#I think it would be enough to make him turn his back on the FN

[livwritesstuff]

for @steddie-week day 3 | long (and a little bit of mutual pining but the kind when they're literally dating which i think is even more pathetic)

tags: modern day, famous au, actor!steve, rockstar!eddie

Eddie stayed longer than he should have. 

He was supposed to leave Chicago with the rest of the band yesterday after their show at Credit Union 1 – opening night for a year-long national tour.

Eddie didn’t leave yesterday though. Instead, he insisted on spending one last night with Steve, one last morning pretending like they would actually get up and go to that breakfast spot they like even though they both knew they’d be spending the time wrapped up together in their bed, in the home they share, refusing to disentangle themselves until they had no other choice.

No other choice meant Eddie waited so long to leave that he ended up on a flight which would get him into Ohio with barely enough time to make it to the venue in Cincinnati before showtime (and he was missing soundcheck completely – sorta shot himself in the foot with that one, in Steve's opinion, though he won’t be caught complaining).

He won’t be caught doing anything – not publicly, anyway.

Steve and Eddie’s relationship is kind of in the halfway-stage between secret and private, where Steve posts vague, faceless photos of the two of them every now and then but still deflects questions about his romantic life during interviews because – look. He and Eddie are both at weird high-points in their careers at the moment, and that means there’s a lot of eyes on them whether they like it or not. Steve had a public relationship turn sour years ago and there is no way in hell he’s letting it happen again.

Not with Eddie. Not when it counts.

There are speculations, obviously (and after Steve dropped Eddie off at O'Hare, he posted a photo of the Kiss n’ Fly sign to his IG story with the caption i hate this place :( – mostly for his own amusement at the specific way his notifications implode afterward), and they’ll probably get around to an official hard-launch someday, but for now Steve likes that they’re keeping things to themselves, especially when they don’t get to make that choice with much else.

Steve gets a just landed text from Eddie a few hours after he boarded his plane.

(Steve knew. He’d been tracking the flight).

Before he could respond, Eddie added, miss you so fn much

i miss you too, Steve texted back, and before either of them could wallow in it too much, he sent, gonna make it on time?

probably, Eddie answered. Then, getting ready in the car lol

He goes quiet after that (the getting ready, presumably), which is fine.

Steve gets it.

He’s busy too. It’s why he’s not following along on Eddie’s tour like some glorified groupie, and it’s not like the distance is anything new. On the contrary, it’s been an element of their relationship since they met at an awards show after-party four years ago. It’s more that this time around, they were supposed to only have four-and-a-half weeks together before Steve headed off on a press tour for the movie he filmed last year, but then that got pushed out a bit further, and so that four-and-a-half weeks together turned into a glorious nine, the longest Steve and Eddie’s calendars had ever been aligned without some serious planning beforehand.

He just got used to it, Steve supposes.

He got used to having Eddie around all the time, under his fingertips, under his skin. He got used to saying goodnight in person, in their bed together instead of over phone lines, got used to waking up in Eddie's arms and hearing sweet nothings whispered in his ear rather than reading the texts Eddie would leave for him to wake up to when they were apart.

He'll adjust just like he always does, and the worst part will be over tomorrow morning – that moment right between sleep and wake when Steve will realize Eddie isn’t in their bed with him.

Like it or not, the distance is their normal and they make it work (except it’s not even making it work, because it’s not like that. Any situation, any set of circumstances will work without question because it’s Eddie).

The start time for the Cincinnati show comes and goes. A few minutes into the opening act and while Steve is mindlessly flitting between Instagram and TikTok waiting for the algorithm to fill his feed with clips from the concert (ones of Eddie, preferably), his screen lights up with a call.

“Hey,” he says the second he slams his thumb on the green accept button.

“Hey,” Eddie replied, his tone nothing short of grim.

“You geared up for the show?” Steve asked.

“No,” Eddie answered, “I’m quitting.”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, okay.”

“I need you to come tuck my pockets in,” Eddie said, and it’s a goddamn wonder Steve didn’t break down then and there, because Eddie always managed to tug his pants on in a way that made the front pockets stick out just a bit, and throughout their years together Steve had gotten into the habit of tucking them back in for him, squeezing Eddie’s hips a little when he was done and pulling him in for a kiss.

“Yeah,” Steve manages a wet laugh, “I – fuck, man, I wish I was there to tuck them in for you.”

“I want you here so bad, Steve," Eddie says, "I really, really miss you."

“I miss you too,” Steve nodded, even though miss isn't a big enough word for the homesick feeling in his chest, “Only a week until the Indy show though. And I’m coming with you for the Michigan one after.”

“Yeah,” Eddie replied, and if he sounded a little morose about it, Steve was right there with him. Sure, it’s a comfort knowing he’ll be seeing Eddie again so soon, but when those two days are over…yeah, it’s gonna be a long goddamn while until next time, because Eddie will be playing the Midwest while Steve’s press tour is mostly on the East Coast this time around, and after that he heads up into Vancouver to shoot a period drama mini-series while Eddie plays the southern half of the US, and then…well, Steve could keep going. They’re both taking a short break for the holidays, but that and the rare weekend one of them can fly out to the other is about it for the foreseeable future.

Which, yeah, Steve loves acting, loves that he gets to make a whole career out of it, and he knows that Eddie feels the same way about his music, but…the love he has for Eddie definitely edges out the rest of it – enough that he feels the distance between him like a dull, ever-present ache whenever they’re apart.

Eddie only ends their call when his manager practically has to yank the phone out of his hand and shove him onstage, and then Steve settles back into bed, back into scrolling mindlessly on his phone waiting for his finely-tuned algorithms to do their jobs.

Sure enough, it takes less than thirty minutes for Steve’s FYP to start showing him TikToks from Eddie’s show, and amidst all the hair and leather and silver chains and chunky rings and eyeliner and manic energy, Steve sees something else, something that has the hurt of missing Eddie increasing ten-fold, something that has him seriously considering taking an ax to all his contracts and his career and his livelihood and getting on the next plane to Cincinnati.

Eddie left his pockets untucked.

[jahtrashh]

I saw your take on Zuko and like I agree so much. this fandom either idolises him or hates him and I always found that sooo weird. same goes with characters like Jet who are somehow treated like perfectly functioning adults by the fandom and held accountable of their actions as if they were grown men. and that’s so freaking weird. the point of Zuko’s redemption arc is that his arc isn’t linear, he makes mistakes, learns from it, makes up for it. as for Jet, although not a big fan of the way the writers handled his death, he’s literally being seen as an unredeemable monster, as if worse that characters like OZAI OR ZHAO by many fans and… just… how ?? why ?? they are both 16 ?? like yeah, they did so much bad stuff, they did really messed up stuff but they are also quite literally products of their environment and a freaking 100 years war. how is Zuko, fed with propaganda, on a ship since he’s 13, with a freaking general as his only paternal figure at that time, surrounded by men twice his age who are also either soldiers or at least army related, and still 16 at the time, suppose to be a “nice guy” archetype that does nothing wrong. like please be for real one second. and don’t get me started on Jet. whole village burned to the ground, orphan, had to raise so many kids, probably grew up in extreme poverty. ofc he’s messed up. ofc he’s violent, blinded by rage. but again, 16 !!! HE’S 16 !! it kills how people don’t realise that teenagers (especially teenage boys) are anything but mature, collected and emotionally rational. like bfr.

but in the atla fandom ig saying this would make me a zuko/jet apologist. whatever that means. as an adult i just see a bunch of messed up kids in the middle of the war, and that’s basically it. at best i feel bad for them, at worst i pity them.

Say it louder for the people in the back. I don’t know how to dumb it down enough for people to wrap their damn head around how these are in fact, also, teenagers involved in war. The world is in shambles during war, right and wrong are easily blurred during those times, and it takes a very special person to be able to differentiate between the sides without getting too caught up in what they believe is right or wrong.

Zuko could’ve stayed a racist, imperialist, dipshit. But by the end of the show, he turns into just a simple dipshit who accepted his life changing 180 with open arms. Yes he said some insensitive shit to aang about his beliefs and mocked his anti-violent views even when he joined them in season 3, but AGAIN, not only was he still learning how to be a decent human being, he was also blinded by his own hatred of his father, mixed with the very much pro-violent nature of the fire nation, PLUS the lack of education on Aang’s culture and philosophy which was AGAIN, taught around PRO-PA-GAN-DA the FN created. All of which, takes time to unlearn. On top of figuring himself and who he was, which is what most teenagers, more often than not will have a whole crisis about ALONE. I honestly don’t know how people expect a redemption arc to go, we’ve all had to learn how to be better about things, and the progress isn’t going to be liner nor will it always be easy. That is human nature. That is LIFE.

And on Jet’s case, why do people think it’s such a terrible thing to make some characters who were victims of war crimes, to be angry, to lust for revenge against the perpetrators, or be irrational and violent. THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO. The FN took the last bit of Jet’s life that he barely even had and stripped all of that completely away from him like the savages that they are. Why is it a terrible thing to be angry at people who didn’t think twice about the families, the sense of community that his village had? I agree that Jet was going too far when he was trying to take it out on innocent people, but can you really blame him? He didn’t have an adult to help him out on the importance of emotional maturity and how to be angry at the ones who actually harmed you like Zuko did, and even if he did, teenagers won’t be emotionally matured TRULY until they develop into adults. He had to be the mock adult for the kids younger than him, he didn’t have time to decode himself and better his actions because he was too focused on protecting the freedom fighters and himself against the FN’s abuses.

People don’t realize that this is not babying them, or being so called “apologists” this is called understanding why these two are the way that they are. Why are they like this? And it’s so much to take in and talk about at once that you’d need an entire college level essay to completely break down and comprehend how deep war can affect not just adults, but teenagers and children. Those two groups don’t have true moral compasses, so the environment and circumstances can really impact and easily mold their minds to fit the standards in said situation in order to survive it. This is called self-preservation. A more than common trauma response.

I mean seriously, I heard someone say they can understand Zuko hate but not Iroh hate, when he has in fact, done much worse than Zuko has ever done in those 3 years at sea. I love Iroh, but he’s an adult, why are we choosing adults over traumatized and war-fed teenagers who mainly comply in that shit to seek approval from their actually psychotic, genocidal, narcissistic, and abusive father that would dispose of them if they didn’t fit his standards? Why are we quicker to blame the teenagedvictim of the FN’s attacks and cruelty, than the actual people, adults, who conducted the attacks?

Are we truly regressing as a fandom? The show wouldn’t give them their traumatic experiences and talk about their abusers if they wanted the viewer to antagonize the victims. Goes to show that the loudest voices screaming “irredeemable monster” and “they want people to feel sorry for him” never truly know who these characters are and how they operate, they need everything spoon fed to them which is very unfortunate. The real irredeemable monsters are right there in their face and they choose to look somewhere else.

It’s so obvious how people in this fandom pick and choose who to feel sympathy for, when they all needed it.

[thesmallworldofsamizayn]

Hiii since you said you were interested in what others think about the whole Sami/Bron/MITB situation.... I have thoughts and it's a bit much to write in the comments so, Here goes... (this isn't even all the thoughts BTW 😂

@thesmallworldofsamizayn I got to agree a bit there, with your statement of Bron being unstoppable and Sami being the underdog, as well as getting sick of the comments being made about Sami being the Champ. Usually I don't really give into or pay much attention to all the talk, and if I do, it only makes me want to fight harder, but I'll be honest; this time round, Sami doesn't NEED the belt...

He's good enough on his own and he's proven it time and time again. It was a nice icing on the cake type situation (having the belt), but, the point is that there is and was plenty of delicious cake already there! (if that makes any sense) So bottom line, he'll survive without it, he can survive without it. If anything, it'll probably light a bigger fire under him, reigniting that fiery passion of his. The one that keeps drawing us to him and into his world.

Honestly, this is going to sound so bad, but I won't be overly upset if/when Sami drops the belt (note I too am an avid Sami fan and I'd be a bit sad, but not devastated). To me (personally), before he won the IC championship, and even though he had more loses than wins, he was more intriguing to watch. Idk why, and may be it's just me atm, after that long drawn out (weeksss of) Alpha Academy saga - may be that's what's got me feeling this way fn...

A few weeks ago I would have said that they are building up to Chad winning it, but now that Bron and Sheamus are involved who knows the hands the title will eventually fall into. Also, it's going to be hard to get Sami to drop the belt this quick (even though it's been what? A couple of months now already?) when it clearly (you can SEE it) means so much to him... It'll be hard but they'll eventually have to do it. So may be MITB will be it.

Also got to agree a bit here with @shanie too, I would love to see Sami get involved in the BL saga and if there's anyone who believes in redemption, always seeing the good in people, fighting for the greater good, and what's good and right AND against all odds, it's Sami Zayn. He's got the innate need to rescue people out of toxic situations and to fix said situation. So he would definitely fit the narrative if they decide to insert him into it.

BUT the big issue is with the fans. Again. There's quite certainly going to be a LOT of hate if this happens. I'm already hearing rumblings of people unhappy with just the mere thought of it. Saying he's not family so why is he involving himself in it, as much as that's true, have they completely forgotten that he in fact was a THE 'honorary Uce'? The closest an 'outsider' has ever gotten to the family or being 'family'? Heck he almost became 'Sami Uso'.

So in the end people can and will make up their own minds and there nothing anyone can do about it. And also in the end each to their own I guess... (BTW people need to chill out and remember this is fiction NOT real life 😭)

Anywayy just a few of my thoughts....sorry about the long winded answer 😂😅

(no pressure to to respond to this BTW 😊

🐨

hello! thank you very much for these detailed thoughts. youve actually articulated a lot of what i was feeling. first, the fact that a) i dont like seeing fans bitch about sami and b) i especially dont like it when they're kind of right. it is someone else's turn, and maybe yeah that person should have been chad. i was more than ready for it to be chad at catc personally. im not too mad that it's gone in a different direction cause it does actually look like they have other storyline ideas for chad now, but as far as sami's concerned, yeah the belt isn't doing anything more for him now than it has till this point. it's weird to think he hasn't held a title as a face since the nxt championship 10 years ago. but thinking back on that, and everything since, everything he's been so good at - yeah, im not sure that long term champion is the right look on him! he won it in 2014 and lost it devastatingly to kevin 2 months later, and i would not have wanted that to happen any other way.

thing is, i will be sad if sami loses to bron at mitb. especially if he loses clean, not unlike he did to kevin all those years ago, futilely continuing to kick out long after he should have quit until he's physically incapable of doing so. what's maybe harder to explain as a wrestling fan is that i want to be sad about sami zayn. i like those heavy emotions, i like feeling like my favourite character can't catch a break. that's the entire essence of the underdog appeal. further to that, this is kind of the state im most used to and therefore most comfortable in when it comes to characters im invested in. in the words of mitski, i bet on losing dogs. and sami winning was an incredible feeling and so deserved, but i really don't mind him losing! he's both more compelling overall and gets more interesting stories, and just inspires so much sympathy in that position. (look i also like seeing him in pain i'll say it. he clearly likes acting being in pain just as much so everyone's happy i think)

then there's the bloodline and yeah, i'd sit up to watch sami back with those guys especially roman. im apparently one of the few people who really doesn't want roman to come back as a face no matter how much the fans cheer him, but if he is going to have a face turn, it's got to involve sami god damn it. i was just talking with @milk-crater about this, how it makes more sense with sami being a bit more removed, because that makes him a better person to forgive roman, and to be his moral guide. also it's sami, if anyone in all pro wrestling would reach out a hand to a genuienly remorseful roman reigns it's him. all that and the two just have such great chemistry, and it was the baseline for everything that made the honorary uce arc so fantastic and beloved, and it'd be nice to come back to some of that. maybe show these smarks what they've forgotten about why sami is the absolute best again.

thanks again for hopping in my inbox and never worry about being long winded. anyone who's ever been in a conversation with me knows im the last person to take issue with that!

[lynlyndoll]

Strangers

genre: angst (it starts cute, but uhm.. yeah)

wc: 0.7k

pairing: minho x fem! reader

appearances and specifications: well, this is only a Minho x reader fic, no other appearances of someone... And as specifications, I'd say that Y/LN is your last name and Y/FN is your first name. Also, I'd recommend listening to "Strangers" by Kenya Grace, I wrote it because of the song.

summary: Was it just in your head? No. Did you do something wrong? Maybe. Or Minho just didn't want you anymore. Maybe all these were lies and he never truly loved you. But today, you were ready. Ready to say good bye from him forever.

an: I listened to the song "Strangers" by Kenya Grace and OMFG.. it gave me Minho vibes idk why, but I just thought of this, after.

You had your first love at a young age. More precisely, you were 16 when you met Minho, the guy in your neighborhood. You just moved into the house and a boy and his family saw you and started helping you and your family in unpacking the new stuff for your new home. He looked interesting, maybe a little bit cold, but with a warmer part of him sometimes showed. You ended up going at the same high school as him. he noticed you as well, a slight smile on his face when spotting you. He came to you, helped you with your schoolbag and books, little talks in between classes.

Soon, these little interactions became bigger and that's how you and minho became friends. Hanging out after school, him accompanying you on your late night walks and little café meetings near the high school. You loved these moments with minho and, when you thought about these moments for more time, you figured out, it wasn't just the moment. But it was minho himself, you loved.

This thought made you think and re-think your entire decisions. You wanted to tell him how you felt, but the thought of minho leaving you alone if he didn't reciprocate the feeling was eating you alive. However, on your 18th birthday, after getting drunk, you vaguely told minho you liked him. Minho was a smart guy, he knew what you meant and for a matter of fact, he liked you too. Since you showed up in the neighborhood, he felt like you were the only girl he would lay his eyes on. Your eyes flickered on his face, his eyes looked at your lips and withing seconds, both of you were making out with each other, stealing passionate kisses.

The next day, you woke up with minho in your bed, him already smiling while looking at you. You smiled at the sight of him, your dream feeling so perfect that you could've said you lived the perfect life.

This only to crumble up in million pieces. Yes, the dream life was, for a moment, amazing. Café dates, movie dates, your own little safe places and little nothings that, for both of you, meant everything. Well, at least, for you. He came back to your shared apartment one day, to tell you he wanted to break up. Not only one explanation given, just a quick good bye and a quick "I'll miss you" being said before the apartment was almost empty. Silence took over the place, only to be broken up by your quiet sobs. What have you done wrong? What if he found someone else? Why didn't he tell you anything?

Your agony lasted years. Years of cries and years of despair. Whenever you liked a new person, everyone turned out to leave you again and again, just like Minho, your first love, did. Until one day. One day, you had enough of it. One day, you looked at yourself in the mirror and saw that you weren't an 18 year old teenager anymore. You grew, you should've been more mature. So, you took a breath and made the most important decision you made till then. You made the decision to try and move on.

Today, you wanted to grab a coffee at the café you always loved going to with Minho. This time, however, you went there alone. No Minho by your side and no stupid giggles at his funny jokes. You did miss them, but you realized that Minho was not the one for you. While you were in the café, drinking your Ice Americano, a guy entered. You glanced at the door, seeing a tall, handsome man. You looked at his face as he scanned the room and saw you. He smiled at you, however you didn't smile back, his smile fading. You saw him trying to get to your table, however you got your coffee in your hands and exited the café, whispering a "Good bye, Lee Minho" to the man who looked at you. You said goodbye to both the versions of him, finally being ready to get over him. His face saddened, but a soft, sad smile appeared on his face. He also whispered a "Good bye, Y/LN Y/FN" and then, you turned your back and faded into the crowd of people in the city.

taglist!!

@agi-ppangx @hyunjin-lover20 @lisaaassophhhieee

[bard-llama]

WiP Wednesday: AU where Zuko got captured on the Day of Black Sun after confronting his father

I’ve decided I’m gonna try my hand at aaaaaaaall the tropes I love, so this one is my version of “the Gaang defeats Ozai and comes to the FN to find Fire Lord Zuko, who was crowned after being dragged from his prison cell as the last legitimate heir” kind of story. 

The Avatar’s arrival was not unanticipated. Still, for the first time since Zuko had been released from the windowless hole beneath the palace, he wished that it was someone else’s problem. He wished that he could just close his eyes and go to sleep and not have to deal with being anything more than a punching bag for his father.

It hadn’t been a fun role to play, but at least he’d understood what was expected of him there. Now… now he was apparently Fire Lord and everyone wanted him to suddenly make all the decisions even though he’d spent three months without being allowed basic autonomy.

The adjustment was not easy. Especially not when a harried-looking servant barged into his office with deep bows and breathless warnings that the Avatar had arrived.

The Avatar was here and Zuko was expected to do something about it. He wasn’t really sure what, but he was supposed to do something.

He’d spent three years of his life obsessively chasing the Avatar in order to make his father proud. In comparison, the three months he’d spent in prison had almost been restful. But they had been enough to convince him that he no longer wanted to make his father proud.

There wasn’t any reason to chase the Avatar anymore. If he was here, then Father was obviously defeated. Which Zuko had known, but it still didn’t really seem real. It was the only reason he’d been crowned – and yet, it was still difficult to believe that any being, even the Avatar, could have the power to defeat Father.

It was difficult to believe that his Father could continue to breathe without his bending. Never again would he burn Zuko, at least not as easily. Father had entirely defined himself with his bending – and now it was gone.

Was it Zuko’s turn to experience that horror?

If so, the Avatar was a little late. Zuko had been kept deep underground, out of the sun, for three months. He’d heard of prisoners going longer and not losing their connection to the sun – but Zuko had felt it when that connection snapped. It had felt like something had reached inside him and ripped out his soul. He hadn’t managed to feel warm ever since then, even though he could now get all the sun he wanted. It never warmed him quite the way it should, not since that awful morning when everything had just broken.

Three days later, the Fire Sages had fetched him from the prison and crowned him Fire Lord. Three days. If Father had been defeated just three days earlier…

Zuko was coming to believe that the number three was cursed. He’d been thirteen when his father had burned off half his face and banished him, never expecting him to return. He’d spent three years doing everything within his power to get back to the man who had melted his face. Then, when he finally realized that Father had been wrong, he’d spent three months in a cell without the sun.

He hadn’t been strong enough to last a simple three days more. That alone said enough. He hadn’t been strong enough and he’d lost his fire, and the Fire Nation couldn’t have a Fire Lord who didn’t have fire, no matter what the Sages seemed to think.

So far, no one had noticed that Zuko hadn’t bended at all since his release. Since his coronation. No one had said a word about how unfitting he was to be Fire Lord.

But he hadn’t been quiet when his connection to the sun had been severed. He knew for certain that the guards had overheard him screaming about not being able to feel the sun.

There was no reason for any of them to think that had changed, but he didn’t want to rub their faces in the truth. Zuko had lost his bending. Fire no longer moved to his whims and it ached like something physical in his chest had been removed.

But for whatever reason, people were allowing Zuko to be Fire Lord. In fairness, there was literally no one else. Father had been defeated. Azula had been captured. Uncle had reportedly helped the Avatar’s group capture Azula, which made him technically a traitor to the crown. Even if he weren’t, he wasn’t here. The Fire Nation was floundering in the power vacuum that Fire Lord Ozai had left behind and someone had to make sure they came out of this intact. Zuko wasn’t worthy of this, didn’t deserve this – but he was here. What else could he do? He couldn’t let his people down, not again.

So he was Fire Lord. And now the Avatar had come calling at the Fire Nation palace.

Zuko swallowed hard. “Have they attacked?”

“No, Your Majesty,” the servant – Zuko knew he should know her name, but he couldn’t quite remember. Ayumi, perhaps? – shook her head. “They’ve stated that they – that they want to talk.”

“Ah. Negotiations,” Zuko nodded knowledgeably as though he was at all equipped to deal with this. But if the Avatar was here… “is – is my Uncle with them?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. General Iroh has claimed that the Avatar is truly just here to talk. I – I don’t know whether…” she trailed off, uncertain of how to say that she couldn’t tell if Uncle was lying.

Zuko took a deep breath. It was fine. He’d known this was coming. He could – he could deal with this. It would be fine.

“Escort the Avatar and his companions to the western tea room,” Zuko decided. Maybe tea would delay the inevitable. At the very least, it might give Zuko a chance to apologize to his Uncle. Uncle deserved that.

If Zuko could actually force the words past his lips.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the servant bowed and excused herself.

Zuko sighed. He would wait a while before heading over to the tea room. It would be best if he didn’t give the appearance of lying in wait for them. Besides, he had plenty of paperwork to occupy himself with while he waited.

He hadn’t realized how absorbed he’d gotten until that same servant – he was feeling more confident that her name might be Ayumi – knocked on the door to his office and notified him that his guests were waiting for him.

“Fuck,” Zuko swore under his breath. Ayumi kindly pretended not to hear the uncouth display.

He rose quickly, scrambling towards the door. What a great first impression he must be making on his guests. Did it count as a first impression when they already knew him? Was this better or worse than his actual first impression?

Outside the tea room, he paused, straightening his crown and smoothing out his robes. It wouldn’t do to look unfitting of the title he was already unworthy of. It wouldn’t do to disrespect the office of the Fire Lord further than he already was by claiming that title.

Before he’d been imprisoned, he’d told his father that he was going to join the Avatar. The Avatar, of course, had no way of knowing that. As far as he was concerned, Zuko was the same monster who had chased him across the globe.

And he was, wasn’t he? It wasn’t as though prison had truly changed him. Yes, he’d realized that his father sucked (so much), but that didn’t change that he’d done everything possible to earn his father’s love. He’d still chased the Avatar from one end of the earth to the other and hadn’t cared who else got hurt along the way. A broken promise to his father that he was going to set things right wasn’t enough to actually do so. Zuko knew that. He knew he didn’t deserve forgiveness from the Avatar. He knew he didn’t deserve Uncle’s forgiveness.

Nonetheless, he really didn’t want to go inside and face the music.

He did anyway, because he was Fire Lord and maybe he was terrible at it, but that didn’t mean it would be acceptable to cower from the Avatar or from the Dragon of the West. No, he would face his punishment with honor and dignity.

…not that he had much of either of those left. Not after three months in prison, not after the things he’d done in this Father’s name.

Zuko shook his head, taking a final deep breath and walking into the tea room where the Avatar and his friends sat with Uncle.

––

Toph could admit to being a little annoyed. Firstly, she’d been expecting to bust heads when they arrived at the Fire Palace. She’d been looking forward to busting heads. She wanted to get these soldiers back for how fucking scared she’d been on the day of Sozin’s Comet, when they all almost died more than once.

Toph Beifong didn’t do scared. So she would make someone pay for this feeling and then it would be better.

Except Uncle and Aang were both insistent that they needed to try talking first, if they had any hope of building diplomatic relations with the Fire Nation in the future.

Katara had muttered something unkind under her breath at that and honestly, Toph couldn’t blame her. The Fire Nation may not all be bad – those kids they’d had a dance party with had been all right, and those people starving in that awful town on the river where she couldn’t see anything had been okay – but that didn’t mean she wanted to think about diplomatic relationships.

The war had just been forcibly ended by the Avatar. There was no diplomacy needed. Either the Fire Lord stepped into line – or he would be dealt with, either by them or by the Earth Kingdom or by the Water Tribes. The war was over. Period. Toph hadn’t metalbended entire war balloons for it not to be over.

So the Fire Lord would get with the program or they would take him out. Even if Uncle and Aang were both hesitant at the idea, though for very different reasons.

But for now – for now, she supposed talking would at least tell them which heads needed to be busted. Toph would accept the delay. For now.

But that just left her time to be annoyed over the second thing that irked her – the damned Fire Palace was made of wood. She could get some vibrations through the wood – but it was nothing like her trusty earth and she missed the way earth told her all she needed to know.

It was because the palace was wood that it took her several minutes – during which they’d been left waiting for His Majesty the Fire Lord – to notice the figure standing outside the room they’d been politely escorted to. This only served to irritate Toph further, so naturally, she decided to make the wood her bitch. Maybe it wasn’t earth – but dammit, she would pick up all the fucking vibrations that she could out of it, because this was the Fire Nation Royal Palace and they’d just taken out two of the royal family and were ready for a third. She had to be able to sense an attack coming before it happened.

But instead of doing anything interesting, the figure just stood outside the door and breathed. Really deliberate breathing, too, with long, drawn out inhales and slow exhales.

Still, Toph was ready. Which was why, when Fire Lord Zuko opened the door and stepped into the tea room, she was the only one who didn’t startle. Even Uncle seemed caught off guard, though she couldn’t imagine why.

“Uncle,” Fire Lord Zuko greeted the man he’d betrayed. The man who loved him despite that betrayal. “Avatar.”

“Zuko,” Katara spat.

Zuko… didn’t really react. Instead, he walked forward to the table and sat down some distance from the rest of them. Then he turned to a servant that had shadowed him in and politely requested a pot of jasmine tea.

Seriously, he even said please. What the fuck? Royalty didn’t say please. Nobles didn’t even say please.

They sat in silence for several long minutes during which no one seemed to know how to start the conversation. Then the servant returned and Zuko straight up thanked her.

Again, what the fuck!? Where was the angry, rude, shouty bastard that Katara and Sokka had told her about?

Then things got even weirder. Toph couldn’t sense exactly how the Fire Lord moved, but she could guess that he’d taken the tray from the servant because he then proceeded to pour them all tea.

“Is it poisoned?” Sokka asked suspiciously, as though he would just admit if it really was.

Zuko tilted his head, surprised. “No?” He’d poured them cups all out of the same pot, so to demonstrate, he took a sip of tea – and then tried very hard to hide a grimace. It was not reassuring.

Toph did not touch her tea. Uncle, the trusting idiot, did. When he didn’t drop dead minutes later, Toph allowed for the possibility that it really wasn’t poisoned.

But the lack of poison did not make this any less weird.

“So…” Fire Lord Zuko began.

“So?” Aang prompted, eagerness in his voice. Twinkletoes probably wanted to make friends. Twinkletoes always wanted to make friends, even with things that were explicitly dangerous and that had tried to kill him before.

“So,” the Fire Lord cleared his throat, shifting awkwardly. “You took my father’s bending.”

“Yeah,” Aang agreed. “He’s still alive,” he offered, as though that was a consolation for losing one’s bending.

If it were Toph, she wouldn’t want to be alive. But that was precisely what made it a fitting punishment for Ozai.

“Azula?” Zuko asked.

“She’s being held in the Earth Kingdom,” Sokka offered. He sounded like he was glaring at Zuko, which wasn’t at all a surprise.

Zuko’s head dipped in a nod. “And now you’re here for me,” he said, strangely calm. He sipped his tea as though nothing was amiss.

(Little did she know that Zuko had little reason to fear his bending being taken. You couldn’t lose what you no longer had.)

“What?” Aang sounded startled, for some reason. Even though that was the literal reason they were here – to deal with the new Fire Lord. Maybe hopefully to get Uncle instated as Fire Lord instead. Whoever the Fire Lord was, the war was over.

“You defeated Father,” Zuko said simply. “You captured Azula. Now it’s my turn.” He still sounded so weirdly unbothered that it was kind of pissing Toph off.

“Maybe it is,” she said, irritation in her tone. “You gonna fight it?”

Zuko tilted his head as though considering. “Fighting never goes well for me,” he said slowly.

Toph cocked an eyebrow, remembering all of the others’ stories about kicking this guy’s ass. Even if he relentlessly continued to follow them, it was certainly true that he had never come out on top in a fight with them. And now, with her in the fray? There was no way he could take on the Greatest Earthbender in the World.

(She had no way of knowing that Zuko wasn’t referring to fights with Aang at all.)

“So what, you surrender?” Katara said mockingly. Her hand was poised over her waterskin, clearly waiting for the opportunity to make use of it.

Zuko shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Aang asked, sounding almost desperate. He really didn’t want to fight.

“Someone has to run the country,” Zuko shrugged as though they were discussing their lunch options. Toph couldn’t decide if she was impressed at his ballsiness or if she was annoyed that he was pulling off aloof so well.

“And that someone should obviously be Iroh, not you,” Sokka said. Rather rationally, really.

Zuko paused like the thought hadn’t occurred to him. But slowly, he nodded. “The Fire Lord must be a powerful firebender,” he said, as though that explained anything.

Toph frowned. “Did you just agree to be dethroned?”

“...do I have a choice?” Zuko asked, frown audible.

“No.” Katara said.

“Okay,” Zuko agreed. At the silence that Toph assumed was consumed with incredulous looks, Zuko shrugged. “Uncle was always supposed to be Fire Lord. If Father hadn’t murdered Grandfather–”

“Wait, what!?” half the room shrieked.

Zuko’s body language read ‘confused’. “What?”

“Zuko,” Iroh’s voice was strained, “are you certain!?”

“...maybe?” Zuko fiddled with the sleeves of his presumably fancy robes. He was Fire Lord, after all. For the moment. Toph would bet his robes were really fancy.

“You’re gonna have to say more than that,” Sokka said.

Swallowing, Zuko nodded slightly. “I never heard my father admit it,” he said, “but it makes sense.”

“How does it make sense?” Uncle demanded, surprisingly impatient. Then again, this was his brother and father they were talking about. Specifically, his brother murdering his father. Yikes.

“The day Grandfather died,” Zuko began, “Father asked for an audience. He wanted to be made heir. Grandfather was pissed. He ordered – well, that doesn’t matter. But then the next morning, Grandfather was dead and Father was named as heir in his will and–” he cut himself off.

“And?” Toph prompted.

His jaw clenched and he rocked his weight slightly back and forth where he was sitting. As though preparing for an attack. He wasn’t going to answer.

“And!?” Katara demanded.

He huffed out an annoyed breath. “And my Mother was gone. Probably after being used to assassinate the Fire Lord. Father never said whether he killed her, but…”

There was silence after that pronouncement and Toph assumed the others were all staring at him in shock. She couldn’t really blame them because what!?

“You,” Uncle’s voice was uncertain, “you believe Ozai would do such a thing?”

“You don’t!?” Zuko asked, clearly surprised.

“If he’s so horrible, then why are you on his side!?” Sokka challenged.

“What?” Zuko sounded genuinely shocked. “Oh. I guess you wouldn’t know.” He muttered the last bit under his breath, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Or at least, Toph assumed that was what it was doing.

“Know what?” Katara’s patience was obviously running thin. Usually, Toph would revel in such a thing, but right now, it felt… precarious. As though Katara’s temper was a torch hovering over a barrel of blasting jelly.

Toph could handle the explosion, of course. But it would be better if it never happened at all.

“Um. I’m not.” Zuko said stupidly. “On his side. In any way.”

Now the silence was dubious.

“Uh, no offense,” Aang said, “but weren’t you hunting me for him?”

“Yeah,” Zuko agreed. “Things changed.”

“How so?”

Zuko’s jaw shifted mulishly. “That’s none of your business.”

“Nephew,” Uncle started and Zuko flinched. It was small, maybe small enough the others didn’t notice. But Toph sure did. What was that about?

“After all the times you tried to kill us, it’s definitely our business!” Sokka insisted.

She could practically sense Zuko’s frown. “I never tried to kill you.”

“Ha!” Katara scoffed.

“I didn’t,” Zuko said. “My orders were to capture the Avatar, not to kill him.”

Uncle said nothing and Toph didn’t know what that meant. From what she could tell, Zuko was telling the truth.

“You helped Azula kill him under Ba Sing Se!” Katara snarled.

“Ah.” Zuko winced. “Yeah, that’s fair. I fucked up. Not that that’s new,” the last bit was said under his breath and Toph wondered if anyone else had caught it.

Her brow furrowed in confusion. This new Fire Lord was weird. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like that she kind of wanted to know more, wanted him to explain what the fuck was up with him. She shouldn’t care about the guy she was probably going to need to pulverize to stop the war.

It was clear Katara had no idea what to say at his response, so Toph cleared her throat and decided to nudge them on task.

“We’re here to end the war,” she said bluntly. “If you got a problem with that, we’re gonna have to–”

“Why would it matter if I had a problem with it?” Zuko asked. “You’re removing me from power.”

“...and you’re taking it surprisingly well,” Sokka said, voice a mix of suspicious and frustrated.

Zuko shrugged and mumbled something Toph didn’t hear. Which was saying something, because Toph had good ears. All she caught was something about ‘expected’ and ‘execution’.

She frowned. Hold on. What?

“Repeat that,” she demanded.

Zuko startled. “What?”

“What you just said. Repeat it.”

“...it’s not like I wasn’t expecting this?” he said uncertainly.

“No, you said something about executions.”

That made Katara jolt, shifting so that she was in front of Aang with the cork of her waterskin popped.

“...yeah?” Zuko’s confusion didn’t sound fake. Why did that make the bottom of Toph’s stomach drop?

“You’ve been expecting execution!?”

“Well, I guess it could’ve been assassination. But you’re here, so…”

Aang froze. “Zuko,” he said suddenly. “Zuko, we’re not going to execute you!”

“Why not?” Zuko asked as though that was a normal thing to question. Uncle had gone very, very still.

“We – we’re just not!” Aang sounded distraught. “It would be wrong!”

“If you say so,” Zuko shrugged, once again sounding remarkably unbothered at the prospect of death.

“Zuko,” Uncle began, voice strained and concerned, “I will never harm you.”

The hum Zuko let out was a mix of dubious and bewildered. From Uncle’s sharp inhale, it cut to the bone.

“Zuko,” Uncle repeated, “what happened?”

“I was crowned Fire Lord,” Zuko said as though that was the only explanation needed as to why he’d expect his own Uncle to execute him.

An hour ago, Toph might not have disagreed. Now… now she found herself uncomfortable. Nothing about this guy was what she’d expected and it was putting her on edge.

“Weren’t you Crown Prince?” she asked. “Getting crowned Fire Lord was kind of expected, wasn’t it?”

Zuko laughed, an ugly, bitter thing. She wondered if it freaked the others out as much as it did her.

He didn’t explain, just shaking his head. “No. Though it took me far too long to figure that out.”

“I don’t get it,” Sokka said.

Shrugging, Zuko said simply, “I’m Fire Lord because there was literally no one else left. Believe me, nobody wants me here.”

Uncle breathing hitched. “Zuko–”

“You, though,” Zuko cut him off. “A lot of the Generals who support you were eliminated from the council by my Father, but they still have power. It should be fairly easy for you to take control.”

“You’re awfully chill about this,” Sokka frowned.

Zuko just hummed, sipping his tea. “I was never supposed to be Fire Lord,” he said bluntly. “I was never trained for this, not really. My people deserve someone competent to lead them.” He tilted his head towards Uncle.

Uncle was silent, but it was an odd silence. Almost a sad silence. Toph didn’t like it.

“So that’s it? You’re stepping down and Uncle is Fire Lord now?”

Zuko flinched slightly at ‘Uncle’, but he shook his head, then nodded. “I can’t just step down. That’s not how succession works. Uncle would need to challenge me to an Agni Kai. Once he wins, then he would be able to claim the crown.”

For some reason, those words made both Uncle and Zuko’s hearts start pounding. What was an Agni Kai and why did it get this reaction?

“What’s an Agni Kai?” Sokka asked for her.

“A fire duel,” Zuko said simply. “Usually goes until first burn, though historically, fights over the crown tend to be more fatal.”

“Nephew,” Uncle said softly, “I will not fight you.”

“You have to,” Zuko said, sounding bland despite the way his heart was practically humming with tension. “You previously abdicated the throne. You’re not in the line of succession, even if I abdicated. You have to claim the throne legally.”

“Zuko–” Uncle’s frown was audible in his voice.

Zuko sighed, then spoke quietly. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “The last one wasn’t even that bad.”

“And the first one was a nightmare,” Uncle countered. “Also, Zhao nearly killed you when your back was turned after the second one.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I won,” Zuko muttered.

“Zhao?” Toph repeated. She was positive she’d heard Katara, Sokka, and Aang bitching about someone by that name. Sokka called him Admiral Sideburns.

“Zhao tried to kill you?” Aang asked, something wobbly in his voice.

Zuko snorted. “Old news. I’m still here. He isn’t.”

Katara gasped, “you killed him!?”

“What? No! I tried to–” he sighed again. “No. The Ocean took him at the North Pole. I hope for his sake he’s dead. Spirits can be…”

Aang shuddered and Katara instantly turned to comfort him, not acknowledging that her accusation had been wrong.

“He deserved it,” Sokka said finally. Zuko shrugged, noncommittal. Toph wondered what he’d tried to do regarding Admiral Sideburns, but before she could ask, Sokka continued, “so Iroh challenges you to this Agni whatsit and then we’re done?”

“Yeah, I guess?”

“What are we waiting for, then?” Sokka’s voice was full of forced cheer and it grated on Toph’s nerves. She didn’t like this. Something wasn’t right.

“No,” Uncle said suddenly, and everyone paused to stare at him, but from the way his head was tilted, his attention was solely focused on his nephew. “I will not burn you.”

“You have to,” Zuko said bluntly. “Just, uh.”

“Just what?” Katara prompted.

“...I’d prefer to keep the rest of my face?” Zuko said awkwardly.

“Wait, what?” Toph blurted out, utterly confused. “What’s wrong with your face?”

“My Father melted it,” Zuko said, once again entirely bland as if those weren’t some of the most horrifying words that Toph had ever heard.

“What!?”

Zuko actually sounded surprised. “You didn’t know? Half the Earth Kingdom still gossips about it.”

“No, we didn’t–! That – your Father did that!?” Sokka yelped.

Zuko just shrugged. Toph guessed he was trying to appear unaffected, but she could hear the way everyone’s hearts were pounding furiously. Zuko might try to act like he wasn’t scared – but Toph’s senses were screaming at her that he really, really was.

“What the fuck.”

Katara frowned. “Your father did that and you still betrayed us all to go back to him!? What’s wrong with you!?”

Zuko winced, head tilted down like his gaze was trained on the ground. “Yeah,” he agreed, “that was one of my worse fuck ups.”

For a long minute, no one said anything. Then Uncle cleared his throat. “You said you’re not on Ozai’s side.” It wasn’t a question, and yet it was, and a demanding one at that.

Sighing heavily, Zuko seemed to sag in place. He very obviously did not want to talk about this.

Katara crossed her arms, glaring at him with an expectant air. “And why should we believe you?”

“Believe whatever you want,” Zuko grumbled. “Not like it matters. Once Uncle is crowned…” he trailed off, perhaps not knowing what would happen then.

Toph didn’t know either.

Or perhaps Zuko trailed off because he knew the end of that thought would upset them. After all, he’d apparently been expecting execution. And he hadn’t even been planning on fighting them if they tried.

Toph shifted, deeply uncomfortable. There was a heavy weight in her belly.

She forced herself to ignore it. “So if you’re not on Ozai’s side,” she asked, “what have you been doing since Ba Sing Se?”

“Yeah, actually, now that you mention it,” Sokka began, “we were surprised not to run into you during the invasion.”

Zuko’s heartbeat spiked so high that Toph’s own surged with adrenaline. “What?” she demanded.

“Toph?” her friends frowned at her, but they couldn’t sense heartbeats. (Well, Aang could, but he rarely focused enough to do so). They couldn’t tell that something was wrong.

“Zuko,” she said, voice deliberately firm, “what did you do on the Day of Black Sun? Where were you during the invasion?”

Squirming, Zuko said nothing.

“Zuko,” Sokka added his own disapproving voice to hers. “Where were you?”

Zuko swallowed so hard that Toph could feel the vibrations from his throat. Then he huffed out an annoyed breath. “I was in the Fire Lord’s bunker,” he finally said, voice so quiet that Toph almost missed it.

Katara hissed like that was an admission of guilt of some kind, but Toph needed details. “Doing what?” she asked.

“Trying not to die?” Zuko’s voice was wry.

Uncle and Aang both froze, hearts pounding wildly.

“What does that mean?” Sokka demanded.

“What does it sound like?” Zuko shrugged. He was still staring at the ground instead of looking at any of them. But hiding his eyes couldn’t hide him from her.

“It sounds,” she said slowly, “like you’re saying your dad tried to kill you.”

Zuko hummed. “Only once?” he offered as though that somehow made it better.

“What the fuck.”

“Nephew,” Uncle managed, sounding wretched.

Sokka tilted his head. “If Ozai tried to kill you during the eclipse, then where have you been? Why are you even here!?”

“Where else would I be?” Zuko asked and his voice was tired. “I haven’t left here in more than three months.”

Katara sneered, but Uncle spoke before she could say anything. “Nephew,” he said softly, “what happened?”

Zuko sighed, almost seeming to wilt. “I fucked up,” he said and refused to elaborate. Instead he fidgeted with the sleeves of his robes as an awkward silence fell over them.

Then he asked, “do you know what you did to my father?”

“What?”

“Do you know – has Uncle explained how the Fire Nation views what you did to him?” Despite his flippant tone, Zuko’s heart was beating wildly and Toph knew that this was important.

“No,” she answered for all of them. “How does the Fire Nation view Ozai’s defeat?”

“The self-proclaimed most powerful firebender in the world was taken down by a twelve year old. A twelve year old who let him live. Who took his bending. The humiliation of it is probably the main reason the nobles haven’t revolted yet.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well, most of them support Father and definitely want rid of me, but they don’t act because associating with Father now means inheriting his shame.”

“...I don’t get it,” Sokka said.

“The Avatar is ridiculously powerful,” Zuko said, “but Aang is – I mean, look at him.” He waved vaguely in Aang’s direction and Katara bristled. “Even knowing logically that you’re probably the most powerful bender in the world,” Zuko said to Aang, “when someone looks at you, what they see is a kid. You’re – you look innocent.” Somehow he made that word sound like something dirty and she could practically sense Aang pouting.

“That’s a good thing,” Katara snarled.

“Yeah, sure,” Zuko shrugged, not arguing. “But that’s exactly the problem. Father thrives on fear. That’s how he controls everything – he makes sure everyone knows that he’s the most terrifying thing in existence. And he lost. To an innocent-looking kid.”

“Hmm,” Uncle hummed consideringly. “I had not considered that.”

“Father defined himself with his bending,” Zuko explained. “His power was directly tied to it. And now it’s gone. And worst of all, he’s still alive.”

Aang’s voice wavered, “you make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”

“Death is an honored thing. By sparing him, you’ve declared that he isn’t even deserving of death. That now he has to live with not having his bending.”

There was something vicious in Zuko’s voice and Toph had a sudden foreboding sensation.

“Huh.” Sokka clicked his tongue. “So in other words, by keeping him alive, he’s receiving the worst punishment possible?”

“Death would be a mercy. It would make him a martyr.” Zuko let out a bitter huff. “He’s never shown mercy to anyone else. Why should he receive it?”

Aang chewed on his lip. “All humans deserve mercy,” he whispered.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Zuko dismissed. “Either all humans deserve life or all humans deserve mercy. Which is it?”

Katara stepped forward and put a hand on Aang’s shoulder when he rocked back slightly in response to Zuko’s blunt words. “What would you know of it?”

Zuko’s amused huff was devoid of any joy. “I wasn’t worthy of death either,” he said simply, rising to his feet. “I’ll wait for your challenge, Uncle,” he bowed his head towards Uncle. “Until then, I have work to do.”

And just like that, he was gone, the door sliding shut after him.

“What…” Aang started hesitantly, “what does that mean?”

“I think,” Uncle said slowly, “that we need to learn more of what happened between my nephew and his father.”

“And how do we do that? Also, why does it matter?” Sokka asked. “Look, not to be that guy, but I don’t really care about Zuko. We need to get Iroh to be Fire Lord and even he seemed to want that. We need to make that happen.”

Uncle sighed. “I cannot.” There was so much pain in his voice that Toph almost didn’t want him to explain why. “You may not care for my nephew, but he is my son in all but name,” Uncle said softly. “I will not hurt him.”

“But – Fire Lord–?”

“By his own word, he is not aligned with Ozai,” Uncle said. “Why don’t we give him a chance and see what kind of Fire Lord he can be?”

“...you’re kidding, right?”

“I am not.” Uncle’s tone was stern. “We can help him see that the war is wrong. That the balance is necessary. That the Avatar can be friend rather than foe.”

Aang sniffled, nodding his head. “I want to give Zuko a chance. It’s clear he’s changed and I think he could really impress us. I mean, half a year ago, he never would’ve sat in the same room as me and drank tea without attacking.”

“That is true,” Sokka grudgingly admitted. “And… I suppose waiting a few days would give us a chance to get the lay of the land.”

“Precisely,” Iroh smiled. Toph couldn’t see it, but she could feel it, almost like a gentle and warm hug. “I have many contacts in the Fire Nation. I will reach out to them and see what I can learn about what has been happening here.”

“Fine,” Toph agreed. “But if I don’t get to punch someone by the end of the week, then we will have a problem.”

“Noted,” Uncle said, and this time, there was real amusement in his voice.

[the-firebird69]

And we saw this on a drastic surgery and they needed to have it fixed is their attorney red and they were turning red and he said I can't move because you said it I said are you sure it's because your balls are in the wrong place that your legs are you mobilized he looked up and said are you making a joke about it I said I don't know if you find it funny I said no I said no I'm not he said I can't move because I don't know where to go well you know is it's a couple people that do the whole translocation work they would be people in your clan and he says oh yeah so we left and found them is it someone put my balls on my chin hey Google but they giggled and they said we saw that and it's good you came to us and the problem is a friend and he is a friend and they fixed it and it's not bja no it is for his people and he told them and he said well he's doing that and he said that's quite a disorder he says I think someone kicked him so hard that they translocated it's kind of out of fear for their lives okay I've heard enough BJ says.

Boy that look real I promise to keep my head down I'll find out who it was and a friend says I don't do surgeries at all I'm picking zits and calling the surgery and their my zits. And he said something really gross cuz he didn't call me for help I might have tried to pop one and I get it trying to figure out who it is so they don't do it to us we wouldn't know who to go to and then you're getting me just put it back there in the second surgery even though it's my father

Dan

Could you shut up I wouldn't put it back up there have to do it but this is oh my God what an innocence and s*** that guy had his balls in his chin and their friend looked at him and said oh my God and he said to Ken that guy's balls and his chin okay looks over Ken looks over and says I think so and I heard a friend say wow that's not good Ken down a little and said he's suffering what do you want from me. My friend says I hope so it doesn't punch him in the chin and they won't start laughing. And in space he said hey wait a minute he's trying to get away with a fast one. Attention to his glands and spit that son of a b**** stuff right in there Ken turns around and says I don't want to hear this stupid s***

Trump

What the f*** is going on here I thought I was talking nope oh yeah he's just funny this world is sick but if he's sick and you spit it at people what how he does it cuz you're rubbing his chin hahaha

Dan

Fn gross

Trump

Gross. I'm going down there and straighten that guy out that's phenomenally weird we have to do something about it and check first

Sarah

This is disgusting he's a gynecologist he can try and sneak it in there

Trump

Now I see it all it says to me I haven't sent it back to Ken and we think it's girl died

Hera

Yes this blows it has a f** I'm going to find out who that is his balls understand they were transplanted he's ready to use a gland. It's not really illegal it's just not really suggestive cuz when you're eating you're probably going to train yourself every time and talking mb.

Will publiish now so it doesn't get lost Thor Freya

[ssreeder]

Hi ssreeder!!!

As always I’ll begin with telling you how much I’m in love with LIAB and RIA!!! Those two are so perfect I wouldn’t change ANYTHING. Because I think if they got even better than they are now I’d really die or the pleasure of reading them. I’m sorry I don’t gather the willpower and courage to comment often enough. I’m not super literate or eloquent while or after reading a chapter and I never know what to say about it when I think about it. I’m just always impatient to see the next chapter and whichever length it is, it always will take top priority on my mind’s reading queue. Whatever I plan to read next or I am currently reading, the new chapter will always get in first place! (Should it even be a +50k words chapter!!!) You inspire me to draw so much! And your comments about them are always so enormously generous and sweet. Thank you so much!!! I can’t stress it enough.

Anyway, I’d be delighted to have a little sneak peek of #5 Blue Spirit Alone, if you will.

Thank you once again and have a wonderful day!!!!

AWWWWW I LOVE YOU

Listen here! you could leave a comment that is just you rubbing your face across the keyboard and I’d love it!! No pressure though I love chatting with you in the discord & seeing your AMAZING art.

I would eat it with a spoon and fork it’s so amazing, if I had half your talent I’d be drawing angsty art all over the place lol.

Ughhhhh you ask me about WIP??? Haha (when I say WIP I mean random ass notes that have no real structure behind them yet…)

So Blue spirit alone is an angsty idea I had that I will probably never actually write but…

Iroh dies after getting struck by azulas lightning which pretty much sends Zuko into a self destructive spiral and he uses his BS persona to wreck havoc on the FN because he is so angry.

He meets Jet as the BS, and of course Jet is like let’s be besties and come with me to BSS & somehow Zuko ends up going with him and that’s where they run into Sokka and it’s just a mess and lots of Dai Ali creepy vibes and miscommunication and angst and three boys that can’t figure it out and maybe someone dies but maybe someone doesn’t and yeah.

Like I said it’s an idea I haven’t given MUCH thought but it’s in my notes and I like writing Jet & I like angst so there you go.

Thanks for asking!! Which I was better at explaining things hahaha

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

[najatheangel]

𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬

pairing: liu yangyang x reader

now playing: foreign by trey songz

genre: very spicy and comedy.

requested by: @bigbrainenergytingz ❤️ (sorry boo this one is a little longer than I imagined, but I hope you enjoyed! )

summary: badboy!yangyang crushing on the new female foreign exchange student!reader. Slowly she starts to turn him on and he demands to see her in the library to give her a piece of his mind and body.

“Class here’s our new exchange student from the Dominican Republic! She’s staying here for the 6-month program and she’s a junior. Everyone please be nice and give a big welcome to y/fn. y/ln”

You slowly walk in adjusting your boarding school uniform you received in the dorm today. The skirt was uncomfortably tight and it revealed your legs so it made your walk slightly awkward, but the class didn’t seem to care since they were already staring at you admiring how lovely you looked especially the guy in the leather jacket sitting in the very back, yangyang.

“A pleasure to meet your class, I’ll promise to work hard and do my best.” Your English accent shocked everyone and made all the girls hype you up. All the guys fell in love with you even more, but of course, you had your eye on one man only the rebel, playboy, mastermind, and leader of the Wayv Biker Club Liu Yangyang.

“Bro she’s looking dead at you. I think she wants you, man.” Lucas nudges and ruffles yanyang’s hair as you walk right in front of him and sit at the desk right in front of him. Yangyang leans back and whispers back at Lucas saying “You think so huh? I’ve never done it with a foreign exchange student before. Let’s see what she’s all about.” He gives Lucas a quick fist bump and proceeds to give his attention back to you.

The whole class time, he kept his eyes on you, biting his lip thinking how he’s going to make his first move. As his fellow friend, Mark would always say “You got to seize the opportunity.” And just that he was fired up waiting for the perfect opportunity.

As soon as the bell rang, he ran up to principal Tate begging if he could shadow you around the school just so he could find a way to get closer to you.

Principal Tate rolled her eyes as she ignored to young man pouting at his suggestion. “Listen Yangyang, the last few times I let you shadow a new female student it becomes the talk of the town that you bang them, and then I have to talk to their parents about it over and over again.”

He blocks the door preventing her from getting inside the office. He whines again “Please, she’s different! I will seriously not get her in trouble this time. Can I at least show her the bottom floor of the school and I’ll let you live?”

The principal rolls her eyes one last time and writes a demerit slip as a warning in case yangyang doesn’t follow through with his task. “Fine, only show her the cafeteria, gym, and library, but that’s it. If you take any longer than an hour, then you are in big trouble. Got it?” Yangyang gives her a soft grin thanking her. “No need to worry principal Tate you have my word, see you tomorrow for my after-school detention.”

She shakes her head as he runs after you to your locker screaming your name like an excited school girl. “Ugh, how does his mother deal with him all day every day.”

…

He leans against your locker as he notices you grabbing your packed homemade lunch. “Hey I don't know if you forgot about me, but let me introduce myself. My name is Yangyang and I’m your shadow for the 2nd half of the day.”

You looked at him clutching your lunch box nervously, but at the same time smiling interested in spending your time with him. "Well might as well, you've been staring at me all day in class. Show me around."

Yangyang clears his throat responding back by saying "Uh, was I? My bad love, it's a bad habit. You can follow me Miss Y/Ln. Yangyang walks downstairs with you offering to hold your backpack showing you the cafeteria. The cafeteria of course had served the best expensive meals for students that prefer not to cook in their dorms and also have their tables separated by cliques. Yangyang just so happened to sit in the school rebels aka trouble makers section.

His friends Lucas, CJ, Samuel, and Hendery were smacking their lips eating their pork rice bowl as they see you walking across the cafeteria together with his arm wrapped around his shoulder looking lovey-dovey.

Hendery winked at yangyang and the rest of the boys cheered the two of you on loving how the two of you walk what seems like in slow motion in front of everyone. "Okay, then my boy getting him some. Make sure you meet tonight at the garage to fix our motorcycle like you promised."

Yangyang looks to the side slightly blushing at the boy's comments but gives them a nod before sitting right next to you.

"Sorry, sometimes my friends can be such idiots. Let's eat shall we." The boys moan and make sexual jokes in the background making fun of yangyang even more until he throws an onigiri at them leaving you laughing.

"No it's alright, I never laughed this much in a long time. You guys make the perfect group." Your laugh makes him melt into a bigger puddle making him spill his miso soup all over his pants.

"Oh no! I'm very sorry. Let me clean that off for you" You panic grabbing napkins out of the napkin holder and run to sit very close to yangyang wiping his pants aggressively.

He gulps looking very close to your eyes all the way down to your lap but instantly snaps out of it trying to keep his cool. "Oh no it's getting worst, what should I do?"

The more you wipe the harder time he is having controlling his urges. What made him snap was when you slide his leather jacket off to wipe the stain off his thin white dress shirt. "Okay, that's enough. I can't do this, you're coming with me."

He gets up quickly grabbing you with him speeding towards the library.

...

Yangyang closes the door behind him before checking if anyone dares to come inside. He takes you all the way back to the library back to the romance book section where all the so-called "hook-ups" usually happen and push you against the bookshelf.

He takes a deep breath and looks at you intensely saying "Now I got you where I want you. Why do you keep teasing me? I see right through you."

You finally sigh giving up the innocent act and unleash your true flirty, freaky and confident side. "So you've finally caught me huh. Well, it's not a secret all the girls want you here. So I figured I'd give it try besides your not the innocent one either."

You play with the buttons on his shirt making it harder for him to focus. "Your gonna get me in trouble again if you keep it up, missy."

You giggle and proceed by whispering in his ear in your accent that he loved hearing since you came to the school. "Well, you're the trouble maker for a reason. It won't be bad for one more day."

"I swear to" You cut him off by pulling his shirt down and kissing him softly. "Are you sure you don't want me? I can see it all over your face. Don't deny it just give in already."

Yangyang groans and lifts you up kissing you back against the bookshelf. His kisses become more wet leaving you out of breath and begging for more. He unbuttons your shirt leaving more wet kisses down your neck making you squeal.

"Shhh quiet down. People are trying to study." He teases when clearly no one is here. You slap him lightly and bring his face against your chest letting him play with your boobs.

To make the atmosphere hotter, he starts moving closer to you, lifts your skirt up, and starts grinding against you. "Mmmph, try to keep quiet now. I'll open the door back up and let the whole school hear you scream my name." He chuckles as his movements go slightly faster.

You wrap your arms around him tighter to keep his body as close to you as possible, but that ends quickly when the lunch bell rings.

"Shit- I forgot about Trigonometry!" You panic again as you adjust your skirt and button your shirt back up. You run to grab your backpack and give him one last kiss before running out of the library.

"I'm sorry babe, but can't slip up on my first day. We can continue this later. See ya." You wave skipping out of the library.

Yangyang pouts yelling "Wait, but I didn't get to cum yet. Ugh, man I can't wait to see her again." He smirks adjusting his leather jacket but realizes he smells the leftover soup all over his uniform.

"Crap, I still gotta clean this up."

taglist: @bigbrainenergytingz @purplepsycho03 @dreamyycore @melonmochimoon @soleilsuhh @dundun-baby @kpopsnowball

Send me an ask if you want to be added or removed from the tag list. ☕

[duxpuella]

i absolutely adore your writing!! i was wondering if you can maybe write an steven meeks x reader, where they both like eachother, and the other poets make a plan to get them together! <3

Headcanons for (gn!) reader being setted up with Steven M. by the other poets

<Atention: Modern AU where Neil lives, and Welton’s a boys & girls school.

Warnings: Fluff, Cursing, Anderperry, >

Note: Y/n - your name/ Y/Ln - your last name/ Y/fn - your friend’s, the song quoted is Falling for U by Peachy! and mxmtoon;

Also, here’s my Meeks playlist, hope you enjoy it!

font;

Okay, so you and Steven had been friends for a few months. He liked you, and it was so obvious, the fact was almost materializing itself into a neon sign. He didn't tell his friends, but they realized it.

Well, more specifically, Todd realized it. He noticed the classical signs of it. Steven was more nervous and anxious than usual (especially around you). Glancing at you from a distance and then blushing lightly and looking away. Todd had his theories, but he wasn't sure of anything yet.

That was until he presenced Steven showing you a song he had been practicing on the piano. But the thing is, Todd knew that melody somewhere in the back of his mind.

He spent an entire week trying to remember it until it played on Neil's phone. Todd was reading as he heard the first notes and looked straight up to Neil.

I was hangin' with you and then I realized I didn't think it was true, I was surprised When I found out I've fallen for you

"I KNEW IT! SHIT, I KNEW I COULDN'T BE IMAGINING IT!" Neil jumped on his sit "jESUS TODD, YOU SCARED THE FUCK OUT ME," "sHUSH, LISTEN," and they stood there for two minutes, listening.

But I can't help it I'm falling for you And I can't quit it 'Cause I'm stuck on you And it might be pathetic and you might be skeptical But I just want to be with you Please tell me, boy Can you get a clue? Or come through 'cause I just want to be with you

"yES, I WAS RIGHT!" "What are you even talking about?" Neil asked in utter confusion as Todd proceeded to explain everything, his theories, the signs he noticed. "We need to get them together." "I agree in part, but shouldn't we just let it be? Steven might be taking his own time on it, it takes one a lot of courage to confess your feeling to a friend." "It took you?" Neil asked, flirtingly, as Todd blushed, "Oh, shut up. But I'll tell you if it was me instead of him, I wouldn't like for anyone to set us up." Neil gave a mischievous grin, "Well... who said they'll know?"

They both came up with multiple different plans that week, but none was good enough. Soon enough, the other boys ended up joining. "I think I got it!" said Knox, "I could buy two cinema tickets and give them to them!" "You should add 'Here, go on a free date' as you give it to them, Knoxious," said Charlie, turning over his eyes. "No, no! Is a good idea, we just need a good strategy!" Pitts added. "Oh, you could say you tried to invite Chris, but she dumped you!" "Good one, Neil!" Todd said, giving him a high five.

Next week, Knox stopped you and Steven on the corridor with two tickets to a sci-fi movie you both had been planning to watch for a while, "Hey! I uh... I bought these and tried to invite Chris, but she dumped me, and now I don't feel like going by myself. Do you guys would like it?" Steven stared at him, suspiciously for a moment and then at you, "Wanna go?" "Are you kidding me? OF COURSE, I DO! We will have SO MUCH FUN! Thank you, Overstreet!" You said as you got on the tip of your feet to hug him. Steven looked at the ground, uncomfortable with light pink dust on his cheeks.

At nighttime, you and Steven went to the cinema. As the other poets stayed across the street, spying. Pitts was inside the room with you, undercover and at a safe distance, and a few people. He texted a 'mission accomplished to Neil when you kissed Steven and then left the room.

They watched and silently celebrated from afar once you walked out of the movies holding Steven's hand as you both talked about the film. After that, they all went home to wait in Pitts's dorm room and ask for the details.

Hope you like it! I take requests by ask! (info on requests);

Also, you’ll find more of my writing here.

[shelby-love]

GEORGE WEASLEY

I'm Holy. Get it?

Requested: no

Prompts: none (all lines are from the movie save for the reader’s + some other)

Warning(s): I'd say if you haven't watched HP movie 7 don't read this but I mean...  

[Y/FN or Y/MN] is your father’s name or your mother’s name, whichever you prefer :)

Word count: 2.6K

Author's note: This is set directly in the first part of the ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 1′ movie (Polyjuice scenes and arriving at the Burrow after the Sky battle). Reader reacts to George's injury kinda thing. I highly recommend rewatching those specific scenes so you get the feels:

Arrival at Privet Drive (watch first 50 seconds)

Full Polyjuice scenes

The Sky Battle (watch all if you want)

The Order at the Burrow after the Sky Battle

This is by far my favourite one-shot out of all of my work and it took me a while to write it so please like, reblog and let me know what you think! P.S. if you’re up for me to write a part 2, that one shot will be set before, during and after the wedding <3

MASTERLIST

Darkness set around Privet Drive seemed to be rippling, the air wafting all around. The Dursley's house, home of the famous chosen boy Harry came into view only as the brooms lowered to the ground. Not only brooms, in three cases skeletal, black winged horses too. Hagrid dominated the scene, sitting in an enormous motorbike you had begged him to give you a ride on, with goggles and a helmet set on his bearded face.

Despite not arriving in the motorbike, you had flown on the next best thing - a broom, with arms wrapped around your boyfriend, face nested against his shoulder and a million sweet nothings whispered into your ears on the way over.

You were pleased to say the least.

One by one, you lifted the Disillusionment Charms, coming into view for Harry Potter to see through the window of his room.

George Weasley dismounted the broom with ease, helping you off by letting you put your hand on his strong shoulders.

Harry pulled the front door open, eyes wide upon hearing Hermione screech and fling her arms around him. Ron: the next best thing how George and Fred always say, clapped his best friend's back and waltzed into the house after Hermione.

You stood outside, holding George's hand, body molded against his and watched the scenes unfold with the rest of the Order - Bill, Fleur, Tonks, Lupin, Arthur, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Fred and George. You were accompanied by Mundungus Fletcher: a small, dirty man with droopy eyes and hair that was non-existent. Behind Mad-Eye stood a slender man in a dark suit, having just dismounted the third winged horse. He was handsome, so to speak, with black hair brushed behind and dark glasses shielding his eyes.

"Who wears sunglasses at midnight?" Fred had mumbled when he saw the man for the first time at the headquarters. You laughed immediately, agreeing by throwing a joke of your own.

George was protective; he made sure you weren't close to either of them as you followed the rest of the Order inside. As was Bill, his older brother, who had a hand on his fiancée's back, ushering her inside while placing himself as a human shield against Mundungus and the stranger. You were thankful for George, just like Fleur for Bill - you saw it in her eyes when you made it inside the small, family home that was once filled with furniture.

"Hello, Harry. Bill Weasley," said the oldest brother, hand extended for Harry to take.

"Ah, pleasure to meet you," this was the first time Harry had met the oldest Weasley and he shook his hand immediately and gave Fleur a hug right after.

"Wasn't always this handsome." Fred teased, pushing through the small crowd of people.

"Dead ugly," Your boyfriend added, holding your hand, and pushing you in front of him as the auror walked in right after you three did.

You released George's hand and came in to give Harry a hug, who you considered to be your close friend. "Are you going back to Hogwarts?" The boy asked you, knowing you were as old as him and his closest friends.

You shook your head, "My parents are in the Order as much as I am. I'll go when we defeat him. At least that's what I have planned."

"Of course, she'll go," Hermione interjected, not wanting to take the N.E.W.T. alone.

"No, she'll work with me," George butted in the conversation, grinning. "She'll be our salesman."

"Or saleswoman!" Fred voiced somewhere around the house.

Your lips spread into a grin instinctively as you placed a hand into George's already extended one and joined him somewhere else, letting Harry get to know a little bit more about Bill and his scar.

"-the joker," the last of Tonks' words made their way into your ears. The bubbly woman came to stand next to you. "By the way, wait until you hear the news! Remus and I are -"

"All right, all right!" Mad-Eye interrupted Tonks mid-sentence. You gave her a smile and a glance at her belly. She smiled in return. "You’ll all have time for a cozy catch-up later! We’ve got to get the hell out of here and soon!"

"What news?" George leaned in and whispered into your ear, Fred leaning in too.

"Doesn't matter," You told him. It was Tonks' announcement, not yours.

"Babe, pleasee," he whined, but you stood your ground and elbowed him in his abs.

George yelped behind you, drawing in attention. The adults turned around to look but he composed himself immediately, placing on a carefree smile and wrapping an arm around your shoulders, brushing them all off with the actions.

You missed half the conversation about the Trace the Ministry had on every underage witch and wizard. You thankfully didn't have the Trace for several months now but you did pity Harry in that aspect. The Trace was not an easy pill to swallow for an underage wizard like himself.

"The real one...?"

Moody drew a flask from one of his pockets.

"I believe you're familiar with this particular brew."

"No! Absolutely not!"

Hermione sighed, "I told you he'd take it well."

Harry, the always humble boy shook his head. You didn't see his face because you stood in the back, but you could imagine it very well. "If you think I'm going to let people risk their lives for me-"

"Never done that before, have we?" Ron mumbled, rather audibly so that everyone heard him.

"This is different. Taking that. Becoming me - no."

"Well, none of us really fancy it, mate." Fred said earnestly.

"Yeah imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as scrawny, specky gits forever." Your boyfriend added after him.

Harry didn't smile at that.

But you did - and that was enough for the Weasley twins.

You focused on the conversation that went on, cringing with George when Mundungus started to speak.

Suddenly, Hermione mercilessly grabbed a tuft of Harry's jet-black hair, yanking several pieces out and placing the strands into the flask.

"Blimey Hermione!"

Moody held out the flask in which the potion was connecting itself to the strands of hair. The mud like liquid gave an awfully displeasing imitation of brewing, but it turned to gold liquid soon and you let out a breath of relief.

But relief was soon replaced with dread as you realized what awaited you. Instinctively, you stepped back only to crash into George who had stepped behind you, knowing what you would do. Your boyfriend placed his hands on your shoulders and walked you to stand in line with the rest of soon-to-be-fake-Harry-Potters. "You aren't going anywhere luv."

George slapped your shoulders for effect.

"For those of you who haven't taken Polyjuice Potion before, fair warning. It tastes like goblin piss."

You visibly shuddered as you stood between the twins, Moody's fake eye catching you in a locked gaze.

"Have a lot of experience with that, do you, Mad-Eye?"

Moody's eye switches from you onto Fred. "Just trying to defuse the tension."

Fred gingerly took a sip, cringing in distaste immediately after.

He tried to hand the flask over to you, but you shook your head and dashed over to stand after George, not before him.

Why didn't he start from the other end of the line?

You were fine with standing next to Mungundus - the petty criminal, just not with taking a sip of that potion.

"My girlfriend's just scared," George smiled apologetically, still trying to defuse the tension just like his brother.

Both twins shrinked immediately after drinking it, and you swallowed the remains of your saliva and took the flask from your now very short boyfriend. "Cheers." You muttered, taking a small sip from the flask.

"That's not nearly enough! Blimey drink some more!" Mad-Eye barked at you and you did as he said, taking a much bigger sip this time round.

He finally nodded and stepped aside.

You felt your features bubble up uncomfortably, until the transformation ended, and 8 Harry Potters stood in the kitchen that had once belonged to Harry's evil muggle caretakers.

"Wow - we're identical!" Fred and George said at the same.

"Not yet you aren't," Moody mumbled, pulling out the sacks with eight identical sets of clothes.

You, Fleur and Hermione grabbed for the clothes immediately, your bras suddenly feeling everything but comfortable against your now flat chest.

"Don't have something a bit more sporty, do you?'" George asked, looking at the red shirt puzzled.

"Yes, don't fancy this color at all." Fred agreed.

"Fancy this: You're not you, so shut it and strip." Mad-eye exclaimed, turning to Harry. "You'll need to change too, Potter."

Harry looks around and self-consciously begins to strip. The other in takers of the potion had no concern when they stripped off their clothes. As for you, when you glanced underneath the shirt and indeed saw that your breasts were no longer there, you had no problem when taking off your shirt and bra. Any ounce of self-consciousness that was there disappeared once coming to terms that the body wasn't yours.

"Harry," you started, your voice the only thing left that was your own save for the clothes you were currently taking off. "Sorry for exposing you like this. But if it makes you feel any better...you have a nice body?"

You didn't really know to which Harry you were talking to, but one look at the Harry who didn't smile, the one that looked rather angry was enough to know he wasn't the real Harry. It was George. "I mean...that's kind of a compliment to you too... Right Fred?"

"It's a compliment," A different Harry but with Fred's voice said. "Take it or leave it George."

"Help me with this?" You decided to say instead, your cheeks flushing red as you turned around to give George space to unclip your bra.

"Never thought, I'd see the day Harry helps himself take off a bra," Ron mumbled with a laugh, having just finished commenting about his best friend's non existing tattoo.

"Shut it, Ron." Harry's voice came from somewhere amongst the crowd. Real Harry's voice.

George then helped you put on your red shirt in a haste, just now starting to smile. "I'm helping Harry Potter with his clothes the same way I would help my girlfriend."

"But it is me you dimwit!"

"Right then," Moody started to talk again, just after George helped you with your jacket. "We'll be pairing off. Each Potter will have a protector. As for you, Harry..."

"Yes?" Every Potter, real and fake, said in unison.

"The real Harry! Where the devil are you, anyway?"

"Here." The real Harry raised his hand and Moody's eyes rotated onto him.

"You'll ride with Hagrid." He said, "As for [Y/FN or Y/MN]'s kid... Where in the bloody hell are you even?"

Hearing those words, you raised a shaky hand. "I'm here sir."

"Good," Mad-Eye took note. "You'll be going with Ren on one of the thestrals."

"R-ren?"

The dark figure you and George so desperately tried to avoid stepped into the room right at that moment. "Yes, Ren. He's one of our best Aurors. Good and loyal - exactly the ones that are the hardest to find."

"O-kay," You said uneasily and turned around to face George. As weird as it sounded, fake Harrys holding comforting hands weren't a weird sight if you imagined hard enough to see George and Y/N.

That's what you did at that moment at least.

Held Harry's hand and tried to imagine George.

"Let's go."

***

"I'll see you at the Burrow, okay?" You told George, voice laced with worry.

"I would kiss you right now if you didn't look like Harry," He said.

You nodded in understanding, "Me too George. Me too."

The two of you went to your respective protectors - George with Remus and you with Ren.

You ignored the man when you came up to him and only gave him a look when he was supposed to help you up on the calm horse like creature.

"Hang on tight," was the last thing he said before the thestral flew the moment Moody finished counting.

You did hold him, only not as closely like on the broom with George.

***

"Confringo!" You yelled, holding out your wand in the direction of the Death Eaters. A bright blast flew out of your wand, hitting one of Voldemort's followers and sending him off his broom to be eaten away by the wind.

They were catching up to you, not bothered by the aggressive sways of the wind. Whether the thestral was acting out in fear or in rage - you wouldn't know.

"We're almost there!"

True to his words, the two of you broke through the protective spells of the headquarters, landing somewhere on the land, away from the Burrow.

You heaped off the thestral immediately. "Do you really plan on walking all the way back?"

You didn't know what to tell Ren as you continued to walk on unsteady legs. Your brain was mushed, fried even due to the number of curses you evaded and had been struck with.

"I-I..." You started, but words weren't coming out. "We're the last ones to arrive. I'm sure of it!"

"What difference does that make?"

"What difference..." You repeated, not believing what he was saying. "They maybe think we're dead! George might-"

George might think I'm dead.

It crushed your whole being. The lingering thought that they might not be okay...

"Come back," Ren interjected, slashing through your mind with his words. "We'll be faster on the thestral."

As much as you didn't want him to be right...he was. And so you turned back around and grabbed his hand, sitting back on the thestral - cold and scared for everyone's lives.

Especially George's.

***

"Oi! Let her go! Let her go!"

Remus Lupin ignored everyone as he pointed the tip of his wand to you, sending your still very Harry looking body hurling to the ground.

In the end it was Fred, George's older twin, who had marched out of the house and pushed Remus away. Fred looked like himself again, making it all ten times scarier. You had tears in your eyes as he pointed his wand at you and never felt so threatened in your life. "What was the place where you first met George and me?!"

His screaming had you struggling for words. "Answer me!"

"Filch's office you bloody dung brain!" You screamed back, feeling your face return back to normal.

Fred's face softened instantly as he came down to help you up. He hugged you the moment you were back standing. "Fred, what's going on?"

"It's George."

***

"Where is he?" You barged into the cramped house, looking around the whole place frantically. You followed Fred into the sitting room, where Molly had tended to her injured son when he was first brought in.

George lied on the couch, his bleeding had stopped thanks to his mother, but under the light you saw a clean hole where George's ear had been.

You dropped to your knees by his side immediately.

You could practically see the struggle he had with opening his eyes which he never had trouble with before, especially not when he was trying to look at you.

"How is he?"

Fred answered glancing at the bandages, "It could have been much worse. We can't make the ear grow back since it was removed by dark magic."

You shook your head, wiping your tears with the sides of your index fingers before brushing George's hair out of the way. "He wouldn't want you to."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "He's a tough nut."

You voiced your agreement with your laugh, "Yeah, he is."

The two of you admired George in silence for a few moments. The room has been cleared, leaving only the three of you there. "I'm sorry for jumping on you like that."

It wasn't common for Fred to be so serious, and because you didn't even want to think about your arrival, you gave him a small smile, "It's okay Fred. I would have done the same."

"I know."

"What did he say?" You asked quietly, "Before he passed out."

"That he was holy."

"Holy?"

"Yep," Fred said, the teasing tone to his voice returning as he pointed to his ear for demonstration. "Holy. You get it?"

"Thank God! He's alright!"

MASTERLIST

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[the-badger-mole]

Let's say you're on the writing team for Avatar when it was just an idea Bryke had. They've stepped back, letting the writers do what they do best. While Bryke certainly offer suggestions, they don't try shoehorning in their ideas.

What aspects of canon would you change and keep the same??

Would you have elements of a one-sided Kat@@ng, with Aang learning to let Katara go, or not have it at all??

If you were to write Aang as a character you actually liked, how would you do it??

Oh! I like this ask. Bet! Get a snack, because this is a long one.

In Book 1, I would keep Aang pretty much the same, but I would frame certain things he did the way they should have been framed. Like his whole deal on Kyoshi, leaving Katara to do all the work so he could flirt. That would have much more of an impact on his friendship with her. Subtle at first, but it would be the first blow against Kataang. Katara would gradually over the course of that first season have to confront the fact that she's pinned all her hopes of ending the war on a child. I think that making her face that reality would open the door to more conversations about how he felt about what the world expected him to do, and that would in turn lead to Katara helping Aang to face what happened at the siege on the NWT, and what he was being trained to do honestly.

Book 2 would be where Aang is confronted with his duty as the Avatar and what "ending the war" would mean. By this point, he knows in no uncertain terms that he's expected to kill Ozai at the very least, and his crisis of conscience happens here, and this is where he would start trying to figure out alternatives. At the same time, the people he's meeting talk to Aang and his friends honestly about what they've experienced in the war- famine; disease; loss of homes; seeing loved ones suffer and die brutally.

It all has an effect on Aang, and makes him cling tighter to Katara. Katara interprets it as platonic and doubles down on mothering Aang, even trying to shield him from the worst of the realities of the war as much as she can. When Aang tells his friends once again that he isn't sure if he can kill Ozai, someone snaps at him- Sokka I think- and tells him how the war has affected all of his friends personally, and that they don't have the luxury of feeling bad about Ozai dying, and what did Aang really think the army they were trying to gather was going to do on the battlefield, have a tickle fight (yeah...this feels like a Sokka moment). Here is where Aang finds out about Kya, I think.

Aang still goes to (the much less racist version of) Guru Pathik, and still fails to let go of his attachment to Katara. Zuko and Katara still have that moment in the caves. I haven't decided if Zuko still turns on them- on the one hand, I do think him joining the Gaang here could work. on the other hand, I think he needed to go home and see how much it doesn't fit him anymore. I could go either way. Aang still gets shot by the lightning and Katara still saves him.

As Aang and his friends travel through the Fire Nation, they spend more time with the poorest citizens. They find out how much they've suffered because of the war, and how much they also want it to end. Katara's stint as the Painted Lady lasts much longer, and she becomes a sort of urban legend, which may or may not get back to Caldera. If Zuko is on their side at this point, they start planting the seeds of rebellion on the promise of ending the war (none of the FN citizens know who he is of course). The Footloose episode doesn't happen. It's stupid and adds nothing. Instead, there's more focus on the propaganda and fear the FN leaders are spreading and finding out that there's already a rebellion brewing among certain pockets of the people. Piando plays a much bigger role in this season. He knows who they are, and helps connect them with a growing resistance movement.

Aang is still hung up on Katara, and still hasn't told them that he can't enter the AS or why. On the DoBS, he figures it won't matter since neither he nor Ozai can use firebending anyway. He keeps it too himself, and lies to his friends about being prepared to kill Ozai (well...not so much lying as telling them he's going to do what he has to and letting them assume). He still kisses Katara. They still lose this battle. The adults still sacrifice themselves for the kids to getaway.

When they get to the Air Temple, things get heated with Aang and Katara. Aang tries to run off and go play immediately, but this time, Katara lets him have it. She reminds him that she just lost her father again because he and so many other people surrendered to give them the chance to escape. She lays into him about his laziness and disregard for the people around him and tells him that he needs to shape up, or he'd get everyone killed. She becomes a lot stricter with his training at this point. Not cruel, but she's a lot less likely to tell Toph or Zuko to go easy on him, and she raises her expectations for his waterbending.

Aang gets his feelings hurt and he goes off by himself deep into the temple. He finds writings on AN culture and philosophy and actually begins learning about his people. He learns about airbending techniques he never learned. Some of it is clearly meant for battle. Aang learns that his people's views on the sanctity of life and killing aren't as black and white as he'd believed. This is also where he gets a hint of energy bending.

The Firebending Masters, Boiling Rock, and TSR still happen. Mai does not rescue Zuko and Co- that was something that never made sense to me. But then, most of Mai's characterization after CoD makes no sense to me. She's a character that needs a redo, too.

Katara and Zuko get closer during this time. Same as they do in the show. It's not quite yet a crush on either of their sides, but a lot more focus is given to the development of their friendship. They quickly become each other's go-to person in the group for support and to just hang out. Aang sees this and does not like it. It also makes his reaction to the play make a lot more sense, because he's already starting to suspect there's something between them. He confronts Katara about his feelings for her, her feelings for Zuko, and the kiss they never talk about. Katara says she doesn't really know how she feels about any of it, and she doesn't think this is the time or place to talk about it. Aang kisses her again. It's bad. Katara probably hit him this time. They don't talk alone again.

Aang is once again confronted with the expectation that he's going to kill Ozai. He has to this time, because Ozai is going to be at the height of his power, and won't hesitate to cancel Aang's subscription to Life. His friends finally realize he never actually intended to kill Ozai on DoBS, and demand to know what his plan is now. He still hasn't got one. He still hasn't told his friends about the AN philosophy scrolls he found at the air temple. He still insists that he can't in good conscience kill Ozai. Then his friends point out that millions more people will die if he doesn't. Aang goes off, gets kidnapped by the lionturtle and has the conversation with the past Avatars. They tell him he not only should kill Ozai, but he also has to let Katara go so he can use the Avatar State. Aang doesn't want to do either. Then the lionturtle gives him another way. Energy bending

The lionturle's way has consequences, though, and Aang is informed upfront that energy bending would bind him to whoever he used it on, and that it's influence was corrupting. If Aang wasn't careful, he could become as big a threat to the balance of the world as any Fire Lord had ever been. Aang doesn't understand that warning. He chooses energy bending and goes off to face Ozai.

It does not go well. There is no Rock of Destiny to magically give Aang access to the AS. There is just hyperpowered Ozai- with his decades of experience bending, and Aang, whose firebending is also strengthened, but who can't control his power as well as his opponent. He tries some of the battle techniques he read about in his scrolls. He hasn't got them down either, and some of them just feed Ozai's flames, but he manages to trap Ozai in a ball of air and suffocate him and the fire. He doesn't kill Ozai. He just leaves him disoriented long enough to energy bend him. Battle's over.

Aang brings Ozai back to Caldera, expecting to be hailed as a hero. He isn't at first, but then Iroh, Hakoda and other older and wiser people agree that it's better that Ozai gets to stand trial for his crimes. He ends up being sentenced to die anyway. Aang is furious, and then he discovers that some of his anger is Ozai's. He's bound to Ozai and now Aang has to work really hard not to let that bit of Ozai influence his personality. It's difficult, because Aang is genuinely angry enough that he can't tell what's his feelings and what is Ozai. Aang is now dealing with the fact that despite being the Avatar, people aren't willing to take him seriously, and won't not kill Ozai. He also has still not gotten over his crush on Katara and can't control the AS. On top of that Katara tells him that she doesn't feel the same way about him, and later he finds out that she's fallen for Zuko. Hard. Stupid hard. Like, they've already decided to get married in a few years, hard.

It's a bad time to be Aang. Book 3 would end with him being overwhelmed by his hurt, disappointment, and anger. Roku comes to him and suggests that he go back to Guru Pathik and learn from him. And so the last scene is Aang slipping away without telling anyone he's leaving. Toph may or may not join him. IDK.

[vickyvicarious]

do u have any atla fic recs? all time faves? can be shippy or not

Fun fact, I am incapable of holding back on reclists. In other words: brace yourself, anon. There’s a reason I put most of this behind a cut.

First off, these are almost all Zuko-centric, because I shamelessly play favorites. I’ll sort them by author rec, gen, shippy, and then by other characters because honestly the numbers break down well that way. Within those categories it’ll be more just as I think of it, so no special meaning to the order. I’m not always good about bookmarking even my faves, so some excellent stuff will no doubt be missing, especially since I haven’t read a lot of the more recent stuff yet/forgot some really old stuff, but this will definitely still give you plenty of fic to enjoy.

There’s a good number of FFN links on here so apologies to people who dislike it, but a lot of great stuff is still on there so give it a chance.

Author recs

Everything by @awesomeavocadolove​​  Such hits as Another Brother (Zuko adopted by Hakoda pre-S1), and currently has a Zukka soulmate fic I’ve been meaning to start reading, as well as Unchained Melody, one of my favorite Zukka fics ever. Always quality, you can’t go wrong.

Everything by KimberlyT.  I do not kid. She’s written a variety of ATLA fic ranging from Zutara/other romance to gen, seriously emotional to cracky cabbagebending. I think my favorite is probably Mismatched (S1 Zuko adopts a baby) but honestly just go read it all.

Everything by @emletish-fish​​. She has a very fun writing style and honestly her end-of-chapter notes on why she’s made the choices she has are fun minimetas worthwhile in their own right. Some of her top fics are the Stalking Zuko series (S3 suspicious Katara to Zutara) and The Worst Prisoner (the Gaang kidnaps Zuko in S1 and can’t get rid of him). I think there’s still a good amount of her fic that can only be found on FFN so check there too.

Everything by @botherkupo​​. Especially her Undying Fire series (healer!Zuko) but also just literally everything she writes, it is all so great. Tends toward Zutara but strong gen fics as well sometimes and a lot of fun. Check it all out!

Everything by @muffinlance​​. Loves to toy with her readers’ emotions in the best of ways. Tons of fantastic gen Zuko-centric AUs, I have adored every single fic I’ve ever read by her, can’t praise them enough. Very productive as well, her tumblr is a hub for the ATLA renaissance and her fics inspire lots of others. Has also organized a fanmade ATLA coloring book for charity so get that once it’s out. In the meantime read everything she’s written.

Everything by Haicrescendo. My favorite is What We’re Given (the series where Zuko finds more air bisons and raises them), but there’s a lot of good Zukka fic too. I tend to steer away from explicit works in this fandom unless it’s a smaller part of a much longer plot-centric fic, so there are a number I haven’t read, but I really like the Pokemon!AU Zukka.

Everything by @gaycinema. I really love the EK fight club series (Zuko fights in Rumbles/etc.) but all of it is a good read. Some Jetko, mostly a lot of introspective or emotional oneshots. Which isn’t really a great depiction of how good they tend to be, you’ll just have to read them and find out. You won’t regret it, trust me.

Everything by @captainkirkk. So far eight stellar fics, starting with kind Fire Lord Zuko and ranging to Floating Tea Shop!Zuko who doesn’t want to hunt the Avatar. I love her style and have laughed out loud at multiple of these. 

Gen Zuko fic

Bringing Out the Blue by maguena1. [unfinished, long] Definitely worth the read. The first ATLA fic I ever got really sucked into. The Blue Spirit never gets knocked out so Aang doesn’t know his true identity; he joins the Gaang on a recurring basis, while Zuko attempts to tell himself this is only for information on how to catch them, they definitely aren’t his friends.

It’s Impossible by Sandra Phillips. [abandoned, long] One of the earliest Avatar!Zuko fics (sort of) and a really interesting take on some spirit stuff.

Embers by Vathara. [complete, long] A landmark fic in the fandom, and for good reason. I didn’t love everything about this fic, but it is very well-written and an absorbing read certainly worth the praise. 

the art of description by incandescens. [oneshot, short] Five descriptions of Zuko and Toph’s field trip from various perspectives. Short, sweet, and funny.

Breaking Point by Kryal. [oneshot, short] Zuko isn’t banished but instead sent to serve in the Home Guard. I love Zuko loving his people, and alternate canon explorations, and this is exactly that.

The Alternative by Lunatique. [oneshot, short] The reason Zuko is so determined is because he fears what will happen if he isn’t the next Fire Lord. An idea I support in canon, to a degree, written well.

Hands and Knees by gigerisgod. [oneshot, short] Zuko reflects on the choices he’s made, and experiences he’s had, when joining the Gaang. A nice introspective fic.

Relative Misery by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Toph complains about her family and Zuko takes her on a field trip. Not a fic I take too seriously, but funny in a sad way.

Second Nature by lazyartisan. [possibly abandoned, long] An AU stemming from Zuko’s capture at the North Pole. Well-written and characterized, an old favorite that I actually find needing to reread to give you more detail, but I can promise it’s good.

Year One by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Lessons Zuko learns in his first year being Fire Lord. I really like explorations of Zuko’s journey as Fire Lord and this is a lovely little window into that.

Soft by PenPistola. [oneshot, short] Zuko and Toph bonding after the Ember Island Players. Short and sweet.

The New Phoenix King by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] Fire Lord Zuko is overthrown, and no one but him is bothered at all. In fact they help. Hilarious crack.

First Name Basis by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] There’s some popular posts going around Tumblr lately about Zuko not knowing the Gaang’s names, but this fic did it first back in 2008. As amusing as you’d expect.

Male Bonding by glamaphonic. [oneshot, short] The original ‘Zuko and Sokka bond and are also dumb idiot boys’ fic. Katara is permanently rolling her eyes.

it’s not the waking, it’s the rising by isamagicdragon, thegracious [ongoing, series, medium] Azulon tells Ozai to kill Azula instead of Zuko, which leads to heartwrenching fire sibs adventure. I haven’t caught up on the last chapter yet but god is it fantastic and also just a really interesting and new perspective on what could have happened.

Doe-Eyed by Anonymous. [complete, medium] Zuko is a baby, Azula is a loving big sister. More fire sibs and a great exploration on Azula’s POV of turning against Ozai.

kintsugi by discordiansamba. [ongoing, series, long] Zuko doesn’t have Iroh after being banished, and winds up hired as a guard to protect the frail Beifong daughter. Fantastic preseries Zuko+Toph found family fic.

Legacies by WildInkling. [ongoing, medium] Far in the future, a historian studies the journal of Fire Lord Zuko. Also, he was secretly a famous author but no one knows. A funny and poignant outsider POV.

#UndercoverZuko series by naggeluide. [complete, series, short] A completely cracky concept written straight enough to be actually quite touching in parts, but also just really funny. Zuko goes Undercover Boss on his ship pre-series.

Avatar Ficlets by JaggedCliffs. [series, oneshots, short] An ongoing series of disconnected oneshots, mostly post-canon and mostly Zuko-centric. Some a pretty fun, one is a great view on Zuko and lightningbending, all worth the read (and follow for when more come out).

The Blind Leading the Blue by BrusselsSprout. [ongoing, medium] An epic Zuko and Toph field trip set in S2. I love them and this.

half in the shadows, half burned in flames by r_astra. [oneshot, short] Iroh dies, Zuko gets caught on the Day of Black Sun, everything ends up all right but damn does it hurt getting there.

A Tale of Earth and Fire by chiiyo86. [complete, medium] Zuko and Toph are married for Politics in a FN Wins AU, and follows them slowly bonding as friends to beginning a revolution. They’re married but it’s not romantic, just some good friendship.

Eight Principles of Yong by psocoptera. [oneshot, short] An exploration of immediate post-show FN politics (sort of), calligraphy, and Zuko. Also has some lovely non-fighting firebending; I always love when people explore other uses of bending.

Healing Properties of Cinder Sage by Dawen. [oneshot, short] Zuko gets very sick in the Western Air Temple. Some good interaction when he’s new to the Gaang, and Toph+Zuko friendship.

We Ourselves Must Walk The Path by WinterSky101. [complete, medium] The Gaang agrees to make Zuko their prisoner in the WAT. Speaking of new-to-the-Gaang, tension, this fic has plenty of it, and also features some good Toph and Zuko.

Frozen by Aris Merquoni. [oneshot, medium] Zuko is captured in the NWT. Some politics, lots of angst, and eventually, healing. Also actually makes me somewhat like Hahn? Incredibly enough.

Reluctant Hero by PAW_07. [ongoing, long] Avatar!Zuko fic. I got to beta it way back when for a little while before I got too busy, and have always been a huge fan of this fic. Great concept, one of the best executions of it I’ve seen, and also one of the first. Definitely read this.

Morality Chain by Pureauthor. [abandoned, long] Azula and Zuko were always on each other’s side; how this changes canon. I love this concept and would happily read a lot more fics with it (please guys, I need more fire sibs).

A viper-lizard’s tales series by Yumi_Take. [ongoing, long] The world needs more of Zuko adopting pets and small children, and those are just facts. This only has one of the two, but it’s a EK baby! Jet plays a big role in this fic as well, a weird kind of uncle-ish to the baby/friend/murderer Zuko needs to watch closely and hold back kind of thing.

(life happens) wherever you are by howlikeagod. [ongoing, long] Katara doesn’t find Zuko and Iroh in the teashop, and canon takes a sharp left turn. Excellent Gaang fic.

The Best Path series by EudociaCovert. [series, ongoing, long] Zuko meets Jet in ‘Zuko Alone’ and winds up getting claimed as theirs by the remaining Freedom Fighters. Really really well-written, I got quite emotional over some scenes.

Shippy Zuko fic

Balm by Thyme In Her Eyes. [Maiko, oneshot, short] A sweet little fic about Mai’s thoughts on Zuko’s lightning scar.

The Black Games by Mrs. Pettyfer. [Zutara, complete, long] Hunger Games-esque AU. It’s the first in a series, and I lost interest after this one but I remember enjoying the fic and it was more personal preference rather than a drop in quality that had me leaving.

Lie To Me by Inkcharm. [Toko, oneshot, short] I’m not actually a fan of this pairing romatically (at least until years down the line), but this little fic of Toph and Zuko bonding through lying to one another is sweet. I choose to ignore the more shippy parts and enjoyed it.

Zutara? What the heck is that? by Ryxl. [Zutara, oneshot, short] Complete crack, have a good sense of humor and I think you will enjoy. Just the mental image of the Gaang finding a Zutara propaganda flyer had me chuckling.

The Three Chores series (1, 2, 3) by Fandomme. [Zutara, threeshot, short] Zuko and Katara slowly bond as he helps with chores. I will admit it’s been years and I barely remember this, but what I do recall is lovely and I always appreciate people lightening Katara’s load.

read the inscription by suzukiblu. [Zuko/Song, complete, series, medium] When Zuko is banished, he is left alone in the Earth Kingdom to fend for himself. Very touching, and I love Song in this.

Hooked by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] A classic ‘Jet didn’t see Iroh warming his tea’ fic. They’re almost all this premise but so many well-written and very long ones. 

Something To Hold Onto by Wildgoosery. [Jetko, complete, long] The EK fell and Li stayed to fight with the Freedom Fighters to protect the city during its foreign rule. Jet didn’t see the tea fic that goes very AU from canon.

Foxfire by Rahar_Moonfire. [Jetko, ongoing, long] Zuko loses his memories Jetko fic, but with heavy spirit influence and lovable EK OCs, both of which I adore and should be in far more fics.

Once Upon A Teashop by anaer. [Zukka, Jetko, ongoing, long] Cracky Ba Sing Se AU that gets gradually more and more serious. Jet hits on Zuko a lot and Sokka gets a job in the teashop to keep an eye on both of them. Endgame Zukka but heavy Jetko, and both pairings are handled pretty well, not a love triangle that makes me too mad, although as always bear in mind Jet’s messed up. 

Names by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] I feel like I’m forgetting some more excellent Amnesia!Zuko fics, but this is one I do know of. To be honest I don’t remember it super well because it may be mixed up with other Jetko/amnesia fics in my mind, but I think it was really good. I’ll have to reread myself.

Epistles by Lady_of_the_Flowers. [Zukka, ongoing, long] I love epistolary fic and I love Zuko and Sokka bonding earlier in canon. I will be honest I haven’t read this in a long time and been updating all the while, but the premise alone (Zuko and Sokka become messenger-hawk-pals in S1 and then fall in love) is fantastic. 

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought. [Zukka, ongoing, long] Zuko rebels earlier and actually is sent to the mines, until he is ‘rescued’ by the Water Tribe. Dark but getting lighter over time, and more reluctant-to-rule Zuko which always wrenches my heartstrings. I prefer super loyal and dutiful to his people Zuko but this trope always makes me feel things.

Crossovers

Fallen Drops of Fire by Chasmfiend. [Fullmetal Alchemist, ongoing] Young Azula and Zuko somehow appear in Amestris, and encounter Roy Mustang. I adore the fire sibs, and their relationship in this strange situation is the star of this fic for me, but it’s also fun seeing the FMA perspective of these two.

The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kryal. [Stargate SG-1, long, complete] The best crossover fic out there. Zuko and Toph get stranded on the other side of a Stargate. I don’t know anything about SG-1 but it didn’t matter, the fic was fantastic, they were badasses, it explored language and culture from an outside perspective, and it was just a ton of fun. Must-read.

Other character fic

Loyalty by Julia451. [oneshot, short] The ship captain didn’t misspeak when he called Iroh and Zuko “prisoners” in the start of S2. A lovely look at a nameless character, giving depth to a small moment and humanity to a FN soldier which I always love.

The Only One by HarlowR. [oneshot, short] An excellent exploration of Azula’s mindset regarding Zuko, her desperate need to be loved and jealousy of him matching his own. I think Azula was one of the greatest tragedies of the show, and this fic makes me feel it.

Blood by theAsh0. [oneshot, short] Katara-centric thinkpiece on bloodbending and healing. Dark but really interesting.

Touch and Go by Cadence. [oneshot, short] After Iroh’s struck by lightning, Toph doesn’t let Zuko drive them all away. A momentary alliance and the seeds of friendship. More Toph-focused but still heavy on the whole Gaang.

Shortcomings by Menamebephil. [oneshot, short] Iroh thoughts during his imprisonment, on the theme of mistakes. I love this man and don’t understand why I am so drawn to fic about him that makes me sad.

Watch And Review, Please by Becca Stareyes. [oneshot, short] The Ember Island Players receive some constructive criticism... sort of. Funny and quick.

Azula Redemption Trilogy (1, 2, 3) by Mistress of Sarcasm. [threeshot, short] Second person and deeply introspective, three short little fics delving into Azula’s head and bringing her closer to redemption.

Echoing Refrains by catie_writes_things. [oneshot, short] I really like nuanced explorations of the whole FN royal family. It’s perfectly fine to write Ozai as pure evil bastard, but exploring  what might have been or how he got there, or even as in this fic his talent for music being inherited by Zuko is really interesting too. Iroh-centric.

our curse by ohmygodwhy, and the last dragon by thesometimeswarrior. [twoshot, complete, short] Stay away if you don’t like to cry. In the first Zuko learns Ozai is executing Iroh, and isn’t able to stop it; the second is even worse because it’s Iroh’s POV. I put this in the other characters section because honestly I adore the second fic even more than the first, but they are both fantastically written and will hurt you a very great deal.

Finally, I’m not quite bold enough to put my own fic on a reclist, but just shameless enough to mention I’ve written a few Avatar fics I quite like if anyone feels the desire to check them out on my AO3. ;) But seriously give love to all the rest of these, they deserve it. (And as I said, there’s lots more excellent stuff, this fandom is so prolific and well-written!)

[skyeventide]

my trsb fic has so many notes to the text that they didn’t fit within the ao3 notes’ section character limit lmao, so here is the lengthier version of it. you can consider it a teaser I guess? but either way, I need some place to store these and link them back in the fic.

contents here, cut for length

on the matter of the mother of Gil-Galad

Celebrimbor’s names

shibbolething all over Thauron’s name

actual quotes and canon

On the matter of the mother of Gil-Galad

Meril-i-Turinqi is a Book of Lost Tales character, lady of Tol Eressea, kin of In(g)we but also similar to the Solosimpi, which is to say the Teleri.

The character of "Meril" on the other hand, is a proto-Amarie, Finrod's love interest. In the early draft of Meril's appearance, Finrod is married and is father of Gil-Galad: this draft is obviously discarded and Finrod becomes childless, while Meril transforms into Amarie, who does not join the exile. Gil-Galad is instead transferred to Orodreth, which iirc is Tolkien's last word on the matter (I don't count the Fingon thing as even canon-adjacent, ChrisT was quite clear in admitting the mistake). Now I recall Orodreth is said to be married to a Sinda; why did I discard that? Cause I initally forgot it. Rip to me and Orodreth.

However, what I had was: a proto-Amarie, who is a Vanya, and a BoLT character who is of the family of Ingwe (so a Vanya), but also like the Teleri (so of the third clan, even though not a Sinda). And so Meril-proto-Amarie became Meril-i-Turinqi, wife of Orodreth.

The full headcanon on Meril here would have her as daughter of a Vanya who is kin of Ingwe and of Telerin nobility (or royalty? they're all big on intermarrying between royal families), which fulfills both sides of the coin and also stays true to the statement that Elenwe is the sole full-Vanya to join the exile (I'm gonna assume this excludes any non-royalty followers). Now regarding the parentage of Orodreth, he is here son of Angrod, as I feel that is a better option in almost all respects. This poses some issues with regard to age, as I recall Orodreth-son-of-Angrod and Idril as being named the only two non-adults to do the journey to ME (again... this surely excludes any non-royalty youngsters, but nonetheless). Obviously these issues grow even further if one also includes the matter of Celebrimbor being Aman-born to a wife who doesn't follow Curufin (and therefore the matter of his age at the time of exile), but reconciling these versions is borderline impossible with how the origins of Celebrimbor keep changing throughout the conception of the legendarium.

Long story short, I up the age of Orodreth to be at least old enough to speak softly with Finarfin (here his grandfather) during the flight of the Noldor, but I have him already married though childless. Finduilas is born early into the exile and Gil-Galad is her younger brother.

Meril returns to Aman at the end of the First Age and rules Tol Eressea for the exiles who are stuck there until the Ban is fully lifted.

Celebrimbor's names

FN = father-name, MN = mother-name

I do not claim to have come up with "Tyelperinquar is an epesse", that headcanon, which nonetheless I'm sure happened separately for other people, is one I first read in a fic by Tyelperintal on AO3. That of course means that I could no longer go with the FN Curufinwe MN Tyelperinquar option, and needed another mother-name, which I also borrowed from the same story, and went for Ilvanon, "the perfect". It's pretty, and also speaks of a mix of high expectations and love.

What in this story made me accept the epesse headcanon is the matter of the origin of "T(y)elperinquar" as a name. Vinyar Tengwar (and most recently also NoME) explains how "silver fist" is a name common among the Teleri, famous for their ability to smith silver even among the Noldor, and it is also mentioned how other similar names, such as Tegilbor "calligrapher", are given to people based on their skill. This, however, directly contradicts the fact that elves don't give the same name to more than one person. That statement is problematic in itself (impossible that all elves across all time are aware of all names that ever have been used -- and also of course there's the usual royalty exceptions, that however may well be exceptions because they are royalty), but if it is a common name among the Teleri and we are to keep the duplicate names lore in mind... my only solution is that it's a coveted epesse, given to the very skilled.

Celebrimbor picks it as his chosen and preferred name over FN, already shared by two people and preferred as chosen name by his father, and the potential arrogance of picking his MN with its meaning.

This still led me to problems of both spelling and language choices.

As far as spelling goes, there's several variations. I'm marking with * the one that is not canonically attested, but can be inferred.

Pure Telerin: Telperimpar

Quenya-Telerin compound that maintains the Telerin spelling of silver: Telperinquar

As above, but shortened: Telpinquar

Pure Quenya: *Tyelperinquar

Pure Quenya, shortened: Tyelpinquar

I use all these except the last one at various stages: I decided (though I go back and forth on this) that his household might have used pure Quenya, and his mother sticks to it; the person in Tirion panicks and uses the shortened version Telpinquar, which together with Telperinquar (Telerin spelling maintained) was more common among the Noldor. The Tirion passage exemplifies the uses and applications of these names, how they were given and altered.

This leads me to problems of language and POV, Celebrimbor vs Tyelperinquar. His mother, in her POV, always uses the latter, but Celebrimbor himself uses the former. The true problem here was adapting my feeling that Celebrimbor would be far more used to thinking of himself as Celebrimbor (as opposed to the Quenya name) vs Tolkien's statement that elves do not use names in another language when speaking in X language. This doesn't stay wholly true through the legendarium and the texts, so it's something I've decided to partially ignore when it comes to POV, though I tend to stick to it in first person dialogue. Something that again I try to tackle in the text itself -- when Galadriel tells Celebrimbor which language to speak and which name to use for her.

I am not entirely satisfied with all my choices here and I might revisit them in the future, but for the moment, here we go.

Shibbolething all over Thauron's name

Another language and spelling headache. As I encountered the problem of Sauron, I encountered that of the spelling of his name: the eternal TH/S issue. Were I to have Celebrimbor's mother, and Celebrimbor himself, stick to the Shibboleth? I initially attempted to circumvent this by using Gorthaur, but the issue described just above, about mixing languages, yet again bit me in the ass.

Of course it comes down to characterisation: would Mrs Curufin stick to the Shibboleth, and would Celebrimbor? The matter with Celebrimbor was that I don't believe he spoke Quenya with any real frequency after the Nargothrond business, not as a choice but rather due to circumstances and preferences of those around him. With Ercasse, the conflict is part of the character, and that sadly meant that the TH/S choice became less of a personal choice and more of a political one, as usual.

That got me thinking about the circumstances around her and something interesting came to me: Finarfin spoke Quenya with the Shibboleth, because of the Teleri. And in the Darkening he becomes king in Tirion, and also has to adjust things with the Teleri -- not an easy task, imo, when he turns back only after the pronunciation of the Doom, and not just after the kinslaying occurred. Additionally, the Vanyar spoke preserving TH. Additionally x2, by the Fourth Age, Exilic Quenya (which uses S) is associated with those who rebelled and returned to Aman -- meanwhile any Sindar preserved TH naturally, as it's a sound that never went out of use in Sindarin.

So I chose to take these things and make something of it. If Finarfin maintains TH to keep the Telerin influence; if the Noldor who remain in Aman decide to step closer to the Vanyar in an anti-rebellion reactionary manner and to conform to the speech of the king; if Exilic Quenya gains the lower status of language of the exiles; and considering the canon fact that in later ages the elves are more likely to preserve language rather than change it -- what are our chances that Shibbolething gains opposite connotations as time passes? My conclusion was high chances. So I decided to implement it.

And so Ercasse doesn't have to think about her personal allegiances anymore and has a path built in for herself in these social changes. And Sauron is Thauron. (Unless Galadriel is talking: she doesn't Shibboleth, and uses “Sauron” and “Sindarin”.)

Quotes and canon

Many things I wrote are based on canon snippets. Here I tried to collect them.

On Celebrimbor and the mention of the bath of flames in his speech. It isn't, in fact, a corny lineage reference, but rather a metaphysical or pseudo-physical concept of purification from the Lost Tales:

Yet now the prayers of [their parents] came even to Manwe [the highest Valar], and the Gods had mercy on their unhappy fate, so that those twain Turin and Nienori entered into ... the bath of flame... and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is very fair;

On the naming of Mithril (appears in the upcoming Nature of Middle Earth, as well as already published in Vinyar Tengwar):

[Celebrimbor] was a great silver-smith, and went to Eregion attracted by the rumours of the marvellous metal found in Moria, Moria-silver, to which he gave the name mithril.

On Celebrimbor's ambition and assorted choices, from Letter 131: 

In the first we see a sort of second fall or at least ‘error’ of the Elves. There was nothing wrong essentially in their lingering against counsel, still sadly with the mortal lands of their old heroic deeds. But they wanted to have their cake without eating it. They wanted the peace and bliss and perfect memory of ‘The West’, and yet to remain on the ordinary earth where their prestige as the highest people, above wild Elves, dwarves, and Men, was greater than at the bottom of the hierarchy of Valinor. They thus became obsessed with 'fading’, the mode in which the changes of time (the law of the world under the sun) was perceived by them. They became sad, and their art (shall we say) antiquarian, and their efforts all really a kind of embalming – even though they also retained the old motive of their kind, the adornment of earth, and the healing of its hurts. […] But many of me Elves listened to Sauron. He was still fair in that early time, and his motives and those of the Elves seemed to go partly together: the healing of the desolate lands. Sauron found their weak point in suggesting that, helping one another, they could make Western Middle-earth as beautiful as Valinor. It was really a veiled attack on the gods, an incitement to try and make a separate independent paradise.

Legolas and Aragorn and my choice to use the word love:

"[...]Yet whatever is still to do, I hope to have a part in it, for the honour of the folk of the Lonely Mountain." "And I for the folk of the Great Wood," said Legolas, "and for the love of the Lord of the White Tree [Aragorn]."

Celebrimbor and the Elessar. It must be noted that this Celebrimbor is not Celebrimbor son of Curufin, but I still liked the tidbit of lore. From there my choice to have three different Elessar stones, one made by Feanor, one by Enerdhil of Gondolin, one by Celebrimbor (in the fic redressed to Celebrimbor son of Curufin, and without the romantic love for Galadriel):

But he did not say to Galadriel that he himself was of Gondolin long ago. Therefore he took thought, and began a long delicate labour, and so for Galadriel he made the greatest of his works (save the Three Rings only).And it is said that more subtle and clear was the green gem that he made than that of Enerdhil, but yet its light had less power. For whereas that of Enerdhil was lit by the Sun in its youth, already many years had passed ere Celebrimbor began his work, and nowhere in Middle-earth was the light as clear as it had been, for though Morgoth had been thrust out into the Void and could not enter again, his far shadow lay upon it.Radiant nonetheless was the Elessar of Celebrimbor; and he set it within a great brooch of silver in the likeness of an eagle rising upon outspread wings.

On the vale and the stream where Formenos is located, I utilised this passage from Lost Tales:

[...] here the entire people of the Noldoli are ordered to leave Kor for the rugged dale northwards where the stream Híri plunged underground, and the command to do so seems to have been less a punishment meted out to them by Manwe than a pre-caution and a safeguard. In connection with the place of the banishment of the Noldoli, here called Sirnúmen ('Western Stream') [...]

Relevant LotR quotes about the Eregion passages, used for soil description extrapolations and other elements:

Suddenly Gimli, who had pressed on ahead, called back to them. He was standing on a knoll and pointing to the right. Hurrying up they saw below them a deep and narrow channel. It was empty and silent, and hardly a trickle of water flowed among the brown and redstained stones of its bed; but on the near side there was a path, much broken and decayed, that wound its way among the ruined walls and paving-stones of an ancient highroad. ‘Ah! Here it is at last!’ said Gandalf. ‘This is where the stream ran: Sirannon, the Gate-stream, they used to call it. But what has happened to the water, I cannot guess; it used to be swift and noisy. Come! We must hurry on. We are late.’ [...] "...there is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the elves, if once they dwelt there." "That is true", said Legolas. "But the Elves of this land were of a race strange to us of the silvan folk, and the trees and the grass do not now remember them: Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago."

More TBA if anything comes to mind.

[batarella]

The Prince of Gotham (Jason Todd x Reader)

absolutely love love love this one. Thank you again for the suggestions from my dearest friends in the taglist. You are all so amazingly talented. 

PRESENTING THE DAMNED PRINCE OF GOTHAM. I MEAN IS THERE EVEN A HOTTER VERSION OF JAYBIRD THAN THIS????

WORDS: 4509 WARNINGS: UNPROTECTED SEX. ORAL SEX FEMALE RECEIVING. FUCKING AGAINST THE AQUARIUM IN HIS ROOM. THE POOR FISH.

Masterlist

Call him damned, or whatever the tabloids call him as Bruce Wayne’s forgotten son, the son he almost never talks about. Jason Todd will be damned for all that was left of his second life.

The glass was cold on his lips, even colder between his fingers. The Falcones were here again. At least one of them running their mouths at another million-dollar loss. He placed the glass onto a waiter’s tray and placed his firm hands into his jacket pockets.

Miguel came over to him, whispering about a blackjack table with an unruly foreigner throwing the cards at the other players. Surprised it wasn’t of the Falcones, Jason whispered something back. And the next thing he knew, Miguel was taking the culprit into the suite.

No one has crossed him too much. Yet. And not much has happened, either. At least by now, something should have happened. Penguin’s goons. Two Face’s. A worthwhile encounter with any of the beautiful women catching his eye. But there had been nothing. Nothing worth thinking twice about.

A crime lord. In Batman’s fucking city. It’s a death wish not many can escape from, not many can succeed in. The Dark Knight will eventually find some dirt on you, but him? His son? He’ll take it as a free pass. He smiled at a photographer taking a quick photo of him, straightening his jacket. The papers have been all over him tonight, more often than the past week. Just yesterday he saw an article about how he’s now up against Dick Grayson as the most sought-after Wayne bachelor.

The nightly performance should be up soon. He was told they’d bring in a number of beautiful women who usually danced at the bars on the outskirts of Gotham, so it should be something these strip club enthusiast pigs haven’t seen so often. Jason walked over behind the booths.

“Mr. Todd!” A man came to him with a crouched back, ginger hair and freckles that covered half his face. Stretching his hand out that wasn’t holding his camera, Jason firmly shook it. “Jimmy Olsen from the Daily Planet. Is it okay if I ask a few questions?”

“Ask away.”

“Proprietorship over the Iceberg Lounge costs millions of dollars, Mr. Todd. Did you have any financial assistance from Mr. Wayne in your investments?”

He wanted to scoff.

“No. I’m all on my own.”

“Are you involved in any of Wayne Enterprises’ operations, then?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Then what other means of income did you have prior to the Iceberg?”

Blackmail. Robbery. Decapitating drug lords’ heads. Among others.

“My father taught me how to invest in the stock market with more accurate predictions than the average person.”

“You’re not so often mentioned by Mr. Wayne.”

“Well, I am the second eldest son. And there may have been a falling out at the time I was wrongfully declared legally dead. But now? I assume Bruce will have plenty of good things to say about me.”

“Mr. Wayne has not released any statement about your ownership of the Iceberg, Mr. Todd. The media has gone rampant after the Mr. Wayne’s absence in the Lounge’s opening ceremony.”

He wasn’t invited.

“I’m sure he was busy.”

“And your siblings?”

“They should be as well.”

“Last question, Mr. Todd. Will all eight of Mr. Wayne’s children have an equal share of his wealth?”

Huh. He’s never thought of that. “Perhaps. What are people saying?”

“Mr. Wayne is currently worth eighty billion dollars. That would mean you’d inherit ten billion dollars along with your other siblings.”

Shit. Maybe threatening Bruce with his identity a few days back wasn’t the brightest idea.

“Right now, I’m worth more than any of my siblings,” Jason smiled at the camera. “And if Mr. Wayne does give me an eighth of his fortune, I’d be sure to give you guys a first at an interview as the youngest new billionaire.”

Kylie Jenner can suck it.

The music started blaring out from the speakers. Burlesque music. He took another glass of champagne from a waiter and nodded at Jimmy Olsen. “Thank you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Todd!” he exclaimed.

Jason’s eyes were on stage. Five women with feathers around their arms twirled, moving their legs so gracefully to the music. They only had so much clothes on. Sipping into his glass, he moved closer to the stage.

.

A kiss may be grand but it won't pay the rental

On your humble flat, or help you at the automat

Men grow cold as girls grow old

And we all lose our charms in the end

But square cut or pear shaped

These rocks don't lose their shape

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

.

You caught his eye more than anyone else in the damn room.

You were staring right at him, then with your soft, lace covered hands, you ran it over the side of your cheek, over your red-stained lips. You were covered in red. And the wig you had, a short blonde one, you had that Marilyn Monroe look he always had a thing for. You reminded him of Isabel, the flight attendant he once dated. But you? On stage with your legs covered in the most intricate fish nets, you were definitely something else.

You looked at him again. Perhaps you knew who he was. Your mouth so slightly parted, and the feathers grazed against your glistening lips. Jason smiled at you. You didn’t smile back. At the next move, you moved to the other side of the stage and faced away from him.

Jason then walked over to your side, standing beside a booth. You were looking at the business moguls drooling over you at their table. But then your eyes darted to him again, this time with the slightest smirk. You turned around, along with the rest of the dancers, and bent over.

Jason’s eyebrow quirked up at the sight of your ass, but he kept silent, drinking his wine. Your eyes were immediately on him the moment you stood back up. He held his glass up at you, smiling, and you ignored him once again.

Biting his lip, he watched you throw out your feather scarf over your shoulder, holding onto another dancer’s waist as you grinded onto her, so slowly with the song changing to something a bit more seductive. You then walked off the stage and continued your choreography holding your scarves over people’s necks.

You walked over to the Falcones, avoiding their grabby hands. You almost kissed the best looking one in the group, your chest so close to the tip of his nose. Rolling his eyes, Jason sipped on his glass.

But then you turned to him, your lips subtly curving up. You were making your way to him, most probably knowing he owned the place, because you walked ever so slowly to his way, cheekily winking at all the other men fawning over you.

And when you’d stood in front of him, smelling like sweet, yet strong rose petals in a garden, the tension was immense. You were absolutely gorgeous. And his eyes were all over you.

Slowly, ever so slowly, you put your face so closely to his while your delicate fingers drew a line across his shoulders, his collarbone, over the muscles on his arms. He pretended not to be so shaken, standing still with the glass between his lips.

You were enjoying yourself just as much as Jason did. But he was practically growling in hunger as you swayed your hips, momentarily pushing your ass to his crotch but not near enough to actually touch it. Jason couldn’t care less about all the other people around him. As far as he knew, you were the only one in the room.

Then you placed your scarf around his neck, your forehead so slightly brushing against his. Your breath was hot, too hot, and your body was glistening under the pale blue light. Jason licked his lips before you left to go back on stage.

Looking down at the red feathered scarf around his neck, Jason walked over backstage just before the number came to an end.

-----

“Mr. Todd!”

A large woman with a fur coat big enough to have been from an actual bear came up to him. “Did you enjoy my girls?”

“I did,” Jason said. “Where are they?”

“They’re just about to finish up at the dressing room. Would you like to meet one of them?”

“Send them all out to the casinos for the night. I’m sure all the guests would be delighted to have them around at the lounge,” Jason said. “If they want to, of course.”

“They would love to. If you can excuse me, Mr. Todd.”

Jason nodded at the woman who then walked into the dressing room. He waited outside, just by one of the slot machines.

The girls walked out of the room, now dressed in long gowns, their backs bare and the slits on their legs high up to their thighs. You no longer wore your wig, but your natural hair looked even better on you, if Jason had to say. You were the last to come out, and the seductive, shameless demeanor you once had was now replaced with a shy, silent, yet beautiful disposition. Your dress was the same color red as his Red Hood mask. He loved it.

You caught his eye, stopping your tracks, then you brought your purse up to your torso as if you were covering yourself from him.

Jason walked over to you, stretching out his hand. You looked at his arms, then at his face. You didn’t smile at him, but slowly, you held his hand for a firm shake.

But he didn’t shake it. Instead, he brought it up to his lips, delicately pressing it against the back of your hand as if you were so fragile. But you sighed at his gesture, and you couldn’t help but step closer.

“Jason Todd,” he said, still not letting go of your hand.

“Y/FN.”

Your voice was sweeter than your scent.

“You were amazing out there, Y/N.”

“I didn’t realize I was dancing for the Iceberg’s new owner, Mr. Todd.”

“Call me Jason. Please.”

So you didn’t know who he was, and still you danced for him like no one else. Interesting.

“A drink?”

You nodded. Jason motioned for a waiter to his direction and he took two glasses from the tray, handing one out to you. “Walk with me, Y/N.”

Your lips stained the glass’s rim with a faint coral. He looked away before you’d catch him staring too much at it.

“How do you find the place?”

“It’s perfect, much better than when Mr. Cobblepot owned the place.”

“So you’ve danced here before?”

“A few times. I didn’t like it as much. Who knew a handsome young bachelor such as you would turn the place so much more interesting?”

Your eyes were piercing. And every so often, as you walked past the crowd, he’d catch you looking at him longer than you should.

“Being one of Bruce Wayne’s wards has its perks.”

“You are definitely different from your siblings.”

“In a good way?”

“In the best way.”

You’ve reached the dance floor, where drunken socialites had a glass on one hand while holding onto some businessman or crime lord half their height with the other. The live band was playing jazz music for now, and with the lights coming to a dim, Jason stretched out his hand for you again. “Dance with me, Ms. Y/N?”

Placing your glasses onto a waiter’s tray, you took it, and he placed his hand on your waist, yours on his shoulder. And with the other, he held your fingers with a slight brush against your thumb.

“You must do this with a whole number of women, sir.”

Sir. You didn’t say it the way you called him Mr. Todd. You said it seductively. Oh, he definitely had that kink.

“On the contrary, I don’t.”

“So the Prince of Gotham isn’t a stud after all?”

“Not at all. But women don’t hate me, that’s for sure.”

His grip on your waist tightened, and you were pulling him closer. “I sure hope you like me, Ms. Y/LN.”

“Call me Y/N, and I think I like you just fine.”

The smell of rose petals yet again. Your faces were so close, and you danced at a slower pace than everyone else in the room. “I’d like to get to know you better. You have a show tomorrow night, Y/N?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Dinner. With me at the rooftop lounge. I’ll reserve a special table with the best view.”

“Just thought you should know, I cannot be reeled in over wealth and gifts.”

“Not that kind of woman, huh?”

You smirked. “I don’t think so.”

“Is that a no?”

“If you weren’t so rich, or if you weren’t so alike to your playboy father, maybe I’d immediately say yes.”

He twirled you around so skillfully you almost squealed. “Then let me prove to you I’m no rich playboy.”

“You have the whole night.”

He pressed his forehead against yours, smirking as you looked into his eyes. You were warm, and even if you weren’t so immensely sexy, he was still so drawn to you, he’ll make sure to make the night worthwhile.

The song ended, and reluctantly, he pulled away from you, but not without a kiss to your hand once again.

“You may not be that kind of girl, but what if I take you up to my room?”

He watched your face, looking for any signs of hesitation. Even at just the slightest bit of pressure, he wouldn’t push it. But the wide smile on your face and the enthusiastic nod reassured him. “Lead the way.”

Jason held out his elbow for you to take, and you wrapped your hand around your bicep as you walked to the back of the room, to the elevators no one was supposed to go into. He heard whispers from socialites left and right, how he was taking a burlesque girl up to his room. They’ll call you cheap, for sure. But even if they had half the charm you had, he’d pick you in a crowd of hundreds in a heartbeat.

You didn’t seem to mind. You walked into the elevator, still holding onto his arm, and you walked out into a hall of glass walls and crystal statues. At the end of the hall was the door to his room. And with no one around, Jason led you inside.

You placed your purse on a console table, marveling over the immensely luxurious bedroom. The walls were still of the same crystal-like glass, blue all over the walls. There was a couch and living area to the left, and right in front was his own liquor bar, which he walked over to immediately after pulling out a seat for you to take. Behind it was a beautiful aquarium, large enough to fill up the whole wall. Walking over to it, watching the fish move around the corals and seaweed, Jason took out a bottle of champagne and poured both of you a new glass.

“You have quite the exquisite taste.”

“I’m hoping that doesn’t turn you off as much.”

Handing you a glass, you clinked it against his and sipped. “Your charm makes up for it. I take it you weren’t born with a silver spoon up your ass?”

He laughed. “No. Glad you should mention that. I grew up in the streets, in fact.”

“You and I both.”

Another lipstick stain on the rim of your glass, and your eyes still on the fish of the aquarium. He had to stop staring so much.

“Where’s your next performance?”

“I’m not so sure yet. Our manager usually tells us of our performances on the day.”

“Call me. I’d love to watch you again.”

Smiling as you walked over to the liquor bar’s stool, Jason put his arm on the bar’s surface. “Why me?”

He was flustered. “Well, other than the fact that your beauty absolutely captivates me, red happens to be my favorite color.”

“A way with words, you have, Jason Todd.”

You both placed your empty glasses on the table, and Jason started to put his face nearer to yours, leaning towards you from the other side of the bar. You were pushing your ass out, leaning towards him in turn. With a brush of his fingers against your cheek, you bit your lips.

“May I take another step at convincing you over that date?”

“Take as many measures as you want.”

You were first to lean in to his lips, and you were warm, so soft, and incredibly addicting. That rosy smell was now mixed with the faint remnants of champagne. He breathed in, walking over to your side at the table so he could roam his hands around your hair, your neck, your waist. He stopped, and you went on to kiss his neck, and he leaned over to push on the lever under your seat so you’d be elevated up to his height. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you kissed him again and you felt his hand snake up your thigh.

“You sure those-“ you breathed. “-socialites downstairs wouldn’t mind?”

“I don’t care.” He smiled at you. Jason took off his suit jacket and you worked him off his tie. His red dress shirt was a shade lighter than your dress, and all you could think about were the thick muscles he had on under his clothes, how huge he was compared to any other man you’ve ever been with. Your hands on his face, you spread your legs so he could settle himself between them.

Shit, this was hot. Your heavy breaths, your gasps, the slight mewl when he’d bite into your neck, he lifted you up on your thighs and carried you to the other side of the liquor bar. Now sitting taller than him, he could nip at your chest easily, biting into your collarbone. Your legs were hooked around his waist and with neither of you fixing the straps of your dress falling down your shoulder, you moaned in delight when his hands squeezed onto your thighs.

With your help, he fiddled with his belt buckle and unzipped his pants, never leaving your lips while he was at it. Hiking your dress up to your waist, he groaned when your hand suddenly started to pump his length.

“You really got it all, Mr. Todd,” you winked.

“Like what you see?”

“Yes, sir.”

He swore his dick twitched.

Then he started attacking your neck, the top of your breast. He pushed your dress down so he could bite into the skin of your now exposed breasts. Of course you weren’t wearing a bra. He didn’t know what he expected. Eyes closed shut, moaning even louder, he tipped over a few glasses when he leaned his weight over you. Your legs were in the air, and you were holding onto him so you wouldn’t fall off.

Kneeling down, your fingers locked onto his hair, Jason looked up at you as he pushed you further toward the edge of the surface, your exposed ass cold against the bar. He kneaded your thighs, so skillfully well you could probably cum just as that, then the cheeky bastard started biting at the hem of your stockings.

Smiling down at him, you watched him pull them down your legs with his teeth, before he’d traced his burning hot tongue up the skin of your inner thighs. Your thongs were thin enough for him to know you’d feel his breath if he ghosted his mouth over you, so that was exactly what he did. And watching your reactions, and the way you pulled even tighter into his hair, he stood back up to pull your lips back to his.

You bit at his lip, feeling the tip of his warm cock play with your folds.

And when he’d slid inside you, your nails raked onto his back, nevermind his shirt to protect him. You weren’t so shy anymore when you suddenly tore his shirt open, the buttons flying to whatever direction to the ground. Smiling as he thrusted inside you, your nails traced the outlines of his abs. So fucking hot…

He probably heard another glass break, but he didn’t care. Jason picked you up once again, turned around, then pushed your back flat against the aquarium’s glass. The fish were frantically swimming around in panic, especially when he started pounding against you and the window shook in loud thuds. You screamed, and with a bite onto your neck, the tip of his cock hit that side of your tight walls clenching around him to hard, he wanted to break the glass.

He moaned into your ear, effortlessly keeping you up with his hands on your thighs. He thrusted into you, gaining speed the more you screamed and moaned his name. He caught your lips, bit onto them even when he didn’t want you to be quiet. This was fucking hotter than anything he’s ever experienced.

And he didn’t want this to end so quickly. Not with you. Something to captivating within you made him want to take his sweet time, enjoy your body he was lucky enough to have at the first night. He didn’t want this to be just for tonight, no. He wanted you to come back, to make you feel so good you’ll have to say yes to that date. So he lifted you up once again, his cock still lodged inside you, and he carried you into bed.

Fuck, you were so hot splayed out on his bed like that, your thighs drenched and your hair a mess. Jason took his dress shirt off, throwing it to the floor, then he helped you slide off of your dress, your thongs, your stockings, and fucking hell, you were beautiful.

Jason took off his pants, and before you could pull him in, he leaned over to the side of the bed and pressed on two buttons. One of them dimmed the lights to a sexy, seductive red glare, and the other put on some music. Some slow rap song he didn’t have the liberty of choosing, and it made you giggle. You obviously didn’t want him fiddling around with more buttons, so you pulled onto his shoulders and hooked both your legs around him.

Moaning, your hands gripping onto the sheets, Jason kissed your breasts and midriff so breathily slow that it made you a writhing mess. He leaned over to your cunt, breathing against it to make you jolt, then he lapped his tongue over you so gently your back arched high up to the air. He inserted a finger, then another, and you were screaming his name over and over, shaking each time he thrusted inside you. “Fuck,” he moaned, before lapping at your clit with the tip of his tongue.

Yes. Moan. Scream. Twitch at his touch. Just watching you would’ve been enough to get him off. The lights, the room, the music, it was all perfect. “Is that a yes on that date now?”

“If you don’t continue fucking me right now, I might never call you.”

He laughed and went back up to your lips, grinding against you so deliciously slow, his shaft grazing up your cunt, he held onto you as you jolted up. Suddenly, he flipped you over, and you squealed as he held your ass up, licking his fingers as he played with your pussy. You buried your head against the soft pillows and moaned as he slid back inside you, hands roughly gripping onto your hips.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!!!” you screamed, and with his arm holding onto your shoulders, he held you up, keeping that sexy arch of your back intact with his other hand, and with your head falling to his shoulder, he pulled you up for a kiss. Hands all over your breasts, skin so flustered and over stimulated, you felt burning. Jason bit your lip too hard when he felt your already tight pussy clench around him. Forehead against yours, he looked right into your eyes and snapped his hips into your ass, making you shriek.

“Fuck! Do that again, sir!”

Fucking hell.

He did it again. And again. And again and again.

He’s never been so intimate with a stranger, never took so much time to make them feel good. And even when he’d just met you, something didn’t want him to make this a single night of quick, meaningless sex to keep him going through the day. Something wanted him to make this more than that.

So he kissed you, long and hard. And with your limbs trembling and shaking hard enough to make you fall, he held you up, holding himself back from the immense pain and pleasure that went with you clenching so hard around him, he hissed and gave in.

He came, and you both fell to the bed, his chest pressed against your back, he sloppily kept up with his thrusts and rode out his high. He shuddered, spilling so much of his load inside you. Fuck, this was too good for him. He kissed your shoulders, your back, then your cheek. You looked amazing, and undoubtably grateful. Jason turned you around, legs around his body, and kept kissing you all throughout the night.

Fucking a stranger, sure. But making love to one? Not exactly what people would have in mind. But somehow, with you, nothing has ever felt better. Nothing felt so right.

And eventually, when the ripe beginnings of sunshine had met his window, you kissed him once again before walking back over to pick your clothes from the ground. “My phone’s over there,” you pointed to your purse. “Give me your number.”

Pinching your butt cheek, Jason took your phone. He then gave you his and you put your number with a little heart next to your name.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a night like that with someone I barely know.”

“Neither have I.”

Smiling, and with your clothes back on, you leaned over to him and kissed him, before walking out of the room. Biting the inside of his gums, he put on his clothes, walked over to the liquor bar, then turned over to face the fish.

A push on the remote he had opened the screens behind the aquarium. His hand in his pockets, he watched as the glass unfolded.

“You alright there, Cobblepot?”

“You. Fucking. Tool,” Penguin growled from behind the glass, his clothes and hair a mess. Probably from almost tearing them out from his skin in frustration.

“Shut up. At least I had the decency to shut the glass and the one way mirror. You didn’t see anything.”

The stout man looked absolutely traumatized. “And you just forgot to turn the sounds off?”

“Oh,” he sipped on his wine. “Whoops.”

  Taglist: everyartistwas-firstanamateur  @sarcasmismyfirstlove @damned-queen-of-gotham @idkmanicantenglish @wunderstell @birdy-bat-riya @get-loki@everyday-imfangirling @comic-nerd-dc @multifandoms916 @icequeen208@offendedfishnoises @egdolan @xemiefx @arkhamtoddler @elsenthal@mythicbitchx @supremehaunter @ burning-alive  @lucy-roo  roseangel013bf @ loxbbg  reclusive-chicken-nuggethttp-cherries shadowsndaisiesriver9noble zphilophobiazannoylinglyaries @knightfall05x​

[ghoulciifer]

hi! if you’re not overwhelmed with anything else can you write headcanons of kirishima,bakugo and shinsou with a s/o whos quirk side effects is being dizzy and tired

hc: Kirishima, Bakugo, and Shinsou with an S/O whose quirk has side effects of being dizzy/tired.

tw: none

tags: comfort, fluff

notes: hi bby, i am not overwhelmed by any means LOL my blog is still very small and i get an ask once in a blue moon but that’s my fault for not posting enough content ouchie. but ty for requesting!!! as always i really appreciate it when you guys let me know what content you want, and my inbox is always open to requests. n e ways, i hope you enjoy this n ily

» so i think it is abundantly clear that kirishima is an absolute sweetheart, the BESt boy

» which means it’s no surprise that he’s super supportive and conscious of how your quirk affects you n your body

» when he saw you overuse your quirk for the first time during an extra long training session for the agency you both worked for (before you two started dating), he damn near passed out himself

» bby boy RAN to your side and held you up by your shoulders, leaning down to meet your drooping eyes, his own blown wide open in concern

» “y/n??? you okay??? did something happen??? are you hurt??? do i need to-“

» he’s just a golden retriever istg

» but once your head finally started clearing up you assured him that you’re fine, it’s just a side effect of your quirk

» and you could practically see the worry leaving his body as he visibly relaxed, his hold on you loosening just a bit but never going away (bc he’s lowkey still worried)

» if you’re feeling embarrassed bc of it he’ll reassure you that it happens, you’re still badass and he admires you AWE

» now that you two are together and have been with each other for a while, he knows what to expect and how to handle the situation when it occurs

» knows your limits and when you’ve met them, instantly at your side to support your frail body, bringing you water or a snack for the fatigue so you can build your energy up, supportive boyfie things

» “Do you want the granola bar or the yogurt??? Or I can cut up some fruit!!! I have juice and an extra water bottle and-“

» always tells you how great of a job you’re doing, regardless if you’re upset or not because he just likes to remind you

» i wasn’t lying when i said he is the SWEETEST boy

» he also doesn’t really know if it helps but he always hums while he’s rubbing your back, pushing your head to his chest or shoulder after sitting you down to recuperate

» little does he know that it actually kinda does bc hearing the vibrations through his strong chest really keep you grounded

» wow you are a simp for this dude it’s ok me too uwu

» now this firecracker

» he wouldn’t show his initial concern as expressive as kiri would, but he would definitely panic internally on the same level (if not more tbh, fuckin’ tsundere)

» you two are sparring for shits and giggles, right

» and as you expected he already told you beforehand that he will NOT go easy on your just bc you’re his s/o maybe a lil’ tho bc ur cute

» plus he’s never seen you in combat before because you try to keep heroing out of the relationship so you can just focus on each other when you’re together (this friendly fight is the ONLY exception)

» what you didn’t account for was just how much energy he was making you use, it literally felt like you whole body was going to give out by the end of the match

» you were so close to pinning him down when your body suddenly collapsed and you passed out from fatigue

» he didn’t go into full on panic mode but he definitely went wide eyes and eyed you for a bit before kneeling beside you (boy KNOWS he didn’t fuckin’ kill you, he has control believe it or not)

» and internally he’s all ASHSGSJAFSK WHAT

» so he cautiously pulls you into his arms from the ground and into his chest, arms wrapped around your frame to give you support for when you regain consciousness, calling your name a few times to speed up the process

» he also holds you like this so he knows your breathing (again, he knows he didn’t kill you but just to be sure??)

» when you wake up finally he asks if you’re alright, voice much softer than usual so he doesn’t make the ache in your head worse

» you shyly tell him about the side effects of your quirk upon request and he grunts in response, still cradling your head to his chest with a thumb lightly rubbing against your spine

» “...well damn babe, you’re strong as hell for holding out that long. I thought that fight was never going to fuckin’ end.”

» that’s just his special way of telling you he’s impressed w your abilities and limits, uwu

» now he makes a point to ask if you had any dizzy spells or moments of fatigue during the day when you come home from patrol, just to make sure you were still feeling okay (bc he wouldn’t be opposed to holding you again)

» never admits it but he’s the one who sneaks an extra energy bar in your work duffel before you leave for the day c:

» i might go overboard on this one because shinsou is my BOI, i love this lil’ sleepy head so fn much

» and one of the main reasons why is bc he’s very caring and understanding n will show you that if you’re close enough to him

» which you are bc you’re his s/o, duh lucky bitch >:(

» you got to see this side of him first hand when he saw how your quirk affects you when you push a lil’ too hard

» you were at home, hanging out with your fav boy after a particularly hard day at work, shinsou rubbing your legs that were draped over his lap affectionately

» he could tell you were exhausted but he just figured it was from all the hero work, my guy is v familiar with that feeling

» he did notice you were much quieter than normal bc usually the vacant air was filled with you talking about your day, laughing at his witty jokes, making fun of your mutual friends’ decisions to post certain things on social media i’m lookin’ at you denki

» but again, he just pinned it on your experience with work today so he just sat there massaging your shins while you rested

» eventually you had the impending pressure of needing to pee press uncomfortably on your bladder and the longer you ignored it, the more you realized how close you were to pissing yourself

» so you hoisted yourself off the couch with a groan and the second you stood up, you immediately saw stars and it felt like the world around you was turning at mach fuckin’ 20

» Shinsou (being the perceptive bean he is) immediately had hands around your waist the second you began to sway and reach for anything around you to stabilize, that thing being his arm

» “Woah, woah, woah, easy... you okay, baby?”

» You couldn’t see (yk bc you were literally about to fall over) but the way his brows furrowed upward and his eyes glazing with concern would’ve made your heart go doki doki

» You squeezed your fingers against your temples and kept your eyes closed while you assured him you were fine, it happens, you just overexerted yourself with your quirk today

» He helped you lean against the side of the couch and rubbed your shoulders, standing on his knee on the cushions behind you, muttering sweet things in between your slow inhale and exhale exercises

» tried to sit you down again but you still had to peE

» “Do I need to walk you to the bathroom? Hold your hand while you go?”

» “You are NOT holding my hand while I pee, ‘Toshi.”

» You were ok after a while and successfully made your bathroom trip, but that day he made a mental note to keep an eye out for the signs he wrote off earlier

» On those days he always offers you massages, a cute lil’ cuddle sesh, snacks, even urges you to sit in his lap so he can play with YOUR hair for once boy is selfish when it comes to head scratches

» And will proceed to whisper sweet nothings into your ear during all of the above <3