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vexahlla · 1 year

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hehe ✨️ 🎁 💛

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

someone bookmarked one of my fics with "anything you write is my favorite" which im unable to ever be normal about. i also really like all the comments on royal red & ocean blue chapter 5 bc it's such a fun chapter, someone thanked the inventors of snow, kendo, and thermal underwear, another person quoted 'you should be addicted to shutting the fuck up' which made me feel like i nailed the dynamic. and ofc the dream syncing comment section is full of gems and thank YOU specifically for calling it sexy i didn't know how it would land lol

i savor every comment. genuinely

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

uhhh so listen... idk about rymin but you can have some zukka. this is from the incomplete and very long rrob ch10 "the king of karaoke" a very (purposefully) awkward coming out scene:

Zuko scans the room and quirks a brow. "So this is your Ba Sing Se crowd?" There's a waver in his voice that belies his casual tone. Sokka follows his eye line to see what has him thrown off balance.

Zuko's looking at two girls making out at the foot of the stage, but drops his gaze when he realizes Sokka's followed in his direction.

Sokka's body stills, but he points a sharp glare at Zuko. "Yes," he says, voice dripping with challenge. "Is that an issue, your highness?" He doesn't care that it's factually inaccurate, he just wants Zuko to hear how much of an ass he's being.

Zuko blinks at him, then stumbles through a fervent, tipsy head shake. "No," he says as his cheeks color from more than just the alcohol. "I thought it might be for you, for some reason." He spins his pointer finger as if trying to rewinding time. "I don't know why, though. In retrospect," he adds with a nervous chuckle as he looks anywhere but at Sokka. He had been looking at Sokka the entire night, like he'd been Zuko's refuge in all this chaos, and the absence of his gaze is jarring. "Anyway..."

Zuko is interesting to be around. He's easy to read, most of the time, but where the emotions stem from is still a complicated puzzle Sokka has yet to piece together. He's got a competitive streak, at least where Sokka is concerned, as evidenced by them always trying to one-up each other at banter or dumb games. And there's this feeling Sokka gets around him that he can’t place, electric yet gentle. It draws him in; it’s something to solve.

Sometimes, though. Sometimes he's just confusing.

"What?" Sokka asks. He wonders if they can ever have a clear conversation when liquor is involved.

“Sokka,” Zuko starts. Stops. He ruffles his hair, hides his head in his arms folded on the table, emerges again. He doesn’t quite meet Sokka’s eye. “I’m gay.”

“Oh,” Sokka says. His too-loud heartbeat is drowning out any coherent thoughts.

Zuko still isn’t looking at him.

“That’s awesome,” Sokka says. “I mean, that’s cool.” He wants to dunk his burning face in cold water. “Good for you.”

As he says it, Zuko is stumbling over his own words. “So I wasn’t, you know — I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, I get that now,” Sokka says. He recovers from his shock and remembers himself. “Thanks for telling me. I mean, for trusting me enough to tell me that. Yeah.” Okay, so not completely recovered, but still.

Zuko releases a long-held breath. When at last he returns Sokka’s gaze, the harsh red laser lights of the club are filtered to a soft pink in his amber irises. There’s a moment of acknowledgment before he blinks back down to where his fingers are tearing apart a napkin and he’s guarded again.

“I almost told you before,” he says. “At the festival.”

Sokka thinks back to that moment. He winces, remembering how much he had assumed — not only about Zuko, but about Mai, too. Sure, he’s accepting in theory. But in practice? Maybe he has a lot more to work out than he thinks.

“Shit,” Sokka says. “I’m so dumb.” This time he’s the one avoiding eye contact. “You were trying to tell me and I didn’t get it—”

“I backed out.”

“And I was just going on about girls. Not even thinking—”

“I thought you would hate me again.”

Sokka’s mouth and heart sputter to a stop.

“Not that I had any reason to think you’d have a problem with it,” Zuko says, waving it off and fumbling through his words before Sokka can respond. “Obviously you wouldn’t.” It doesn’t sound as confident as Zuko likely thinks he does. “It’s just… We had finally started talking. I thought it might be different enough to throw things off balance again.”

Zuko’s attention is devoted entirely to the bits of napkin in his grip.

Sokka pushes past the dull pulse in his ears. “Hey. Zuko.”

Zuko glances back up.

Sokka’s reach is slow as he gauges Zuko’s reaction. With no sign of resistance, he places his hands on Zuko’s shoulders. Zuko relaxes at the touch, so Sokka treads further and pulls him into an uncertain hug. Almost immediately, nervousness shifts into warmth, until he's more comfortable in Zuko's arms than he'd been outside them. Sokka isn’t sure how long it lasts. He isn’t sure he cares.

“I like learning more about you,” he says as they draw apart.

Zuko’s light smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

i used to treat writing so preciously and i was pretentious about it, if i wasn't shakespeare then what was the point. i still have perfectionism issues, but at least i get stuck on WIPs i have actual words down on instead of consuming every writing tip video on youtube and fantasizing. i used to not write fanfic bc i wanted the first thing i ever wrote to be "the novel of my heart" or whatever the fuck. and if i DID write a fic i wanted it to be a big multichap cornerstone of the fandom, which is the mindset i started rrob in LMAO. i would wonder why i was so much better at drawing than writing when writing was what i really CARED about. im not afraid to doodle only for myself, im not afraid to abandon drawings, im not afraid to put pencil on paper and START. every time i apply that lesson to writing it helps, but it's still hard for me to keep in practice.

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

#malaxis #rrob #ask #Fanfic Writer Ask Game

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weirdocat83 · 6 days

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Sometimes it shocks me that people seriously ship non-canon ships. Like, yeah. Sometimes the main pairing isn’t the best and a rivalry or partnership can often have the dynamic that people seek while looking for romance. But I guess to me, most ships with people who are already in a canon ship or just most ships that aren’t explicitly stated in general are just a “what if in another au they had feelings for each other? That’d be sweet/funny.” Rather than “here’s my 50 page essay on why they’re canon.” For one of my first fandoms, MHA, my favorite ship was Shindeku mostly because I thought it’d be interesting to see them bond over mutual horrible experiences with society. Or for ATLA, zukka is one of my favorite ships to see fanworks from. That said, it could never be canon and I’m thankful for that actually. Because the canon ships in those shows (while they can be considered a little basic at times) are mostly just meant to be mutual care and love for each other rather than a plot point. Love is beautiful and a good show of mutual care and devotion. So why do people get into huge arguments about “uugh, this one is the best and anyone who says otherwise is WRONG!” Why not learn why they like it? Or at least respect their decision to like it? Idk, ship wars in general seem a bit dumb to me…

Just a thought :3

#fandoms #ship wars #weirdocat83 ramblings #shipping discourse #idk how to tag this #don’t come for me #please

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that-was-anticlimactic · 3 years

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22 with Zukka for the prompt list? Also hi :)

"Give me a brush. I'll fix your hair for you." + zukka

Zuko was angry.

He supposed that wasn’t that shocking—he was angry a lot—but the amount of genuine anger and frustration he was accumulating due to his hair, now that wasn’t fair nor normal.

It was stupid—he had to attend some dumb public event since he was the Fire Lord and stand at the side applauding politely, then say a few words. Really, he’d been through more stressful times in his life than that.

Even still, there was an hour left before he had to arrive, and he was getting ready in his chambers. Or, he was supposed to be getting ready. He was still in his sleeping robes, aggressively pulling a brush through his hair

Honestly, at this point, he was just beating his scalp.

No matter how carefully or slowly he ran the brush through his hair, it was still tangled. It still looked greasy, and even when he said “screw it” and just threw his hair in a top knot, he nearly chopped it all off because it looked terrible. The bumps at the top of his head were so large it looked like he hadn’t even brushed his hair in the first place!

Logically, he knew that his dad was far far far away right now and would in no way, shape, or form be attending the same event or see said event, but he couldn’t block out Ozai’s voice in his head telling him how big of a disappointment he was due to the state of his hair.

Zuko grunted, throwing the brush across the room and leveling the cursed object with a furious pout. It’s what the brush deserved.

“Hey, Zuko! I can’t decide whether I should wear my cobalt robes or my lapis robes. I know you don’t think there’s a difference, but I swear to you—are you okay?”

The angelic sound of Sokka’s voice caused Zuko’s face to shift from fury to a soft smile. He turned around, his fingers twitching when the brush left his sight because it needed to know how angry he was, and shot Sokka what he hoped was a soft look.

His boyfriend was also wearing his evening robes, something far too casual for the event they were attending, and it took everything in him to focus his gaze on Sokka’s face rather than his shoulder where the fabric was slowly slipping off.

In his hands were two tunics which absolutely looked the exact same color-wise, but he just chalked that up to Sokka being picky about his wardrobe (no, he wouldn’t acknowledge that he was unsure whether it was that or the fact that he couldn’t see properly out of his left eye).

Sokka’s hair looked impeccable, tied tightly in a wolf tail, much unlike his own.

“Sunshine?”

Oh, he’d been staring, hadn’t he?

“Sorry,” he mumbled, running a hand over his face and collapsing onto his bed. “I’m just trying to get ready.”

He watched as Sokka’s eyes flickered between Zuko’s tapping foot, his hair, and the brush on the floor behind him.

His face morphed into understanding and he carefully draped his clothes over the back of Zuko’s vacant chair, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Give me a brush. I’ll fix your hair for you,” he said gently, nudging Zuko’s foot with his own.

“Get it yourself, Lazy,” Zuko muttered, but either way he shifted his position so he could roll onto the other side of the bed and reached, swiping the brush off the floor and tossing the cursed object at his boyfriend.

Sokka poked at him with his finger (and Zuko tried not to melt at the way Sokka tapped in patterns of three—it was the nonbender’s favorite type of pattern, he did everything in three’s. It became Zuko’s favorite number as their relationship developed and became not only a form of comfort for Sokka when he had his bad days, but also for him) until he got the signal and turned so his back was to Sokka.

“Your hair is very pretty,” Sokka remarked, gently grabbing a small chunk of his hair and starting at the edges.

“It’s greasy.”

“No, it’s really not. You know I don’t like touching greasy hair. I wouldn’t touch it if it was greasy.”

They both knew that was a lie—Zuko’s hair was an exception.

“You wanna tell me what’s wrong?” Sokka asked, twisting the edges of the now brushed section of Zuko’s hair while separating it into a second section.

“My hair.”

“I got that.”

“It’s not… it’s not perfect…”

And that was it, wasn’t it? The event wasn’t that big of a deal—in fact, it was so insignificant to him that he wasn’t quite sure what exactly it was, but when his hair wouldn’t work the way he wanted, he started getting stiff and on edge.

If his dad saw him like this… Zuko couldn’t help but shudder at the mere thought.

“Babe, Sunshine, light of my life,” Sokka began and oh how Zuko practically melted, “you don’t need to be perfect.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” Zuko shot back. “But I do have to be perfect. Everyone’s watching me—I’m the Fire Lord! If I don’t look perfect then…” he trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut and attempting to focus solely on the feeling of Sokka’s fingers in his hair.

“Oh, I get it,” Sokka said softly. “This isn’t about your hair, is it, baby?”

Zuko just sniffed.

“I know I’m not the best person to talk to about being okay with things being imperfect, but something I’ve begun to learn over the years is that there’s never a time when everything’s perfect, no matter how hard you plan… or brush…”

Zuko chuckled.

“But something that you can always count on is me being there; you know I’ll always be there, right? Because I will be,” he continued. At this point, Zuko was certain Sokka had set the brush down and was just using his fingers, which was somehow more comforting despite the slightly uncouth method.

“Besides, you’re already perfect to me. You don’t need to try and please everyone else anymore. Quite frankly, they’re all idiots.”

Zuko laughed. It was quiet and more half-hearted than anything, but it was a laugh all the same. He could feel water beginning to pool in his eyes, and Zuko let out a choking gasp. “Sorry.”

“Shush, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I just… I saw my hair and it wouldn’t—it wasn’t right and I didn’t know what would—“

“Shhh.” Sokka coaxed him into silence, purposefully taking deep breaths along the way to remind him to breathe (which was really helpful since he had forgotten).

“It’s just me. No one else is here—he’s not here. It’s just you and it’s me. And I, personally, think you have the prettiest hair in the entire world, even when it’s greasy.”

Oh, what did Zuko do to deserve someone like Sokka in his life?

Sokka stopped running his fingers through his hair, and Zuko felt the bed shift as Sokka adjusted his position. The nonbender flung his arms around Zuko’s neck, holding him close.

“You’re going to have the best public appearance in the history of pubic appearances today,” Sokka informed him, and Zuko hummed, allowing himself to fall back into Sokka’s embrace. “And if anyone complains about your hair, they may have a run in with my boomerang.”

“Thank you.”

Zuko opened his eyes, allowing his face to fall into its natural frown, but prayed to Agni that Sokka could see the appreciation and adoration in his eyes.

He slowly rose, pushing himself off of his bed and turning so he could see his reflection in the mirror.

His hair it… it wasn’t bad. But it still made his muscles clench and his breath hitch. There were some strands tumbling out of his top knot, falling out of rhythm with the rest of his demeanor.

It was so insignificant, but that’s what Zuko thought when he was younger.

(There was nothing insignificant when it came to Ozai.)

He felt more than saw Sokka stand beside him, and together they gazed in the mirror.

Despite knowing he was being self-conscious, Zuko found himself biting his lip in anticipation as Sokka looked at him. He knew Sokka didn’t think he was disfigured or that his hair was an awful mess, but that wasn’t enough prevent his heart from racing and his fists at the ready to raise to block his—

“You’re beautiful,” Sokka breathed, his eyes so wide that Zuko thought they could contain the depths of the entire ocean, encompass the entirety of the night sky. What made his face flush was that the stars in Sokka’s eyes were directed on him—focused solely and only on him.

“Oh.”

It pained him that that was all he could say. Sokka could compliment him like it was nothing, but Zuko couldn’t do any more than reply with one word.

Sokka frowned and no, that wouldn’t do. Zuko didn’t like when he frowned—more so, he hated being the reason his boyfriend’s smile vanished.

“Are you still…” He cut himself off, his neck jerking and lips pursing, then he waved his hands around for emphasis, as a way to finish the sentence.

Shamefully, Zuko nodded.

Without warning, Sokka grabbed hold of Zuko’s hands and placed them on the top of his head. He intertwined their fingers, almost as if they were holding hands, then started moving them.

For a moment, Zuko held his breath because what was this idiot doing? His hair was the definition of perfection—no strands were loose, he looked regal, the blue and red beads in his hair were perfectly placed… and here Sokka was, guiding Zuko’s hands around his head and messing it up.

Zuko tried to pull away—tried to free his hands from Sokka’s grasp because they couldn’t do this—they couldn’t mess up is hair! The Fire Nation was already terribly critical towards Sokka, being Water Tribe and all, not to mention being the Fire Lord’s boyfriend meant more publicity than either of them were comfortable with… the public would tear Sokka apart if he walked out with messy hair.

“What are you doing?” Zuko hissed through grit teeth, still trying to yank his hands away to no avail. “You’re messing up your hair—I’m messing up your hair!”

Sokka ignored him, but Zuko couldn’t find it in himself to glower at his idiot because his tongue was sticking out of his mouth the way it did when he was concentrating and it was so authentically Sokka and so adorable and—

“There,” Sokka said, interrupting his thoughts. “Now we match!”

It was then that Zuko realized his hands had been released, and he clutched them close to his chest defensively.

Sokka was cheekily grinning at him, his eyes shining, and his hair… oh. His hair was a travesty. His wolf tail became undone and half of it was falling out. The top of his head looked like someone build hundreds of tiny bridges with the way his hair had been tugged at.

As terrible as it was, Zuko was basking in the absolute adorableness of his boyfriend.

“It may not be perfect,” Sokka started, locking hands with Zuko once more, “but we’re doing it together. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Penguin.”

Sokka leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Okay, then: should I wear the cobalt or lapis tunic? I feel like lapis is a more luscious color, but cobalt brings out my eyes…”

Most of what Sokka was saying made absolute no sense to him, but Zuko knew Sokka so he knew that his feeling weren’t being brushed aside. Sokka was just trying to distract him—to make him laugh.

So, Zuko sat back down and listened to Sokka ramble about the pros and cons of each color, even though they had to be at the event in half an hour.

Sokka was right (he always was)—it was never about his hair (maybe it was a little about his hair, whenever Ozai was involved, it was about everything). He spent the majority of his life trying to live up to the standards of everyone else—his hair had to be perfect, his back had to be perfectly straight…

The Fire Nation thrived on the idea of perfection. So much so that Zuko knew if Sokka had been born and raised here, he would have been isolated or forced into muteness due to his imperfections, or his tics. It was a terrible thought that was proved true by the looks he saw shot his boyfriend’s way by some elders—from the way that some people would address Zuko rather than Sokka when they were together or ask Zuko why he hadn’t fixed Sokka or what places he took Sokka to to do so.

But they weren’t imperfections, Sokka’s tics. Zuko reminded him countless times that they were just a part of who he was, something that made him as special as he was. And he supposed that’s what Sokka was trying to show him… though through his unorthodox and irritatingly charming methods.

Zuko never did fix his hair for the evening—he wanted to continue matching with Sokka.

[this can be seen as a mini prequel to threshold of eternity hence why zuko gives azula the advice about how to 'handle' her hair and toe kind of inspired this one hehe]

'101 ways to say i love you' prompts

#saaabriel #corey writes:)#... i got excited oops #this got kinda long iugyfuhi #i counted—it’s 2.1k words lol #i just... i love them #why yes... sokka has ts in this and zuko is autistic in this wHAT #sokka with tourette’s #hehe #i am so sorry with how carried away this got lol #i got so invested and then suddenly it was this long oops #thank you for indulging me! the others will come soon !!!#we don't need to talk about the fact that i literally cannot choose what terms of endearment to use and always switch WHAT #oof poor Zuko he’s just trying to live:/#I really chose zuko violence huh #like it didn’t start that bad but then i kept trying to sneak as much angst in as i could #tw child abuse #also feel free to ignore the reference to toe (… i hate that the fic acronym is toe’) because it’s what inspired the direction i took and #uhh it's 1am and i need to pack so imma que this oops #ngl still kinda proud of that one lol #corey rambles:)

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alfredolover119 · 3 years

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I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.

thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)

angsty zukka wips

first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe

-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen

-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!

An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.

Yeah, nah.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka

-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature

-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.

It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.

Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers

-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.

-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao

Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.

breakable heaven by @fruitysokka

-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen

-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.

With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

angsty zukka fics (completed!)

(i’ll put these in wc order)

lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka

-7k, rated g

-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.

Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.

This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas

-9k, explicit

-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story.

If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.

put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci

-9k, teen

-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that.

Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?

the thing about dancing by anodymalion

-9k, teen

-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.

The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey

-10k, mature

-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.

Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee

-18k, teen, major character death

-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.

Anything for You by beersforqueers

-23k, explicit

-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN.

In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64k, mature

-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham.

Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.

In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning

-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey

-103k, teen

-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN

In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?

#zukka #zuko #sokka #angst #zukka angst #atla #avatar: the last airbender #fic recs #zukka fic recs

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nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice · 4 years

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Ok modern zuko would be an expert at breakdancing and sokka would be the guy who just bi-panicks whenever he does

(whoops, my hand slipped and I accidentally wrote a modern au headcanon turned zukka karate au one-shot)

Okay but consider this instead: Zuko doesn’t know how to dance for shit and has horrible rhythm, but he is a GOD at martial arts. He’s been doing some type of style since he was a kid and is a full black belt by the time he hits high school. Martial arts was always something he excelled at, but it was also something that made him feel more secure. It was something he could work on to help him protect himself from his home life, even if it wasn’t enough most times. He specifically excels in weapons forms (I’m thinking twin sais) and you DO NOT want to spar with him. Because he may be skinny and shorter, but he’s quick and can hit hard at just the right spots.

When he was younger he was obsessed mainly because he felt that belt rankings and trophies from competitions were a way to prove himself to his dad, but when he moved in with Iroh (who encouraged him to keep it up and was so proud of how talented and passionate he was about it), he basically used it in place of talking about his feelings. He didn’t talk about his home life or the shit Ozai did, instead, he put all his energy into his black belt levels, learning new weapons forms, and eventually into teaching new students as a junior instructor.

At school, he’s awkward and asocial and just doesn’t have the energy for people. Zuko has little patience for asshole classmates who ask intrusive questions about his scar or spread rumors about where he got it. He eats lunch in his English classroom and would be a complete shut-in if Iroh didn’t get him to work part-time at the Jasmine Dragon. But in the dojo, he’s focused and is able to direct his energy into improving his forms and teaching younger teens.

One of his newer students transferred from a different dojo after moving from a different state. He’s actually a freshman at Zuko’s high school but it’s not as if Zuko really interacted that much with him. This kid, Aang, is as talented and dedicated as he is, but has a long way to go to learn all the new katas. Zuko’s been dubbed the ‘scary’ trainer at the dojo. He’s the serious one who will yell if someone is goofing off and everyone’s seen that he has no problem using full force in a demonstration (little kids love him and he’s super nice to them, but he teaches the 12-15 age range). Plus there’s that scar, which doesn’t make him the most initially welcoming person. But this new kid Aang just latches onto Zuko immediately. He says hi to Zuko in the halls at school and works on his katas outside of regular practice times. At first Zuko thinks this sickeningly positive kid is annoying as crap, but warms up to him. He likes that Aang cares about martial arts and isn’t nice as a show, he’s just genuinely nice.

And maybe he sees Aang hanging around school with a sophomore girl and her brother who just might be in Zuko’s calc class and English class.

And maybe Zuko thinks this guy is insanely attractive and somehow incredibly funny even though most of his humor consists of the worst puns imaginable.

But obviously, Zuko hasn’t attempted to ever actually talk to this guy. The most that he could classify as ‘talking’ to the cute, funny guy on the robotics club is the one day in English class when he had to respond to someone’s dumbass comment about Macbeth with what ended up being a ten minute spoken essay about obvious motifs and symbolism. To which Mr. Puns and Ponytail was very obviously paying great attention to and even gave Zuko a smile and thumbs up for.

Zuko knows it’s pointless to engage. After all, he’s a senior and he doesn’t have any friends anyway. There’s no point in making any this year. Crushing on this guy from the comfortable position of the other side of the room is totally good enough for him. Totally. This is fine. He’s fine.

Besides, he’s got competitions and if he doesn’t secure the regional championships this year he’s never going to get the chance after he goes to college. And he’s got his kids to train. Aang in particular is gearing up for his first debut into this area’s tournament.

The tournament’s in October and usually, Zuko focuses on his own matches and performances, but Aang really wanted him to watch his set. So on this day, he stands on the sides of Aang’s zone instead of obsessively going through his katas in a corner.He’s not going to be able to watch the whole set because it overlaps with his own weapons portion, but he stands on the side and gives Aang a reassuring look that, ‘don’t worry, you’ll do great, you’re a talented kid,’ when his student looks over to him nervously.

And wouldn’t you know it? Aang brought some friends to come watch. And one of them is Mr. Zuko’s Big Gay Crush.

“Oh, hey Zuko,” are the words that come out of this guy's mouth that give Zuko a near-stroke. And damn if this guy’s eyes aren’t blue and pretty and he usually wears his hair in a ponytail at school, but now he’s wearing it down and Zuko wishes he could take screenshots with his brain because holy moly.

“Hey.” Is the best that Zuko can get out of his dumb mouth. “You’re Sokka.”

“Aang invited us to come watch,” Sokka nudges his head to indicate the ‘us’ includes his younger sister, who Zuko doesn’t know the name of. “How do you guys not get heatstroke during these things? It’s like a million degrees in here.”

“Oh the gi’s pretty cold, I mean, it’s got air and stuff.”

Zuko decided right there that he would be completely fine with being struck by lightning. Of course, that’s what his stupid brain would come up with. Of course, that’d be the thing he’d say in front of one of the smartest guys in his class.

They watch Aang perform his set for the judges. Zuko recognizes that Aang took his advice when he said that he wasn’t putting enough force into his hits. He’s never seen Aang be as, well, aggressive isn’t the right word, but he’s definitely putting more power into his form. Zuko wouldn’t admit it, though, but only part of his attention was for Aang at the moment. The other part was for Sokka, who was smiling bright and pumping his fists when Aang completed a row of kicks.

The small part of Zuko’s brain that wasn’t being taken up by watching Aang or trying to act normal around his crush noticed the clock on the wall indicating that the weapons portion would be starting in five minutes.

“I’ve got to go do a thing so I’ll just, um, go do that now.”

“Are you competing too?” Sokka asked.

To this question Zuko just holds up his sais and raises his eyebrow as if to say ‘it’s a tournament, what do you think?’ Because yeah, he knows Sokka’s super smart, he’s seen him churn out calc answers at the speed of light and noticed his name on the robotics club awards update on the school’s website, but he’d also seen Sokka eat 5 packs of fundip at once on a dare and unironically wear a ‘women want me, fish fear me’ t-shirt for most of junior year. Somehow he had managed to fall for the smartest dumbass on earth.

“Oh yeah, right.” Sokka eyes the sais and then looks right at Zuko’s face, “Aang says you’re really good.”

Zuko decides that thinking about Aang talking to Sokka about him was something he didn’t need distracting him during his set. That was something he could anxious about later.

“Hopefully good enough for those five assholes,” Zuko replies, gesturing to the panel of judges in the weapons section of the gymnasium. To his shock, Sokka laughs. It’s a nice laugh, too. And Zuko really hoped he could blame the blush that was one-hundred-percent creeping up his face on the lack of AC.

“You know, you’re pretty funny man,” Sokka tells him. Zuko has no clue how to take that compliment, but he really does need to go.

“Right,” he grins nervously and shifts his left foot around to bounce away, “well I have to go do my thing.”

“Good luck!”

That’s where Zuko thinks the beginning and end of his interaction with Sokka would be.

The weapons portion thankfully goes by age. And since Zuko’s one of the youngest competitions, he gets to go first for his sai katas. This is what literal years of training have prepared him for. At regionals last year, the second advanced kata got him placed high enough to qualify for states. This is what he’s good at. He tells himself that a thousand times before starting his set.

There’s not a thought in his head as Zuko goes through the form. The sais glide through his fingertips with every jab, block, and hook. The imaginary opponent doesn’t stand a chance. He’s cool and competent and graceful. It’s therapeutic in a sense. There’s enough adrenaline to make Zuko feel like he’s worth something, but more importantly, he knows he’s nailing this. Whatever the judges say about it, he knows that he’s perfected this form after practicing it at least a thousand times over three years.

The judges agree with him. He’s the first competitor of the weapons portion but there isn’t really a doubt in their minds about who’s going to place.

Zuko zones back in to the gym after bowing to the panel. He walks off, feeling lighter and letting a satisfactory smile take over his face.

He expects the hug from Uncle and the proud smile from Sensei Piandao, but what he doesn’t expect is to see Sokka, eyes wide as globes, staring at him from the other side of the mat.

Because what Zuko doesn’t know is that the second he turned his wrists in his first form during his hooks, Sokka’s brain went into Full Bi Panic Mode.

And Zuko thinks the one conversation where he couldn’t talk like a human and wanted to die for most of it would be the only time Sokka would decide to willingly talk to him. Zuko is dead wrong. Sokka, in fact, has decided that this, this is the guy his Disaster Bi Brain has decided to latch onto. Sokka’s brain and all his squishy feelings have apparently decided to attach to this aloof kid with the scar who reserved his voice for eloquent, impassioned speeches about dramas and was apparently an actual god with weapons. Sokka decides that Zuko could roundhouse kick him in the side and he’d thank him. And right now Zuko’s looking at him with a dumbfounded expression, prompting Sokka to remember how to function so he can go over to congratulate Zuko and maybe ask if his dojo provides a free trial.

So yeah, that one conversation ends up decisively not being the end of anything.

#sorry #not sorry #zukka #zuko #sokka #atla #avatar the last airbender #fanfic #I'm gonna edit and add to this #and probably updated something on my ao3 in the first time in a literal month #thanks babe for the inspiration #the babes are asking #hot leaf content

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autisticzukka · 3 years

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what is this hakoda zuko arranged marriage you speak of? i am intrigued

okay so the long story short is that it’s a slight rebuttal of a popular post that is very fun but i find like... unrealistic in a really intriguing way like, how would this ACTUALLY play out. I’ve talked about it at length in my server a few times, and it’s one of those AU’s -- like the genderbend zukka ATLA rewrite or the zukki fic that starts with sokka failing to assassinate zuko -- that lives rent free in my head and I’ve written a couple thousand words for.

tw for like VERY unrequited zuko in love with hakoda and the inherent comedy of sokka being in love with his fire nation stepmom.

so here’s hakoda, chief of the southern water tribe, happily not-married to Bato. and here is a more balanced war, where the north and the south are actually allies, rather than whatever the fuck they were in ATLA. Yue already has a fiance and the Northern chief refuses to remarry. that leaves hakoda responsible for biting the bullet and doing a political marriage even though, as he points out at length, he is an elected official and if he stops being elected it’s no longer a marriage with the chief of the south pole. intelligently but mostly selfishly motivated (yue’s fiance is his nephew, after all) pakku points out that its not like the fire nation knows... that. the fire nation is dumb. ozai’s stupid.

faced with such inarguable points hakoda stiffens his upper lip, pre-emptively ends things with bato on the understanding that if this is another kya situation they’ll get back together and that he’s still the most important person to him but the tribe comes first yada yada, and deals with katara throwing the mother of all tantrums. it is slightly softened by the fact that in return for him marrying the fire nation noble, a thing everyone can agree isn’t traditional, the north has finally agreed to train katara. she heads out before the wedding, in protest but also so as to not cause an international incident.

(on her way, she’ll find aang. with the war less dire, katara will be sympathetic towards his desire to live without committing violence, even if she deeply can’t relate. they’ll have a hot girl romcom summer of self discovery and coming to terms with the dichotomy between duty and love as they become master benders. at some point they pick up toph. they ARE a throuple.)

sokka meanwhile is like.. not cool with it.. but ? kind of relieved? like. he’s the eldest kid. he’s 18, and he’s been a man of the tribe as far as legalities for several years. it would have been entirely understandable if his dad had asked HIM to do it. he had his emotionally crushing romance with yue, and as much as he was like ‘im kind of a prince’, he finds he doesn’t actually want some of the responsibilities and demands that would bring. yue’s life sucks.

back in the fire nation, zuko never demanded a quest and never went on it. he’s spent years hardening into something that, while brittle, can survive the pressures of the court around him. he still has his scar. he still wants his father to love him, but he knows by now that it’s not something he’s capable of earning. he watches his sister, never the most stable person, start to have complete breakdowns of sanity once she hits puberty, and helps her cover for it and receive medical treatment on the down low. he’s the heir, but he lives knowing that if he was ever in a position to inherit his choices are to abdicate or have the baby sister who he raised kill him and destroy herself and the country in the process.

when he realizes the plan is to marry azula off rather than someone more reasonable-- mai is RIGHT there, for fucks sake-- he doesn’t realize ozai’s true intent is to fuck this up through malicious compliance and false shows of good faith. he panics, and does the zuko thing: he blurts out that this is unacceptable and immoral and she’s only 16 and Ozai sees the true opportunity for two birds with one stone. send zuko, let him piss someone off so badly he gets killed or divorced, and he gets rid of zuko from the line of succession permanently. there are those who are incredibly attached to teh idea of a firstborn for firelord, and it’s been a constant thorn in unpopular ozai’s side to nto be able to name azula his heir apparent without costly rebellion. but if he can taint him in the mind of the fire nation so much that birthright is easy to supercede-- yeah. this’ll work PERFECTLY.

so zuko is sent to marry hakoda, chief of the water tribe.

literally NO ONE was expecting it to be a member of Ozai’s immediate family. besides the fact that his oldest child is half hakoda’s age and his brother has 20 years on hakoda, it would have been sus as fuck - the treaty is not favorable enough to grant that kind of secession of interests. it becomes quickly apparent that this young man -- hakoda reminds himself of that repeatedly. not kid. not kid. young man. don’t think of him like a kid, it’s hard enough on both of us already. -- is not a horrible threat. he’s scared shitless and shakes with what he thinks is bravado. he’s desperate to make the marriage work. he’s desperate to not go home. he’s got a giant fucking scar on his face from where the fire lord punished him for some grievous but unstated offense.

zuko “daddy issues” fire nation sees his husband to be and, despite being scared shitless, immediately begins to soften a little. like... he’s not nearly as scary as he thought he’d be. his face can be stern, but it just as easily breaks into huge smiles, and his eyes are crinkled with laughter. he’s incredibly handsome. and his biceps are. his biceps. are. his hands are...

like. zuko thinks. okay. maybe. maybe his marriage duties. won’t be so horrible as he thought. maybe he’s ready for this. and he knows what to expect, Uncle had discreetly provided him the means and the contacts to acquire an intimate education in the whirlwind of activity that was the two months before leaving. and like, once he’d gotten past the nerves, it was often even... good? or at least... not bad? he thinks that even if hakoda isn’t a professional expert, he has a certain.... je ne sais quoi, if you will.

((DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF DILF))

sokka sees his new stepfather and immediately falls in love because he’s that kind of dumb bitch. (the core of this au is that i cant breathe thinking about sokka falling in love with his hot young stepmom his age who his dad doesnt even want to fuck. like. i CANT. sokka masturbates to ‘hand caught in the washing tub’ fantasies which are even more absurd for requiring zuko to be DOING LAUNDRY. i find it so funny.)

bato watches them at the wedding feast while hakoda is very clearly trying to treat zuko as an Equal Adult Partner and mostly managing to seem like someone having a serious conversation with a seven year old about the game they’ve made up. zuko is clearly enamored with it, soaking up the attention, blushing and doing his best to Bravely Flirt, which at one point includes awkwardly attempting to feed Hakoda by hand. bato has to excuse himself to have a teary eyed giggle, hoping that Kya is in the spirit world looking down and laughing with him. he can’t resent the kid even a little bit, when hakoda is sitting there looking so incredibly fucking befuddled as to what he’s supposed to do with this star struck infant he’s legally wed to

anyways all of this... is very funny. their wedding night... is less so. zuko does not take the rejection from hakoda very well, especially because he’d been caught wanting. HE’S the one who should be rejecting hakoda. and he catastrophizes almost immediately about his potential value to the water tribe, his future treatment, that endless inescapable freezing cold loneliness is the good ending for him here... hakoda, meanwhile, drops zuko off at his home, reassuringly informs him that there’s NOTHING else expected of him and he will be well taken care of, and books it to bato’s. bato refuses to let him in on grounds of ‘you can’t sleep under the same shelter as me on your wedding night to that kid, have a fucking brain’, and he ends up crashing at sokka’s.

sokka, who had KNOWN that his dad wouldnt, but also upon seeing zuko and zuko’s awkward flirting was like... but how COULDNT he???? sokka is relieved.

the core of this fic is that i find it endlessly hilarious for zuko to try and seduce his husband while sokka simps around zuko and bato tries to be heartbroken or betrayed but mostly ends up with a giant case of hysterical schadenfreude. but the thing that CLINCHED it for me, like THE scene. several years after being married, settled into their life. they’re partners and they see each other as people. and zuko just fucking snaps one night

he just kisses him, desperate and clawing and climbing and maybe a little drunk. he knows hakoda is going to push him away, maybe even hit him, but he doesn’t care anymore, he doesn’t care. he can do anything he wants to him as long as he just-- finally does something. zuko is 21 and married to the surface of the sun and the surface of the sun jr is his best friend and clearly in love with him-- so clearly not even zuko can miss it-- and like. listen. listen. zuko is not a patient person. but he’s been patient for this. he waited and he matured and he is a fucking amazing husband and he wants this, he wants him. he wants to be wanted.

but hakoda doesn’t push him away. hakoda doesnt yell at him, or hit him. hakoda gentles the kiss into something soft and closed lipped. he pulls away slowly, and his eyes are so sad for zuko, so pitying. he strokes his cheek with the back of his hand so gently. he says, I’m sorry. I don’t want you.

and zuko daddy issues fire nation swallows

and he nods

and he leaves, even though its his own fucking house

and he knows he’s never going to be good enough

like FUUUCK i am OBSESSED WITH THAT

#long post #lmao i am NOT fucking main tagging this #op #asked and answered #i just want zuko to fall in love with hakoda and for hakoda to gently reject him #noncommittalhum

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sokkalore · 4 years

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What are your favourite zukka fics that you would rec (love your twilight au btw)

HELLO i’ve been waiting all day to be done with work/able to get on my computer to answer this so i’m going to just. try my best and i’m definitely going to miss some but here are SOME of my absolute favorites

(do you take this jerk to be) your one and only

Under the leadership of Fire Lord Iroh, the Fire Nation has made every attempt to restore peace and make amends for the harm they inflicted during the Seventy-Year War. Their newest proposal is a literal proposal: a marriage to unite the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes.

The Fire Nation offers Prince Zuko’s hand.

The Water Tribes offer Princess Yue’s.

Sokka is apparently the only person in the world who has a problem with any of this.

Blue

Iroh insists they create a new life and identity in Ba Sing Se. Zuko wants nothing more than to bide his time until his next opportunity to return home, until he realizes ‘Lee’ can get away with things Zuko never could. Zuko dons the mantle of the Blue Spirit again only to lose his focus when the Avatar comes to the city. This time, however, his attention is drawn to the annoying Southern Tribe warrior.

Mass Times Acceleration

[Zuko calls at three in the morning and says, tears in his voice and rage through his teeth, “I want to run away.”

It’s Sokka’s turn to carry the brain cell in his household but he doesn’t waste a second before he’s saying, “Tell me when and where—I’m coming too.”]

Or,

A road trip AU featuring two teenage disasters, abusing Ozai’s credit card, and A Lot Of Sea Lions.

it’s the illusion of separation

Sokka takes a job washing dishes at the new tea shop in town. It's a great gig, until he finds out his only coworker is his old high school bully. Sokka really should quit, but he also really needs to afford rent.

Also, Zuko is kind of hot now.

Those Who Favor Fire

After a failed attempt on his life, Sokka fakes his death, dons a disguise, and infiltrates the would-be assassin's ranks in an attempt to bring them down from the inside.

Zuko learns of his husband's tragic death, mourns, and vows revenge.

The Road Between Action and Inaction

Sokka does a shitty k turn in the parking lot across from the bus station, pulls up to the curb where the boy is looking determinedly at his phone, and rolls down the passenger window. “Hey! Which way were you going?” He may die, but at least his conscience will be clear.

The guy blinks at him.

“Don’t.”

Oh, he’s prickly.

---

Or: the hitchhiker au, featuring Sokka and Zuko falling in love without even realizing it.

Protective

What Zuko wasn’t prepared for was something else, something far more animalistic. Every time he saw that necklace, he felt something clawing at the pit of his stomach: a sensation that was somewhere between “protective” and “possessive.” Although logically he knew it wasn’t true, the thought always appeared before Zuko could stop it: Sokka belongs to me.

Or, Azula kidnaps Sokka. That doesn't sit very well with Zuko or Katara.

(let me be) there for you

Sokka pulls out a clean piece of parchment and starts to write:

Reasons Why Sokka Would Be A Great Bodyguard for Lord Zuko

He smiles in satisfaction at the title. Seeing it in writing only makes him feel more confident in this brilliant, two-minute-old idea of his. Zuko is one of his closest friends, and Sokka is a great fighter, he would be the perfect bodyguard! He has the entirety of his trip in the Fire Nation to prove it to Zuko. This is going to be a piece of cake.

(or, Sokka mistakes his crush for just a strong desire to be a guard for Zuko, and Suki is amused)

Moving Mountains

(Set during and after the events of ATLA, and during some of the events of the comics that follow. This was an excuse to write a slow-burn where Sokka and Zuko are soulmates)

Question Marks

Zuko pulls away first. He stares at Sokka and raises his one brow. “You do realise,” he says dryly, “that you just instigated a major international incident?”

Or: Sokka is impulsive. This is a problem. Especially when he ends up kissing the Fire Lord and immediately running away.

sirens & sleepless nights

Life can be pretty hard living in a city under a totalitarian regime. Between adhering to the ridiculous curfew, keeping himself from being gunned down by a passing patrolman, and paying his unnecessary tolls to the state for, say, breathing, Sokka has his hands full just getting to work. Add aiding a resistance group on top of that, and Sokka should really be getting paid for this.

Then, one night, Sokka finds an injured patrolman collapsed in the street, who tells him with blood on his lips, “If the patrol finds me, I’m dead.”

#i tried to brief and instead included 11 fics but #LITERALLY ALL OF THESE mean so much to me so READ THEM!!!!!!!!!!!#zukka fic #fic rec

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sokkas-therapist · 3 years

Text

✨Zukka week! Day 4: Southern water tribe//secretly dating✨🎉

Bato (after Katara) was the first from the water tribe to find out about their relationship. When Zuko’s ship docked he ran past everyone to jump into Sokka’s arms. Hakoda was happy to see him, Gran Gran was not (given their first encounter, she never really let it go). Bato thought, “oh cool, this must be Sokka’s partner!” Having been the only one who hadn’t met Zuko yet.

(Aang was also in town for future reference)

That night, Hakoda went to grab an extra blanket (or something Idk...) and heard...ummm... noisessss. He didn’t bother to investigate for his own well being and went back to bed. The next morning tho, during breakfast he confronted everyone saying “someone must have been having fun last night...” katara and sokka both choke on their drinks. Their eyes go wide and they quickly turn to look at each other, exchanging some inaudible conversation along the lines of “Seriously?!?!” “Oh, really, well apparently you were too!” “Your disgusting!” “No you!” Before turning back to their dumb struck dad. They at the same time they both sputtered to create an answer before he cut them off “you know what, I don’t want to know” he said before returning to his meal “then why’d you ask!?!?” Katara and Sokka said in unison. Aang and Zuko tried their best to look the least suspicious, but kept looking up to sneak knowing looks at each other that weren’t picked up by anyone else.

Later, Bato silently got the attention of Sokka and Zuko and motioned for them to meet him in the other room after breakfast. They offered to clean up so that they could sneak to their little “conversation” unnoticed. After cleaning up, Sokka and a very nervous Zuko headed to Bato’s room. Once they got there they made small talk for a few minutes before Bato got into what he’d really wanted them there for. “ I just wanted to say that I’m happy for you” “umm, no, uh-“ they sputtered out, Bato just chuckled “it’s ok, your secrets safe with me. I think you two are good together. I just thought I’d let you know that.” “Thank you, Mr. Bato. That... that really meant a lot” Zuko said with a shy smile. “But one question how did you-“ Sokka started before getting cut off by Bato. “ come on, I’ve known sence you got off the docks! And You two have been eyeing each other ever sense, it doesn’t take a genius, just someone with an open mind.” Sokka and Zuko exchange a loving look before intertwining hands. “ now, you love birds get out of here! I’m sure you have better things to be doing then listening to an old man talk!” Bato says practically pushing them out the door “oh, and one more thing, if you plan on keeping this a secret, you might want to tone it down a bit? Your father’s dumb, but not that dumb” which gains a chuckle from the 2 of them. Once they halfway down the hall Sokka leans in to quickly kiss Zuko. “See? I told you people are more excepting here than in the stuffy Fire nation!” Zuko smiles “yeah, I guess you were right.

I don’t know if I like this one... but here! I wanted to contribute something to Zukka week so here’s a short fic for today’s prompts!

#zukka week 2021 #zukka #southern water tribe #secretly dating #sokka #Zuko #sokka x zuko #atla headcanons #atla #I like it but not a lot....#I don’t like it

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hello-yue-here · 3 years

Note

The Great Comet is my favorite musical ever D:::: so great to see anyone talk about it ever haha. But I wanna hear you talk about the sokkla and wicked song! also the zutara one is spot on

great comet is LITERALLY tied for my fav musical (les mis is the other it was the first show i ever saw and it was amazing and enjfoaiend so many feelings for that musical)

i am SO GLAD you asked ab sokkla and wicked because that along with the yuekka great comet no one else song is what inspired me to make that list

so without further ado: sokkla: as long as your mine

one of the big things with sokkla as a ship is that most of the fics i read and most of the art i see if that many sokkla fans and artists rlly play into the whole forbidden romance theme; moreso than any other fm swt pairing in the series (ie zutara zukka azutara u get the gist)

and this song is ALL ABOUT THE FORBIDDEN ROMANCE

you see: fiyero in wicked is a carefree guy who plays up his charm and plays dumb a lot when in actuality i think hes a very smart character. i know sokka doesnt pretend to act dumb and thats a difference between him n fiyero: but the fact that theyre both pretty smart strategic characters is why i associate them with eachother

azula as elphaba?? HANDS DOWN AMAZING. elphaba is an outsider. she isnt liked by many people. she is very thoughtful and precise with her actions and has shown she can be cunning and manipulative when she needs to be. sound familiar? consider a post-redemption arc azula for this role. just just think of it.

now onto the lyrics:

"i need help believing your with me tonight / my wildest dreamings could not foresee / lying here beside you / with you wanting me"

elphaba in this moment cant rlly believe that the fact that she is with fiyero is reality. azula has been seen in the finale of atla to struggle in terms of reality and people wanting her (ie her mother saying she loves her and azula not believing it because it isnt real) i know this is a bit of a stretch because elphaba isnt hallucinating and has never been known to do so, but azula and elphaba definitely both have issues with people genuinely loving them and wanting them.

"maybe im brainless / maybe im wise"

LJGFJHGF my favorite hc that i have for sokkla is that while they are the two smartest characters in all of atla: they become dumb when it comes to each other. thats personally a hc i have for this ship and this line just supports that wholeheartedly. Sokka becomes a lovesick idiot when it comes to azula and he knows this. so is he dumb for acting like an idiot around her? or is he smart for loving her anyways. (both. its both.) also just the symbolism and implications of sokka saying this line when we all know hes a genius but in the show hes seen as insecure in his abilities and strengths just.... wow. this line is so sokka it makes me lakshfgwky

"say there's no future for us as a pair" "just for this moment / as long as your mine"

this is less to do with the ship itself but moreso with the fandom ab the ship. lots of people dont like this ship (and thats fine! not every ship is for everyone) and they think that it wouldnt work out and while i personally disagree i think this line is good for pointing that out. because ppl think it would never work and that its doomed and maybe since sokka and azula are both geniuses they recognize that their relationship may look that way to other people too. they arent dumb. theyd know how people would look at them as a couple and theyd realize that hey maybe this wont work, but i dont care because right now im with you anyways: sokkla core

and finally, the most iconic line in this entire show, literally where the title comes from

"for the first time, im feeling, wicked"

im sorry but azula would def say something like this. ugh i have so many emotions about this show and this ship and i love this musical and i rlly love this ship. wicked sokkla au anyone? goddammit im adding it to my list of fic ideas rn. sokkla wicked au is something i desperately need right now. zuko nessarose? suki glinda? morally grey aang wizard?? somehow katara fits into this?? idk i became inspired by writing this post to actually think about a sokkla wicked au. ill get back to this one day. maybe. idk. yeah.

ALSO YES FIRST DATE/LAST NIGHT IS SO ZUTARA

like the vibes???

bad first impressions, he made her cry because he was an ass, she gave him a second chance, extremelt awkward first date??? TELL ME that isnt how a zutara relationship would start. tell me. i dare you. also this fucking song is just so cute and well written and beautiful and yeah. first date/last night is fucking zutara to a T

thank you for indulging my theatre kid atla rambles :)))

ask me about why i think these songs go with these ships :)

#liv is a theatre nerd #liv is an atla nerd #liv rambles #ask liv ab her ship songs #i love sokkla so much yall #sokka #azula #sokkla #sokka x azula #azula x sokka #atla #avatar the last airbender

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asspinkie · 4 years

Text

zukka/wuko hc

okay so hc/fic idea:

-> zuko helps wu come to terms with him being in love with mako and also shares with him the letters that he and sokka sent each other while they were falling in love

-> after wu reads the letters, zuko makes him write one to mako, confessing how he feels

-> 100% would be titled “when the stars come out at night (do you think of me?)” or something in that vein

-> i started writing it (under the cut) but will i finish? unlikely

Zuko was the last person Wu had expected. He never in a million years would have thought Fire Lord Izumi would send her relic of a father to be the Ambassador to the Earth Kingdom. Iroh? Maybe. But Lord Zuko, hero of the hundred-year war, previous Fire Lord and ridiculously old man? Never. And Wu really couldn’t decide if he was honored or peeved; he did, after all, have to deal with someone so antiquated that he probably still thought satomobiles were a novelty.

Sighing heavily through his nose, Wu set down the letter from Izumi, pacing one of his many offices. “I can’t believe-” he started, looking back at Mako. Except Mako wasn’t there. Mako was back in Republic city, with his shiny new promotion to detective, leaving Wu to suffer alone. Instead, there was a dai-li agent guarding his door.

“Yes, your majesty?” she inquired.

“Nothing. The embassy from the Fire Nation arrives in three days. Have rooms prepared,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. The dai-li agent dipped her head and slipped out of the room. With a dramatic groan, Wu flopped onto the couch in the middle of the room, mentally exhausted.

He had spent the last few months trying to pick up the pieces of the Earth Nation that Kuvira had so rudely left behind; he’d formed alliances with the other nations, quelled uprisings and even dealt with the wrenching absence of his best friend.

Mako. The one thing he couldn’t get off his mind, couldn’t file away, couldn’t defer responsibility to someone else. Apparently, at least according to Lin, Mako had specifically requested to leave Ba Sing Se. After everything they’d been through Mako had just left, to be a detective. What about being a detective was better than being a part of the Earth King’s personal entourage? Wu couldn’t think of a single thing.

---

Apparently, Zuko was incredibly skilled at messing with Wu’s expectations. He wasn’t a crotchety old man with an over-inflated sense of self. No, he was chill. Their first meeting might have been awkward if the old man hadn’t immediately said “I’m too tired for niceties” and whipped out a pai sho game board.

Wu gaped at him. “What- where did you just get that from?”

Zuko chuckled. “I figured our time would be better spent getting to know one another over a game and tea, rather than discussing the terms of your abdication and what it means for an alliance.” He tugged at his collar. “These formalities are so overplayed.”

Wu wasn’t sure how to react. This man, who had helped the last avatar take down the tyrannical rule of the fire nation, who used to lead the fire nation, wanted to play pai sho. Wu supposed he couldn’t really say no.

---

And so it became their tradition. Once a month, when Zuko was visiting to discuss economical treatises and trade routes, cultural events and immigration, they played pai sho. At first, it was quiet. Wu wasn’t quite sure what to say to Zuko; he was in such a different league that no topics seemed like common ground. But slowly, Zuko’s snarky comments and Wu’s huffs of laughter turned into lively conversations.

“You know,” Zuko started, one sunny afternoon, while they were playing a game in Wu’s personal garden, trying to avoid dignitaries. “I’m always surprised when I visit, that you have still not been married. I’m sure you’re drowning in suitors. I know I was when I was crowned.”

Wu gagged on his tea. “I’ve just been so busy, you know, with reconstructing the Earth Kingdom,” he fumbled, scratching the back of his head. “Besides, who needs love?”

Zuko wheezed at this. “I’ve seen the way you gaze forlornly out the window when I’m taking time considering a move. And how, when you say something you think is funny, you look over your shoulder, even though there’s no one there.” He picked up a white dragon piece, flipping it between his thin fingers. Leaning in, across the board, he flicked the piece into Wu’s face.

“Ow, what was that for?” Wu yelped, rubbing the red spot on his forehead.

“Aren’t you going to tell me who it is?”

A blush crept into Wu’s cheeks. “I’m not in love with anyone,” he responded, swatting Zuko’s hand out of his face. “I couldn’t be anyw- Mako is a guy.”

The corner of Zuko’s mouth flicked up as he sat back. “Who said you can’t date a guy?”

“Who said I can?”

Zuko looked at him. “You know, we had laws against it in the fire nation. Sixty years ago. That’s all outdated now; it doesn’t matter who you fall in love with, we’re all just souls, aren’t we?” He was fiddling with the white dragon piece again and giving Wu a concentrated look. “I myself was married to another man.”

Wu tried to stop his eyes from bugging out but his dumb face, over which he had no control evidently, had morphed into shock. “I thought you were married to Mai? Izumi’s mother?”

Zuko shook his head. “Wow, you are way behind on gossip, Wu. Listen, I saved some letters Councilman Sokka and I sent each other when we were young. Would you like me to bring them to you?”

Wu felt his eyes widen even more. “Councilman Sokka?!”

“Did you learn nothing of the fire nation's affairs in your education? This is all common knowledge.”

“No, I wasn’t taught gossip,” Wu sputtered in response.

“I forget how sheltered you Earth Kingdom royals are. I remember when the saying ‘there is no war in Ba Sing Se’ circulated the city. In any case. . . “ Zuko sighed. “Would you like the letters?”

#this could be SO good if i had the motivation #instead i write shrek aus #wuko shrek au #wuko #zukka #since this is more than one shot material i probably will not finish it #because im like that #that tm #no mai is not just a plot device in this for izumi to be born #in fact if i ever did write this #she would be leaving zuko to marry ty lee #and zuko would be really upset #but he'd be able to move past it #gray

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sokka-with-his-hair-down · 4 years

Text

Strange Sightings in Strange Settings

(draft)

(Details on this at the bottom)

**********

“Don’t look now, but… I think that’s the Fire Lord sitting behind us.”

Midori giggled and rolled her eyes. “Chiyo, I’m not falling for one of your dumb tricks again.”

“No!” Chiyo leaned forward earnestly, eyes flickering between Midori and the two young men at the table behind her. “I’m serious right now. That’s him.”

“Chiyo—”

“I’m serious!”

Midori huffed. “Well, if you’re so sure—” she began to turn to look, but was stopped when Chiyo abruptly gripped her shoulders.

“I said don’t look now!”

“Why do you get to see and I don’t then, hmm?” Midori asked dubiously, skepticism resurfacing.

“I swear I’m not lying. Just… wait a minute.”

“I know this is a trick, Chiyo. I’m gonna look and prove you wrong this one time.”

“Don’t—!”

Midori, devious smile on her face, spun in her chair and glanced over and holy spirits is—

She spun back around abruptly. “Sweet Agni above.”

“I told you!”

“Ever hear of the boy who cried snake-wolf? How was I supposed to know you were being serious!”

“Maybe if you just trusted me—”

“Excuse me, ladies?”

Midori and Chiyo looked up to see their waitress, lips pressed into a small, awkward smile.

“Hello.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like me to take your plates?”

“Oh.” Midori looked down at her plate, now empty, and Chiyo’s, scraped clean. “Yes, please.”

“Thank you,” Chiyo chided as the waitress—Shu, Chiyo thinks she introduced herself as earlier—took the plates and left them to themselves once again.

As soon as she was out of hearing range, Chiyo spoke again. “Who’s that sitting with him?”

“I don’t know,” Midori confessed, “I didn’t really look at him.”

“He must be important, if he’s eating with the Fire Lord.”

“I can check.”

“Do not check!

“I’m gonna check.”

Chiyo groaned in embarrassment as Midori risked another glance behind her, more subtle this time, then scrambled to face her friend. “It’s Sokka of the Water Tribe!”

Chiyo tilted her head and squinted, as if trying to remember where she’d heard that name before. “Who is he again?”

“You know!” Midori whisper-yelled. “Ambassador! Friend of the Avatar! He took down dozens of airships when the war ended!”

Chiyo thought for a moment before her eyes copied Midori’s—widened in surprise. “Isn’t his sister married to Avatar Aang?”

“Yes!”

Chiyo gaped and looked over again, briefly, to see the picture in all its glory now. Ambassador Sokka sat across from Fire Lord Zuko, hand atop his (?) and laughing at something one of them said.

She looked away.

“Midori. They’re holding hands.”

“They are?”

“Yes! Th—no, don’t—!”

Too late. Midori was looking for the third time this evening. Chiyo watched with great anxiety, and her heart rate only increased when she saw Ambassador Sokka notice Midori’s staring with a surprised expression.

Midori jerked her head back into position. “Oh no. He saw me. The ambassador saw me.”

“Nice going! Honestly, I can’t believe you sometimes!”

Midori didn’t turn to look again, but Chiyo still risked the occasional peek over Midori’s shoulder to see Ambassador Sokka and Fire Lord Zuko whisper in each other’s ears and giggle.

Chiyo cleared her throat. “We should be going.”

“We have to pay.”

“Is my embarrassment not payment enough?” Chiyo whined.

Still flushed red in embarrassment, Midori shrunk in her seat and stayed silent until the waitress approached them again.

“Hello,” Shu greeted.

Chiyo smiled a little and nodded, but was quickly off-put when Shu set two bowls of anmitsu onto the table.

“Sorry, I don’t… think we ordered dessert.”

“I know,” Shu said, smiling. She leaned down and lowered her voice to a whisper. “But his majesty and the ambassador thought you looked like you could use some.”

Chiyo and Midori looked at each other, cheeks pink in surprise, then turned to see the Fire Lord and ambassador standing up, still talking and smiling to one another, then shooting a glance and a couple of knowing smiles their way before taking their leave.

The random men who’d been casually perched against the walls stood to their full height and followed the ambassador and Fire Lord out. Guards. Of course.

Shu giggled. “Enjoy, ladies.”

She left. The two girls stared at one another.

“The Fire Lord just bought us dessert.”

**********

Hey there! So this is a snippet of a little something I’m writing. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I think I’m gonna make it into a full on fic. I’ll let you guys know if it ever gets uploaded to Ao3 (I am still working on that Zukka airport AU though, so idk which one will come out first).

Also, please forgive any typos! I didn’t really have the energy to edit this more than a simple revision. It’s been a long day.

Let me know your thoughts, feedback is a big inspiration for me. Love you all! <3

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #sokka #zukka #zukka fic #zukka fanfic #l’oreal sokka writes #atla fanfic #atla fic #avatar #avatar fic #avatar fanfic

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half-a-hetero · 3 years

Text

ATLA BATTLE OF THE BANDS AU SETUP PT. 1

oK SO I’VE HAD THIS AU IN MY HEAD FOR TWO FKN DAYS AND I HAVE COME TO EVER SO GRACIOUSLY INJECT IT INTO YOUR MIND- THE GAANG PLUS YUE AND THE FIRE NATION GALS IN BANDS. a battle of the bands au. tHINK OF THE aRt. n i’m thinking zukka and yueki, and they meet at battle of the bands but yk...we got 2 sets of pining idiots yk yk. i thought this up five (5) days ago and iM DYING

(tw: mentions of canon-typical abuse, and past death)

this is basically just the setup but i’ll add little tidbits and worldbuilding and art later

zuko (18): drums + backup vocals

mai (16): bass guitar

ty lee (15): keyboard

azula (15): lead guitar + vocals

suki (17/18): rhythm guitar

they do some group vocals/harmonies but not that often

so like azula has this really strong, really powerful voice, and that means she could do really moving rock ballads/power ballads, and etc etc. she took extensive guitar and voice lessons as a kid because of That Fucker Ozai™ and thats why she has so much control. same with zuko, except he didnt take voice lessons (he just liked singing) and quit guitar after ozai went to jail (it was a painful reminder of The Shit He Went Through) and took up drums to let out his anger and frustrations instead. Azula stuck with guitar because it was something she loved to do, despite her past.

where azula has a bold voice, zuko has a raspy-yet-smooth-at-the-same-time one that matches azula’s really well. while she’s off singing power notes, hes singing the lower, raspier undertones and it sounds really nice.

zuko also took up art classes and is genuinely proud of his work.

he’s secretly (its not that much of a secret) an art nerd

zuko, azula, and suki wrote a few songs together, kinda

for lack of better explanation, ozai was (canon-typically) abusive, and he got drunk one day and got mad at zuko and pushed him. zuko fell into the fireplace, and boom. scar.

azula got mainly mental trauma because zuko would take the blow for her, but she got therapy and theyre both for the most part better (there are still some relapses)

azula’s secretly a DC nerd

zUkO wEaRs riNgs

the canon-typical atla “ozai pitting them against eachother sibling rivalry” comes into play through guitar (hence why zuko drops it. he wanted to let his sister have something she loved for herself. also, he didnt like it). ozai was a classical guitarist and famous [the money and the “royalty” canon aspects]

should i….mullet zuko?

aro azula and toph >>>>

ty lee is still from the circus, except this time mai was there too, which is where she learned knife-throwing. they both ran away from the circus summer after freshman year and met azula though mai’s bass lessons (alternatively, they met at martial arts classes). theyre 14/15. they moved in with azula, zuko, and iroh around the middle of sophomore year (grade 10) when ozai was arrested. the azula and ty lee were 15, mai was 16, and zuko was 17 at the time, around the ages they were in the show when the war ended (i think??)

azula said it didn't matter cause they had a huge house. she says it was half-empty, anyways, but mai and ty lee know that meant she liked their company.

they get along really well with suki

everyone realizes they can all play instruments, the core parts of a [rock] band. they start playing together, and eventually decide to become a band

their band is called ‘the kyoshi warriors’ (or something idk this is off the top of my head) in honor of the girls’ martial arts instructor, master kyoshi, who passed away

WAIT SJITGHHFSD FAN THE FLAMES IS A GOOD NAME TOO WHAT (although i can see that being more of a song name) credits to boom ( @boomerangsandadora) for that (go check out their ideas on this au)

theyre inseparable

together, mai, ty lee, suki, azula and zuko look fucking menacing. just imagine that. fucking bamfs

mai skateboards. just. this is a kind of important plot device. shh.

suki joins their friend group gradually. first, she’s attended azula’s martial arts class since they were in second grade, and moved up the belts like wildfire (along with azula). she tried to befriend azula a few times, but gave up over the years because azula wasnt interested in friendship (no thanks to ozai pressuring her to always be first. azula saw her as a rival, suki saw azula as a particularly competitive classmate and but equal in skill). She was zuko’s classmate since freshman year (grade 9) but only became his friend in sophomore year through a literature assignment the two were paired up in. she was really his only friend, cause everyone was too busy sizing up his scar. the two became inseparable then on.

she plays rhythm guitar because she loves guitar but agrees that azula is better at being in the (relative) spotlight

on the outside, suki and zuko looked tough, but underneath that, they’re two bumbling, pining gay idiots

suki’s parents both died in a fire, so she grew up with her “cool gay aunt” who was also a feminist and a mixed martial arts instructor.

suki spends her time teaching the beginner classes at the dojo

she met azula + the girls thru martial arts and zuko

overall thingies:

even though zuko is oblivious to sokka’s reciprocate feelings, no one else is. mai, azula, and ty le are just like “zuko wtf you’re more blind than toph”

he thinks the rest of his friends dont know about his crush bu he forgets who his sister is. honestly. all he talks about is sokka, it isnt hard.

unlike a lot of other bands, they actually have more complicated and interesting bass riffs, and a lot of times when writing songs they start with bass and build up from there

azula and toph get along becaus theyre the only sensible ones around. all their friends are pining idiots and they bond over their mutual superiority 🪄🧃🧃

mai skateboards at the same skatepark as sokka and aang. she’s long since past trying to teach zuko (he’s an uncoordinated gay mess) (who can somehow still play drums ??what???)but once she sees him agree to learn to skate from sokka she knows what’s up

suki’s birthday is during th time this fic happens, and she invites yue to the party (she tells zuko he has to invite sokka because even though she loves her bestie, he really is dumb)

“hey yue, we’re having a little get-together for my birthday, and i was wondering if you wanted to come?” compare to zuko’s “uh—hey sokka? i, um. suki’s birthday is pretty soon, and, well. we’re having a get-together to celebrate? and i—she asked me to invite someone? andifyoudontwannagothatstotallyfineimsorryforbotheringyou-” (includes much stammering and heavy blushing)

on the outside suki’s all calm (someone has to be the “i’m a mess but i dont look it” friend🙄🙄. honestly)but on the inside she’s like

“oh my gOD is that dyed hair hOLY FUcK thats so badass and she pLAYS BASS TOo that’s hOt”

“WAITWHATTHEFUCKISSHESPEAKINGTOME- ?? she’s laughing now she’s gORGEOUS- ThE giGGLEs i CANt bREatHE-”

“hOLY mOtHEr of kYosHi sHe’s wEAriNG lEsbiAn riNgS sHIT and her voice is so nice too fUCK i think i’m in love-”

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that-was-anticlimactic · 3 years

Text

Sokka with Tourette’s Headacanons Part Two

that no one asked for but here they are because I wanted to write more

Part One here and links to all of my other TS headcanons and such at the end!

*rubs hands together*

let’s start with premonitory urge and Sokka’s experience with it!

for those who don’t know, premonitory urges are essentially sensory tics. It’s when you feel a sensation or a discomfort in your body where you want to-- no, need to do something for touch something. For example, it can be as simple as this feeling in my body and head that I need to rub my phone screen a certain way. If I don’t rub it, the uncomfortable feeling will linger and make me anxious or extra fidgety. They can also increase tics.

Now, in Sokka’s life with TS, he has had... some problems with premonitory urge. When he was younger and training to be a warrior, there were multiple occasions where he almost sliced his fingers off because he kept getting this physical feeling that he had to touch the swords or spears etc... a certain way.

When he gets older, he finds that they start to bother him during council meetings in the Fire Nation, especially when Zuko is doing important stuff so he has to sit far away.

They’ll be in the middle of an important meeting when Sokka looks up from his doodling to glance at Zuko and this tingling, gravitational feeling suddenly moves through his body and he can’t stop staring at the edge of Zuko’s chair and he knows that he needs to rub it.

Obviously, he can’t just get up in the middle of the meeting, walk over to the Fire Lord, and rub his chair (even though they are dating and Zuko would definitely let him)

I have had experiences like this during class where I would mentally shut down or have to calm myself down from an anxiety attack because I need to rub the white board my teacher is writing on or the teacher’s desk but we are literally in the middle of class so I can’t do that (doesn’t always end like that, but that’s worse case scenario). And it sucks. So much. So, Sokka is miserable.

One time Sokka was so focused on not having an anxiety attack because his body was telling him that he needed to rub the surface of a Fire Nation elder’s desk-thingy that’s in front of his chair (because sometimes his body hates him and it happens to people he doesn’t know that well’s stuff) that he mentally shut down. He ended up squatting in his chair, rocking back and forth for ten minutes after the meeting ended without realizing it because all he could think was don’t interrupt the meeting, don’t be weird, don’t embarrass Zuko

Zuko, being the fantastic boyfriend he is, noticed that Sokka didn’t leave the meeting and thought it looked like an anxiety attack. He kind of just sat with him. He didn’t touch him because he knew Sokka wouldn’t want it and wouldn’t be able to coherently answer if he asked to touch him. Zuko just started talking about random things to try to get his mind off of the feeling.

Once he got back into the moment (with help from Zuko’s dulcet voice), he ran to the desk-thingy and rubbed it. Like, almost dramatically ran his hand across the desk and kind of just let his hand take over and rub whatever part he needed to.

Zuko was confused because this had never happened before (well, it had, but not to this extreme in front of him and Sokka never said anything) so Zuko never knew).

Sokka was kind of embarrassed, but he told Zuko about it and together they came up with a signal for when it got really bad so Zuko could either call a five minute break or make an excuse to switch seats so he could sit next to his boyfriend.

This is another reason that Zuko keeps random things on him at all times so if it gets bad, Sokka will have more to do with his hands than draw, write sentences over and over again, take notes, and tap.

Actually, lowkey stealing this particular headcanon from @tikmasjiens and their story For When He’s Being a Dumb*ss (which I highly suggest reading-- it’s fantastic!): Katara and Zuko (for the purposes of later in life when they’re dating because of course imma make it Zukka) carry little fidget kits / bags around for Sokka because he is forgetful and is sometimes so focused on one particular thing that he starts to run late for a meeting or lunch or hang out that he forgets his own personal fidget things.

The amazing Katara and Zuko have random things: brushes, atla equivalent at paper clips (aka metal things he can bend) (yes, yes, we’ve been hiding this from the world, but people with Tourette’s are actually paper clip benders lol), dice, Pai Sho tiles, and other little trinkets.

One time when Sokka was walking around an Earth Kingdom market out of boredom (and this is after the war because I just want him to not be on edge during this), he sees this young girl making noises and movements similar to him and he sees these two other kids mocking her and laughing at her and Sokka just sees red.

He actually goes over and scolds the kids (who don’t care enough to stay and listen ugh but that’s not the main focus of Sokka’s concern so it’s whatever for now) and this young girl sees him (at around age 17-18) making noises and moving ‘weirdly’ too and she’s just like “I’ve never seen anyone else do that stuff before”

and Sokka kind of just sits down with her and talks to her about his own experience and it’s not anything to be ashamed of, even though it can feel like that sometimes.

he rummages through his pockets and pulls out some of his fidget stuff and gives it to her. He, Zuko, and Katara have plenty of fidget stuff for him. Losing a few won’t matter.

Eventually, her parents return and they part ways. They never see each other again, but they never forgot each other either. It was both of their first time seeing someone else like them.

(and personal anecdote, but one time I was faculty at a camp for the weekend, and one of the kids in my group had just gotten diagnosed with Tourette’s and that was one of the most meaningful experiences I have ever had. I got to talk to him and his mom about my experience and it was... I’ll never forget that)

Sokka may be the protective older brother, but Katara is also the terrifying ‘you hurt my brother I will ruin you’ younger sister. One time, someone mocked Sokka’s tics and Katara’s protective instincts kicked in and she lectured them so hard. and very loudly. so everyone heard.

again, y’all, I know this is about Sokka with TS but WOW I love Katara too, what a queen. Let’s take a moment and appreciate the queen that she is.

Ty Lee and Sokka do yoga together at least twice a week. They both find it relaxing and fun and nice, but it also helps Sokka begin the day with less stress in his body. It doesn’t cure his TS, because there is no cure and he needs no cure, but it definitely helps sometimes.

Something that absolutely kills Sokka is that he wants to cuddle with Zuko at night so badly, but sometimes he genuinely just can’t. Zuko’s arms around him will make him feel too trapped and restrained, his arms around Zuko make him paranoid that if he moves too much, he’ll make Zuko uncomfortable and just stressed himself out by only being able to think about “am I moving too much?” “can Zuko feel me move?” “stay still stay still stay still” and it’s just not fun and he gets tense

But sometimes, he can cuddle and he loves it! Because as much as he hates being held, he desperately longs to be held. As self-conscious as he gets when he holds Zuko, he wants to be able to hold Zuko.

So when he feels like he can cuddle with Zuko, he gets so excited!

Zuko swears up and down that the lack of cuddling on occasion does not bother him, but Sokka still has trouble believing him (not that he doesn’t trust him, but he can’t understand how someone would be okay with it)

One time, Sokka was so distressed about whether or not Zuko was upset with him or pretending not to be upset to spare his feelings that Zuko invited Toph over so she could inform Sokka that he was, in fact, telling the truth about it being okay that they can’t always cuddle and be physically affectionate.

Sokka’s verbal tics both annoy him and don’t annoy him. He’s so used to hearing them that they don’t bother him anymore, but sometimes they make it hard for him to talk and he can feel them and that’s what bothers him.

He’s also self-conscious that everyone hates his verbal tics and are annoyed by them.

On a really bad head day for Sokka, the gaang was going to see a theatrical show per Zuko’s request and it was the first time in months they had all been able to hang out together and Sokka wasn’t having a good tic day and was so genuinely afraid to go to the show because he was going to tic and make noises and what if he distracted everyone? what if the strangers in the audience got mad at him? what if the ushers forced him to leave? how embarrassing would that be?

so he pretended to be sick and didn’t go

but Toph saw through his crap and stayed behind as well because “you’ve heard a play once, you’ve heard it a thousand times” and when everyone leaves, she calls Sokka out and asks him what was up

and he knew he couldn’t get away with lying to Toph, so he told her the truth and she just kind of laughed and went “they don’t bother any of us, seriously”

and Sokka was just “how do you know? It’s not like how much my tics don’t annoy you come up naturally in conversation”

and Toph goes “I don’t need to talk to them about it to know that no one’s bothered by them. Besides, they care about you more than they care about what sounds you make” then punched his arm

(and if Sokka silently cried, no one needed to know)

so, overtime, he gets the nerve to ask everyone individually (because there’s no way he could do everyone at once) just to make sure he wasn’t bothering them. He doesn’t get to ask everyone because some of them kind of get a feeling that he’s anxious about it (and if Zuko maybe mentioned it to some people so they approached him and causally mentioned they weren’t bothered, no one needs to know oops) (don’t worry, Zuko didn’t say anything super personal. Just like “tell Sokka his tics don’t bother you because he thinks they do”. Not like the details and stuff Sokka told him in private)

Katara didn’t answer, just asked if she could hug him and said that she loved him no matter what (and ten minutes later asked him if anyone told him that because if someone in the gaang said it, then she wouldn’t be afraid to spill blood)

Zuko, ever the dramatic and romantic one, knelt in front of Sokka (who was sitting) and went “I love you. I love every single part of you.” *kisses his hands* “I love you for your finger clenching and fist pumping.” *kisses his shoulders* “I love you for your shoulder rolling...” *kisses his neck* “your neck twitches...” *kisses his nose* “your nose scrunching...” *gently kisses each eye* “your blinking...” *kisses his lips* “and for every verbal and motor tic you’ve ever had and ever will have”

(look, I’m just... I’m so soft for that moment and I think about it constantly)

Suki gives him this hard and serious look and says “you are not annoying. You never have been and you never will be” and from just her stare and tone of voice, he knows she’s telling the truth.

Aang immediately just starts rambling and is like “I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel that way but you as so far from annoying! Honestly, sometimes I forget they’re even there I’m just so used to them-- not that they’re forgetful or anything, but they’re just so normal to me that I don’t notice-- why are you crying? Did I say that wrong? I’m sorry--”

and Sokka just grabs him and hugs him and says “No. I love you. Thank you.”

Mai is bad at emoting but she tells him “I don’t mind them. They’re comforting. Sometimes. Better than the sound of an empty house or screaming.”

Ty Lee immediately goes into “who told you you were annoying? I have some new moved I’d like to try. Give me names and they’re test subjects number one” and even Sokka feels fear at the look on her face even though the anger isn’t directed towards him

Azula is kind of snarky at first (because she’s trying not to, but it’s hard and it’s not her fault). She just gives him this seriously? look and kind of goes “you really think they’re significant enough to bother me?” and Sokka knows that’s Azula’s healing way of saying “no, they don’t bother me”

okay but let’s also talk about Hakoda and Piandao and Iroh because I want to and I love them

Hakoda kind of does what Katara does and asks if he can hug him and just tells him how proud he is of Sokka for the man that he’s become and that his TS is a part of who he is and it’s a part of his identity and there’s nothing his TS could ever do to make him any less proud

Piandao actually talked to Sokka about it during Sokka’s Master because it was holding him back of bit. Sokka was kind of embarrassed and was getting frustrated with it. Piandao sat him down and told him that perceived weaknesses are actually one of our greatest strengths. Being a nonbender looks like a weakness to many benders who rely solely on their bending, but it takes a certain kind of person to be a nonbender and that’s something to be proud of. The things that make you different are sometimes the things that teach you how special you are.

Piandao just sees so much potential and good in Sokka and Sokka looks up to him so much.

Iroh always lends Sokka extra or old Pai Sho tiles to fidget with. He also has this relaxing tea that helps his mind feel calm. Again, not with the intent to “fix” or “cure” him, but it helps his anxiety levels go down, in turn helping his tics relax.

Iroh tells Sokka that his tics are nothing to be ashamed of and that true friends would stick with him, tics or no tics.

hey? hey? guess what? Bumi ll didn’t just inherent the nonbending from Sokka, he also got the Tourette’s genes:)

imagine the Uncle / Nephew bonding between them

like, Bumi ll asks him why Kya and Tenzin don’t do weird things but he does? and Sokka just smiles sadly because he knows the feeling and talks to him about Tourette’s.

Bumi ll also got lucky because Katara saw the signs instantly and got him tested as soon as she could.

Let’s just say, aside from the gaang, the Kataang family is the most supportive family of his TS:) (it doesn’t hurt that his aunts and uncles will hung down anyone who ever makes him feel like trash and lecture them or their parents oops)

this is something I have mentioned before, but Sokka struggles to sit through meetings. Having TS and ADHD make it so hard for him.

sometimes he just feels so out of place because in this room full of people, he’s the only one rocking back and forth in his chair and changing his position every three seconds and jerking his head. He just feels... so wrong when he sees how still everyone else is sitting. Yeah, occasionally he’ll see some people tapping their foot or tapping the table in front of them with their fingers, but it’s not the same.

BUT on a happy note and not to make this all depressing (because TS sucks sometimes, but there’s nothing wrong with it or us and it’s a part of who we are) Sokka 100% has a top ten list of his favorite and least favorite tics of all time (I don’t know if people keep track of their favorites or if that’s just something I like to do, but I would imagine that a decent amount of people with TS know their favorites and least favorites)

I won’t bore y’all with an actual list, but his favorite tic is rocking back and forth. The motion is so soothing and comforting to him. Like, it feels right to be rocking. Yeah, sometimes he gets self-conscious about it, especially if he’s the only one in the room moving, but it feels so nice and right.

Sokka: *tics a couple times in a row* ughhhh that was not fun

Toph: *jokingly* wow, I mean, can’t you just, I don’t know, stop? Just, not do it?

Sokka: *jokingly* great idea, Toph! Why didn’t I think of that? All I needed to do all along was just not want to tic!

Toph is the only one ever allowed to do this bit with him. Sokka thinks it’s the funniest thing and it never fails to make laugh

Toph said that out of sarcastic instinct one time and almost choked on her drink because she felt so bad but Sokka was stifling a laugh and replied super sarcastically and then just laughed.

Toph still felt really bad and apologized (Sokka told her it was fine and he wasn’t upset, but she’s also been on the other side of jokes like that and it’s not fun).

Now, though, it’s kind of their thing. They do it every once in awhile and it flows like any other banter. It just happens and they don’t even blink.

(if anyone else did that to Sokka, though, Toph would probably rob them or like soak their clothes in cactus juice so they’re all sticky idk, she just wouldn’t stand for it)

Sokka actually takes a leave of absence from being an ambassador to travel around the four nations and visit schools with Toph and Zuko (who also take breaks). The three of them go to educate schools on disabilities (their own and others).

Sokka also personally makes it his mission to sit in one class at every school and see if there’s anything that he can give advice on. Sometimes, he talks to principals and teachers about how to help accommodate students with learning or “disruptive” disabilities so that they can get the best education that they can while still feeling comfortable and safe.

Now, the three don’t get this all done at once, it takes a year or two, but they do it and all three are just... really proud of it.

Sokka really struggles with Locus of Control (LOC). For those who don’t know, LOC is “ a psychological concept that refers to how strongly people believe they have control over the situations and experiences that affect their lives” (Ed.glossary.org).

Sokka, as many headcanon, likes having control over situations or likes having things ordered and scheduled. He doesn’t like changes to his schedule, he likes having schedules... his tics, on the other hand, are not something he can control or schedule

Giving up that control is hard for him. It wasn’t too bad as a child in a super small village, but once he left the SWT with Aang and Katara, he realized how different having tics was (although he was the only one back at home with tics, he often worked with restless children)

He went through a period of time where he thought that he could control his tics, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t. Thus, the loss of control he feels.

He actually went through a ‘phase’ once where he thought that maybe he was making his tics up and doing them on purpose for attention or to be different or something. Katara quickly shut him down and told him that he wasn’t doing that.

I once saw someone say that Sokka has imposter syndrome and I think it correlates a bit with LOC in this context (I should actually do some research about that...).

Learning to understand that he won’t always have control is hard for him. Like. Really hard. He tried so desperately to control his tics and it just increased his anxiety and wore him out. Trying to control tics freaking hurts.

Aang is actually the one to help him with that. He’s had a lot of experience of not being able to control his own life, and although their situations are different, he has methods he uses to attempt to prevent himself from overthinking too much and letting his anxiety take control.

After that, Sokka doesn’t struggle with LOC as badly as he did before. It still sneaks in time after time, but it’s never too prominent and Aang is always there with some advice and distractions:)

(I just also love Aang so much and he deserves the world)

Although Sokka is “weird” with touch, there is one type of touch he is almost always on board with: massages. Massages. I’ll say it one more time: massages. They feel so nice. He carries so much stress in his back and shoulders because of how much he moves them due to his tics.

Zuko can tell when Sokka’s shoulders and back start to hurt really badly and will just sit behind him, heat his hands up (not too much), and give him the absolute best massages.

No. Seriously. Zuko gives the best massages (Sokka once wanted to return the favour and uhhh.... Zuko was not a fan. Although Friends isn’t the best show to take examples from, but uhh Sokka gives massages like Monica Gellar. That is all. Zuko gets his massages from Ty Lee).

Suki gives the second best massages.

Katara third.

So, there’s this one Kyoshi Warrior that works with Suki on guard that Sokka just can’t crack. She has an RBF and rolls her eyes and stuff a lot and she uhhh is kind of rather facially expressive but like, RBF style, so one time when Sokka is having a bad tic day, she makes a face.

It wasn’t aimed towards him, it was about something else, but his heart just breaks because this girl he had been trying to get to open up a bit to him and let loose and not be so freaking serious all of the time hates him.

and later she approached him and just “Sorry. I don’t... I don’t get annoyed by your tics or you or anything. I find them soothing and, I don’t know, nice. Like a reminder that the Fire Lord’s boyfriend is still safe. And they sound nice. I don’t hate them. Or. You.” (look, feelings are hard for her)

and Sokka just :D

alrighty, this is longer than I intended... so we’ll end with me mentioning something I mentioned last time: Yue! (I love her). She never once brings up Sokka’s tics. She never makes faces or asks him why he makes sounds. She’s studied a lot, and while there isn’t too much out there about TS, it’s the NWT, they have lots of books. She could see the signs and assumed.

Never once in the amount of time that they knew each other did she mention it. Sokka appreciated not having to explain himself. He felt safe and welcome there with Yue.

Thank you for reading, anyone who made it to the bottom! I enjoy talking about TS as well as my own experience with it. I love writing about Sokka with TS in particular. There isn’t a lot of TS rep out there, really only the one episode of South Park (don’t watch the show, but I watched the clips about Tourette’s education that the Tourette’s Association of America approved of. It was really heartfelt and lovely to watch and is also a good representation of coprolalia!) and the movie Front of the Class.

My ask box is always available for questions about TS, Sokka with TS, Jay (Ninjago) with TS, anyone’s personal TS headcanons or experience, or any underrepresented neurological disorder that you want to share!

List of TS Stuff Already Written: Part One here , Deeper Than Words (a oneshot I wrote on ao3 of Sokka with TS), a lovely Sokka with TS oneshot written by @tikmasjiens (sorry for tagging you twice ahhh) here , Stuck (a Sokka with TS excerpt from a fic I’m writing), NInjago Jay!TS Oneshot

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alfredolover119 · 3 years

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zukka fic rec list (canon era)

howdy! i’ve been collecting zukka fics i like since uhhh june and now i am sharing my lists with the world. i’m splitting it into three posts so it hopefully wont be too long. the first one, this one, is canon era fics! the other two will be post-canon and modern au. [side note!! if youd like a specific type of rec list,, i.e. soulmate au, fake dating, ambassador sokka,, hmu and i’ll post a list !!]

within this post, the fics are in word count order! also, if you’d like a soundtrack for your reading, i might recommend my zukka playlist :^) happy reading!

my heart in two by @ymnkn

-2438 words, teen

-end of season 3, bed sharing, fluff

Sokka laughs, and he doesn’t let go of Zuko’s hand, and Zuko doesn’t let go of Sokka’s hand, and.

Zuko. Zuko thinks he might be okay with this.

and where you go, i will go too (yes, now i am a part of you) by @aguecheek

-4464 words, teen

-western air temple, soulmate au, mutual pining, first kiss

Soulmate AU Where you see in grayscale until you hear your soulmate laugh for the first time. Sokka laughs a lot, loud, proud, and bright. Zuko...barely even smiles.

we had a moment, we had a summertime by @goldrushzukka

-7145 words, general

-ba sing se tea shop, sorta canon compliant in a missing scenes way

Sokka shrugs. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You get captured and killed by the Fire Nation,” Toph provides.

“They won’t execute me in a tea shop,” Sokka says around a sudden lump in his throat. “That’d be bad for business.”

A Father’s Perspective by Kalira

-9600 words, teen

-starts at boiling rock, hakoda pov

What Hakoda sees when he watches his son, from after his rescue from the Boiling Rock to beyond the end of the Great War.

beautiful things by @i-love-your-light

-10586 words, teen

-end of season 3, artist!sokka, pining, fluff, getting together

Across the campfire, Toph cracked a joke and Zuko bit back a laugh, a small smile curving across his face.

Sokka was hit with the overwhelming urge to draw.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64074 words, mature

-set during and after canon, soulmate au, somewhat canon compliant, slowburn, mutual pining, unrequited love but not actually, angst with a happy ending

Blue by @hollypunkers

-192682 words, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-set during season 2, blue spirit zuko, secret identity, fluff and angst, canon divergence, homophobia, angst with a happy ending

Zuko dons the mantle of the Blue Spirit again only to lose his focus when the Avatar comes to the city. This time, however, his attention is drawn to the annoying Southern Tribe warrior.

#zukka #atla #fic recs #zukka fic recs #zuko #sokka #hoooo #avatar: the last airbender #fanfiction #rec list

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trashmouthnerd · 4 years

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Cactus Juice - Zukka

Fandom: Avatar, Zuko x Sokka

Summary:

Part 1/1

The heat was suffocating, every minute felt like an eternity. The group took a second, arms coming up to block the wave of sand the wind had sent pelting their way.

Zuko sighed, wiping away the beads of sweat from his forehead. It was becoming increasingly hard to breathe by the second. He knew blindly following these idiots around the world was a bad idea..

If it was this excruciating for him, he didn’t dare to think of how it felt for North Pole natives. Personally, he’d grew up surrounded by fire and heat and this detour was painful enough for him.

"Why are we doing this again?" Sokka groaned from beside him. Fists clenched at his side as he tried his best to keep from falling straight onto the heaps of sand that were devouring each step he took.

"Blame Appa! He's the one that landed here for no good reason!" Toph exclaimed, nobody hated the desert more than she did. She couldn't see a single thing here and the guilt she felt from the last time hadn't faded - even if she and everyone else knew there wasn't much else she could've possibly done.

"He was exhausted! We've been flying for days alright, he needs rest and so do we" Aang pitched in, explaining he'd find them shelter for the night and to keep walking north before flying off in to the distance.

"I'm so thirsty" Sokka complained moments later, hoping his remark would be enough to tug on his sisters heart strings but he’d be a fool to truly believe that.

"Sokka, no! If I keep giving you all the water we're going to run out" Katara stated firmly, shaking her head at her brothers annoying complaints.

"He can have my ration" Zuko said, offering Sokka a small smile. The smile was returned ten fold, a wide thankful grin plastered stupidly on Sokka’s face.

"You'd really do that for me?" Sokka stopped, his eyes dangerously flirtatious but Zuko knew this was just how he acted. Though god bless him for the period in time where he hadn’t quite understood Sokka and his playful nature. He’d never been closer to dying in his life and that’s saying something.

Katara shook her head. Zuko was an idiot to offer up his share, this journey was about to get unbearable if Aang didn't find shelter soon. They couldn't sleep in this heat and Appa needed rest if they ever planned on getting out of here.

Zuko nodded sternly, not understanding what the big deal was. Sokka was his friend, he'd helped him understand kindness in a way only his uncle had ever done so previously. He didn't mind returning the favour once in a while.

"I'm moved prince Zuko, but I must decline.. you're gonna need it trust me" Sokka started his sentence with a teasingly light tone but ended it with anguish. Oh how he longed for a drink.

"Alright, but the offers there" Zuko finishes, his mind having not being changed in the slightest. In truth he'd do the same for any of his friends. They'd all helped him grow in ways he'd never thought possible.

Momo chirped, jumping from Sokka’s shoulder before flying off to the west of the group.

"Momo, dearest momo.. wait where is he going?" Sokka pondered, wondering if perhaps he should follow. They all stopped momentarily, awaiting their friends return.

"Alright you two stay here, Toph and I are going to go to the top of that hill and see if we can find Aang" Katara said, Zuko nodded but Sokka wasn't paying much attention. He'd already fallen to the floor with his hands covering his face from the sweltering sun.

"You're gonna make me climb a hill? I can't see you know!" Toph exclaimed, hoping that for once this card might work on Katara.

It didn't. She just softy grabbed Toph’s arm, muttering something about how dumb it would be to leave Toph and Sokka unattended together. It really didn't have a good track record.

"This. Is. Hell." Sokka cried out. Zuko tried his best to block the sun from his friend but realised he couldn't do much else. Momo returned soon after with a strange looking cactus, flying a little lower and sloppier than usual. Zuko frowned, something was wrong with him.

"Oh momo! I knew there was a reason you were my favourite!" Sokka beamed.

"What is it?" Zuko asked, trying to examine the strangely juicy cactus in Sokka’s hand.

"This my friend, is drinkable and I'm going to drink it.. So what if maybe it didn't go so well last time I'm sure not every cactus here is as weird as that one" Sokka says, he looks as though he's talking himself into that. Looking at it hesitantly for a second before taking a sip from the top of it and offering it to Zuko.

Zuko went to take it, unsure as to weather or not he would drink it yet when it was suddenly knocked from Sokka’s hands.

"Sokka! You have got to be kidding me!" Katara screeched, standing on the cactus that had fallen to the ground.

"I'm sorry Katara, I'm just so thirsty" Sokka said before falling back to the floor, his pupils dilating as he giggled at nothing.

"What was that?" Zuko pondered, looking down at the crushed cactus he thought he'd be getting a taste of.

"Cactus juice, last time we were here those two idiots drank some of it and were out of it the rest of the day.. I guess you'll see" Katara sighed.

"Anyway, Aang is just up ahead and I think I see structure’s so let's keep moving" Katara instructed, taking Toph’s arm as the two took the lead. Zuko followed close behind, trying to keep an eye on Sokka who had become rather slow and distracted. He was jumping up and down like an idiot trying to catch Momo’s tail.

"What is he doing?" Zuko asked, completely bewildered by this entire day and how calm everyone was being about it.

"Oh just leave him, it's his own fault and he'll be fine by tomorrow, Momo too"

Zuko sighed, looks like it would be his responsibility to look after the idiot. Great. As if he didn't have bigger things to worry about than the cute boomerang lunatic.

Zuko went to grab Sokka’s arm to guide him in the right direction but stopped when Sokka reached straight past his offering hand and directly for his face.

Zuko felt his cheeks heat up considerably as his friend's fingers tugged at them.

"Hmm, scary fire prince guy" Sokka said and Zuko stepped back a little. Perhaps he'd forgotten the last few weeks in the state he was in. Or perhaps he’d messed up so much in the past that he’d always be known as that person to Sokka and many, many others.

"Always trying to catch us"

"Yes, I'm truly sorry for all of that" Zuko frowned, he'd thought everyone had forgiven him, he'd thought Sokka had forgiven him.

"Yup! Now pretty fire prince is on our side! Momo did you hear that? We've got the best looking fire bender on our team!" Momo chirped and Zuko hid in his hands. Katara laughed.

"Sorry, guess he's very lose lipped when he's drugged" She smiled. A gust of wind hit them suddenly, Zuko parted his hands slightly, peaking through his fingers he watched as Aang came into view.

"There's a group of earth benders not far from here, they said we could stay the night in their barn" He exclaimed. Flying happily on an air bubble.

"That's great Aang, I'm not sure Sokka could last much longer" Katara said, motioning over to her brother. Her bother who's arms were wrapped around Zuko’s neck as he smiled up at him.

"Oh.. okay then. Let's make our way there then" Aang laughed, he'd known about Sokkas feelings for a while now so this was far less of a surprise to him than it seemed to be for Zuko.

The group made their way straight towards the earth benders, following behind an excitable Aang.

Katara shared the last of her water around when they were about ten minutes away, figuring they could stock back up once they arrived. Sokka, on the other hand, continued making flirtatious comments to Zuko all while chasing Momo around and paying far much attention to every single thing.

"I found this rock, it's hard around the edges but look the inside is smooth!" Sokka beamed, handing the newly discovered rock to Zuko.

"It reminded me of you, pretty boy" Sokka winked and Zuko blushed, rubbing his finger over the rock before placing it in his pocket. He kept telling himself to ignore Sokka, he was high and he didn't really think any of this. But still, he couldn't force his heart to stop fluttering.

Soon after and they'd safely made it to the earth benders. A man dressed head to toe in beige clothing and bandages stepped forward. Slowly unwrapping his face protection as he smiled.

They were greeted warmly, given food and water and told they were free to stay as long as they'd like.

"We'd be honoured to house the Avatar" The man had said, bowing his head before showing them to their spare barn. It was nice enough. Piles of hay, a roof, lots of water for Appa and that's all they really needed. They just had to wait for Appa to sleep then they could get out of here and onto land where breathing wasn't as hard a task.

Though Zuko thought the desert air was fine to breathe through in comparison to Sokka’s remarks and sudden close proximity.

They all did their part in setting up the base, no fire was necessary for once but still, sitting on the floor was never comfortable.

Aang disappeared momentarily before returning with some blankets for everyone to sit on, smiling though a story as he placed each one down in a circle formation.

Sokka’s blanket had originally been placed between Aang and Toph, everyone thinking it a good idea to keep him as far from Zuko as possible. Zuko tried not to sulk, it was annoying Sokka had to be so far from him after being stuck to him for the last hour.. But it was definitely for the best.

Sokka on the other hand didn’t like this arrangement at all…

"No! I wanna sit with Zuko!"

"Sokka no! You're being weird you're going to make him uncomfortable!" Katara said, gulping down some water before using the rest to fill up her water bending pouch.

"Oh.. I don't want him to be uncomfortable.." Sokka frowned, looking down at his hands and Zuko felt a pang in his chest. He picked up his own blanket and placed it ridiculously close to Sokka’s. Who needed logic when your incredibly cute best friend was pining over you.

"Hey, I'm not uncomfortable" He smiled and Sokka beamed. His hands reaching for Zuko’s own and lacing them together.

"hmm good.. you're the best!" Zuko’s chest tightened, oh how he hoped Sokka actually meant this.

"But make sure you drink this alright? It'll make you feel better" Zuko said, placing a water bottle in Sokka’s free hand.

Aang smiled at how carefully Zuko was treating his friend and felt his heart warming at how much Zuko had become a member of the group. At how much he'd changed. There was a point where he'd wanted nothing more than to hunt them all down, now he was smitten with the boomerang guy.

"Uhhh no! I already feel great, you're here!"

"Gross! Why's he so soppy when he's high" Toph fake gagged. Sokka’s face was enveloped in a pout and Zuko frowned.

"Don't listen to her. Drink this and I'll stay here all night all right?"

"With me?!" Sokka bounced when Zuko nodded. Gulping down his water as though his life depended on it. Then he threw the water bottle, looking towards Zuko for his praise.

"Ow" Aang frowned. "I see, no regard for your other friends then!" He joked and Sokka glared at him.

"Hey! I love you all, but Zuko is hot! Ahh! Don't tell him I said that" Sokka shouted towards Aang. Whisper shouting the end part but it wasn't even close to being an actual whisper, and even if it was Zuko was still going to hear it, what with being right next to him and all.

"Oh! Fire prince! Didn't see you there... How ya doin'?" Sokka winked when he turned to face Zuko again.

"You think I'm hot?"

"Did Aang tell you! No loyalty I'm telling you!" Sokka shouted. Earning a small "heyy" from Aang.

Zuko smiled, newly found confidence seeping into him. He'd never felt like this before but Sokka’s sincerity made him feel safe and secure enough to do anything.

He pulled at the hand he was holding, Sokka’s face flying forward and he caught it with ease, his mouth grazing Sokkas ear as he whispered.

"Not so bad yourself" Sokka screeched, nearly taking out everyone’s ear drums on his way before wrapping his arms around Zuko’s neck, his legs overlapping Zuko’s own.

"Guys!! Hot stuff likes me back!" Sokka smiled.

“Um.. What exactly does he mean?”

“He means he’s been trying to get your attention for weeks and apparently it hasn’t been working” Katara says, shrugging.

“Now he thinks you do feel the same, which we all knew of course but he’s an idiot” She finished and Zuko quite literally felt as though he could explode.

“Will he even remember this?”

“Probably not”

“Oh” Zuko looked down, Sokka’s head was in his lap, fingers tracing along his jaw and Zuko caught them.

“Hey! Lemme touch youuu” Sokka whined and Zuko knew he couldn’t exactly say no to those eyes. He let go of his hand expecting it to go back to his jaw but instead it fell and hit Sokka straight in the face.

“Ouch” Everyone laughed at that, everyone except Zuko and sokka.

“I’m so sorry, I thought you’d-“

“Shh, you’ll get worry lines on your perfect face!”

“I’m sorry, I really did think my brother had a little more integrity than this.. A little but not a lot..”

Sokka huffed, his arms crossing on his chest.

“I think it’s brave. He’s very open, takes a lot of courage” Sokka smiled again, tugging on Zuko’s shirt and going up to kiss him.

“Okay no kissing me while drugged” Zuko stated, he definitely wanted it more than anything, but not when Sokka wouldn’t even remember it…

“I’m sure it doesn’t take any bravery when you’re that high” Toph scoffed, shoving some of the food they’d been given into her mouth.

“I’m super brave! Me and boomerang could rule the world!” Sokka yelled. His hand slamming into the air as he made a throwing motion.

“Aren’t I invited?” Zuko frowned down at the head on his lap, which gasped and sat up, just barley avoiding a collision on his skull Zuko readjusted.

“Of course! Zuko, sokka and boomerang! Dream team”

“Sure, dream team of doing nothing! It’s the three of us that have kept us alive this long..” Katara says scoffing.

“Ahh let him have it Katara, I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time” Zuko smiles at that comment. He doubts it has anything to do with his arrival but a guy can dream.

Hours had passed and Sokka still wasn't regaining any form of normality, he'd been attached to Zuko all night. Everyone had found it all very amusing, but Zuko hadn't felt this alive before. He'd never have thought that the water tribe boy would've liked him back, never mind this much.

Sokka hasn't gone ten minutes without calling Zuko pretty or beautiful in some sort of way, he felt a little guilty about it but Zuko really didn't want this to stop. He didn't want Sokka to wear off from the drug and say he didn't mean any of it, he was just high.

It hurt too much to think about that, so he shook his head. Besides if that really were the case then wouldn't it be best to make the most of tonight?

"Hey hot stuff? What ya thinking about? Is it me.. are you thinking about me?" Sokka smirked, resting his head on Zuko’s shoulder.

"It's a little hard not to when you're all over me" Zuko replied, earning only a "hmm" from Sokka - who had seemed to take this as a request for him to get even closer. He pushed Zuko down onto his blanket, then fell down onto it himself. They were face to face and Zuko swears he hadn't actually had any oxygen in an hour.

Sokka smiled, moving closer and burying his head in Zuko’s neck. The rest were all asleep now, luckily for sokka as they would likely tease him about this for weeks.

"Sleep with me" Sokka mumbled and Zuko jumped, pulling his head away.

"What?!" Zuko sat up, stunned. It had came out a little louder than expected but there were only a few stirs.

"I'm tired and you're warm.." Sokka smiled, pulling Zuko back to him and pushing a leg under Zuko’s - who had just been brought back down to earth in realising Sokka didn't mean what he thought he meant.

"Goodnight Sokka.." Zuko smiled, his hand holding Sokka’s head as his breaths got slower and deeper. Zuko didn't want to sleep, he wanted to cherish this moment incase he never got another like it.

Yet the warmth and the safety was more than he'd ever felt and soon enough sleep was overtaking him.

———

"What the -" Sokka screamed, jumping out of Zuko's grip, legs taking him as far away from the sleeping Firebender as they possibly could. He turned to look at his friends who were all staring at him with raised brows.

Then he whispered.

"Please tell me why I just woke up entangled with the fire prince!" He whisper shouted and Zuko stirred. He walked closer to his friends so as not to wake the very subject of his confusion.

"Because, you idiot, you decided to drink cactus juice again.. you know, because it worked out great last time" Katara scowled. Sokka shook his head, wanting an actual answer.

"Yeah, then you clung to fire fingers over there the entire night. It was gross, you kept calling him pretty" Toph turned up her face.

"It was cute, Zuko looked after you the whole time.. but you're gonna have a lot to talk about when he wakes up" Aang smiled warmly and Sokka felt his insides churning. He was mortified, no way had he fallen asleep in Zuko’s arms.. no way had he spent the whole night calling him pretty..

"Please someone just kill me now" Sokka whined. He was about to step outside for some air before remembering they were in a giant desert and decided against it. Clearly he didn't mix well with the desert.

"Morning sleepy head" Toph said when a eerily quiet Zuko came towards them. He was rubbing his eyes and his hair had fallen in front of his eyes.

"What are you staring at? Aren't you going to call me pretty today?" Zuko teased, unaware that the cactus juice had most definitely worn off.

He certainly caught on to this development when Sokka’s face was overcome with horror. Zuko’s own cheeks reddened and he let out a quick "oh" before returning to his blanket to wake up properly. Sokka looked between his friends and Zuko, each of them pointing with their heads to talk to him.

Sokka took a deep breath and ventured forward. Taking a seat beside Zuko, smiling cautiously when Zuko looked at him.

"Sorry, I thought you were still... You know" Zuko said, looking down at the water in his hands and taking a quick drink of it.

"Yeah about that.. the gang just told me what I did and I'm so sorry"

"No! I mean.. it wasn't bad.." Zuko said, trying with every fibre of his being to keep a straight face but get his point across properly. Sokka raised a brow, realisation dawning that perhaps Zuko felt the same. After all, he had let Sokka sleep with him..

"oh.. well in that case, you look adorable this morning" Sokka smiled, reaching over and pressing his lips to Zuko's cheek. Laughing fondly when he saw the heat rising to them.

"Yup, definitely adorable"

#zuko #sokka #zuko x sokka #avatar #avatar the last airbender #gaang #zukka #zukka fanfic #i wrote this on no sleep #probably gonna edit this HEAVILY when i am functional again #i just hope its coherent #zukka fluff #pure fluffy #apparently im soft asf when tired #send me zukka prompts #my writing #fanfiction

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