bright eyes. “You coming, Zu?”

“Yeah, right behind you.” He took your outstretched hand and laced your fingers together, squeezing his palm against yours.

Maybe you weren’t the last people on Earth, and maybe you hadn’t taken that leap just yet, but something between you two shifted and finally clicked into place out there on that balcony. Everything would work out just fine—he knew it in the way you kept your fingers slotted perfectly between his as Jaws played on the television, and in the way you quickly rose onto your toes to press a kiss to his cheek in the hallway before he left. He couldn’t wipe the dreamy little smile off his face for the rest of the night, even as he laid awake in bed thinking about you.

Yeah; everything would be just fine.

ATLA TAGS: @hotgirlazula @octophopi @simpinforsukka @protect-remus @akiris @sunflowerazula

ZUKO TAGS: @fiantomartell @avatarayeaye @hypercakeiii @sher-lockedmarvel @emeraldpotato @september-ctd

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #prince zuko x you #prince zuko x reader #zuko fic #zuko fluff #zuko #mine #requests #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar fic #atla x reader #x reader #zuko imagine

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tsukihimeyfan · 4 years

Text

Sorting the main cast of AtLA into Hogwarts Houses

I know I’m late to the party because I’ve seen many different people tackle this before, but I feel like it is my civic duty as both a Potterhead and an AtLA stan to put in my two cents, since every single time I’ve seen it talked about people either misinterpret what each House values in their members or pick a House by taking into account only one aspect of their personalities. I want to make it clear that these are my own opinions, which I’m basing on the definitions we’ve gotten of the main traits of each House over the years and the “core values” of each AtLA character, and that I’m in no way am I trying to insult anyone who thinks differently. That being said, here goes nothing!

Let’s start with the easy ones. Namely, the Fire Siblings:

1) Azula is 100%, undoubtedly, definitely, incontrovertibly Slytherin. Just doing a quick rundown of the qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his handpicked students, as stated by the Sorting Hat, Albus Dumbledore and Pottermore: Cunning? Check. Resourcefulness? Check. A disregard for rules? Check. Using any means to achieve her ends? Check. Shrewdness? Check. Ambition? Check. Self-preservation? Check. Pride? Check. An argument could even be made that, as a member of the Fire Nation Royal Family, Azula also kind of meets the “blood purity” criteria. I’m sure most of us agree on this. Even if she does exhibit a lot of loyalty to her father as well as courage and intelligence, there is just no contest. Azula is one of the most Slytherin characters I’ve ever seen outside of the Harry Potter universe.

2) In the same way, Zuko is irrefutably a Hufflepuff. Hear me out! I know that he’s very brave and daring, but when we think of Zuko, what is his most essential trait, what do people tell us again

and again

about Zuko’s character?

He’s a hard worker. And what’s the House of the hard-working?

"You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil.”

You guessed it. Hufflepuff. Of course, that’s not the only trait valued by this House that he exhibits. Who is more loyal in the series than the child who got half his face burned off and still did his best to earn the love and respect of the one responsible? Who never faltered in his loyalty even when he was sent away on an impossible mission? Who spouted angry words most of the time yet was willing to let his ticket home go temporarily in favor of ensuring the safety of his Uncle and his crew? That’s right, our boy Zuko. That very loyalty to his father is what unfortunately bound him for the longest time, until he was forced to face what a monster he was and let go of it in favor of more important things, namely his own morals and his loyalty to his Uncle.

He also has an incredibly strong sense of justice, as proven by the above statements, as well as this moment:

and he can be incredibly patient when he needs to be, as seen during The Blue Spirit and the Southern Raiders episodes.

Hufflepuffs are also said to be fair (which he clearly is), dedicated (need I say more?), honest (which Mr. shouts-his-feelings-at-the-top-of-his-lungs and can’t-lie-without-being-obvious-or-glancing-away-and-has-been-found-out-every-time-he-tried of course is) and modest (this one he starts without but by the time he joins the Gaang there isn’t anyone more modest or humble)

As “an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor” , Zuko is the Hufflepuffiest Hufflepuff to ever Hufflepuff and I will die on this hill

3) Another easy one is our girl Suki, whom I’d say is a Gryffindor through and through, even if she is very loyal to her friends.

The rest of the Gaang under the cut.

The other members of Team Avatar are a bit trickier because they all exhibit a pretty even mix of traits from more than one House, but still if we just concentrate on their defining characteristics we can get to an answer.

4) I’d argue that Sokka belongs in Ravenclaw, even though he is of course quite brave and extremely loyal to his loved ones, not only because he’s a strategist and an inventor, but also because, as best stated by Master Piandao:

Ravenclaws most value wit, learning, intelligence, creativity and wisdom (this last one is a bit iffy but I’m sure he’ll get there when he’s older), as well as priding themselves on being original in their ideas and methods. That’s Sokka to a T.

5) Katara gave me a hard time. She’s unbelievably loyal to her friends and family, she’s compassionate, patient, fair, hard working and dedicated, with a REALLY strong sense of justice, so a case can be made for Hufflepuff easily. However she can also be quite cunning when she wants to (most obviously during The Waterbending Scroll, City of Walls and Secrets, The Painted Lady, and The Runaway), she has a lot of ambition (if you count every variation of “I will make the world a better place by force if I have to”), she disregards the rules when it suits her (again The Waterbending Scroll as well as The Runaway) and she can be proud at times, so we could argue she’s a Slytherin. She’s also undoubtedly very intelligent and even quite wise for her age. It took me a while to decide but then I pondered; at her very core, what are the statements that define her? What words just scream “that’s it, that’s Katara”? They are, of course, these two phrases:

The first sounded incredibly Gryffindor to me, and the second is half Gryffindor half Hufflepuff, so it had to be between those two. As such, I decided to look into Gryffindor first. Katara is, of course, astoundingly courageous, but what else? I had to actually look up definitions for the Gryffindor traits besides courage because they all just kinda meant “brave” to me initially 😅, but what I found was:

*Nerve: “one's steadiness and courage in a demanding situation”. Yep. Who’s the most level-headed, steady and reliable person whenever the Gaang is in any kind of pinch? That’s right. Katara

*Daring: “adventurous or audaciously bold“. Yep. I’d say she ties with Toph for boldest in the Gaang

*Determination: “firmness of purpose”. Yep, absolutely. See the above image from the Painted Lady. ‘Nuff said.

*Chivalry: can mean 2 things, one is “sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms”. All of that is true of her (her “arms” being her waterbending), but I found it interesting that to be chivalrous can also mean “gracious and honorable toward an enemy, especially a defeated one, and toward the weak or poor”. I’d argue that this fits her even more. Once again, just take a look at The Painted Lady episode.

*Courage and bravery: they can mean the same thing, namely “the ability to do something that frightens you” and of course that fits Katara, but the word courage in particular has another meaning, which is “strength in the face of pain or grief”...

I’d say she’s pretty good at that. I think that settles it, Katara is a Gryffindor.

Turns out that when it came to the water tribe siblings Bato was right all along

6) For Toph I was split between Gryffindor (thinking of her brash, bold nature) and Slytherin for a while, but after looking into Katara and researching all those definitions I think I have to give it to Slytherin. Of course, Toph doesn’t seem to be very ambitious unless you count “being recognized as the greatest earthbender in the world”, but she is quite cunning. She knows exactly how to use her “poor helpless blind girl” persona to get what she wants, as seen both on The Blind Bandit and The Runaway. She’s also an extremely good actress, being able to play the “reserved and obedient little girl” to her parents for years, and being easily able to pick it back up when it suits her.

She’s also stubborn, proud, and 100% willing to use any means, regardless of laws or rules, to get what she wants.

As for self preservation? Remember that her response when asked to teach Aang, which was crucial to save the world but would’ve compromised her secret, was this:

Slytherins can also “hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done “ and my first instinct was to say that it didn’t fit Toph at all, but what is Toph if not a person who “waits and listens before striking”? Slytherins tend to favor Neutral Jing it seems.

Almost forgot that as a daughter of the Beifong family she’s sort of nobility and she technically also meets the “blood purity” criteria.

7) Finally, we get to my boy Aang. He was really difficult. He’s loyal, patient, fair, kind, modest (usually) and just but I can’t really call him a hard worker most of the time.

He’s brave, adventurous, determined and chivalrous but he does tend to get discouraged during demanding or stressful situations (his friends always make it better though)

He’s creative, very wise for his age, and quite smart (except when he’s playing around with Sokka in which case they share one brain cell 😂)

He can even be cunning when he needs to be. If he ever went to Hogwarts, he’d definitely be a Hat Staller like Harry. I heard someone say once that they considered Aang a Gryffindor because he liked to show off a lot, but that’s not really a Gryffindor trait (think of Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall. I think any one of them would sooner Stupefy themselves than go show off their skills in front of a crowd for no reason other than to brag).

Once again, we must pin down what it is that defines him, what his core is. After much thought, I decided it’s this:

It’s his compassion, which he learned from his people, and his desire to value and protect all life. It’s his loyalty to the ideologies of the Air Nomads of which he is the last remaining bastion. It’s his strong moral code, his sense of right and wrong, his wish to make friends and to believe the best of everyone. That’s his center. That is what makes him Avatar Aang. In light of that, I think we can consider Aang, first and foremost, a Hufflepuff.

In the end, Team Avatar is made up of one Ravenclaw, one Slytherin, one Gryffindor (two after Suki joins), and two Hufflepuffs

Ironic, that the House least valued in the Harry Potter universe is the one that houses arguably the most pivotal characters of Avatar the Last Airbender: Zuko and Aang. Fitting, that even in this they parallel each other.

This is already long enough so I don’t think I’ll do Mai, Ty Lee, or Iroh. Maybe some other time.

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thinkingisadangerouspastime · 3 years

Note

I just want to say, before I say anything, I'm not accusing you of saying this and I understand that you feel how you feel. I'm just asking this in a very general way and was wondering your thoughts. Why is it so verboten to think Zuko might have had a slight crush on Katara? There seems to be a rush to not just deny it but to treat it like it's some sort of horrible thing to even suggest it and I'm not sure why that is?

Katara is presented as a beautiful, lively girl who is a powerful bender. Why wouldn’t Zuko be a little starry eyed over that? It doesn’t mean she likes him back. Idk, I’m not exactly sure where my point is, except that being shouted down for just advancing the idea that maybe Zuko had the hots for Katara is a little frustrating? I’m not saying he was wacking off in his bunk thinking about her or expected to get some while they were hunting Yon Rha.

Also, unrequited crushes happen in ATLA-verse? Toph/Sokka anyone? Why does that never get screeched on but saying “Hey, Zuko loved Mai but he was probably looking at Katara and thinking ‘noice!’ a couple of times” the worst thing in the world? Is it the Water Tribe/Fire Nation thing? I mean, if it’s that, I wish people would just say that and stop screaming at people for their headcanons and whatnot. [theend]

Lol do not worry anon I know this isn’t an accusation!! Not only have I myself never perpetuated this rhetoric, but I don’t think I’ve really heard it before! Maybe once or twice?? I might just keep to chill parts of fandom, lmao, and that’s why I’m not very familiar with it. But I’ll do my best to theorize what may spark conflict based on the info you provided me!

(I’ve talked very briefly here about Zuko having/not having a crush on Katara before, if you were wondering.)

My main guess is that it’s not the headcanon itself that makes people frustrated, but how some shippers probably treat the HEADcanon as canon-canon (not an issue exclusive to Zvtara, btw; all big fanon ships have this problem - Zvkka, anyone? lmao). I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with headcanoning that Zuko had a crush on Katara! But in that same vein, there’s nothing inherently wrong with others acknowledging that the headcanon has no basis in canon either, if that makes sense. And headcanons don’t need canon basis! Headcanons are fanon! That’s why they’re so much fun! I ship Kuzaang like there’s no tomorrow, but I can also acknowledge that there wasn’t anything in canon that demonstrated Aang having a crush on Kuzon. Kuzaang is strictly fanon, and I love that about the pairing! It means I have incredible free reign, hehe.

But yeah. I don’t think it has anything to do with their different nations! Like I said - it’s probably solely an issue of some shippers (and undoubtedly just a loud minority) treating the headcanon as canon.

I don’t think saying “Hey, Zuko loved Mai but he was probably looking at Katara and thinking ‘noice!’ a couple of times” is the worst thing in the world, lmao. I do want to make a distinction here, though; this example you provide is actually an example of aesthetic attraction, which is not the same as a crush (crushes are indicative of romantic attraction)! So saying/headcanoning that Zuko thought Katara was pretty (as anyone with a brain would say, let’s be real) does not actually equate to him having a crush on her.

But back to the crush headcanon. I mentioned that I (personally!) don’t think it has canon basis. I will admit that I am not alloromantic, so crushes in themselves are a little confusing to me (I mean,, people just randomly like someone?? based on their appearance?? without even knowing them?? hell nah), but even disregarding that, I don’t think it would make much sense within canon for Zuko to have had a crush on Katara.

Again, disclaimer: there’s nothing wrong with the headcanon! Fanon is meant to contradict canon! To expand canon! To rewrite canon! Fanon is transformative. That’s the entire purpose of fanon. Go wild with that headcanon!! Make art!! Produce fics!! Support content creators!! Hell yeah!!

So what do I mean when I say that I personally feel there’s no canon basis for Zuko having a crush on Katara? Well, for one, he joined the Gaang in episode 12 of Book 3. That’s episode 52 of 61 overall. So in everything prior to that, Zuko not only has no idea who Katara is but he is also neck-deep in imperialistic rhetoric (you know, racism, superiority complexes, all that jazz. not fun for anyone non-FN). No possible crush there. In “The Western Air Temple” episode itself, Katara (understandably) threatens Zuko. She means what she says, and I think Zuko recognizes that. A crush there wouldn’t make sense - they’ve only properly met this second time and Katara (understandably) hates Zuko’s guts for what he’s done to the Gaang and to her personally.

Episode 53 is “The Firebending Masters” - Zuko’s too hung up on his firebending not working to think about anything else (Katara obviously still does not trust him yet, either, meaning Zuko is pretty much on edge around her. again, she threatened him, and Zuko no doubt took her threat seriously).

54 and 55 are “The Boiling Rock” episodes; not only are these Maiko-heavy but also in general… I mean, Katara’s not really in them. At least not from Zuko’s POV. So nothing implies a crush there. And then after those episodes, it’s worth considering that Zuko probably thinks Mai is dead. That he left her, the girl he loves, to die at Azula’s hands. We know Zuko tends to hold guilt to his chest, so concluding he blamed himself for Mai’s “death” is not illogical. Why would he all of sudden switch his sights to Katara, even if it was just a simple crush? While he’s grieving? That doesn’t track to me.

And then, of course, “The Southern Raiders.” This episode has been talked about to death, so I’ll keep it brief, lmao. I will draw attention to only one line, spoken by Zuko:

This isn’t fair! Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you?

As we all know, TSR was not a flattering episode for Zuko. He was a racist asshole to Aang and - as aforementioned - acted as if he was entitled to Katara’s trust. Obviously, Zuko grows through the episode, and we see by the end that he respects Aang’s wisdom and respects Katara’s decision to walk away from Yon Rha (which is awesome!! I adore this brief but incredibly crucial arc of his!!). But my point is that nothing demonstrates romantic interest from Zuko to Katara. If anything, his initial motives are pretty damn selfish (i.e. demanding her to trust him because he feels like he “deserves” it already).

Emphasis on “initial” motives, of course. Obviously he grows more sincere!! (Tis the point of the episode for Zuko.)

So they end TSR on new, peaceful terms. Personally, I don’t think their relationship would be magically sunshine and roses after that (Zuko did some fucked up shit to the Gaang, lmao), but I do think things are getting better between them! Still, there is nothing indicative of a canon crush.

Next episode, in EIP, they scoot away from each other at the possibility of being together, yk? That doesn’t mean they hate each other’s guts, lmfao, but EIP is meant to depict imperialist Fire Nation propaganda - who wouldn’t be uncomfortable with that? Like, the entire Gaang is demeaned in that play. There’s nothing romantic about it. It’s a similar situation later with June - this is a lady that doesn’t know anything remotely personal about Zuko or Katara. Of course they’d react in a horrified and flustered manner when this - for all intents and purposes - total stranger suggests that they’re together! That’s creepy as hell! Definitely not indicative of a crush, lmao. And considering that the Gaang never teases Zuko about having a crush on Katara (compared to how I think Toph teases Katara about Haru?), i.e. the people who know them the best, there’s no reason for the audience to think anything is going on between them.

For other references, here are a few addressing EIP, June, etc.

And after all that… Well, now we’re in the finale. What time is there for romance? There’s a reason the canon couples don’t reunite until after the war is won! (Minus Sukka, I guess, but they’re not professing their love on the battlefield, per se, lmao.) Zuko chooses Katara to go with him because she’s a powerful waterbender and the only person who’s been able to handle Azula in the past (besides Aang, arguably, who’s obviously occupied with Ozai), not because he “likes” her in a romantic sense.

All of this is to say that to me, Zuko having a crush on Katara is strictly fanon. Which is awesome! Fanon is fantastic, and I actually really like these types of headcanons (like, Teo having a crush on Aang? GOOD SHIT). Some people are just jerks about it. That said, I can still understand why people might get frustrated by those who preach this headcanon as if it’s pulled straight from the text itself. I absolutely think it’s ridiculous to harass others over a headcanon (which unfortunately you see on both sides of the ship war), but in that same vein - of course it’s frustrating when those loud few act like their fanon is canon and proceed to shove it down others’ throats, lmao. It’s an imperfect situation, basically.

TL;DR - The headcanon in itself is great, and no one should be getting freaking harassed over it. But it is strictly fanon, so when some shippers treat it like canon, that’s understandably going to frustrate the rest of the fandom. Headcanons are a double-edged sword, lmao.

So that’s my personal theory as to why people get pressed over this headcanon. If anyone else has a different idea, please feel free to rb/comment with it!

#also anon you 100% do not have to agree with any of this!! tis just my own thoughts and theory 🥰#amy answers #anon #amy analyzes

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kikiscastleinthesky · 4 years

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THE SOKKASM ZUTARA

I’ve seen a lot of tumblr blogs that ship zutara and I decided that is time for me to open mine too. So, yes, I’m a zutara shipper. And for the time being, my posts are going to be dedicated principally to analyze the ships in ATLA.

Disclaimer alert: I’m not forcing anyone to ship zutara. And I won’t accept hate because I (and many others) may have a different opinion, If you are one of those persons I invite you to leave, don’t waste my time and yours, because I’m not even going to reply. Everyone has the right to ship whatever they like and want, without been mocked, harrassed and humiliated.

Well... now that everything is settled: 3...2...1 go!

I’m starting with this small analysis, because every zutara shipper has been attacked on why zutara and zutara is horrible yada yada but, this ocassion I’m gonna use all the attacks we get and defend it.

I. Zutara is way the worst toxic relationship:

You call Zuko the abuser, the toxic and the bad tempered? Then you didn’t get a clue of his redemption arc.

You call zutara toxic for:

a) giving your mother’s closure and final acceptance into the group?

b) saving each other’s life?

c) being the “leading co-parenting” of the group?

d) support you when you’re about to beg for his uncle forgiveness?

II. The cave scene didn’t mean anything, and just think about it, they would never ever get along well:•

Of course, I misunderstood Zuko confessing his own grief, probably he just hates her.

When Katara opens to her mother sorrow like she never did with anyone was like no big deal.

That part when she offers to heal his scar with SACRED water was totally illogical.

And being the first person who he let touch his scar really said to me that they were absolutely toxic.

Yes, he betrayed her initial trust. And it hurt, but guess who betrayed worst? The man who for three years was his father. But nope, Iroh, should never forgive Zuko, for what he did. (Right? Katara was betrayed and she should bever have interest in him, so Iroh would never forgive his abuser, right?)

III. Zutara is about getting in love with your abuser:

The abuser love? When did Zuko abused Katara? When did he forced to do something she didn’t want? Did he ever physically abused her or sexually assaulted her? Even if he tied her to a tree, he never humiliated her, he never hurt her or overpass against her. Or are you trying to make up his whole plot to eliminate all his attacks towards team avatar only rest in the female character? (Have you forgot how he betrayed his uncle? Or even himself?)

IV. Zutara is an age gap, it would be underage thing. “You don’t like Aang because he is a child and still pair Zuko, being a minor.” You want to hypersexualize two kids (Aang and Katara) into having sexual interest.

Katara would have been dating an underage guy too. She would have been 18 and Aang 16. I know! Age gap only matter when the man’s older. Both Katara and Zuko had gone through puberty, and both were in adolescence, both shared the same maturity level. Yes dude, there a huge difference in being a CHILD and being a TEENAGER, yes, still minor, But with puberty hit already.

Actually, I still believe even being 11-12 you can get like a… spark… a hint. Even if its not a relationship whatsoever, and not having sexual interest of any kind. If you really want to see what closest we get to a “real” attraction and potential between kiddos that age, you get S1Mike and Eleven (stranger things) / you get Chihiro and Haku (Spirited away) / you get Pazu and Sheeta. (The castle in the sky) –Wooo, that really changes things right?

But yet there are people that believe shipping zutara is “pedophile” I thought in seriously not replying to this stupidities but, here I am, dismantling their theories.

So, this is real life. An adult person trying to sleep with a prepubescent kid. So… there is no support on this. Because a ship is about two fictional characters in a fictional story.

What about fictional pedophilia? Well, we can change that: Fictional pedophilia is a psychosexual disorder when you ship an adult fictional character (+18) to have a sexual interest in a fictional prepubescent child (-12) and / or attempt to engage both characters in sexual acts.

So step one… are either Zuko or Katara either an adult or prepubescent child? As you can see in the image at the right, both have gone through puberty. Step two, are you trying to a couple of minors to get sexually involved? No, this is a love story, not porn. And before you yell at me for the porn zutara comics/fics on the web, I guess you should see the porn Kataang /fics comics on the web too.

But I don’t hate any ship. So, technically, neither Kataang, nor Sukka, nor Yukka, nor Jetara, nor Maiko is pedophilia.

Ok, yeah yeah its not pedo, but is statutory rape, so yet it’s illegal.

Oh yes, if we state that 18 is the age where you are considered an adult (at least in my country) both are minors, your term is partially correct. But guess what would be statutory rape too?

Sukka (15) and Maiko (16-17), both implied to have sex relationships and canon during the series.

The episode "The Southern Raiders" became (in)famous among the fandom for what is a truly epic instance of this trope. Zuko bumps into a very flustered Suki on the way to Sokka's tent, and she hurriedly excuses herself. He walks into Sokka's tent to ask him a question and finds him pants-less and surrounded by flowers and candles. He even greets Zuko with a suggestive "Well helloooo..." before he realizes who itis. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace for no apparent reason... except to indicate that maybe Suki had been “deflowered”.

And yet, if Kataang had sex, it would be statutory sex at some point too: 16 and 18 -Conclusions: Statutory sex takes all ships equally.

V. Poor Aang he would be devastated.

Kid, he’s 12, in the comics he’s 13-14. Or what? Haven’t you guys had a broken heart ever? Your high school sweetie? Or Aang’s so frail to not be able to find love? To close himself for a better opportunity? Seeking your own happiness in not selfish. What is selfish is seeking your own happiness at the other expenses.

And even that, we all know what would Aang do if Katara starts a relationship with Zuko. (Even if it wasn’t Zuko, I highly doubt he would like Katara dating someone else) He would go on avatar rampage. That is NOT healthy, that is NOT romantic. That is extremely possessive and selfish to do. It’s psychotic. Because Aang cares more about himself than Katara’s feelings, even if she would be happier without him.

VI. Zutara is all about sex interest.

Well once more you mistake chemistry with sexual needs. Wanting me to sleep with my husband means I only use him for sex relief? If I find myself sexually attracted to anyone probably means I just want to sleep with that person and nothing else.

VII. A hug is all zutarians have to acknowledge zutara:

We have a complete extended analysis in all the small details, but we like to use that forgiveness hug because in that hug you have more potential that all the kataang scenes all together. We have thousands of complete analyses, pages dedicated exclusively zutara.

VIII. Katara “fell in love with Aang” and it’s not one sided.

Uh... Nope, just because two persons are good friends it doesn’t mean they are a good couple. Yes, the way the both of them interact is absolutely beautiful, But not romantically.

Do we see Katara’s view on romantically being drawn towards Aang? Yes, we see it, and yes, unfortunately, is one sided.

How Kataangers complete this:

· The fortune-teller: I didn’t see like “Wow omg the avatar is going to be my future husband!” But… was like “uh… really?… well, I guess it’s him” Zutarians and Aunt Wu are the base for many backs up theories. ;) Aang is not the only powerful bender you know? And actually, that episode is way trying too hard to demonstrate the crush Meng has for Aang and Aang has to Katara. How is even healthy to accept that sometimes persons don’t like you back and it’s not the end of the world.

· The cave scene: I forgot that Katara is telling him to be her boyfriend and they will live happily ever after. And really, it all gets us to a real Oma and Shu theory. Not to mention that they were “forced” to kiss because their kids innocence believed if they kissed, they wouldn’t die, and that Aang messed up things as well. But if you see it beneath, if she was truly interested, she would have told Aang: “wow omg we kissed, ok. let’s give him a clue…” nothing, she goes back in treating him same as always.

· The headband dance: Well that’s a fair point yes. Actually, I felt something different…unfortunately Katara later had to tell him not to kiss her.

IX. Zutara is because you projected on Katara and had a crush on Zuko, because Katara and Zuko were your favourite characters and because is the bad boy style romance.

My crush was Jet <3, and zutara was the most logical endgame for girls. Ask any girl, ANY 14 yo who would like to date: A high school, nice and handsome guy or a 7th grader that had potential to be her best friend. (See the logic)

And nope is not like “Insert fav characters of the opposite sex to ship them” You need to see real development.

I don’t know why they stereotype Zuko as the “bad boy” – relationship archetype. Zuko is never seen to be the classic fuck boy who treats girls like shit and suddenly there comes a lady to change him. Maybe he is a “bad boy” (confused though) in S1 and S2, but his redemption arc is literally the answer of why he is not “bad boy” anymore.

If Katara was truly and really romantically interested then she wouldn’t have friendzoned Aang. Once? Nope 4 times. And also… are we forgetting kind of imagery…

Friendzoned

When Aang fixes her a small necklace with the fishing thread.

When he kissed her at the invasion. She didn’t reciprocate it. (I’m not even mentioning the mommy proud speech)

When he wanted to talk about the kiss in the western air temple (Comic love is a battlefield)

When he kissed her at the play and she had to told him to back off.

Strange imagery

She was June Pippinpaddleopsokopolis (Aang’s granddaughter)

When Aang got shot, she held his body in her arms in the exact way Mary held Jesus in Pieta’s sculpture.

She was Sapphire Fire. (Aang’s pregnant mother)

After they got married, in the book legacy, she said she enjoyed most seeing Aang becoming a man. (Honestly ladies if I got a BF the least I want is seeing how the kid transforms into a man)

I’m looking forward to watch you grow into manhood as I did to your father (Katara’s letter to Tenzin)

I’m really trying to deny Oedipus complex here.

Still hard for me to track Katara’s love interest for little Aang since all we see is more a relationship mom/sister or Harry/Hermione. I have heard rumours that Bryke wanted to give the ship “mystery” and “expectation” but I think they really messed up, I didn’t see expectation or mystery, I saw a child insisting to a girl that didn’t reciprocate. It wasn’t even like she didn’t have much of a chance, because her love interests:

Was killed by Long Feng

Gave him a hideous mustache and disappeared him after Azula’s attack in the western air temple.

Forced to be attached to a toxic relationship.

Apart that all those points I’ve mentioned, Kataang is not a relationship for me. Staying in a formal relationship with the first person they met of the opposite sex at 14 -12 (guys not even Disney does that, jeez not even studio Ghibli) and not having any chance to experience any other relationship. Never experiencing a broken heart, or someone better. I think that it gives the wrong idea, telling guys that no matter how long they are placed in friendzone, eventually the girl will fall for them. They just have to keep insisting.

You could say, but what a hypocrite! Snow White was 14 years old when she went to live with that prince! Many princesses are 16! And not to mention that many men were the first they met! Like Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Well, you are right at one point. But ... the interaction of these characters changes radically, mainly because they never "give cute kisses" to their future husbands, nor do they treat them like their brothers or their children and ... the men were never friendzoned, except for Naveen at the beginning. You see the real attraction of teenage girls with an older boy. And I'm not saying that they should never be friends or support each other. Mulan and Chang were allies, friends, they supported each other, they saved their lives. But at no time was there the kind of interaction Katara and Aang had.

If Kataang was to be endgame, we would see Katara’s reaction to Jet, totally different, THAT kind of reaction was what I was waiting. (That kind of reaction is what every princess do, at least one time)

The same chemistry we saw in Yukka / Sukka. Honestly, I saw more chemistry between Haru and Katara.

Or at least give us some character development like: Aang, I know my feelings where not as you wanted but now I decided I want to be with you because (list everything here except he being the avatar), I really like you, perhaps we can give it a shot. Or like several things that could clue us that she is interested (come on people, two persons can kiss/hug/ have sex and that doesn’t imply they will be together in a formal relationship) But all we got was: Oh, right, he’s the avatar... suddenly I fell for him and I’m gonna kiss him fully in the mouth and that’s how I’ll tell him and that all my confusion has magically disappeared.

X. I’ve never saw that kind of spark between them. Again, it was “Just a hug”

Yes! That’s initially the whole point of it, a friendship hug, the truth of why we don’t need silly blushes. Because that forgiveness hug shows their initial relationship, they are friends! All their love needs to come first from a truthful friendship, by the contrary of calling the “immediate falling” like Aang did for Katara, it shows us that friendship love can evolve into something more beautiful, and that’s why we like the ship, because all zutara shippers know Zuko and Katara wouldn’t fall in love like that all of the sudden, they have to create the romantic relationship, and that’s what we portray in the fics.

What makes Zutara exceptional is that he, sees her, he hears her, he listens what she had to do, at anytime he forced her to do something she didn’t. And before a “teenager adolescence ship” he sees her as a human, with feelings with own ideals and goals.

And there is a complete and extremely well based analysis in: The crossroads of destiny + The southern raiders + The lighting saving.

XI. The comics show us how toxic they really where.

Their interaction in the comics was something I like to call: destroying a character. Not only Katara, who turned to be that awesome badass to the submissive girlfriend. From how I see it in the series to the comics there’s all I have to say: That’s not my girl.

XII. How Katara could be queen of a country that almost aniquilates her tribe and killed her mother? It would be a betrayal.

I think this argument is out. Not valid. Is like saying a Jew can’t date a German because of the holocaust. (German doesn’t mean nazi, just as Zuko, who was from the Fire Nation and didn’t order Katara’s mother assassination, and not every citizen of the fire nation means a ruthless killer). Is like saying that a Japanese can’t date a us citizen because of the bombs in WW2. And even if we see it “political”, is like… an aphrodescendant can’t rule a country that is racist, then Mr. Obama would have never reached the presidency.

Two persons can unify them, because they can demonstrate that being from different country that initally has not good terms can reach peace. The union between those countries represents the power of maturity, of overcoming adversities and the power of forgiveness. *Our lands now connected by love* And I want her to be queen, I want her to rule, I want her in charge, I want her in power. Imagine all the potential she could have (politics, business, negotiations, rebuilding, restoration, education, public health!! ***faints***) Not only for the fire Nation but for the whole world! Imagine that once Zuko abdicated they left to the south pole and she opened a fighting school and a healing school of her own (like master Pakku, but now her students are given a medical license that acknowledges them as professional healers) And this is just an idea. Like these ideas are hundreds. It would have been the perfect feminist role model!

XIII. Since the beginning, Katara was always interested in Aang and she always supported him and was for him when he needed her. That’s proof they were meant to each other.

If a girl expresses faith in your abilities, she loves you, she hugs you, and she supports you clearly she’s completely into you. Because obviously female best friends don’t exist.

#zutara #ATLA #Zutaradefense #Ifyoudon'tlikeitscrollaway #Noreplytohaters #Katarandzuko #Dismantlingtheattacks

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cruelangelstheses · 4 years

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a simple misunderstanding

fandom: avatar: the last airbender rating: G characters: sokka/zuko, katara words: 2k additional tags: canon compliant, fluff description: zuko and katara start hanging out, just the two of them. sokka gets suspicious and decides to investigate. a/n: hi!! this was written for the @lgbtqshipszine and i can post it now! i love my silly boys

read it on ao3

—

Sokka is a good older brother—he thinks so, at least. He does his best to look out for Katara and give her advice when she needs it, but he also tries to give her some space and let her make her own decisions. They are only a year apart, after all, and she’s grown up a lot since they first found Aang in the iceberg.

So when Sokka notices that Katara has been spending more time alone with Zuko, he holds himself back from immediately confronting her about it. They could be doing anything, talking about anything. He’s trusted her to be alone with guys before; he’s even teased Aang for his long-standing crush on Katara. Besides, they clearly bonded in some way when they went to search for the man who killed Sokka and Katara’s mother, even when it didn’t turn out the way they’d expected. He should be happy that they’re getting along now.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust Zuko, and it’s certainly not that he doesn’t trust Katara. He doesn’t think Zuko would do anything to hurt her—or, well, not on purpose—and he pities the fool who would even try, because hell hath no fury like a Katara scorned. So, really, it shouldn’t be any of his business what Zuko and Katara talk about in whispers on the shores of Ember Island or in the courtyard of Ozai’s beach house. At least, that’s what he tells himself.

Unfortunately, try as he might, Sokka just can’t shake the slightly sick feeling he gets in his stomach whenever he sees them talking, even if it’s only a word or two about what they’re having for dinner. He watches their interactions for any indication of romance, but if they do feel that way about each other, they’re doing a damn good job of hiding it. They don’t hold hands—in fact, they barely touch at all, except for when necessary—and they don’t usually sit next to each other during meals. Zuko does sit next to her when they go to see the Ember Island Players, but it seems completely platonic, and Sokka doesn’t miss the way they slowly scooch away from each other during the “romantic” scene between their actor selves. They still talk, though, and sometimes, Katara says something to Zuko that makes him blush furiously. Talk about mixed signals.

So Sokka makes little to no progress on his theory, which is really less of a theory and more of a sneaking suspicion that there’s something fishy going on. Zuko has been acting strange around Sokka for a little while, occasionally stuttering or spacing out in the middle of a conversation, and it might have to do with this whole business with Katara. If Zuko’s had a crush on her for some time, then it would make sense that he’d be nervous about Sokka’s reaction. (Sokka, for his part, feels weird around Zuko sometimes too, but that’s probably just because Zuko hasn’t been with them for very long, and maybe a small part of Sokka is still nervous around the guy who used to try to capture or kill them all on a regular basis.) Eventually, he decides he’ll just have to take the initiative and talk to Katara himself, or else the wondering is going to drive him crazy.

He corners her one evening after dinner, when everyone else has dispersed and Katara is starting to clean up in the kitchen. She looks up from the sink when she hears his footsteps and raises an eyebrow.

“I’m guessing you’re not here to help me clean up,” she says.

Sokka leans up against the nearby wall in an attempt to look casual. “Katara,” he starts out, “you know you can trust me, right? With anything?”

Katara frowns in confusion. “Yeah, of course. You’re my brother.”

Sokka nods and crosses his arms over his chest. “Good! Good.” He clears his throat awkwardly as he searches for the right words. “Because I realize that you can make your own decisions and that you don’t need me protecting you all the time, and so you know that if, say, you were to start dating some angsty firebender who used to try to kill us all the time, you could tell me that, right?”

Katara nearly drops the bowl she’s washing and shuts off the water. “What?”

Sokka can feel his face heating up. Apparently rambling tactlessly is still one of his strong suits. “Just, you know, theoretically,” he adds pathetically.

Katara just stares at him incredulously. “Zuko?” she says with a laugh. “You think I’m dating Zuko?”

Sokka shrugs. “Well, what else was I supposed to think with you two always running off to talk privately? Zuko hasn’t been able to look me in the eye since the Boiling Rock. I thought maybe he was nervous around me because he was afraid of how I’d react if I knew he had a crush on you or something.”

Katara laughs again. “Well, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m not particularly interested in him, and I’m positive he’s not interested in me.”

Sokka narrows his eyes. “Well, then, what have you two been talking about?”

Katara’s cheeks turn pink. “Us? Uh, nothing. Nothing important. What, two people aren’t allowed to just talk to each other alone?”

Sokka snorts. Like brother, like sister. “Well, that’s not suspicious.”

Katara sighs. “Look, if you really wanna know, you’re better off talking to Zuko.”

“He’s been acting weird around me for weeks now,” Sokka says, trying not to let the hurt seep into his voice. “What makes you think he’d tell me anything?”

“He will,” Katara replies cryptically, and with that, she returns to washing the dishes.

Clearly Sokka isn’t going to be getting a solid answer out of this conversation, so he turns around and heads down the hall to find Zuko.

It doesn’t take long to locate him, out in the courtyard practicing firebending with Aang. Zuko’s been training him in a frenzy; it feels like that’s all they do sometimes. They just ate, and they’re already back at it again, likely at Zuko’s direction. The least they could do is take a few breaks.

Sokka waltzes down the couple of steps outside and into the courtyard. As they’re both practicing the same forms, Aang moving his body in sync with Zuko’s, neither of them notice him approaching. Sokka waits until they seem like they’re at a good stopping point, assuming a final fighting stance and then relaxing their postures, to call out, “Hey, Zuko? I need to talk to you.”

Zuko nearly jumps at the sound of his voice and whirls around. “Okay,” he says, attempting to act calm, but very obviously failing. The sweat rolling down his temples doesn’t help matters, either. “What is it?”

Sokka awkwardly glances over at Aang. “Uh, can we talk in private, actually?”

Zuko narrows his eyes, but nods silently and waves a hand in Aang’s direction, dismissing him. Once he’s out of earshot, Sokka sits down on one of the steps. Zuko, however, remains standing.

Sokka decides to just get straight to the point. “So. You and Katara.”

Zuko raises an eyebrow. “What about me and Katara?”

“You’ve been talking a lot recently,” Sokka says. “Alone.”

Zuko’s face heats up, though it was already a little flushed from training. “So?”

“I asked Katara about it, but I didn’t get much out of her. I thought maybe you two were dating or something, but she said that wasn’t it. She wouldn’t tell me anything else, though.” Sokka shrugs. “She told me to ask you instead.”

Zuko folds his arms over his chest. “What gives you the right to know about two people’s private business?” He really sounds like a prince there, and it looks like he knows it.

“Well, number one, something’s telling me this ‘business’ was hidden pretty specifically from me, and I’d like to know why,” Sokka replies. “And number two, I’d appreciate some sort of heads-up if my sister ends up dating the crown prince of the Fire Nation, who spent the better part of a year actively trying to capture us.” That last part comes out sounding more hostile than he means for it to.

Zuko scowls and throws his hands out. “What are you saying? That after all this time, after everything, you still don’t trust me?”

Sokka holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “No, no, I didn’t mean—”

“Save it.” Zuko scoffs, but there isn’t any venom in it, just hurt. “And here I was starting to think we—”

He bites his lip and stops talking, just stands and stares with his hands balled up into fists at his sides and his eyes glinting with something Sokka can’t quite decipher.

“What?” Sokka asks. “Starting to think we what?”

Zuko shakes his head, looks away. His body relaxes, and he opens his hands back up, using one of them to rub at his scarred eye. Finally, he walks over to the steps and sits down next to Sokka, resting his arms on his knees as he thinks about his response. After a long moment of silence, he speaks.

“When we were together at the Boiling Rock, I...realized something. I decided to talk to Katara about it later, and then she started giving me some advice.”

Sokka narrows his eyes in confusion. “Why her specifically?”

Zuko sighs. “Because she knows you best.”

Sokka shakes his head. He really, truly has no idea what’s going on here. “What does this have to do with me?”

Zuko is quiet for a long time. Finally, he says with a small laugh, “You got it all mixed up, Sokka. I’m not interested in your sister. I’m interested in you.”

Sokka almost doesn’t believe that he’s hearing correctly. His heart is full of so many somethings, things like relief and shock and hope and desire and an overwhelming feeling of duh.

“Me?” he sputters, because he realizes that he hasn’t said anything yet, and Zuko is looking at him like he expects Sokka to slap him. “I—me?”

Zuko smiles wryly. “I know; I was surprised, too.”

For a moment, they just look at each other. Then they both start laughing, so awkwardly and so stupidly. They laugh so hard that Sokka’s stomach starts to hurt. They laugh so hard that they have to hold onto each other to catch their breath, and that’s when Sokka leans in.

It’s short and soft, an apology, a beginning. He tastes like fire and what they had for dinner, but Sokka doesn’t mind. When they kiss, it feels like something clicks inside of him.

Zuko pulls away first, guilt written all over his face. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was just afraid—I didn’t know how you’d—”

“No, no, I get it,” Sokka assures him. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t trust you, because I do, Zuko. I do.”

Zuko’s lips curl up into the faintest smile. “I wanted to ask Katara for her blessing. And then I just ended up coming to her for advice on how to...well. Court you, I guess.”

Sokka snorts. “Just be yourself. That’s enough for me. Just don’t go making me jealous.”

Zuko giggles—he actually straight-up giggles. Sokka thinks he could listen to it forever. “Jealous? Of who, Katara?”

“Well, yeah. I assumed you two had a thing.”

Zuko shrugs, his cheeks bright red. “I never said it was a good plan. But it worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

Sokka smiles to himself and laces his fingers with Zuko’s. His heart feels like it might take off and fly away at any moment. “Yeah,” he says softly. “I suppose it did.”

(Katara finds them kissing again a few minutes later, and the only thing she says is “Finally.”)

#atla #zukka #zuko #sokka #avatar: the last airbender #zuko x sokka #sokka x zuko #my fics #ITS HERE

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moonchildushine · 4 years

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Mind Over Flames

AO3

Thank you so much everyone for the support! Your likes and reblogs really keep me going but just the fact that you take the time to read what I write makes my day. I highly encourage everyone to leave feedback! Either way, thank you again. Happy reading c: I will be uploading the next chapter right away!

Fuse

Zuko / Fire Nation There was nothing Zuko could put attention to besides the hospital for the water tribe. Two months after their reunion in Ba Sing Se passed flying with all the preparations. Zuko was always surrounded by engineers and architects preparing everything closely. He also spent a lot of time with Bato. Katara sent him a month after with instructions and ideas. He was supposed to go back after a week, but Zuko asked him to stay and give his thoughts on the design. He wanted it to be appropriate for the water tribe.

In one week he was going with two cruisers to the South Pole. He knew Katara didn´t ask him to go personally, but he wanted to. After three years of being the Firelord Zuko did not have even one day for personal projects or even a vacation. Except for that one time Mai kidnaped him to get some alone time. The guards freaked out for a few hours.

He was in his study, as always, getting everything ready for the trip. Also checking some documents about war prisoners. The door then opened unceremoniously.

“Do I have to kidnap you again? I haven’t seen you in two days”. Mai stormed in. She had her characteristically annoyed face. “Not really,” Zuko smiled “hi Mai. I´m sorry, the hospital preparations have me busy”.

She came around the robust desk, leaned down, and cupped his cheek to kiss him on the lips. They remained there for a few seconds, enjoying the closeness.

“Why is it so important to you?” she asked and settled on the desk. “I owe them, after storming in chasing Aang, and all people my father and grandfather took from them”.

She remained silent. At first, she used to get angry or annoyed at all the people Zuko said he owed. But Mai eventually learned that it made him feel better, so there was no point fighting it.

“Alright just know I´m very annoyed that I cannot go. And that you need to repay me”. She got up and left. “As always”. ー He almost forgot how cold the wind was in the South Pole. The last time he sailed those waters he was a different man, with a very different purpose.

“Firelord Zuko we will be arriving in an hour to the Southern Water Tribe” informed him one of the guards. “Very well, make sure the filters for the towers are working well”. “Yes Firelord”. And the guard left. ー Katara / South Pole

“Katara! Fire Nation ships are coming!” yelled a little girl coming into her home.

Katara took the kid´s hand and they both went to the port. Two big Fire Nation cruisers were close to the shore. A small curious crowd gathered to receive the newcomers.

The ships soon docked, Katara left the girl with Gran Gran and she went to reunite with her father.

When the ramp lowered she was speechless. Coming down was no other than Zuko himself. Katara did not ask him to come, she in no way expected him to be there to help her out, yet there he was.

“You did not tell me Zuko, the Firelord, was coming” muttered Hakoda beside her. “I didn´t know” answered Katara. When Zuko finally reached the bottom he greeted his dad Water Tribe style. “It´s nice to see you again Chieftain Hakoda” “You too Firelord Zuko, we are grateful for your help. But please, just Hakoda”.

He then turned to Katara.

“Hello Katara” he smiled at her. She felt warm in her heart. He came across the world for her. “You didn´t have to come” she complained. “I know,” he sighed “but I owed you”.

She finally hugged him. And he hugged her back. They separated smiling. ㅡ Katara didn’t remember the last time she was as happy and excited as she was for the next two weeks. She and Zuko spent almost all day together. Supervising the construction, with both Water Tribe and Fire Nation workers.

Zuko, of course, went all the way out for the design. He brought special carved wooden pillars, and she would even have an office and a private healing room. Including her requested water rehabilitation pond. Special made beds, and three more rooms that she thought initially.

She almost forgot how it felt to spend so much time with a close-aged friend. After Ba Sing Se both Aang and Sokka stayed on the Earth Kingdom. And before that, she did not see them for almost six months.

Unfortunately, as it commonly happened in the South Pole, a blizzard covered the tribe for an ongoing three days.

Zuko and his people stayed in tents near the outsides of the tribe. The construction was halted and there was nothing to do but to stay inside until the storm passed.

On the fourth day, Katara got worried over Zuko. She knew he was alone in his tent, and being alone in a never-ending blizzard was terrible. So she gathered some furs and food and made the most effort with her bending to get though the raging wind and snow to make him some company.

When she arrived and passed through the entrance she was met with a warm room. Zuko was sitting on a pillow, using his bending to control the fire.

“Well I don’t even know why I was worried you’d get cold” joked Katara.

He turned back to see her, a smile as warm as the room they were in took form in his face.

“Hi Katara” “Hi Zuko” she smiled back “I brought some furs and food for you”. “Great I’ll make some tea”

He prepared the tea and she served and warmed the food. She bent her tea over to her cup and they both laughed.

“Oh wow,” she praised tasting the tea “your tea skills have greatly improved since the last time”. “Thank you. My Uncle wouldn´t let me become the Firelord if I did not make him a decent cup of tea”. “He was right, as always”. “As always”.

She looked around the tent, it seemed rather simple for Fire Nation royalty. A rug, some pillows, the little chimney, and a short table in which they were sitting on conjunct sides. Their elbows almost touching each other.

“So, mmm, how is your scar?” shyly asked Katara. “Oh,” Zuko looked at his chest “it is fine”. “Can I see?” Katara blushed realizing what she asked “I mean for medical reasons! I want to see if the method I applied for you helped at all. But is okay if you don’t want to” she finished looking away. “Okay,” he opened his robes enough to see the scar “you can look. It actually healed very well”.

Katara looked back at him, and down, just below his chest. The scarring actually did look very good. The lines were not harsh, it reduced in size and the color was almost the same as the rest of his skin.

“Those medicines helped so much” she lightly touched the scar “I´m glad”. Katara looked at Zuko. His amber eyes filled with and emotion she couldn’t interpret. “I can never thank you enough Katara” he held the hand that was touching his chest. One was cold, the other was warm. “Not only did you save me that day. You saved my nation Katara. Is a debt I will be paying the rest of my life”. “Zuko no,” she made sure he was looking at her in the eye “you saved me. You took that lighting for me. I would not have defeated Azula if it was not for you. Please, I don´t want your debt”.

The fire was slowly dying. But she did not get cold, he was warm enough. Both of them remained silent, only staring at each other. He tucked a strand lock of hair behind her ear. She cupped his scarred cheek. Without thinking of anything else, they approached each other, getting closer. Until finally, they fused. In a tingling shivering, heart-melting kiss. They could no longer feel their different body temperatures, for they were one. There was not a place when one started and another ended. Only warm touches.

A fire lit in both their hearts. One that was long due, and never to die. ― She felt lost and confused. Katara could not get herself to regret it. How could something that felt so good, so natural be wrong? She never found an answer. The storm ended and a letter from Aang arrived the next day, he was coming back and he promised he would stay for long. A choice needed to be made. News about her lover´s return soon spread, and she received excited comments from practically everyone she encountered. She loved Aang, there was no doubt about that. But she couldn´t ignore her feeling for Zuko. Katara finally realized what motivated her so much three years back. She could try to but her heart did not lie, there was more than friendship with Zuko, but was that enough? Was that kiss enough to leave everything she had built with Aang already?

Her answer came from two places. One was her father, he heard about Aang and came to give Katara a talk, about marriage. According to tradition, Katara was old enough. She did not think that was happening anytime soon. But her father looked so hopeful, and when he told her about how he and her mother got married it brought her to tears. The words stuck with her for many nights. You deserve good love Katara, safe, gentle, wise, equal. That was Aang for her.

Her second answer came from Zuko himself, indirectly. He did not talk with her, did not look for her. She knew he was probably as confused as her, and he had Mai to think about, just as she had Aang. Katara was not great friends with Mai, but just the thought of being the cause of someone else´s suffering strained her heart. No. She was not going to be that.

Two weeks later the day came. After a month of work, the hospital was almost done. The rest of the details were finished by the people in the tribe. Many things and gifts stayed at the tribe, and the rest was packed back to the cruisers. He never came to say goodbye to her. And she did not go to see them leave at the port. With the sound of the ships leaving Katara cried. She cried for the love that could never be.

And away in the chilled sea, Zuko cried. His love for the women who saved him in more ways than one could never see the light.

#zutaraweek2020 #zutara week #zutara #katara #prince zuko #fuse #mindoverflamesfanfic #ATLA #fanfic

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bollywood-and-phoenix-feather · 4 years

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manic hours opened yesterday and @just-another-trans-twink and I went on a 24-hour zukka lockdown. this was the result!

essentially: more sokka and azula content is absolutely necessary in this fandom, so here are five times sokka and azula collaborated for the better, and one time it was definitely for the worse

Read on AO3 above!

1. the gaang threatens murder

Sokka hadn’t felt this anxious in nearly six years – since the end of the war. Well, not counting the numerous attempts on his boyfriend’s life; those set him on edge for weeks afterwards. Today was different, though. It wasn’t just he and Zuko and the guards who were unusually tense and hyper-alert. The whole palace felt like it was holding its breath, terse silence stifling in the late summer air.

Sokka checked his timepiece. Thirty minutes until Azula arrived to move into the palace, hopefully (or unfortunately?) for good.

Zuko had been back in contact with his sister for years now. He’d been to visit her in the hospital many times, and she’d even visited the palace occasionally. The fact that she and Zuko could now hold a conversation without setting each other on fire was testament to how she’d changed. Even the doctors said she was better, more stable.

But Sokka still didn’t trust her - couldn’t trust her, after everything she’d done to Katara, Suki, his dad, Zuko… they were his family, and he had to be ready to protect them. Sokka wasn’t the only one that felt that way. Zuko might have started to trust her again, but everyone else was skeptical.

Katara was pissed; Sokka didn’t need Toph’s seismic sense to know that. She, Aang, Toph, Suki, and a few other Kyoshi warriors had arrived a few days ago for extra security. Zuko had stubbornly maintained that it was unnecessary, but he’d finally conceded it was probably a good idea after Sokka had asked them to come anyway.

Zuko, in his earnest quest to be a good brother, wanted to give Azula a proper welcome to the palace, with a small celebratory dinner with their closest friends - which were Zuko’s closest friends, since Azula didn’t really have those anymore. Ty Lee and Mai declined to come, and he was pretty sure everyone else had only agreed to come to provide moral support and physical protection for Zuko. Sokka was just hoping a fight wouldn’t break out.

Dinner was, well. Tense.

Katara did little but pick at her food and glare icy daggers at Azula, who pretended not to notice, acting coolly unperturbed by the tension around her. Suki looked relaxed, but Sokka knew better. Her fans sat on either side of her plate, ready for a fight, and she never quite shifted her weight to the back of her seat. Toph might have been the only one actually having a good time, irreverently picking her nails and drinking more sake than a person her size should have been able to.

Aang was desperately trying to ease the mood, chattering on far too cheerfully about new trade routes between the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe, while Zuko passively nodded along, glancing over at his sister occasionally like he wanted to talk to her.

“... so then, shipments will move primarily between Akahime, Kyoshi Island, and the Southern Water Tribe, like they did when I was a kid! Or was a kid for the first time, I guess! Huh. Anyway! This is gonna be great because it’s a relatively short and easy trade route but the quality of goods -”

“Aang,” Sokka snapped, physically unable to listen any longer. “I love you like a brother, but that does mean that if I have to listen to you recite the trade proposal that I helped write for any longer, I will shave your eyebrows off while you sleep. And Katara -” Sokka whirled on her - “I know you’re upset, but can you please return my water to a liquid state? And everyone else’s, for that matter? Otherwise someone’s gonna have to deal with a hungover Toph tomorrow, and it sure as hell isn’t gonna be me!”

Sokka glared at his sister across the table. Her face was stony, her eyes slightly narrowed. Was this going to end well for Sokka? No. Did that mean he was going to back down? Absolutely not.

“Fine,” Katara muttered through gritted teeth. With a twitch of her fingers, the ice filling everyone’s cups of water melted back to liquid - all except Sokka’s.

“Real fucking mature, Katara - ” he began, and then she flicked her fingers out towards him, melting the water in his cup and sending it right at his face.

“You little shit!” Sokka shrieked in what he was sure was a very, very manly tone. As he rose to confront his sister, Zuko and Suki turned to exchange a fond look, both of them struggling to hide their laughter. Sokka took a breath, feigning sincerity. “You know what? I take it back. You’re ALL a bunch of assholes.” He yanked the tablecloth towards him, sending food and drink flying, before attempting to make a hasty escape.

Chaos erupted. Katara bent the water off herself and onto Zuko, apparently declaring him guilty by association. Toph began shooting grape-oranges at people with alarming precision, while Suki deflected them just as easily. Sokka didn’t get more than a few steps away from the table before his feet were earthbent into the floor.

“You’re not going anywhere, Snoozles!” Toph bellowed, now pelting him with various fruits. He tried to dodge without falling on his face, and was only saved by Zuko grabbing both his arms to keep him balanced. Sokka looked up to see Zuko with a wide grin on his face, and Sokka, hopelessly-in-love bisexual that he was, had barely started his usual inner monologue about how beautiful Zuko’s smile was when Zuko leaned in to smear egg custard on his face.

Just as Sokka opened his mouth to voice his betrayal, another shrill scream split the room: “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Everyone turned to see Azula standing in the corner of the room, irate, steaming the water off her shirt and picking a few stray noodles out of her hair. “I lost to you?! You?”

Tense silence returned, dragging on as everyone tried to anticipate Azula’s next move.

Toph, who had remained unscathed by using the metal plates as shields, and who was somehow still sipping from a full, intact glass of sake, broke the silence. “Yep,” she said, popping the “p”.

Azula stared at Toph for a few moments before sitting down, a look of resignation on her face. Hm. That was new. So was the “Whatever,” Sokka thought he heard her mutter under her breath.

Slowly, everyone returned to the table to pick at what was left of their food and exchange uneasy glances with one another.

Aang cleared his throat. “Did anyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely.”

“I’m going to bed. Are you coming?” Zuko’s hands rested lightly on Sokka’s shoulders, and Sokka sleepily tipped his head back, away from the scroll he was reading, for a kiss. Zuko smirked, a few strands of hair that had escaped his topknot softly framing his face, and obliged.

“I’ll be there soon, okay? I just have a couple more things to take care of,” Sokka murmured in response. As usual, they were up late working in their study. (Technically, it was Zuko’s study, but Sokka almost always worked in here and was steadily covering any available flat surface with his scrolls, reference books, and blueprints. Not that Zuko was complaining.)

Zuko hummed, “Okay, love you,” against Sokka’s lips, before striding out of the room. Sokka waited until his footsteps had faded down the hall before rising, hoping he remembered the way to Azula’s room. He really didn’t want to ask for directions.

A few minutes and wrong turns later, he found Azula. She yanked open her door before he had really finished knocking, snapping an acidic “What?” in his face.

Sokka shouldered his way inside, closing the door behind him and choosing to ignore the fact that she could fry him like a pig-chicken in an instant if she decided it was worth it. He couldn’t think about that right now; he had to do this.

“Listen,” he growled, not bothering to hide the years of hurt and anger behind his voice. “I don’t know if you’re actually better or if this is part of some elaborate scheme of yours, and you know what? Right now, I don’t really care. You’ve hurt too many of the people I love. But you have Zuko convinced, and I guess -” His voice cracked, and he took a breath, trying not to wince visibly. “I guess that’s all that matters right now. He cares about you. A lot. So if you hurt him again, know this: consequences be damned, ending you will be my sole mission. Understand?”

Azula, level and unflinching, arms crossed over her chest, held his gaze for a long moment before huffing and breaking eye contact to inspect her nails. “Bold of you to assume I can be killed, Water Tribe.”

Sokka could only continue to stare, gritting his teeth to prevent his mouth from drifting open in astonishment. The fuck kind of response was that? What did that even mean?

Apparently satisfied with her nails, she turned her face back up to look at Sokka, a new, hard glint in her eyes. “Don’t worry about me. The threat is mutual. Guards!” A royal guard stepped through the door, standing at attention. “Please escort Ambassador Sokka out. I need my beauty sleep.”

And before Sokka could even begin to form a response, the door was closing behind him, and his feet were guiding him to Zuko’s chambers.

2. the gaang goes crafting

Sokka placed two thumbs on his temples, rubbing vigorously before giving up his headache for a lost cause with a sigh. This was the second Four-Nation (well, three-nation plus Aang) diplomatic council meeting he had attended, and as both the Southern Water Tribe representative and a young man who had seen far too much over the past few years, he was deeply frustrated.

When he'd been younger, he'd sat through enough war meetings to know how they usually went: chaos and argument, with Hakoda listening carefully before picking out the bits and pieces that mattered. It was a lot like hunting: waiting and watching for the correct moment to strike. Sokka had learned long ago how to listen, and listen well.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he might be the only one. The Earth Kingdom generals had not taken kindly to being placed in a small room with their Fire Nation counterparts, and every word out of their mouths demonstrated all too clearly that the war, for them, was not yet over. Zuko's position was still precarious - twice-banished and once-crowned - and so he could only do so much. The Earth King's travels had clearly done him some good, but the bar for improvement was unbelievably low. And Sokka did not yet have his dad's ability to command the room.

So this wasn't, at all, like hunting. It might actually be more like the moment after the hunting was over, when the offal was thrown to the polar bear dogs and they went wild, howling and yelling and stomping down the snow.

"I know that face," came a snide voice to his left.

Sokka jumped and drew his sword, mostly on instinct. Azula met his eyes over its point, and then pushed it away, lazily. Sokka let her.

"You're thinking," she said. "If you were my brother, I would say it was a rare feat. But you're not him, are you?"

Like everything Azula said, this question was a test, or a game, or both. Sokka rolled his eyes and chose not to play. "What do you want?"

"I want what you want," said Azula. "And I can help you get it."

Spirits. Even when she was trying to help you, she sounded like she was planning world domination. "Tell me how to get General Wu to shut up for more than five minutes, and then we can talk."

Azula examined her nails. They were much shorter, now, than they had been at the start of the war, so the effect was less like a predator picking its claws, and more girlish; it made her look her age, for once. Sokka wasn't sure if Azula knew, and if not, he certainly wasn't going to tell her.

"General Wu's daughter is studying at the Royal Fire Nation Academy, in her third summer. That means she's currently memorizing the fifty-eight rhetorical principles, and she's probably been practicing them so much that he can recite them by rote. If you bring up the one about the value of being concise - "

"He will finish it, embarrass himself, and then keep quiet for at least the next five minutes so that I can shut down his stupid air-balloon outreach plan." Sokka blinked, surprised at the words coming out of his own mouth. "Did I just agree with you?"

"Of course you did," said Azula, smiling. Her palm was sparking a little, in the way it did before she said something about collective power for utter domination, etc., so Sokka took the opportunity to head her off early.

"Come back to the library with me," he said. "We still have nine generals to go."

Azula looked at him. Sokka looked right back. He had the upper hand here, and he knew it - Azula must have been bored out of her mind after months nothing interesting to do but watch the path of the odd frog-fly. As far as Sokka knew, she wasn't even allowed out of this wing of the palace unattended, let alone permitted to read anything more recent than her great-grandfather’s time.

"Fine," said Azula, finally, feigning boredom. Sokka smiled.

Zuko stared. "What is this?"

"What does it look like?" said two voices at once. Sokka and Azula looked at each other in brief, honest shock, before turning back to him as one. Zuko swallowed nervously and resisted the urge to draw his swords.

"Um. It looks like the librarian is gonna be mad at you for defacing the general's royal portraits," said Zuko.

"What did I tell you?" said Azula, scornful. "I knew he wouldn't understand."

"We just have to give him a minute," said Sokka, patiently. Zuko stared. We? he mouthed.

"Oh, well, let him be," said Azula. "Zuzu - " she began, sweetly, and Zuko didn't even flinch this time - "you take all the time you need. If you have questions, we will be in my chambers."

"In your chambers," agreed Zuko, haplessly. "Why?"

"We're finishing the border agreement," Sokka threw over his shoulder. Azula was already halfway down the hall.

"The border agreement. The one that - they've been working on that for months! What do you mean you're finishing it?"

"Oh, you know, teamwork and whatever. It wasn't that hard." Sokka grinned brightly at Zuko, giving him a large thumbs up, and then skipped after Azula.

3. the gaang does science

As much as Zuko was unnerved by the...alliance? working relationship? collaboration? between Sokka and Azula, he had to admit that they were making great progress. They had resolved the border agreement, a messy affair Zuko was sure would take the rest of the year and possibly also Aang’s moderation to conclude, in less than a week.

That had been months ago, and since, they had gotten everything from education reform bills to reparations proposals approved by the council and various world leaders. Sometimes Zuko wondered who was really running the country right now. He didn’t mind, though. It was fun to watch the dusty old men on his advisory council squirm in meetings when Azula sat in the corner, staring them down and taking meticulous notes.

Plus, he got more sleep this way.

Zuko rose and stretched after signing off the Power Duo’s latest proposal for terracing the mountainside of a nearby village to grow rice. Dismissing his constant internal struggle over whether their partnership should make him thankful or fearful for his safety, he went to find Sokka. He got more time to eat in places that weren’t his study now, too. He’d thought a surprise picnic by the turtleduck pond might be nice; it’d been so long since he and Sokka had been able to go on an actual date.

He’d already asked for a blanket and a basket of food to be sent over to the pond, so all he had to do was find Sokka, who…wasn’t in his office. Zuko frowned; he must be outside.

Zuko headed towards the courtyard behind the building instead, lost in thought about their last date - Sokka had talked him into seeing The Ember Island Players’ most recent atrocity, which had lived up to Zuko’s rock-bottom expectations, but they’d gone swimming afterwards, and then -

Zuko’s train of thought (and the accompanying flush in his cheeks) was cut off abruptly by the truly alarming sight greeting him in the courtyard.

Azula was elaborately strapped and tied to Sokka’s back like a baby hog monkey, her arms falling in front of his shoulders to tighten a couple last straps. Both were wearing large, ridiculous, leather-framed goggles that fit snugly around their eyes. As Azula worked with the straps, Sokka unfurled two triangular pieces of cloth that bore suspicious similarity to the wings of Aang’s glider. The bottom part of the cloth appeared to be attached to his boots, the top edge to his arms.

Before Zuko could even say, What the fuck, Sokka? , Sokka grinned over his shoulder at Azula and said with far too much vigor, “Ready?”

Azula, clearly still focused on the straps, snapped, “I’m always ready. Are you sure this will work?”

“No, but there’s only one way to find out! That’s science! Sokka-POW!” And with that, Azula lit a massive flame under her feet, sending them both flying above the roof of the palace. Immediately, despite Sokka’s best efforts with the cloth flaps, they careened wildly out of control before plummeting directly into the roof of the residential hall on the opposite side of the courtyard.

As he sprinted towards them, calling for his guards to send a healer, he could think only two thoughts: (1) spirits, please let them be okay, and (2) if they’re not dead, I’m going to kill them.

Crashing through the door of the building, he found Sokka and Azula on the (very charred) floor, a few small fires surrounding them, which he snuffed out with a wave of his hand. The two were still mostly strapped together, Sokka rolling around on the floor in an attempt to dislodge Azula, while she tried to undo the straps at Sokka’s front with mixed success.

Zuko unsheathed one of the daggers at his waist and willed himself not to breathe fire as he launched into a tirade that bald-ponytail, sixteen-year-old Zuko would have been proud of. “What the fuck were you two thinking! Are you stupid? Don’t answer that, smartass,” He glared pointedly at Sokka while he sliced his way through their bindings. “What would I have done if something happened to either of you? There’d be a fucking diplomatic crisis, I’d have a dead ambassador and a dead sister and a very, very angry Southern Water Tribe -”

“In my defense,” Sokka muttered hoarsely, head lolling back onto the floor, “my dad would definitely believe you if you told him that I did something like this.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” He sheathed his dagger and whirled on his sister. “Azula,” he pleaded, “why?”

She shrugged, and offered only, “Science.” A smirk spread over her face, splitting streaks of soot. “Maybe if you’d let me read a book published in the last two hundred years, then I’d know it was a bad idea.”

Zuko’s imminent death threat was cut off by Sokka’s chuckling from the floor. “Nice one, ‘Zula. Up top.” He raised his hand weakly for Azula to give him a high five.

I can’t believe I’m in love with this concussed idiot, Zuko thought (not for the first time). Healers rushed in to save the two from Zuko’s remaining wrath. “I’m telling Katara,” Zuko muttered.

“Nooooo, babyyy, please don’t tell Katara, she’ll -”

“I’m telling Katara, mostly because you deserve to be yelled at by someone else, but also because she and Aang get here in a week, and I don’t know how else I’m going to explain why it looks like a comet crashed into the palace. And, you know what? Royal decree - you two are not allowed to hang out unsupervised any more.”

Azula glared at him - less her old I’m-going-to-mount-your-head-on-the-palace-gates glare and more the usual your-existence-tires-me glare that he saw pass between Sokka and Katara so often. That was better, though, and Zuko decided that he would take it. Sokka just pouted, jutting out his bottom lip and batting his eyelashes. Zuko found this look cuter than he should, and Sokka knew it.

Zuko steeled his resolve. “I’m telling Katara, and I’m not going to stop giving you shit about this until we’re approximately eighty, okay? But you can read whatever you want in the library. Happy?”

The Power Duo cheered, and Zuko couldn’t hold back a soft smile.

4. the gaang hoards the brain cells

Maybe it was a lifetime of being the oldest sibling and also the responsible sibling, or maybe it was just because he had grown up around Katara, but despite all appearances to the contrary (see: the as-yet unrepaired roof of the residential hall) Sokka was actually a great influence on Azula.

Part of this was definitely due to the fact that Azula, like, listened to him. Sokka wasn't sure that he'd ever been around someone who did what he said without question. Zuko supported him, but in a boyfriend kind of way; sometimes Sokka would jump in with a plan fully formed, and then Zuko would make him explain it back and work out the kinks; other times - and especially in fights - by the time Sokka had come up with a workable plan, Zuko was already in the middle of it, flaming-feet first, and Sokka had to improvise (brilliantly, but desperately) to keep up.

Katara, conversely, never actually listened to him. She just did what she wanted. If what she wanted happened to line up with Sokka's exact plan, she would never admit it. It was her right, really, as a younger sibling; Sokka knew this, and he loved her.

But Azula understood his plans almost before he said them out loud - most of the time because she was thinking the same thing. And somehow, out of everyone - she respected him the most; sometimes Sokka felt like she was trying to earn his approval, like she knew that if Sokka trusted her, so would Katara, and even Zuko. If she was a sail, Sokka was just a rudder, steering her: they didn't have to be pointing the same direction, but their boat would never crash.

Sokka frowned, trying to imagine himself as a boat. Would his wolf-tail be the rudder? Or would his whole body just be triangle-shaped?

It didn't matter. (It did. He would figure it out later.) Right now, he needed to talk to her about some of the villages at the southern border; heavy rains had induced mudslides, wiping out shrines and causing the spirits to run amok. Sokka thought that maybe, this village might be a kind of Heroism Starter Pack for Azula, that they could - what was that noise?

Sokka looked down. The castle floor should not be splashing his feet, and yet it was; he was standing in a giant puddle. He looked up, suddenly focused; there was a trail of muddy water making its way down the hall.

Sokka followed it. The water grew muddier and deeper as he went, and Sokka despaired for whoever would have to clean it up. Finally, he caught up to the source: his very bedraggled sister, and his equally soaked boyfriend, trudging toward the baths.

"Um," said Sokka. "What's happening, here?"

Katara turned around. "Well, someone had to do it." Her hands were on her hips, her nose upturned.

"Yeah," agreed Zuko, smiling. "We took care of it. It was fun."

Don't get him wrong - Sokka was all for Zuko's little smiles, and Zuko having fun, but - "Take care of what? What did you do?"

Zuko and Katara scowled, eerily identical. "What we did," Katara said, edging from 'self-satisfied' to 'fiercely righteous', "was settle the spirits and save the villagers, since obviously the Earth kingdom civil forces don't have the bending knowledge to do it yet!"

"Yeah, like I said," said Zuko. He was frowning like a kicked puppy, which was unfair to Sokka specifically. "We took care of it."

"Oh," said Sokka, relaxing. "That's great! So you guys talked to the villagers?"

"Um," said Zuko. "About what?"

"...the mudslides. And, like, preventing them? The tiered rock formations?"

Zuko stared at him, a little furrow forming between his eyebrows which meant he was totally lost. Katara avoided his gaze, shifting from foot to foot.

"Katara," said Sokka, using his absolute best big brother voice, "remember my designs? Which I told you about last week?"

"Look, Sokka," said Katara, gently. Sokka frowned and crossed his arms; Katara had not been able to fool him with that voice since she was about ten years old, and she knew it. "We solved the problem. The spirits are settled and everything is okay now! Your designs were great, but we just...didn't need them?"

Sokka stared her down; Katara stared back.

"If you're going to -" "Well, what exactly was your - " they began, at the same time, and Zuko sighed; before they could really get into it, a rush of heat interrupted them, shrinking the puddles on the floor to sad little piles of dirt, and blowing Katara's hair dramatically into her face. Sokka stifled a laugh.

"I think the real question is, what did you actually do?" Azula asked, appearing from the shadows. She was holding Zuko's Blue Spirit mask, which was dripping with mud.

"Dramatic entrance high-five," said Sokka, because she deserved it, and because she was going to be on his side. Azula obliged, and then raised an eyebrow to Katara and Zuko, who reminded Sokka a bit of blow-dried cat-herons.

"We're not dumb," said Katara, smoothing down her robes. "We entered the village in disguise, and then cleared the mud and repaired the shrines. The spirits calmed down pretty quickly after everything was fixed."

"Right," said Azula. "Until the next time it rains. You know, what might have worked better would be to educate the villagers about flood barriers, or perhaps even offer them assistance in moving their shrines."

She sounded about as scornful and sarcastic as usual, but Sokka knew better; her ideas were legitimate and compassionate. He was so proud. Their murder baby was all grown up and trying to save people.

Katara did not pick up on the fact that Sokka was swelling like a pig-chicken about to crow. "You don't know that - "

"What we do know," interrupted Sokka bossily, "is that at some point it's going to rain again, and then the villagers are going to sit and pray to the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady instead of building these custom-designed flood barriers on the mountain."

Zuko shuffled his feet. "I didn't really think about that."

"Zuko, I love you," said Sokka. "but in my humble opinion? No, you did not."

"I don't agree," began Katara, but Azula cut her off. "I do. I feel the same way Sokka does."

Zuko stared at her, like he was desperately trying not to ask: about what? But Azula was biting her lip and kind of looked like she was about to break into hives, so Sokka let her have this one.

"Here," he said, thrusting his plans into Katara's arms. "I support the fact that you guys got to do your dramatic spirit thing, but now please go back and give them my plans."

Azula brought two fingers up to her nose, showily. "And do take a bath, please. I doubt the villagers will appreciate your particular stench.”

5. the gaang plans a proposal

“...and that’s why you can’t trust General Yin, but you can use him to gain influence with Ambassador Xi and her supporters,” Azula finished, emphatically pointing at a few points on the elaborate web of papers tacked up on the wall of Sokka’s quarters. It’s not like he’s slept in there in years, anyway.

Zuko’s bed is much nicer. Because it has Zuko in it.

Sokka jotted down a few notes from Azula’s monologue, absentmindedly passing her their (stolen) bowl of noodles. He dropped his pen and rubbed his eyes. On to more important work. “So,” he said. “I’m proposing to Zuko. Wanna help?”

Azula met his eyes and stared him down. Sokka waggled his eyebrows, smile as big as his face.

“You’re serious,” she realized.

“Of course I am! It’s the biggest tactical challenge of the century, because Zuko is the most suspicious guy we know and he absolutely cannot suspect.” Sokka tossed her a scroll. It was long - and detailed. “What do you say?”

“With my help, this will be the best proposal ever made. Together, you and I are unbeatable!”

“Cool beans,” said Sokka. “Plan over breakfast tomorrow?”

Zuko stared at Katara. Katara stared at Zuko.

“Okay, so. I love your brother.”

“Obviously.”

Zuko shifted in his seat; his tea was untouched. “No, I mean. I really love your brother. He’s - the love of my life.”

Katara narrowly resisted the urge to say: if you love him so much, why don’t you marry him? Then, abruptly, she got the point.

“Are you asking for my blessing?”

“No,” said Zuko, and in response to Katara’s murderous glare, backtracked immediately. “Yes? I mean. I already asked Chief Hakoda.”

“Oh,” said Katara. Then, more gently, and possibly because she was worried Zuko might pass out, she asked, “What do you need my help with?”

“Planning,” he said, letting out a breath. “I want to propose and do it right, but Sokka’s the plan guy. Everyone knows that. And I thought, that since you know him, you could - “ He cuts himself off. “Forget it. It was a dumb idea anyway.”

Katara wills him to meet her eyes, because she is completely certain that they are actually sparkling. “Zuko,” she says, hand to her heart. “I would be honored.”

“Hello, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. Your boyfriend, Zuko, here. Well, you probably know me because of...all the time we spend together. You know, dates and other things. Like meetings - “

Sokka’s hand was suddenly on his forehead. “Zuko, babe, are you feeling all right?”

In short succession, Sokka examined his eyes, ears, and tongue, and took his pulse (ripping his robes open to do so). Zuko flushed, which just seemed to make Sokka more concerned.

“Sokka!” he growled. “I’m fine. Everything is fine. And also normal. Fine and normal.”

“Of course!” said Sokka, laughing a little maniacally. Maybe he was spending too much time with Azula. “Fine and normal. Why wouldn’t it be?” He laughed again.

“Uh, guys,” said Toph. “Are you two okay?”

Zuko blinked, and came back to himself. In front of him were ten to fifteen very important diplomats, and all of his best friends. He was in public, at dinner. And his robes were ripped wide open.

Sokka was suddenly jerked back in his chair, presumably by Azula. His eye twitched. “Nothing to see here, Toph! Look! I’ve finished my dinner!”

Toph frowned. “You haven’t, and I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Fine, I’m not hungry!” Sokka declared. “What are you, a cop?” His eye twitched again. “I have to go now, for unrelated reasons. To, uh, review some paperwork. Bye!”

He was gone so fast Zuko was pretty sure he left a little dust cloud behind. Toph looked nonplussed. “But,” she said, “I am a cop.”

Katara reached over to help Zuko straighten his robes, giving him a sympathetic look. He felt Suki’s glare from across the room. When he and Sokka had started dating she’d threatened to - quote - remove his entire spine from his body by way of his mouth if Zuko broke Sokka’s heart, and with the way Zuko was acting right now…he couldn’t blame her for being suspicious.

Katara followed his gaze. “Hey, Zuko,” she said, brightly. “Didn’t you have that - thing?”

“What thing?” said Zuko. Oh, god. He had forgotten something, hadn’t he? He -

Katara pinched his arm, hard. “You know. That thing. That you had to do in your chambers?”

He couldn’t lose face any more than he already had. “Of course, Katara,” he said. “I will go now to do that thing.” Zuko stood up and retreated with dignity, praying that whatever it was, he would remember when he got there.

The table was quiet in their absence. The diplomats - who seemed to be inured to this sort of thing - soon began chatting peacefully, or placating Aang, who had helpfully pulled out his usual marble trick.

Azula watched Katara steadily over the table; Katara refused to meet her eye. “What,” Katara said, finally. “Is there something on my face?”

Azula leaned forward, bangs shadowing her face. “Tell me everything you know.”

“About what?”

“You know what!” Azula snapped. “Is my brother planning to propose?”

Katara shifted in her seat. “Unlike you,” she began, haughtily, “I know when to retreat. So, fine. I will tell you some of the things I know.”

“Where,” Azula demanded, “and when?”

“Princess, Sparky,” Toph said, irritated. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter whether you know, because those two dumbasses haven’t figured it out!”

This brought the table to a halt. Even Aang stopped his marble, because it was true: Sokka and Zuko might together be the force that had liberated Boiling Rock, but when it came to each other? That famed intellect went sailing out the window.

Katara deflated, laying her head on the table. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, don’t we?”

Azula reached out and, wonder of wonders, patted her arm with something close to sympathy. “Might as well get started.”

Zuko paced his chambers restlessly. What had he forgotten? Oh god, was it something related to the proposal? His hands flew to a fold in his robes, finding the necklace he’d engraved for Sokka - a smooth, deep blue leather band with a perfect moonstone pendant, which Zuko had engraved with a dragon and a wolf, nested together in a loving embrace. He sighed in relief.

Spirits, Zuko was so in love with him. He was desperately trying not to fuck up this proposal, but it seemed he was fucking up the not fucking up and -

He needed to take a walk and clear his head. He could almost hear his uncle sagely murmuring, “You rarely find answers in a crowded mind, Nephew.” Or something like that. Zuko made his way from his and Sokka’s room to the turtleduck pond. It seemed he was usually able to find answers there; it reminded him of his mom.

Approaching the pond, he saw a familiar figure sitting at the base of the cherry tree, already starting to bloom. Sokka seemed lost in thought, staring down at something in his lap, but jerked to attention once he heard the rustle of Zuko’s boots against the grass.

Zuko sat down next to his partner, nerves momentarily overshadowed by the sweet, peaceful movement of wind through the branches of the cherry tree and his abundant love for the man sitting next to him. Zuko reached up to brush a stray blossom from Sokka’s wolf tail, cradled his face to run a thumb over his cheekbone. “Hi,” Zuko murmured, gently pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry.”

Sokka pulled back slightly, face contorted in confusion. “For what? I’m the one that should be apologizing. Zuko, I -”

“Apologize? For what? I’m the one who acted like an absolute ass. Ugh, spirits, ‘Zuko here,’ what was I thinking,” He dropped Sokka’s gaze, his hands drifting towards his lap, getting painfully frustrated once again. “And then I just - I couldn’t - fuck!” Zuko was interrupted by Sokka’s hands grabbing his hips and pulling him onto Sokka’s lap, and by Sokka’s lips meeting his.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Sokka murmured in between tender kisses, and his lips were soft and warm and everything Zuko wanted right now and for the rest of his life, and if he had to keep this a secret anymore, Zuko thought he might literally die.

Zuko pulled away, just enough to look Sokka in the eyes. “Marry me,” Zuko breathed. “Please, Sokka. I love you so much, and I don’t know where I’d be without you, and I - I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Zuko only realized he was crying when Sokka ran his thumb under Zuko’s good eye, brushing away tears while Zuko fumbled in his robe for the necklace.

At the sight of the necklace, tears began to spill from Sokka’s eyes, too. “Zuko… it’s beautiful, I - yes. Zuko, yes.” Zuko released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, and they were kissing again, and then all of a sudden, they weren’t, because Sokka, the absolute fucker, was laughing uncontrollably.

Zuko immediately began imagining worst-case scenarios. What if he didn’t mean it? What if the past five years with him have been some extremely elaborate prank, and -

Sokka, noticing his now-fiance’s abrupt silence, attempted to quash his laughter and held Zuko’s hands - still clutching the engagement necklace - in his own. “Zuko, love, hey, look at me. I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because, well…” He pulled a small pouch from one of his pockets and opened it to reveal two delicately engraved golden bracelets, traditional Fire Nation engagement gifts. One held the image of a dragon; the other, a beautiful motif of waves crashing against a shore. They glinted warmly in the moonlight alongside the pendant of the engagement necklace. “I’m laughing because I had the same idea, I guess. I love you so much, and I want a life with you. Will you help me put this on?”

Zuko first let Sokka slide the bracelets over each of his wrists, then lifted his hands, shaking slightly, but steadied by Sokka’s warm touch, to clasp the necklace behind his neck. The tension bled out of Zuko, and he melted into Sokka, pushing him to the ground and kissing him senseless, from his mouth to the stone now resting at the base of his throat.

Sokka started laughing again, and Zuko joined in, overjoyed at the beauty and the absurdity of it all, at how lucky and in love he was.

6. the gaang commits arson

Librarian Hirai had been working at the royal palace since before Firelord Zuko had been crowned, going on forty years, now. His vast experience hadn’t prepared him for everything, certainly; the time with five Kyoshi warriors and a badgermole had been unprecedented, and he wasn’t sure he was going to lift the ban on platypus-bears in the palace anytime soon.

Hirai’s experience, however, had prepared him for this: the Fire Nation’s most formidable duo, Ambassador Sokka and Her Highness Azula, together, with access to children.

Hirai did not know the children’s names. He classified them solely on their capacity to irritate him; the only name he knew was that of the youngest, Tenzin, because the sweet child had never caused him any trouble. Naturally, Tenzin was to be found nowhere near this unholy gathering: instead, Hirai saw the bouncy one (liable to cause things to fall over), the Princess (insolent, with her fathers shamelessly wrapped around her finger), and the Teenager (arms always crossed, eyes forever rolling).

Her Highness Azula’s hand was alight with blue fire. To the courtyard and everyone within earshot, she was saying: “If you want to burn it, just go ahead. Everything important, your uncle or I have memorized.”

Hirai stopped listening, in an effort to avoid a coronary and possibly death. There was a protocol. Everything would be fine.

He moved methodically, double checking fire suppressant stations and tightening the seal on the vacuum chambers holding the oldest scrolls. He closed every entrance except the main one, and he stood guard outside of it.

This was not a long process; their royal Highnesses were still gathered like a storm cloud in the courtyard. A particularly loud storm cloud. Hirai had weathered storms before.

The ground rumbled, slightly. Republic City Chief of Police, Toph Beifong, emerged from it, and dusted herself off.

“You know,” she said conversationally, “arson is illegal. I can have you arrested for that.”

Hirai relaxed, infinitesimally. Beifong was known to be tough and fair; perhaps, after so many years, the spirits had thought to grant him an ally.

“So,” said Toph, rubbing her palms together. “Today, I’m going to teach you how not to get caught.”

It was interesting: Hirai had never before actually lent weight to the expression that one’s life could flash before their eyes. In that moment, swaying slightly where he stood, he was forced to concede that there might have been some truth to it after all.

He turned around, very calmly, and made his way to his desk. He groped vaguely for some parchment and ink, and in precise lettering dictated his resignation from the palace staff, effective immediately.

Somewhere out in the courtyard, their Highnesses’ Uncle Sokka and Aunt Azula high-fived.

#fic #my fic #zukka #atla

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jaxsteamblog · 4 years

Text

Clueless

Click here to read the full fic on AO3

After leaving the shop, Katara went home to change and talk to her father. Apparently, Thuy’s debut was going to be a very large ordeal. As she was born in the swamp, she symbolized a partnership between the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe. Historically, such a relationship had been impossible as many of the closest Earth Kingdom city-states feared any growing power among the ice bound tribes.

The idea of inviting the Avatar’s descendants came out of the Fire Nation. The only times when they got together were for various Avatar related holidays, and those visits were strained during the war. The records only went as far back as Yangchen and Kuruk never had children, but there were hundreds of years between Kyoshi’s daughter Koko and family trees blurred quickly. But with this strong connection between Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe, the Fire Nation was keen on reestablishing these familial bonds.

Bonds Katara had no idea about. It’s not like she was related to the Avatar.

Sitting on her couch, Katara pulled up the mini series on the Avatars on Webflicks. Starting the episode on Avatar Roku, she fast forwarded to the end.

His only living descendants were Zuko and Azula.

That surprised Katara but, as Tenzin narrated the episode, she found that their connection to Avatar Roku was through their mother. She was an only child, born of the only child Roku had. And she had disappeared halfway through the war.

Flipping to the next episode, Katara watched a bit about Avatar Aang. Tenzin, with more emotion in his voice as he spoke about his late father than the previous Avatars, explained how Roku’s death is what allowed for the conflict between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom to begin.

Roku, having been close to Fire Lord Sozin all of his life, had defused a lot. While attempting to stop a volcanic eruption, both the Avatar and the Fire Lord perished. Aang was raised during a time of turmoil as Fire Lord Azulon sought to fill his father’s throne, but was isolated in part due to being an Air Nomad.

The back and forth between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom went on for the Avatar’s lifetime. It was only because of his intervention that it didn’t escalate.

Ultimately, Avatar Aang had a family. His eldest son Bumi left the monastic order and founded the secular Urban Dust, his daughter Yangzom became the youngest spiritual sage of her time, and his youngest son Tenzin became a revered historian. All of them Airbenders, they scattered across the world and, in a moment of unintentional hilarity, not even Tenzin could figure out who had children and where. His older siblings having passed on, only his children were the official descendants of Avatar Aang.

Katara chuckled as she saw a shot of Rohan in their Airbender robes and with a shaved head. They looked happy standing with their family. Her smile fading, Katara clicked back an episode to see the shot of Zuko with his. He didn’t look nearly as happy. Or really, he didn’t look happy at all.

With a sigh, Katara switched off her TV and got up. She would probably have to sit and watch the whole series, if for nothing else than to give her even the slightest bit of knowledge about the current global climate. It might help to know more about Thuy as well, if they were going to be working together when Katara became queen.

Katara shuddered and headed for the door.

Rohan met her in a park and Katara looked around as she got there. It was still early in the evening and, with the summer solstice behind them, the sunset made the world rosy. Rohan sat on a low cement wall, overlooking an outdoor amphitheater with their glider folded up next to them.

“So, do any air deliveries today?” Katara asked, eyeing the glider. Rohan laughed and rubbed the back of their head.

“Nah. Unfortunately, I was on time for everything today.” They replied.

“You know, I’m curious, why is it that the Avatar’s grandchild is a delivery person?” Katara questioned.

“Well, since an Avatar is born every generation, it’d get pretty expensive to keep their kids living in the lap of luxury.” Rohan said and Katara shrugged. “And grandpa certainly blew through any niceties when he had three times as many kids as the last three Avatars combined.”

“And then your dad having four!” Katara added as she sat down next to them. “The audacity!”

Rohan chuckled and they both looked down the overgrown slope. Children jumped from one spot of exposed rock to another and shrieked with delight. It was a gentle scene as the day was ending and the air was finally cooling.

“It’s nice having a big family. It’ll be nicer once Jinora has her kid.” Rohan tilted their head and looked over at Katara. “Do you and Sokka get along?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?” Katara leaned back, putting her hands on the warmed stone.

“You look sad.” Rohan said bluntly. Katara felt the blush and she turned her face.

“It’s just Sokka and I. And our dad.” She added hurriedly.

“I think we were lucky, all of the Air Nomads. Our temples are so hard to reach, we were really protected.” Rohan said. “Except for Uncle Bumi, but Pop said that he got to play Sky Pirates and fight the Fire Nation, which the monks wouldn’t’ve let him do.”

“It’s funny how there will always be pirates. Waterbenders were the pirate kings but got wiped out during the war.” Katara said and then sighed. “A lot of Waterbenders got wiped out in the war.”

“But you’re still here.” Rohan said, putting their hand on hers. “And the Avatar has been found with a whole stash of lost Waterbenders!”

Katara laughed and sat up, sliding her hand from under Rohan’s. “You’re right.”

Standing up, she held onto the strap of her purse with both hands. “Ready to go?”

“Yup!” Rohan said, jumping up. They took their glider up and spun it, stamping it down on the ground as they stood to their full height.

“How do you feel about pizza?” They asked.

The pizza place they ended up in was small, but lively. Rohan left Katara and their glider at an outdoor table, and she watched them through the large plate glass window. People were pressed shoulder to shoulder as they stood eating the largest slices of pizza Katara had ever seen. Rohan was quickly enveloped as they got closer to the counter and Katara pulled her phone out of her purse. Opening her Clicktalk app, she snapped a picture with the hanging restaurant sign behind her. Typing in a caption, Katara glanced up to see if she could spot Rohan. They were tall, but had somehow been completely swallowed by the crowd.

As she posted her picture, she saw two arms rise up over the bobbing heads and smiled at the sight of the blue arrows. Holding up two plates, the arms pushed through the crowd till Rohan freed themself, heading for the door.

Setting down the plates, Katara watched as they then reached into their pants pockets, pulling out two soda bottles with a flourish.

“Now watch this.” They said as they sat down. Using their airbending, Rohan flicked the bottle caps off and sent them spinning. They caught them in the air and made the caps dance around each other before letting them drop.

“That is a cool trick.” Katara said with a laugh. Looking down at the pizza, she pulled a plate over to her side of the table. The slices were as big as her face and the pepperoni slices were twice the size she had seen on other pizza.

“I thought Airbenders were vegetarians.” Katara remarked, picking up her slice and folding it in half.

“Common misconception. Avatar Aang was a vegetarian but he was an outlier and should not be counted.” Rohan replied before shoving pizza into their mouth.

“So do you and like, the other Avatar descendants hang out?” Katara asked before taking a bite.

“You mean with Zuko and Azula?” Rohan questioned with their mouth still mostly full. They paused to swallow. “Sometimes, but it’s usually just at formal functions. Apparently my uncle Bumi saved Iroh’s butt a bunch during the early part of the war and so the current Fire Lord doesn’t really like us.”

“Then you know Iroh?”

“Sure! I get tea there all the time and hangout. Pop says Iroh’s the little brother he never had.”

“Well, you should know Zuko at least.”

Rohan took a moment to eat before responding, looking off into the street.

“Zuko is Zuko.” They said softly, then turned and smiled. “Actually, my sister Jinora was better friends with him. And Meelo is absolutely obsessed with Azula.”

“I can’t imagine anyone being obsessed with Azula.” Katara said dryly and Rohan laughed.

“The very reason you can’t is exactly the reason why he is.” They said and shook their head. “Anything he wasn’t supposed to do or was considered dangerous was always the first thing at the top of his to-do list.”

Katara and Rohan laughed, and Katara picked up her bottle of cherry cola. She liked this, liked getting pizza and being out. Everything was more open and sticky; the sweetness of the soda spilling into the rest of the evening and making her feel happy. It was somehow more expansive than being at the beach.

Everything had been picked out and packed up before she had even gotten to the beach house. Now, in retrospect, she knew that someone had come in to make their meals and take care of everything for the royals. Here, she had her choice of toppings and soda, and she sat outside listening to people pass by.

What would Zuko have picked if he had gone off the tracks for once?

“So, do you happen to know anything about the new Avatar?” Katara asked.

“Only that Pop can’t wait to train her. He was so happy he almost cried.” Rohan replied.

“I guess that makes sense, that she would train with Aang’s family.” Katara said and drank more of her soda. “I wonder if she’ll train with Zuko.”

“Maybe, it’d certainly be good for them if she did.” Rohan said idly. “Think she’ll do any training in the North Pole?”

“I don’t see why.” Katara shrugged. “She’s already a Waterbender.”

“Yeah, but like, for her spiritual training.”

“I thought that was an Airbender thing.” She said, picking up her pizza.

“Don’t you guys live with two actual spirits?”

The flash of black that glowed swept over her mind and Katara choked on her mouthful of pizza. Rohan reached out, alarmed, but Katara held up a hand and grabbed her soda. Take a drink, she felt the lump painfully move down her throat and she could breathe.

“Okay, well yeah.” She said and Rohan sat back, chuckling in relief.

Pushing her plate away, Katara leaned back in her seat. “I think I’m done.”

“Sure. Would you like to go on a walk?” Rohan asked. Katara smiled and nodded.

“That would be nice.” She said.

As Rohan took their plates and walked over to the trash, Katara pulled out her phone. A few people had viewed her Click but she had a message from-

“Zuko?” She murmured. Opening the reply, all it said was

I love that place! Try it with white sauce!

Frowning, Katara put her phone away.

“Shall we?” Rohan asked.

Katara stood and they started down the street. Rohan used their glider as a walking stick and people kept out of their way. Eyeing them out of the corner of her eye, Katara smirked.

“Are you doing that on purpose?” She asked. Rohan smiled slyly.

“Whatever are you talking about?” They shot back.

“Why did you ask me out?” Katara questioned suddenly. That seemed to surprise them and they thought for a moment.

“Every once in a while, my family gets on my back about dating. I’m aromantic and they don’t get it, so I take someone out from time to time to get them to stop asking questions.” They answered honestly.

“So you don’t, like me?” Katara asked.

“Do you like me?”

“Well.” Katara fidgeted and Rohan laughed.

“We literally just met today. It’s not about liking someone, it’s about getting to know them.” They said. Looking at Katara’s pained expression, they shook their head.

“From what I understand, people click and then they go out and the whole thing is riddled with hormonal traps.” Rohan gestured with a hand and Katara watched them. “But honestly, romance is just like any other relationship to me. You have to know the person right?”

“Sure, but…” Katara started and Rohan held out their hand. Unsure, Katara still took it.

“Your heart is pounding isn’t it?” They asked. Katara’s face burned and she yanked her hand back.

“S-shut up!” She stammered and Rohan laughed.

“It just happens, and I’m not even the one you want right?”

“Not the one…?”

“Oh come on, I saw how Zuko was looking at you.” Rohan said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Katara sputtered and Rohan continued to laugh.

“It means that maybe I also asked you out because the last time I saw Zuko, his sister was being really mean and he didn’t do anything.”

“That still doesn’t make any sense.” Katara said in a huff.

“You are totally clueless.” Rohan said, wiping their eyes. “Let’s just have a good night, and I promise you it’ll make things more fun for you.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #modern au #zutara month 2020 #the fic that prompts built

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comradekatara · 3 years

Note

Hm well okay. Here goes nothing. The gaangs opinion on Aang starting a fruit pie bakery after the war?

unlike his terrible sleep schedule during the war, once aang gets a little bit older he gets into the habit of waking up with the sunrise to meditate. it was a practice uncle iroh recommended to help center himself, and it really does soothe him, especially after rough nightmares. after he’s done meditating, he finds that he still has enough time to make some fruit pies before starting the day. thus begins aang’s fruit pie delivery service. wherever and whoever he’s visiting that day gets some complimentary fruit pies, courtesy of the avatar. he doesn’t bake fruit pies every day, but he tries to as often as possible, because not only is it a nice thing to do, it’s specifically something gyatso would do, and it helps aang feel closer to him in this world that is gradually becoming less and less unfamiliar.

katara really loves aang’s fruit pies. she has a huge sweet tooth, so that’s unsurprising. unfortunately, she rarely ever gets to actually bake with aang, because it’s an early morning tradition for him, and katara cannot truly function before noon, but sometimes aang will make exceptions and make another batch in the evening, just so that katara can join him.

sokka thinks aang’s fruit pies taste great, albeit slightly inconsistent. there are definitely days where they taste better than others, and he doesn’t really understand why. he’d never ask aang though, because he doesn’t wanna offend him, so he just enjoys each fruit pie as he receives them. and then one day he helps aang out in the kitchen, and he realizes something world-shattering: when aang bakes, he doesn’t actually measure his ingredients. he just eyeballs it and hopes for the best. sokka tries to explain to aang that baking is a science and you need proper tools, but aang just thinks that’s silly. sokka gives aang a set of measuring cups and aangs just like “awww! a toy for momo to play with!!! how cute!! thanks sokka :D”

toph is banned from helping aang bake because she just eats all the uncooked dough and fruit and cream while aang’s not looking, greatly limiting their supply of pies they can actually cook by the time the process is done. she has no regrets.

zuko wants to help aang bake but he kind of has the same problem baking as he does with making tea (only magnified, because baking takes even longer) which is that baking requires a whole lot of tedious steps and it’s boring and he’s bored. iroh’s like “patience is an important value, zuko. think of it as part of your training” and zuko’s like “okay, yeah. it’s just like meditating, or firebending katas.” but he still doesn’t understand why he has to wait for it to bake. can’t he just heat the pies up really fast with hotter fire and be done with it??? the fact that sokka happened to be watching out of a paranoid suspicion that zuko might accidentally burn down the kitchen is, in fact, the only reason that zuko does not accidentally burn down the kitchen.

suki is aang’s ultimate fruit pie baking buddy. she loves baked goods, she doesn’t care about following strict recipes and all that measuring cup bullshit, she’s very disciplined, and every time she suggests a new ingredient to experiment with it always ends up tasting amazing. she’s the only person aang trusts to actually make fruit pies when he’s not around, which is a huge honor for her because she knows that being given the opportunity to continue an air nomad tradition is not a responsibility to take lightly. but she’s always done a great job of carrying on the avatar’s legacy, and this time is no different.

bonus round!

mai loves helping aang bake, especially when she gets to use knives to cut up fruit really precisely, and also when she gets to eat the fruit pies directly from out of the oven. mai loves baked goods, and she loves hanging out with aang, so it’s really an ideal scenario for her. that said, sokka is deeply upset that mai is also anti-measuring cup. mai thinks measuring cups are boring and make the whole thing less fun and it’s a waste of time, and sokka thinks mai is insane, just like all the rest of them. it’s the biggest fight the two of them ever get in, and yes that includes the time they threw knives at each other in the forest.

ty lee normally doesn’t like eating too much sugar, since it’s basically like baby meth (that’s what her homeopath said), but she’ll make an exception for aang’s famous air nomad fruit tarts on rare occasions, because it makes him happy to see her eating them. and if she secretly thinks that they’re far too sweet, she’ll never admit it to anyone as long as she lives.

aang offers azula a fruit pie one time without even really meaning anything by it. even people who murdered him are deserving of his delicious baked goods! but azula immediately assumes that aang laced it with poison (not lethal poison, obviously, but definitely some sort of laxative that would make her shit for hours) and she rudely declines. aang is deeply wounded, having never been so cruelly rebuffed before, until he learns that azula assumed that aang laced it with laxatives, at which point he’s like “damn that is brilliant! why didn’t i think of that??!” unfortunately for both of them, though, azula just threw a perfectly good fruit pie in the garbage.

#the gaang and #aang #aang&gyatso #aang&suki #aang&azula #aang&tylee #aang&mai #lurking96 #asks #postwargaang #aw this was a fun one thank u

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ravenlilith-02 · 5 years

Text

Losing You Was Blue

This is my first attempt at a Zutara fic :D

So I found this list of prompts and I thought I’d write a little fic cuz it’s been over a decade and I am still bitter about Zutara not happening. I chose prompt 3 and 18 :D

It’s really sweet and not that much smut. I just really wanted to explore the soft, emotional side of Zuko and the strong, independent side of Katara.

——————————————————————————

The Gaang has been camping out somewhere in the South of the Earth Kingdom for the past few days. They all slept in separate tents — well, except for Sokka and Suki, though (thankfully) their shared tent is strategically located slightly farther way from everyone else — but in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, Katara would tip-toe her way carefully into another tent. She’ll silently crawl next to him while he’s asleep, and no matter how tired he is, he always manages to muster a little consciousness to wrap his hand around her and pull her in. Zuko lightly caresses her head and feels his nails scratch her hair as she sighs softly. He was thinking about the time he first joined the Avatar. Sokka showed him to his room and as he was looking at a photo of his uncle, reminiscing the younger him fresh from his abandonment, he catches Katara standing by his door with a stern expression on her face.

“Give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you don’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure it ends then and there. Permanently,” she said. He turned his head to look at the girl sleeping next to him right now, and can’t help but chuckle, they’ve come a long way. None of their friends know about them yet — maybe Toph — and he hasn’t been thinking about how to explain this to them, especially to Sokka. Katara is his baby sister, after all. But he chose to push that thought to the side, all he cared about right now was Katara sleeping soundly next to him.

“Zuko?” she whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

“Oh you’re awake? Yeah, what’s up?” he asked as she shifted her position to sit up. Even though they were only half-open, he couldn’t help but stare into her cerulean eyes. They were mesmerizing, and they were the first thing he saw of her when he “saved her from the pirates”.

“How long are we going to keep this up?” she asked him. It was as if she could read his mind. He tried to act like he didn’t understand.

“Keep what up?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Zuko. This, you and I. Sooner or later we’re going to have to let them know. And honestly, I think Toph already does with her stupid micro-hearing abilities,” she finished with a chuckle.

“You might be right. I mean, you’re not exactly what I would call silent either,” Zuko replied with a smirk. He looked at Katara’s face and saw her blush as she punched him in the arm. Flashbacks of them on the night after they confronted Yon Rha came back to her mind. The feeling of his hands on her waist, his warm breath tickling the skin of her neck, his lips against hers kissing passionately, and the growing bulge in his trousers that she could feel gradually poking her... Katara is no stranger to the male touch; she spent days and nights in Jet’s treehouse. But nothing could’ve prepared her for Zuko’s intensity. His inner fire engulfed them both as they lost themselves in each other. Her feelings for him developed from pity, to hatred, to confusion, to deep love. She tried, again and again, to push him away, only to realize her efforts were all in vain.

“We’ll tell them when the time is right, and for what I know, it probably isn’t right now. We all need to stay focused, Sozin’s comet isn’t changing its course any time soon.” Zuko said. In reality, he was just slightly afraid to tell the group because in his mind, so many things could go wrong. Their friends might not approve. Even worse, Katara could leave him... For what reason, he doesn’t know. But he’s seen so many people he loved leave him that at this point he’s just afraid for no reason.

“Now let’s get some rest, we need to get up earlier than everyone so they don’t see us coming out of the same tent,”

Katara nodded and slid back lower then rested her head on Zuko’s arm. He smelled of tea and smoke, but somehow that felt like home to Katara. She wrapped her arm around his body and felt his steady breathing as her mind drifted off into a dream where she was wearing a crimson robe and a pair of strong hands were gently placing her onto red silk sheets.

The next day, the group decided to head to the marketplace for food and a little shopping (Sokka’s suggestion). Katara wanted them to all stay together so no one gets lost.

“Katara, we all want to do different things. Stop being such a mom, have a little fun!” Sokka whined. He clearly just wanted some alone time with Suki, she thought.

“Yeah Katara, don’t ruin the party with your motherness,” Toph added, arms crossed. Katara sighed and gave in. They split up to do their own thing and Zuko casually suggested that he’ll go with Katara. Surprisingly no one gave much thought about it, but Toph smiled suggestively and told them to have fun before walking away together with Aang.

“Yep, she definitely knows,” Zuko murmured. He looked at Katara and couldn’t help but laugh as her cheeks turned bright red. “C’mon, let’s just go,” he urged while pulling Katara by the wrist.

They weaved through the crowd hand in hand. Katara was still bitter about the group calling her motherly as if it was a bad thing. She knew how to have fun! Plus she was just looking out for them. Then she wondered if Zuko thought of her the same way Toph and Sokka did. I’ll show them, I’ll show all of them how badass I can be, she thought.

Zuko spotted a stall that sold fire flakes and meat skewers. He suddenly remembered that Katara had never tried his favorite snack.

“Wait here, I’m gonna go get something,” he told her as he made his way to the snack stall. Unfortunately, he got there one step too late as the vendor said the couple before him had already bought the last two bags. He turned to the boyfriend and asked if he would sell him a bag.

The man snorted. “Better luck next time, scarface,” he said. That stung deep in his heart, but it also enraged Zuko. He was about to throw a fire punch at him, but he remembered Katara was watching, so he tried to control his anger. His expression flattened as he walked back to Katara to tell her what had happened. Katara’s eyes lit up with a brilliant idea in mind.

“Zuko, I got an idea,” she said to him. He slowed down and gave her a curious look to urge her to continue.

“I saw that couple, they were fighting about something. And I think I can find a way to get the guy back,” she went on to explain her plan from start to finish, which didn’t take long since, unlike Zuko, she had no problem with words.

“This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had,” Zuko slapped his palm against his face, covering his expression. Katara was disappointed because she was so eager to carry it out at first. But as Zuko lowered his hand, she caught his mischievous smirk and his eyebrow raised. “Of course I’m in,” he finished.

They hid behind the corner and watched the couple quarrel and bicker. Then, Katara stomped out towards the two as Zuko silently watched.

The man saw her approach with a confused expression on his face. “Who in the hell—” He was cut off by Katara’s swift hand to his face. She hit him so hard, she felt a stinging sensation in her own palm. Fake tears started trickling down her face.

“You coward!! How could you do this to me?!” she yelled at the man. “I loved you, and you leave me, for HER?!”

“L-lady, I don’t know who y-you are!!” he stammered. His girlfriend glared at him with fire in her eyes. This is working, Katara thought.

“You don’t remember me? YOU DON’T REMEMBER ME?! We were in love, Yong! I even have your baby in me-” she bawled while rubbing her stomach.

How did she know his name? Zuko wondered from behind the corner.

“You listen here, I-” his words were again cut off by a slap to the face. This time by his own girlfriend. “You disgusting scum of a man, I can’t believe you! We are over! Now get out of my sight!!” she all but screamed. He ran away, completely and utterly confused. Katara was still crying on the outside, but in her mind she was jumping for joy. She had won. She ran back around the corner to meet her boyfriend, still covering her face. She stopped crying and was now laughing, but she couldn’t expose herself.

“Katara I cannot believe you just did that!” Zuko said as she landed into his arms. “You didn’t have to do that for me”

“No, I didn’t,” she couldn’t suppress her laughter. “But didn’t it feel good, seeing that douchebag get slapped not once, BUT TWICE, and have his girlfriend leave him?”

It was Zuko’s turn to laugh. “I mean, yeah. It really did.” Agni, I will marry this woman one day even if it ends me, he thought. “How did you know his name was Yong?” he asked.

“I didn’t. I-” Zuko nudged her side with his elbow before she could explain herself. She sees the girlfriend walk towards them. Oh, shit.

“Hey, I’m so sorry for what happened to you with him. I can’t believe he just left you. I know you must probably hate me, but I just feel responsible somehow. I’m so so sorry...” the young lady was holding back tears. “I mean, how much more of a piece of shit can he be? He didn’t even tell you his real name! And he left you with a child? I thought I’ve seen the worst of him but I never thought...” Zuko and Katara exchanged a quick glance, Zuko swallowed nervously.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault at all.” Katara consoled while wiping her tears from her face. Her motherly instincts kicking in, yet again. Dammit, Katara. You were doing so well!

“I know you,” the lady said as she saw Zuko. “You wanted to buy the fire flakes from us just now. I’m so sorry my boyf-, ex-boyfriend insulted you like that.”

“Yeah, uh, it’s fine, it’s nothing. I just wanted to get them for- my girlfriend,” he said as he brought Katara closer. He realized that was the first time he referred to Katara as his girlfriend to someone else. It felt odd, but he’d have to get used to it.

“Here, take it. As my way of saying sorry to both of you.” she handed Zuko the bag, got up and smiled then walked away.

“Well that was unexpected,” Katara said, stunned.

“Yeah, no kidding. But hey, I mean, we got fire flakes I guess?” he replied, holding up the paper bag. Katara then remembered what he said just now in the heat of the moment. She’ll drill him on it later. They made their way to a tree with no one nearby and sat there eating snacks. Her head on his shoulder.

“So... Zuko... about what you said back there,” Katara’s voice trailed off. Zuko felt his pulse spike. “Girlfriend, huh?”

“Well, I- uh-, I was just, um, trying to keep up the act. I didn’t want our cover being blown or anything,” Zuko turned his head away, he felt his face burning. Katara’s expression dropped. “Oh, so you weren’t being serious?” she asked, furrowing her brows.

“What? I- NO, I meant it! I just- well-” he really was not good with words. He stopped, took a deep breath, and continued. “I mean, Katara. Yes I meant what I said, I’ve liked you a lot for a while now. And I really want you to be my girlfriend but I guess I was just too nervous to ask before. But what I said just now, it wasn’t just for show. I’m so in love with you Katara, I just can’t-” Katara pressed her lips against his and cupped his jaw with her hand. When they finally broke away, he stared into those deep blue eyes again, getting lost in them, in her.

“Zuko, I never thought our relationship would come to this, but I’m so glad it did, because now whenever I think about my future, about how my life would be like after this war, I can’t see it without you being a part of it.” His vision started to turn misty as he noticed that he was tearing up. He cannot afford to lose her, he’s lost too much and if she leaves then he’d shatter. He leaned in to kiss her again, his lips trailed from her mouth to her jawline, to her ear.

“Please don’t leave me, Katara. I can’t lose you, I need you with me,” his voice trembling. Katara ran her hand up the nape of his neck, then kissed his forehead.

“I won’t leave you, Zuko. After all that we’ve been through, I promise I’ll be with you till the day the moon never rises again,” she reassured. He rested his head in her neck and his body slowly stopped shaking. He breathed in deeply, she smells so good, like lilies and cedarwood. When he finally lifted his face to meet hers, she couldn’t help but marvel at how perfect this man was. This version of Zuko, is the Zuko that no one gets to see; the Zuko that hasn’t had his heart ripped out over and over again by people he loved; the Zuko that wanted nothing more than to love, and to be loved. She ran her thumb gently over his scar, she could almost feel his pain. And, as if instinctual, he moved his face away, like he was ashamed of his scar, like he was waiting to see the look of disgust on her face, even a glimpse of it. But it never came. Her warm smile never faltered.

“You’re beautiful, Zuko. You’re perfect. With all your flaws and your wisdom from all the battles you’ve faced. The Gods have blessed me with you and I’ll never let go.” she said softly, still admiring every inch of him.

“I never thought you’d forgive me after what happened in Ba Sing Se. Every day I look at you and I don’t even think I deserve someone like you,” he said with his head down. “But I just feel so at ease with you. I don’t have to be anyone I’m not, because I know you don’t judge me. You have such a kind heart, Katara.” she felt tears welling in her eyes as she pulled him in for a tight hug. “I love you, Zuko” she whispered. And they both sat there for God knows how long, in each other’s embrace, while the sun set over the horizon.

“I guess this is the time to tell the group about us?” Katara suggested. He thought about how that would go down, how each of them would react. He thought about the worst possible outcome of Katara leaving him if her friends disapproved, but one look at her and he knew that was not going to happen.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he replied, smiling down at the beautiful Water Tribe warrior next to him, picturing her in a stunning Fire Nation gown.

#prince zuko #zutara #avatar #avatar the last airbender #katara #fanfic #zutara week

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misanthropic-succulent · 6 years

Text

Some klance atla fic idea

Okay I found myself thinking of atla and vltron crossover again, and it got me thinking a little. So everybody likes to crossover with these three tv shows (Voltron and ATLA and LOK), usually making keith a firebender and lance a waterbender. Which is understandable because of their lions. But as you know in season 3 they have to switch lions, (Keith to Black and Lance to Red), so for some reason my brain went "Wouldn't be cool if they're bending abilites in the aus changed also" that was the part that got me thinking. So my addition to this aus is interesting (to me at least) For my rendition (for like a fic idea lol) Lance and Keith actually kind of switch places. Lance will learn fire bending and Keith growing up in the Air Nation (stick with me) As you know Keith and Shiro have a brotherly dynamic or at least Shiro was there for Keith when others weren't so you can't deny their close bond which is why I put Keith in the Air Nation. Keith is raised in the Western Air Temple which only had women but they made an exception to Keith seeing as he needed to hide (we can't baby keef die now can we?) Since there's a war going on that's the reason why Keith's father is there, to help the Western air nomads. Keith's Mom is a Fire bender while his dad is a Air bender. But since the war was going on (the timing of this is completely made up , lol ) Keith's dad decided to leave Keith with his mother and go back to help defend his nation (He didn't abandon them) In this Keith's mom is the sister of Ozai (Which will be Zarkon) (Lotor will be Zuko or something) Zarkon now (like he ever wasn't) is trying to destroy everyone (like the air nation *nudge*) Since Keith hasn't shown any bending abilities. Zarkon wants to get rid of him (for some reason). Of course Keith's mom would never let that happen and fled to the Air nation to find her husband. She was able to make in time and explained the situation to Keith's dad. Even though the Air Nation wasn't the safest at the moment it was better than the fire nation. Knowing she would probably not be able to see her son again, she leaves him her necklace (the stone in Keith's knife in vld) Keith is two when his mom gives him to his dad. Upon returning home Keith's mom was confronted by Zarkon, and upon learning she hid Keith, Zarkon sort of rage kills her (didn't see that coming did ya?~) Lotor happens to see this and is also filled with confusion seeing as he's only 8, and is just like wtf is happending to aunt...whatever her name is. As Lotor grows up he begins to realize the fire nation's true colors, and what really happened that night. Enraged from being tricked his whole life and full of vengeance for his little cousin and deceased aunt he vows to himself to find Keith and keep him safe. When Keith is 5 his dad and almost the whole air nation is annihilated. Keith vows to never to forgive the fire nation. (This is still in the past) Back in the Air nation Keith is able to grow up to (let's make it 10) he's already made friends with the air benders (he doesn't know that he's fire nation yet~) He's best friends are Pidge (7), Shiro (15) and Matt (14) One day Pidge's dad, Shiro and Matt went MIA when they were scouting (?) the Fire Nation.(They were captured, the dad is dead) They find Sam's body, but that's it. Leaving Pidge and Keith to mourn more of their loses, this only fuels Keith's hatred more. smol timeskip

Keith (still being in the air nation) gets upset easily since he just can't get air bending down, he along with some of the others think that he doesn't have any bending abilities. So Keith decides to train on something different, his combat skills. He figures out one day when the fire nation attack again (only leaving him and pidge left alive) that his necklace is dangerous (a fire bender almost chokes him with it) so he asks Pidge to help him put it (engrave?) inside of a knife (hence Keith's garla knife). Btw Rover is Appa, or more like Appa is now named Rover, (but Pidge isn't the avatar, lol). (They are 15 & 12 at this point) Keith and Pidge travel on Rover in hopes that they'll find Shiro and Matt one day. timeskip-o (Keith is 18 and Pidge is 15) One of the days they're travelling Rover gets tired and they decide to land on the closest land possible. Unfortunately for them it's all icy there. Rover is warm but you can only do so much against the wind, Keith is mostly fine but Pidge's teeth are clattering. He opts to holding pidge (very platonically). Pidge: "H-How are you s-so warm?" Keith *shrugs* "I don't know, the cold has never really bothered me." (*belts let it go*) Pidge looks at him for a moment before letting her thoughts roam. She knew Keith literally since she was born, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a possibility of him being...She didn't even want to finish that thought. Shaking any thoughts that could form in her head she snuggled closer to her heater of a friend and drifted off to sleep. NOW TIME FOR LANCEY LANCE!! Lance and Allura are really close freinds who act like siblings and Coran is their crazy "uncle". Lance's family much like Allura's got destroyed by the fire nation, making them hate the fire nation. When Lance was 9, Allura 12 the fire nation came to their village killing most of the men, sparing some of the women (if they were non-benders). The water tribe decided to fight back and go fight the fire nation (Much like Sokka's dad did in atla). Allura's dad (Alfor was the head of the water tribe) had died in combat, along with Lance's father. They mourn and they grow stronger, becoming who they need to be for their tribe. Lance and Allura can waterbend, Allura a lot better than Lance (she picked it up faster) they are two of three left in their tribe who can bend. Coran is the third. Lance is determined to surpass Allura in waterbending and practices frequently, most people see him as laid back or carefree but he cares for the people he loves and will protect them with his life and he can't do that if he doesn't become stronger. His mom, his siblings, his father all gone, because he was to weak to help them fight. So he'll practice and practice to protect the ones that are still here to protect. (*sniff*) -- (This is where Keith and Lance see each other and the main plot kicks in...sorta)-- Lance is complaining to himself because Allura made him go patrolling by himself, which is fine he can take care of himself but it's really boring. He almost took Coran with him which honestly wasn't really saying anything since Coran was the closest thing Lance had to a friend (besides Allura) not that he minded. Lance is too caught up in thinking when he bumps into to something really soft and huge. Once he recollects himself he practically screams, wait no scratch that Lance does scream. Which alerts Keith and Pidge and within a matter of seconds he finds himself pinned against the ice, air knocked out him. He looks up at his attacker, he's beautiful (insert description of Keith, lol) and then he sees a...knife. Face blanching he quickly knocks the person off of him, and gets into a fighting stance. He more aware of his surroundings now and notices a girl that's with his attacker, his sister? they don't look alike. His girlfriend maybe? Keith speaks up and asks Lance why he's here, which leads them into bickering with each other. Lance: "Why wouldn't I be here, this is my territory!?" Keith: "Says who?" Lance: "ME!" Keith: "What are you two?" Lance: "Three and a half actually." Pidge is so done by this point. She had already figured out where her and Keith were, or at least assumed. The boy they have yet to get the name of clothes just confirm that assumption. They were in Water nation territory. Keith: "You woke us up screaming and scared Rover!" Lance: "What in the world is a Rover!?" Pidge: "Are you two done bickering or can we talk, now that we know we won't kill each other?" Keith & Lance: "NO!"

(I kind of got stuck, so the rest of this is bits of parts I've planned)

Pidge internally: “These two are idiots”

Pidge finally gets them to calm down (or at least stop bickering) long enough for her to ask Lance his name and what he’s doing out here. Lance is a little skeptical to answer her, like obviously those two pieces of information are too important to just throw around. So Lance asks her question right back at them. Pidge sighs and says they’re from Western Air Temple. Lance is of course still skeptical and asks Pidge to prove it, she does by bending.

Lance looks expectantly over to Keith but he’s avoiding his gaze. Pidge explains that Keith doesn’t have any bending abilities to their knowledge. Lance kind of pities the guy, which bristles Keith a bit, but he doesn’t comment on the look Lance gives him. Lance eventually introduces himself and tells them that’s he’s from the Southern water tribe.

Keith mockingly asks him to prove it, to which Lance responds with slapping some (a lot) of water in Keith’s face.

Pidge laughs, Keith looks pissed, Lance looks smug. Pidge and Keith eventually end up following Lance back to the tribe.

When they get there Lance is immediately "attacked" by Coran, who was crocodile crying into Lance’s shoulder. Saying how he thought he got kidnapped but the Fire nation and would have to come and rescue him. *cue dramatic hero pose*

This made Lance roll his eyes (playfully) he’s about to speak but gets cut off by Allura. Lance is in trouble now. Allura looked scary, he could practically see the dark aura radiating off her body.

Allura: “Where were you?”

Lance: “I was out patrolling like you told me to” he gives her this face that just screams “duh”

Allura: “I know that but why were you gone for so long?”

Lance: “I met these two” he gestures to Pidge and Keith who are standing silently (and Keith awkwardly) behind him.

Immediately Coran tries to intimidate Keith, but it doesn’t work of course.

(This is somewhere after they meet Hunk (earth-bender), and find Shiro and Matt) --In Ba Sing Se--

Lotor (24) sees a group of people, who look nothing like firebenders, except one. The boy had his black hair tied into a high ponytail, with his bangs down, framing his face. He looks just like...and just like that Lotor finds himself running, leaving his friends confused and shouting behind him. He found him, he exactly found him. His cousin, Keith.

Lotor: “I found you!” he says as he grips onto Keith’s hand, making Keith and the other’s startle.

Lotor: “I found you Keith.”

Now the rest of them really are on high alert, because not only did this firebender catch them, he also knows who Keith is.

Keith shifting uncomfortably: “Um, who are you?” he’s trying to act like he’s normal (he's failing).

Lotor: “Oh right! I guess you wouldn’t remember me since the last time we meet you were like two” Lotor mumbles the last part, but they hear him just fine.

Shirp steps in putting a hand on keith's shoulder: “May I ask who you are?”

Lotor senses the hostility their sending his way, but that was to be expected, he was a stranger to them after all.

Lotor: “I am Prince Lotor, Keith’s cousin”

The group is in shock and look over to Keith who is also in shock.

Keith: “B-But I don’t have any cousins, my dad never had any siblings”

Lotor’s face softens: “But your mother did, I’m sorry Keith.”

Keith stepped back from Lotor, and let the information sink in. His mom was a firebender, from the fire nation, and the sister of the firelord no less. He was a prince (would Keith be a prince?).

A fire nation prince. Keith’s face blanched, it made sense now. Why he was always warm, why he couldn’t bend air like Pidge or his father, because he that was only half of who he was. He was a firebender. Keith’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish’s. He felt like he was going to throw up.

Suddenly a group of firebendy-soldiers found them, Lotor cursed under his breath, and started to fight them.

Lotor: “You guys leave, I’ll hold them off!”

The gang was skeptical but didn’t need to be told twice and ran for it, unfortunately the it seemed like the fire nation had some earthbenders on their side, and the gang found themselves falling into a hole.

Hunk was able to part ways in the rocks and make a passage for them. Luckily it seems the earth and firebenders didn’t follow them in and if they did then they didn’t know where they are at least.

*Back to Lotor who isn’t able to fend them all off and the floor collapses beneath Keith and the gang*

Lotor: “No!” he screams as he sees Keith’s face disappear from sight. He found him and now he lost him.

Lotor to himself: “I can’t even save the person I promised to protect”

The rest of his team catches up and sees Lotor’s face, they know now that something happened and they were too late.

Keith is gone from Lotor’s sight once again.

*They’re stuck in a cave, Hunk fell asleep because of the panic and exhaustion*

Allura: “You’re a firebender? Not to mention a prince?!” not really a question. Allura looks betrayed and pissed.

Keith: “I swear I didn’t know” his eyes are downcasted.

Allura: “How could you not know!?”

Shiro and Matt touch Allura’s shoulder, hoping to comfort her but she shrugs them off.

Keith is silent, after all what can he say? He knew his mother left him went he was a baby, and he knew his dad was keeping something from him when he was alive. Now he finally knew his secret.

Everyone stares expectantly at Keith when he still doesn’t answer.

Keith shrinks away from everyone’s eyes it feels like he’s in a lion’s den and he’s slowly being eaten alive by their looks alone.

Keith looked at Pidge who also had to look to her, like she’d knew all along but also pitied him, and it kind of pissed him off.

Shiro and Matt both looked confused, but not angry, so that was a bonus.

Allura was straight out glaring and Lance had yet to even make eye contact with him.

It hurt.

Allura: “Did you trick us this whole time?”

Silence.

Allura: “Hoping that you could gain our trust then kill us off?”

Keith: “What?”

Allura: “Or maybe you were planning to make us your personal slaves, was that it?”

Keith: “No! I would ne-”

It didn’t matter how much Keith tried to explain he didn’t know, Allura just came back with another ludicrous accusation, and maybe it would’ve hurt less if the rest of his friends weren’t letting her do it.

Lance finally looked at him, his face was hard and devoid of emotion, but his eyes looked like he was sad, they looked like he was in pain.

Lance’s eyes had always captivated Keith, ever since the first day he meet the tan boy, but right now the pained blue orbs felt like they were piercing into him, but he can’t help to look at them. It’s like he’s drowning, he can feel his body shaking, and his breath start to quicken as he tries holding onto his consciousness. The only thing he can see is Lance’s eyes, and for a moment he thought he saw worry flash across them.

Lance taking a step forward: “Keith are y-”

And Keith blackouts. [There should be some sort of moment where Lance sticks up for Keith when's he's unconscious] Welp, this is all I got, feel free to add more, or write it if you're interested. Just credit and link it back to me if you do ^0^/

#vld prompt #atla crossover #klance prompt #klance #I want to write this #i'm literally drawing blanks #klance should be end-game #yoshiscreeches

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zutaraturtleduck · 7 years

Text

Our Happy Ending (2/2)

Summary: How things could have concluded if Zutara was the endgame.

Read on: ao3

Part 1

The Gaang was in Uncle Iroh’s tea shop in Ba Sing Se. It was a calm and peaceful moment, a far cry from their usual action-packed adventures. Uncle Iroh was playing the tsungi horn. The girls were chatting. Zuko was serving tea. Sokka was ‘capturing the moment’, but ended up being laughed at after they saw how much of an epic fail his painting was.

Aang stepped out of the tea shop, taking a moment for himself. The sunset reflected the same hues as the one during the comet. It could have been a pleasant scenery to remember if they were simply kids enjoying the moment, no war, and no responsibilities, only themselves to think of. Unfortunately, they were no simple kids, the hope of ending the war and finally bring peace to the world lies in them.

Even though he was the most volatile in the group, literally and figuratively, recently Aang found himself reflecting. Like on these blank moments when he was free to think of anything, his mind unconsciously ponders about what transpired in the war and what would he do next as the Avatar.

Considering the other worse things that could have happened; he was a lucky kid. He was lucky that a lion-turtle showed him a way how to defeat Fire Lord Ozai without actually killing him – take away his bending, instead. He was lucky that a rock hit him at his chi trigger point that allowed him to go Avatar State, instead of letting a timid clueless kid fight a psychotic power-driven adult.

He knew that he won’t always be lucky, and he has to fully face his destiny: to be a fully-realized Avatar. Every time he tried to run away, people precious to him paid the price. This time he’ll face the problem head on like what Toph had always said.

Katara, the only earthly attachment he can’t let go of, his forever girl. She was the person who woke him up from his century of slumber. She was the mother who took care of him and whom he nourished from. She was the teacher who taught him and guided him in his journey as a waterbender. She was the sister whom he swore loyalty to. She was the best friend he relied on. She gave him a family to belong to. How could he let her go? How could he live without her?

But then, he had a life before her, before his slumber, his life as an airbender. It was his heritage and it will be his legacy. If he didn’t run away a hundred years ago, could the war have been prevented? Could his people still be alive?

Him being the last air nomad, it was something he could hardly believe, not because he was still in denial, but they weren’t called nomads for empty titles. Among the four nations, they were the most adaptable and most likely to blend in the crowd. He had memories of encountering his own people posing as nonbendering citizens of the other nations and managed to fool everyone except their own kind.

No air nomad might be occupying any of the air temples for the past years but it doesn’t mean that they were extinct. They might be living in the other nations feigning as part of their nonbending residents for self-preservation.

That has to be it. He left them before, now he’s going to find them.

Aang didn’t know how long he was standing outside but a presence next to him, retrieved him from his thoughts, Katara. She simply stood there, saying nothing. She could feel her gaze on him then on the beautiful sunset.

“After this… You’re going back to the Southern Water Tribe, right?” Aang said, putting words on Katara’s thoughts.

“Yeah…” Katara hated her maternal instinct sometimes. Going back to her tribe meant that she’ll be leaving Aang on his own, and it made her feel guilty. Yet, it was her deepest desire to rebuild her tribe now that their people were back. They were open to venture the seas, and keep in touch with the other water tribes. “How about you?”

“I know this sounds crazy, but I’m going to look for my own people, the air nomads. They are alive somewhere out there Katara… I could feel it.” Aang said with conviction.

“That’s great Aang!” A small supportive smile crossed Katara’s face. But as much as she wanted to stay happy and hopeful, reality likes to go against her. “I guess, after this, each of us is going our own separate ways… Are you sure you can manage on your own?”

“I have to Katara.” Aang whispered in hard certainty. It was like he was telling it more to himself than to Katara.

“It’s not like I’ll ever be alone anyway. The world needs me, and it better be there for me too,” Aang joked, shifting his heavy tone to a lighter one. “We could always visit each other, including the Gaang. If everyone is up to it, we can camp again somewhere like the good-old-days, but this time it’s not the Fire Nation we’re hiding from, but fromour responsibilities!”

The two chuckled like the kids they actually were. Finishing his heartily laugh, Aang spoke again. “Katara?”

“What is it Aang?”

“Uhm… Regarding what I did to you during the Ember Island Players… I… ah… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I understand that the play upset everyone… well, maybe except for Toph.” As much as Toph was amused with how her character was portrayed, Katara won’t ever live down how spot on Zuko’s actor was.

“No. It’s not. Forcefully kissing you like that wasn’t the right thing to do whether I’m upset or not.” When Aang heard what happened to Zuko and Azula’s Agni Kai, at first he felt relieved that all of them managed to win their own battles. Yet when the details with how the fight started to sink down in him, like how Zuko desperately cried as he attempted to redirect the lightning that Azula shot at Katara and how frantic Katara was every time Zuko was in pain, he felt his internal organs plummet in shame.

His friend Zuko, who wanted to regain his honor more than anything else, was willing to throw it away and possibly his own life just to save Katara. Yet he, as the person who proclaims to love her, what could he do for her? What was he doing to her? Fly away and let her deal with the crucial situation on her own? Not considering how his actions would affect her?

It was a hard fact to accept, but maybe that’s the reason why he needs to let go of her. He might be the Avatar and the direly world needs him, but not everything in the world is about him. He needs to stop being self-centered and learn how to empathic.

Katara felt a pang of pride upon hearing Aang’s words. She was proud that the boy she found in the iceberg has been growing up.

“I accept the apology.” She awkwardly smiled at him. “So this means… we’re… friends?”

“Friends.” Aang agreed and gave back Katara’s motherly hug.

Zuko didn’t mean to pry, but he had been watching Katara and Aang outside of the teashop. He can’t help wondering, what they could be talking about. He saw Aang flash a goofy smile at him, catching him staring at them. He immediately set his eyes elsewhere with pink tint on his cheeks. Aang broke the hug with Katara and started walking towards the teashop.

“It’s your turn buddy Go talk to her.” Aang discreetly whispered at him, letting Zuko have a private moment with Katara away from the Gaang’s meddling, particularly Sokka’s.

“And Zuko…” Aang had a mature and kind expression across his face, which made Zuko swallow an imaginary lump along his throat. “Take care of her, okay?”

“O… Of course!” Zuko awkwardly replied. What was Aang hinting at?

Zuko walked towards Katara while rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t exactly know how to start a conversation with her. Ever since his Agni Kai with Azula, things were either intense or awkward with her.

“Hi, Katara… Are you okay?” he managed to say in his best cheery voice he could manage.

Katara raised a brow at him as if telling: “Seriously Zuko? That’s the best you can manage?” Then she laughed lightly at him. She let out a light laugh before answering him seriously.

“I’m fine. Just kinda feeling weird after Aang and I… Uhm… I really don’t know how to call it… Technically, broke up?” Katara shrugged.

“Oh.. I didn’t mean to…” Zuko didn’t really know what to say. Should he apologize for being nosy or because he might be a reason why it happened?

“There’s nothing really to apologize for,” Katara replied in a neutral tone that put Zuko to ease. “Our break up is a mutual one. I just find it weird that we ‘broke up’ when we’re not officially together and I was sort of expecting that things are going to be a bit more dramatic… You know how Aang could be at times. But really, I’m thankful with how we neatly concluded things.”

“I see.” There was a long silence between them after that.

“Katara…” “Zuko…” they called the same time resulting to some amusing gestures.

“You go ahead,” Zuko gave way to Katara. He might be great at delivering political speeches, but can be a total dimwit in personal conversations.

Katara took a deep breath before saying anything. “About what happened during the Agni Kai with Azula…” They never had the chance to talk about it. After the Agni Kai, they were either wrapped in their own busy schedules or accompanied each other in serene silence, afraid to break the thin ice that is protecting the rapport they established from their own chaotic thoughts and feelings.

Though, sometimes at night, her own thoughts haunted her, making her restless as she lay on her bed. “Did he do that because he has feelings for me?”

And then, there were her feelings. “What do I feel about him?”

She could still remember how he cried for her as he ran towards the lightning’s path. That, together with the last moments with her mom, they were her most tragic memories she won’t ever forget in her life.

One thing is for sure, things between them are no longer the same like it was before.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko immediately replied. He already knows where she could possibly drag him with this conversation and he also recognizes how much this girl could affect him, even stronger than what Sozin’s Comet could do to him. His last Agni Kai, didn’t only pave way for him to rightfully earn the throne, but it also awakened the potential feelings he harbors towards the master waterbender. Whatever he felt for Katara, it’s something he cannot hide from himself any longer.

But he was no longer the prince who can be in romance with anyone he pleases. He is now the leader of a nation which owes the world a hundred years’ worth of recuperation for the war his ancestors instigated. Pursuing romance at this crucial political phase would be like a juggling his mother’s precious china and failing to catch either one or all of them.

So before she could make him falter with his decision, he firmed himself.

“I’m sorry.” Did he just say that? Did he understand that she was referring to their standing as friends and not what had literally happened? He must have. For a moment Katara’s body felt numb. A bit later, hurt started to gush like water from the dam. Was he rejecting her?! Was he betraying her again? She didn’t even let her finish what she was about to say! She can’t help flashing him a painful look that emphasized her glassy blue eyes.

Zuko felt something in him crash. “I didn’t mean it that way...” Yet, she looked away.

“Katara, I’m not denying what we could possibly feel towards each other. It’s just that, I don’t want for either of us to hold on to something that would hardly work given our current predicament. I’ll be in the Fire Nation trying to win the trust of my people and reform our ways. You’ll be in the South Pole, helping to rebuild your tribe. Between us is a lot of work so we can truly live in peace and harmony.” He looked at her, looking for any sign of understanding. He was relieved to see that her expression has softened.

She discerned what he was trying to imply and she felt stupid for all sorts of things, for overreacting, for overthinking, for thinking badly of him, for being immature, for hoping too much, and so on. Seriously, he is too dangerous for her. How could he trigger emotions and actions far from her usual parameters?

“If we still feel the same way by the time we can have some time to ourselves, we’ll talk about it, okay?” she heard him say. His golden orbs sincerely and intently gazed on her blue ones and his large hands enclosed her smaller ones.

“Okay,” she managed to voice out. “But promise me that after this, we’ll keep writing to each other, and you’ll also write to Sokka, Suki, Aang and even Toph.”

“I promise.”

Hands intertwined together, and her head on his shoulders, they watched the sunset.

Author’s Notes:

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed that!

What do you think of the characters? Were they OOC?

Please read and comment. Constructive criticism are highly accepted.

#zutara #zuko #katara #aang #my writing #me trying to save aang's character

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bulletproofteacup · 7 years

Text

Trust and Caution

[Summary]: Katara and Zuko struggle to survive, thrive, and find each other after the world as they know it has ended. Zombie!Au, steambabies, and of course, Zutara.

[a/n]: Of course, the wonderful @somuttersthesea beta’d and gave great feedback and support. Thanks!

[rating]: M for violence later on. Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve turned into a snowflake and I don’t really do much angst anymore. But I’ll probably kill someone off....

[A/n]: Using the prompts from Zutara Smut Week 17, I decided write a fic without any of that. I’m just trying to get back into the swing of writing. If you like this, please like, comment, or reblog. Constructive Criticism is also welcome; it helps me become a better writer :)

The silence is eerie, but she’s used to it now.

It used to scare her, the way a bustling, teeming city went as silent as death. At night, the wind whistling through empty streets used to keep her tossing and turning; she had to teach herself not to look out the windows after dark (the shuffling dead, wandering after dark could banish any desire to ever sleep).

But she’s used to it now.

These days, Katara walks quickly, purposefully, and carefully. The streets are empty for now, but that doesn’t mean they will remain so. Hours of careful watching has taught her to be wary of empty streets and the illusion of safety. She’s watched empty streets fill with lumbering bodies in minutes, watched careless survivors die because they weren’t careful enough.

Katara was careful. Her eyes swept the street, searching for any sign of the impending horde. Her apartment was just around the corner, but even safety within her grasp couldn’t make her careless.

She drums her fingers nervously on one leg, clutching the spout of her water flask.There is a metal bat strapped to her back for emergency, one she hopes never to use. The baby wiggles a little and she pauses for a moment to catch her breath and rub her belly. “We’re going to be just fine.” she whispers, more for herself than her baby.

In a way, she’s almost grateful to be pregnant. Being alone in this city of death would be enough to drive anyone crazy; having someone to protect has kept her going long after everything else has been halted by death. But the unfortunate reality is that her baby is weeks away, perhaps days (definitely days, judging by the pain shooting up her spine on a regular basis now), and it’s taken a toll on her. Katara can barely waddle away from the undead and she hasn’t been able to rely on her father since--

She swallows. She can’t even think of the d-word yet.

Four weeks ago, her father had left on a quick afternoon supply run and never returned. Katara had waited faithfully, but she wasn’t sure how long she could keep on waiting for the men in her life to reappear. Her father wasn’t the first man who hadn’t made it back to her. Three months ago, almost four now she thinks as the baby jabs her ribs, Zuko had promised over the phone that he would find her. She promised to wait for him. Since then, the phones had gone down, the internet had dried up, and the people who had evacuated had returned as the undead. For almost four months, she endured fear and terror and death, but had remained faithful to her promise and to her husband.

But Zuko had not come for her and now she was beginning to fear that he would never would. Like her father.

Katara stopped at the corner and peaked around it. Nothing in sight. It was a straight shot to her building. She made a run for it (really, she made a waddle for it).

Since the outbreak, Katara had been lucky. Her apartment building had mostly been filled with young couples and single workaholics. Anybody who hadn’t already been on vacation or simply disappeared had evacuated at the first opportunity. Except Katara. She had waited. Her father had arrived after a few weeks and they’d waited together.

Now, she was alone again.

Zuko would never come. Her father would never come back. If she waited her too long, she’d end up like them--dead and devoured or dead and shambling.

Katara slips into her building, avoiding the lobby and going straight for the fire escape ladder she’d left down. She climbed carefully, mostly because there was a baby in the way and her balance just wasn’t what it used to be. A silly macabre thought occurred to her. Even the neighbors who had evacuated had returned before her husband had. They’d come back as the undead, but that was besides the point. At this point, gallows humor was the only humor left. The entire world was dying, dead, or undead. Sometimes, Katara felt like there was already a noose around her neck; the only thing left to do was fall. If she didn’t laugh about it, then she’d cry.

She climbed each level until she reached the third floor, fighting vertigo and nausea. She slipped into the apartment that had belonged to her next door neighbors. Ty Lee and Mai had been in Tokyo with Azula when everything fell apart; it was hard to look at familiar surroundings and wonder if, even now, her friends were mindless zombies. But it was even harder to walk into her own apartment and see Zuko’s things still hanging in the closet, his pictures still hanging on the walls. It was painful to walk past the nursery, still half decorated and waiting for her husband’s strong, callused hands to finish hanging shelves, finish painting, finish creating what should have been the first home for their child.

She knows that their baby will never sleep in that nursery. As soon as that baby comes screaming into the world, Katara is going to leave this city of the dead. Out there somewhere, she’s going to find a place where Zuko’s daughter can be raised in safety.

~***~

Trust is a complicated concept for Zuko.

He can trust the shamblers to always go for the throat, he can trust his fellow survivors to save themselves first, he can trust Sokka to always have his back, but trusting himself is hard.

Trusting himself means that he needs to believe that he can make it through each day. Trust means that he needs to believe he will find Katara alive and well, waiting with a daughter in her arms. Trust means he needs to believe that everything is going to turn out for the best.

Otherwise, he’s going to end up like the poor idiot who blew his brains out this morning.

His name was Teo and after watching his father die, he’d given up completely.

Sometimes, it takes everything in Zuko not to do the same.

The entire world has turned upside-down overnight and he just wants an escape from this nightmare. He inhales deeply, which is a mistake; the room smells like copper-iron blood and shit. He gags and makes the second mistake of meeting Teo’s glassy eyes. Zuko turns to flee, passing Sokka on his way out of of the little cabin where Teo ended his life. He leans over the porch railing and empties his stomach into the bushes.

When he’s done, his brother-in-law is leaning against the wall. His face is dark and haggard, but he’s not surprised. Neither of them are.

“We need to keep on moving,” Sokka says eventually, “Day light is burning.”

Zuko wipes his mouth on his sleeve. The smell is still stuck in mouth. Somehow it’s worse than the smell of the shamblers. The stench of death is nasty to begin with, but at least the zombie smell isn’t fresh. Usually. He shudders and thinks about the little girl he’d killed last night; the evening before she’d given him one of her last cookies and he’d helped her mother gather enough firewood to get them through the night. Her blood was still warm when it gushed out of her body and onto his hands.

“Zuko,” Sokka says sternly, “Stay with me.”

He shakes the memory away, turns to face his brother-in-law. “We should bury him.” he says.

Sokka’s lip curls and snarls, “I’m not wasting my time to bury somebody who offed himself.”

It’s not Teo that Sokka is angry with. He’s remembering Yue, who chose to end her life instead of fighting to survive. He’s remembering the way they found her, dressed in her pajamas, candles burning in the corners of her room, her hair soft and gleaming in the dying sunlight, an empty pill bottle sitting on her nightstand. Yue may have died peacefully, but it was Sokka who found her choking on her own vomit. It was Sokka who held her after the life had left her body, sobbing into her hair. But it was Zuko who made sure she wouldn’t come back again.

Sokka hasn’t been himself for a long time; these last few months have felt like years, but even that won’t be long enough for him to truly accept Yue’s decision and absence.

He searches for the right words to say. “His father would have wanted that.”

Sokka scowls. They stand in silence for a long time. This bothers Zuko; he’s used to the sounds that two dozen survivors make as they weather each day and difficulty. After the chaos of last night, most of their group is either dead or separated. And now, with Teo dead and cabin walls splattered with his blood and brains, it’s just the two of them.

Finally, Zuko speaks, “I’ll burn the cabin.”

Sokka shrugs, “It will attract shamblers.”

Zuko nods and replies that they’ll be long gone by the time the fire really gets going. His brother-in-law nods. “Good,” Sokka says, “We’re too close to stop now.”

In unison, they turn their heads toward the skyscrapers looming in the distance. Katara promised she would wait. Zuko swallows and prays that he will find her alive. The odds of a heavily pregnant woman surviving are slim, but his wife is a fighter and he trusts her more than anything. He won’t find her laying a pool of her own vomit; his wife is the kind to go down swinging.

Zuko digs his wallet out of his pocket. He’s been recording the days and this is how he knows Katara’s due date was last week. If she’s alive, there’s a good chance she’s already given birth. Even more reason for her to be alive, even more reason for him to trust that she has made it this far.

Zuko just has to keep fighting to stay alive; everything will be okay when he finds his wife.

He takes a deep breath, pats Sokka’s shoulder, and then returns to the body of his friend.

#zutara #writing #atla #trigger warning #gore #depression #suicide #zombies

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kdinthecity · 7 years

Text

Unexpected

OK, I did not expect this one to come out so angsty! This is for Day 7: Unexpected Visits, and it’s super sad! I’m just warning you. I promise I will follow with Day 8: Spice where Katara visits a sex shop... ooh fun!

I’m actually writing this one in another author’s universe. So, if you don’t like mine, go read hers because it’s way better. So @until-my-last, I hope this is worthy of your awesome Zutara fic, Time Heals Wounds.

Did I warn you that it’s sad? Also, it’s Kataang. I know! So sad! And no cheating, only bonding between Katara and Zuko. Like serious bonding. Oh, and Ume is Zuko’s wife, an OC from Time Heals Wounds.

There were lots of things about turning thirty-five that Katara hadn’t expected.

First, the recovery after her last pregnancy. It had been hard. Harder than she expected. Harder than the other two. It took much longer for her to feel normal again. And she was unexpectedly relieved when Tenzin weaned. Like this whole baby thing was just so taxing on her—physically and emotionally—and she would be juuuuuuust fine to be done with it.

But she knew Aang would want more.

She didn’t expect to get pregnant again so soon, though.

Her hormones were such a mess, but she really did want to hit him when he said, “That’s great news, Katara! Another chance for an airbender!” It didn’t help that he said it in front of Bumi. Who by now had passed the age where bending ability was typically revealed—or not.

Tenzin had been such a fitful baby that she was almost certain he’d turn out to be an airbender. The same week she found out she was pregnant, he learned to walk—no, wander. Her little nomad child, she’d come to think of him. Except that she was so very tired in these early stages of pregnancy that she didn’t want to chase a toddler. Surely this had been easier with Bumi and Kya, hadn’t it?

It was also the same week that Aang was called away to weeklong peace proceedings in Ba Sing Se. The Earth Kingdom was worse than the Fire Nation at maintaining the peace, she decided. They always needed Aang’s help. Then again, King Kuei was no Fire Lord Zuko. And Zuko would probably not ask for help even if he needed it.

But then her dear friend did ask for help—when she least expected it. And he was there to offer help—when she unexpectedly needed it.

Aang’s one-week trip turned into three weeks which wasn’t altogether unexpected. She would’ve graciously accepted this as typical Avatar duty, if only she hadn’t been so tired—and hot. Did she have these hot flashes last time? It wasn’t even summer, yet. At some point, bending away her own sweat wasn’t worth the energy or the effort.

Thankfully an air acolyte took a break from her ceaseless praying to lend a hand with the kids. Katara knew she would never have that kind of devotion. Aang probably deserved someone who did. And someone who didn’t resent the idea of having another baby.

Surely these thoughts were just the hormones talking. She loved her children. And she loved this new life inside her just the same. Didn’t she?

“Uncle used to say that if you frown too much, your face will stick that way.”

Katara nearly fainted. But not from hormones. From the sound of his voice.

“Zuko! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I realized that I’ve never met Tenzin. So it’s been over a year. And Izumi wanted to see Bumi and Kya. It’s dreadfully boring at the palace.” His tone was uncharacteristically upbeat. The crease in his brow gave him away.

“No siblings, yet?” It was a personal question that she disliked when people asked her. Especially since she heard no airbenders, yet, instead. But this was Zuko, her best friend. Surely he wouldn’t take it personally.

Except that unexpectedly, he did, thus confirming her suspicions. “Ahhh, no—um…”

“Zuko, what is it? Is Ume OK?”

“She’s uhh—well, we’ve tried, of course. But I think something’s wrong. Not with that. I don’t care about that. She’s just tired all the time. And short of breath. Do you think you could…?”

“Of course, Zuko. I’d be glad to take a look. Is she here?”

“No. She didn’t feel up to the journey. I—of course, we have plenty of room for your family at the palace. Come whenever is convenient. Stay as long as you like.”

“Aang is in Ba Sing Se right now, but when he gets back…”

A flurry of activity interrupted their conversation. Bumi practically tackled Zuko with a laughing Kya trailing him. Ten-year-old Izumi then appeared with a drooly Tenzin perched on her hip. Katara marveled at how much the young firebender had grown, her childlike features fading into a womanly beauty. There were definite traces of Zuko in her appearance, but glimpses of Ume, too.

“I heard you’ve been training with the sword, Master Bumi.” Zuko ruffled the seven-year-old’s crazy crop of hair.

“Yes sir, but I’m hardly a master. I sometimes train with Uncle Sokka… when he’s not busy.”

“Hmm, you need a master, don’t you?” Zuko’s eyes flickered to Katara, but she didn’t have a good answer to his unspoken question. She taught Kya waterbending, but it was true that Bumi’s own training had been neglected.

“Yes sir.” The disappointment in the child’s voice was answer enough, though.

“Tell me, Bumi, have you ever fought with two swords?” Zuko redirected.

The boy’s chin lifted, and his eyes sparkled. “Like at the same time? That’s impossible!”

“Well, you have two hands, don’t you?”

Katara fought the urge to say that her son might not have two hands after swordfighting lessons with Zuko. She could tell, though, by the way his eyes lit up and how Izumi rolled hers that he didn’t get to do this often, if ever.

So Zuko went off with Bumi, Izumi and Kya practiced their bending moves together, and Katara put Tenzin down for a nap. Suddenly it was very quiet, and she had time for herself. It was most unexpected, and she honestly didn’t know what to do with herself. She decided to prepare the guest room for their unexpected visitors in hopes that they would stay awhile.

Later that evening, a giddy, sweaty Zuko shooed her out of the kitchen and offered to make dinner. It was such an unusual gesture. Aang never made dinner. She didn’t even expect Zuko to know how to cook. He was royalty, after all. The bigger surprise, though, was that he cooked them meat. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed it—how much it reminded her of home. She didn’t dare ask where it came from, although Bumi answered soon enough.

“Mom, Fire Lord Zuko took me hunting!”

“Oh, he did, did he?” She shot her friend a look of warning. It was one thing to teach Bumi the swords, but hunting encroached on their family values.

Zuko just shrugged. “It wasn’t really hunting. The animal was already hurt, so we kinda… put it out of its misery? I’m a terrible hunter anyway. I couldn’t hit a moving target if I tried.”

Somehow Katara doubted that. She was about to expound on her reprimand, but Izumi spoke first.

“Ew, Dad. Can we not talk about our food like that?” She made a fake choking sound. “I think I’m going to become a vegetarian.”

“Cool. Can we trade families then? Because I want to eat meat everyday!” Bumi popped another bite into his mouth, beaming proudly as he did.

It was a most unfortunate time for “morning” sickness to hit. Katara quickly excused herself from the table. She didn’t expect Zuko to follow her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—“ He held back her hair. He actually held back her hair. She held back her tears.

After she had recovered, both from the retching and repressing, he continued in a calm and soothing voice, “I didn’t mean to make you sick. I didn’t think… of course, if you never eat meat—“

“No, Zuko, it’s not your fault. I-I’m pregnant.”

“Oh.”

She couldn’t read his expression much like she could read her own emotions in that moment, either. She wondered why he had to be so nice, so helpful, so… perfect. Scarred, yet flawless.

That was ridiculous, though. Nobody was perfect. The only reason people would overlook each other’s imperfections was if love had made them blind.

Suddenly, Katara saw the situation all too clearly.

“I’m tired. I’m going to bed. You and Izumi are welcome to stay, of course. Just make yourself at home.”

“I’d prefer not to travel at night if that’s alright. We’ll head back first thing in the morning. I appreciate your hospitality.”

His tone was so formal and his expression so stiff, it was like she was talking to the Fire Lord and not a dear friend. Had he also noticed the shift that had occurred between them, albeit subtle? She couldn’t very well sort through these muddled thoughts and emotions, not in her current state. Perhaps it would be best if she slept through his departure the next day.

Little did she know what darkness lie ahead in the night and what new light would be cast on their relationship by morning.

She expected to drift right to sleep, but a slight cramping sensation kept her awake. She blamed it on the meat… at first. Then the pain intensified. Then there was blood. Then water—her hands coated in it, glowing, healing. Then stillness. Then screaming.

She almost felt like she was outside of herself watching the scene unfold. This couldn’t be happening. No. This wasn’t happening.

She must have fallen asleep at some point because she woke up the next morning in his arms. She remembered what had happened, but she didn’t remember him.

“Zuko, wha—“

“Shhhhhh. It’s OK.”

Her throat felt raw, so she knew she had been crying—a lot. Still, she managed, “I k-k-killed my baby.”

Zuko tightened his grip on her shoulders. “What!? Of course you didn’t! These things… just happen. It’s nobody’s fault. You even tried to save your baby. I saw your healing water.”

She sighed deeply and buried her face in his chest. “But I d-d-didn’t want to be pregnant again. Not so soon. Not when Aang—“ She couldn’t finish. It sounded too selfish to say out loud. But the pressure had become so overwhelming. She couldn’t promise airbending heirs to her Avatar husband no matter how much she wanted to—no matter how hard she tried. She felt like a failure of a wife—and a mother.

She saw Zuko’s jaw clinch, and she knew what he must be thinking. She didn’t want to portray Aang in a bad light. It certainly wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t even here.

That’s right. He wasn’t here.

But Zuko was.

She nestled deeper into his warmth, his comfort. It was what she needed, and she admitted to herself that she needed it from him. Somehow she knew that Aang would grieve the loss of their child, the chance at another airbender. He would grieve for her. But Zuko—he would grieve with her.

I’m sorry. That’s something we have in common. It seemed like only yesterday that he’d spoken those words in a cave full of glowing green crystals.

“It gets easier,” Zuko said suddenly.

“What?” His words shook her from her reverie.

“S-s-sorry. That’s not very comforting, I know. I shouldn’t have—“

“Ume,” she whispered before she realized the name had escaped her lips. The same thing must’ve happened to her—to them. Guilt overtook her. She shouldn’t be here clinging to Zuko when he had a sick wife back at home. She quickly released him and moved away from the bed.

“Katara, I’m sorry if I did something wrong, I—“ There was pain in his voice and sadness in his eyes, like he was still very much the boy in the cave. But he wasn’t, and they had come so far since then. They were closer than she’d ever expected to become with someone from the Fire Nation, a former enemy, the Fire Lord, even.

“No, Zuko, it’s fine. You’re… I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been… perfect.”

She reached out to take his hand and gave it a small squeeze. Her gaze then drifted to the stained bedsheets, and her vision blurred with tears. A warm hand cupped her face, and a calloused thumb swiped across her wet cheek. His touch felt nice, but as she leaned into it, confusion and clarity struck her once again.

“Zuko, why are you here?”

“Because I heard you screaming in the night.”

“No, I mean, why are you here?”

“Oh. I came to ask you for help.”

Yes, of course. She sighed and pulled away.

“And because I wanted to see you.”

His statement and his smile were so genuine that her tears flowed freely now. There was something so painfully beautiful about this moment they shared together. She would never want to relive it, but she would cherish it all the same. She shuddered at the calm comfort of his next words.

“Hey. You go get yourself cleaned up. I’ll take care of cleaning up in here. OK? Then, you get some rest, and I’ll get some breakfast ready for when the kids wake up.”

Yet again, unexpectedly perfect. Or perhaps perfectly unexpected?

With Zuko, it was always a little unclear.

#zutara #zutara month #official zutara month

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