#Zuko Adoption Menu

[flameo-hotman]

have you done 1? for the adoption game!

No one has ordered this adoption yet. Lucky you! This one is Earth King Kuei adopts Zuko! : ) Now this one comes in a lot of different flavors, but I will go with one of the shorter ones. (It is yet again one of the Zuko gets brainwashed by the Dai Li but not the one where he kills the Earth King sorry @muffinlance that one is still in the works. But I do promise I will at you when I post it!)

Kuei had not been able to produce an heir. Long Feng advised him that if his short coming were to become known then it could cause scandal, so why not adopt a child and pretend as though the child had simply been kept from the public eye.

That seemed like a good idea to him, but he did have reservations about hiding the truth about the child not actually being his... Still, he wanted to do what was best for his people and Long Feng had never misled him before...

So Long Feng brought him to visit an orphanage in secret.

There was a 13 year old boy with a scar and golden eyes. He looked tired and confused.

But he held himself like royalty. If they were able to pass anyone off as royalty it would be this child. So he adopted the boy, who was identified as a boy named Lee who had snuck onto the ferry.

Lee accepted his palace as a prince without question, Long Feng expanding that his mother had once been a nobleman’s daughter, whom Kuei had courted before her family had to leave the city. The story that Lee had told them about his mother was used as the basses for the lie.

Kuei felt bad about it, but the child would have a better life as his heir. So a lie here and a rumor there and the kingdom was celebrating the safe return of their missing prince, who they had not known about until the rouse.

Two months into their lie, Lee fire bent.

He didn’t understand why Long Feng went pale like Father Glowworm himself had appeared in the palace. But Long Feng was quick to explain to them that this needed to stay secret and so who would they be to question the man’s judgment.

He had never led them astray before...

Had he?

After Long Feng had left the room to speak with the rest of the Dai Li, Kuei ordered, “General Hu, have someone keep an eye on Long Feng. There is something strange happening, and I would like to know exactly what that is.”

His son seemed worried, but when Kuei asked why Lee’s only answer was to wince and respond, “I-I’m not sure...”

Kuei did not let his son out of his sight after that.

Long Feng had been the one to bring him to that orphanage and if the man had misled him in some way he would need to know that Lee would not be involved with it.

Long Feng was brainwashing people with the use of the Dai Li somehow, and Kuei was under no delusion that his son’s mind had gone untouched.

Lee was not happy to learn his mind had been altered.

In fact, Lee was furious. Lee spat fire and raged in a way that he had never seen his son rage. He had never seen a display of emotion quite so strong from the boy, and he felt like a fool.

He would need to unlock his son’s true memories.

Long Feng was confused when Kuei had Zuko moved to his private quarters without consulting the man.

“I am afraid that your agents failed to prevent an assassin from entering my son’s bed chambers. Clearly, my rooms are after than his, so until the security risks are addressed by my own agents, Lee shall remain where he is safe.”

Long Feng looked panicked and tried to argue, but Kuei raised a hand, Lee’s anger simmering in the background as the room temperature rose. “No, Long Feng, I am the king and I will make the decisions that I feel are needed to ensure the safety of my son and the future of my kingdom.”

His son woke a month later screaming.

“Lee?!” Kuei shouted, as he leaped from his bed and raced over to the bed that had been moved into his room for his son. “Are you okay?”

“There was a man, another fire bender- He burned my face-” Lee hyperventilated, as Kuei did his best to calm his son.

Rage filled Kuei. Someone, a fire bender, had harmed his son.

He passed for a moment as it dawned on him that the only fire bender who he had ever met was his son. In fact, he had never met someone from any of the other kingdoms.

“Can you describe the man for me?” Kuei asked, a plan to track the man who’d hurt his son down budding in his mind.

Lee got that pained look on his face, the same one he got whenever they found a memory that had been tampered with.

“I-I’m not sure...” And then desperation overtook his son’s face. “I called him father...”

And thus the lie he had willfully hidden from his son came to light.

“You’re not my father...”

Kuei had worried that this day would come and now that it was here, he had to be honest.

He sighed and looked down at his feet before answering, “I may not be your father by blood, but you are my son regardless. I care for you as my own and I will always be there for you.”

The man who was Lee’s father turned out to be the Fire Lord.

Kuei would like to say that he and his son had figured that out on their own, but he would be lying.

No, he found out when the Avatar brought the Dragon of the West into his palace to tell him that his country had been at war for the past century.

“They are lying, my lord-” Long Feng began, but Kuei raised a hand and ordered, “Guards arrest Long Feng.”

He would protect his son no matter what.

[flameo-hotman]

So what your telling me is that I can put capybaras on the Zuko Adoption Menu : )))))))

what is it about capybaras that attracts groups of small animals to them? Its not just mammals either its like birds and turtles and frogs too

[alberivh]

a yaksha tales

summaries : after your death, xiao decided to adopt your abandoned-cat to his company, which have reminds him lots of time of your hazy figure in his memories.

contains : angst, Fluff, comfort/hurt, major character death. Scratches, mentions of blood.

characters : xiao x GN!Reader (you’re dead, well yeah)

a/n : i hate writing summaries so ignore the shitty summaries. and thank you for the 160 followers folks, that’s a pretty high number indeed

– verr goldet couldn’t proceed anything anymore. Her eyes was fill with imaginations, Xiao have a fucking cat now? How come? Five minutes ago he was taking a ‘stroll’ to his lovers graveyard and now he comeback to the inn with an orange cat in his arm. What does that supposed to mean?

- the cat he just took was sleeping calmly in his arm. And To his expectation, it seems the cat took a liking to xiao. The wind was breezing and so do his feelings, he feel numb and dead. You are gone and this cat you’ve always took a great pain to care was the only thing he could found as a remanence of you ; beside your tombstone.

- in the first day, he was utterly confused. Why does this thing doesn’t want to eat…i thought almod tofu was good for this lazy cat?

- he would try to keep in contact with the cat. Even if he was suck at it he didn’t mind. Keeping a contact with someone you’ve adored in your last moment, is the only way he could repay his gratitude for you. Patting it’s head or soothes it’s fur. Everything would do to make the thing smile at his face. after all those feelings reminds him of you ; craving his embrace and all, you’ve always pushed yourself to his fragile body, to embrace him.

- he would try to take the cat into a warm-bath time with him. He comebacks with many scratches on his arm, no doubt it’s probably because the uncutted nails of your cat which scratch through his arms 24/7 for dragging it to a bath-time. Even verr goldet need to ask him to bandage the scratches first before it infected his well being, Especially because the blood have already dried out that the infection from it would start to spread.

- taking care of your cat seems so much better than visiting your tombstone. He quoted. Because everytime he visits you, everytime he realized how your death was all because of his ignorance. Maybe 5 minutes would work and bring you back alive, but xiao was a form of karma, he doesn’t deserve the light of the day.

- patting it’s head, xiao would slightly murmured your name. As if he was trying to tell you how he misses these moments he used to pass with you. He would remember the comforting gesture of your face when he gently soothes your hair, he would remember how your smile resembles on your cats happy eyes. He try to remembers, anything.

- he might loses you, but he found something to remember of your presence. A cat who would sit in his lap and snuggle to his body. A cat who appreciated his efforts like how you did when you’re still alive. A cat who would smile by the token of his delicate touches.

- “knowing you was a blessing, remembering you was a continuation, my dear.”

**ah yes please do not worry, xiao have learn how to cook tuna-cans for your cat. He kinda spoiled it and it make the cat get attached to him for days. He doesn’t want it to starve, so he decided to learn those mortal-menu’s he could find in wangshu inn guide book.

TAGLIST : @mika-zuko , @eternism , @zierx, @childeluv , @urujiako , @chichikoi , @noirkkat

[waywardfacegarden]

burning embers

Modern Au: Zuko centric + The Gaang + Zukka + Friendship/Family feels + Angst and Fluff.

Summary: Zuko learns the meaning of love.

Read on Ao3 here.

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There’s something so tragically painful about falling in love, they say.

But Zuko wouldn’t know. He doesn’t know what falling in love with someone is, he doesn’t know what it feels like. Love is a concept so alien to him; he can’t even grasp the root of it. He just knows a broken home, the remaining ashes of a devastating, blazing fire that was supposed to be his father’s love.

He doesn’t know what love is. And yet, he understands: the underlying and heart-wrenching agony that comes with loving. The sorrow that comes with it; it is just there, intrinsically linked. It’s something that the small kid—full of unknown love and golden warmth, but also deep, bitter pain—comprehends at the tender age of 11.

It’s just common knowledge for him, the same way he knows the sky is blue and the sun hides at night.

Family. Love. Father.

Those words don’t have meaning, Zuko thinks, lying on his bed one night, still hearing the disappointment in his father’s voice echoing in his ears in the quiet darkness of his room. They’re there, of course. And he knows them. He can say them. But they feel far away, slipping through the space between his fingers, becoming dust that blows away with the chilly wind of an autumn midnight, escaping him before he can place what was there in the first place.

They don’t hold weight. They don’t mean anything. They’re shallow; they just exist, like a couple of letters strewn together, like when you say your name so many times in a row it doesn’t even feel right anymore; but, he supposes only a few people are blessed with their significance, with tasting them in their mouth with something not akin to hate or bitterness or emptiness.

Loneliness. Despair. Dishonor.

Those have meaning. Those have weight, despite being such empty words.

(But they very much taste like something akin to hate, too—and that’s the thing.

Maybe Zuko just doesn’t know anything aside from [self-]hate.)

.

.

Family, love, father. They are concepts that come alive to him the same way a phoenix is born.

They rise, awakening from the ashes that the fire within themselves has burned to death; so beautiful, so mystical, so mesmeric and so incredibly fragile and precious and wondrous, like a mythological creature coming back to life after having known its own death.

He learns the words and their meaning the same way his brain starts learning new things and concepts by reading a book; but he doesn’t learn with his mind—even though a part of him knows that this is where knowledge is stored—Zuko learns with his heart (he has always learned things best with his heart; after all, Zuko wears it on his sleeve; he’s emotional, visceral, volatile—his feelings are way too intense, too much that they burn his chest open; he’s always aflame), with his eyes, with his hands. He learns it in every little gesture that’s given to him, in every little crack (that keeps filling and filling and filling) of the time that goes on, in every little drop of ink that is spilled on the parchment where his life is being written.

He learns the words in the way he begins learning his uncle's tea recipes, in the satisfaction and pride he feels when his uncle congratulates him for a job well-done on a warm, quiet Saturday afternoon as he finishes helping cleaning and serving the tables around the teashop, in the way his favorite cup sits next to his uncle's on the kitchen counter in the mornings, full of Zuko’s favorite bubble tea; he learns them in the ugly, endearing, oversized sweater hanging at the back of his closet, the one his uncle gave him in his last birthday; he learns about love in the gentle smiles of weekends, in the singing of the birds outside his room’s window, in the blanket that rests around his shoulders when he is sitting on the comfy couch on a calm Thursday night, dozing off while trying to study for an English test, in the way the nightmares that used to haunt him are tormenting him less and less every time; he learns the meaning of father in his uncle's ridiculous pajamas, full of tiny drawings of cherry blossoms and tea leaves, in his uncle’s obsession with Pai Sho, and in the wise phrases he keeps throwing at Zuko even when he cannot fully understand them.

He learns, little by little, step by step, like a slow fire burning inside his guts.

And it's a weird, strange thing. Zuko learned that fire hurts you, the same way he learned that love does, but somehow, after years of building his new life, it doesn't feel that way anymore.

His uncle is patient with him. Patient as someone who would teach someone else origami or as someone who’s slowly writing a book. He teaches him, sees him fall, stumble and trip over his feet (both, metaphorically and literally speaking) and he’s there when Zuko gets up again.

It’s a nice feeling. Knowing that someone is going to be there, even if you fall. Even when you fail.

His uncle teaches him, the same way he creates a new tea receipt for the menu; carefully, gently, ever so softly. He takes Zuko, the broken child who looks at him through his pain and hatred, and makes him open his eyes. He points out, over and over and over again, that failing is not a bad thing, that love exists and that it doesn't have to hurt, and that if it does, you can heal from it; he teaches him that Zuko is full of it, full of love, he says that he’s always been.

Somehow, it feels a bit like healing. Of course, Zuko is still broken. Probably, a part of him always will be; but, somehow, he doesn't think that being a bit broken is so wrong now.

.

.

Friendship was a foreign concept to him, too. Or maybe not, but Zuko never wanted to get involved with it.

Too much trouble.

(Or maybe fear—fear of what it carries, what it holds in its nature; fear of failing, of not being enough, of being left out, of getting too attached.)

But just as Zuko was wrong about so many things in his life, this is not the exception.

He comes to learn that, too.

It’s a different process than with his uncle. Maybe because it’s slower, or maybe because it’s, rather, faster. Maybe because he wasn’t aware he was learning at all.

Zuko doesn’t know exactly when it starts. Can’t pinpoint the exact moment he started getting involved. Not that he cares much about that at this point, but he would like to know.

They kind of adopt him in their group (or, er, gang, as they call it), without Zuko noticing. But to be fair, Zuko doesn’t notice a lot of things.

Toph is a friend of his Uncle, and she lives near the teashop, so she’s around more time than she’s not; she’s loud and kinda rude, and always calls Zuko a dork or a nerd or an idiot, but Zuko realizes he likes when she’s there. Aang comes along sometimes, with his scarily bright smile. There’s also Katara and her big brother, Sokka.

He likes all of them, to his extreme surprise. They’re all good people. Aang is way too kind, Katara may be scary but she’s pretty cool, and Sokka is just a combination of a very, weirdly endearing, smart dumbass, which is, uh, new.

He honestly doesn’t know how it happened, or when it happened, but suddenly he’s tucked under a soft fuzzy blanket in winter, sandwiched in the middle of the three-spot sofa, with Aang almost laying over his lap. He’s almost sitting on Sokka’s right leg, pressing him against the arm sofa, his side overlapping with Sokka’s. He doesn’t seem to mind, though. He’s sitting there, cross-legged, with his right arm fully extended on the back of the sofa, almost like he’s hugging Zuko’s shoulders; he’s practically leaning on Zuko.

His arm and his side are really warm, though. Not as much as Zuko generally is, but it’s… kind of nice.

“Katara, Titanic is a classic, dude. What the hell.”

Zuko takes a sip from his hot chocolate, blowing off the clouds of steam gathering over the cup—the warmth of it is pretty welcomed in his throat, to be honest, while Katara rolls her eyes at her brother.

“I’m not watching that for the fifth time in a month and seeing you and Aang both cry for an hour later after the already three long hours of the movie.”

Sokka looks pretty indignant about Katara’s attitude towards his (probably) favorite movie, which is pretty amusing.

“You’re just a monster,” Sokka says, dramatically, “that’s why you don’t cry.”

Katara rolls her eyes again.

“I don’t know,” Toph says, from the couch closer to the TV, sprawled all comfortably over it. “It’s actually a really funny movie,” she points out, and then draws out her voice. “‘Jack, draw me like one of your French girls’.”

Aang laughs pretty loud, and Zuko smiles at the bad impersonation despite himself.

“Well, My Heart Will Go On is my anthem.” Sokka says, puffing out his chest.

Zuko actually snorts into his cup and Sokka shoots him a look. He remembers the time Aang and Sokka recreated that iconic scene, with Toph singing at the top of her lungs in a ridiculously obnoxious voice. He actually laughed at that.

Sokka seems to read his mind, because after a few moments of staring at Zuko’s face, his entire expression lights up. He grins, eyes sparkling, and starts singing really loud and purposely out of tune. Aang starts laughing and Toph doesn’t waste time on joining Sokka in singing. Even Katara smiles.

A few minutes later of terrible singing, they’re all laughing. Toph is cackling so hard she’s on the floor, and Sokka keeps leaning over him, laughing in his ear. He believes it should be annoying, but instead of that, it’s actually infectious and Zuko laughs a bit harder.

After they calm down, Toph is clutching at her sides and Sokka is wiping tears out of his eyes.

Aang smiles, then, softly and content, and raises a hand in the air, like asking for permission to talk.

“I have an idea.” He says, and turns around to look at him. “Why don’t we just let Zuko decide? He hasn’t chosen anything yet for our Friday movie nights.” 

All eyes turn to look at him at that. He stops his movements, mouth hanging open, hot cup halfway to his lips.

“Uh,” he frowns. “Thank you, but, um. Why would I choose? It’s your thing.”

Everyone stares at him like he has two heads, which, okay fair but why.

“What?”

Aang gives him a soft smile, all kind eyes and gentle features, like he’s about to talk to a baby, but before he can say anything, Sokka is putting an arm around his shoulders and leaning all his weight on him, as if they weren’t already close enough.

“This is your thing as much as it is ours, dude.” He says, grinning, “You’re one of us.” He vaunts, proudly, and ruffles Zuko’s hair.

Katara nods, at the same time Toph goes:

“Yup, you’re already in, loser.”

Aang chuckles. “Yes, you’re our friend, Zuko.”

Zuko blinks, stunned.

That’s… 

There’s… 

That’s… the F-word.

Friend.

Friend.

Huh? What? How? When did that happen? Huh? Did he miss something in the past few months?

Sokka, completely oblivious to his emotional turmoil, insistently points to the TV while squeezing him. "So, buddy? Don't you think we should watch Titanic to cry and share a couple of very male tears?"

"You only want to watch it because you have a crush on both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio." Katara accuses.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes, you do! You even still keep that poster of them behind your…"

"Katara!!!!"

.

.

Friend.

It’s a nice word.

It tastes like hot chocolate in his mouth on a cold night, it sounds like Sokka’s laugh and Toph’s jokes, and it looks like Aang’s kind eyes and Katara’s nice smile.

It feels like something. It holds meaning. It’s not an empty word. At all.

Sokka’s hand ruffling his hair or over his shoulders, Toph’s nicknames for him, Aang’s offer of help in times he feels like Zuko needs it, Katara’s help with homework and advice on his recipes doesn’t let him forget that. ‘Friend’ is never going to be an empty word.

Friend tastes like hope, like warm food and bear-hugs.

Friend is such a nice word.

.

.

The thing with Zuko being generally—and strangely—warm all the time is that summer is a complete nightmare for him.

He's sitting directly in front of the fan at full power, barefoot in just jeans and a light T-shirt, and yet he still feels like he's going to explode. The weather forecast in the morning heralded a heat wave in midsummer, and it's exactly the worst thing in the world that could happen to Zuko's already overheated body. Toph groans beside him, lying with her arms and legs spread like a starfish on the cold ground. It is no comfort to her, however, and Zuko can understand that well.

Katara is looking at something on her phone, fanning herself with a magazine, and Aang remains practically unaffected, just as energetic as ever as he eats the remaining watermelon slices from the bowl they recently filled.

Zuko is wondering if he should go, or if he should fall asleep on the freezing ground that doesn't seem to be freezing at all, when Sokka walks into the living room in his baseball uniform. He has just returned from his morning summer practice; sweat is running down the side of his face, and his shirt is partly sticking to his body from the moisture. He smiles at everyone in greeting before gulping down all that's left of the water on the bottle of his hand. Zuko stares at his Adam's apple bob while he's drinking, and then his eyes trail the trickle of water that slides down his jaw over his desperation to drink all the water so fast. The drop goes down, down, down, dripping over his collarbone and sinking into his neck until it eventually gets lost somewhere inside his shirt. Sokka throws the bottle over the trash can and uses his shirt collar to wipe the water and some of his sweat off his face. Zuko's eyes unconsciously move downward; he can see a line of skin on Sokka's abdomen and stomach.

He swallows. Uh. His mouth is suddenly very dry. He's probably dehydrated. Is he dehydrated? He's starting to feel a little dizzy.

"So? Beloved friends, beloved little sister? Did you miss me? Obviously, you did."

Katara rolls her eyes, but still asks, "How was practice, dumbass?"

"It was cool! I hit twelve curve-balls in a row and sixteen of that weird fastball Suki pitches. Oh! And I'm finally getting the thing about that forkball. Also... woah, Zuko, are you okay?!"

Zuko blinks from where he was staring at Sokka's hair. It's kind of wet. Is that sweat? Shouldn't that be gross? Why is Zuko staring? Does he find it gross? He doesn't think so, but he also can't quite explain why...

"Woah, bud," Sokka says, kneeling in front of him and getting dangerously close to his face. "You're so red, are you having heatstroke or something? Do you feel dizzy?" He leans on his knees and presses a hand to his forehead, pulling up the bangs hanging over it. It feels nice, actually. Sokka's soft hand on his boiling skin feels like fresh water. He kind of wants to lean into it.

He probably does, because Sokka frowns. "Maybe you have a fever..." His mouth presses into a thin line. "Don't you want to take a shower to cool off? I can lend you some clothes, we're about the same height, they'll fit."

Zuko blinks. Huh?

"Here, let me help you." Sokka says, helping him up.

Around an hour later, Zuko feels a lot better, laying with his back on the floor in Sokka's baggy shorts and blue T-shirt with a cartoonish drawing of The Pink Panther. Zuko smiles involuntarily when he looks at it. It smells a bit like Sokka, or at least the detergent he uses. That makes his stomach do weird flips. He's not feeling that hot anymore, but maybe he is getting sick...

"Hey," Sokka tells him, looking at him from above, standing just behind Zuko's head. His toes are barely avoiding touching Zuko's sprawled hair on the floor.

"Hey," Zuko answers back, looking up at Sokka's soft face. His hair is down and still wet from the shower, and a few drops fall on the bridge of Zuko's nose when Sokka hovers over him. Zuko's face scrunches up, more out of involuntary reaction than out of bother, but Sokka chuckles.

"Sorry," he says, not sounding sorry at all. He uses the towel around his neck to messily dry his hair. "You look a lot better, now."

"Yes," Zuko muses, still a bit mesmerized by Sokka's wet hair. And Sokka's face. "Thanks."

Sokka grins brightly at him. "Sure."

He looks like he's about to say something else, but before he can say anything, Toph groans just a few feet away, sitting now on the couch. "Stop flirting and get a room already; it’s gross. We're here, too."

"What? We weren’t—"

Katara agrees, quietly.

"Hey! I was just worried!" Sokka excuses himself. "Weren't you all? His face was as red as a tomato."

Katara looks up from her magazine and gives him a pointed look, with one elegantly arched brow. Apparently, she doesn't even need to say anything else, because it's enough to make Sokka blush.

Oh.

He's cute, Zuko thinks. And then, oh, I think Sokka is cute. And then Sokka stomps over the kitchen muttering unintelligible things, still a faint blush over his cheeks.

Zuko smiles to himself watching his childish behavior. He is, though. He is cute.

.

.

.

It's raining heavily outside, drops pouring loudly against the asphalt of the sidewalk.

Zuko side-glances at Sokka. Maybe it's because after the course of a year, Zuko has learned to recognize many of Sokka's little gestures, or maybe it's the fact that the boy has been so much into his own mind lately, but Zuko recognizes that way he scrunches up his nose, that wrinkle between his eyebrows, that way his eyes twitch.

“Are you okay?” 

He’s asking mostly just to be polite, to be honest; he already knows he’s not. He knows something’s up.

Sokka turns to look at him, and then stares at the rain hitting the glass window of the lonely teashop.

“I’m…” He says, and looks at his hand. Then he presses his mouth into a thin line.

“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Zuko says, awkwardly, because as much as he cares, he’s still a mess when it comes to social cues. He’s never going to stop being a mess. And terrible at comforting people.

Sokka sees right through him, though, like he always does, and smiles softly at him. His whole face mellows. It kind of makes Zuko’s heart flutter in his chest, like a butterfly flapping its wings.

“I’m…” Sokka tries again, looking at Zuko’s face. At his eyes, at his scar, at his neck. He feels weirdly exposed, but at the same time… He doesn’t. It’s just Sokka. Which means it’s okay. “Scared, I guess.”

Zuko blinks and tilts his head to the side. He’s not sure if he should ask, but…

“Of?”

Sokka gives him a wry smile.

“Of failing? Of disappointing my dad? Of not being enough? I don’t know, I can’t quite pick a single one.”

Sokka’s voice is not quite bitter, but it feels like that, in the air around them. Zuko knows the feeling pretty well.

“You are enough.” Zuko affirms, without a single trace of hesitation in his voice. Because Sokka is enough, in every single aspect, and he shouldn’t feel like any less than that. Zuko’s also aware of what he’s worrying about, and for Zuko, it’s just absurd—Sokka is one the very few people that shouldn’t worry about passing the entrance exam of college at all, he’s crazy smart. He should know that. But, to be fair, Zuko can’t judge him nor scold him for self-doubt when it used to be all that he was, along with his self-hate. So he says it out loud, looking into Sokka’s wide, surprised eyes. “You’re also really smart, Sokka, I’m sure you’re going to ace the entrance exam. You shouldn’t worry.”

Sokka rolls his eyes, but he also adopts that playful-kinda-flirty side of him. It’s painful because Zuko can see the sadness underlying in his voice and body language so clearly. Can see the lack of confidence in every single motion.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“I am,” he agrees, “but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I really believe so. You’re the smartest person I know. You’re very capable of doing whatever you want, so have faith in yourself just like I have faith in you.”

Once he says it, and Sokka blinks once, twice, thrice at him, Zuko feels painfully aware (and painfully embarrassed) of what he just said.

Oh Lord, what did he actually…

“Ah,” Sokka says, and makes a face that Zuko can’t name. “You’re blushing.”

Zuko covers his cheeks with both hands. Sokka is probably right, they’re so warm, but still.

“I’m not.” Still.

Sokka laughs, and raises both eyebrows. “You sure?” He asks, staring pointedly at his face, which only makes him blush harder.

Stupid Sokka.

He must know the effect he’s having on him, because he laughs again, lightheartedly. Well, at least he’s not upset anymore…

“I’m not,” he uselessly and pathetically insists, even when it’s tragically obvious he is. But he has some pride, okay.

Sokka grins, but it’s all devilish. It makes Zuko’s hair stand on end. A chill runs down his spine.

“It’s just hot.”

Sokka smirks. “Sure, you’re always hot.”

“Shut up,” Zuko complains and groans, facing away from him so that he can’t see his blatant embarrassment. Sokka’s natural flirty personality wasn’t that much of a problem back then, but it’s only gotten worse, and Zuko just can’t handle it sometimes. It feels like way too much.

“Ah, but you blush when you’re embarrassed. That’s cute.” Sokka points out, a wide grin on his face. “Imagine being both cute and hot, what a crime.” 

He sighs theatrically, and Zuko is very tempted to answer, “shut up, look who’s talking,” but he knows he will just get more embarrassed after saying that. He needs to calm down. So he just grumbles while Sokka laughs.

Then, when Sokka has already calmed down and Zuko can feel his face like normal again, they look quietly at the rain, steadily keeping its pace.

“Zuko,” Sokka says, after some time, and Zuko quirks an eyebrow in reply. 

Sokka smiles. “Thank you. For believing me. It means a lot.”

Zuko smiles back. “Of course.”

.

.

Zuko notices it one night. (Though, looking back, it’s weird he didn’t notice it before.)

Well, more like, Aang notices and points it out, and then Zuko realizes that what he said is pathetically true, lying in bed at night because he still mulls things over sometimes before going to sleep.

“You know,” Aang had casually said, holding a can of orange juice, sitting next to Zuko on the bleachers at one of Sokka’s practice games. “You stare at Sokka a lot.”

Zuko frowned. “It’s his game, after all. We’re here to watch him,” he had retorted, like it was obvious.

“Well, yes, but I don’t mean only now. You stare at him all the time.”

Zuko didn’t feel like he liked where this conversation was going. Something about his expression must had given him away, or maybe Aang was just too good at reading him now, because he said:

“Wait.” He actually had sounded surprised. “You mean you’re not aware you have a crush on him?”

Zuko’s eyes went wide. “What? I don’t have a crush on him.”

Aang quirked up an eyebrow. Sure, he didn’t need to say.

“I don’t,” he had pressed on.

Aang hadn’t looked any more convinced of what he had said. If anything, he looked more convinced on what he himself had said. Aang had looked at him for a very long period of 1 minute before lightly chuckling and nudging him in the arm with his elbow, smiling brightly at him.

It was weird, but Zuko has gotten better at reading them, maybe just as much as Aang has with him. Maybe that’s why he knows what Aang means with all of that. Admit it when you’re ready.

It’s not like he was trying to deny or hide it. It’s not like he was trying to lie. He just didn’t think Aang was actually right.

But he is. Zuko can’t stop looking at Sokka, all the time. Thinking about him. About the way he smiles, with his hair up, with his hair down, with that denim jacket that fits him in all the right angles, with his baseball cap, ecstatic after he scored a run in the 8th inning. 

Sokka, practicing on the field. Grinning widely and openly and hugging him tightly when he aced the entrance exam. Leaning in to taste Zuko’s ice-cream into his own mouth. Ruffling his own messy hair. Wearing those silly cartoon t-shirts. Serenading Zuko with Electric Love and the most ridiculous voice ever on his birthday as a joke. Messy eating. Scrunching up his nose while drinking green tea. Reciting 80% of the Star Wars dialogues by heart. Being obsessed with boomerangs and swords (though not as much as Zuko is with that last one). Biting into the end of his pencil when he’s focused on writing an English essay.

Ahhhhh.

Oh, holy honor.

He has a crush. A crush. Feelings.

When did that happen? Why did that happen? He doesn’t know. Was it because of his warm eyes? His pretty smile? His pretty lips? Was it because he opened up to Zuko, let himself be vulnerable around him, bled his heart out so Zuko could piece it back together? Was it because he’s funny? Charming? Cool? Smart? Astonishingly cute? Was it because he made Zuko feel made out of thin air, sometimes, so raw and exposed but yet so safe, so comfortable in his own skin? ...That is, the others don’t necessarily make him feel unsafe, or uncomfortable. He just feels like he can be all open and vulnerable with Sokka better. Maybe because he opened up to him first, about something so personal like his mom (and Zuko knew about losing a mom, too).

Well, whatever the reason, it doesn’t exactly matter, does it? He’s already in deep.

Zuko rolls over his stomach and sighs, groaning loud into his pillow. Why, why, why, why. It’s not like he even has a chance, so why did he have to…

Ugh.

Feelings are stupid. His heart is stupid.

And the way he falls asleep thinking about Sokka’s laugh is even stupider.

.

.

The thing is, because Zuko notices all the little details in Sokka’s gestures and behavior, he also notices the way he acts differently towards… Certain people.

“Me and Yue?” Sokka laughs, and Zuko blinks. He didn’t even mean to ask it out loud. Now, he would just hear the confirmation of what he already knew from Sokka’s lips. How is that any better? Good job, Zuko. 

“Nah, man, Suki would kill me if she sees me wooing her girlfriend. Or at least kick me pretty damn hard.” Huh? Zuko blinks again. Huh? So they’re… Sokka and Yue… They’re not… 

“And believe me, she’s super strong. She kicked me once and I’ve always regretted eating that last cupcake on the fridge.” Sokka makes a face and shudders, like the mere flashback is enough to make him fear. But then he smiles, in that soft way of his that makes Zuko’s knees go really weak. “And I’m pretty sure Yue is immensely happy with her, too.”

Zuko doesn’t know what to say, so he just oh-so-eloquently utters:

“Ah.”

Sokka seems amused.

“Didn’t you know they were a thing? The PDA is so strong when they’re together, you have to have seen it.”

Well, that was… Zuko just thought they were touchy with each other? Sokka is pretty much touchy with him all the time, but that doesn’t mean they’re a thing.

Well.

“That’s rough, buddy.”

Sokka blinks. “Why?”

Zuko frowns. He tilts his head in confusion. “Because you are… Romantically attracted to her? It must be rough.”

Sokka blinks once, twice, three times. Stares. Then, he throws his head back and cackles, clutching his stomach.

“Dude, what the hell.” He wheezes. “Just say the word crush like normal people.” 

“Hmm.”

Then, when he calms down, Sokka eyes Zuko.

“Wait, what?” He says, serious all of a sudden. Or at least, surprised. “Do you really think that?” At Zuko’s lack of response, Sokka looks at him, then at his hands, then at the TV, where the video game they were playing is still on pause. Then, back at Zuko’s face. “No, I don’t have a crush on her. Or on Suki, for that matter.”

Zuko frowns. Sokka must know he doesn’t believe him, because he continues.

“I mean, I did.” He admits. “Back when I met her, when I was, like, 14. But I’m over it, now—Not that she’s not great; she’s awesome and I love her, just… Not in that way. It was just a silly teen-crush, anyway. And Suki is my best friend. We had a thing for a few months like two years ago, but we hit it off so much better as friends. She’s my bi icon, though. And bestest friend.”

“Oh.”

“Besides,” Sokka adds, and eyes him pointedly, “I’m interested in someone else right now.”

Zuko stares. Blinks.

What.

So he does have someone he’s interested in anyway. God, Zuko really doesn’t stand a chance. Why even bothering trying? And it’s not like he knows how to try something, anyway…

From the other corner of the room, Aang shoots him a very cryptic look. Zuko can’t describe what he’s thinking, but he guesses he’s taking pity on him. After all, he knows.

Ah. He really doesn’t like having feelings.

.

.

His mind is a cruel thing. It’s what keeps him up at night, what reminds him of all his insecurities, what makes him feel undeserving of love, what keeps throwing image after image into his head of his broken childhood on bad days. It’s what, as much as his heart, knows about his deepest desires, his longing, his yearning and thinks it’s amusing to play with Zuko for a bit.

“Zuko,” Sokka says, with a fragile smile on his face, his voice going ridiculously soft, his eyes warming up, and Zuko’s heart pounds on his chest like big waves crashing on the shore of a lonely beach. “Zuko, I love you.”

It’s kind of—very—criminal the way Sokka makes him feel. The way he makes Zuko’s heart seem like it’s going to burst out of his chest with how fast it beats after hearing just those three words, the way he makes Zuko’s entire soul ache and want, the way he makes him feel so grounded, so him, yet so tiny and delicate, like he’s made out of thin sheets of ice.

Is this how love feels?

Is this how it should feel like?

He wouldn’t know. He doesn’t know what falling in love is. He just knows a broken home, the destructive, neon-like, toxic obsession with power his dad had, instead of any tender form of anything else that can be called love that his dad should have had for his mom, but never did.

Falling in love is made to hurt. Falling in love is destined to make you feel sad, and alone, and unsafe.

Falling in love is a cruel thing. It’s not cut out for weak people, and Zuko is weak. He’s destined to break. He has always been made out of fragile, easy-to-destroy things.

That’s why his mind plays with him all the time.

He wakes up in his bed, opens his eyes to the dark quiet of his room, feels the way his heart beats so hard that he can almost feel it on his throat. And he feels lost. And sad.

He doesn’t even scream. He just lies there, feeling the world becoming smaller, feeling himself becoming smaller.

Lord, he’s royally fucked. Screwed. He knows. He’s destined to break.

There’s something so tragically painful about falling in love, they say.

.

.

He’s sitting with Toph leaning back on his right side, on the fluffy couch in Katara and Sokka’s living room, cutting up squares out of colorful paper.

They are both terrible in the kitchen. Something coming from being rich kids, Sokka playfully teased earlier. And he guesses it’s true. Either way, they are terrible—Zuko even burned his own kitchen once while making scrambled eggs (and that was. Not a very good day). Sure, he has tried to help Uncle Iroh a couple of times, and he knows a bit of the basics, but besides preparing tea, he’s lost. He can’t cook to save his life. So when Zuko almost lights a fire to bake cookies and mixes up the recipe for the second time, Katara kicks them out and bans them from the kitchen for the next 4 hours. Toph protests just to be annoying—she doesn’t like cooking at all, she has told him, but she loves annoying Katara, it’s her favorite idle activity. Zuko would be offended, but it’s the smartest choice if they want to finish baking Aang’s birthday cake without setting the kitchen on fire, so it’s fine.

Besides, this way he can steal a few glances at Sokka, as he hangs up the decorations he and Toph are making. The muscles under his shirt flex when he raises his arms above his head, his messy hair down from its ponytail, falling over his face when he moves a bit to the left, a line of the smooth skin of his back making its way to Zuko's curious, avid eyes.

Zuko swallows.

Toph sighs heavily and throws her head back. “So, are you planning to make a move any time this century or are you a loser?”

Zuko eyes her, coming out of his stupor, confused. “What?”

Toph smirks. “Right, you’re always a loser, my bad.”

Zuko blinks. Not because of Toph calling him a loser, but because, for a second, he really doesn’t get what she means.

Then, when he does, he buries his face into his hands and groans.

“Even you know?”

Toph laughs. "Yes, idiot, it's stupidly obvious.” She pats his arm. “I can see it and I'm blind, you know." 

Zuko groans again. He’s in physical pain right now. "How?"

She shrugs. "I don’t know. Maybe the way you say his name. Or talk about him."

Zuko feels a bit of panic. 

What? Is he that obvious? How does he say Sokka’s name?

"His name?"

"Yeah,” Toph confirms, nodding exaggeratedly, “stupidly sappy. It's gross."

"Oh my god."

She laughs again, loudly, because his suffering is apparently amusing. "You also talk about him a lot," she chuckles, "and sigh every time you see him. At least that’s what I assume, given that he’s in the room and you keep sighing like a 12-year-old girl in love. Pinning all the way.”

Zuko wants to die. He seriously wants to die. Maybe he should just tell Sokka he likes him, so when he rejects him, Zuko can just die a quick, albeit painful, death.

Toph nudges at his arm, with her typical abnormal strength for someone her age, but she doesn’t mean any harm. “So?” She asks, again. “Are you planning to make a move or not?"

Zuko sighs, "I can't do anything, he likes someone else."

Toph kind of stops where she’s fumbling with a couple of paper sheets. She then turns around and makes this face, where she’s scrunching up her nose and frowning like she just smelled something sour, or like when she’s deeply confused. "Did he say that?"

"Yes."

"Did Sokka seriously tell you that?"

Zuko’s confused at Toph’s relentless insistence. "...Yes?"

Toph’s face goes back to normal, but there’s something about the way she continues to hum that makes it seem like she still thinks Zuko is an alien, or something.

"You must have misunderstood him—which wouldn’t be a surprise, to be honest." She says the last part in a whisper, but he still hears her. That’s probably what she wanted anyway, but it’s not like he gets it. What does that mean? Zuko gets Sokka. That’s one of the few things he’s really proud of. Did he just think that he got Sokka while, all this time, he actually didn’t?

No. He understands Sokka. Sokka himself has told him that.

"No, I didn't. And I don't have a chance if he likes someone else, so I might as well not even try."

Toph looks mad. "You're super pessimistic, dumbass."

"Hmm."

She sighs, looking deeply tired and frustrated, like Zuko has completely worn her out. Then, she raises her fist and punches him. Hard.

Ouch.

Zuko yelps, and rubs at his sore arm. “What was that for?” he grumbles.

She frowns. “To punch some sense into you, big oblivious idiot!" Toph hums a low, guttural sound in the back of her throat, like she’s a feral dog trying to threaten a pedestrian. “Just try, at least. Everyone is kind of getting tired of your pinning, too."

"Ah." Everyone?

"Full offence."

"Ah."

“Even Katara. The only reason she hasn’t intervened yet is because she says it’s not her business to push you, but I don’t think her reasoning is gonna last long.”

Katara too!? Oh, no.

Zuko seriously wants to die.

.

.

Eventually, things go on. 

Zuko’s “crush” doesn’t go away. If anything, it just grows and grows and grows until it becomes almost unbearable. But he still can’t say anything.

“Zuko.”

“Hmm?”

“You know,” Sokka says, looking at him with feign innocence, sitting with his hands upwards behind him in Zuko’s room, “that looks heavy, want me to hold it for you?”

Zuko frowns. He looks up from his work to give Sokka a confused look. “What is, my pen?”

Sokka gives him that little, playful smile—the one that is so incredibly hot for some reason Zuko can’t understand. His eyes gleam, even more than they do all the time.

“Nope,” he says, and his smile grows an inch, “your hand.”

Zuko blinks. Sokka flirting with him is nothing new, that’s why he manages to hold back his blush a bit and remain calm, even when he’s a bit dying inside.

He is just trapped between telling him, “god, I wish you were flirting with me for real,” and, “please stop doing it, it’s not good for my heart,” and, “If only you knew how much I really want to hold your hand”, but neither of those options are actually. Something viable.

“Are you flirting with me?” He asks instead, knowing the answer already.

Sokka would laugh, brush it off, and say something like, “ah, but you didn’t blush this time,” and let it go.

He doesn’t, though.

What he does, instead, is shrug and look at Zuko’s textbook, like he’s completely uninterested in the conversation.

Huh.

But then he speaks up again.

“Have been for the past year and a half or so, but thanks for noticing.” He answers.

Zuko blinks. He’s tempted to answer, “yeah, I know, which is a cruel, cruel thing to do, by the way, given how my heart just wants to escape out of my chest and go with you every time you do it,” or something equally playful to play it down like they always tend to do, but… for some reason, this time it feels… Real.

Maybe he should just laugh.

He doesn’t, though, and, “What?” is what comes out of his mouth.

Sokka looks up. “I said that I’ve been doing it for a year and a half or so, thank you for finally noticing.”

Zuko doesn’t understand. He’s not following the conversation at all. “Wait.”

“Ahh,” Sokka sighs, “honestly, if you didn’t notice by the end of the month, I would have felt deeply embarrassed. I was starting to think I lost my charm and I didn’t know how to flirt.”

“Well, that was a terrible pick-up line,” Zuko can’t help but retort, and like he wasn’t mildly-insulted, Sokka grins at him.

“But it worked for you, didn’t it?” He teases, leaning on Zuko’s personal space, “it made you feel something.”

Zuko frowns. “How would you know?”

Sokka stares. “Your face.”

“My face?”

“I can see it. In your face.”

Zuko covers his mouth, frowning. He can feel his own heart race.

Sokka is still way too close.

“You can…?”

“Yup.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Zuko says, blinking. “That means—are you—are you flirting with me? For real?”

Sokka quirks both eyebrows. “Yes...?”

“But you—you…”

“Zuko, I don’t know where you got the idea, but I don’t flirt with anyone aside from you—at least, I haven’t done it in a long time. So yes, I am actually flirting with you.”

Zuko feels like he just got hit in the head. “Why?”

Sokka blinks. “Because I want to?”

“But why do you want to?”

Sokka shoots him a look. “Zuko,” he says, slowly, “I like you. I thought that was obvious already.”

Zuko blinks. “You have… romantic feelings for me?”

Sokka laughs, amused. “Yeah, Zuko, I have ‘romantic feelings’ for you.”

Zuko blinks again. He’s blinking too much. “So all this time… it was real… when you said… and that time you also said… and… oh.”

Sokka smiles, softly, and ruffles Zuko’s hair. It makes him blush. His heart might also not even work at this point, if it wasn’t for the fact that he can clearly hear it thundering in his ears.

Why is Sokka so calm? Zuko’s about to pass out.

“Katara is right, I’m dumb.”

Sokka grins. “Toph thinks so, too.”

“Toph thinks everyone is dumb.”

“Fair,” Sokka answers; he’s still grinning so wide. God, Sokka is so pretty. “Though I think she only calls us dumb, not that she means it.”

“Mmm.”

He’s so unfairly distracting, too. Zuko can’t stop looking at him.

“Wait,” He says, suddenly realizing something, “so you knew that I—that I—had feelings for you, too?”

Sokka looks at his lips when he talks, and Zuko has to concentrate hard to not straight up pass out from shock and his heart racing so fast it might give him an attack. Has he done that before? He would have noticed, right? Sure, Zuko looks at Sokka’s lips a lot instead than at his eyes, but he would have noticed if Sokka did it, too.

… Right?

He’s starting to feel dizzy. Is he dreaming? Is any of this real at all?

“Noticed it a while ago, yeah. That’s why I’m not freaking out that you noticed my flirting 100 years later.”

For a moment, Zuko is able to set aside  his internal emotional turmoil and state of panic, if only to complain.

“Hey!” He frowns. “Wait—”

“You have said that a lot.”

“Wait,” Zuko repeats, just to be annoying, “if you… liked me, and knew that I liked you back, why didn’t you… make a move?”

“Like asking you out? I tried to, but you’re too oblivious.”

“Huh?” Zuko utters. What does that even mean? He’s not—well, he is, maybe, just a bit, but. “Well, if you knew that, you could have been more straightforward, you know!”

Sokka smiles, then shrugs.

“I guess we’re both dumb.”

Zuko feels his lips curling up, not able to contain all his happiness anymore, his brain catching up with the last 20 minutes of his life.

Holy shit, Sokka likes him. Sokka likes him. Him. Zuko. As in, romantically speaking.

Oh.

Oh.

“I like you, Zuko.” Sokka says, as if Zuko’s brain didn’t shut down already. He reaches out and slides his hand on the table Zuko was previously working, the tip of his fingers touching Zuko’s. “So can I finally, please hold your hand?”

Zuko might pass out for real, but before that, he finally, finally, finally takes Sokka’s hand into his own.

It feels even better than in his dreams.

He feels like burning up, like all of his body is setting itself on fire.

Sokka’s hand is warm, so warm, and soft, so soft, and makes Zuko’s heart flutter like delicate flower’s petals in the wind.

Sokka’s thumb brushes over his knuckles; Sokka’s lips turn into a bright smile, like he’s been wanting to do that since forever.

It feels like home.

.

.

When they tell their friends they’re dating, Yue is the first one to say something.

“You mean you weren’t dating before?”

“Shocking, right,” Katara deadpans, but then she smiles, genuine. “I’m happy for both of you.” 

(Although remembering that minutes later doesn’t make her any less scary, when she decides to corner him out of the bathroom and put a steady hand on his shoulder, feign-sweet smile on her face, and say with a weirdly off-calm voice that, if he ever dared to hurt Sokka on purpose, she was going to break all the 206 bones on his body.)

Toph grins brightly and kicks him enthusiastically on the side with a loud “Well-done, loser!” while Aang jumps on Zuko’s back and clings to him like a koala.

“That’s awesome, guys! Be happy!”

Zuko smiles.

“Finally, I won’t have to hear Sokka’s pinning all the time,” Suki quips, like she’s tired and utterly uninterested, but even the happiness is evident in her voice.

Sokka still complains. “Hey! I had to hear you be head-over-heels for Yue for months, too.”

“It wasn’t months for you, though.” Suki deadpans, but then her face goes all soft, “I’m kidding, So, I’m really happy for you two.”

Sokka smiles, and she gets up from where she’s cuddling Yue on the sofa to hug Sokka tightly, grinning wide, and then look at Zuko (stumbling with a happily laughing Aang on his back and Toph annoyingly ruffling his hair like a proud little sister) and whispers something in Sokka’s ear.

Zuko is glad that he’s still looking at Sokka from the corner of his eye, because he catches him blushing after that.

He’s cute.

Suki laughs. Sokka frowns, still blushing, and when he catches Zuko watching, he blushes harder.

He’s really cute.

Zuko smiles softly, and Sokka blinks, once, twice, before smiling back.

The cutest.

.

.

“Zuko.”

Zuko hums, but doesn’t look up from his work.

“Zukoooo, darling, love of my life.”

Zuko is used to it by now. To Sokka calling him pet-names like those. Of hearing Sokka say he’s cute, or hot, or smart, or witty, or pretty. It still makes his heart flutter, though. Just as Sokka’s laugh does. It still makes him blush sometimes.

(It’s funny because Sokka is the same way—or mostly the same. Zuko said he looked really hot after a baseball game once and Sokka almost died on the spot. He blushed like mad, but after he calmed down, he couldn’t stop bragging about Zuko calling him ‘hot’.

“Look at you, flirting shamelessly with me! You’re all grown up!” and, “I shouldn’t be near Zuko if I’m wearing my baseball uniform, he’ll get a boner,” and a lot of more phrases.)

“Hm?”

“You are—” Sokka sing-songs, and crosses his arms over Zuko’s textbook. He puts his chin over his forearms and looks up at Zuko’s face, grinning, and Zuko would probably be a bit annoyed that he’s not letting him finish his essay if it weren’t for the fact that he’s Sokka. His, ahem, boyfriend. 

“I am…?”

“You are,” he repeats, and his smile grows bigger. Zuko thinks about kissing him; Zuko thinks about kissing him all the time. But, to be fair, he used to dream about that, just as much as he used to dream about them holding hands. And just as if he read Zuko’s mind, Sokka reaches out and holds his right hand; gently, like all of Sokka’s touches. It feels so nice, Zuko never wants to let go. “You are pulchritudinous.”

Eh?

Zuko tries to smile, but Sokka looks at him like he’s looking at a cute baby and throws his head back, still close and still holding his hand.

“You’re adorable.”

“What…?” Zuko is sure he looks as puzzled as he feels; he once caught his reflection in the mirror while playing Scrabble with Sokka and therefore knows how he must look. For some reason, Sokka finds it extremely cute. “What does that mean?”

Sokka laughs again.

Zuko narrows his eyes into slits. Or, maybe Sokka’s just making fun of him. (Not in a bad way, of course, Zuko knows. Sokka never means any harm, but he sure as hell loves teasing Zuko all the time.)

“Are you insulting me?”

Sokka wipes tears from his eyes and looks at Zuko with such a sweet face that it kinda makes Zuko stumble, even when he’s sitting.

His heart flutters alive, his face grows warm. He wants to kiss Sokka.

Sokka does, though, pulling gently at his hand and softly pressing his lips into Zuko’s wrist. He grins up at him.

“You’re adorable.”

(Later, when he’s waiting for a toast on Uncle Iroh’s kitchen, still barefoot, decked out in his pajamas and half-asleep, he finally finds what he thinks is the correct word using the search function of his phone—after 20 lame attempts of trying and failing at remembering—and pronouncing correctly—the right word.

He clicks on the dictionary tab, reads over the meaning, stumbles over, slips and falls flat on his ass.

He almost sets his kitchen on fire for the second time.)

.

.

Zuko is bad at flirting. He knows. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try, hard, and sometimes, sometimes, he succeeds (conscious and unconsciously).

Or maybe Sokka is just too easy to fluster (even when Sokka says it’s the other way around; even when that’s actually, probably, just a bit, true.)

Either way, Zuko basks happily in seeing Sokka get all flustered. It makes him even cuter than he already is.

(Whipped, Toph would draw out, mockingly sing-song.

And, well, maybe he is.)

.

.

Kissing Sokka is like setting himself on fire. Like burning up alive, but not in the bad sense. Not in the way he was burned as a little kid.

Kissing Sokka is like sitting near a campfire when you’re feeling cold; like standing on the edge of a cliff, feeling your chest contract; like tucking yourself in a warm blanket, with fuzzy socks and drinking your favorite drink, while hearing your favorite song. It’s like waking up on a good day, like basking in the sun at twilight, like taking a warm shower after a long day.

He feels too much, way too overwhelmed, even with just a brush of lips.

Kissing Sokka is a blessed thing.

There’s something that comes alive in his chest at the same time their lips touch. It blossoms under his ribcage, spreads over his chest, warms up all the way up to his throat. Beating, growing, marveling in every fiber of his being. Maybe that’s what love is—maybe that’s what Zuko has been searching for all this time; this connection, this overwhelming feeling, this deep, raw, unfiltered emotion, coming off him through waves of desperation for more.

He can’t be sure. But even if it wasn’t something he has looked out for, the discovery of it still feels like a sacred thing.

It’s like watching cherry blossoms falling on the street for the first time, like falling asleep on the comfortable side of your bed after a tiring day, it’s coming back home—or to what home should feel like.

It’s something delicate, at first. Zuko doesn’t have any experience, so he just lets himself feel as Sokka presses his lips softly into his own, carding his long fingers into Zuko’s hair.

Zuko feels an electric chill run down his spine, where Sokka’s fingertips—from the hand that’s not on his hair—make a slow path down. He can feel them burning, even through his clothes, even when Sokka’s hand is not that warm.

But it feels like that.

Zuko breathes shakily, moves his lips experimentally, feeling Sokka’s smile against his mouth.

He wants to do something, so he leans in, feeling Sokka’s eyelashes tickling his cheekbones, feeling Sokka’s thumb under his jaw, angling his head in a better position, feeling himself become aflame. He wants to touch Sokka. He really wants to touch Sokka.

So he does.

He uses one hand to gently touch Sokka’s wrist—the one Sokka’s using to keep Zuko’s head up—and, carefully, tentatively, he wraps his fingers around it, caresses the skin like he wants to print a topographic map of it into his mind.

Sokka makes a low, appreciative sound, and Zuko feels so happy it should be embarrassing.

Sokka has his hair down, and Zuko wants to touch it so much because he loves Sokka’s hair. Sokka’s hair is so pretty—Sokka is so pretty—so he goes for it. He brushes his fingers on Sokka’s shoulder, touches the strands of brown hair that lie there, moves his fingers to the nape of his neck. Zuko does this slowly, he wants to feel everything and he’s not going to rush, not after how long he’s wanted this.

He cradles his head with his hand, touches and touches and touches. He pulls at his hair, lightly, and his hand goes down just a bit; the skin of Sokka’s neck under his fingertips is warm, and so soft. He can feel the gentle echo of his heartbeat thundering in the tender curve of his jaw.

Just then, Sokka’s thumb brushes on his bare clavicle, and Zuko hisses, feeling like he’s on fire. Feeling like he’s become burning embers.

It’s just—too much, and at the same time, not enough—he wants more.

He has always been sensitive, but it’s different now. It’s like all his senses are turned on—he’s hyper-aware of everything around him—of Sokka’s hands, of Sokka’s steady, fast heartbeat under his open palm, of Sokka’s smell, of Sokka’s warm mouth, of Sokka’s soft skin, of the way Sokka keeps mumbling his name, softly against his lips or when he breaks apart to breath. He touches Sokka’s face, Sokka’s arms, Sokka’s neck; breathes his name into his own mouth, makes sure Sokka knows how much he wants this, how much he’s dreamed of this: of kissing him, of him kissing him back.

It feels too good to be even real—just as Sokka always makes him feel, even when they’re not kissing.

He might as well die there.

It wouldn’t be a bad way to go, though.

Linked, bare soul to bare soul, with the prettiest, smartest, kindest boy he’s ever met.

.

.

There’s something so tragically painful about falling in love, they say. But as he sees Sokka laughing in front of him because of some ridiculous joke Toph made, holding Zuko’s hand like it’s the most precious thing in the world, he can’t help but think that falling in love is anything but painful.

Sokka turns around, catches him staring and grins, playfully wiggling his eyebrows.

Zuko smiles, thinking just how much he loves Sokka, how much he loves his life, how much he loves his uncle, how much he loves his friends, how much he loves being alive, being there, curled up with Sokka on his couch, watching a stupid rom-com movie on Sokka’s cell-phone screen, sharing earphones with his boyfriend. Being there, in the house that he shares with his uncle—his real dad—in the house that he has come to call home. Being there, feeling safe in Sokka’s arms, with Toph hearing music on the TV, while Aang and Katara and Suki and Yue sleep, sprawled there and there all over his living-room.

“I love you,” Zuko tells Sokka, like he just revealed the biggest secret of the universe.

Love.

He feels the word on his tongue, and it tastes sweet. It tastes like the color of Sokka’s eyes, like the tone of Sokka’s laugh, like all of Sokka’s smiles—the gentle one, the soft one, the playful and flirty one, the wide one—all of them. Love tastes like Sokka holding his hand while they go for a walk, like Sokka’s voice when he talks about what he likes, like Sokka’s proud eyes after scoring a run, after Zuko shows him his grades. It tastes like a lot of things he can’t name, like the way Sokka says his name, like the way Sokka makes him feel, like that little mole under Sokka’s jaw, like the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles with the setting sun of the beach, like the way his fingertips feel against Zuko’s neck. Like the way he looks at Zuko like he’s not broken, like he’s the best thing that ever existed, like his scar is beautiful and all of Zuko’s failures don’t matter to him because he’s him, and that is enough. Like Zuko is more than enough, and how he loves that he’s more than enough to Zuko, too.  

“I love you,” Zuko says again, in a low voice, and it feels real. It has meaning. It’s not an empty word at all.

For some reason, he feels like tearing up a bit.

Sokka’s face mellows, softens; he brushes his thumb under Zuko’s left eye, just at the edge of his scar, and his eyes become impossibly warm. Zuko wants to kiss all of his face; he wants to taste all of Sokka’s softness on his own lips.

There, in the quiet of Zuko’s living-room, Sokka smiles, and Zuko thinks he’s the most bewitching, stunning, ineffably beautiful being.

It feels like something ethereal. Sokka smiles and Zuko feels blessed to exist.

“I love you, too,” Sokka answers, like he’s sharing one of the secrets of the universe, too, like he’s never told anyone anything more true, and ever so gentle.

Zuko smiles and kisses him.

Falling in love is a blessed thing.

[amixiifish]

With Every Breath We Take

Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang found dead holding hands in the Jasmine Dragon after a shooting. 

Katara weeps as she sees the headline, the words blurring in front of her. 

Dead. Gone. They left her. 

Sokka stood behind her, absolutely frozen.

Toph shook with silent sobs next to her.

No. This was fake. It couldn’t be happening. 

She and Aang were engaged. Their wedding was next week.

Her dress was ready. Gran Gran and Hakoda had plane tickets. They had paid for the venue, prepared the menu, and they had even finished the seating chart.

Sokka and Zuko’s adoption papers had just gone through after 2 years. They were adopting a little girl named Izumi. She looked a lot like Zuko but had Sokka’s spirit. She was made for them.

But they left. 

The article read;

‘Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang had ushered everyone out and had held off the men as long as they could. They fought with everything they had. But 2 stray gunshots pierced the two powerful men’s hearts.

They had still fought. They had fought until their dying breath. And when they collapsed, they died next to one another.

In their last moments, the two reached out to one another and passed away together.

They released their last breaths holding each other’s hands in comfort. They left for the Spirit World together.’

And since it had been 2 weeks.

The funeral was covered in a cloud of black.

They were buried next to one another the way they had died.

No one could make a sound.

Tears were shed.

Katara broke down and Toph and Suki were barely holding it together.

Sokka was shattered. He hadn’t said a word in the past 2 weeks and wouldn’t eat unless the food was shoved down his throat.

Hakoda and Gran-Gran stood to the side. They were also distraught, but only the spirits knew whether it was because of their loss or the state of their children. Perhaps both.

Mai and Ty Lee were holding one another as they silently shook with grief.

Azula had gone back to stage one in the mental asylum once she heard of her brother’s passing.

Zuko had been by her side even when she tried to kill her. And he laughed with her, cried with her, and most of all, he healed her. She had been doing good. She could leave the clinic. She was able to act like a normal person.

But then she went back to screaming, thrashing, and murder threats once Zuko died.

No one was the same after they left. 

And Iroh was the worst.

He had been on a break and he had ran back after he heard the news.

He was there when the two died.

He had Zuko’s head in his lap and Aang’s other hand in his.

He saw the light fade from their eyes.

And they were laughing as they died.

Joking about their past and their mistakes.

And Iroh remembered their last words with jarring clearance.

Aang was coughing, fighting for each breath. He looked to Iroh with blood trailing down the side of his mouth. “Iroh… thank you for showing us the real Zuko. Please tell Katara that she should move on and I will always cherish her.”

Zuko had looked to him, ribs rattling with forced breaths as he said with a shining gleam in his eyes as tears ran down his face. He had smiled breathlessly with blood-stained teeth and said, “Uncle, tell Sokka I loved him. And uncle? I never told you this enough, but I want to thank you. You were like the father I never deserved. I love you.”

Iroh shook his head, tears rapidly falling. “No, Zuko, it’s not your time, please, Zuko, you can’t die.”

The two master benders looked at each other, respect and brotherly love shining for one another as they closed their eyes and take their last breath.

And the silence was deafening.

[stark-tony]

most recent bookmarks (1/20/21)

* = incomplete

bnha

how he live forever but ain't got time for his kids?* by virxil

summary: “At the time it made the most sense that All Might was your father. But now, given your multiple quirks—”

“I just-it’s still just one quirk! My quirk is just weird!” Izuku protested weakly. No one seemed to acknowledge it.

“—given your multiple quirks, in combination to your relationship with All Might,” Todoroki continued, monotone, mercilessly objective, as Kaminari watched on in increasingly wide-eyed delight, “it makes more sense for his enemy from Kamino to be your father. The one with a lot of quirks.”

Todoroki posits a new theory on Izuku's parentage. It's all in good fun, until it isn't. Then it's the custody battle of the century.

pairings: toshinko, inko/ all for one

tags:

warnings: none

mcu

do you even remember what the world looks like? by iron_spider

summary:  Tony’s heart has been working on overdrive since this whole thing started. Friday has a countdown clock plastered on the heads up display, but it feels like hieroglyphics to him at this point, like some ancient language he could never master.

Because when Peter Parker is missing, things start losing their meaning real quick.

“Should be around here,” Rhodey says on the com. May is still on the other line, listening in, because once a certain amount of time goes by without word from Peter, things move into Extremely Worried Aunt territory. They’re already in Tony Is Panicking territory, and when both of those territories overlap it’s never a good time for anybody.

Time? What the hell is time? His mind is blanking numbers out entirely. Minutes are seconds are hours are years.

pairings: none

tags: hurt/comfort

warnings: none

quaranteens by blueh

summary: “Peter Parker,” Cindy says. Peter’s head snaps up so fast that it almost looks inhuman. “Did Tony Stark just waltz in and pick up his child in the background of your Zoom call?”

Peter freezes. Wide-eyed, with ‘guilty’ written on his forehead in 72, bold, Times New Roman font. It takes a solid thirty seconds before he can put himself together enough to click the unmute button.

“I—no?” Peter says. His voice is startlingly high pitched and his expression is nothing short of horrified.

Damn, if that isn’t anything but a confession.

Or: a day in the life of the quarantined high school spider-kid, as seen through the eyes of his first-period chemistry class.

pairings: none

tags: fluff, humor

warnings: none

spn 

Down to Agincourt * by seperis

summary: There is no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to war.

The outcome's known. Why try? Return your rusty sword to battered sheath, bow your head and bend your stubborn knee. Why take the field when you cannot win the war? But Harry -- he went down to Agincourt.

--Harry Takes the Field by bratfarrar (AO3 link here.)

pairings: destiel

tags:

warnings: 

One Species Too Many by wallmakerrelict

summary:  While Dean is laid up for a month after breaking his leg on a hunt, Cas decides that it's a perfect time to adopt a litter of kittens. But even though he's gotten better since Purgatory, Cas still isn't quite the same as he was before fixing Sam's head, and being trapped in a cabin with him for weeks on end is making that all the more obvious to Dean. When Sam takes off on a hunt, Dean has to figure out on his own how to navigate his new relationship with Cas while also helping to raise a bunch of fuzzballs that aren't even cute. Not even a little bit. (Well, maybe a little bit.)

pairings: destiel

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: ableism

Good girl. by orange_crushed

summary: (In which Team Free Will gets a four-legged mascot.)

Sam drives her to a veterinarian’s office one day, in the stolen car he is now increasingly regarding as his, and she comes back sort of sulky and depressed from having been tricked into getting a series of vaccinations.

“I know the feeling,” Cas says, at floor level with her, while the puppy licks the underside of his wrist and makes sad eyes. “I was once immune to tetanus, but now I am forced to endure booster shots.” He looks over at Sam and Dean, and lowers his voice to a whisper. “They told me they were taking me to the zoo,” he says. He pets her ears. “You will learn to trust again.”

pairings: destiel

tags: fluff

warnings: none

hp

Within White Space by mustntgetmy

summary:  Non-magic AU. Remus spends his all his lunch breaks the same way: he sits at the university cafe, orders the cheapest thing on the menu, and stares at Sirius. Getting a good long, look at Sirius (and fantasizing about said look) is all Remus expects from Sirius. But Sirius has never been one for fulfilling expectations.

pairings: wolfstar

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: none

Heir to Nothing but Herself series* by dirgewithoutmusic

summary:  It was not Harry’s heroism, Ron’s desperation, her mother’s love, or her brothers’ toilet seat humor that brought her back (though the toilet seat helped). Ginny breathed deep at night. She wept. She remembered how to rage. She snuck out at night and stole each of her brothers’ brooms in turn. She took to the skies and brought herself back to life.

pairings: hinny

tags: angst

warnings: victim blaming

atla

Growing Pains by carolinaa 

summary: Nobody's really sure how to take the new Fire Lord. Actually, nobody's really sure if he'll last long enough for them to get used to him. Zuko, existing in the uncertainty of a life after the war, is right there with everybody else.

pairings: none

tags: fluff, angst

warnings: none

[lbibliophile-atla]

Oops, my finger slipped. I just had to go through my bookmarks etc and try this.

I've swapped out a few adopters and added some extras on the end. I know there are more, but these are the ones I could easily remember/find.

Hama - The World, So Close by WitchofEndor Fire Sages - While Mighty Oaks Do Fall by WitchofEndor Jun - Two Drama Queens Loose on a Shirshu by mindbending; Fighting Evil By Moonlight by Haicrescendo Hakoda - Book 1: Judged by Sephone_North (and of course Salvage) The Gaang - As the Blue Spirit Howls by Thisisentertaining; Zuko's Tiny Dilemma by Boogum

The Herbalist - Soldier of Healing by Aaronna Vattu - Awake, chaos: we have napped by koios; Consider Chaos by AvocadoLove The Painted Lady The Blue Spirit - blade of silver, forge of blue by MikkiOfTheAnbu Other Spirits - no grave (hold my body) by ZenzaNightwing Jet/Freedom Fighters - Perpetual by tealeyedbeing; Guilt (The Jet Adopts Zuko AU) by FoiblePNoteworthy

Zuko - Zuko adopts Zuko AU by WolfieGirlXox The Beifongs - kintsugi by discordiansamba FREE SPACE Ozai (!) - The Salt Sea Heir by MandyMyfanwy Zuko’s crew - Rebel Zuko by delectum; Show Me by beepbeepsan Jee, specifically - A Dragon's Instinct by AelinCreativ

Yuyan Archers - Dragon of the Yuyan by 00AwkwardPenguin00 Batman Bumi - The Zuko Adoption Menu by Flameo_Hotman [ch 13] Dragons Roku - You're a (Great) Grandpa! by SeleneMoon; I Know Your Face by Twilight_Shadows Kyoshi Warriors Ember Island Players - Backstage AU by EvieNyx The Dai Li - My Heart Isn’t Stone (Though It Has Walls) by SchrodingersAuthor

Azula - As the World Should Be by MuffinLance Jeong Jeong - Team Leverage Earth Kingdom Army - Amnesia!Zuko Joins the Earth Army by MuffinLance Piandao - The Swordsmen of Shu Jing by silveryink Wild Animals Momo - Appa and Momo Screwed the Timeline by Keetajet

BONUS Agni - Zuko's Invisible Friend by SlytherclawHomunculus Bato - Please Stop Making Boomerang Jokes by whatthedubbs Fire Nation Army - remote fountains by elumish (Kindling AU) Fire Palace staff - Fractures by EvieNyx; Honor Among Thieves by cassiopeia721 Lu Ten - Juxtaposition by Electrons Cabbage Merchant - Cabbage Patch Kid by Java_bean

“Zuko adopts” bingo

I was describing all of the “x adopts Zuko” AUs that I used to follow on @muffinlance​​‘s blog to a friend, and I referred to them as “Zuko Adopts Bingo”, so same friend  asked “wait, LITERAL bingo?? Did you guys makes cards?”

and I couldn’t remember any, but I had the time tonight so I was like, why not?

[Image Description: a bingo card titled “Zuko adopts bingo”. The the squares are labeled as such:

First row: Hama, Fire Sages, Jun, Hakoda, the Gaang

Second row: the Herbalist, Vattu, The Painted Lady, Other Spirits, Jet

Third row: Zuko, the Beifongs, Iroh/FREE SPACE, Zuko’s crew, Jee specifically

Fourth row: Yuyan Archers, Batman, Dragons, Kyoshi Warriors, the Dai Li

Fifth row: Azula, Jeong Jeong, Team Leverage, Piandao, Wild Animals /end ID] 

—-

I did have specific fics and/or tumblr discussions in mind for every one of these. I might try to link them all in a reblog, but I didn’t take notes while I made this so it might be a hassle to find them again ^^;;

also please tell me if there’s any more AUs I forgot about or that are your particular favorites – or better yet, make your own bingo card and send it to me! Let’s make this a Thing, I’m having fun here :P

[spinneryesteryear]

Spinner plays FFXIV Heavensward

SPOILERS AHOY

- I made sure to unlock and lvl DRG before starting HW because reasons

- I… don’t really understand why people love Foulques so much? I can only presume it’s because they find him attractive

- at first I wondered why the lancers’ guild quests emphasized courage so much, but once you realize lancer upgrades to dragoon it all makes sense: they’re training the absolute maniacs who jump headfirst at DRAGONS; of course they’re going to emphasize courage

- the literal first thing I did as a dragoon after getting my soul crystal and the jump action was to launch myself into an AOE so clearly I’m playing my job right

- the drama between Alberic and Estinien was the only reason I made it through the 2.1 - 2.3 slog, tbh

- I picked up GLD/PLD somewhere in there, too, but the GLD quests weren’t exactly riveting and the PLD quests weren’t any better. I was just biding my time for DRK

- meanwhile I had hit like lvl 62 on WHM thanks to running lots of roulettes with Adventurer in Need: Healer so I’d switch to that while wandering through a lot of the HW regions so the mobs wouldn’t attack me. I did the HW story on DRG but ran dungeons as WHM the first time bc it’s my comfort role. 

- I’m… still not sure exactly how to do the mechanics on the Steps of Faith. Whoops. Fortunately, all but once I was WHM when I got it in roulette and I could just heal/spam Holy. The exception was on DRG and I just kinda… derped around killing what adds I could.

- those cutscenes at the end of 2.5, though. Dude. Duuuuuuude.

- it did give us Pipin Tarupin, however, and he is Best Lala.

- So, like… what exactly did Ysayle expect would happen when she broke Ishguard’s magic wards and opened it to assault by hordes of dragons??She seems genuinely regretful of the innocent lives lost when spoken to in the MSQ later in HW proper, but when she actually did the deed she was channeling ‘deranged witch’ for all it was worth and talking about how the sons should pay for the sins of their fathers. Did this incident give her a rude awakening about the Dravanian desire for vengeance?? Idk, maybe further quests will explain this.

—– me: *just arrives in Ishgard*

—– me: *taking the grand tour of the city*

—– me: *notices mob near cathedral, inquires about it, learns about recent violent death of heretic*

—– me: *finds heretic corpse*

—– me: *derails grand tour of Ishgard by slaughtering my way through the streets and through various chapels, laughing maniacally as I enjoy the greater reach of my brand-new greatsword and spam Unleash*

—– me, standing amid the broken corpses of a few dozen temple knights: Count Fortemps is probably gonna regret letting me into this city.

- that one dude in Camp Cloudtop who’s entirely too obsessed with the menu deserves to be booted off his lookout platform. I’ll even rescue him via flying mount before he splatters on the ground (however far down the ground happens to be, idk), but I really want to kick him off at least once. He gave me far too many fetch quests and my inner Fray is disgruntled, to say the least.

- me, just trying to make my way across the map: WILL EVERYTHING IN COERTHAS STOP CHASING ME???

- other people think the gaelicats are too cute to kill them. I, however, just want to kill them all the more. I’d be perfectly content to leave the mobs alone and continue on my merry way, but, nooooooo, they have to attack me. So I respond in savage kind.

- me, doing sidequest chains and getting mildly attached to extremely minor characters: So, I kinda ship Ayleth and Saintrelmaux now…

- ever since I unlocked it, I get Dusk Vigil all the time in lvling roulette so I’m now an expert on ice age megafauna, undead knights, and murderous griffins of the non-Sloppeh type

- Ravana is my fave HW primal, hands down, and his theme is definitely among my fave primal music. I would say it’s my absolute fave (I have listened to it on repeat for hours at a time, but I’ve done that with other music, so it’s not conclusive evidence) but it has stiff competition in the form of the Ultima theme, Leviathan’s theme, and the Knights of the Round theme.

- going on a life-changing field trip with Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysayle was amazing. All we needed was Zuko.

- far too many side quests in Tailfeather. Far too many. And that one quest chain ended up with the poor dude’s pet baby chocobo as chicken tenders? If I didn’t hate chickens so much IRL that would have been super painful.

- the moogle quests required to progress the MSQ weren’t that bad. The sheer amount of moogle sidequests needed to unlock flying for that zone and their beast tribe quests, however…. well, I’m completely on board now with any plans Sidurgu might have for utter moogle genocide.

- lol, the moogles were about to give us more chores to do but Estinien’s sheer murderous rage panicked their chieftain into sending us on our way. I love him. (Estinien, that is. Not the moogles. I love to hate them.)

- Estinien is just… I love him so much. It’s more than his armor. It’s more than his jumps. It’s more than his sass and swearing. No stereotypical elf qualities to be found here, folks. Honestly, he could give some elves from The Silmarillion a run for their money, with even his own equivalent of Angband PTSD post-Nidhogg. I also immensely love that he’s a character on a power level similar to the WoL. (I don’t actually enjoy the main character being the most powerful person in the world, without equal. I like someone else being better in at least some ways and that being okay.) Heck, when possessed by Nidhogg he’s the final boss of the expansion + patches. And he lives. (Which is in itself a pretty powerful moment and Alphinaud and the WoL’s desire to save him lifts the whole plot point/theme into something more sublime. It would have been easy to kill him regretfully, both from a Watsonian and a Doylist perspective. The devs had no problems throwing painful deaths at us in this expansion. But we took the harder route. And it was worth it.)

- low-key painful Heavensward moments (bc heavens know there’s enough high-key painful moments): Alberic is extremely worried about his adopted son, whom he last saw nearly possessed by a dragon’s millennium’s worth of hate and rage, and who then vanished in an explosion, but he can’t do anything about it so instead he helps another retired dragoon worry about his own missing daughter

- ngl there was some red herring foreshadowing that the primal Archbishop Thordan planned to summon was actually Halone, the Fury, Goddess of Justice and Patroness of Ishgard. Which would have been badass. But I’m pretty sure Square Enix is going the Dragon Age route of never confirming/denying the presence of the Maker with their Twelve, Halone included, so I deemed it unlikely even as I secretly hoped. A lot of players probably missed these fake hints and would wonder what I’m even talking about. 

- I couldn’t even get mad about all the bad things that happened during the Vault because the characters were juggling Idiot Balls. (1) Aymeric thought his father, who has been consorting with Ascians and plans to summon a primal, could be reasoned with. (2) Aymeric went alone to go reason with him and was correspondingly captured and tortured. (3) We fought three of the twelve Heaven’s Ward in the Vault itself and NO ONE APPARENTLY QUESTIONED WHERE THE OTHER NINE WERE. Plus, said three have clearly already been tempered and are feeding off primal energy for their second forms, even if the mechanics are unknown. Those without the Echo should have promptly skedaddled after rescuing Aymeric. (4) After a dungeon full of ambush mobs, no one thought to secure the little airship landing behind the Vault before arguing with Archbishop Thordan. In Ishgard, city of verticality with its gravity-defying dragoons, personal airplanes, and millennium-long war against flying dragons. Everyone involved should have thought to check the nearby roofs for hostiles. Am I seriously the only person who has ever thought tactically about this situation??? (5) The WoL and Haurchefant rush forward to delay the Archbishop, again without considering the whereabouts of the rest of his presumably also tempered bodyguards or whether any hostiles remain in the building behind us. And so events happened as they did.

- Regula van Hydrus has a cool name and a cool silhouette with that helmet. Better than Varis, anyway. 

- the Vundu are probably my fave HW beast tribe. The moogles are the crafting tribe so Imma do them anyway (and have fun tricking them into doing work) but I’m actually looking forward to the Vundu. I’m just benevolently apathetic towards the Gnath.

- I just, like… did not care about Azys Lla in the slightest. It was more Allagan BS and I hated the map. (I still don’t have it fully explored??? What am I doing??) The ‘terms and conditions’ bit with the node was amusing, but… the entire place got old almost immediately. Finding Tiamat and talking to her with Midgardsormr was the only high point.

- why isn’t there an option to have Hrasevelgr come and talk to Tiamat to persuade her to abandon her self-chosen imprisonment??? Or to have Estinien later come and talk to her to possibly give her Nidhogg’s perspective? Bc I think Nidhogg would have some insight into her situation, definitely. She summoned elder primal Bahamut out of grief at his loss, while Nidhogg launched a millennium-long war out of grief at Ratatoskr’s loss, and now they’ve both abandoned their vengeance. 

- ARF TILL YOU BARF

- idk, man, the Aetherochemical Research Facility is such a weird conglomerate of things for a dugneon. Firstly, you got Allagan tech and machines. Then you got mutant creatures the Allagans made (bc, if it was mad science, then the Allagans were all over it). Then you got Ascians, evil ghosty dudes who laugh evilly and throw standard Evil Ascian Attacks at you before doing the fusion dance from Dragonball Z and becoming a Giant Evil Ascian. Igeyhorm has a feminine voice but is she(?) actually female or is she just presumably possessing a female body? Do Ascians have gender or do they even care about such things? (I am very much Not Thinking about Solus/Emet-Selch reproducing here.) 

- Archbishop Thordan reveals the millennium-old, perfectly preserved corpse of Haldrath, the original Thordan’s dragoon son, with NIDHOGG’S OTHER EYE FUSED INTO THE CORPSE’S CHEST, and, like, no one really comments on it in- or out-of-universe???? What happened??? Haldrath gave up the throne, apparently because he wasn’t 100% on board with his dad’s treachery against Ratatoskr and consequent decision to kill all dragons to maintain power. Dragoons were apparently already a thing at this point (HC: to combat the voidsent infesting Abalathia’s Spine and the mountains between Coerthas and Gridania, e.g. Witches’ Drop), so what happened to Haldrath? Is this explained somewhere and I missed it??? Did Nidhogg hijack his mind? Estinien had Nidhogg’s eyes (both of them, incidentally, which Haldrath didn’t have to deal with) fused to his arm & shoulder but Haldrath had an eye fused to his chest. To his HEART. What happened.

- And then Archbishop Thordan somehow turns Haldrath’s corpse + armor + Nidhogg’s eye into a sword, the primal version of presumably Ascalon, King Thordan’s sword, somehow designing it to eat primal/Ascian aether. And then he kills Lahabrea, which, no great loss there. But it leaves my questions unanswered.

- Thordan + Knights of the Round is such a cool trial, I love it to death and not because it’s easy. It could be as hard as Nidhogg Normal and I’d still love it. I wish I had a static with whom I could do Thordan Ex and other more complicated content.

- finishing that fight and the cutscenes after, however… man, I didn’t know how to feel. I was screaming internally and torn in at least three different directions. Couldn’t get through the patch content fast enough to fight Nidhogg.

- had to fight Raubahn as DRG to represent my decimated Knights Dragoon brethren and my missing possessed dragoon brother and restore their honor. I’m also 100% convinced Raubahn learned of Ifrit’s nail trick and decided, “I can totally do that with Tizona.”

- has Aymeric ever done a dragoon jump? No? Then he’s not a real Azure Dragoon even if he has a nice color scheme and has ridden a dragon. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if he can do a dragoon jump (he’s survived years as Estinien’s friend somehow, and I can’t help but imagine he’s dragged Estinien off more than one rooftop), but until he does it I’m not budging on this. 

- Aymeric getting stabbed by a rando with a pocketknife and nearly dying was (1) surprisingly realistic and (2) made him look wimpy next to all the punishment so many of the other characters take without dying. Sorry, man. It had to be said. I love you, Aymeric, but still.

- standing there on the Final Steps of Faith, on the broken bridge to the Gate of Judgment, staring down Nidhogg while that beautiful music plays (TELL ME WHY BREAK TRUST, WHY TURN THE PAST TO DUST) and waiting for the queue to pop… that was a powerful emotion unlike any other. Stormblood couldn’t match it.

- Nidhogg is such a fun fight because it’s still hard and I hate that I don’t get it in trial roulette more often. (Trial roulette is my favorite, actually. I love almost all trials - with the notable exception of the Chrysalis bc everyone runs around like chickens with their heads cut off on it and rages in chat, and with the possible exception of non-Final Steps of Faith.) Akh Morn is still a killer, I sometimes just want to watch bodies hit the floor, and Final Chorus is such a badass moment even as we’re all dodging for our puny lives. We’re fighting Bahamut’s brother. 

- Estinien takes advantage of Nidhogg’s temporary aether depletion to regain enough control over his body to try to kill himself before being used to wreak any more havoc. Estinien survived weeks, possibly months of possession via ancient angry dragon, and having two giant dragon eyeballs embedded in his body and feeding him enormous amounts of foreign aether. Estinien survived his body being aetherically remade into the shape of an enormous dragon and then into a giant dragon-man hybrid. Estinien survived the Warrior of Light. IMHO he doesn’t get enough credit for this. 

- do u ever wonder about Hraesvelgr and Estinien later meeting and Hraesvelgr identifying the spirit of his brother lingering within Estinien? Bc I think a lot of us have headcanon’d that Estinien is not as free of Nidhogg as one might think, what with his red fiery aura in SB and all. On the other hand… some of us further theorize that Estinien can’t be tempered now, so he could help us fight primals. It’d be awesome.

[flameo-hotman]

Hello! For the Zuko adoption menu, how about 3?

Long Feng adopts Zuko. (Not the worst adoption on the menu though mwhahahaha) @muffinlance This is the one! (One of the Ju Lee kills the Earth King fics I have in the works tbh lol)

One day Long Feng did not have children and the next he had a son named Ju Lee. No explanation was given on where this child had come from or who they were.

The citizens of Ba Sing Se were too afraid to ask and when the Earth King asked, the man claimed the child had been here this whole time and he just hadn’t introduced Ju Lee to the king until now.

Ju Lee was thirteen and had a scar from a burn. It was an accident, but he couldn’t tell anyone what that accident had been. His head would ache whenever he tried to think about it.

But the Earth King trusted him because the Earth King trusted his father.

Ju Lee knew how to follow orders and knew not to question the gaps in his memory. Father told him that he had amnesia from the accident that had left him scarred.

Ju Lee knew better than to mention his nightmares and dreams of another life.

He knew their mission. Keep the peace in Ba Sing Se and let no mention of the war reach the king.

The last time he mentioned the dreams to his father, Father put him in front of that green light again.

There was no last time. He wasn’t sure what dreams he was thinking about. There had been no life before father. He wasn’t sure why he had thought that for a moment. He would do well to not think about that too hard.

Ju Lee was now a member of the Dai Li, and he was assigned by Father to keep a close eye on the Earth King and those who spoke to the king.

When he asked Father what he was to do if someone did manage to tell the king about the war, the orders had been clear. Or at least at the time. Ju Lee could not say what the orders were. He only knew that he knew what they were and would carry them out when the time came.

He had a dream of his mother. She had told him something and then she was gone.

Zuko Ju Lee did not know his mother. He was not sure why the thought he didn’t know his mother had occurred to him.

He asked Father about this.

He did not ask Father about this.

The Avatar was in the city and the water bender with him cured Jet.

There was no brainwashing happening in the city. Brainwashing was science fiction. He did not know why the thought occurred to him.

Zuko was brainwashed. That’s why!!! Mother said not to forget who they were! He had to remember!

Ju Lee was not brainwashed. He had amnesia from an accident when he was thirteen. There was no reason to think further on this.

Uncle The Dragon of the West had come with the Avatar and tried to tell him who Zuko was tried to lie to him.

Then the Avatar told the Earth King about the war.

Ju Lee reached for his swords and stepped towards the Earth King.

The Earth King did not believe the Avatar.

Ju Lee stood down. He had not known what he was going to do, only that he felt relief and his King’s decision to not believe the child.

Zuko Ju Lee went with them to each of their failed attempts to convince the King of the war.

The drill proved to be too strong of evidence for King Kuei and the man ordered Father to be arrested.

Ju Lee reached for his swords and stepped forward.

Zuko froze. He wouldn’t do this.

Ju Lee did not know a Zuko.

Ju Lee ran the Earth King through from behind with his swords.

Uncle was horrified.

Ju Lee did not have an uncle.

Zuko had an uncle.

There was no Zuko.

Zuko Ju Lee was confused knew his place.

Father was livid. This was not how he meant for Zuko Ju Lee to kill the earth King. There were too many witnesses.

Ju Lee was arrested alongside his father.

Uncle the Dragon of the West pleaded with him to remember who he was. Mother had told him to never forget. Zuko didn’t forget! Zuko could never forget!

Zuko was trying to break free from what Long Feng had done to his mind!

Zuko felt warm water pressing against the walls in his head.

He didn’t know who he was anymore. Zuko had been Ju Lee for so long now that he didn’t know who he was anymore, even with his memories back.

He felt broken and confused. Freedom was a prison and he wanted to scream.

But then while walking with Katara and thanking her for undoing what Long Feng had done to him, while Aang and Sokka were away from the city, a woman dressed as a Kyoshi Warrior met with them.

She looked familiar, but some of his memories were still cloudy and didn’t come easily to him.

Katara knew the girl though.

“Azula!” She sounded horrified.

That was his little sister’s name...

Azula spoke, “Well, this is unfortunate. Oh, well, a new friend of mine taught me a neat little trick.”

“Zuko go tell the others, I can hold her off!”

Zuko turned quickly and just as he was about to run to go tell his uncle, Azula spoke.

“Zuzu, the Earth King has invited you to take a trip to Lake Laogai.”

Ju Lee answered, “I am honored to accept his invitation.”

Ju Lee did not know a Zuko.

[flameo-hotman]

So I have a lot of orders for the adoption menu to fulfill. Once those are filled I will start taking orders again.

I will list the numbers that have been ordered and if that one was fulfilled or is in progress. (There is one that was ordered the first day but to do that one right I will be taking a lot longer to do. So that one while listed as in progress will not need to be done for me to reopen the orders.) I will add in a link to the collection on ao3 of these fics at the end of the post.

1 - The Earth King (posted)

2 - In Progress

3 - Long Feng (posted)

5 - In Progress

7 - Sand Benders (posted)

8 - In Progress

9 - Prof. Xu (posted)

12 - The Boulder (posted)

13 - King Bumi (posted)

16 - Kyoshi Warriors (posted)

18 - In Progress

24 - Singing Nomads (posted)

27 - Hope’s Parents (posted)

30 - Ozai (posted)

31 - Ty Lee’s Family (posted)

32 - Lo and Li Ember Island addition (posted)

42 - In Progress

45 - Lo and Li Caldera Edition (posted)

49 - In Progress

54 - In Progress

64 - In Progress

66 - In Progress

67 - In Progress

69 - Noice and In Progress

I’ll update this post as I get more orders filled. : )

[flameo-hotman]

I love the idea of the adoption menu! What do we get from a number 13?

You have ordered King Bumi adopts Zuko my lucky blogger!

Yung arrested a young boy stealing food in the commercial district of the city and brought him before King Bumi for the boy’s judgment.

As usual, and why was he still surprised why his king did something he didn’t understand, King Bumi had a punishment that made no sense to him or the other guards.

“I declare that this boy for his crime will be... Adopted!” Bumi declared with a big smile.

The boy seemed just as confused, before asking their king, “And just who will be adopting me, your Highness?”

“I will, now what is your name?”

Yung thought he had seen everything, but when the boy answered tone turning challenging and defiant, “I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.”

“Well, you’re now Prince Zuko of Omashu.”

Zuko and Yung blanched at the king’s response, but a royal decree was a royal decree.

The first letter from the Fire Lord after the announcement wanted proof that the new prince of Omashu was actually Prince Zuko.

When Zuko answered with information about the plan involving the 41st Division, Fire Lord Ozai was furious.

King Bumi passed the intel onto the Earth Kingdom generals.

The second letter demanded the return of the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

King Bumi answered that there was no Fire Nation prince in his city. The only prince in the city was the prince of Omashu. Had the Fire Lord searched his own country and palace for the Fire Nation Prince? If Bumi found a lost Fire Nation prince he would contact the Fire Lord right away.

When Yung later asked his king why he had chosen to adopt Zuko, Bumi revealed, “He reminds me of an old friend. One from before the war. I met him while on a trip with a friend who I have not seen in many years. I doubt either of them are still around though.”

Yung did not ask again.

And years later when the Avatar arrived in their city, Prince Zuko was sent with that old friend of his king.

After all, the child would be in need of a fire bending teacher and Zuko had studied under Jeong-Jeong. Yung did not ask how his king knew of a fire bender that had defected from the Fire Nation.

All he knew was that he was sad to see his prince go.

He hoped Zuko would find his way home soon. Yung already missed the boy.

[flameo-hotman]

Zuko adoption ask game...42?

You have ordered the Boiling Rock adopts Zuko.

Zuko didn’t end up getting banished for dishonoring his father. Instead and perhaps worse he was sentenced to life in prison and would be serving his sentence at the Boiling Rock.

He was as good as dead.

Or so he thought.

Turns out that the prisoners didn’t take too well to a literal child being put in jail.

The first time Zuko broke the no fire bending rule, the prisoners actually rioted and attempted to take control of the prison. It made for a pretty exciting first week at the prison.

That first week really changed the way Zuko saw the world.

The prisoners had made the prisoner mess hall and kitchens into their home base so they could have access to food, and at least three people were guarding Zuko at all times.

Chit Sang even taught Zuko some new fire bending forms.

It had been far more fun than the first week in a high-security prison should have ever been, but Zuko wasn’t complaining. Though he did feel bad the some of the prisoners got hurt during the riot.

The guards once they had calmed the riot down, decided that it would be best if they didn’t punish Zuko for what happened.

They didn’t want to risk a repeat of the riot.

Chit Sang and the Warden had sat down together to go over what should be done when Zuko broke rules and how the boy would be treated during his stay, and Zuko found that well he wouldn’t be given special privileges, he certainly would be getting treated better than the other prisoners.

Years later he met Suki and the idea to escape became a goal.

With the Avatar back in the world, he would be able to take his father down.

It was time for a mass prison break.

[flameo-hotman]

I really liked this adoption menu for zuko ♡ it is a very creative idea. I want to know the 27 because its my favourite number.

This one is actually pretty cute. You have placed an order for Zuko adoption number 27. Zuko gets adopted by Hope’s parents and gets a lesbian aunt.

The cracking of the cook fire certainly didn't do anything to help with the heat, but you couldn't go and feed a pregnant woman raw meat. Ying knew this. Than knew this. And Wei Su knew this.

Thud.

A half-starved teen fell off his ostrich horse and rolled down the hill into the camp unconscious.

Wei Su, her brother, and her sister-in-law all blinked at the teen in shock and confusion for a few moments, before Than rushed over and checked the teen's pulse.

“He's alive, just unconscious and...” He felt the teen's forehead, “A bit warm. Wei Su, can you go get some water for him, while I see if we have any smelling salts?”

“Sure thing,” And with that, she grabbed one of their water skins.

The guy seemed groggy when Than got him to wake up, but he probably had heatstroke, so getting him cooled off and some water would help with that.

“What brings you this way, son?” Than asked the teen.

The teen did not answer, instead choosing to accepting the water skin and taking a sip.

“Than, the boy just wake up surrounded by strangers,” Ying chastised, before gesturing for Wei Su to come to help her up.

Once on her feet, Ying walked over to the teen and sat down across from him.

The teen regarded her with confusion and suspicion.

“My name is Ying. Than is my husband, and she,” Ying said gesturing to Wei Su, “Is his sister, Wei Su.”

The teen studied Ying for a few moments before he relaxed and rasped, “Lee.”

Lee made to get up, but Ying stopped him with a stern look, saying, “Oh, you're not going anywhere, young man. You are in no condition to be traveling alone, right now.”

“I can do whatever I want,” Lee answered, getting up anyways, before stumbling and swaying. Than shot up and steadied the boy, but Lee slapped his hand away.

The fire went from crackling to roaring, and Wei Su saw the way the Lee winced.

“I should be going,” Lee told them after he took a deep breath, but Ying was having none of that.

Nope, she got back to her feet and planted her hands on her hips, before ordering, “Lee, sit down. At the very least I want to make sure you eat some food before you go riding off to your death.”

Lee, for all of his prickles, obeyed.

Wei Su was pretty sure Ying just adopted the boy.

And sure enough, when Lee attempted to leave yet again after dinner, Ying insisted that it would be better if he stayed at their camp for the night. She needed to make sure he ate something in the morning and she would worry about him if she didn't at least know he had eaten breakfast.

And well Lee couldn't bring himself to worry a pregnant woman, so with even less resistance he relented and offered to take the first watch.

Than laughed, clapping him on the back, “This far into Earth Kingdom lands we don't get a lot of Fire Nation soldiers. I wouldn't be worried about that, son.”

Lee looked uncomfortable, but he said nothing, as he laid out his bed roll.

The next morning, Ying had him help her make breakfast, claiming she wanted to make sure he knew how to feed himself. Not more than 15 minutes later, Ying was horrified and turned it into a real cooking lesson.

Lee did not have the faintest idea on how cooking worked beyond the fact that fire was involved.

“You are staying with us until you know how to make yourself a proper meal, Lee,” Ying stated, and Wei Su knew she was right. Ying did adopt him.

Halfway to Ba Sing Se, they learned that he didn't have a passport, so they had to take a quick detour to get him one.

“Yes, sir, my son's passport was destroyed, when we were attacked by fire benders,” Ying informed the soldier manning the passport office. “If you could reissue him one, we would be grateful.”

The soldier glanced at her pregnant belly and then sighed, “Alright, fill out this form and I'll get a new one written up for him, ma'am.”

“Lee, could you go with Wei Su to the market and get a bag of feed for Mushi?”

“Uh, yes... Mom,” Was Lee's hesitant answer.

It sounded like he hadn't called someone mother in many years, and Wei Su felt her heartbreak.

Lee was handing over money for the feed, when a kid chucked an egg at the nearby soldiers.

“Hey!” The hit soldier growled, marching over to Lee. “You throwing eggs at us, stranger?”

Lee didn't even look at the man, as he accepted the bag of feed, answering, “No.”

“You see who did throw it?”

Lee turned around slowly, his hand moving to the hilt of his swords, and answered, “No.”

The soldier looked over to Wei Su and asked, “What about you pretty lady? You see anything?”

“I didn't. Now leave us alone,” She answered, feeling her skin crawl with the leer the man gave her.

The soldier reached for her, but before she could make a move to react and slap his hand away, the tip of a sword rested against the man's throat.

Lee glared at the man with loathing, and spat, “Hands to yourself, or you lose them.”

The soldier put his hands up and backed away, grumbling, “Your girlfriend ain't even all that pretty.”

“You filthy peas-” Lee began, but Wei Su stopped him, shooting back, “Lee, let's go.”

And with that, they walked away from the soldiers.

The kid who'd thrown the egg, rushed over to them, babbling, “Thanks for not ratting me out.”

“You shouldn't be throwing eggs at soldiers, kid,” Wei Su told him, not wanting to know what those jerks would have done to the kid if he decided to do a repeat of earlier.

The kid grimaced and answered, “I only did it because they are bullies.”

“Is that so...” Lee asked, voice going low and thoughtful.

Wei Su did not want to know what her nephew was planning.

They stayed the night with the kid's family, and the next day headed out for the road to Ba Sing Se again, and on the way out, she got a good idea of just what Lee had done.

The soldier's barracks were a pile of smoldering rubble.

“Lee, what did you do?” Ying asked in horror, looking at her son from her spot on the ostrich horse, Mushi.

Lee answered, plainly, “They were bullies.”

“Lee, they will take it out on the villagers!” Wei Su shouted.

“No, they won't,” Lee refuted. “I made sure they saw me. Their commander put them on active duty.”

“THEY SAW YOU FIRE BEND!!” Ying chastised, “Lee, they will hunt you down and kill you!”

Lee looked surprised for a moment, but he shrugged, and answered, “They won't look for me in Ba Sing Se.”

He looked a little nervous now though. Nervous and confused.

“Wait... Lee's a fire bender?” Than asked, confused, “I thought he was gay?”

“What?” Lee asked even more confused.

“Well, Wei Su is gay and the two of you hang out a lot?”

Lee glanced between her and her brother, and finally answered, “Oh, I didn't know that... I mean I might be? But I am a fire bender.”

“So? Who's the guy that caught your eye then, Mr. I Might Be Gay?” Wei Su asked, breaking the tension by teasing her nephew playfully.

Lee flushed bright red, sputtering, “I-I What? There isn't a guy!”

Ying gave Lee her mom eyebrow, that she'd been practicing ever since she'd adopted a feral teenage fire bender.

“Well, there is a guy but he probably hates me...” Lee admitted, caving under the look Ying gave him.

Ying sighed, “Lee. What did you do?”

“Attacked his village?”

“YOU DID WHAT?”

[flameo-hotman]

Who is the scariest of those adoptive parents? And are there any non-humans on the menu? Actually, I'm behind point 7.

You don’t want to know the scariest one (though I did start a fic chapter once tagging it because said character showed up in that chapter, so that tells you exactly who the scariest one is.) Yes, there are a fair number of nonhuman on the list.

And you, along with @straycatwandering and several others have ordered adoption number seven. Sand benders.

It should be noted that at one point there is an explosion and Zuko later gets shot with an arrow, but he is fine both times. Also, there is a hint at Zukka towards the end.

Zuko sighed, as he trekked his way through the sandy prison he had found himself in. Sand as far as the eye could see and then some. He had found the library, but because he hadn’t had anything to give Wan Shi Tong, the spirit had thrown him out.

He’d run out of water that morning, and he still had no idea how much longer he had before he would find his way out of the endless desert.

Zuko didn’t want to die out here.

At least he’d still had leftover bandages from his scar. His scar which had just barely finished healing…

The scar that father gave him…

On the ship, before Zhao had blown it up, Zuko had been able to pretend and lie to himself. He had been able to trick himself into believing that Father had done this because he cared, but trekking through the Earth Kingdom and seeing how normal fathers treated their children, Zuko had been faced with the truth.

And now out here alone in the desert he had nothing but his thoughts to keep him company.

There was no doubt left that being scared and banished was not love.

So Zuko had been angry by the time he had found the library, and when he did he hadn’t carried about finding the Avatar to earn his honor back. Zuko wanted to find a way to hurt his father back.

Yet here he was, thirteen years old, alone, and if he didn’t find water soon… Well, he would be dead.

He’d used the spare bandages to soak up his sweat, hoping that he might be able to turn it into drinking water. Not that he had enjoyed drinking his own sweat water that morning.

Worse yet, he’d stopped sweating. It took a lot for a fire bender to get heatstroke and Zuko’s head had begun to ache. Fire prickled beneath his skin begging him to let it out, but if he did the unrelenting heat of the desert would worsen.

But if he didn’t let that fire out… The fire that built every moment underneath Agni’s light, filling him with power… His chi would burn him from the inside out.

If he didn’t let that fire out, he risked chi sickness.

Either he risked dying from heat stroke or dying from chi sickness.

Zuko let the fire out in an explosion of flame and heat.

Everything went dark, and the next thing he knew was the sound of footsteps clicking against glass. Glass that when he opened his eyes extended around him in a circle by three or four yards.

Okay so maybe not using his bending all week while trekking through the desert had been a bad idea. Zuko would admit that because that could have gone A LOT worse.

The next thing that he registered was that the footsteps belonged to a group of sand benders.

He winced as he struggled to his feet and readied to attack.

Even if the sand benders hadn’t seen him fire bend, there was no denying the evidence. They had found him at the epicenter of evidence. This was the closest to combustion bending that a normal fire bender could manage.

Saving up their chi and letting out all of their fire in one sudden blast of heat. Most fire benders died doing that though. If Zuko had waited a few more days, he likely would have been nothing more than a burned out husk melted halfway into the glass beneath his feet.

“Where are your parents?” The man who appeared to be their leader asked.

Zuko frowned, confusion swelling inside him much the same way his fire did. This was not how someone should act when they found an enemy combatant no matter their age. He glanced around at the other sand benders and when he saw that they were just as confused, he knew that he wasn’t the one who’d lost his mind.

Actually all but their leader stayed outside the circle of glass.

Smart, but he didn’t have enough fire left to do a repeat. Actually, he didn’t have enough left to fight them if they did decide to attack, but he wasn’t about to tell them that.

He did have the physical energy to fight them with his swords though.

The sand bender stepped towards him and Zuko stumbled back, losing his step on the slick surface. The glass gave a dull plonk sound as he landed on his butt.

A second plonk followed as the sand bender followed suit.

Zuko shot up and slipping across the glass made his way over, concern for the man filling him, as he asked, “Are you okay?”

The man laughed, but he accepted Zuko’s help back up, and then motioned for one of the others to approach them, before saying, “Ghashiun, give the boy some water.”

At first, Zuko refused the water, because he wasn’t stupid, it was probably poisoned, but then the strange sand bender drank from it and held it out to Zuko.

So Zuko accepted the water and followed the man onto one of the sand-sailers. Sha-Mo promised him food after all, and Zuko was hungry.

He pretended he couldn’t hear Ghashiun saying to Sha-Mo, “Father, he is a fire bender. We should be-”

“He is a child.”

And that had been the discussion.

A year later and Zuko had assimilated into the tribe, with only Ghashiun not accepting him. Something that Zuko didn’t understand until he overheard Sha-Mo and Ghashiun arguing one night.

“He isn’t your son! I am!”

Zuko had been planning to talk with Sha-Mo about an idea he’d had about how he could use his fire bending to propel one of the sand-surfers, but he didn’t think right now would be the best time.

Sha-Mo spoke now, saying, “And I am not replacing you with Zuko.”

“Then why adopt him?!” Ghashiun demanded.

“The Boy Has No Parents!”

Zuko snuck away from the tent and went back to his own.

He didn’t mind the thought of Sha-Mo being his dad, but if the man was going to adopt him, then he wanted to make Ghashiun like him. He had thought he would be content to just have the teen tolerant him, but what he’d overheard had changed things for him.

He didn’t want the same bitter feelings that had plagued him and Azula to carry over to his relationship with his new brother. It would make missing Azula all the worse because without Ozai in the picture maybe things would have been different.

Without Ozai, Zuko wouldn’t see all of his failures in all of her successes.

They had always gotten along better when Ozai was away from the palace.

Zuko thought back to another conversation he hadn’t been meant to hear and he knew what to do.

The next morning, when Sha-Mo and the other men had gone scavenging, Zuko found Ghashiun and the other teenagers in the tribe.

“I know you are planning on raiding the Beifong caravan that’s coming through the Misty Palms Oasis today,” Zuko stated, as he made his way over to where they sat drawing up their plans in the sand.

Ghashiun sighed and looked over at him like Zuko was a buzzard wasp that had found its way into his tent.

Zuko pressed on, “I also know that they hired the Hami Tribe to transport them and their shipment through the desert and that the Hami have faster sand-surfers. So you have no way of keeping up with the caravan.”

“If you’re not going to say anything helpful, you can stay back at camp, Zuko.”

“I’ve been saving up my bending, and I can use my bending to make our sand-surfer go faster than theirs,” Was Zuko’s answer. And while he hadn’t tested it yet, this raiding party seemed like the best chance to do so.

Ghashiun was silent for a moment, before asking, “What does you saving your bending up have to do with making us go faster?”

“Fire benders get our power from the sun, and when we don’t use it fire builds up inside of us. If we let it out all at once, you get an explosion, but if I controlled that flow, I could use it to propel our surfer.”

“Well, shit, okay, let’s try it.”

They waited between the sanddunes that the shippment would be going through and waited.

Despite the fire bubbling beneath his skin, Zuko still relished the feeling of the sun beating down on the bare skin of his back, knowing that he would need every bit of fire Agni could give him for getting away once they had the goods.

It wasn’t long before the sand-surfers from the Hami tribe appeared, and as they reached the space between the dunes, Ghashiun signaled the rest of their group and the fun started.

Zuko darted in with his swords, and slashed the sails of the front three surfers, before one of the gaurds that the Beifongs had sent to protect the shipment stepped in his way.

The guard paused when he realized Zuko’s age, but that was the guard’s mistake.

He lunged forward, slicing at the man’s sword hand and slamming the butt of one of his swords into the side of the guy’s head. Then he moved onto the next guard.

As the sand began to clear, Zuko realized that Ghashiun had started having the cargo loaded up onto the sand-surfer they had brought with them, so he retreated to the surfer.

But right as his feet hit the surface of their surfer, a sharp pain went through his side.

Zuko looked down and saw the head of an arrow sitting out of him.

“Get the surfer going!” Ghashiun shouted to Lek, and a moment later their surfer began moving.

Then he looked over at Zuko and any joy he might have had at their success died on his face.

“It missed my vitals,” Zuko assured him, before he steadied himself by leaning against their ill-gotten goods, and pulled the arrow the rest of the way through. His soon-to-be brother looked like he was going to be sick when Zuko cauterized the wound.

Ghashiun then asked, “And what if that arrow was poisoned?”

“I’m a fire bender. I can burn off the poison.”

Thankfully his plan to use fire jets to make their surfer go faster worked perfectly, and the surfers that he hadn’t slashed the sails of faded away in the distance.

Once they had sold the goods off to the beetle headed merchants, Ghashiun turned to Zuko and admitted, “You know for a fire bender, you’re not half bad.”

“Thanks,” Zuko answered his brother with a smile.

A few years later Zuko and Ghashiun were hanging out in the oasis when the Avatar came to town, and Ghashiun looked at the sky bison with curiosity.

“No, we are not stealing that kid’s bison,” Was Zuko’s answer, before he went inside of the hut with Lek to get something to drink.

Well, Lek went in to get something to drink… Zuko went inside to get a better look at the cute water tribe guy, that was hanging out with the Avatar.

And based on the way the guy looked at Zuko, the curiosity was mutual.

When he overheard them talking to the professor, Zuko saw his way to finding out water tribe’s name.

“I actually know where the library is.”

“Really!?” Water Tribe asked, looking absolutely delighted.

Zuko nodded, and introduced himself, “I’m Zuko, and if you want I can show you how to get there, but you should know that Wan Shi Tong won’t let you in without knowledge to trade.”

Once Sokka had introduced himself and his friends to Zuko, they went outside.

Ghashiun took one way at the look Sokka was giving Zuko, and then snorted at Zuko, who just shrugged innocently.

Once they had reached the outskirts of town, Zuko uncovered his personal sand-surfer. Unlike normal ones, this one looked more like the surfboard that he had seen people use on Ember Island. Which was better suited for using fire jets to traverse the desert.

“Where is the sail?” Aang asked, glancing between it and the sand-surfer that Ghashiun and Lek had used to get to the oasis.

Zuko’s answer was simple, “Those are for sand benders. I’m a fire bender, so I use my-”

“YOU’RE A FIRE BENDER?!?!” Sokka screeched.

Zuko lifted his goggles, to show off his scar, and answered, “Scarred by the Fire Lord himself. Now do you want to see the library or not?”

Of course well they were in the library, Ghashiun went and stole Appa.

Who would have thought a stolen sky bison was what would get Zuko involved in the war after ignoring it for the past three years. And of course, his dad, Sha-Mo, would think the best way to make up for that would be to give the Avatar a fire bending teacher.

And it wasn’t like anyone they ran into would realize who he’d been before he’d found his home in the desert.

Right?

[flameo-hotman]

Zuko Adoption Menu #31

@zukoscalzones selected adoption #31, Ty Lee’s family adopts Zuko. This one was way too much fun for me to write and I high key want to turn it into a full length fic.

The news that the crown prince had vanished the same night as Lady Ursa broke not long after Ty Lee had talked her mom and dad into adopting a boy off the streets.

She had known exactly who the boy who became her brother was.

But maybe it was for the better that the new Fire Lord didn’t know who Ty Ken actually was. Besides Zuko seemed happier as Ty Ken than he had been as Zuko. Though it would be two years before he would tell her why he hadn’t gone wherever the Lady Ursa had gone.

It happened when she was braiding a pastel grey ribbon into his hair.

“I found her when she was talking with the Mother of Faces… She chose to forget about me. That’s why I came back to the Caldara.”

It was sudden and blunt, but Ty Lee kept braiding, asking, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” Was Ty Ken’s answer.

Ty Lee didn’t need to ask who her brother was talking about. Azula didn’t like talking about Lady Ursa either, but like most people, Azula had assumed that Ursa had likely died. She didn’t know what to think about this information.

Once she had finished with Ty Ken’s hair, the two of them got up to head on over to the vanity that they shared with their sisters and started on their makeup.

“You always do your makeup all gloomy like Mai’s,” Ty Lee teased her brother, but he just shrugged and answered, “It goes better with my outfit…”

But he seemed to pause for a moment and look at himself in the mirror for a few moments, and suddenly grabbed the pot of red eye shadow.

She smiled at her brother and helped him blend out the red smokey eye he had decided on, before handing over the eyeliner so he could do his winged eyeliner. It was a good look and really made his eyes look nice.

“Don’t say it.”

“I won’t.”

Just then Ty Lao came rushing in and plopped down in the seat next to Ty Ken grumbling, “Ty Woo said my mascara was smudged. Is any of the waterproof stuff left?”

“Yeah,” Ty Ken answered, before handing over the mascara he had just used on his own lashes to their sister.

She looked relieved, as she excepted it and started to fix it, asking, “So, are the two of you ready for the show we are putting on for the Princess?”

“Totally, I showed Azula the acrobatic routine I am planning was and she liked it,” Ty Lee answered, as she made a note that they would need to get more mascara. “I think she is going to love your dance routine you have planned.”

“Thank you! Ty Woo saw it and she-” Ty Lao started, before Ty Woo popped her head in and finished, “It looked like something that a noseless shirshu would come up with.”

“I think it is nice,” Ty Ken snapped back, accepting the mascara back once Ty Lao was done with it, and went back to work on his lashes.

Ty Woo groaned, “Make your lashes any longer and you’ll cut them off with your swords, Ty Ken.”

“At least my special skill is good enough to perform, Ty Woo.”

Their sister only answered by rolling her eyes and retorting, “At least I’m not adopted, Sword Boy.”

“Love you to, Jerk,” Ty Ken answered, as he tossed the mascara off to the side.

And with that Ty Woo gave him a soft smile before she vanished from the room.

Ty Ken looked at himself in the mirror for a moment like he was unsure of something.

And well Ty Lee understood because Ty Ken hadn’t been to the palace since he was still Zuko. His nervous aura was completely understandable. He was eleven when he left that life behind him, and some soldiers were still assigned to investigating his disappearance. There was a lot that could go wrong.

And they hadn’t even told their parents who Ty Ken actually was.

But Ty Ken didn’t look much like Zuko had, so it wasn’t like anyone but Mai and Azula would recognize him. And that was only because those two actually knew the truth about Ty Ken.

It didn’t take very long for them to finish getting ready for Azula’s birthday, and then they were headed to the palace with the rest of their family.

“You’ll be fine,” Ty Lum assured him, as she entered the makeup room and kissed the top of his head. “You are amazing with swords and please tell me there is some mascara left over for me.”

“The backups are in the locked case that I definitely don’t know how to pick the lock of, Ty Lum,” He answered producing another mascara out of said case, before handing it to her and giving her a smile.

“I don’t know why you use so much mascara. If I had eyebrows like yours I would try to draw more attention to them,” She giggled as she accepted the mascara and sat down next to Ty Lee.

Ty Lao turned to her and asked, “So did you figure out how to turn origami into something you can do as a performance?”

“Really really big paper.”

“Smart.”

“Thank you.”

Ty Lat peaked her head in and announced, “We need to get going so Ty Ken time to put the mascara down.”

“I just finished my lashes, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

His sisters giggled, as he slipped one of the spare mascara’s into his pocket, but he ignored them, as he got up and left to go grab his dao swords.

He seemed happier living with them than he had been living in the palace.

Ty Lee watched her brother leave, a soft smile on her face.

“It is kind of sad that Ty Lat can’t do her swim program for the Royal Family,” Ty Lao sighed as she put the mascaras back into the lockbox and locked it.

Ty Lee nodded and followed her sisters out of the room.

 Ty Le and her brother ended up in the carriage with Ty Lin and Ty Liu, who were going over their sheet music for the event. They didn’t bother to try and talk to them, since the last few times they had when those two were pouring over their music they snapped at them and hid Ty Ken’s mascara.

And well he may have burned down part of their private forset because of that.

Normally though they got along with Ty Ken and he would play the tsungi horn with them.

Once they got there they made their way to backstage of the stage that had been set up for their performances.

Ty Liu checked over her harp, while Ty Lin got her flute out of its case, and the rest of them got set up for their numbers.

Ty Woo and Ty Lat introduced themselves to their audience, before welcoming Ty Lum onto the stage so she could open the show with her massive origami crown of fire, while Ty Liu and Ty Lin started the first song of the night.

Ty Lao was up next with her dancing, and Ty Lee followed replacing her as the music changed tempo to match with her kart wheels and summersaults.

Azula seemed pleased by the show even if the Fire Lord seemed to not be paying any attention, instead choosing to say something to General Iroh. Whatever he’d said seemed to upset the man, as Iroh grimaced and made the point of not looking at his brother.

The music took a sudden dramatic turn, and Ty Lee shot herself up into the rafters, as a plum of fire unfolded beneath her like a blooming lotus blossom, and there stood Ty Ken with his swords.

She watched him twist and slice, ribbons of fire bursting from his swords.

Watching him with his swords was like watching Ty Lao dance. The music swelling with his movements, as he burned his way across the stage like he was a shadow sending up a prayer to Agni.

He finished his routine using his swords to send a burning dragon shooting up into the sky.

And then all was quiet.

Azula began clapping with as much enthusiasm as a princess was allowed to, and the others watching began to follow suit until Ozai stood and roared, “SILENCE!!!!”

Zuko flinched.

“You dare to dishonor me like this, you insolent whelp?!”

Zuko’s eyes went wide. Ozai had recognized him.

The Fire Lord stormed over to the stage, and Zuko scrambled back, as the man leaped onto the stage.

Zuko tripped and fell backward.

Everyone was frozen, as Zuko began to plead with the Fire Lord,  “It’s not what it looks like, Father! I didn’t mean you any-”

But Zuko’s pleas were cut off by screams and burning flesh.

All hell broke loose, as Ty Lee and her sisters reacted.

Ty Lee dropped down from the rafters and jabbed the Fire Lord with her chi blocking, as Ty Liu and Ty Lat rushed to throw Ozai from the stage.

Mai, while not one of Ty Ken’s sisters, joined the fight with her throwing knives.

General Iroh stood and for a moment Ty Lee feared he would attack them, but instead he attacked an approaching guard, as Azula rushed onto the stage and helped her get Ty Ken to his feet.

Neither of them willing to look at what remained of his face, as they ran with the other Ty Sisters, Mai, and General Iroh, fleeing the palace.

“Happy Birthday Princess, we’re all traitors,” Ty Woo groaned, as they burst through the palace gates and onto the streets of the city.

Azula responded with her trademark smirk, “Well, at least it wasn’t boring.”

At least General Iroh had a ship in the dock that they could use to flee to the Earth Kingdom.

Ty Lee didn’t chi block the Fire Lord of all people just to let her brother die after all.

[flameo-hotman]

For the Zuko adoption ask game 12

You have ordered The Boulder adopts Zuko.

Toph had been going to the Earth Rumble for some time now, but today she noticed that there was another kid hanging out in the back rooms for the wrestlers. Which weird but it wouldn’t be the first time a kid decided to sneak backstage.

But there was something different about this kid...

Actually, he was hanging out with The Boulder. No... That wasn’t quite right, the kid was hiding behind The Boulder.

“It’s okay Zuko, Fire Nation Man is one of The Boulder’s work friends.”

The kid, Zuko, didn’t say anything for a moment, but Fire Nation Man gave a snort of laughter, before saying, “Little spitfire ain’t he.”

A trill of fear ran through Zuko and The Boulder at that, but given no one else’s pulse changed the two had masked their emotions.

Weird.

“So what’s some kid doing here, Pebble?”

“You’re even younger than me! What are you doing here?” The kid snapped back at her before The Boulder answered for him.

“Well... I’m a dad now,” The Boulder started, as he turned and pat Zuko on the head. “Zuko was pretty much dead in a ditch on the coast and he needed a place to recover.”

“That’s why his head is covered in gaze!” Fire Nation Man shouted.

Toph frowned, made her way over to the kid, and held her hand out, before asking, “Can I see?”

Zuko was silent for a moment, but he shook his head and went to hide behind The Boulder’s legs again.

“My name is Toph. But my stage name is The Blind Bandit.”

Zuko didn’t answer, but he did lean around to look at her again.

She wished she could tell what facial expression he was giving her, but she guessed he was probably curious.

“Dad told me about you. Would it be okay if I watched you train?”

She decided she liked The Boulder’s new kid, he was going to be her friend.