#but a lot of what people WANT out of a toph & zuko friendship they already HAVE

[atlabeth]

everything happens for a reason part 11 - zuko x fem!reader

Memories, where'd you go?

part 10 | masterlist | part 12

a/n: alternative name for this fic: y/n gets a crush on every pretty girl she meets. yue, katara, and now suki. she can't help it (and she questions why they're all connected to sokka in some way lmaoo)

anyways, this is kind of filler but it establishes some more with relationships and finallyyy gets us into ba sing se at the end. i know it's a lil annoying because there's a lot of episode-to-text writing, but i promise it'll get more freeform as it goes on

also i know that i just posted something yesterday but i have literally zero patience. like i cant hold chapters i have to post them as soon as i write them loll

wc: 5.3k

warning(s): some feels over zuko as per usual, but overall a pretty tame chapter

chapter title comes from memories by panic! at the disco!

Zuko could barely sleep anymore.

He didn’t know when his life became so complicated, but he wasn’t a fan of it.

Back when it was just him, his crew, and the open sea — it was simple. He had a job, a straightforward mission. Find the Avatar, capture him, return home to the Fire Nation and regain his honor.

Now, the waters were more muddied than ever. Now on the run from the Fire Nation just like the boy he was chasing, all he really felt nowadays was anger.

Angry at the world for setting him on this path, angry at the Avatar for refusing to see what was necessary, his sister and her friends for turning against him, angry at the waterbender for making things so damn hard.

He didn’t want to hurt her. A part of him wished that she had never come back into his life, if it meant he wouldn’t have to constantly be fighting against her. He hated himself for the thought, but maybe it would have been easier for her to remain a memory of a lover than his active enemy.

Late at night, when he was reaching fruitlessly for sleep that would never come, he saw her face. The carefree energy from their childhood morphed into the shock and disappointment from both the North and their fight with Azula, and…

It made him wonder what in Agni had happened to them.

He—

He didn’t know. The way he felt about her, it was different than anything he had experienced before. Zuko didn’t know what it was, but he understood that it was special. And now… it felt like he had just thrown it all away.

Zuko couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with her in that town — what he had done to her.

He had burned her to try and get to the Avatar, and he hadn’t even allowed a glance back at the damage he had done. He had heard her cry out in pain, pain he had caused, and he didn’t even look back.

What had happened to them? What had happened to him?

He kept telling himself that the mission was the only thing that mattered. And it was, wasn’t it? Capture the Avatar, regain his honor, get his old life back and finally be enough for his father. He didn’t have time for friends, or for these feelings he had, or— or for anything but capturing the Avatar. Because the Avatar was the key to everything, to his honor, and that was all that mattered.

But now…

Now, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He didn’t know what was right, or what was wrong, or what path was the one he had to take.

Zuko just wished things could be like they used to be.

~~~~~~~~~~

She didn’t really know when everything had become a mess again.

It all started out fine, like it usually did. Toph had become fully integrated into the group, any past squabbles put to rest in the name of a stronger friendship emerging between all five of them. Katara continued to work on Aang’s waterbending (oftentimes Y/N joining them in their sessions) while Toph slowly but steadily beat earthbending into him — literally.

They had all been working hard for so long that, by decree of Aang, it was ‘vacation time’. They would all get to pick out places they wanted to spend as a break, and after it was over they would get back to work.

Aang had chosen some sort of field with musical groundhogs, and Y/N had opted to revisit an Earth Kingdom village that she had passed through on her journey to the North. Sokka had complained the whole time about how they were ‘wasting valuable planning time’, but had finally conceded after the promise of ‘all the planning his heart could desire’ from Katara after their mini-vacations were over.

Y/N was actually feeling somewhat relaxed for once, but she had forgotten the golden rule — never let your guard down. Everytime she let her guard down, something bad happened without fail. So it shouldn’t have been any surprise with what happened in the desert.

Because after one trip to the Misty Palms Oasis and a journey into the desert with a professor to a long lost library, Appa had been taken by desert raiders.

It was… less than favourable. During their escape from the library, Professor Zei had insisted on staying behind, and now the five of them were stuck in the middle of the desert with no way out and zero guidance. Add some brewing tensions between Aang and Toph because of her being there when Appa was taken, and they had a recipe for a huge disaster.

And a disaster they had. Multiple disasters, actually.

There was only so much she and Katara could do to hold the group together, but by some miracle, they made it out of the desert with only one Avatar State mishap.

(And an incident with cactus juice, but… she didn’t really want to talk about that.)

....at least they had the information about the Eclipse. That was about the only thing keeping her together at the moment.

They had to get the information to the Earth King so they could formulate an attack with his warriors, but without Appa, they had to resort to more traditional methods of travel. Add in one passport problem, and that was how Y/N found herself braving the Serpent’s Pass alongside a refugee family with a baby on the way.

It was… intimidating, to say the least. Despite being surrounded by her element, Y/N didn’t feel any safer from the challenge that faced them. She took a deep breath, trying to tamp down on her fear the way her mother had taught her, as she followed the group, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

“Hey.” She turned to see who the voice belonged to and was greeted by the girl that had teased Sokka early — Suki, if she remembered correctly. “I haven’t seen you around; are you with the Avatar or that family?”

“I’m with Aang,” Y/N explained. “I’m from the North, and they offered me a spot with them after they helped us defend our tribe against the Fire Nation. I’ve been with them ever since.” Suki nodded as they settled into a comfortable stride.

“That’s cool. Are you a waterbender?”

She gestured to her waterskin and smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been training with Aang and Katara ever since I left.” Y/N then turned her gaze back to Suki, raising an inquisitive brow. “Your makeup — what’s it for? I heard you talking about the Kyoshi Warriors back there; is that some kind of thing with Avatar Kyoshi?”

Suki grinned, her every expression heightened by the sharp reds and blacks above her eyes. “We’re a group of all-female warriors that use the teachings of Avatar Kyoshi and her partner Rangi to defend our home and the place she founded, Kyoshi Island. I’m the leader of our village section.”

“Wow,” she murmured, her eyes falling to the ground for a moment before finding their way back up to the warrior. “That’s really cool. You’re really cool.”

She laughed and shrugged. “Thanks. I’ve been training as a warrior for almost my whole life, so it just comes naturally. I like being able to protect people, and there’s no better way to pay back my home for all it’s done for me like protecting the whole village.”

“Wow,” she repeated with a small laugh of her own. “That’s really brave. I gotta say, I’m kinda jealous — I would love to see what would happen if Master Pakku met you all. Katara literally had to beat the sexism out of him in order to train to be a master.”

Suki chuckled. “Sounds like what I had to do with Sokka. Guess it’s a thing with Water Tribe guys, huh?”

At the mention of Sokka, she internally laughed. There had to be some kind of connection between the two of them, the way their interests kept aligning. “Sokka… he’s had it hard. I can’t blame him that much for any kind of attitude he had before he met you. Pakku, on the other hand? He had to have had something better to do than fight teenage girls.”

“You would think so, right?” Suki agreed. “And Sokka… I know. He’s got a heart of gold underneath all that, he just needed a little push to get it out.” As Y/N glanced over at the girl, noticing a slight pink tint under the white makeup, she gasped.

“La’s fins, are you two a thing?” she exclaimed with a grin.

Suki flushed even harder as she suddenly became very interested in the ocean around her, but she couldn’t help the smile on her lips. “No! I mean— yes— but… but—” she stopped to gather her thoughts before making eye contact again with a sheepish smile. “We’re not… really a thing, but… I do like him a lot. I didn’t really think I was going to see him again after they left the island, so this is really nice.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Y/N asked. “I can already tell that he cares about you — have you seen how careful he’s being with you?”

“Well—” Whatever kind of excuse Suki would’ve made up was interrupted by a rock falling out just under Than, one of the refugees they were with, saved in the nick of time with Toph’s earthbending.

“I’m okay!” he reassured, but no sooner had the words left his mouth before the Fire Nation ship in the distance started firing.

“They’ve spotted us!” Sokka yelled. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Aang flicked his glider open and deflected the blast, and Katara grabbed Y/N’s hand as they all began to run. Another blast rocked the mountain, causing several boulders to fall just above Suki. Y/N didn’t even have time to shout out a warning before Sokka tackled her out of the way, but it was ultimately more of Toph’s quick earthbending that saved him.

“Suki, are you okay?” Sokka brushed dust and pebbles off of her uniform as he examined her, and once he was satisfied he grabbed her hand and helped her up. “You have to be more careful! Come on!”

As the two of them caught up to Y/N and Katara, she gave Suki a knowing look. The warrior only blushed once again and glanced away.

After hours of navigating the pass, they were only about halfway through. Sokka made the executive decision to set up camp for the night to give everyone time to rest, and then they would get up at the crack of dawn to finish their trip. It only took a few minutes for Y/N to get a fire going, and soon everyone had settled in with their sleeping bags. Sokka got up from his spot as Suki wandered closer to the edge, and Katara nudged Y/N with her shoulder.

“Hey. How are your hands doing?”

“They’re fine,” she answered with a small smile, flipping her hands over as proof. Where there were once red burn scars on her palms only tiny white marks remained — one benefit to healing via waterbending was that most injuries were able to fade away completely after enough sessions. Her burns weren’t very serious and she was able to heal them almost immediately, so both her and Katara were sure that the marks would be completely gone soon.

The mental scars wouldn’t fade as easily.

“That’s good. And you’re taking care of them, right? Like, you’re not beating up people while we’re not looking?”

Y/N grinned. “No. I think I’ll leave that to Toph.”

Katara chuckled and nodded, turning her hands over in a final examination before nodding. “Good,” she repeated. The silence between them, although comfortable, stretched out for a little too long before she spoke again, this time much quieter. “He did this to you.”

“Katara…”

“I know,” she said. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this from me, or really at all, but… I’m worried about you. Zuko isn’t good for you. Every time we’ve run into him, he’s hurt you. And you deserve so much more than that.”

“You don’t understand,” she countered. “You don’t know Zuko like I do. You weren’t there when I was. I know you think I’m insane for still believing in him, but I— I can’t let go of him, Katara. I know the Zuko I love is still in there somewhere, and I have to try and find it. For me and for him.”

Katara’s eyes were full of nothing but sympathy as she sighed — it was obvious she didn’t believe her words, but in true fashion she was still trying her best to be supportive.

“Okay. I don’t understand it, but… I don’t think I can change your mind.” Y/N chuckled sadly and nodded, Katara’s piercing gaze meeting her own once more. “It’s just… Why are you playing with fire when you know you’re going to get burned?”

And for once, Y/N didn’t have an answer for her friend.

~~~~~~~~~

The night went by quickly, which Y/N was thankful for. It meant that the nightmares didn’t last as long.

After a quick headcount to make sure no one had fallen off the pass overnight and an even quicker gathering of their things, they set off to finish their journey.

It went just as well as she had expected — a giant serpent, the namesake of the pass, had attacked them while crossing through an underwater section. Thankfully, she was able to aid Katara and Aang in defeating it with waterbending with no casualties

But in the wake of one disaster there was always another, and before Y/N knew it a baby had been born. She was mostly there for moral support — Katara had it all handled, and Y/N didn’t expect anything less.

But finally, they had made it across the pass, and they were so close to Ba Sing Se that she could almost smell the city air. Sadly, though, that meant it was time for them to part ways — Aang to find Appa, and Suki back to her warriors. After some sad but hopeful goodbyes with Aang, it was time to bid farewell to Suki.

“Are you sure you can’t travel a little longer with us?” Y/N questioned, apparently not above pleading to try and get the girl to stay. “You’re— you’re amazing, and we’d really love to have you with us.”

“I can’t even imagine what travelling with the Avatar would be like,” she smiled, causing Y/N to get her hopes up for just a moment before they fell back down. “But I can’t stay. I have to get back to the Kyoshi Warriors.”

Y/N sighed, her gaze falling slightly downcast. “I get that. I just really wish you could stay. Or that I could meet your warriors. You seriously don’t know how cool you are, Suki.”

“Well, if you’re ever in town on Kyoshi Island, find us. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out and do you one better than just meeting them all,” she said with a grin. “I think it’d be pretty cool to have the first waterbending Kyoshi Warrior.”

Y/N was unable to prevent the heat rushing to her cheeks as she smiled shyly, once again averting eye contact. “That would be amazing. I’ll have to find my way back there after the war.”

Suki bumped shoulders with her, causing a startled laugh to spill from her lips. “We’d love to have you.”

“Wait, why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye to her?” Sokka questioned as he walked up to the two of them. Y/N winked at Suki and gestured at him with her head, walking off before Suki could protest to find Katara.

The conversation the two girls were sharing was an extremely thinly veiled excuse to eavesdrop on the lovebirds, and when they kissed Y/N actually had to hold back a scream.

Sokka deserved this. She knew how much he beat himself up over every little thing that went wrong, and it was about time he got to relax even for a moment. She only hoped that Suki would be in their corner of the world sooner rather than later.

What could she say? She was already fantasizing about life as a Kyoshi Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~

Although they had parted ways, they soon found themselves reunited with Aang to stop yet another Fire Nation threat.

“For the love of Kuruk,” Y/N murmured as she stared into the distance, her eyes wide at the sight of a large mechanical drill. “That was Ty Lee who just took down all those soldiers. And if she’s here, Mai and Azula are with her too. Guys, It’s one thing to stop this drill, it’s another thing to take those three down with it.”

“The question is, how do we do it?” Aang questioned.

“Why can nothing ever be easy?” Sokka lamented. His gaze remained trained on the drill for a moment before he realized theirs were on him. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“You’re the idea guy,” Aang said.

“Wait, so I’m the only one who can ever come up with a plan?” he protested. “That’s a lot of pressure!”

“And also the complaining guy,” Katara muttered, drawing a chuckle out from Y/N.

“Now that part I don’t mind,” Sokka admitted.

“Well, Sokka— you were a huge help in the North, and you figured out a way to defeat the Fire Nation during that eclipse at the library! Plus, there’s all that stuff that Katara told me you did before I joined.” She patted him on the back. “If anyone can figure out how to take that thing down, it’s you.”

He shrugged nonchalantly, his ego only slightly bolstered. “...okay. I think I can do it.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said with a smile.

Unfortunately, that smile faded as a young guard came running up to the wall. “Excuse me, Avatar and friends — I’ve heard that you’ve dealt with that… that pink girl down there before.” They nodded and he continued. “It would do us a great deal of help if you could come down and look at our injured soldiers, then.”

Y/N and Katara nodded in unison and started to follow the guard, the remaining three trailing after them. They ended up inside the wall, in what looked like an infirmary of sorts with all the cots and soldiers lying around, and the two waterbenders exchanged looks.

“You know what to do?” Katara asked.

Y/N hummed in acknowledgment, and they both knelt down next to separate cots. “This definitely looks like Ty Lee’s work,” she murmured as she bent water up from the pot and molded it over the man’s arm.

“What’s wrong with him?” the general questioned. “He doesn’t look injured.”

“His chi is blocked,” Katara explained. “Who did this to you?”

“Two girls ambushed us,” the soldier said, moving his arm as he regained feeling. “One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away.”

Katara sighed as she bent the water back into the pot. “You were right, Y/N. That was Ty Lee — she doesn’t look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak point. It’s like she takes you down from the inside.”

As if struck by lightning, Sokka lit up. “Oh, oh, oh! What you just said — that’s how we’re going to take down the drill; the same way Ty Lee took down all those earthbenders!”

“By hitting its pressure points!” Toph exclaimed with a grin.

The breakthrough brought a steely determination to Aang’s features as he looked out into the distance. “We’ll take it down from the inside.”

~~~~~~~~~

Like everything they did, it seemed so simple on paper. But now that she was actually inside the drill, it felt a lot more nerve wracking. Toph opted to stay outside where she could see and try to slow down the drill with the earth at her disposal, which left the four of them to somehow take it down from the inside.

Sokka led them through a hallway with a myriad of valves and pipes as he thought out loud. “I need a plan of this machine — some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points.”

“Where are we gonna get something like that?” Aang asked.

Sokka thought for a moment before he took his machete out and hacked a valve off a pipe. Y/N instinctively took a step back and shielded her face from the hot steam. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Someone’s gonna hear us!”

“That’s the point!” he exclaimed. “A machine this big needs engineers to run it, and when something breaks—”

“Someone will come down to fix it!” Katara finished with a smile at Aang, a sentiment the boy returned happily.

It was surprisingly easy to take down the engineer once he arrived — with a little bit of frozen mist on Katara’s end, they had the plans they needed. Sokka’s expertise combined with the blueprints got them to the beginning of the outer shell.

“Wow,” Sokka muttered. “It looks a lot thicker than it does in the plans. We’re gonna have to work pretty hard to cut through that.”

Katara crossed her arms. “What’s this ‘we’ stuff? The three of us are gonna have to do all the work.”

“Look, I’m the plan guy!” Sokka explained with a gesture to himself. “You three are the ‘cut up stuff with waterbending’ guys. Together, we’re Team Avatar!”

Katara and Aang looked wholly unamused while Y/N chuckled. “Team Avatar. I like it.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “At least someone appreciates my genius.”

“Tui’s gills, why do you have to keep boosting his ego?” Katara complained. “Let’s just get this done before it gets worse.”

The three of them got in position — Katara and Aang on opposite sides so they could pass the stream of water between them, and Y/N making the point of the triangle to work on the other side on her own. They were hoping it would be more efficient being able to cut through both sides at the same time, but it was proving to be much more difficult than they had imagined — halfway through the three of them were already exhausted.

By some feat of strength they were able to completely cut through the brace, but their hard work didn’t pay off in quite the way they had imagined — when the beam only shifted a few inches she groaned.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she breathed as she wiped sweat off of her forehead.

“At this rate,” Katara paused to inhale deeply, “we won’t do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall.”

“I don’t know how many more of those I have in me,” Aang said sadly.

A large creak suddenly rang throughout the large chamber, and they all looked up for the source.

“Did you hear that?” Sokka asked, already backing up to make an exit. “We took it down! We gotta get out of here, fast!”

Just as they reached the door on the other side, a crackle followed by the sound of a man’s voice dashed their hopes. “Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!”

A collective silence hung in the air between them, the threat now even more imminent as their situation sunk in. Mai and Ty Lee had proven effective in taking down any Earth Kingdom threat posed at them, and despite Toph’s skill they knew she couldn’t take down something like this on their own.

They either had to figure out a way to destroy this drill, or the Fire Nation was going to make it into the city.

Sokka ran back over to the brace and pushed against it, putting all his strength into the feat but to no avail. “Come…. on! Move!”

Katara started pacing around in a small circle, crossing her arms again as she tried to think of something. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

“Sokka, that’s not going to work!” Y/N didn’t mean to snap, but the grinding of metal on metal combined with her nervousness got to her. She sighed and ran her hand over her face. “I— I’m sorry. But it’s still not going to work.”

He groaned as he leaned against the brace. “We’re putting everything we have into busting these things, but it’s taking too long!”

Suddenly, Aang jumped up from the ground with stars in his eyes. “Maybe we don’t need to cut all the way through! Toph — she’s been teaching me that you shouldn’t put a hundred percent of your energy in any one strike. Sokka, get in a fighting stance.”

Sokka complied and as Aang talked through his points, he demonstrated it on Sokka. “You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance. And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow. His own weight becomes his downfall, literally.”

As Sokka fell over from the attack, Katara lit up. “So we just need to weaken the braces instead of cutting all the way through—”

“—then I can go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!” Aang finished.

Y/N helped Sokka up from the ground, his spirits not dampened at all. “Then boom! This whole thing goes down!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Y/N asked, flexing her fingers to refresh them for all the bending she was going to have to do. “Aang, Katara and I can handle the braces. Focus on getting up to the top before anyone sees you.”

He nodded and they all met each other with determined eyes. “Everyone inside that wall, the whole world — they’re all counting on us.”

“Here, take this. You need this more than I do. ” Katara took her waterskin off and handed it to Aang. “Good luck. And be careful.”

Y/N noticed a slight blush on her cheeks and she had to hold back her smile. That was definitely something she was going to tease her friend about later — when they weren’t trying to stop the Fire Nation from breaking into Ba Sing Se.

“I will,” he assured. Aang slung the strap of the waterskin around his shoulder and took off, and Y/N and Katara got to work breaking through the rest of the braces.

With the knowledge that they only had to cut through half of each column and the revitalization that came from having a plan, their work went by much quicker. Just when they finished the final brace, it all went wrong.

“Good work, Team Avatar!” Sokka cheered. “Now we— Y/N, duck!”

She didn’t question Sokka as she immediately dropped to the ground, something she was immensely thankful for as a blast of blue fire seared past her. Her eyes snapped up to the source of the attack and narrowed in recognition.

“Of course they’re here,” she growled as she pulled herself back up. “We gotta go, now!”

Katara and Sokka nodded and they all started running. Bringing up the rear, Y/N was able to hear Azula’s words right before they split off into an intersection:

“Follow them! I’m going to find the Avatar.”

Sure enough, when she allowed a glance back, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on them. She flicked open the cap of her waterskin and bent some out, managing to freeze it at just the right moment to block the incoming daggers from Mai. Still running, she melted it quickly and let it fall to the ground before freezing it again, creating some ice on the ground that would hopefully give them a few more seconds of leeway.

“That should give us some time!” she yelled as they turned a corner, finally turning her attention back to the path in front of them. “Any idea how we’re gonna get out of this thing?”

“Maybe!” Sokka yelled back, slowing to a stop as they came to a dead end, a large hatch the only thing at their disposal. He started tugging on the wheel in an attempt to open it, and when Y/N joined in they were able to wrench it open.

“Slurry pipeline?” Katara frowned as she read the sign on the wall and looked at Sokka. “What does that mean?”

“It’s rock and water mixed together,” he explained as they looked into the rushing liquid underneath the hatch. “It means it’s our way out!”

Katara nodded and climbed in, Sokka following close after. The sound of metal footsteps got closer and closer, and Y/N ducked inside just as Mai’s knives clanked against the hatch. Never before had she been so happy to be floating in a stream of slurry.

The rest of their mission went by surprisingly easy — at least, on their end. All it took was some waterbending — earthbending, when Toph joined them — and encouragement from Sokka (though unappreciated by Katara). Whatever magic Aang was working at the top of the drill had done its job, because soon enough the drill had collapsed in on itself.

And now, they had reunited on the top of the wall overlooking the sunset. After the chaos that had been their day, it was nice to just relax for even a moment. And there was no better way to do so than with her friends.

“I just want to say, good effort out there, Team Avatar!” Sokka exclaimed as he threw an arm around Y/N’s shoulder.

“Enough with the ‘Team Avatar’ stuff,” Katara said dryly. “No matter how many times you say it, it’s not going to catch on.”

“I like it, Sokka,” Y/N smiled. “I’ve liked it this whole time.”

“You always appreciate my genius, Y/N,” he mused. “That’s why I appreciate you.” She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder as he continued to list off names.

“How about… the Boomeraang squad! Eh? See, it’s good because it’s boomerang, and it has Aang in it—”

“Yeah Sokka,” Toph interrupted. “We got it.”

Aang grinned and scratched his head. “I kinda like that one.”

“The Aang Gang. Ooh, the Fearsome Fivesome!”

“You’re crazy,” Toph muttered as she walked away.

“Wait, Sokka—” Y/N pulled away from him and held up her pointer finger. “Aang Gang — what if we combine it, so it’s just the Gaang? But still with Aang’s name?”

And at that moment, Sokka looked more proud than ever. “Oh, you— you are a genius.”

“Oh, spirits,” Katara groaned. “Why do you insist on encouraging him?”

“You’re just jealous of our name-making abilities,” Sokka said haughtily.

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “You two are completely ridiculous, you know that? Let’s just get into the city before the trains stop running.”

Y/N and Sokka winked at each other as they all started walking, unable to keep the smile off of her face. She always thought it was amazing — they went through insane things every day, but at the end of it all she was always able to smile because of them. And as her gaze drifted towards the city in the distance, she hoped it would hold true.

She had no idea what Ba Sing Se had in store for her.

-

shit is gonna happen next chapter so i hope you all are READY bc im not

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[sokkascroptop]

traitor. (sokka x f!reader) pt 26

part 1 | part 25

a/n: no matter how long you have been here, just know i'm extremely grateful for anyone who's read this fic. now here's the latest chapter.

Sometimes it felt like the days dragged on. Each and every hour was laid out just like the day before–the week before. It made time seem endless, even though Y/N knew it definitely was not. Sozin’s Comet was getting closer and closer each day. Y/N didn’t know if it was the anticipation for that long fated day or if it was some buried fire bender gene in her body, warning her of something to come. She could feel it deep within her bones. She woke up earlier and earlier each day, no matter how late her night ended up. And each day the sun greeted her with warm yellow light that made the air a little easier to breathe.

As they moved further south and into Fire Nation territory, Zuko made mention of Ember Island as a place to hide out. The island–or chain of islands, really–were close enough to Caldera City that it would be a good place for them to lay low and wait, as well as uninhabited by enough people that they could lay low.

Y/N thought it was a little risky to be living in the Fire Lord’s Ember Island house, but Zuko was probably right, this was going to be the last place anyone would look for them. Maybe Y/N was just unsettled about being back, so close to Caldera City, or maybe it was being back on Ember Island for the first time since she was 9.

Somewhere between the temple and the beach house, Y/N tired of training. It just added to the monotony, and so she just…stopped. Instead, she spent her days on the beach, sometimes alone–often with the others though–playing in the tide pools and skim-boarding on the sand. And sometimes, if she felt like she didn’t have enough time on her own to recharge, she’d leave in the night, either through her window or the front door to take a walk on the beach in the moonlight. Only to come back and wake up a few hours later, ready for sunrise.

Today was no different, though the sun was already peeking over the horizon and into her room when her eyes peeled open.

The wooden floors creaked under Y/N’s feet as she crept out of her room silently.

Each board was smooth under her bare toes, not well-worn by many little feet running across them year after year but made that way before they were even built into the house, for no doubt a hefty fee. The beach house was… cold, to say the least. It just felt like each pore of the house seeped something uninviting, reminding them that they shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t just Y/N who felt it, they all spent as little time as possible in the house.

She padded into the kitchen and struck their flint to start a fire under the stove–mostly unneeded since Zuko had joined their group–but wholly necessary when he wasn’t around to be their fire-starter. Y/N didn’t mind doing it this way, it felt nice being able to do something with her own hands for once instead of relying on the others to make clean water or heat up the food. She boiled just enough water for one cup of tea before heading out to the courtyard where she knew at least two of her friends would be awake.

Y/N didn’t like feeling optimistic. It was a terrifying feeling. There was so much riding on their success; she didn’t want to spend so much energy on hoping only to have it all dashed away if things didn’t go their way. It would be too heartbreaking. But watching Aang, she could. They weren’t even sparring and she could see the power behind every blast of fire. And she had hope for their future. She had to; she wasn’t going to lose her friends.

“You’re doing that one wrong,” Y/N said from the shadows on the porch. She held her warm cup to her chest, the breeze blowing in from the ocean was keeping the courtyard chilly until the sun could rise high enough to heat the island.

Aang didn’t seem too surprised to hear her voice. “Doing what wrong?” He asked, confused.

Zuko frowned up at Y/N from his seat on the steps but nodded to Aang. “She’s right, you have to dip further down so when you come up the fire creates more of an arc.”

Aang pushed through a few more poses before Zuko stood up and joined him. Y/N stole his seat and pulled her legs up to cross them. She watched as they moved in tandem, working though the most basic of firebending forms all the way up to a few advanced ones. Memories flooded Y/N’s head so fast it made her dizzy. She remembered sitting just like she was now, watching her two brothers work through their forms when she was younger. On chilly mornings, much like today, she would wrap herself in a blanket nest and sip on tea that was much too sweet as they worked well into mid morning. In a sudden rush of affection she realized she was doing much of the same thing, just years and years later.

Aang had learned fast. That was good. She set down her empty cup as the two boys headed back to her, both sweaty from their training. “Good job, Aang! You’re doing great!”

Aang beamed with pride. “Thanks, Y/N!

“Don’t be so encouraging, he’s still got a lot to learn,” Zuko grumbled, taking a seat on the ground next to her.

Y/N pouted. “He needs encouragement. That’s how he learns.” Y/N learned that from watching the differences between Katara teaching styles and Toph’s teaching styles.

“Speaking of firebending,” Aang kicked his feet against the edge of the steps and looked around like he was avoiding something. “How did you know about the firebending forms?”

Zuko leaned back on his hands. “I’d like to know that too.”

Y/N smiled softly. “I watched my brothers for years, religiously learning all the forms and practicing them on my own. I wanted to be just like them. I guess I still remember them.”

Aang frowned. “It’s not like you couldn’t bend on purpose.”

Y/N was surprised to see Aang look so sad. “I know.” She shrugged and looked away feeling her cheeks redden with both boys staring at her. “I just wanted to be normal so people would stop paying attention to me for the wrong reasons.” She mumbled.

“It made you a better sword fighter,” Zuko said suddenly.

“What?” Y/N asked.

“The discipline and movements. You do the same when you’re fighting.”

“I’ve never noticed, but you’re right, Zuko!” Aang exclaimed.

The thought made Y/N smile. “That was nice of you.”

Zuko rolled his eyes but let the smallest hint of a smile grace his lips.

She looked back to Aang, who still looked a bit hesitant. “Don’t worry about me. How about we go swimming? Before the others wake up!”

Aang perked up immediately. “That sounds great! Let’s go, Zuko!”

Y/N and Aang stood, both looking down at Zuko, who just stared at the ground between his feet. She could already hear him saying no, telling them that he needed to train more or meditate and didn’t have time to run off and play games.

Y/N opened her mouth to tell Aang that the two of them could still go but Zuko spoke up before her. “Yeah, okay.”

Sometimes even on those long, dragging days, it was the little things that made everything better; like playing in the surf with two of your friends.

---

That evening though, Y/N was back where she had started the day, and had decided that everyone in her group of friends, save for maybe Zuko, talked way too much. She craved those moments alone where she just had her thoughts to occupy her. Especially when she had a lot on her mind.

Y/N didn’t want to admit she felt stuck inside with Aang and Katara while everyone else was outside enjoying the evening, but she also felt guilty in turning down their request to help make dinner to just wander around on the beach until sunset. She didn’t help out much with making meals, and she felt obligated to help when she could.

So she was there, sitting on the dinner table, lotus style with a knife and a cutting board and a basket of carrots in need of chopping at her side.

“What else can I do, Katara?” Aang dumped some of the vegetables he was cutting into the stew Katara was currently stirring over the stove.

“Hmm, can you go out and get some more water to make the rice?” Aang grinned and nodded, before running out of the house towards the side of the house where there was a small barrel of collected water.

Y/N smiled to herself at the interaction and continued cutting carrots for Katara, trying not to let her mind wander, but it was hard with the monotonous work and the bad spot she was sitting in.

Just in front of her was the window where she had watched Zuko and Aang train while she made tea that morning, now it showed Zuko and Sokka doing their own training.

Y/N was struggling with more than just feeling like she didn’t belong on the Island. She didn’t know what she was going to say to Sokka, or if she was even going to say anything about her feelings at all. Without the constant traveling and the safety of a hideout, she was able to just stop and let those feelings and thoughts she had been holding back with a dam of fear wash over her.

It was all really confusing for Y/N. And hard to admit.

She didn’t want to face the awkward conversation of asking whether he could always be there for her. She didn’t want to beg him to never leave because she was so insecure. She was so afraid of losing everything and everyone that she was going to do just that because she was afraid of opening up.

What would happen if she never told Sokka she loved him back? Did she even love him back? What did love feel like?

Love with Azula felt like fire, sometimes it burned painfully, but in the good times it filled her with a warmth like never before. Zuko’s friendship felt the same, but it was less like sitting too close to the fire and more like sitting just in the right place where it didn’t dry out your eyes but didn’t make goosebumps grow on your arms. Sokka always felt like a cool breeze, one where you lift your face up to the sky and smile because it always feels like relief. But that’s not what Y/N is used to. How does she know if it’s love if it doesn’t hurt a little bit? How does she know that it's real if she doesn’t have to give all of herself until she is worn to nothing to make it work?

It wasn’t that she was afraid to care for him, she had made it clear that she did. It was just easier on her heart to keep him at a distance for now until she figured they were inevitably part ways. That’s how Y/N saw this all ending. Separated across oceans, back to where they came from, whatever the outcome of the war. Y/N wanted to dream of the possibilities and opportunities where they could be together in the long run, but those were just that, dreams for another lifetime. People from the Water Tribe didn’t marry people from the Fire Nation.

Everything that she learned over the last few months was that nothing was ever set in stone, so why should she and Sokka be.

Y/N stared out the window, pondering when it would all fall apart and sliced downwards on a carrot, but met nothing but the cutting board. She looked down where the knife was closer to her finger than to the carrots. She let out a little inward gasp.

“What?” Katara turned around and asked.

Y/N’s eyes widened. “Nothing.” She motioned to the cutting board. “Do you want these smaller?”

Katara eyed Y/N and then looked to the cutting board. “They’re fine. But pay more attention, I don’t know how to reattach fingers yet.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Y/N’s eyes didn’t leave the wooden cutting board and her fingers until the others came bustling into the kitchen, all talking at once.

Y/N for the most part ignored everyone, until Sokka reached over and snatched one of the slices of carrots.

Y/N nudged his arm. “Can you wait?! I thought you didn’t like vegetables!”

“Aang got me to like carrots!” Sokka retorted, before quickly reaching around Y/N to grab another and popping it into his mouth.

“Why would you be sitting on the table that we have to eat off of?” Suki wrinkled her nose.

“Uh! Katara said I could!” Y/N stuck her tongue out.

Katara whipped around, hands on her hips. “I never said you could, I just didn’t say you couldn’t.” Katara turned back to stirring the stew before muttering under her breath, “Not like telling you no would have made a difference anyways.”

“Hey!” Y/N picked up a carrot and launched it at the back of Katara’s head.

Aang walked back inside carrying a bucket of water, to a kitchen full of chaos. Vegetables were being thrown across the room at one another, as laughter rang out. Sokka, Zuko and Y/N were sprawled on one side of the kitchen behind and under the table; with Suki, Katara and Toph only edging from behind the safety of the kitchen doorway to throw something.

For the first time in a long time, Y/N could hear the exasperation of a 112 year old monk in Aang’s usually cheerful voice.“Uh, guys, what are we supposed to eat for dinner now?”

---

Y/N was dozing against the headboard of her bed that night, when she heard the knock at her door. At first she thought she imagined it, that is until she heard a voice on the other side of the doorway. “Y/N, are you awake?”

Y/N slid out of bed and cracked open the door. She smiled and leaned against the doorjamb, a familiar feeling in her chest.

“Are you afraid that there are ghosts here too?”

Sokka grinned and nodded. “In this house? Absolutely. But I’m not here for that.”

“Oh?” Y/N raised an eyebrow.

“Come outside with me.”

Y/N chuckled. “Why?”

“Please, just come on. No questions.”

Y/N sighed and reached for an old silk robe she found in one of the closets, but her smile never left her face.

To be fair to Sokka, there wasn’t much to surprise Y/N with on an island she grew up on. But that night, the sky momentarily took her breath away.

Sometimes the simplest things were the most beautiful.

“I thought we could come out here; look at the stars a bit. I used to like doing that at home. Though it’s different. The constellations aren’t the same where I’m from.”

“I guess I’ll just have to teach you some.”

Together they laid side by side on the roof, and Y/N pointed out her favorites. The dragon, the jack-rabbit...

After Y/N had told Sokka the story of the Red Queen, some ancient fable of a powerful Fire Lady that was always one of Y/N’s favorites, they both grew quiet, Y/N asked the question that had been brewing on her mind. She worried that whatever she said would mess up the peaceful night they had been having. It felt like she was intruding on a secret that she wasn’t supposed to know.

“Hey, Sokka,” Y/N asked.

“Hmmm,” She looked over and Sokka looked about half asleep already. Maybe this would be good timing.

“Who’s Yue?”

Sokka’s eyes shot open and he sat up quickly. “What?”

Y/N could feel her face flush. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to know.

“Yue.” The word sounded flat and foreign on her tongue. Maybe that wasn’t how you actually pronounced it? Some of the Water Tribe names and words were hard for Y/N’s mouth to form. If she could, she flushed deeper. “I heard you talking about them when I was hurt. I was in and out of it, so I don’t remember much, but I remember the name.”

Sokka suddenly looked very sad. Which was… odd because Y/N just thought that Yue was a Water Tribe spirit much like the Fire Nation had Agni.

“She’s the moon spirit,” Sokka whispered, his eyes cast down on his wringing hands.

Y/N eyes were wide. Why was he acting like this? “Oh. I figured she was a spirit or something. It sounded like you were praying to her, or something.”

“Yeah,” Sokka choked out. “Something like that.”

That’s when Y/N noticed there were drips of water on Sokka’s hands. Tears.

“Sokka?” Y/N said softly. She reached forward and–yup those were tears, dripping on their hands.

“She was a girl I met at the Northern Water Tribe when we first started traveling.”

“I thought she was…”

“She is.” For the first time, Sokka looked up. The pain in his eyes was unimaginable. “But she was still a girl when I met her.”

Sokka launched into a story that sounded more fantasy than real, but the look on his face, the sadness in his features, Y/N knew he was telling the truth.

“She was blessed by the moon spirit when she was born, it was the only reason she was alive. But when we were in the Northern Water Tribe—Zhao, a Fire Nation commander killed the moon spirit and all the water benders lost their bending, forever.” Sokka shivered. “It was scary, the moon was gone in the sky and we were helpless to fight the Fire Nation. It would have changed the tide of the war.

But she was selfless. She knew that she was the only hope for her tribe—for the world—and she sacrificed herself to save all of us. So now she’s the moon spirit…I guess. I don’t know, she’ll always be Yue to me.” Sokka’s voice trailed off with a sniffle. Y/N didn’t know how to respond.

Sokka sent a longing glance upward. The moon was just past full, waning in the far distance but still bright and round in the sky. “I think–I think she heard me that night. And she knew how much you meant to me, even then. And she saved you because…” Now it was Sokka’s turn to flush. “I don’t think I could live without you.”

Those words made Y/N’s chest burn. Her arms and legs tingled in relief as if all the tension in her body began to melt away. Y/N reached out, wiping a stray tear off of Sokka’s cheek. “Me either,” she replied instantly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“’m not. Sad, really. I miss her, but it’s easier to always know where she is. She didn’t have a lot of choice in her life, but this was something she had control over. If she hadn’t become the moon spirit, the war would have ended right there. So her sacrifice meant that, you know, Zuko is our friend now and Aang has a chance at beating the Firelord and you have a place in all our lives. She made all of this possible.”

“Sounds like we have a lot more to be thankful to her for than just saving little old me then, huh?”

“You would have liked her.”

Y/N nodded and peered at the moon above them. “I do like her.”

No one else needed to know that after the two of them went inside and off to bed, that Y/N hung halfway out her window to get one last look at the moon. Y/N swore as her eyes closed and sleep overtook her that the moon shone a little brighter. Maybe that’s how the moon said thank you. Y/N’d never tell anyone that she whispered a small thank you too, to the girl who lived among the stars.

a/n: don't be shy, come talk to me in my askbox and tell me if you liked it

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[againwiththeturtles]

There are no “Parents” in the Gaang

Aang gets a lot of attention (hem, flack) for being childish. But he isn’t just goofing off all the time, he’s working very hard to master the elements, learn about the spirit world, and figure out a way to save the world. He stays focused on the overall goal of bringing all four nations together. He holds everyone in their group together as well, by reminding them that the day to day minutiae and their petty fights are less important than their final goal, and their friendship. In the grand scheme of things, their smallest set backs really don’t matter, and he reminds them of that by letting their struggles roll off of him like water, and by showing off his love for them so proudly that they can never forget it exists.

Katara gets a lot of attention (flack) for being “motherly,” which is fair. She’s caring, compassionate, and puts others’ needs before her own. She makes sure everyone is clean, fed, rested, and mentally stable. She helps keep everyone’s spirits up by reminding them of what they’re capable of, and what they’ve already achieved as a team and individually, and that hope still exists in the world. Whenever someone gets discouraged, she helps them remember that even though the odds are stacked against them, things are opening up. Despite their very difficult journey, she keeps their spirits high.

Sokka pays attention to the little details. Katara and Aang are focused on the bigger goals, so Sokka fills in the cracks. He makes highly specific plans for them to follow, and directs his friends when they don’t know what to do, or realize that they hadn’t thought about something beforehand. In the beginning, he was just a pessimist. He saw all the problems that Aang and Katara didn’t, and ragged on them for shooting so absurdly high. But later, he realizes that if he maps out their goals, they could achieve them, so he accounts for anything that might come up.

When Toph joins their group, she keeps them all down to Earth. When Sokka is freaking out over a tiny issue, or Katara is angry about something out of her control, or Aang is bogged down by all of his responsibilities, she reminds them of what’s real. She keeps them in the present, and reminds them of the current issue they’re dealing with, so they can figure that out before worrying about something far away and intangible. She also reminds them that they do have what it takes to get through their strife, and (once Katara and Iroh teach her about friendship) she uses her strength to help her friends carry their burdens.

Suki isn’t around very often, but when she is, she reminds them that even though the world does need them to end this war, the world has taken care of itself for 100 years. The people of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes can hold on for a little while longer. They do need the Avatar to keep balance, and deliver the final blow, but people everywhere are rising up to protect themselves in smaller ways, and she’s going to rally the troops.

Zuko (even before joining their group) reminds them of the stakes of this war. The first five of the gaang help each other remember that they can defeat the Firelord, but Zuko reminds them that they have to. He’s seen and felt the pure evil of the Firelord first hand, and he knows how potent it is, and that he could destroy the world with it. He also reminds them that they can’t give up yet. When he joins the gaang, they’re tired. They’ve been at this for almost a year, and they want to be done. But, Zuko reminds them that they aren’t yet, and there’s one more sprint to the finish line. There’s a possibility that they’ll fail, but they still have to try.

All six of them take an important role in moving them forward, keeping them on track, and making sure everyone is okay. There isn’t one or two of them that take more on, they just all take on their responsibilities in different ways.

They take care of each other.

[momsopposed2theoccult]

It’s come to my attention that a good majority of people on this website have a really poor understanding of the conflict between Toph and Katara in “The Chase.” As somebody who loves both characters and their friendship, this irritates me. Without further ado, let’s unpack that in what is in theory supposed to be a meta but turned out more like a rant. 

“Katara was hostile towards Toph because the fact that she’s a gender non-conforming girl made Katara uncomfortable because Katara is obsessed with gender roles.”

Alright, so right off the bat this is just... completely idiotic and clearly fuelled by an agenda (and likely also a lot of projection). First of all, how is Katara of “I don’t want to heal, I want to fight!” fame “obsessed with gender roles?” There’s an entire episode in Book One dedicated to Katara refusing to conform to societal norms for women in the Northern Water Tribe! Katara routinely calls Sokka out on his misogynistic bullshit! (Mind you I adore Sokka but he could be a little twerp at times and Katara was 100% right to challenge him on it) Katara is the feminist icon of ATLA! The fact that people act like Katara is some sort of conservative tradwife who loves gender roles instead of the outspoken feminist and political activist she is makes me incredibly angry.

Second of all, Katara was extremely kind and welcoming towards Toph at first. She gently encouraged her to join in with the group as they all set up camp together as opposed to setting up her own private camp. It’s only when Toph refuses to comply with her that Katara begins to get irritated. Mind you, Toph has her reasons for this, something I’ll get to in a minute, but from Katara’s perspective (key word here is perspective) she’s just being an annoying little stubborn, selfish, lazy, anti-social, entitled brat. Of course we the audience find out later that this isn’t the case at all (or at least in theory we should find out later but apparently some people on here skipped that part), but for all her many talents Katara is not a mind reader and has no way of knowing what’s going on inside Toph’s head, nor does she know her well enough yet to fully grasp the context behind why Toph acts the way she does. Katara is somebody who greatly values community and believes in teamwork, so Toph turning down her warm welcome in favour of “carrying her own weight” likely felt like a slap in the face. Not to mention that she’s already emotionally exhausted from having to constantly mother Aang and Sokka. If I were Katara, I likely would have reacted the same way. 

Oh and I agree that the “the stars look beautiful tonight, too bad you can’t see them, Toph” comment was out of line, but it doesn’t make her a horrible person. It makes her a 14 year old, and 14 year olds can be nasty, especially sleep deprived 14 year olds. Katara is otherwise a very kind and compassionate person. Other characters have said worse than that. Hell, Toph herself has said worse than that. That being said, it was a deeply hurtful comment and I do like to imagine that she apologized for it off-screen. 

“Toph is a lazy, entitled, and classist spoiled rich brat who just didn’t want to do chores and expected other people to wait on her.” 

This is another one that makes me roll my eyes and ask if they even watched the show. First of all, the presumption that Toph is a lazy or entitled person is just... laughable. I feel like people forget that Toph isn’t actually an earthbending prodigy in the way that Azula is a firebending prodigy (I could say more about Azula and how her belief that she was the unshakeable prodigal daughter ultimately caused her downfall and how by the end of the series Zuko is arguably a better firebender than her but this isn’t a meta about Azula and Zuko, now is it?). Nah. Toph was a sheltered kid who discovered she had the ability to earthbend, was told that she could never become great at it because she was blind, and in response said FUCK THAT and decided to work her ass off until she was not only great but the very greatest all thanks to her crazy, stupid, off-the-charts nerve, drive, grit, ambition, and desire to prove people wrong about her. Does that sound like a lazy person to you? Believe me when I say that you do not achieve that kind of skill level by sitting around on your ass and expecting to have things handed to you. And entitled? Don’t make me laugh. Toph hates having things handed to her, that’s one of her defining characteristics. 

As for the implication that she’s classist and enjoys basking in her family’s wealth and being waited on...... are you stupid? Did you even watch the show? Toph absolutely despises everything about her parents’ lifestyle. Growing up like that was traumatizing and restrictive for her. We’re talking about a girl who likes to play around in the mud for fuck’s sake. Toph does not care how much money you have. She never wanted any to begin with. She even says it herself; “I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. They gave me everything I could have wanted. But they never gave me what I actually needed - their love.” Not to mention that she easily could have continued to freeload off her parents wealth but instead chose to sneak out of the house and make her own money doing what she did best; disproving people’s assumptions about her earthbending. Oh and I’ve seen someone point this out before but WWE is generally considered a “low brow” activity that “proper” people frown upon and shouldn’t associate themselves with. Toph fucking loved it. I don’t know how seriously people take the comics, as they often miss the mark when it comes to characterization (Toph’s, however, was generally pretty accurate), but there’s a part in The Rift where Sokka asks her when she’s going to start charging people to learn metalbending and she gets all serious and flat out tells him that she will never do such a thing, because money doesn’t matter to her. Sharing her one true passion with the world is what matters to her. Oh and the part where she basically tells a bunch of rich and sleazy businessmen to fuck off and “stop thinking about money and start thinking about people’s lives” is just... *chef’s kiss* Sorry my thoughts here are so incoherent but this take is so piss poor and makes me so angry that I don’t even know where to start. As for “Toph enjoys being waited on” I just- *sigh* Toph has such a visceral and defensive reaction to any implication that she is unable to take care of herself. Like I said earlier, that’s one of her defining characteristics as well as the reason for her behaviour in “The Chase.” Where are people getting these takes?

You wanna know why Toph acted the way she did in The Chase? Well, first let’s recap her life up to this point. Toph was born the blind daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the Earth Kingdom. From day one her parents treated her like glass due to her disability. She was not allowed to leave her house unsupervised, and even then she was only permitted to walk around the gardens of her home. Every day of her life she was pitied, gaslit, babied, ignored, emotionally neglected, and made to feel ashamed of herself. She was not allowed to make any decisions for herself. She was not allowed to do anything for herself. She was not allowed to talk to other children. She had no friends. Other people didn’t even know she existed on account that her parents kept her locked up in her own home and didn’t tell anybody about her because they were so ashamed to have a blind daughter. Flash forward to “The Chase.” Toph begins to set up her own camp separate from the rest of the Gaang. Considering that she flat out was not socialized as a child and hadn’t even interacted with anybody her own age prior to a few days ago, this is understandable. So then Katara comes up to her and asks her why she isn’t setting up camp with the others as if she’s somehow incapable of taking care of herself (again, this is just what happened from her perspective) like she’s her mom or something and it just angers her because she thought she joined this group to get away from all that and she doesn’t understand how friends work because she’s never had one, all she knows is that apparently this girl thinks she isn’t capable of taking care of herself, and that infuriates her because it’s the exact same bullshit she thought she was running away from.

There’s a lot more I could say about this but I’m sick of typing so yeah in conclusion both of these takes are piss poor and I’m sick of having to read them. Stan Toph, Katara, and their friendship. 

[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.

[thevictorianghost]

If you could rewrite legend of korra and make it your own(or just in general better) how would you do it? The villains would stay the same and korra and crew are the same(personalities you can definitely tweak a bit. I would definitely not have any love triangles and make korra and asami happen in the beginning) how would you do it with your ships being canon as well?

Okay so I’ve never actually watched LOK. I’ve heard A LOT about it through watching countless video essays on Youtube and reading Tumblr posts about it. I know the who, the what and the how, I just haven’t wanted to watch it because, even though it looks cinematically gorgeous, the story was written by Bry/ke and there’s a LOT of it, worldbuilding and storywise, that I just can’t bare to watch.

So here goes. This got long. Enjoy!

1) Remove the Decopunk world. 

A Decopunk world is a world where technology is 1920s-ish, but very advanced. We have cars, tanks, radio, bobs and faux bobs, cloche hats, short skirts, nice suits, etc. I adore Decopunk. The 1920s are one of my favourite eras. An optimistic way of looking at the world, partying, illegal alcohol, the remnants of the Great War... I love it. I really do. But it doesn’t work in the pre-established world of Avatar. It brings elements that are far too imperialistic and colonial in nature (which prompted the comics to be imperialistic and colonial in nature, with the Northern and Southern Water Tribe, you can find many posts about that), which came along hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, as this article puts it so well. Please read it, it’s awesome.

Why did they feel they had to denature Avatar’s world? They already had everything they could possibly want. 

The Fire Nation could be more Steampunk, which is a little less advanced than Decopunk (First Industrial Revolution vs Second Industrial Revolution) because there were elements of Steampunk in the Fire Nation Army (such as the tanks, the navy and the dirigibles). But it could be for them only. It could show us how Zuko transformed the Fire Nation from a war industry to a steam-powered country. This could be the new way to channel firebending (and please, no more “anyone can do lightning bending”, you don’t need lightning bending to get electricity and it makes  Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula weak in the show!). 

We’ve seen waterbending used in clever ways in the Northern Water Tribe. How could Katara’s waterbending and Sokka’s engineering influence the Southern Water Tribe to make them use waterbending more? Canals, waterfalls, waterways, etc.? In new and different ways? Could the Southern Water Tribe use hydroelectricity, but in a clean, sustainable way? Why does the Southern Water Tribe port look so... mundane? 

The Earth Kingdom already had a working train system in Ba Sing Se. And the postal system in Omashu. Toph could have taught earthbenders how to follow the Badgermoles way and dug tunnels throughout a nation in peace. Then boom. Subways. But instead of machines pushing the people along, you can have benders do it. Instead of messenger hawks, the postal system could run through the entire kingdom instead of just Omashu and be much more efficient. The Earth Kingdom could be praised for its fast postal system that could, maybe, work as telegrams.

I’ll come back to the Air Nomads.

Those are just examples from the top of my head. I don’t mean “never allow technology to “””progress””” (I use that word veeeeery loosely because it has huge imperialistic undertones). I mean instead of trashing the fun parts of bending to make way for Decopunk technology that doesn’t need bending, work with it! Get creative! This worldbuilding feels... too easy. When Avatar: The Last Airbender was praised for its worldbuilding.

I adore Decopunk. I enjoy it far more than Dieselpunk and it’s much less known that Steampunk. But it has no place in the Avatar world.

2) That doesn’t mean “remove Republic City”.

First of all, it should honestly have a better name. It’s kind of like naming a city “Democracy City”. Which is way too on the nose. Harmony City sounds better, and that’s the first thing that came to mind. Anyway.

I really like the idea of a city being built in the spirit of Iroh and the White Lotus. To allow the Four Nations to live together in harmony in one city. But why is Republic City literally New York City with an “““Asian””” flair? What is up with that? I know New York is the MOST Decopunk city ever (you can’t encounter anything Decopunk without seeing New York, with its Art Deco buildings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Prohibition, etc.). But they do NOTHING with it! They just take New York, change some names, add some Asian flair, and call it a day. 

I don’t want 1920s New York for Republic City. I want Zootopia.

What happens in a city where all the Four Nations are represented? How does Water, Earth, Fire and Air work together? Big cities tend to be quartered in neighborhoods, so each neighborhood could be a smaller version of their nation. We could have a Northern Water Tribe next to an Earth Kingdom next to... you know what I mean? Each neighborhood could be a small-scale introduction to the nation for Korra first, then you can send her to that nation afterwards!

Which leads us to this.

3) Have Korra follow a traditional Avatar’s journey. 

I really don’t know why they decided that Korra would learn three elements before the age of sixteen (when that’s the age Avatars usually START their journeys) and then only have her learn Airbending during the entire show. Wasn’t the structure of each Book being about Aang learning one element at a time a good structure? Why go out of their way to NOT do that? Why was it the White Lotus’ prerogative to train the Avatar in the first place, too?  

So let’s have Korra know waterbending first (and show Katara teaching her, please!), then she can learn Earth, Fire and Air. By going to the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation, and to the Air Temples. This could help develop each nation and show us how they have grown through the years. And it could lead Korra and the audience to figure out that there’s not only Aang who has had children to represent the Air Nomads, but there were other Air Nomads who survived the genocide and we can actually see the Air Nomads as a thriving culture.

So about Republic City. As I said, we could keep it. But now that Korra is going on a traditional Avatar journey, you could have, say, one episode at the beginning and one episode at the end of each season taking place in Republic City. To show us how each Nation’s neighborhood works and as an introduction to Korra before she actually takes the plunge to travel to that nation. 

Please! Build upon the Avatar world at large more! Come on!

4) Stop it with the love triangles. 

Many have talked about the Mako, Korra, Bolin and Asami love triangles. I’ve read once that they don’t exactly feel like friends, they’re only colleagues who share the fact they all dated Korra at one point. Which is sad. Knowing that the Gaang is so beloved because they’re such GOOD FRIENDS first!

So work to build strong, healthy friendships first, THEN start thinking about romance if you have to. And please, if you want a ship to be endgame, don’t have it so you have to confirm it on Twitter. 

Don’t.

Oh! And also. Bolin and Eska’s relationship was unhealthy as all hell and treated as “funny” and “comic relief” because a woman was being emotionally abusive to a man. That’s terrible. Please don’t do that.

5) Don’t let Katara fall to the side like she did. 

Many, MANY before me have talked about how Katara got the short end of the stick in LOK. Where’s her statue? Where’s her recognition as the Greatest Waterbender in the World? Why is she day in and day out in the healing hut, when she said “I don’t want to heal, I want to FIGHT”? Does she even have a waterbending school? Or is that completely fanon? Why does she allow Aang to take one of their children on life-changing field trips while leaving their other kids behind? Aren’t they also Air Nomads by birth??

It’s okay to worship the old Gaang because, well, we all love them! I do love Aang, even if I give him a hard time a lot, but I love the character. I just don’t like the way Book 3 Aang was written. But some characters shouldn’t have everything while others have nothing. Aang is LITERALLY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. But where was Katara’s statue? And also, what happened to Suki?? What happened to Mai or Ty Lee, too?? Or even Sokka?? He died some time ago and... that’s it??

Which brings us to this.

6) Zutara, Taang, Sukka and Mailee.

I’ve seen that picture of Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara being edited with Zuko and Katara next to each other, Toph and Aang next to each other, and a (suddenly alive!) Suki next to Sokka. I think that’s so good! It feels so healthy!

Not all relationships that started when people were kids work out. Sokka and Suki seem the strongest relationship at the end of the show and they’re probably the only ones I could see working out in the end. Sokka could become the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Suki could become his Queen when she’s retired from the Kyoshi Warriors.

Katara and Aang would be lifelong friends, of course they would be, but I don’t really see them lasting. Aang was twelve when they started dating. They’d date a few years, then they’d decide they want other things. That’s a good thing to show kids!

I’ve written many metas about Zutara, but Ambassador then Fire Lady Katara would show a changing world, where the Fire Nation, now no longer a war industry but a Steampunk country, is moving forward, with Zuko literally marrying a woman the Fire Nation tried to wipe out. They would be equals and leave an equal mark upon the world. Together.

Toph and Aang would be amazing together. They’d be a great team, working in the Earth Kindom, helping rebuild the old Temples when the Air Nomads came out of hiding, and bringing peace around the world. I don’t think they’d be a conventional relationship. They’d do their own thing for a while, find each other for a while, work together on some projects, then continue doing their own thing. Aang being the Avatar who travels the world and Toph teaching metalbenders and working with the King in Ba Sing Se and Bumi in Omashu and wherever she’s needed. I think Toph would be much more fulfilled than what we’ve seen of elderly Katara. She doesn’t have Katara’s abandonment issues (I’ve talked about them here) and she’s more independent, I believe.

I know I haven’t talked about them much yet, but I want Mai and Ty Lee together in the end. Badass ladies challenging their respective stereotypes and create a new world for themselves. Mai could find herself away from the Fire Nation court (I don’t know what she’d do, but circuses love people who throw knives, don’t they? She could be a circus performer for a while), and I think Ty Lee, in this version, could work at the circus and with Aang to rebuild the Air Nomads. I love the idea of Ty Lee being a descendant of the Air Nomads.

All of them should be shown creating Zootopia-like Republic City. Because of course they should be! They’re the Gaang!

So yeah, that’s how I would see the world of Avatar grow beyond the borders of the original show! :)

[my-bated-breath]

On an Immensely Popular Post

Disclaimer: What I’m writing here may not be completely accurate -- like most works of art, literature, and even STEM tend to be -- and as a new fan of ATLA, a few of the metas I publish may be obsolete or unintentionally insensitive. That being said, I like to believe that I can contribute something valuable to this fandom. In all my (real) metas, I wish to be as objective as possible and not rely on my biases, fanon, or common “knowledge” that may just be misconceptions. If anyone reading this finds something to be false or contrived, I am always welcome to constructive criticism. What I am not welcome to is senseless hate or bashing.

My first experiences with the ATLA fandom begun a long, long time ago, but the most recent and powerful revival of my love for ATLA started with me actually watching the show and soon after, with me falling into the endless abyss of ATLA metas on Tumblr. Sifting through the well-written analyses and the emotion-based rants had taught me a lot about critical thinking and the power of influence, so now I’d like to present a meta that critiques an extremely popular post with over 60,000 notes. And since it’s so popular, this is the part where I must make yet another disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I hold nothing against lesbians4sokka (whose name has now been changed to comradekatara). They have the right to share what they want, but since this particular post has become so influential that it’s still being reblogged regularly to this day, I believe it is within my right to criticize it - emphasis on “criticize,” which is different from “hate.”

Now that that’s out of the way, let us begin:

Lesbians4sokka/comradekatara covers 3 main subjects in their post, which I will quote/summarize below:

(1) Ma/iko: “...the entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression— and I think that’s really unfortunate because they would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

(2) Zutara: “similarly, what makes zuko and katara’s dynamic so compelling is that they share the same flaws, only as opposed to mai’s apathy and misery, it’s katara’s rage and guilt that zuko identifies with. they both share trauma over having lost their mothers, and both in a similar way (sacrificing themselves for them) and they both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced… katara and zuko have a deep & profound friendship, but if they were to be in a relationship, they would only bring out the absolute worst in each other thru enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making.”

(3) Z/uk/ka: this pairing makes for a healthy and wholesome relationship because throughout the boiling rock, we see that “sokka and zuko make an excellent team, as they balance each other perfectly. sokka thinks big picture, and plans ahead, but zuko will charge into situations.” They inspire each other, they trust each other unconditionally, they become more open and supportive of each other, they share a lot of common interests and narrative parallels, and in general, just make each other happy (which could work both platonically and romantically).

As for my response: I’m sure many of you are expecting me to start to save the “best for last.” That assumption would be incorrect because I actually have the least to say about point 3.

I agree that Z/uk/ka can be a good relationship. Their dynamic is funny, playful, supportive, etc. etc. (there are so many positive adjectives I could use to describe their dynamic, the list could go on forever). And they could make a great couple.

…

What, did you expect more from me? That’s it, I’m done.

I’m not here to attack Z/uk/ka as a ship, because while I can never actively ship it (I’m a sad, narrow-minded exclusive shipper, always had been and always will be) I can objectively appreciate them as one. It’s points 1 and 2 I’m more concerned about.

Now, since we’ve already begun working backward, I’ll begin my critiques on point 2: I could write extensively about the parallels between Zuko and Katara, including but not limited to shared pain and a few shared flaws - and just a few, because their weaknesses diverge in many important places. However, since I’m trying to write as objectively as possible and since Zuko-Katara parallels have already been discussed to death, my analysis will focus elsewhere.

However, something from comradekatara’s post that I would first like to address is this-

[Zuko and Katara] both cope with their grief through rage, often misplaced. in the southern raiders, they both act deeply insensitively towards sokka by acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else.

- or rather, the idea that Zuko and Katara’s shared pain causes them to act insensitively towards Sokka (and though the post does not mention it, Aang as well).

(Note: these points have already been covered by countless metas before mine, so you can skip/skim this section to read a newer argument in the next section.)

Even ignoring the fact that the Southern Raiders had many out of character moments, Katara’s insensitivity towards Sokka is first and foremost a reaction against his insensitivity towards her.

_____

Dialogue from Season 3, Episode 16 “The Southern Raiders”:

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

Katara: [Shakes her head in dismay.] Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand. [Begins to walk away.]

Aang: Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet.

Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster.

Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right.

Katara: Then you didn't love her the way I did!

Sokka: [Hurt] Katara!

_____

While I believe that Aang’s principles of forgiveness are morally sound, the way he pushes his beliefs onto Katara undermines much of her grief. At first, Aang tries to relate to Katara’s experiences by comparing them to his own, but there is a forceful connotation to his dialogue that suggests that Aang considers himself to be the moral authority compared to Katara. Hence, Aang judges Katara (“I think it’s about getting revenge”) without trying to reach out and understand her, forgoing the empathetic common ground in favor of taking on the moral high ground.

Thus, when Sokka tells Katara, “she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right,” Sokka is not only saying that Katara should choose forgiveness, he is implying that Aang is the ultimate moral authority on this matter and that Katara should accept that. Moreover, similarly to Aang, Sokka’s opening line, “she was my mother, too,” had the potential to establish common ground between himself and Katara, but the added “but…” places Sokka on the moral high ground against her instead. Of course, when we remember that just two lines ago Aang equates Katara to Jet, Sokka agreeing with Aang seems even more thoughtless and unsympathetic.

So when Katara lashes out against Sokka, ostensibly “acting as if his grief over his mother’s death is somehow less valid simply because he is a lot quieter in his coping mechanisms and doesn’t project his rage & guilt onto everyone else,” it is important to note that Sokka undermines Katara’s louder, more visible way of grieving as well (though that discounts that for most of the show, Katara only uses her grief over her mother’s death to sympathize with others).

Moreover, Katara’s line, “then you didn't love her the way I did!” is hurtful, yes, but it is not necessarily equivalent to “you didn’t love her as much as I did.” Katara’s love for her mother is different from Sokka’s because her pain over her death is different -- after Kya’s passing, Katara had to carry the emotional burden of becoming a pseudo-mother to Sokka (see Sokka and Toph’s conversation in “The Runaway”), a burden that did not cease after she joined the GAang (see the entirety of “The Desert”). To Katara, Kya was not only her mother, but the representation of the childhood she lost and the sacrifice made to protect her life. Sokka simply does not have that same relationship with Kya.

I do not mean to say that Sokka and Aang unfairly taking on the moral authority in this situation means that this authority instead belongs to Katara (and Zuko) - “The Southern Raiders” is filled with questionable moments from all parties involved. However, TSR is an episode that delves into Katara (and Zuko)’s relationship with a mother’s sacrifice, so how Zuko and Katara respond to this specific trauma from their past does not dictate how they respond to painful circumstances in the present/future. Let’s see how this is true.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King

No doubt Zuko and Katara felt some form of frustration upon Aang’s disappearance, so let’s see how they “[enabled] each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making”:

Here, Katara and Zuko make a decision together that turns out to be calm, rational, and not at all emotionally-driven despite their mutual frustration and worry towards Aang.

Sozin’s Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters

Zuko holds immense pain and self-loathing over betraying Iroh, yet Zuko and Katara’s conversation does not enable/exacerbate negativity from any party involved (since Zuko often translates his grief into anger, and Katara was evidently angry at Zuko’s betrayal). Instead, their conversation is open, encouraging, and constructive.

(Note: this is where the review of points made by previous metas ends.)

Hence, to say that “[Zuko and Katara] would only bring out the absolute worst in each other [through] enabling each other’s rage and emotion-driven decision making” -  when we are given in-canon examples of the opposite being true - would be a sweeping and inaccurate generalization.

But for the sake of argument let’s say that, hypothetically, Zuko and Katara’s relationship would fail because they only bring out the worst in each other. And here’s where the argument falls apart for me - Is the argument here that Zuko and Katara have an incredibly meaningful friendship yet somehow this “friendship” causes them to enable each other, thus encouraging each other’s worst flaws and regressing each other’s growth? Is a healthy friendship - much less a “deep and profound” one - not one where two individuals can learn from each other in positive ways and balance each other’s shortcomings?

Or is it something different we’re saying here? Are we saying that two individuals can have a “deep and profound” friendship and yet the moment their relationship shifts from platonic to romantic, they are terrible for each other?

While many significant platonic bonds are stunted when they become romantic, I still believe it to be common sense that some of the best romantic relationships stem from a platonic foundation. But since much of “common sense” on the internet sees that “sense” is nonsensical and “common” is a nicer way to refer to mob mentality, I have done my research to show how Zuko and Katara could have been an excellent case of a friends-to-lovers relationship.

An excerpt from my meta, “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.” (give it a read if you want to see references to relationship-research and an overanalysis on diction/tone)

The reason why Zutara is framed as a “toxic and unhealthy” relationship is that their romance would be a classic example of the enemies-to-lovers trope, a trope which modern media has not been particularly kind to. However, when executed correctly, enemies-to-lovers can produce a healthy and loving relationship, frequently relying on friendship as an intermediate between the “enemy” and “lover” stages in the most well-executed versions of this trope. Meanwhile, the trope of friends-to-lovers is just as popular as enemies-to-lovers, though the specific dynamic required between two individuals to achieve this transition is not well-known. Recognizing this, Laura K. Guerrero and Paul A. Mongeau, both of whom are involved in relationship-related research as professors at Arizona State University, wrote a research paper on how friendships may transition into romantic relationships…

According to Guerrero and Mongeau, “...scholars have argued that intimacy is located in different types of interactions, ranging from sexual activity and physical contact to warm, cozy interactions that can occur between friends, family members, and lovers…” Guerrero and Mongeau then reference a relationship model where the initial stages (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) reflect platonic/romantic intimacy through communication while the latter stages (i.e. role-taking, achieving interpersonal role fit, and achieving dyadic crystallization) often see both individuals as achieving a higher level of intimacy that involves more self-awareness.

In the rest of my research-based meta I demonstrate how Zuko and Katara’s platonic interactions in the show fit into the stages of communicative intimacy (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) that Guerrero and Mongeau describe as being mutual between friendships and romances. As such, crossing the line between friends and more-than-friends most likely would not cause a dramatic shift in the Zutara dynamic since much of Zuko and Katara’s platonic intimacy easily translates into romantic intimacy. I’ll end off with another excerpt from my meta.

Excerpt from “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic.”

“...it would be remiss to simply dismiss the Zutara dynamic as one that would instantly become toxic should they pursue a romantic relationship.”

With that little thought in mind, let’s move onto point 3: an exploration of friendship, romance, and why toxicity is not exclusive to the latter.

Let’s start with what I agree with:

“The entire foundation of mai and zuko’s relationship was built on how miserable they were together, and how they would just sit there and hate the world together— letting their misery fester as they enabled each other’s depression...”

I’m not sure how necessary it is for me to elaborate on this point given that it’s already been accepted by comradekatara and perhaps 60,000+ other users on Tumblr (a gross exaggeration but this remains unimportant), but in her essay, “Zuko, Mai, and the Nature of True Intimacy,” Araeph contributes more nuance to the concept of Ma/iko and mutual misery, stating that,

Unfortunately for [Zuko and Mai’s] relationship, Mai is and will always be a pessimist—a character trait, not a character flaw, in her. The key difference lies in how Mai and Zuko use their negative feelings. When Zuko sinks into negativity, he gives up on any actions that will materially change his world for the better; Mai, on the other hand, can remain negative even at the height of her character development, and it does not impede her ability to act.

So while Mai enables Zuko’s depression, Zuko does not necessarily do the same for Mai. Nonetheless, throughout their relationship for the first half of season 3, neither of them communicate constructively or push each other to grow as people.

This may be the third disclaimer I’m making, but I first want to say I have nothing against Mai. However, I do have something against the idea that “[Mai and Zuko] would work so well as friends if they weren’t trying to make their dumpster fire of a relationship work.”

Their relationship is a dumpster fire, yes, but will the flames cease simply if the amount of intimacy in the relationship changes?

comradekatara state themselves that their entire romantic relationship is quite depressing - they are only able to connect through empty physical intimacy and mutual hatred of the world. Without that, there is little left for them to bond over. Once Zuko overcomes his conflicting morality and inaction from the first half of season 3, he becomes someone who is strongly guided by his principles and beliefs. However, for the entirety of the series, Mai is characterized by her moral apathy. To cite from Araeph again,

It is moral intimacy that is the last and worst omission for Mai and Zuko… Zuko’s struggle to find and follow his principles is the most central aspect of his character, yet it is a struggle Mai neither understands nor respects…

Lack of moral intimacy (not sharing the same core beliefs) is something that applies to both platonic and romantic bonds. Thus, just as transitioning from a meaningful friendship to a romance does not inherently create toxicity in a relationship, switching from a romance that exacerbates one (or both, depending on how you interpret it) party’s misery does not necessarily erase the preexisting negativity in a relationship - perhaps some of it may subside, sure, but as long both parties continue to fail at communicating and understanding each other, even their friendship seems bleak at best. In this case, Mai and Zuko may work well as conditional friends, or in other words, friends who are only friends when they have something to mutually be miserable over. And this tiptoes the line of speculation, but they could be a formidable political team. But unless the Ma/iko dynamic shifts drastically in the lovers-to-friends transition, I’m not sure if there’s much potential in a friendship between them.

In conclusion, there is a lot I don’t agree with from comradekatara’s post, but if there’s one takeaway I want to impart onto everyone who’s read this far, it’s this: crossing and uncrossing the line between platonic and romantic bonds is not always a transformative experience for the relationship, and the nature of human relationships is a complex spectrum -- not a light switch that can only be set between healthy and unhealthy.

Thank you all for reading!

[sokkastyles]

The first time Zuko tries asking for the gaang’s forgiveness you can see him struggling with his anger, especially when they start throwing everything he did back in his face. I appreciate how the show portrays how hard it is to get forgiveness, not just because of the real consequences which Zuko has to face from the people he actually hurt, but because it would be especially hard for someone with Zuko’s emotional issues who has never really had very many positive relationships in his life to try and forge a relationship with people who have every right to see him as an enemy.

I also think that Zuko didn’t realize how scary he actually was to these people, and how much they saw him as a threat. If you’re trying to convince people that you aren’t an enemy, getting angry and defensive and shouting isn’t the best strategy. But I also empathize with Zuko’s frustration, too, because he’s trying to figure this out on his own and if they don’t accept him he doesn’t have any other options.

Then he tries the tactic of aggresively waving his arms and stepping towards the people who already think he’s going to attack them, like

Zuko what are you -

Once he realizes that there isn’t anything else he can say that will make them accept him (for now), and when Sokka says that if he doesn’t leave, they’ll attack him, he’s shocked, but so genuinely hurt that it’s hard to blame him even though we understand why the others don’t trust him.

Then he tries the complete opposite tactic and offers himself as their prisoner, and they don’t accept that either.

He looks so hurt here and like he’s starting to panic, like ‘okay maybe this whole “being good” thing was a bad idea after all’. I think he was shocked by Katara’s attack in particular because the last time he saw her, he saw a more compassionate side of her. They fought afterwards, but that was a situation where they were forced against each other by circumstance, and Zuko probably didn’t realize how betrayed she’d felt by him. The thing is, it would have been easy for Zuko to believe that joining the good guys would be smooth sailing, or at least better than what he had before. He was leaving a home where he was very much in physical danger - his father burned his face when he was thirteen years old and then literally tried to kill him when he finally left - and now he’s at the mercy of the most powerful being in the world and his group of powerful benders. For all Zuko knows they could have killed him or hurt him. That they’re technically the good guys doesn’t mean a whole lot when Zuko has grown up being subjected to violence from his own family and taught that that was the right way to be. I think he very much wanted to believe that he could trust these people, and he remembered Aang’s offer of friendship - which he brings up here - and probably also remembered Katara’s offer to heal him so that might have helped him believe that these were people he could gain as friends. But then their rejection sets him back again.

And I also think that the rejection here led to him accidentally attacking Toph when she came at him in the middle of the night, possibly fearing another attack, and that led to the gaang almost attacking him in retaliation. It’s actually the arrival of combustion man, who becomes a common threat, combined with Zuko taking the initiative to go back to the temple to try again, that helps bridge the distance, which is ironic since Zuko hiring combustion man was one of his lowest points.

[nova-is-a-writer-now]

FOOLS pt.4

[[Zuko x Reader]]

<- previous next ->

Summary: Zuko and Y/N had liked eachother for a while even though neither of them knew it. Y/N tries to get over her crush for him, failing miserably. So just when she decides to let go and embrace her feelings, the new Fire lord finds himself feeling jealous and decides to take matters into his own hands.

A/N: This took way longer to write than I expected it cause I found myself getting stuck a bunch of times. I also had so many wonderful people sending me asks and replying to the previous parts, I really didn’t want to disappoint them so I was super perfectionist with this one. It got a little long and VERY angsty (again, sorry) but I think it’s pretty good, next part might be the last one, and I’ll try to write it ASAP to not leave y’all hanging lol.

Side note: this part is dedicated to the nicest person ever @eternally-infinitely who sent me the cutest ask and actually inspired me a lot to finish this. Thank you so much for reading and for being so kind, lots and lots of love to you <3

Warning: Angst, but it’ll end well i promise, language

-IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS DONT HESITATE TO ASK-

“Leave me here to die, Katara. I’m hopeless” you whined into your pillow. The curtains in your room were still closed, barely any light getting in.

“Y/N, you’re not dying, you’re not hopeless and I’m not letting you spend the entire day stuck in here alone. Zuko doesn’t deserve all this suffering, ok? You’re better than this. Now stand up, get ready and let’s go have our massages.” She said finally opening the curtains and pulling the blankets away from you.

“But-“

“Not a question.” Katara said walking out of your room.

You groaned loud enough for her to hear it from outside. Your eyes felt heavy, puffy and stiff from the tears that you’d let fall and dry the night before. Your head ached and for some reason you couldn’t get enough oxygen into your lungs. You felt the worst you’d felt in a while.

But wanting to avoid mom Katara’s reproaches, you put all that aside and made an outworldly effort to get out of bed and make yourself look as decent as you could.

Around twenty minutes later you were out of your room, heading to Katara and Suki’s. They both flashed a faint smile when they saw you.

“I look that bad, huh?” You said letting out a deep sigh

“Oh, no, no, no Y/N. You just look... tired. Did you get any sleep last night?” Suki asked.

“I’d be lying if I said I did” the worried look in your friend’s faces made you reconsider your words. “I’m fine you guys, I’m just being very dramatic. I’ll feel better after I get my massage, ok?”

Toph didn’t take much longer to arrive, rushing all of you to hurry up alredy. You had been ready for a while by then, but internally wished Katara and Suki would take all day so you wouldn’t have to leave that room.

They didn’t, of course, and moments later you and your friends were walking out the door. The fear of running into Zuko made your heart rush, the feeling of air not getting to your lungs intensified and you could tell your body wasn’t strong enough to deal with all that at the moment.

It was when you walked past the conference room, which had the doors open, when you met his eyes. Aang and Sokka where the only two other people there, they’d said something about having a quick meeting with the council that day, taking advantage of Aang’s presence and Sokka deciding to join in as well. Zuko looked as restless as you, but you were sure he had different reasons for it. You couldn’t hold your stare for longer than two seconds, the memories of the night before where starting to come back and it hurt too much for you to handle.

In a very out of character moment, Toph held your hand and pressed it softly. You figured she’d felt your heart beat, your breathing or whatever else that could’ve given you away. It did made you feel better, knowing that at least you had her there made it all better.

—————————-

You’d never been in a spa before, that time Toph and Katara went to one in Ba Sing Se you hadn’t been able to join them, but hearing Toph say how great it was surprised you, seeing as she wasn’t the type of girl to typically like that stuff.

Feeling someone touching you and massaging you was weird at first, you felt like dough for the first few minutes, but after you started to relax and give into the sensation it gave you, your entire body started to release the tension your muscles had been holding without you noticing. Next step in the spa day were facials, you decided to get one called ‘ocean tranquility’ for the mere reason that it sounded nice, Toph of course went for the mud bath and seemed to enjoy it very much. Finally, you decided to finish your session in the warm jacuzzi.

The experience was very enjoyable to say the least, you and the girls had a lot of fun and best of all the Zuko situation hadn’t even crossed your mind the entire morning. Forgetting about him was gonna be hard, but with the way he had been acting lately, he was the one making the job each time easier for you.

When you got back to the palace it was already time for lunch. A pit in your stomach formed at the though of having to sit across the Fire lord, having to talk to him or merely be in his presence. But you weren’t gonna give him the satisfaction of running away. The four of you arrived to the table first, taking your usual sits, Aang and Sokka came next talking about something that had happened in the meeting and the last one to get there was Zuko. His body was stiff, the restless look in his eyes you had seen that morning hadn’t left his face, and for a split second you wanted to walk over to where he was sitting and hug him. But you couldn’t, and that hurt.

The two of you ate silently, leaving the conversation to everyone else. You didn’t look up once after your plate was set in front of you, terrified of bursting into tears if you did, but Zuko on the other hand glanced your way more than a few times.

“So Zuko, what time should we be ready for the gala tonight?” Katara asked, you could tell she was making an effort to not act weird around him too, which you appreciated. You didn’t want your feelings for him to not only ruin your friendship but everyone else’s as well.

“We have to be there to receive all the guests, so even though it technically starts at around eight, we all should be ready half an hour prior.” Even his voice sounded weird, a tone you hadn’t heard him use ever since the days leading up to the comet.

When all of you were done eating, you went to your chambers to get ready. A couple of maids were called to help you out with the dress and with your hair, which took around an hour and a half. You chose an elegant up-do with very thin and delicate braids on the sides, letting the back and front of the dress showcase fully. You left the makeup to Suki, she decided to make your eyes smokey and your lips a wine tone, very much like your dress.

The version of yourself you saw in the mirror was one you hadn’t seen before, you looked confident and beautiful, and it seemed like the other girls felt the same way.

“I couldn’t have imagined us like this a year ago, back when we had to bathe in rivers and were constantly covered in dirt.” Katara said walking up behind you pulling Toph and Suki with her. “We’ve come so far.”

“Katara, if you make us cry and ruin our makeup I’m never going to forgive you.” Suki joked pulling all of you into a hug.

“I love you all... so much” you said back, you knew after surviving a war that every moment of peace with your friends was invaluable.

——————————————

You and the girls walked to the ballroom where the gala would take place. Aang Sokka and Zuko were already there waiting at the entrance.

Before the four of you even got half way to where they stood Toph grabbed your hand and said “You really look stunning, Y/N”

You chuckled lightly looking over at her. “Thanks Toph, but you can’t see me”

“Oh, I don’t have to. All I need to know is that Sparky over there nearly went into cardiac arrest when he saw you, so you must look incredible.”

You turned your attention to Zuko who was already looking at you. He looked heavenly, his suit was mostly black with some red details, traditional of the Fire nation, and it seemed to match your dress perfectly. His hair was up held by the royal head piece, leaving in full sight his handsome face. Your own heartbeat acelerated, and even though you tried to stop it you knew your cheeks were blushing just like his already were.

And for that split moment you felt everything fade away, what he had done, how you had felt, all of it. You wanted to let it all go, and you were ready to drop everything you had for a single word of his. Almost as if you were in a trance, you walked up to him while your friends all greeted eachother. His amber eyes locked with yours, you could tell he was trying to look for something to say but was having a hard time, so you decided to make it easier for him. “You look great”

He smiled softly before replying “You look perfect.” He said in a low raspy voice.

Before either of you could say anything else a moving figure caught your eye behind Zuko. It was Mai, wearing a tight black dress with embroidered golden details, and as always she was beautiful. The trance broke at the sight, you wanted to keep talking to Zuko, see where things would go, but you couldn’t, not with everything that was going on.

So you took one step back first, and then another until you were able to walk away from him and over to were everyone else was talking. Zuko’s eyes were covered in a confused look, until he looked behind him, where Mai was already close enough to greet him with a hug. He hugged her back but reluctantly, as if he had wanted the same thing you did a couple seconds before.

Not long after that, Iroh asked all of you to stand in a line to receive the guests, the would come in and individually shake each of your hands following Fire nation traditions. Mai stayed behind and you were the first out of your friends to walk up to Iroh, which meant you would be right next to the Fire lord the whole time. The universe seemed to want things to be hard for you that night.

So, as planned, the guests started to arrive. They weren’t only from the Fire nation, but people from all nations, you saw green gowns from the earth nation, and also blue ones from the water tribes. The first people to approach you were high commanders, you knew them from some of the meetings they had with Zuko, then there were a lot of people with political positions and finally came the people who were just normal citizens. They were the ones who greeted you with the most warmth, thanking you over and over again for ending the war, for saving them and their families, for being the heroes of all nations.

There were still a good amount of people waiting to talk to you and your friends but a familiar face stood out to you in the middle of the crowd. “Excuse me for a second, it was wonderful to see you.” You said to the woman who stood in front of you while discretely walking away from the group and into the crowd.

Doko’s back was facing you when you put your hand on his shoulder. He was wearing a blue suit with white details and his hair was slicked back. When he turned around to see you it took him exactly half a second to pick you up from the floor and spin you around, you were glad the ballroom was filled with the sounds of people chattering because otherwise your loud laugh would’ve been heard across the entire palace.

“Woah there, stranger. You’re gonna mess up my dress.” You said trying to get him to put you back down.

“Sorry, sorry, I forgot you’re royalty now, guess you’ve gone soft on me, Y/L/N.” He said bringing you down.

“I told you I’m not royalty and I’ll show you how soft I’ve gone” you said shoving your hands to his sides knowing he had always been very ticklish.

“Don’t you dare.” He said holding your wrists and moving away from you as he accidentally bumped into someone behind him. “I’m sorry, sir”

“Idiot” you whispered laughing.

“Yeah, yeah you’re very funny.” He said back while finally letting go of you. “But jokes aside, you do look stunning.”

“Thank you, so do you. Never thought of you as the suit kind of guy.”

“What one does for old friends. You’re owe me though, I feel like a penguin.” His hands went up to his collar which he still seemed to be getting used to.

“I want you to meet my friends, come on.” You dragged him back to the line where the group stood, noticing Zuko was missing. The thought creeped in the back of your mind but you pushed it away.

“Guys, come here.” You called, glad they were done welcoming people. “I want you to meet someone. This is Doko, we were best friends when we were little back in the Northern water tribe. Doko this are Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and Suki”

Your friend held out his hand to each of them individually as he said “It’s nice to meet you all. You’re saints for putting up with this one for this long” you punched him in the arm as a response.

“Oh, believe me, it hasn’t been an easy task.” Toph interviened immediately after, taking the opportunity to tease you.

“You know what, not going to that fight you have next week is starting to sound pretty good”

Doko and your friends seemed to get along pretty well to your relief. It warmed your heart to see the one good friend you’d had back home together with the best friends you met along the way. All of you took a sit in a table that was reserved for you. You talked about your adventures with the gaang, how you’d met them and how all of you found yourselves putting an end to the hundred year war.

“What about you, Doko? How come we didn’t meet you when we visited the Northern water tribe?” Aang asked.

“Well, I used to live there when Y/N and I were little kids. My father was a high rank bender, he was in charge of the protection of the tribe, but in one of the earlier attempts of invasion he died. That’s when my mom decided to take me and my sister to Ba Sing Se, you know, somewhere she knew we would be safe.” He bumped your side with his elbow before saying “I only found out you guys had been there days after you left, thanks for paying us a visit Y/N”

“I didn’t know you were there, none of us knew where you and your family went to after you left.” You explained. “Besides, we were kinda busy trying not to get killed, you know, usual touristy things”

As the night went on, you found yourself drowning in more laughter, the sound of upbeat music, funny anecdotes and an ethereal feeling you wanted to cling to for as long as you could. Zuko still hadn’t approached your table, which caused you to feel both relieved and heavy hearted.

At one point while Suki was laughing at something Sokka had said, she accidentally pushed his glass off the table and onto him, spilling its contents directly to his shirt.

“Oh, Sokka I’m so sorry.” She said trying to dry him up with a cloth napkin.

“Its ok, babe. You can’t even tell”

Katara looked at him disapprovingly before interviening. “Yes, you can Sokka. We still have to go up there in front of everybody for when Zuko gives his speech. You’re gonna have to change.”

“Well... there’s a problem with that.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t bring another shirt.” Katara let out a big sigh.

“How could I know I was gonna need another one?” Sokka explained.

You were trying to think of ideas to fix the problem when one popped into your head. “Wait... Zuko always has one spare in his office in case he needs it. I think it’s black, if I’m not wrong. I’ll bring it for you, I’m sure it’ll fit perfectly.”

“You’re always saving the day, Y/N. That’s why you’re my favorite.” Sokka joked gaining a punch from Toph.

“Hey! I thought I was your favorite.”

——————————

The closer you got to Zuko’s office, the quieter it got. The palace was only dimly lit by some torches and occupied by a few guards here and there.

Once you opened the door making sure there was no one inside, you looked around the place trying to remember where Zuko had told you he kept his spare shirt. A big piece of furniture made out of a dark wood that matched everything else in the room called your attention, you opened the little doors it had only to find, amongst other things like papers and supplies, a black shirt held by a hanger. You grabbed it carefully, trying not to move anything else. When you had the shirt in hand you were about to leave the office, but a folded piece of paper caught your eye. It was the only thing on top of Zuko’s desk, which you assumed meant it was the speech he had prepared, only he must have forgotten to take it with him. You opened it just to make sure it was actually the speech and you weren’t grabbing a random piece of paper. The first lines that were written there confirmed it was. He thanked everybody for attending the gala, he talked about this new found peace all nations were enjoying now and he reassured everyone of his endless compromise to keep working towards a brighter future.

It was all the usual stuff someone would say in a speech, until your eyes were drawn further down the page. The words you read there confused you, it made no sense, all the things he’d written there made no sense to you. Before you could read any further, the sound of the door closing behind you made you jump.

“What are you doing here?” Zuko asked dryly.

You couldn’t make yourself turn around to face him, you could almost feel the tears pooling in your eyes and clouding your vision. So you stayed right where you were and simply read out loud what you had in front of you.

“I want to thank the one person who has been by my side this entire time, the only one who’s picked me up every time I’ve been close to falling, every time I’ve felt like I wasn’t fit for the job or I wasn’t good enough to lead a nation. The one who has given me unconditional advice when I’ve needed it the most, and who has been my rock throughout this entire year. Mai, I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Y/N...”

“You know what, Zuko? I realize now I wasn’t mad at you for any of the things that have happened lately, I was mad at myself, I couldn’t even look at you but not because I was angry, it was because I was ashamed. I felt like an idiot for catching feelings for someone I knew could never feel the same way about me, but that’s not your fault, you don’t owe me feelings. But this is going a little too far don’t you think? Saying that the one thing that’s kept you going all this time is a girl I haven’t even seen since last year? Who wasn’t there when you had your outbursts of rage and wanted to burn the whole place down, who you didn’t go to before every meeting to ask for advice on how to deal with people, who wasn’t there for the nights when you couldn’t sleep because of the nightmares, Spirits! Who didn’t take the entire day to take care of you when you were sick. But I guess all that meant nothing to you. Why am I not surprised?”

You finally turned around, your cheeks already damp and your heart already beating as fast as ever. He looked speechless, like a child that had been yelled at for breaking something. You’d never seen a look like that in his eyes and it almost made you want to run into his arms, but your heart was already broken enough.

He took in a deep breath before braking the silence. “You’re being unfair, Y/N.”

“Oh, I’m being unfair? You’re unbelievable”

“Don’t you have a date waiting for you outside?” He spat a little more secure this time. His words weren’t being fully processed by your brain, it was like whatever he said was covered in a layer of fog and you couldn’t make sense of it.

“You’re right, I have friends who are waiting for me out there, and I’m not wasting any more of the little time I’ve got with them for you.” You made an attempt to walk past him but he grabbed you by the wrist and held you back.

“So this is how you deal with shit? You just run away from it?” He said, his voice breaking a little bit and his breathing fast paced and uneven.

You wanted to bark something back at him, to keep fighting and let everything you’d been holding back these past few days out, scream and yell and hit him and just make him hurt as much as you were hurting, but you didn’t have the strength. “This probably wasn’t a good idea, the whole moving into a palace with basically a stranger who I’d known for a few months before hand and thinking things would just work out, and seeing as I apparently haven’t contributed at all, I don’t see the point of staying any longer. So don’t worry, you’ll have the whole place for you and your ‘rock’ as soon as possible.” You escaped his grasp and walked out the door, trying your best to pull yourself back together before re-entering the ball room.

—————————-

No one asked questions once you were back at the table, but you were less talkative the rest of the night. Before you had to walk up to join Zuko while he was giving his speech, Doko grabbed your hand and intertwined his fingers with yours, the two of you used to do it whenever you were scared or nervous about something when you were little, and it gave you the strength to get up there and listen to the words Zuko had prepared.

He said basically the same thing you’d read in the paper back at his office, excluding everything about Mai, which was a relief cause you really weren’t feeling like crying in front of a whole crowd that night.

Finally, when the gala was over and people were starting to leave, you hugged Doko one more time, promising him you’d stay in touch and see eachother way more from now on. He seemed to want to say something before leaving but decided not to.

You didn’t even say good night to the rest of your friends, discreetly walking out of the ballroom and to your room. If your dress hadn’t been so tight and uncomfortable to lay down with you probably would’ve fallen asleep in it, but after a few minutes of struggling, you finally wiggled out of it and dropped it on a chair that stood next to your bed. You picked the first night gown you could find and put it on before burying yourself under the covers. Tears didn’t take long to fall once again. That horrible feeling of not being able to fill your lungs was back and a dark heaviness covered your body.

You wanted to sleep and get rid of everything, but you couldn’t get yourself to drift off. Several hours must’ve gone by because the sound of people waking and talking outside couldn’t be heard anymore. Silence made everything sink in, what you’d read, what you’d said to Zuko, what he said back. All of it. And right when you were about to let your swollen eyes close the door opened, no previous warning. It closed right back a couple seconds later, softly and carefully. You didn’t know who it was, but you certainly had no intention of talking with anyone, so you didn’t make an attempt to move.

“I know you’re awake.” It was Zuko’s voice. You were so shocked by that you started to think it might be your mind playing games with you, but when he spoke again, you realized it wasn’t. “We need to talk, Y/N”

Tag list: @darthsokaaa @royahllty @godoftheabyss @ilovespideyyy @literally-anythin @daddystevee @annie-are-u-ok @whalerus @galacticamidala @mangoberry43 @eridanuswave @katherinethedork @littleninjablake @taeeemin @cloudyloli @itsme5362

[arty-holly]

People who will be initially shocked by zutara but will ship it:-

Pakku, Piandao ,some of the nobles in the council.

Aang - he's such a sweet good kid and he wants what's best for katara ( yes, people can ship zutara and love aang, i am looking right at u antis)

Mai - she finds love with ty lee and goes off to be a bounty hunter with jun and ty lee.

People who were practically waiting for it and will ship it hard:-

Iroh - will scream " MY OTP!" from the rooftops if he has to.

Hakoda - has already declared zuko as his son in law.

Ursa - gives subtle hints to both of them.

Toph - complains that she is getting an earache from the way their hearts race and to get a move on.

The whole frickin palace staff ie guards, maids, palanquin bearers, workers, servants - make plans to set them up since they love katara and zuko.

King Kuei and Bhumi - how have i never thought of this before, they would love it. Bhumi relentlessly teases them.

Sokka - wholehearted blessings to them. He might threaten zuko that if he hurts katara, he'll probably kill him. Other than that 😆😆.

Azula - after a lot of mental therapy and after Ursa comes back. ( i'm just gonna pretend the comics don't exist because i hate absolutely HATE what they did to her in the comics) she will ship it. I live for katara and azula friendship and zuko and azula bonding.

Jin - will give katara tips that zuzu is really shy and to make the first move bcz he definitely won't.

Lee and his family from the Earth kingdom - after zuko comes to visit them and sets things right.

Yue - will intensely fangirl with the other spirits.🌙🌙

Gran Gran - will interrogate zuko thoroughly and will then ship it.

Jun - the original zutara shipper, respect for this queen. 😎

Ty lee and suki - they would be internally screaming " JUST KISS " whenever they see zuko and katara

Now moving on to the animal kingdom :-

Momo and Bosco - C'mon, we know they will.

The turtleducks in the pond - turtleducks always help another awkward turtleduck in need. ( even the turtleducks ship it , lol)

Can i just point out that that whatever u may ship, no one not mai not sokka or anyone else will ever love those turtleducks as much as katara. That is a fact. ( If u ask me, that one reason is enough to ship zutara). She would make waves and ice slides for them to play about. And they would absolutely adore her.

Druk - just like the turtleducks.

> I hc that they would take a long time to be in a relationship ( what can i say, i love slowburn) and only when both of them are mature and ready.

> Hama will come back and teach katara many SW forms. They would rebuild the SW.

> At first katara would be an ambassador and after some years, she would be the queen.

> It would be good for the SW to have the Firelord's support to prevent north supremacy.

> They incorporate each others bending styles. I would like katara to have a weapon (i kind of like bow and arrow) and study weaponry. ( she could make ice arrows or something).

> They would be world leaders.

Hope this got your mind off the live action. I don't really care much about it. There will be problems but there are new possibilities too. Still, it's very amusing how the antis are having a complete meltdown over it. Just enjoy your beautiful ship, people.

Fireboy and watergirl for life. 🌊🔥

💜💜💜💜💜

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

"Why is it considered horrible if people think either Bumi or Kya might be Zuko's child?" Hi I will answer your anon for you as a person who has watched LOK:

You're absolutely right anon. Their father didn't have to be an airbender. The thing is...he was. You're right that the show(s) are about loving unconditionally, but there are plenty of reasons why this hc just...doesn't work for a lot of the fandom. Other than the fact that this hc is controversial other than it "knocks the Katara/Aang lovestory on the head", here's a few reasons why it's controversial:

1. Saying Katara and/or Zuko would cheat on their spouses is the complete demolition of character. Not only is it OOC, but it's disrespectful to them. If you can say with a straight face that Katara would cheat on Aang or that Zuko would cheat on Mai (presumably it's Mai he married), then pat yourself on the back.

Frankly it wouldn't happen. Both Katara and Zuko are characters that probably love in some of the deepest ways in ATLA. How much did Katara love her mother that she was willing to bloodbend and potentially murder a man? How much did Katara love Aang that she literally gave Zuko a death threat? How much did Zuko love that her refused to fight his own father and didn't fight back when he was burned? And on that note, how much did Zuko love Mai and Iroh that he betrayed his own nation for them and hid it from Mai? These are characters who, when they love someone, do not easily back down. They love wholly and deeply and it doesn't sway them no matter what the circumstances. They are committed people.

2. Suggesting that cheating occurred is problematic in and of itself. Sure yes affairs happen, but cheating really isn't something that should be encouraged. It's an unhealthy mindset and saying that it's ok to cheat and just kind of live with those circumstances with no obvious conflict is wrong. There will be conflict and hurt. It will hurt badly. It would destroy Aang and Mai, no matter how you look at it. It could possibly destroy marriages and there would be guilt felt on Katara and Zuko’s end.

Yes you can fall out of love, but cheating isn't something people like to see headcanoned in fandom, sorry anon. It's much better if the characters separated rather than having affairs if that's your cup of tea.

3. It's not fair to Mai and Aang. A lot of the times this cheating hc is problematic because it likes to weigh heavy sadness on these 2 characters. It almost feels like these hcs read as anti these characters and like they should suffer because apparently they didn't do enough in their married lives to keep their spouses happy. This is especially put on Aang a lot in this hc. He's the Avatar. He has no choice but to do his duty and tbh Katara and Aang knew what they were signing up for when they they were just dating. That's hinted at in the comics btw. There's a scene where Aang has to go away to help Zuko in Smoke and Shadow and says he doesn't want to be away from Katara, but Katara says that "it just comes with dating the Avatar" or something like that.

This hc is putting burden on these 2 characters in a way they don't really need or deserve storywise.

4. The hc often comes with minimal consequences as I stated above. Like "oh Bumi or Kya are half siblings guess we'll just live with it". Sure Aang would forgive Katara and Zuko, but he's not infallible. He would feel betrayed by not only his wife, but one of his best friends too. Plus what do you think that would do to the rest of the gaang? It has the potential to split friendships. Toph and Sokka would pick sides, Suki would try to mediate but be disappointed. There would be this whole rift going on. And yeah sure the kids could grow up together and still love each other, but you think there wouldn't be any resentment there when Bumi or Kya believe they could've been growing up in the Fire Nation? Kids feel things a lot, and this hc is harmful to their characters too. They already had to deal with a das that needed to be away all the time and with a dad that needed to deal with reviving his culture that almost died out. The underlying resentment, even if they understood, would be so great that it would damage Tenzin's character too, and not only that but this adds potential resentment from the kids to their mother a Katara for keeping them there. Maybe they wouldn't see Aang as their real dad too, and that is a whole other can of worms.

5. I'm sorry but if this hc is a thing, there's no way Zuko and Aang would be able to maintain an amiable relationship. Literally there are some things that even though they are forgiven, they wouldn't be forgotten. Cheating with your best friend's wife is one of those things. The relationship would be almost irreparable if even. That alone destroys all the character development and trust built up in ATLA and would botch the entire story to the point where it doesn't seem real anymore. In LOK their friendship remains even after Aang dies. Korra asks Zuko for help on what Aang would do, and Iroh in the spirit world says that they ended up being best, lifelong friends. This alone should be enough to deter people from this controversial hc, if not for the fact that cheating is already problematic.

Anyways. Hope that helps answer the question!

thank you for such a detailed response, anon!! i appreciate you taking the time to share it 💛

[atlabeth]

transferred part twelve - atla smau

masterlist | part eleven | part thirteen

this takes place about 2 weeks after the last chapter

summary: trying to run from your past is hard, but falling for your brother’s roommate is even harder. little do you know that he’s falling for you as well. 

wc: 3.6k 

a/n: i’ve been writing bits and pieces of this since the start of this series so. enjoy. that’s all im gonna say lmao 

warning(s): cursing, mentions of familial death, mentions of abuse, some angst but also some fluff. this is kind of a heavy chapter because both zuko and y/n talk about their past, but there is fluff at the end. 

~~~~~~~~

You pushed your hair out of your face and tried to blink the sleep out of your eyes, catching a glimpse of the time on the corner of your laptop. 

3:23 AM. 

You should’ve been asleep a long time ago, but all of your professors had decided to schedule tests in the same week so it was one of many, many late nights you had had lately. You thought that they would cool down because midterms were coming up, but BSSU professors kept proving you wrong. Late nights like these were becoming a regular occasion, and right now you just needed a break. 

The tea dates with Zuko were the only things keeping you sane. But could you even call them dates? 

It was the two of you, together, sitting and talking over tea for hours, and they were happening multiple times a week. In fact, you and him had gotten tea together exactly 9 times in the past two weeks — and that wasn’t even counting all the talking during your shared shifts. 

Katara, Suki, and Toph told you that they were dates, you wanted them to be dates, but there was a part of you that was so incredibly scared that you were wrong — that moving past that bridge would ruin the friendship that you cherished so much with Zuko — that you kept things solely platonic. No matter how much you wanted to kiss him every time he gave you that smile. 

But thinking about the complicated relationship you had found yourself entangled in with Zuko wasn’t a break, no matter how many times you had pondered over it before falling asleep in the wee hours of the night. 

You closed your laptop and grabbed your jacket that had been carelessly tossed on a stool at the kitchen island, making sure to sneak out of the apartment as quietly as you could. You opted to work in the living room, choosing to camp out on the sofa whenever you had to stay up as late as this, just so you wouldn’t wake up Sokka. Your brother had no idea how much you did for him. 

The cool breeze hitting your face and the shining stars in the sky were a welcome change of scenery from the lifelessness that was your apartment at night and your computer screen that you were sure was going to cause you eye issues later in life with how bright it was. 

You took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling the crisp night air, and started to walk. You were sure you looked like a mess. You were wearing some flannel pajama pants, a BSSU tank top, tennis shoes, and Zuko’s jacket.  He had never asked for it back after that night at the party, and when you had showed up to one of your hangouts wearing it, he told you that you could keep it — “it looks better on you anyways” — so you did. 

There was something calming about the atmosphere. You knew that a lot of women were anxious about going out at night, especially alone, but that was why you had taken self defense classes. Being friends with Suki was a self defense class in its own, and it was very much appreciated. You allowed yourself to get lost in your thoughts, trying to give yourself the break that you deserved, when the hairs on the back of your neck stood up. 

“You know, it’s not safe to be out alone at this hour.” 

You let out a scream at the unexpected voice and whirled around, your fists already up to defend yourself. When you saw who it was, you laughed, completely shocked, and hit your hands against your legs, trying to calm your rapidly beating heart. 

“Holy shit, Zuko, you can’t just sneak up on someone like that!” you wheezed. You had no doubt that he only had good intentions, but for a second you thought someone was going to try and kill you. You had to admit, the scare was worth it to see the mix of horror and embarrassment on Zuko’s face.

“I’m so sorry!” His hands were held up placatingly in front of him and he let out a nervous laugh as well, but it did nothing to cover up the wide eyes he stared at you with. “I am so sorry, I didn’t even think about that. I- I was just up studying too, and I heard you leaving so I thought you could use some company- I swear, I wasn’t trying to scare you or anything!” 

You shook your head but couldn’t stop the smile on your lips, gesturing for him to come closer while you caught your breath. “It’s fine. Come on, walk with me.”

He fell into step beside you and the two of you walked in silence for a while, the only disruptions being the occasional car that drove by. It was eerily quiet, but with Zuko, it was nice. 

“So-”

“So-” 

Both of you laughed when you each interrupted the other, and when you motioned for Zuko to go first he shook his head. You paused for a moment, the question on the tip of your tongue, before you decided to take the plunge. 

“I’ve been wondering since I got here; how did you end up as friends with—” You gestured around with your hands. “—this whole crew? It’s kind of a weird combination of people, so I guess I just wanna know how you became a part of it.” 

Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his hair, causing your eyes to widen a little bit as a stammered apology came out. “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to-” He gave you a tight smile and shook his head. 

“No, it’s fine. You should know about my life if— if we’re going to keep living together.” He knew the moment he met you, the moment he agreed to let you live with all of them, that he would have to explain his past to you. Hell, your siblings might have already told you some of it — he could only hope you’d still want to be his friend after he was done. 

“”I.. I wasn’t the best person in the past. I was a horrible person actually, and I consider myself extremely lucky that I was given so many chances to change. I hurt people. Bullied people. Got into fights just because I could. I was just- horrible is the only way to describe it. But your siblings, Toph, Aang? They were all people that decided to give me one of those chances, and they’re a huge reason that I am who I am today.” Zuko spoke slowly, and you could tell that this was something he didn’t open up to many people about. You smiled softly at him and nodded, letting him know that he could go on. 

“I don’t know how much you know about my father, but he’s the CEO of our family company. He’s been this huge presence in the business world for as long as I can remember, and he’s responsible for all the wealth and fame that our family has today. And when I was younger, I idolized him. I thought he was the greatest man in the world, that he could do no wrong, and I just followed him blindly. He was the most important person in my life, but.. I was nothing to him.” 

“He didn’t care about his friends, or- or his family, he only cared about power. My mother left when I was young, we haven’t heard a word from her since, and- and I don’t even know if he cared. My father would do whatever it took to become as powerful as he could, and that meant—” Zuko’s voice was getting louder and he cleared his throat, trying to keep his cool. There was a certain hollowness behind his eyes, and it tore you to pieces. “That meant hurting anyone that went against him. Including his children.”  

“I have a sister, Azula. She’s a prodigy in every sense of the word, and my father used it, used her. She was clearly his favorite, and it drove me insane. I mean, I did everything for his approval, but he only cared about Azula. We had a good relationship when we were younger, but my father molded her into the kind of person he wanted her to be, and— and I was jealous of her. He used that against us, purposefully staked the fire of our competition, one that I thought I could somehow win. But we had both already lost the second we started fighting against each other.” 

“It took me a long time to realize that.. that he was abusing us. I mean, he gave me this scar all because I spoke out of turn, and— and I still thought that I could earn his favor, that he deserved to earn my favor! He threw me out of the house when I was thirteen, and I went to live with my uncle. It took an even longer time, but with his help, and the support of your siblings and their friends, I was able to break the cycle. I was horrible to them at first, all of them, and I hated my father for what he did, but it was probably the thing that saved me.”  “And Azula.. leaving her will always be my biggest regret. My biggest mistake. I should’ve forced her to come with me when I was kicked out, I should’ve done something sooner, because maybe she wouldn’t have turned out the way she did.” He swallowed hard, his voice strained. “I came back for her once I was stable, and I helped her get out. I helped her get a therapist. It’s been a long process, but she’s getting better every day. But not a day goes by where I don’t think about what I could’ve done to help her more.”

You instinctively reached out for Zuko’s hand, and to your surprise, he took it without question. You gave his hand a small squeeze and led him over to a nearby bench — without realizing it, the two of you had entered a public park that was near the complex. When you sat down together, you moved so that one of your legs was crossed in front of you and the other was hanging down so you could face him. 

“Zuko.. I am so, so sorry. I don’t think any amount of apologies will be able to get how I feel across, but.. you didn’t deserve to go through that. No one deserves to go through that.” You took both of his hands, thankful for the warmth they provided. “Listen to me. Are you listening to me?” 

He gave a pained smile and nodded. “Yes, Y/N. I’m listening to you.” 

“You are not who you were in middle school. You are not who you were in high school. Okay? Your father is a horrible man, and you wouldn’t have done any of those things if it wasn’t for him. What you did when you were younger wasn’t okay, but the fact that you have so much remorse for it today proves that you’re a good person. Zuko, you are a good person, one of the best men that I’ve ever met in my life, and I’ve only known you for a few months.” 

You were subconsciously rubbing calming circles into the back of his hands —  hands that were still holding yours — while you talked, but it was all Zuko could think about.  “I know you feel guilty about leaving your sister, but you did what you had to do to get out. You came back for her, and you’ve helped her get better. She’s grateful for it, Zuko, I know that much.” 

“Everyone else has forgiven you,” you murmured, staring deep into the fire he held in his eyes. “You deserve to forgive yourself.”

The silence that passed while you gazed into each other’s eyes felt like it lasted an eternity, when really it was only about a minute. Zuko was the first to break it, clearing his throat and looking everywhere but at you as his words tumbled out. “I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you at once.”

“It’s okay, Zuko, really. I understand; sometimes you just need to talk to somebody. You don’t know how much it means to me that you trusted me with all of that. And.. if we’re still baring our souls to each other, then I guess I have some things that you should know as well.” 

You bit the inside of your cheek; were you really about to tell Zuko about what happened? Most people knew that your mother was dead — killed in a drunk driving accident when you were ten — but you had never told anyone, not even your father or your siblings, about the full effect it had on you. But his eyes told you more than he ever could, and in that moment you knew it would be okay. You could trust him with something you had never trusted anyone else with.

“I’m sure you know that my mother died when I was young.” He nodded and you swallowed, trying to get rid of the sudden dryness in your throat. “It was.. hard. Really hard, on all of us. It was just so unexpected that we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t really have any money to spare, so my dad had to keep working, and I had to take care of Sokka and Katara. I was only eleven, but I basically had to take over the ‘mom’ role. Our grandmother came down to take care of us so we wouldn’t just be a bunch of kids living on our own, but even with her and Katara’s help, it was still hard. Sokka and Katara had to grow up much faster than they should’ve, even though I tried to shield them as much as I could.” 

“It was.. a lot. I won’t lie to you, it was a lot. Maybe too much.” A mirthless laugh hung in the air and you had to blink back the tears threatening to spring. “My mother was.. amazing. She was the only one who truly got me, you know? She was just this— this beautiful spirit in the world, and she brought light wherever she went. And when she died, it left this.. huge, gaping hole in my heart, one that I’m still trying to fill. I- I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to fill it. I thought as I got older it would be easier, but i-it’s not. The three of us joke around by calling Katara mom because of how she is, and they sometimes do it to me, and I know that’s all they are, jokes, but some part of it still hurts.” 

You were rambling now, spilling your soul to Zuko, going into the most mundane details that you had never told anyone. You had taken away the dam that had been holding back the waters of your emotions for so long, and now Zuko was going to drown in them. But you couldn’t stop.

“It’s the reason why I didn’t drive for so long. I didn’t want to, I was terrified of it because of what happened to my mother, but someone needed to be able to take Sokka and Katara around. And- and as I got older, and I started going to parties and people started drinking, I never did. I couldn’t, I was always the designated driver, because I couldn’t leave that in someone else’s hands. I had to be in control, because if I let someone go, then it was like I was killing my mother all over again, and it’s the reason why I always have to be the one driving—” 

You paused to take a deep breath, and as you looked down at your hands, you realized they were shaking. Not just your hands, but your entire body. What the hell were you doing? You let out a tearful laugh, covering your mouth with one hand and shaking your head. “God, I am so sorry, I— I don’t know what got into me.”

Zuko’s eyes never left yours, his own glassy, and he shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize. Like you said, it helps to tell someone. A-and— I know how you feel, what it’s like feeling like you have to give up the world for your siblings. But you have to take care of yourself too. You’re not just what you can give to other people. You are your own person.”

He was thankful that you trusted him enough to tell you something like this about yourself, something that your own blood didn’t even know, but it also made him realize that you had always trusted him. 

Your point about driving. You liked to be in control so that if something did go wrong, there wouldn’t be any thoughts of what you could’ve done. If something happened, it was because of you and only you. And on your first day of classes, and many trips since, you had let him drive. It was something so small, so insignificant to anyone, but to you it was a sign of trust. 

You trusted him. 

“You’re shivering.” Your voice snapped Zuko back to reality and he shrugged, the smallest smile playing on his lips. 

“I wouldn’t be if someone had given me my jacket back,” he joked. You elbowed him in the chest and stood up, holding out your hand for him to take to help him up as well. Zuko took it and you ignored the butterflies that erupted, setting a steady pace as the two of you walked. 

“We should get back to the apartment. It’s late, and you need to sleep,” you chided. 

“You have bags the size of baseballs under your eyes. I think you need sleep just as much as I do.” 

“I’m special,” you shot back with a grin.

Yeah, you are, Zuko thought. 

The walk back to the apartment was shrouded in comfortable silence and intertwined hands, something that neither of you made any move to change.

~~~~~~~~

Soon enough you had gotten back to your rooms — such a small apartment meant that they were right next to each other — and as you turned on your heel to face him, a shy smile played on your lips. “Thank you. For, uh- coming after me. For listening to me.” 

“Of course,” he nodded. The two of you stood in silence for a while, and then Zuko reached out his hand. Your breath caught in your throat as he brushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear, and the close proximity combined with the surprisingly intimate act caused your cheeks to heat up once more. It was like you were caught in a trance.

Your gaze flickered from his eyes to his lips for just a moment, and you could’ve sworn that he did the same. The air between the two of you was crackling with unseen electricity, and before you could question yourself you were leaning forward. 

You felt him lean in as well as your eyes fluttered shut, and his lips ghosted over yours. Your eyes snapped open and you stared at him, your lips slightly parted in disbelief — he just kissed you. Zuko just kissed you. It was like time had stopped — and then it all came crashing down. His lips came back to yours with an intense fervor, cupping your face in his hands to get as close to you as possible.

It was bliss in the purest sense. You reciprocated immediately, tangling a hand in his dark hair, letting out a soft gasp as your back hit the wall. Despite how many times you had imagined this moment, nothing could compare to the real thing. It was passionate but gentle all the same, and the warmth that spread through your whole body was familiar — it was Zuko. 

Your mind was a jumbled mess. It was split a million different ways; one part suddenly very worried about how your hair looked, one hoping that Sokka and Aang couldn’t hear you, another that didn’t care, but most of them were just screaming about how oh my god you were kissing Zuko.

You knew your whole face was flushed when you finally pulled away, and the warmth of his lips lingered as the two of you stared at each other, breathing slightly labored. You tentatively reached out your hand and softly, carefully traced your finger over a part of his scar. He flinched at the contact instinctively, but you felt him relax and even lean into your touch. It meant more than you could ever say, especially knowing what you knew now. 

“You’re so beautiful,” you murmured, your touch impossibly soft against the cracked skin of his scar. “And you’re stronger than anyone knows. Than you know.” 

You kissed him again, shorter and sweeter than the first but just as tender, trying to memorize the feeling of his lips against yours as he returned it. You smiled at him and pushed your door open behind you, equal parts nervous and exhilarated about what just happened. “Goodnight, Zuko,” you whispered, shining eyes never leaving his until you closed the door.  

As soon as you were in your room you turned around and leaned against the door, smiling to yourself like an idiot. Your hand ghosted over your cheek, the spot where his hands had been, and you sighed dreamily. You had no idea how you were going to be able to finish studying. 

This was definitely more than a small crush. 

~~~~~~~~~~

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also i am so sorry i suck at writing kiss scenes dont roast me please

[ladyscarlettwrites]

If your requests are open, could I get a 2 people 1 bed Zuko x f Reader. Nothing nsfw just really fluffy where they’re both awkward and flustered about it? If not that’s totally fine. Thank you!

A/N: I am so very sorry that I’m answering this really, really late! So I made it a bit longer. I hope you’re okay with what I came up with! I made the F reader a waterbender.

While flying on Appa, the gang were caught in a unexpected rainstorm.  Thankfully with Katara’s quick thinking, she was able to water bend along with Y/N with the water to create a barrier big enough to cover the group and Appa from getting anymore wet.

When they were finally able to land at a nearby town they looked around for a place to stay the night. They were finally able to find an inn but there were only three rooms available. Two rooms had two beds and one room had three beds.

They started to decide on who would be staying in which rooms. Sokka suggested that they’d draw straws to make it fair. Sokka ended up being paired up with Aang, much to the dismay of both of them since Aang wanted to share a room with Katara and Sokka wanted to be in the same room with Suki. Next, Katara was paired up with both Toph and Suki. That left Zuko and Y/N with the room with two beds.

As everyone walked away to head to their rooms, Y/N followed behind Zuko. Anyone could clearly see that these two had feelings for each other yet they were both too blind to see if themselves, even Toph could see it!

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Y/N looks up to see that Zuko standing in front of the door to their room. She walks up and peaks around him to see into the room and her eyes widen with realization as she understands what he was surprised about.

“They said that it was a room with two beds not one! I’ll go and fix this.” Zuko storms off, leaving Y/N alone. Y/N would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t hurt by the fact that Zuko was upset that he’d have to possibly share a bed with her.

Y/N did her best not to let her tears fall down on her face as she places her bag down and grabbed an extra blanket and made her bed on the floor, away from the bed. When she heard Zuko returning she quickly laid down and turned away from him.

“They said that they must have made a mistake but that this is the only room available.” Zuko sighs as he walks. He looks around confused when he doesn't see Y/N. “Y/N?” He walks over to the other side of the bed and sees her laying down on the floor. “Y/N, what are you doing on the floor? You should take the bed instead.”

Y/N still doesn’t turn around to face him. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine here. It’s just for tonight.”

“Y/N, I can’t sleep on the bed while you sleep on the floor!” Zuko shakes his head. Y/N sighs as she gets up and collects her stuff. “W-Wait...! Where are you going?” 

“Well if me sleeping on the floor will keep you from sleeping on the bed then I’ll go and see if I can sleep in the other room with the girls” She says as she starts to walk out the room when Zuko reaches out and grabs her hand gently.

“What is it Zuko?”

Zuko blushes as he looks down at his feet, “You don’t have to go...”

“You clearly don’t want me here. You even went to go ask for another room.”

Zuko shakes his head, “N-No, I didn’t...I mean I didn’t think you’d want to be in the same room. But...we can share the bed.”

“S-share the bed?! B-but...”

“The bed is big enough for the both of us to fit but if you don’t feel comfortable, you can say no...”

Y/N thinks for a while, blushing as she notices that he’s still holding her hand, “W-We...we can share the bed...” She says softly.

Zuko smiles as he squeezes her hand gently as he walks with her back to the bed. Y/N and Zuko both slip into the bed, laying down awkwardly and not talking since they’re both too shy to say anything to each other. A small gust of wind blows through a crack in the window causing Y/N to shiver.

“Are you cold?” Zuko asks. Y/N nods her head. Zuko thinks for a bit before lifting the blanket up a bit so that she could see that he was opening his arms out to her.

“Zuko?”

“My body tends to run a lot warmer than others. Perks of being a firebender.” Zuko says as a tint of pink starts creeping onto his cheeks. When Y/N doesn’t say anything or move right away he looks away, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to...” He says as he starts to put his arm back down.

Y/N quickly moves closer and buries her face into his chest. Zuko instantly blushes even more but slowly smiles as he wraps his arms around her. Y/N closes her eyes and sighs softly as she starts to feel warmer.

“Feel better?”

“A lot better...thank you.”

Zuko gently rubs tiny circles on the small of her back to help her fall asleep. Y/N yawns softly and snuggles closer to him. Zuko couldn’t believe that he was lucky enough to sleep in the same room as Y/N, let alone in the same bed and in his arms. He continues to quietly listen to her breathing until it slows down to a soft and steady pace as if she had already fallen into deep sleep. He leans down and kisses the top of her head.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get the courage to tell you that...that my feelings for you keep growing each day we spend more time together. Sokka keeps telling me that I should hurry up and tell you before someone else comes along and admits there feelings to you. Someone better than me. But...I’m scared that you won’t feel the same and it’ll end up ruining our friendship.”

“I like you too, Zuko.”

Zuko flinches and looks down to see Y/N looking up at him. “W-What?”

“I said that I like you too...”

“Y-You do?! B-But...!”

“No buts, Zuko. I’ve liked you for a while too but....I never told you because I’m...I’m just me. I’m just a normal water bender and you’re a firebender. And not just any firebender but the prince of the Fire Nation. I’ve also seen the way you looked at Man when we ran into your sister and her friends. Azula said that you guys had feelings for each other.”

Zuko sighs heavily, “We did have feelings for each other before but that was in the past. Azula was just trying to get into your head to throw you off. But,” Zuko reaches over and places his hand on her cheek and rubs her cheek gently with his thumb. “Does me being a firebending prince really bother you?”

Y/N closes her eyes and leans against his hand. “No...but your people and council will probably be against it.”

“When Aang finally defeats my father and we stop my sister, I’ll be crowned the new Fire Lord and my people will have to live with who I choose to become my wife.”

“Y-You’re wife?” Y/N blushes deeply.

Zuko smiles as he leans closer and nuzzles his nose against hers. “I want you to eventually become my wife...”

Y/N continues to blush as she looks from his eyes to his lips and back to his eyes.

“May I kiss you, Y/N? Please?”

Y/N nods her head and closes her eyes as Zuko leans in and kisses her softly. They both smile at each other when they pull away.

“Does this finally mean that I’m your boyfriend now?”

Y/N smirks, “I think you need to properly ask me.”

Zuko laughs softly before leaning in and nuzzles his nose against hers again. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend, Y/N?”

Y/N giggles and leans up to peck his nose, “Yes...”

Zuko smiles and pulls her close and they soon fall asleep in each other’s arms.

The next morning they walked outside to meet with the others while holding hands.

“FINALLY!” Sokka yells out.

***********************************************

Requests are open 💕

[spasmsofthought]

unfinished (zuko x reader)

I altered the events of the ATLA finale unknowingly in the first part of this series, so I guess this could be considered a bit AU, but not really. I imagine the reader to be about the same age as Zuko in the cartoon, but it’s really not that big of a preference; read it however you want! 

Read the first part of this series here: Silence

So, the first part was set the night before the big finale battle during Sozin’s Comet. This part is set the morning of that day, so Zuko didn’t wait in his uncle’s tent alllll night - in this piece of fiction he stepped out for a break, which is why what happened with him and the reader happened. 

I was listening to Meet Me on the Battlefield by SVRCINA as I wrote this and found it very fitting for the mood I was trying to portray for this piece. 

I hope you guys enjoy! Feel free to let me know what you think. 

Like, comment, reblog! xo 

- 

“I’m a coward,” You sigh to Katara. 

There is so little time to prepare for today that everyone is doing what they can to soak in the simplicity of eating breakfast. She looks at you for a moment before setting her bowl and chopsticks down on the low table sitting before you both. 

“We’re about to go into battle and you choose now to let everyone know that?” Sokka interrupts, using his chopsticks as a tool to point towards you. It’s not an accusing action, but it still makes the nerves in your stomach fizz around like they’re trying to escape. There’s still some grains of rice that stick to the ends, one grain even falls onto the table. It’s a little gross how much of a slob Sokka can be, but you brush it away for today. There are more important things to worry about. 

He’s doing his best, but the joke falls a little flat. 

Sokka has grown leaps and bounds as a leader, but this morning’s atmosphere is not conducive to running jokes on someone else’s self-admitted flaws or weaknesses. 

Katara glares at her brother, “Shut up and finish your breakfast.” 

Sokka focuses back on his meal, grumbling words under his breath that you both ignore, and Katara subtly turns towards you. She takes your face in, or at least that’s what you think she’s doing as she stares at you. 

“What happened?” Her voice is softer, closer to a whisper. You have to lean in just to make sure the conversation stays between you both. 

Your elbows rest on your knees and your face falls into your hands. After you walked away from Zuko, you spent the rest of early morning as the sun rose lying on your pallet trying to reconcile the fact that you could die today and you were always the type of person to save important things for the very last minute. 

“It couldn’t have been that bad... whatever it is you did,” Katara says compassionately, her hand smoothing down your hair. She can be such a mother sometimes. 

“I kissed him,” You slightly grimace at the words. They’re bittersweet coming from your mouth. 

Both Sokka and Katara know who you’re talking about. As oblivious as Zuko is, you wear your heart on your sleeve in the same manner. They knew what you were feeling before you would even admit it to yourself. 

Sokka chokes and coughs loudly, ever the eavesdropper. Once he’s recovered, he looks at you with his mouth gaping open making a sound of unbelief. It only makes you want to curl inside yourself. 

“Okay...” Katara nods assuredly, like it isn’t that big of a deal. Like she’s not a teenager who’s also trying to figure out romance during war-time. You wish you had her confidence. “Well, how did he react?” 

Her curiosity will be the death of you. You can feel the grimace become more pronounced and you push your hair away from your face, eyes focusing on the surrounding scenery. Here it comes. 

“Uh...” You don’t know what to do with your hands, or with yourself. “I kind of walked away before he could say anything about it.” 

Sokka groans and slaps the palm of his right hand onto his forehead, leaving a red-ish mark (that looks like a blob) on his forehead, and turns his focus back on his meal. Katara only shakes her head and rolls her eyes with a slight smirk on her face as she turns her body to be perpendicular with the low-sitting table, picking up her bowl and chopsticks. 

“You two are perfect for each other.”

The entrance of Zuko and his uncle Iroh interrupts any chance you had at a reply to Katara. 

Everyone moves away from the solitary table, including yourself, so you can all sit in a circle together. They are greeted warmly and are handed breakfast, but it’s easy to tell the atmosphere has shifted. 

The reality of what today is can no longer be ignored. 

The group settles as Zuko and his uncle talk. You pay little attention to the words, trying to focus on the moment. Gathered together as a sort-of mismatched family, this may be the last time you are all together. 

Your stomach turns. 

Iroh makes it evident that Zuko is to become the next Fire Lord, which in no way surprises you. It was his destiny. The group is split up like you thought it would be: Katara and Zuko will travel to the Fire Nation Capital to face Azula, his sister, and challenge her for his birthright. You will travel with Suki, Toph, and Sokka to take down the Fire Nation airships.

“Don’t you want to come with us?” Katara asks, motioning to you and Zuko as the group separates to prepare to leave. You give her a sad sort of smile; the kind that tells her you had already decided. 

“I’d only be in your way. I can do much more if I go with your brother.” 

Appa and the rest is patiently waiting as you stand with her in what could be your final goodbye. 

“Besides, riding a giant eel hound this once will make more more grateful to be on Appa’s back next time.” You give a laugh, but it comes out as a small sob, too. 

Katara grips you in a tight hug, like she’s trying to press her strength into you so it’s something you can share with each other. You wrap your arms around her as your eyes water. 

It’s hard to be separated from the only family you’ve ever really known with the possibility, tucked in a corner of your heart, that you may never see Katara or Zuko ever again. Even Sokka, Suki, or Toph if you all somehow manage to get separated from each other. 

“Be smart. I love you, sister.” Her voice is infused with the kind of steel you need to hear. The term of familial endearment makes her squeeze you tighter for a second. “We’ll see you when this is over,” Katara says as she finally pulls away. 

You can only manage to nod as you do your best to discreetly wipe away the tear tracks on your cheeks.  

“I’ll see you then.” You give her a barely-there smile. 

She makes her way over to Toph, Suki, and Sokka. You know they’ve already said their goodbyes to each other, but it doesn’t hurt to have one more before today actually starts. 

Zuko now stands in front of you, silent as ever. You look away for a second, trying to take a deep breath in, but your lungs take in only a shallow one. You’re unsure of what to do or what to say. Despite the fact that you kissed him last night, you both had built up a decent friendship as he traveled with the group. 

You meet Zuko’s eyes finally after a few moments, feeling brave enough to do so. The amber color gives you a sort of strange comfort, a bit like the feeling of home (not that you know much about that feeling). 

There’s too much to say and no time to say it; to say anything. 

I might be in love with you. The truth reverberates in your soul, like it’s going to stay rooted there no matter how much you try to tug it out of the ground. 

You’re not sure you should reach out and touch him, but you do anyway. Your hand rests on his left shoulder, gently trying to steady both yourself and him.

Like you’re trying to hold onto him for as long as you can; as long as the spirits will allow.  

“Don’t be reckless.” It’s the only thing you can manage, knowing him the way you do. Your eyes stay on his, like you’re both trying to communicate something without wasting the space with a bunch of words and failing. 

Zuko’s eyes roam, though you don’t know what they’re exactly looking for on your face. You try to take him in, like last night. You try to do your bet to memorize what he looks like. Like if you can stare hard enough, long enough, he will be burned into your mind forever. 

There are too many things to say and no time to say any of them. There are too many things that may remain forever unsaid. You don’t know what to do with that. There is an incompleteness you feel as you stand in front of him. 

That’s the funny thing about war: it leaves a lot of things unfinished. 

“Don’t lose,” You voice almost breaks, and you think Zuko knows that. You can see Katara climb up to Appa’s saddle out of your peripheral vision. There’s rustling behind you that tells you your group is waiting for you as they adjust themselves on the giant eel hound. 

You don’t know if he knows, but it’s too late now. There’s no time. 

I might be in love with you. 

He’s oblivious, you think. 

“I’ll do my best,” Zuko finally says and your eyes can’t help but water. It’s all too much. There’s too much you need to say; too much you need to do. There’s too much to feel. You don’t let the tears escape. 

Your hand drifts down his shoulder slowly and he grips your hand in his before it can come back to your side. You don’t know what it means, but you hope you’ll remember this moment for the rest of your life. 

I might be in love with you. 

“I have to go, and so do you,” You nod your head forward to where Katara and Appa are prepared to leave. 

You take a step backwards and so does Zuko. He holds onto your hand until it has to slip out of his. The fingers that had been intertwined together now only hold air. You don’t know what he wants, what he meant. You don’t know how to read him, and now you are heading into a battle you may not even survive.

If only things had been different. If only you had been braver. 

You make you way to the eel hound and climb on to the saddle. It’s big enough to fit four people, which would impress you more if you weren’t focused on other things.

There’s a small speech that Iroh gives to you all, and you listen half-heartedly, trying to get your emotions under control. It’s firm and confident, but like everything else today, it doesn’t last long. 

The eel hound takes off just as Appa begins his ascent to the sky. You keep your eyes on the sky bison as long as you can, but after a few short seconds you lose their position in the sky. The wind whips your hair into a frenzy and something heavy settles in you.

I might be in love with you. 

Indeed, there are things war leaves unfinished. 

[theotherace]

ATLA for 1, taang for 2, and Azula for 3 (if you feel like answering that much, lol. feel free to pick what you want to answer)

ATLA

Favorite character: Absolutely no secret. Obviously Aang.

Least Favorite character: I like all the characters as characters. I despise Zhao as a person. Also, the old man who ratted out Haru and whoever snitched on Katara can go die in a fire.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Taang, Sukka, Teophaang, Sokaang aaand ... Songko.

Character I find most attractive: I'm having a crisis with this one, lmao. The main characters are too young for me to find attractive, and none of the older side characters that come to mind are terribly attractive to me. Kyoshi? Yeah, I'm gonna say Kyoshi.

Character I would marry: Grown-up Aang as he exists in my head. Otherwise, maybe Hakoda. He's a good man.

Character I would be best friends with: Six-year-old me wanted to be friends with the whole Gaang, and honestly, it would probably be them? Aang is Mr "I befriend everybody", and over him, I'd get in.

A random thought: I want Katara to open a school after getting back home. She'd be good at that, I think. And it would kind of bring her full circle; from setting out to find a teacher to coming back home to teach herself.

An unpopular opinion: I'm so isolated from mainstream fandom, I'm not sure what's even popular anymore. Uh. Zuko's soulmate is neither Katara nor Sokka. Toph and Aang are soulmates, though.

My Canon OTP: Easy. Sukka.

My Non-canon OTP: Even easier. Taang.

Most Badass Character: All of them! I said this in the Encanto ask already ... Uhm ... Toph. Choosing Toph.

Most Epic Villain: Azula, I'd say. The other villains I wouldn't necessarily call "epic".

Pairing I am not a fan of: Lots of them. Gonna say Kataang in canon (adore their friendship, though), and Tyzula in fandom.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): The main characters were all handled well, I think. Suki could've used more time, but since she originally was meant to be a one-off character, I'm fine with what we got for her. So ... Pathik. Yeah. We could've gotten so much more out of him.

Favourite Friendship: Aang and Katara. Best friends forever.

Character I most identify with: Thinking hard, probably Zuko.

Character I wish I could be: Baby Tom-Tom. Or Momo.

Azula

How I feel about this character: I like her fine. Not my favourite, not my least favourite, either.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Maybe Katara in a Modern AU. Maizula is a good ship, too. Also, I read a fic once that had her getting together with Tom-Tom, which I guess makes my answer: Anybody, as long as you write it well.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I think her relationship with Zuko is rather interesting and has a lot of potential, both during the show and post-war.

My unpopular opinion about this character: God, I don't know. What are popular takes one her? I don't headcanon her as a lesbian, but then, I see Sokkla more than any other Azula ship these days, so I don't know if this is unpopular. Either way, I don't mind the headcanon, either.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Working through her trauma. Building healthier relationships. I would say reconnect with Ursa to some extent, but we got that in the comics, and I didn't like it one bit, so ... uh. Still kinda that, but not in the way we got it.

Favorite friendship for this character: Her friendship with Mai and Ty Lee is very interesting, though obviously also quite toxic. Post-canon, I think her and Sokka could be hilarious together.

My crossover ship: No crossovers! So none.

And I got Taang in a separate ask, so I'm gonna answer that there!

[visit-ba-sing-se]

Toph and Zuko vs. terrible parents

I absolutely adore the friendship between Toph and Zuko and I recently thought about the fact that both have to bad parents.

So imagine post-series Toph confronting her parents and dragging Zuko with her for emotional support or something.

So I wanted to respond something great to this because I love their dynamic so much but my brain is a garbage can and now so much time has passed so maybe take this little scene from a fic of mine and let us pretend that that was a good answer  “Why did you decide to become her first? The blind bandit I mean?“ Toph did not respond for a few moments, and he already regretted the question. Another point for Iroh on the matter of him not thinking things through. Why only was he always such an idiot when he was talking to his friends? Luckily, before he could say anymore and probably make the situation even worse, Toph`s reply came: ”The easy answer would be that I wanted to fight and need a cool wrestling persona to catch people’s attention.“ Her grip around his arm got a bit tighter. “But I guess the honest answer is that I became the Blind Bandit because I knew that my parents, especially my father could never accept who I truly was. A powerful earth bender. Of course, I liked to imagine things to be different. But in the end, it turned out I was right all along. My father could only love me when I played the role he had chosen for me. The helpless and obedient blind little girl.“ A sad smile showed up on her face. “But what am I telling you about shit fathers, right? It’s not like you would not have experience with that. At least my father didn’t burn half my face off.“ Zuko shook his head. "I guess you could say I do, but I asked about you. And besides, I don`t think there is a contest about who’s the worst father. Even though a duell between your dad and my dad for worst father of the year might actually be a fight I‘d like to see.“ He was happy to see that Toph smiled at least a bit in response. "Your father would not stand a chance, mine would bribe all judges and referees and have the thing in the bag before it even started.“"Bold of you to assume my father would hesitate to have all those judges executed and get new ones who he would threaten to vote in his favor.“ 

They both could not help but laugh a bit. But when Zuko continued, his face and voice were completely serious again.  "Anyway, I think I understand what you mean. Of course, my dad would l would literally have killed for me to have bending skills like yours at 12. But he also had an exact role assigned to me at birth. And i admire you a lot for you were able to break out of yours so soon and all by yourself.“

"Thank you Sparky. But sometimes I still wonder if my mother is right.“ She paused, and when she continued talking she sounded way more insecure than ever before. “I got in touch with her again, and I think things are going quite well. But thinks I should talk to him and try to make an effort to reconcile. She would never say it explicitly, but she thinks it is my duty as his daughter to do so.“ Toph took another break and deep breath. Her fingers were squishing his arm, and it was clear that she was fighting the words that she was about to say. "And I hate to say it, but sometimes I feel like she is right. I mean I do drop his name a lot.“

"No. No, Toph, she is definetly wrong.“ The words were out before Zuko had thought any further. In moments like this he truly wished he was more like his uncle. But he was not, and all he had to offer was his honest, not very well put opinion. "Your farther contributed to you being in the world, which was probably the best thing he ever archived. That was his call, and you owe him nothing for that. If anything, he owes you.“ He pushed her in the side a bit with his shoulder “And personally, I am already looking forward to the day where people hear the name Beifong and don’t think of some rich businessman, but of the first metal- and most powerful earth bender of her time.“ "Thank you Sparky.“ Toph really did smile now. Zuko smiled, too. "I really like this idea. But push me again and you can be the next object of my study.“