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imnotusedtobeingloved · 3 years

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YOU GOT ME IN LOVE AGAIN

A/N: OMG!!!!!!!! Thank you guys for requesting a part two to this! You’re too sweet! I hope i could fullfill your wishes in this piece, lol, i spent so much time writing. I wanted to make this second part shorter than the first one, but guess what... it got just as long. So... wellp... have fun reading! Let me know what you think in the comments.

This is part two to “not enough” find part one here!

(PLEASE DON’T REBLOG!)

Warnings: Self-depriciation, loneliness.

Pairing: Zuko x f!Reader

Characters: adult!Zuko, Avatar Aang, Suki.

Requested: Yes!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor the gif. Credit to the owners.

Summary: Part two to “not enough”.

"I want to end our marrige, Zuko. It's over."

Your statement seemed to shake him to his core. He was lost. So very lost. Your throat burned as you watched the tears well in his eyes. "What?" he whispered, a sound so small, you almost didn't catch it. It was as if you'd stolen him the air to breathe. "But... But why? Where did i go wrong?" He seemed to restlessly search your broken expression for answers. "Do you-" he interrupted himself, barely able to speak his suspicion aloud. He didn't even want to think about it. It was too painful. "Do you not love me anymore?" He quickly burst out as soon as he'd gathered enough of the courage he had left to hear the answer. Both of your faces were stained with tear streaks by this point.

You'd never seen Zuko as fearful as he was right now. Not even in the worst nightmares you had endured. It would've felt less painful if he'd stuck a knife into your heart. You wanted to hug him. Run your hands trough his hair, wash the tears from his face, pull him close to your chest and tell him that it would be fine. Everything would be ok.

But it wouldn't be, would it? You'd made up your mind. But you couldn't give him the answer he needed. Of course you loved him. With every ounce of you being, you did. Your heart clenched, as you wordlessly turned around, taking a few steps toward the door. "My carriage is waiting," you told him.

"No! (Y/N)!" he grasped your upper arm, still not with force, just gently. "Please," his golden orbs were pleading you to stay. To explain. To give him another chance to right whatever he'd done wrong. "I'm sorry, Zuko," he watched, breath hitched, as you removed your wedding ring. It left reluctantly, clinging to your finger from the years of wearing. Today was the first time you'd take it off since becoming the Fire Lady. Forever.

You already missed it's familiar weight. You felt naked without it. But it had to be done. It was the last step to cut the string that tied you and Zuko together. One step closer and you could sense his scent of jasmine and leather. Your took his hand in yours. It was shaking, but his skin was still as soft and warm as ever. It hadn't met yours in ages. Your bottom lip wobbled, throat tightning once again, as you placed the symbol of your love in his palm, making his fingers close around it. It was done. His features were twisted with pain. Grief. He couldn't take it anymore. The Fire Lord fell to his knees. "Please," he said again, "I'm begging you,"

You felt lightheaded, distantly registering his arms being slipped around your waist and his cheek pressed to your stomach. "Do- don't," he hiccuped, "Don't leave me," his voice was filled with panic. You'd never heard him stutter before. Zuko had lost so much. Maybe too much for a regular human to bear. And now he was supposed to lose you as well?

You took a deep breath. Every part of your body was screaming to take back what you'd said. But you couldn't. "Zuko," you whispered, gently removing his arms. "We've won many battles together," his head hung low, when you pulled him back to his feet. "But we've lost the war,"

You allowed yourself you look at him one last time. You would forever remember the shared memories, the soft texture of his hair and his warm hugs on freezing days. And especially the love in his eyes, when he found your gaze through a room full of people. Moments when no one had mattered but you. "Goodbye, Zuko," you smiled through your tears, before you turned around and went. "Maybe one day you'll understand why i had to make this descision," he watched as you looked at him over you shoulder, and then slipped through the door, leaving the Fire Lord by himself. He stood there, silent, for a long time. Almost unmoving, twirling your ring between his fingers, as if it would give him the answers he craved. It was hopeless.

After you'd left, it was as if the world turned gray. And in time he realised it had started even before you were gone. Even when he hadn't seen you, he'd always been assured of your presence in the palace. He'd watch you sit in the gardens through the windows in his study, watch you sleep when he got to the bedroom late at night, before he had to leave early in the morning. But now there was... nothing.

And there continued to be nothing for months. No matter how much time went by, Zuko never forgot about you. Not one day went by, without missing you and reminiscing the years spent together. Often his sight would grow distant, a mysterious smile displayed to the world, while he was lost in memories. But a few moments later, when he came back into reality, the pain returned. He was a shadow of the man he once was. The Fire Lord had made many mistakes in his life, there was no doubt about that. But never had he punished himself as frequently and continuously as he did for losing you. He often wondered about your new life.

Where you happy? Healthy? Had you found someone new?

Zuko was aware that you had found a place in your old home. In Ba Sing Se. He'd pondered about the possibility to ask his Uncle if he'd ever seen you. If you visited the Jasmine Dragon. Or if you avoided any remaining connection to him at all. Caught up in his thoughts he mindlessly fished for the necklace under his uniform, usually hidden behind his armour. He'd started wearing it since you were gone. It was a thin, golden chain, and as he pulled it out a beautiful ring dangled in the middle. Your wedding ring. He twirled it between his fingers, just as he had when you'd left. He didn't know how long he sat there, paying no mind to his work for the first time in ages, until someone knocked at his doors. The necklace was put back under his clothes, where the soothing metal rested next to his heart. "Yes?"

A woman stepped in, a friendly smile on her face. She was a sight for sure eyes. "Avatar Aang and the Earth Kingdom Representative are here," Suki said, waiting for his next command. "Thank you, Suki," Zuko answered, crossing the room and following her to the council room. The Kyoshi Warriors were a true help to the palace. Thanks to them the assassination attempts slowly decreased, until they subsided completely. But still Zuko didn't get much more peace than before. The work of a ruler never ended. Right now the Harmony Restoration Movement rested on his shoulders, demanding hours of work. But the few hours of sleep he got, he spend dreaming of you. The first person he registered, standing next to the large map of the four Nations was the Avatar. "Aang," he said a friendly smile tugging on his mouth.

"Zuko! It's good to see you!" the Airbender answered, pulling him into a quick hug. "Where is Earth King Kuei?" They separated and Aang rubbed his neck. "He couldn't make it. Something about Bosco feeling sick," Zuko sighed. The affection between Kuei and Bosco was apparently almost as tight as Appa and Aang. "But we have an Earth Kingdom Representative!" he made a gesture, pointing to the other side of the room.

"Fire Lord Zuko," his eyes widened when he turned around to see you greet him with a traditional bow. "(Y/N)..." he stepped closer, as if an invisible force was pulling him towards you. Like to magnets, craving the contact. He hadn't been aware of you being a part of the Kuei's Royal Council.

"Should we start talking about the Movement?" Aang interrupted him before he could even attempt to get as close to you as he wanted. He hadn't felt the need to capture and gag the Avatar in a long time, but this was an exception. Or maybe he was only trying to ease the tension in the room. Finally Zuko agreed with a sigh, watching you from across the room.

There you stood, unreachable, on the other side of the map. So unbelievably close, and yet never close enough. Your hair was bundeled up into a common Earth Kingdom hairstyle and the body was covered by a beautiful gown, clearly made by the most talended tailor of the city. And yet something about it bugged him. The colors. It was a sea of green instead of the Nations ruby red, that had once hugged your frame. He missed seeing them on you.

"-ko?" he blinked. "Zuko?" Aang said again, trying to get the Fire Lords attention. He didn't realise that he'd been staring at you all this time, while you did your best to avoid his eyes. This felt like a dream. The only thing he didn't know was if it would turn into a nightmare. "Yes. Sorry," the Fire Lord quickly apologized, trying to redirect his attention back onto the task at hand. The negotiations turned out to be more difficult than it first appeared. Especially without having King Kuei's personal opinion on the matter. Clearly he and Zuko didn't see eye to eye anymore.

"What do you think, (Y/N) ?" Aang asked, after contemplating multiple optiones. You hummed and folded your hands. "I agree with the Fire Lord," you pointed to the affected Earth Kingdom territory. "The citizens of both Earth and Fire are intertwined right here. They've been working together. Starting families together. It would be wrong to seperate a family just because they consist of two Nations," The Avatar furrowed his brows, mulling over your answer. "I understand. I'm going to meet up with King Kuei immediately once i'm back in Ba Sing Se. Maybe we should-" The doors burst open. Suki ran in, grabbing a seemingly perplex Avatar by the arm and dragging him along with her. "Aang? You should come see this. I think something's wrong with Appa, or maybe he's just tired, but we should check it out immediately! We'll be right back!" Their departure seemed strangely suspicious, but he choose to let it slide. And suddelny he was alone with you.

You forcefully refused to meet his eyes. "(Y/N)," he said softly, daring to step just a little closer, but you raised a hand to stop him. "Please don't. You're the Fire Lord. We should remain professional," Zuko flinched. Each time you called him "Fire Lord" instead of "Zuko" a piece of hope died anew. "It's okay if you don't want to talk to me, (Y/N). I will accept that. But please listen to what i have to say. I will not bother you with any futher requests," You still didn't raise your head, though he saw a small nod. Zuko walked around the table to stand next to you, just like he did before you'd gone. "I think i know why you had to leave me. Your absence made me realize how awful you must've felt with me being in countless meetings. I neglected you, didn't i? I forgot to tell you, to show you, how much you mean to me. I want to apologize. For all the times you felt lonely. For all the broken promises. For all the missed opportunities. For all the heartbreak. I missed you every day, (Y/N). And i still do in this very moment," he confessed. His amber eyes silently searched your face for a reaction. Any kind of emotion at all. But there was nothing.

"You didn't miss me at all?" he whispered.

At last your gaze met his. "I missed you even before i was gone, Zuko," you stated, crossing your arms in front of your chest. "You have to accept that it's over,"

A humorless chuckle left his mouth. The sound of agony. "I can't, (Y/N)," his eyes watered slightly and he blinked to hold them back. "I tried, but... i just can't," you shook your head. The connection you felt to him, after all this time, was still there. You hadn't expected there to be nothing, but this was much stronger than what you'd signed up for. Zuko's chapter in your life was over. You'd forgiven his mistakes in the past months and were ready to move on. Going back to the way it was, wasn't a possibility. Being alone with him, seeing him, feeling him so close... It was overwhelming.

You had to get out of here. When he got closer once again, you sidestepped, not noticing the scroll that had fallen down during the earlier conversations. You gasped. Instead of meeting solid ground you foot slipped, sending you right into a spiral. But never touched the ground. Zuko caught you in his arms, pulling you into his chest.

In the small seconds he'd leaned forward to reach you, a small string of gold tumbled out beneath his uniform, catching your eye. "Are you alright?" he asked, searching your face for any discomfort. You, on the other hand, were thinking about something completely different. "Is that... my ring?" He looked down at himself, seeing the jewlery he'd carried along for months. "It is. Everything else was gone... i wanted to have a part of you with me," Now the bottled up emotions caught up with you. "Oh, Zuko..." you breathed, a single tear trailing down your face. He lifted a hand, wiping it away with his thumb, before pressing a featherlight kiss to your forehead.

"I'm so sorry, my love. Is it too much to ask for another chance? I won't give you a reason to leave again," You stepped away to look at his face, pondering quietly. "I can't go back to the way it was, Zuko," he reached for your hands, holding them delicately. "We won't," he promised, pressing his forehead to yours. "Let me prove it to you," You couldn't give him the same kind of faith. You didn't agree to anything, but you choose to wait and see.

One year later you found yourself resting on the soft, green grass, with the sun warming every inch of your skin. Zuko rested next to you, his face completely relaxed. You raised a hand, blinded by the sun, but a smile spread out on your face upon the sight of the ring that glimmered around your finger. You turned to your side, propped up on one elbow. Since the negotiations about the Harmony Restoration Movement with the Avatar, Zuko had been working endlessly... on your relationship.

A lot had changed. The original purpose of the Movement was defeated, but its collapse would lead to a peaceful and more integrated coexistence between all four nations. Thanks to the Fire Lord. After the idea to merge a United Republic of Nations, he’d taken a step back and cleared his scedule as much as he could to make time for you. Countless dates were arranged between the two of you and Zuko made sure that you had at least two days a week just for the two of you. Often his advisors would take over for him at certain times, as soon as he had a council of men he fully trusted. This also enabled him to get some much needed rest.

Who also took on more responsibility, was the Fire Lady. He had always been so focused, so sure that he had to do all the work alone, not wanting to burden you. But now that you shared it, everything seemed to be much easier. You raised a hand, bringing it up to his face and trailing a finger over his features. The deep, dark bags under his eyes that once had been, were gone. Zuko started to smile, getting tickled by your touch, tough he kept his eyes shut. You slid your hand into his hair, as he blindly reached for you, pulling you half onto his chest. You pressed a kiss to the mark on his face, an old habit, yet it never failed to make him feel better about it. “I’m so glad that you’re here with me, (Y/N)...” He mumbled quietly, finally opening his eyes. They shined golden, like the sun itself. So full of love and adoration that it was almost too overwhelming to look at. But you choose to fully embrace the moment. The warm climate, the soft grass, the turtleducks quietly paddling about in the pond, and of course your husband.

From the jasmine smell of his favorite tea, to his warm skin and his arms woven so tightly around your waist as if he never wanted to let go. “Me too,” you grinned, snuggling into his chest and looking up to him. His expression was one of pure joy and comfort, his smile more intoxicating than ever before. He looked every bit like the ruler he was. Still after all this time, your heart raced whenever he looked at you like this. You leaned up, pressing a quick peck against his lips, desprate for their taste. But Zuko wasn’t pleased. Before you could lay back down, he put a hand on your cheek, pulling you back in and kissing you deeply. His lips were hot. Soft. Irresitable. All your thoughts were washed away, as your senses were completely focused on Zuko. How he felt. How he tasted.

When you pulled away, completely out of breath and foreheads pressed together, you were caught up in each others presence. “I love you, (Y/N). So much,” he said, his voice hoarse from the kiss. “I love you too, Zuko,” you took his face in your hands, running your thumbs over his prominent cheekbones. All this time spend apart, you’d felt nothing at all, apart from trying to survive in the Royal Council of the Earth King. But Zuko had changed for the better again and turned you life around once more. You were not only in love with Zuko, you were in love with life. Something you hadn’t been able to feel in a long time. “You got me in love again,”

#zuko x reader #avatar zuko #fire lord zuko #prince zuko

148 notes · View notes

saturnwritings · 4 years

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one drink too many

—after getting a bit too rowdy on a girls night out, it’s up to bakugou to take care of you when things go south and the night dwindles to a close.

pairing(s): bakugou x reader (established)

word count: 2735

warnings: bad decisions made by consumption of alcohol

a/n: special thanks to my irl friend kim for suggesting this!! and uhh,, if y’all wanna give me sum nice juicy requests i would be happy to 😎 also my first bnha fic!! kinda weird since bakugou isnt really in my list of best boys (hes like b or a tier ngl 😔 but my friend really likes him also this was v fun i starting writing at 2 and ended at like 11 but im really proud of it)

“Hey y/n! You almost ready to go? The Uber’s almost here!”

As you held your phone up to your ear, your eyes widened. You had almost completely forgotten about the girls night out you planned, despite already being dressed.

You promised your boyfriend you’d hang out with him before you left, so there you were: all dressed up in your fancy, going-out clothes watching Bakugou train in the on-campus gym, that is, until you got a call from Mina, which completely snapped you out of your daze.

To be honest, you could watch Bakugou train for hours, days even. The way his body moved with such determination, wow, your eyes were glued to him. Even from where you sat against the wall of the empty room, you could see his muscles flexing with every move - but you had planned this outing weeks ago and the girls would kill you if you ditched them to watch you boyfriend work out of all things.

“Oh, yeah! I’m… on my way! I’ll see you at the entrance.” You quickly responded as you hung up. stood up and grabbed your small bag. You called out to Bakugou, who was so engrossed in fighting a punching-bag that he didn’t notice you walk over to him.

“Hey, Katsuki, Mina just called, I gotta now,” you placed your hand on his shoulder as you tip-toed to give him a small kiss, “Don’t stay up too late training, okay?” You paused for a second, “And try not to get into too much trouble while I’m gone.” You teased with a small laugh. Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Tch, whatever, loser.” He said, breaking eye contact, though there was no trace of malice in his voice.

***

The bar was never really your favorite place to be. It was sticky and smokey and loud and there was always a person who stood a little too close to you on the dance floor. Thankfully, you always managed to have a good and fun time and loosen up with a drink or two. And if all else fails, the bar you went to wasn’t so far from the dorms, around 15 minutes by car, so you knew if you really wanted to leave, it was no problem.

After a couple sessions of dancing with Mina and Hagakure, and probably too many rounds of shots with Jirou and, surprisingly, Yaomomo, you found yourself stumbling towards a nearby pool table, despite being surrounded by guys already engaging in a match.

“Hey! Can we, uhm, use this after you?” You slurred, probably sounding like roadlike. The guys took a second to exchange glances, then started laughing hysterically. You grew puzzled.

“Oh,” One guy looked you up and down, “You know how to play?” You frowned. Even in your drunken state you could tell he was being condescending. You huffed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, I mean, you’re a girl?” He said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. “Girls don’t know how to play pool.”

“Oh yeah? Well then… I challenge you to a game!” You said as you crossed your arms over your chest and lifted your chin. You didn’t exactly think this plan through, seeing as though you weren’t really in any shape to play competitively and seriously, but drunk you was not about to take shit for a sexist stranger. The man quirked his eyebrow, an amused smirk dancing on his lips.

“Okay then,” He said with a chuckle as he handed you a pool cue, “Game on,” He paused and mocked looking pensive, “and good luck.” Something about his smile didn’t sit right with you. You scoffed. By then, all your friends were gathered around to watch.

They knew how competitive you got, and while they should probably stop the showdown to prevent bad things from happening in the near future, it was good entertainment.

After a while of playing, only the 8-ball was left; it was your turn. Feeling very buzzed, you lined up your cue and tried focusing on one of the pockets, however it seemed as though your vision just dropped to -5 and you were looking at the Eiffel Tower from Spain. In simpler terms: you were fucked.

As much as you knew you wouldn’t be able to win, your stubbornness didn’t allow you to back out or admit defeat. As you were about to hit the ball, you felt someone behind you slightly nudge your cue, causing the ball to roll off course and instead it hit one of the walls. You gasped and looked behind you and sure enough, there was your opponent, looking extremely satisfied with a smirk on his face.

“Hey! You cheated, what the hell?!”

“Hm… did I? Or was I just right about little girls not being able to play pool?” Anger bubbled within you.

“No!” You shouted, “Absolutely not, you so clearly cheated! You knocked my stick and… made the ball go… somewhere else!” The mix of alcohol and anger made it a bit hard for you to think straight, and trying to think honestly gave you a headache.

“Woah! Getting pretty feisty, huh. Try to manage your emotions more, then maybe people might start taking you seriously.” He and his friends laughed. You were so taken aback that all you could do was scoff as you looked at him with disgust.

Now, sober you would definitely not approve of what you were about to do. No, normally you were composed and knew how to handle yourself; drunk you had a different plan. You growled (you had apparently picked it up from being around Bakugou so much) as you stomped over and shoved him.

Everyone around you oohed, Uraraka and Mina exchanged nervous glances. Uraraka was close enough to you to know when you were being reckless, and Mina, usually forced into being the mediator for your and Bakugou’s arguments, knew you wouldn’t back down from a fight.

As you were about to beat this guy up, you felt Mina grab your arm and pull you back to the rest of the girls.

“Hey! What’re you doing?” You struggled to rip your arm away from Mina’s grip, but she was steady and, admittedly, more sober. All the girls collectively sighed, and it was Mina who spoke up at the end.

“y/n, you’re out of control. You can’t just beat a random guy up at a bar just because he cheated at pool! No matter how sexist that piece of trash is…” She seemed to mumble the last part, “Let’s just try to have a fun rest of the night, okay?” She gave you a small smile as she rested her hand on your shoulder. You huffed.

“No, he deserves it! Piece of… poop,” You crossed your arms childishly “You can’t stop me!” You stormed off back to the guy, intending to give him a piece of your mind while Uraraka followed with a worried look on her face as she attempted to diffuse the situation.

“Ugh, it’s no use. She won’t listen to us!” Jirou groaned. Deep down, the girls knew that the guy deserved it, but beating him up wouldn’t solve anything and it was definitely not the mature or right thing to do, they were training to be heroes, after all. The girls were all deep in thought when Hagakure spoke up.

“Let’s call Bakugou, y/n always listens to him! Or maybe he can just carry her home if she won’t!” The girls pondered this for a second. Momo sighed.

“Unfortunately, that might be our best option,” She glanced at Uraraka standing between you and the guy, “It’s not like we could manage to get her into an Uber or on the train, let alone carry her all the way home.” All the girls seemed to have come to an agreement. They decided Mina should call Bakugou, they hung out the most and she was the person who Bakugou would most likely pick up on.

Mina pulled out her phone and looked for the contact, holding her phone up to her ear as it rang.

“Hey Bakugou… Uhm, so there’s been a situation.”

***

After what seemed like hours, but was actually 10 minutes of trying to calm you down and hold you off long enough for Bakugou to arrive, he finally did.

The girls were in the middle of holding you back, when, out of nowhere, a hand gripped your arm strongly and pulled you away. You heard the girls sigh in relief as you were about to chew out this guy as well, when you looked up and saw none other than your boyfriend starting at you with an intense look. You became nervous before growing confused: What was Katsuki doing here? It’s girls night… he’s not a girl is he? Your drunken mind was very frazzled.

“Wait a second… what’re you doing here?” You slurred. Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Tch, dumbass. Come with me, we’re leaving.” You gasped with betrayal.

“Nooo, ‘Suki I don’t wanna go! I gotta… beat his ass.” you hiccuped, followed by a very intoxicated giggle. Bakugou scoffed.

“No. You’re too drunk right now, you’re gonna do something stupid,” He said as he pulled you out of the bar by your arm, “We’re leaving.” You whined, on the verge of a tantrum, but you knew Bakugou’s word was final. You let your shoulders slump as he guided you outside, Mina followed.

“Thanks for getting here so quickly, Bakubro, it’s hard to handle y/n when she’s like this…” Mina said, rubbing her neck awkwardly. You shifted as Bakugou held up by the waist, your arm slung around his shoulders.

“Whatever, she makes stupid decisions when she’s drunk, it’s a pain in the ass to take care of her,” He was lying, of course, he loved taking care of you, drunk of not, this was mostly for appearances’ sake.

Mina didn’t buy it though, she knew that even though it was always you taking care of Bakugou and calming him down everyday, Bakugou cared deeply for you and did the same. Internally, she found the switching of dynamics very endearing.

“We’re leaving, I’m taking her home.” Bakugou said, suddenly.

“Oh, okay. Let me just get the girls and we can go-”

“No, it’s fine, just… stay there, I guess.” Mina was baffled as Bakugou looked away, “Just, ugh! Whatever, I’ll take her home, you can stay here.” He blurted out. Mina was very taken aback.

“Oh… okay then! Thanks Bakubro!” She said as she pushed the door of the bar open and headed inside. Bakugou sighed, he was too soft when it came to you. He looked back at you, practically hanging off him, and fought the urge to sigh again.

Your hair was a mess and your outfit was rumpled, you would also groan occasionally, most definitely from a headache. Being able to be outside and get some fresh air really made you realize how out of it you were, Bakugou noticed as well as you swayed slightly. You looked up and caught Bakugou staring at you, you tilted your head in confusion.

“Wait… ‘Suki? Wha-” Bakugou narrowed his eyes in confusion, waiting for you to say something, “When did you get here? I was inside, and you were… not inside” You stared off into space for a second before coming to, “Woah…”

“You were being stupid, I had to come save your ass from being beat.” Bakugou replied, rolling his eyes, “C’mon, we’re going to the station.”

“Station?”

“Train station.”

“Ohhh… okay.” You guys stayed quiet until you arrived at the steps of the train station, only minutes away from the bar; Bakugou thought it was better than waiting for an Uber.

“Give me your bag.” Bakugou held his hand out expectantly.

“What? No! You could… steal something!” You said, shaking your head childishly.

“y/n come on! We need to get your IC card to go on the train, then we can go home.” Bakugou said, as if explaining something to a child. You thought for a second.

“Fine, here!” You took your bag off your shoulder and almost shoved it into his hands. He rummaged around before pulling out your wallet. He sighed in relief when he saw your IC card, thankfully, you had it on you at all times. Bakugou pulled out his own and guided you to the gates.

“Ugh, why wont this stupid thing work?!” You said, scanning your card in the completely wrong place and shoving at the turnstiles.

“You put it here.” Bakugou guided your hand to the scanner and gave a nudge as an indicator to walk through. He gave an affectionate eye roll when he heard your little ‘woah’. As much as a dumbass you were when you were drunk, he loved being able to take care of you in return for all the time you took care of him.

The carriage was near-empty and, thankfully, silent. Bakugou knew what loudness did to your headaches, and he really didn’t want to experience it right then. Due to the carriage not being busy, you were able to get seats next to each other.

After the train started, your head naturally fell onto Bakugou’s shoulder. It seemed as though the train ride was too short and too long all at once; the moonlight was illuminating your face and your eyes were closed. He could feel the soft rise and fall when you breathed. Things like this had happened many times before, but Bakugou could never really get over how peaceful and ethereal you looked, despite being very drunk. He felt as though he could stay in that moment forever.

He looked in the opposite direction so you couldn’t see his blush.

A short walk later and you guys were at the dorms. You stumbled into your room with Bakugou supporting you.

“Ugh!” You groaned as you collapsed face-down on your bed. Bakugou pinched the bridge of his nose.

“No, y/n, you have to get ready for bed first before you sleep,” You responded with a groan as Bakugou lifted you up to sit upright, “Wait here.”

A while later, Bakugou re entered the room with supplies in hand and was pleased to see you hadn’t moved, you were probably too tired to cause any more mayhem. He set the things down on the bed next to you and started to work. “Stay still, okay?” He said, you hummed and nodded slightly as a reply, already half asleep.

Meanwhile, Bakugou took a cotton pad soaked in make-up remover and wiped it all over your face, then applied the several skincare products you had in what he hoped was the correct order and area. He had watched you enough times to have a basic understanding of your night routine, but still wasn’t quite sure of himself.

After doing your skincare, he walked over to your closet to pick out some comfy pyjamas for you. As he was filing through, he took note of the several hoodies he had previously dubbed missing, however he took one out anyway. He handed you the hoodie, expecting you to know to change. Instead, you made grabby hands at him and whined.

“‘Sukiii, I’m tired.” Bakugou sighed.

“I know, dummy, but you gotta change first, okay?” You grumbled but started to undress, before getting stuck in your clothes and Bakugou needing to help with what seemed like the 100th sigh of the evening.

Finally, you were dressed and Bakugou tucked you into bed, sitting on the covers next to you. He recounted the night, starting with getting a call from Mina saying you got into trouble and were able to fight someone, then running to the bar to save your ass and taking you home. He shook his head slightly.

“And you told me not to get in trouble,” He said, mostly to himself, he thought you were asleep, or just couldn’t understand him at this point.

“It’s not my fault! It was that guy, he was… doing stuff.” You puffed out your cheeks and furrowed your brows. Bakugou gave a small laugh and smile.

“I know, dumbass.” When he looked back at you, he was met with your closed eyes. He leaned down and kissed your forehead, and before leaving the room, you had woken up just enough to hear him say goodnight.

“I love you, loser.”

bonus - the next day

mina: yo how’d u get to the bar so fast

bakugou: i ran wdym

mina: coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool

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7team7 · 4 years

Text

Sharp edges

Mai notices. Zutara from an outsider POV // eventual Zutara, eventual Mailee

A/N: ok hi i love sasusaku fics told from an outsider pov, there are a few really good ones from karin’s perspective so i was like ok sorry mai i will do this LOL (if you’re unfamiliar, karin had feelings for sasuke but he didn’t return them and he married and had a baby with sakura) this is not at all supposed to be The Other Woman type of thing, there’s no cheating, it’s really observations and another way to look at zutara yup!

Mai stood by Zuko because she knew he was a good man. She knew he cared about her. Her childhood crush on him wasn’t misplaced.

When she first sensed the distance growing between them, she chalked it up to Fire Lord duties demanding all of his time. But despite his good intentions and traits, he was not in love with her the way he was in love with someone else.

She first really noticed when he was running around the palace like a komodo chicken with its head cut off while preparing for visitors. Not just any visitors — his old friends from across the nations used the one year anniversary of his coronation as an excuse to get together. She had sensed his loneliness in the way he constantly gazed at the sky, lost in his own thoughts, in the way he sent off pages and pages of letters. But she assumed he yearned for friendship and not romance. She was only one person, she could only give him so much.

The palace was ablaze with activity in the days before the highly anticipated celebration. “Aren’t you excited?” he asked her, looking like a kid on the morning of his birthday.

His face drooped when he realized, no, of course she wasn’t. They weren’t really her friends, they weren’t here to see her.

She verbalized her feelings anyway, “Why would I be?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you that Ty Lee is coming too. And my sister got cleared by her doctors to join us for a while. That’s something, right?”

She sighed. He was trying. He always tried his best and that was one of the things that was so endearing about him. “Should be an interesting mix,” she remarked. She excused herself to go lay down and left him to finish hanging the flags of the other nations in the hallway. Even with all his servants doing their best, no one could work fast enough to keep up with his boundless energy. He really was excited, wasn’t he?

Before she rounded the corner to her room, she could’ve sworn she noticed the way he seemed to hold onto the blue Water Tribe fabric just a bit longer. She shook her head. She must have been tired, imagining him run his thumb over the fabric before hanging it.

The Gaang arrived noisily as usual. The way they all arrived on time (at noon, peak Zuko energy time) was a little freaky. It seemed no amount of time would mess with their sync.

A seemingly endless round of hugs was exchanged, everyone chattering excitedly as they caught up with each other and made plenty of nostalgic jokes that you really had to be there for to understand.

Aang had arrived first, flying in and bowing with exaggerated politeness to “Sifu Hotman” that only served to send both Zuko and himself into a fit of giggles. Two of the world’s most powerful benders were really still kids.

Toph came stomping in next, wondering aloud if Zuko would change her life today. He gave her an affectionate noogie, and asked, “Haven’t I already?”

She shoved him, “Don’t go thinking you’re Iroh.” She was happy.

Sokka would’ve been next had he not been intercepted by Suki. They had their own little reunion on the docks before joining the group.

So that left Katara to skip up to the palace, leaving her brother behind. Mai could’ve sworn Katara was an airbender when she all but flew through the air when she launched herself at Zuko, arms outstretched for an embrace.

And Zuko caught her.

He captured her in a tight hug and spun her around, looking like they hopped straight out of an Ember Island Players romance.

When her feet met the ground again, the waterbender seemed to grow embarrassed as she quickly turned away from Zuko to greet her other friends. Zuko seemed to reach for her again, but dropped his hands and squeezed them into fists. The smile on his face was just a bit less dazzling than it had been a moment before, even when Sokka came barreling through the scene with a witty comment.

Mai tilted her head, surveying the situation. To Sokka, he was a fellow swordsman; to Aang, he was a firebending master; to Toph, he was the sibling she never had; he was their friend. To everyone — Suki, Ty Lee, Momo, Appa — he was a friend.

But who was he to Katara? The question grated on her nerves. It was too loud. She left to check on Azula.

Maybe she was reading into it too much. It wasn’t like Katara had no options: Aang’s feelings for her were obvious. She watched closely to determine if those feelings were reciprocated. Maybe time and distance had changed things.

Katara had suggested going into town to explore the marketplace and Aang jumped up to join her. But then Zuko started droning on and on about the economy and instead of being bored to death like any normal person, she started offering her own suggestions for improving revenue streams and diversifying product offerings. Yawn.

Aang trailed after then, looking forlorn. Katara had the Avatar hanging on her every word, yet she chose to pay attention to Zuko, her former enemy. That was really something.

And Zuko, he was listening to her more intently than he ever listened to his aging advisors.

Mai stayed back. She wasn’t interested in inserting herself. Time and distance only seemed to make Zuko more sure of his feelings, even if he didn’t realize it yet. She would need to reevaluate the situation herself.

Mai never felt left out as a nonbender. She had seen the way fire had destroyed her own nation.

But she had always wished they could spar together. It wasn’t about meeting halfway, she could have easily requested that he use his swords to level the playing field.

But his identity would always be tied to that of a firebender. He was the Fire Lord, for one thing. He could put down the swords whenever he wanted, but the fire would always be inside him, licking at his insides, smoking its way out in every exhale.

Fire and water were opposites, but they worked together surprisingly well. Balance, she thought as she lazily twirled a dagger in her hands while watching Zuko and Katara’s sparring session.

“You’ve improved,” he praised her, clearly impressed. Zuko wore his heart on his sleeve, something he apparently thought Mai should try. Her face pinched in for a split second when Katara’s shining eyes met his. For a waterbender, Katara’s eyes had so much warmth. Like the changing tide, they held a special sort of softness when she looked at Zuko.

“You have too. But what else would I expect? You’re the Fire Lord now,” she teased. Fighting alongside Zuko had always felt natural, but it was a joy to be able to practice against him now that they weren’t sworn enemies.

“A Fire Lord who will get rusty if he has to do anymore paperwork,” he grumbled, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“Well come on. I’m sure paperwork can wait for a little while longer. Can you show me that new move you did at the end?”

Mai remembered Zuko promising the other benders that they’d get a chance to spar with him too, but that seemed to slip his mind. He eagerly started showing her the forms. Katara picked it up quickly: it was clearly a fusion of water and firebending styles.

An understanding started developing at the back of her mind: there were things Zuko and Katara had that Zuko and herself could not have.

The session only ended when Azula came waltzing in, asking if anyone was up for a little fun.

Breakfast the next day was held outside to take advantage of the favorable weather. The pleasant breeze coupled with sunshine put everyone in a merry mood. Instead of Zuko sitting at the head of the table in his fancy throne-like chair like he would inside, everyone squished together on two long benches at one table. Mai sat to Zuko’s immediate left, at the edge of the table.

People like Aang, Sokka, and Toph were driven by hunger and started digging in quickly. Suki had clearly taken a moment to actually get ready because when she took her place next to Sokka, her hair was neater than almost everyone else’s.

Katara came in last, yawning and rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. Zuko brightened when he saw her, “Katara! I saved you a seat.” He scooted closer to Mai, brushing her side with his, but only so he could make room for Katara. Mai sighed. Why was he so clueless sometimes?

As soon as Katara was settled next to him, Zuko poured her a steaming cup of tea. She gave him a sweet smile in thanks. He pushed a plate towards her, “Here, this one shouldn’t have any fire flakes.” She dug in eagerly, nudging his shoulder with hers in silent happiness while she chewed. Zuko’s body jostled up against Mai’s as a result of being nudged, but he had never felt so far away.

“Anyone else want some tea?” he asked the table. Of course everyone wanted a sip of Iroh’s delicious breakfast brew, so they all said yes. But instead of serving everyone the way he had served Katara only a moment ago, Zuko just passed the teapot across the table so everyone could pour their own cup.

Clueless, truly clueless.

“Guess what my silly brother told me when I arrived yesterday? He said, ‘Be nice.’ Ha! As if I would ever imagine being anything but,” Azula cackled. He had pulled her aside when he noticed the way everyone (or really, Katara) hesitated around her. Her unpredictable energy still put everyone on edge.

“I can hardly believe little ZuZu is the great big Fire Lord now,” she continued. The original trio — Azula, Mai, Ty Lee — were strolling around the city. There wasn’t much to do at the palace until dinner time seeing as Zuko was tied up with his daily meetings. Bureaucracy didn’t stop, even for visitors.

“I know right. Things are so different now.” She knew what Azula left unsaid: Zuko was Fire Lord and she wasn’t. Mai still wasn’t sure exactly how to go about tending to Azula’s feelings. She was still her friend, but everything had changed so much, there was a much needed distance between them. No matter how bored she was, she would never follow the princess’s every whim again.

“I’ve been told to work on being happy for others. Even if they have what I want, even if I can’t get it. He’s still a dumb dumb, but you know. I’m working on it.” Azula examined her nails as if the conversation was completely casual, but her words held great significance.

Oh.

It would take time, but maybe she could work up to being happy for them.

She waited a day, mulling it over on her own. But she didn’t wait until everyone else went home to end it. Really, why bother?

“What are you talking about? Why would you leave? Does this mean we’re breaking up?”

She closed her eyes. The pain and confusion written all over his face were making this difficult. “Yes. I’m not the one for you and you’re not the one for me. There’s no reason for me to stay here anymore.” She wasn’t sure where she’d go, but it might be nice to see the world when she wasn’t on a manhunt.

He spluttered, “But if it’s not us, then who is it?!”

She waved her hand vaguely, “You’ll figure it out.” Even if he wasn’t in love with her the way he was with Katara, he was still emotionally attached. Since he had yet to confront his own feelings, she realized this break up came as quite the shock. But he’d get over it. There was someone who would help him. She was almost positive that he’d go running into her arms momentarily.

Mai was truthful when she told Azula she loved Zuko more than she feared her.

Zuko had done a lot of growing up, had gotten so much stronger; she was proud of him for it. But Mai had to come to terms with the fact that Zuko still feared Azula because of her capacity to hurt Katara. He still feared Azula because he loved Katara.

Katara was so precious to him, he would put his life on the line to save her — he already had.

That pained Mai to think about, it cut her to the core, it stung so, so badly to be the second choice. But there was nothing she could do.

How could she compete? The difficulties of a Water Tribe girl being with a Fire Nation boy obviously didn’t matter. They would make it work.

Conceding defeat to someone like Katara should not be so hard. Bowing out was the graceful thing to do. She wasn’t the type to make a dramatic scene anyway.

But when she finally walked away, she dug her fingernails deep into her own palms despite it all. Loving Zuko was not so easy to let go of.

She returned months later with a slew of Kyoshi Warriors to celebrate Zuko’s birthday and found that Katara had never left. She squeezed Ty Lee’s hand to say I told you so.

The girl in pink gazed up at her in wonder, “You’re so good at predicting!”

Mai muttered, “Not that hard when it’s right in front of you.” They were clearly not shy with the displays of affection now that they were officially a couple.

Ty Lee sighed in contentment when they walked into the palace, “The auras in here are so much happier than they were a few years ago, it feels great!” She turned to poke her girlfriend’s side, “Yours too.”

“Don’t make me blush,” she murmured.

“That’s why you like wearing the Kyoshi Warrior makeup, huh? But I know, I always know.” Her tone was light, but it was true. Out of everyone, it was Ty Lee who knew her best, who always stood by her. It was Ty Lee who dealt with her dreariness after breaking up with Zuko, and it was Ty Lee who gave her time and space when she hesitated to step into a new relationship. And Ty Lee was the one who made it worthwhile.

“How are you feeling though?” Ty Lee regarded the other girl carefully. Zuko had been part of her life for so long, it was no simple feat to move on from him.

“The usual, I’m fine.” Her emotions had always been low key and thankfully, no jealous beast reared its ugly head upon seeing Zuko and Katara together. Really, she was fine.

Ty Lee nodded in satisfaction. She tilted her head thoughtfully, “They look happy, too. I’m happy for them!” Ty Lee might’ve felt it more acutely, but Mai agreed. It was a good feeling, light and sweet and satisfactory. She hoped Azula could feel even a fraction of this relief in her own life.

It had taken a while for all of them to get to this point, but it was worth it and they were all good. If that wasn’t something to celebrate, she didn’t know what was.

She finally walked up to him. “Happy birthday, Zuko.”

“Thank you, Mai. It’s good to see you.”

She nodded at him. It really was good to see him so happy. It didn’t hurt anymore. Letting go of each other didn’t necessarily mean that they had lost.

A/N: I chose Mai over aang bc I feel like her quiet nature is just more observant and aang is babie. Also I don’t hate Maiko lol I just. Ship zutara :P I don’t really ship aang with anyone, so he’s j chillin, he has his own happy ending everything is fine

Please let me know what you think about this one >_< I have a few other zutara things in my wips, plus of course I need to keep updating my sasusaku arranged marriage story, so some of those will come out eventually. Couldn’t keep up with zutara week or ss month but its ok!

#zutara #zutara week 2020 #yeah we italicized the oh so what #mailee #atla #fan fic #my writing

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callioope · 3 years

Text

Okay, well, apparently now I have to START OVER from scratch because the tumblr new post option doesn’t remember the text you already entered when you RESIZE YOUR BROWSER

*insert Zuko tantrum here*

ANYWAYS let me try to remember what I was saying before I lost like five or six paragraphs of thoughts.

Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. The main characters were interesting and well-written, including most of the villains, and it always felt like their actions and feelings were understandable, even when they were very obviously doing something that wasn’t good for them or those around them. (Which is not to say they were justified — just that you could understand why they felt, thought, or did something.)

On that note, it also felt like their choices and actions drove the plot, and that’s generally something I’m trying to integrate more into my own writing. It’s easy to plan a story by saying the plot is a list of things that happen, but what I want is characters to shape the plot.

What do they want? What are they able to achieve in the direction of that want? How might their flaws get in the way? How might the wants and actions of other characters get in their way? Etc.

I mean, now that I’m writing it here, it seems pretty basic and obvious as far as storytelling goes, but I don’t think it always is to some writers and there’s something about writing it out and framing it in a particular way that helps me.

While we’re on the subject of character, I think most of the main characters had really satisfying arcs. Aang is very silly in the beginning of the show (and he’s a kid, of course he is), and he grows up a lot over the series (which is actually kind of sad, but apparently his burden. I was going to say the burden of the Avatar, but I don’t think that’s even true, especially considering they don’t usually reveal who the Avatar is until they reach 16 — Aang being an exception). Obviously Zuko’s arc is the most dramatic, and I’ll get to that later, but I knew where that was going and I loved every moment of it.

Speaking of knowing Zuko’s arc ahead of time — I should disclaim that I very rarely shied away from spoilers when they showed up on my dash, so I had a pretty good idea of the main plot points of the show even if I didn’t know every detail. And while I may not have been able to state a lot of what I’d read off the top of my head, very frequently as I was watching, I’d go “Oh YEAH, I remember reading about this.”

One final preliminary thought before we dive into things, but also, I had no idea how to pronounce many of the characters’ names! I’d only ever read them before. Particular ones I got wrong: Sokka (thought it rhymes with Ahsoka), Toph (thought it rhymes with loaf), and Mai (thought it rhymes with pie). Not important but just something I found strangely jarring. Toph was weird in particular because it sounded like her parents called her “Tough” but then everyone else said her name as though it rhymes with “off”.

OKAY BUT ONWARDS

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Book 1

Sokka

Sokka became a fast favorite! Despite his major misogyny issues, which were quickly addressed and something he grew past, I really sympathized with him early on. He has to put up with a lot! I mean, Aang is really silly and playful in the beginning and Katara often joins in. I don’t remember specific examples but if I recall, in the beginning (and actually even towards the end), he’s incredibly goal-focused and Aang keeps diverting their plans.

I’ve been told that the overall fandom of Sokka is that he’s a big dummy, and I find this baffling. Yes, he often has goofy ideas, but then often his creativity becomes incredibly helpful! He reminds me of Ron Weasley. He may not be booksmart, but he’s creative and strategic. And if you know me at all you know I love Ron Weasley. #WeasleyIsOurKing #RonWeasleyProtectionSquad

Some favorite Sokka quotes from early on:

“Oh, what, I’m not good enough to kidnap?”

“our friend is the avatar and i bet he'll fetch more on the black market”

Man, Sokka ended up having two love interests in this season! First Suki, and by the way, I was always confused about whether or not Suki was officially “part” of the crew based on the gifs and posts I saw. Sometimes seemed like she wasn’t, sometimes not. Obviously I understand why that is now, but anyways. Also I think for some reason I thought it was Toph who became the moon rather than Princess Yue. LOL! Toph/Sokka isn’t even canon but I guess I’ve seen that ship around enough I thought it was. More on Toph/Sokka later, since Toph isn’t in Book 1.

Aang

Aang is a Lot. I’ve already touched on how he’s incredibly silly and playful and the tone of the show initially is pretty goofy. It’s a kid’s show! That’s to be expected. But I really felt overly conscious of the fact that it was a kid’s show and I don’t think I would have kept watching if so many people hadn’t already raved about the show.

On the other hand, any character who decided to yell at a literal kid for “turning his back on the world” infuriated me. Like, yes, okay, that is how Aang feels already and perhaps arguably what happened, but he’s still a child, and that’s not fair to put that burden on him. I mean considering that it’s eventually revealed that the monks told Aang he was the Avatar four years earlier than usual, why would they even assume that he knew the consequences?

Katara

I did like the plot with Katara being frustrated at how quickly Aang picks up waterbending. I’ve been on both sides of that situation, and it sucks for both people. I appreciated them spending some time exploring it.

I hated Master Pakku. He only agreed to teach Katara after he saw she was his former fiance’s granddaughter, not because he had any kind of revelation that he was Wrong in his thinking. At least, that was my interpretation of that moment. Are there any other girls in his class after he agrees to teach Katara? I don’t remember seeing any.

Should I talk about shipping yet? I’m under the impression that can be a very touchy subject! Well, all I’ll say is this: seemed pretty heavy-handed in this season that Aang/Katara was the intended final ship.

I don’t have another subsection so we’ll just toss this in under Katara cuz why not: Jet is something else. SMH. I appreciate them including a character like that here, but man was he annoying. (And I know he’s supposed to be, so congratulations, effect achieved.)

Zuko!!! & Iroh

Uncle Iroh is amazing. He diverts their journey to buy a new lotus piece for his game, only to find it had been in his sleeve all along! And I really just adore how much Iroh cares about his nephew. From the beginning it’s clear that Iroh is a better father to Zuko.

This ended up continuing through the show, but I appreciated how Zuko’s story tended to parallel the story of another character (usually Aang although not always). Specifically how we learn Aang and Zuko’s backstory in the same episode.

Speaking of Zuko’s backstory, this is something I appreciate as a Well Done Redemption arc, and I know for a fact that I’ve already read posts about this but I just want to express my own appreciation for it. His redemption arc works because they show the seeds of good that always existed within him. We, as the audience, see that very early on. We see him stand up to his father’s war council and stand up for the troops they were going to sacrifice. This is *integral* to his redemption working. It’s not the only part of his story that makes it work, but that redemption arc wouldn’t have worked as well without it.

Finally on that subject, my reaction to his Agni Kai with his father: “I knew Zuko’s father was Awful, and I think I even knew he was the one who burned him, but this? This is crazy. PS: pretty sure we just saw a cameo of Azula smirking in the background!”

This was getting long, so I decided to break it into parts for each book/season.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #atla #clearly you can see i have not settled on which tag i prefer yet

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avatar-the-last-jerkbender · 4 years

Text

“I’ll walk you home.”

Zuko blearily picked up his ringing cell phone, frowning at Suki’s name on the screen before swiping to accept the call.

“Hello?” he asked politely, tactfully not mentioning the fact that it was 12 am on a Saturday and that whatever she was calling for had better be damn important because he was enjoying going to bed early, thank you very much.

“Hi. Zuko? Can I ask a favor?” He heard raucous laughter on the other end of the phone, along with the sound of something breaking.

“Sure,” he replied, already regretting it.

“So I’m going home with Sokka and… Katara’s going a little crazy. Could you please come get her?”

Zuko clenched his teeth, exhaling softly before talking. “Why me?”

“I know you guys don’t get along- Sokka stop it- but you’re the only one who’s picked up and it’s late and I know I’m rambling but please?”

He rolled his eyes, weighing his options. On one hand he could hang up and let Suki heckle some other poor soul into wrangling Katara. But that left the possibility that Suki wouldn’t find anyone else and Katara- unrelenting bitch as she was- would end up dead in a ditch, and that would make him feel bad. On the other hand, he could be a good friend and help out someone he cared about, even though he would have to handle someone he didn’t care about at all.

“You owe me,” he spat out, rolling out of bed to pull on a more socially acceptable pair of pants. “Just tell me where the party is.”

***

Once at the frat house, he shoves his way through the crowd, zeroing in on Katara leaning against the wall and laughing at something the guy across from her was saying.

As she locks her stormy blue eyes on him, he grabs her by the arm and drags her off, barely giving her a chance to react to his presence. “Show’s over. I’ll walk you home,” Zuko says curtly as he hauls her outside.

“Zuko! I was in the middle of a conversation!” she screeches as the humid night air finally hits them.

“I don’t care,” he replies, steadying her as she almost topples into him. “Smooth, Katara.”

She shoots him a glare, the streetlight illuminating the slight halo of frizz framing her face and making her seem like an avenging angel. “I know Suki told you to-” the blue-eyed girl waved her hand and hiccuped, trying to pull the words out of the air “-to help me but I was fine! I don’t need your help! And I was talking to someone!”

“Clearly.” He warily kept an eye on Katara as he let go of her arm, making sure she didn’t fall face first onto the pavement. “Can you walk?”

“Yes.” As if to prove her point, she veered further from him before once again tripping over her own feet. “Stupid sidewalk,” she mumbled.

Zuko had half a mind to just let her suffer (seeing Katara turn her glare onto the pavement was pretty funny) but the need to just get rid of her already overruled that part of his brain. He thought out his next course of action, calculating the odds of it getting him killed. “Here, hop on.”

Katara turned to see him squatting slightly, arms crooked. She stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, before what he was doing finally clicked for her. “No way.”

The man rolled his eyes, but remained in his position. “You’re not really in any state to walk all the way home.”

“I’m fine.” She walked a few steps ahead of him, before her ankle rolled and she slipped.

“The offer still stands,” Zuko called out, easily strolling over to her.

Katara stared, looking at him as though he’d suddenly grown a third head before sighing. “Up.”

He squatted once more and she hopped on his back, bringing her arms around his neck. “Which dorms?” he asked.

“Karasuno.”

Zuko nodded, wrapping his arms more firmly around her legs before heading in the direction of the dorm building.

They moved in silence for a moment before the blue-eyed girl spoke again, nestling her head in the crook of Zuko’s neck. “So what kind of loser doesn’t go out on a weekend?”

He rolled his eyes once again, making sure to jostle her a little extra for that comment. “I went out last weekend. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to sleep a little more. Which I couldn’t even do thanks to you.”

“Your problem,” she replied unabashedly. “Why did you come anyways?”

“Suki asked. I didn’t want to leave her hanging. We’re here.” Zuko kept his reponses short, looking at the sign indicating they had reached the dorm. “I can take you up if you want.”

“Yes please.”

That was probably the most polite she’d been to him all night.

The lobby was eerily empty at this time of night, the lights illuminating the tables and chairs usually occupied by day. The two of them are able to quickly find an elevator and step in.

“What floor?”

Katara reaches past him to push the number ‘4’. The doors slide shut and they begin moving as Zuko adjusts his grip on her once again.

“You know, I thought you hated me,” she remarks casually, surprisingly coherent considering her inebriated state.

“I don’t. Strongly dislike would be a better description.” His tongue has loosened with the late hour, Zuko thinks. As he watches the numbers change with the elevator's motion, he hopes she's drunk enough to forget every bit of their conversation.

“Why though?”

Zuko sighs. “You’re not very nice to me.” How the fuck else was he supposed to answer that question?

She ponders this statement for a second, before digging her heel into his side. The golden-eyed man yelps and whips his head around to glare at her, finding their faces surprisingly close together. “You’re not very nice to me either!” Katara retorts.

He rolls his eyes and wishes for the ride to end, watching the floor number change from a two to a three torturously slowly. “You make it too easy.”

“Shut up,” she grumbles, leaning into him once again as they finally reach her floor.

By now, Zuko’s arms are shaking slightly from carrying the girl all the way from the frat house, and he deposits her quickly after she points him in the direction of her room.

“I’ll just… yeah,” Katara says as she fumbles with the lock and finally gets the door to her dorm open. “I still don’t like you,” she adds as a way of saying goodbye, before shutting the door gently in Zuko’s face.

“I don’t like you either, asshole,” the man mumbles. But as he walks away, he realizes he didn’t hate this night as much as he thought he would.

#100 ways to say i love you #zutara #zuko #katara #zuko x katara #atla #avatar: the last airbender #zutara fanfiction #ramblingraccoon writes

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zukofenty · 4 years

Text

day 25: mona lisa

➜ Summary: The one where Zuko and Katara make a pact to (fake) rush Asian Greek life because they were giving out free tacos.

“Whoever becomes an official sorority sister or frat brother wins!”

“Can the prize be health insurance?” Zuko doesn’t have the energy to muster his patented glare.

➜ Genre: Modern!AU, humor, FratBrother!Zuko, SororityGirl!Katara, scamming, dildo stealing

➜ Words: 6.6k

➜ Warnings: they stay in an airbnb instead of a hotel bc who has the schmoney for a hotel room😩

AO3, @zutaramonth hi!!!

Zuko’s grabbing at Katara’s arm while she’s carefully sipping water (only water, she swears) out of a red solo cup. She’s in her “whore fit” (her words) with larger than life fake eyelashes that could propel her into the sky a la Icarus if she blinked a little too quickly. She was in the middle of readjusting her crop top for the umpteenth time that night, because of course she forgets her strapless bra chicken cutlet contraption at home, so of course she does the most reasonable thing and takes a regular bra and just tucks the straps in. Because as much as she is a proponent of #freethenipple, her nipples could probably slice open a radiator with how fucking cold Ba Sing Se was.

“Please take this shot for me,” Zuko reasons with her, trying to make it seem as though he was handing off a shot to a clueless lightweight sorority rushee he was hoping to nail later in the night. For reputation’s sake, Zuko could not afford to fuck up tonight. He was in too deep. “Please, my Pepsin hasn’t kicked in yet. Asian glow is not the look we’re going for tonight.”

“I hate you.” Katara munches on her (free) taco, and effortlessly throws back the shot: no chase. Zuko looks back and sees active members of Pi Alpha Psi giving him a thumbs up, hooting, hollering, being dumb. One salaciously thrusts his hips to the beat of “Big Bank,” pathetically hoping he could emulate YG in support of Zuko supposedly getting some Deltas pussy.

Asian Greek life was fucking stupid.

Tonight was the night of the Deltas Sorority and Pi Alpha Psi Fraternity rush party, the most important party so far during rush week. Because Greek life was entirely stupid , of course they had to hold the fucking party on a Tuesday night, when Zuko had an econ pratice set to get done by midnight, and Katara needed to get to Ochem at 8am the next morning. It was their fault, really. A punishment from God herself (Rihanna) for trying to scam the Greek system.

It all started because Zuko and Katara had no fucking friends.

Besides each other, but that was also up for debate most days. Especially the days when Zuko would remind Katara whenever her foundation didn’t blend down her neck. He always thought he was being helpful. Katara’s long given up the urge to slit his throat.

After high school, when you still believed you were going to do something with your life and be important and make a difference and didn’t know about income tax, they had kept the dream of Ba Sing Se University alive while they attended community college. Uncle Iroh and Hakoda weren’t exactly rolling in tuition money, and financial aid was a stingy bitch. While Zuko had considered reaching out to his estranged father, the owner of a multi billion dollar pyramid scheme, he suddenly remembers the time his dad tried to burn his face off after a particularly heated episode of Maury , and then books another therapy appointment.

It was the top university in the nation, promising a gateway to accounting jobs and selling your soul to work for immoral tech companies to pay off your student loans in a timely manner. They had prayed for the day they could call the school home. The day they could leave their small town and finally make it in life. Katara and Zuko were inseparable growing up, even if at the surface they bumped heads. They were at each other’s throats whenever the going got tough, slinging petty insults at each other.

“I told you this was a bad idea. They don’t have fucking non-dairy options. Wait until my anus starts beatboxing in the bathroom in 20 minutes. Then you will see,” Zuko grumbled. Katara was always doing this, dragging their group of friends to “fun” places whenever Yelp sends her a notification a new restaurant opened up in their shithole of a town. It’s always some boba shop that was secretly a front for a Scientology cult’s money laundering scheme.

But Katara’s the only one who is able to scare Zuko (dairy induced) shitless. She’s always able to send him a glare that screams don’t you dare fuck with me, I know you masturbate to Hatsune Miku moan compilations. And he instantly starts sweating .

At the same time, she was the only one to truly get him. Even if their friends were perfectly content to stay in their town, doing the same things, being the same people, Katara and Zuko always knew there was so much more out there. So much more to the world than what they had grown up in. So they kept the dream alive. Even if their friends had rightfully doubted them. No one made it out of their town. You find a partner from the same people you grew up with, have kids you grow to hate, hide your husband’s infidelity, and either choose from two options. Grow old with him and resent him and then have a kid to try to save the marriage. Or, go Gone Girl on his ass.

“Women really need to go back to poisoning their men. Like the good old days,” Katara’s eyes were narrowed into slits as she focused on taking clandestine photos of Mrs. Kim’s cheating, rat-faced husband. For a few months, she was under the tutelage of the town’s private investigator, June. It paid well, and she felt she was contributing to the feminist movement at the same time.

“Uh-huh, right,” Zuko eyed her warily. Dubbed lovingly “Katara’s Uber Driver,” he also got paid by June to drive the Nyla Mobile around during their late night ops.

He couldn’t wait to leave this shit fuck of a town.

While their friends and family were tearfully embracing them on their final days at home, a patented group hug forced upon them, they shared a secret smile. Their dream was coming true. They were going to a school in the city with minimized debt. Plus, though neither of them would ever admit it, they also had each other to rely on.

“What the fuck do you need? I swear to Rihanna, you only text me when I’m trying to masturbate. Please, make other friends,” Katara nearly screams into the phone. Her roommate, Suki, groans at the volume coming from Katara’s side of the room, but doesn’t get up. Her stomach is still sensitive from the Blue Razz Four Loko she downed at some frat house Katara had to drag her back from.

Zuko had the decency to sound sheepish. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I hope you understand, I am too tense right now to pretend I like you. Go. Make. Friends.”

Because Zuko is a fucking child , he starts groaning and Katara could hear him petulantly slamming his Amazon memory foam mattress with his fist. He’ll get angry that the mattress is preventing any real satisfaction from hitting it, and then hit it a few (approximately 3) more times. She hears the pounds, and smirks. She doesn’t know whether or not to feel disturbed that she knows him so well.

“I miss you,” he whines.

“I don’t.”

Zuko gasps dramatically. “How could you say that? Sandbox love never dies!” He wants to yell into the darkness of his room when she hangs up on him. It was valid, of course. But that doesn’t mean his feelings can’t hurt. He’s always sensitive during the Mercury Retrograde.

Being a transfer student is hard, as much as he hates to admit it. There’s only two years to pad your resume and make lifelong friends and learn how much cocaine is too much cocaine for your body. College was hard. While Katara’s roommate was able to introduce her to people and Katara made a group of friends almost instantly, Zuko wasn’t nearly as pleasant to be around. It wasn’t his fault he was nervous . When he’s nervous he looks more mean than usual, and his roommate, Jet, was wary around him since the day he moved in. He couldn’t even be mad when he spotted Jet hiding his box cutter’s accessibility.

“Katara!” Zuko rolls his eyes at her lack of response. “Katara!” He repeats. “I know you’re just listening to “Like a G6” on a 10 hour loop. Don’t pretend to look so concentrated.”

She glares at him. “Let me have this one thing to myself.” She still begrudgingly takes out her airpods.

“No.”

Katara wants to throttle his long ass neck. “Zuko, be honest with me.”

“Ok, yes! When you put your hair in a ponytail you look like a cage free egg.” Zuko stares at her in confusion when she starts playing with her hair. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to hand over my wig. You fucking scalped me, and I had nothing to say back. Just take it. You deserve it.” He smacks her hands from messing with her hair. Other patrons in the cafe near campus glanced over in amusement, as Katara pokes him in the neck and he yelps.

While he rubs at his neck to lessen the sting from Katara’s acrylics, she worries at her lip. “Be honest. Do you think Suki hates me?”

“Yes.”

Katara slams a hand on the table, causing his croissant to quake in fear. “You’re supposed to be comforting and trying to console me! Do it over, say no.”

“No.”

“Zuko, do you know how close I am to biting your nipple right off?”

He rolls his eyes. Katara specialized in empty threats (most of the time). “Don’t get mad at me just because Suki refuses to talk to you.” He relishes in her frustration. “Again, whose fault is it that Suki has to go to court for reckless driving?”

“She was the one at the wheel!” Katara throws her hands to the air, before petulantly slapping them into her thighs, for emphasis of her point.

Zuko pinches his nose bridge. “Well, you were the one who convinced her that she shit herself!”

Katara takes a neat, clean sip from her iced coffee before calmly responding. “She was the one doing 88 in a 65 trying to get to the bathroom. How was I supposed to know she did anal the day before and it was just cum!”

Zuko smacks his forehead in frustration after seeing identical blushes on the sea of patrons, now very much intune with the turn of the conversation. “You really don’t know how to act in public, do you? Like you think all the shit coming out of your mouth is important enough for it to just be said. You couldn’t have let that be a passing thought? Or learn how to fucking whisper?”

Katara sighs, closing her eyes and folding her hands over each other, because she’s dramatic. “All I had today for lunch was lip gloss. Let me be.”

“Again, if you, I don’t know, learned how to apologize to someone and admit you’re wrong then maybe Suki wouldn’t have hidden all your stress snacks. And, I don’t know. Maybe if you knew how to say ‘sorry’ she wouldn’t hate your fucking guts.” Katara simply turns her head into the air at Zuko’s words, refusing to acknowledge them. He’s itching to take a hit of his Phix with how on edge he was, and then remembers Katara had sold it on the school Facebook sell and exchange page as revenge. Apparently, Katara snaps if you send her one too many Tom Holland and Nicki Minaj fanfiction stories. Not that he’s speaking from personal experience. “You know what, you’re almost as stubborn as Wendy Williams when she refuses to pronounce Dua Lipa’s name correctly.”

She petulantly swivels her gaze to Zuko, nose still pointed to the sky. “Dula Peep is iconic for that reason.” She breathes out, letting her body go lax. “Please, shut the fuck up. I’m sad. Why would she leave me alone in the middle of the Mercury Retrograde like this? I didn’t think she hated me that much.” She drops her defensive stance, and rolls her shoulders, eyes focused only on the table. “I thought, what we had. It was real friendship you know? I made a joint for her using the orientation leader recruitment flyers because we were out of rolling papers. That’s true love. That’s sisterhood.”

“Please, I can’t poop right now! I can’t poop when I’m scared. I’m poop shy!”

Zuko audibly groaned. “Then why the fuck would you take a shit at my apartment? Yours is literally a 4 minute walk away, according to motherfucking Google Maps. 5 minutes if you use Apple Maps.”

“I don’t know, ok! I saw the baby wipes and I just kinda went with the flow, sue me!” Damnit, she knew she tasted real milk in her strawberry banana smoothie. God, the price of being ethnic in this dairy filled world.

“I called you over here to explain the plan! So I don’t bother you mid masturbation! And you just had to take a dump, didn’t you? On the plan, and my fucking toilet, too!”

She was weary after her back to back classes from 9-5 when Zuko excitedly called her up to come to his place. As much of a bitch baby Zuko could be, Katara tries to visit his place as much as she can. His apartment was just upgraded, meaning he had a state of the art microwave. One that doesn’t third degree burn her ham and cheese Hot Pockets, but rather cooks them perfectly to the tune of the package instructions, and makes them all fluffy and culinary excellence. Plus, he lives further from the heroin infested park she lived right next to, meaning his building smelt like a Clinique cosmetics counter (or: old lady) rather than pure urine like hers. And he didn’t have to run home in fear of being chased.

Besides, he’s all she’s got right now. He explained his plan as the roof of her mouth is assaulted by the gooey cheese of the Hot Pocket. Zuko eagerly handed over the flyers that were shoved into his hands as he was walking to campus.

“Do you see the funds these bitches got? We have to go! We need to become part of Asian Greek life!”

Although Katara did enjoy seeing the copious amount of free food potential, she was skeptical. “This is all free?”

“Yes, oh my god! Read the damn flyer! They’re living it up while we try to fit spinach in our budget to buy White Claw. Free alc, and free tacos! C’mon, we don’t even have to get into the sorority or frat. Just go through the rush process, and try to get as much free food as possible.” Zuko sits on his bed beside her, and even shakes her by the shoulders for emphasis. She swats his hands away while he chuckles.

Katara side eyes him. “Aren’t you already behind on your lectures? I don’t know, do we really want to waste time doing this?”

Zuko sends her a sheepish smile, but grabs her hand. For reassurance purposes, of course. “It’s just one week. Let’s just let loose. Maybe we could walk away from this with a few friends. So I don’t bother you mid beating your meat.” Katara can’t help but laugh.

On the first night, she was nervous. Zuko was clearly his indifferent self, but deep down she knew he was scared, too. Katara and Zuko weren’t exactly Greek life material .

“They thought you were hot, that’s why they flyered you!” Katara yelps while digging through his closet. Zuko ignores the blush growing on his face. “Let’s find a fit that emphasizes that bad boy aesthetic.”

Katara never did anything half assed. That’s why if they were going to play hot, ignorant Asian Greek lifers, they were going to be the goddamn best. Academy Award nominated and then played by Scarlett Johansson in a biopic type of acting.

“What’s wrong with what I usually wear? Is the leather jacket not, quote unquote, bad boy enough?” Zuko runs his hands through his shaggy hair, which Katara had encouraged him to not style. She’d never admit it, but maybe her sexual awakening coincided with Zuko growing his hair out. Maybe.

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe to Tumblr , but not for fuckboys.” She groans because of course Zuko has good fashion taste. Maybe him being hot helps with how clothes looked, but they all screamed fashion and not basic fuckboy . Which was the vibe of the night. “God, do you have the entire Forever 21 Black t shirt aisle in here?”

Before he could retort, Zuko’s interrupted by Jet coming into their room to grab his dumb Hydroflask. It’s dumb because it’s so goddamn big, for no good reason.

“Hey, Katara,” Jet is smirking. Ew .

Zuko feels jealousy, the type that makes your body grow all hot and makes you want to punch a mattress and Jet’s pleasantly symmetrical face. God, why is he so fucking pretty? He reminds himself that Katara was entirely off limits , and schools his face. He gets these types of pangs of envy once in a while, usually during the Mercury Retrograde. Ever since they were kids, he knew Katara was going to be in his life forever. He wasn’t about to fuck that up. Not with emotions or anything.

“Hey, Jet!” Katara chirps. She couldn’t help it, her pussy is weak for pretty men. She knew that look on his face. The eyes that roamed her body clad in the tight top and jeans that made sure her ass looked like she paid for it. Thank you, Fashionnova.

He gives her a hot guy half hug, and she’s melting. Calm down, girl Katara warns her pussy. “See you around. Zuko, I’m going to Target, do you need anything?”

Zuko frowns at the sight of a fangirling Katara. “Nope.” Jet nods, and even offers up a smile. He hates that he smiles back.

Katara swoons. She flops on Zuko’s bed, eyes all dreamy and starry. “That’s the vibe you need to give off!”

“What, that I have HPV?”

“Exactly! See, that’s the type of fuckboy you need to be. You can have the same pussy clenching effect with the right, basic clothes. You’re hot, and you have a badass scar. You just need a striped Guess shirt and white Nike Air Force 1s to complete the getup.”

So, Zuko digs through his closet from his hypebeast phase to find a pair of white sneakers (“Reeboks aren’t basic enough!” Katara protests) and borrows the Guess shirt from Katara, and they were ready to scam.

Fuck. The damn tacos. And then it was all you can eat Korean food. Then it was free avant garde ice cream at that one place that cost you an ovary to even sample the vanilla bean flavor.

The first night of rushing, all you can eat Korean food, and they were already putting on the pounds.

“ Holy fucking cheese dick! I think I gained the weight of a Kardashian ass filler in just today alone! I can’t breathe. Zuko, hold up.” She puts her hand out, halting their walk back to her place. “I need to unbutton my pants.” She had one too many plates of kimchi spam fried rice.

Zuko burps graciously. Goddamn kimbap. He swallowed that shit whole, choking a few times throughout the night. “Me fucking too! Oh my god, I can’t breathe.”

“In through your nose. Out with your dairy shits.”

As soon as they got back to her apartment, they immediately reached for Lactaid, and then went over the events of the night.

“What do you think of Ty Lee? All the guys were drooling over her,” Zuko asks. Katara ditched her elaborate makeup, scrubbing her face clean and was in one of Zuko’s t shirts he’s long given up trying to get back from her. She’s twirling an expensive mechanical pencil between her fingers, the kind that has super precise lead and matches her pencil case and laptop. For the aesthetic.

“She’s the type of bitch to eat salt and vinegar chips at 9 in the morning.”

“What’s the difference between girls who eat salt and vinegar chips in the morning, and girls who eat Hot Cheetos in the morning?” Zuko’s scratching at his head, brain still foggy from all the Doritos he’s practically inhaled. He’s topless, and has one of the many sweats he leaves behind at Katara’s because their sleepovers were some of his favorite memories growing up. Even if they have to squeeze Zuko’s six foot tall ass in twin beds now.

“One has class. The other needs therapy.”

He squints from his spot at her desk, typing interrupted to push up his round glasses. “I see.”

“I saw you really hit it off with Mai,” Katara made sure to keep her voice even. “She was really into you.”

Zuko whips his head around to her. “Really?” He yelps. “Stay out of my business!” Katara throws her hands up in mock surrender. “...Did she say anything about me?”

“She said she was so tired of medium ugly frat brothers and that you showing up sent her cooch into anaphylactic shock,” Katara deadpans.

“Really!” Zuko’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.

“No, she just said you were handsome. And then I told her ‘don't call him handsome unless he's about to hand some money over,’ and then she laughed and then thirst followed you on Instagram.”

Zuko scrambles to check his phone. “Oh my god, she’s so cute,” he whispers, eyes enraptured by her Instagram feed. Katara rolls her eyes when he jumps into her bed, knocking her work aside to shove his greasy iPhone 6s in her face.

Katara slaps it right out of his hand. “Ugh, not the 6s.”

Zuko practically melts. “You said she thinks I’m hot, right?” Katara pokes at a man tit before curling up at his side.

“You’re annoying.”

Zuko grabs Katara's hand, playing with the tiny fingers. “I’m adorable.”

She snorts. “You know, we should make a pact. If we’re getting this invested into the whole process. Whoever becomes an official sorority sister or frat brother wins!”

“Can the prize be health insurance?” Zuko doesn’t have the energy to muster his patented glare with Katara cozied up next to him.

The second night, ice cream night, and Katara was slipping.

“What do you usually look for in a guy?”

“I usually just look away,” Katara admits, shrugging. She doesn’t forget to plaster a well practiced, non threatening smile on her face.

“Preferred places for guys to cum?” Another sorority girl asks. Other rushees are nodding enthusiastically, carefully preparing their answers.

“To his senses,” Katara huffs.

“I usually like a backshot!” Ty Lee says enthusiastically, despite the other sisters eyeing Katara warily. Ty Lee insisted that Katara would be a good fit for the sorority. She looked like the only one on her side.

While the girls were excitedly dancing along to the music playing in the shop, Katara’s eye twitches. It was the feminist in her. “If you still like Chris Brown, you’re ugly,” Katara is adamant, not relenting despite the incredulous, wide eye stares from the gaggle of sorority girls.

“Well, I guess I’m ugly then!” Mai yelps, hands crossed over her chest defiantly.

Katara smiles carefully. “You sure are, bitch!”

Fuck Katara was messing this up. She needed to make sure that they were convinced Katara was sorority girl material to move onto the next level of the secret invite only event. Fuck, fuck, fuck .

She wasn’t about to let Zuko win at anything!

Mai squints at her. “Are you a clit being handled by a frat brother? Because you’re really rubbing me the wrong way.”

Ty Lee gasps. “Please excuse her, Indica makes her grumpy.”

Katara glares. “None taken.”

She likes Ty Lee, that much she’s gathered. And, it seems as though Ty Lee had grown to like her back, making sure Katara gets enough ice cream throughout the night, even turning her head when Katara pulls out a Tupperware from her backpack to bring back the dessert to her apartment.

That was until Ty Lee remembered she had a flask hidden up her skirt, a necessity post fuckboy cheats on you . “I-I just called to say I don’t miss you! And that your dick smells like a stapler that has been microwaved for 25 seconds. Like, you can block me all you want. But you can’t uneat this ass. Sorry, I don’t make the rules!” Katara does damage control, and dutifully snatches the phone from her hands.

Crossing her arms like a mother disciplining her child, she levels Ty Lee with a concerned look. “What the actual fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Ty Lee gets up and stumbles on her way to hug Katara. “I can’t leave him! I love him so, so much. He’s my fucking ride or die, the Quavo to my Saweetie! The pitchy singing to my Selena Gomez! The Marlene to my Rosa! The badly glued fake eyelashes to my Asian sorority girl,” Ty Lee is crying and loud and her anime like tits are bouncing with every sob that comes.

Katara takes the flask of peach vodka from her trembling hands, and shakes the girl. “Look, bitch. You’re better than this.”

“No, I’m really not!”

Katara pokes the girl in the forehead. “Yes, bitch you definitely are. You’re a bad bitch that got adicktated. But that’s ok.” She tilts the red faced girl’s head back, making sure the cup of water goes down her throat. “So what if you fell in love a little? You’re in your bag bitch, you don’t need provolone smelling dick to dicktate your life!”

She rubs at her snot filled nose, and then wipes her fist on her mini skirt. “You really think so?”

“Bitch, I know so . Go be a slut, forget about Chan’s ass flake. Now hand over your phone. Drunk yelling over the phone is not the move for the night.” The other active Deltas sisters were running back from a group bathroom visit, after realizing it was Ty Lee’s bad decisions o’ clock . They came back to see the chastised girl determindly eating Ube flavored ice cream, without a phone to do dumb shit in her hands. Mai can’t help but start liking Katara.

The third night, and it’s the Deltas Sorority and Pi Alpha Psi Fraternity rush party, the most important party so far during rush week. IT was a slam fucking dunk. They had gotten catering from everybody’s favorite taco place at the Pi Alpha Psi frat house. And a fucking DIY boba bar. A boba bar! A goddamn boba bar. Katara had a ziplock baggie filled with the tapioca pearls in her left jean pocket.

All Deltas rushees were meant to be socializing with Pi Alpha Psi brothers. The active sisters were trying to see who were the classy whores in the group. They didn’t want admitted whores, just subtle ones. After fending off another medium ugly brother from trying to stare at her tits, Katara corners Zuko, who hands her another shot to take for him. “Why was that guy dressed like an uninvolved father?”

“What’s that supposed to look like?”

“Sweaty, and smells vaguely of disappointment.”

Zuko coughs. “I’m sad that hit way too close to home.”

Katara looks devastated for a split second, until Zuko starts laughing at his own joke. Then, she smacks him upside the head. “You know, you should be thankful for me. I got you looking exactly like a Pi Alpha Psi brother. Even down to the shoes.” Katara glares ahead. “God, I hate that we have to wear shoes on in this house. I hate looking at Haru’s Black Air Force 1s. Anything but those. Anything but those .”

The fourth night and they had successfully scammed the Greek system.

“Zuko!” Katara screams, bursting through his door without preamble. “Look what Ty Lee sent—wait a minute. What the fuck are you doing?” She pauses in shoving the phone in his face to see him face down in his calculus textbook.

“I’m trying to find a natural way to stay focused.”

Katara crosses her arms. “Have you considered adderall?”

Zuko snorts, clearly annoyed. “That’s literally prescription meth.”

“And what about it?” She slams her body, face first into his bed. “‘ Hey get ready tomorrow because we have an exclusive, invite only clubbing invite and the girls and I really really want you to come! ’” Katara reads the Instagram message verbatim from her phone, her chest swelling with unbridled pride. “I deserve an Academy Award.”

Zuko plops his body right on top of hers, relishing in how she groans under his added weight. “Run me my Golden Globe because according to Chan, my ‘ass better be ready to get nasty at Club Nyla .’”

“Shut the booger sugar up!”

So (on a Thursday night ) Katara and Zuko crowd in the party bus the generous Asian Greek system had funded in the name of “cultural bonding.” She can barely breathe, tits pushed in the most fuckable way possible, and she feels her face heating from the shots forced down her throat because her (potential) sisters had insisted on heavily pregaming.

While the frat brothers were perfectly content to sitting and not making any sort of movement whatsoever in the name of looking cool , the girls on the other hand were having the time of their lives.

“Oh my fucking god, for the last time Ty Lee, I cannot join the grind train, I do not have mental stability to keep my balance and shake my ass at the same time,” Katara lightly chastises, shoving the drunk girl gently off of her. Ty Lee simply shrugs, and then continues to gyrate on the gaggle of girls. The music was pounding, everyone was sweating from the amount of unrestrained dancing happening, and Katara’s pretty sure some girl just bruised her pussy after accidentally smacking it (hard) on the bus’s stripper poles. Disco lights bathe the entirety of the vehicle, enveloped in the screams and squeals of Asian girls trying to twerk and scream along to lyrics at the same time.

It was pure fucking chaos. But so goddamn fun . The girls kept constantly grabbing her hips in an attempt to yike on her helpless ass, which Katara abruptly stopped by flicking off their hands. All to the tune of “The Box” by Roddy Rich.

“Let me hear everyone loud and clear! ‘Fuck 12!’” Katara screams to a crowd of bewildered frat brothers.

“Katara, no,” Zuko’s laughing too hard, the alcohol making him feel lightheaded. Heavy rap music permeated the walls of the bus, and he feels a headache building. But he feels a little better seeing Katara having fun, nearly choking to death after taking a hit from some brother’s joint.

“Don’t laugh, I don’t smoke that often!” She insists.

Zuko throws his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to him. “If you die, at least it was in a party bus while Travis Scott was playing.”

“I’d rather die in an Acura!” Katara yelps, getting up in mock frustration. While Zuko is simply losing his mind at her attitude, she accidentally stumbles as the bus comes to an abrupt stop, and lands in Zuko’s lap.

She’s chortling, moving about to get up. Zuko tries his hardest not to let his heart pound impossibly loud.

After IDs were checked, and a Drake song was forcibly requested by the obnoxious group of frat brothers, the clubbing event was in full swing. Yet, it paled in comparison to the fun and chaotic energy of the party bus. Frat brothers were attempting to dance, Asian girls were trying their hardest to twerk.

Katara is doing her duty as the most sober one out of the bunch and pushes random guys away before they could grab at her sisters’ hips. “You know, God gives flat asses to his strongest soldiers,” she mumbles, lips dangerously close to his ear. They were sitting down in the private seating area near the dance floor, exhausted beyond belief and watching the sorority girls’ attempts at clapping what little cheeks they did have.

Ty Lee clumsily grabs at Katara, screaming about having to piss and call her ex. Her cue to save the day. She gives Zuko an apologetic look, and whispers “I’m gonna win” before grabbing Ty Lee’s hand.

While he’s checking on his Neko Atsume cats, Chan’s Pepto Bismal smelling self is sidling up to his side. “Bro, you should fuck her. She’s got amazing tits.”

Zuko smirks, before schooling his features. That was already an observation he made when he was 16. Nice try, fuckboy. Chan continues, not caring if Zuko responds to him. “Pound that pussy like rent is due tomorrow! You have to get at that big, fat, moose sized pussy at the Airbnb we’re headed to after this.”

Ty Lee is blubbering, snot running freely down her face as though she was a 5 year old at Chuck E. Cheese realizing they didn’t have enough tickets to afford a beaded necklace. “Every time he goes down on me, it feels like my pussy’s getting colonized. Is that what love is supposed to feel like.”

Katara paused in rubbing her back. “Oh my god.”

Ty Lee grabs at Katara’s shoulders, toilet and unsteady stomach forgotten. “Please, for the sake of the female population. Fuck Zuko. We need to know if he’s packing that schmeat.”

Katara gasps. “No fucking way, we’re just friends!”

The inebriated girl clutches Katara’s face in between her sweaty palms, lowering her voice in a volume she thinks counted as a whisper. It was more of a scream than anything else. “We always try to get the hottest rushees to fuck each other at the Airbnb. Then, you’ll definitely make it into Deltas. Because if anyone deserves to throw that neck back on Zuko, it’s you.”

“Well gee, thanks. I’m touched.”

“Moan harder! Don’t sound like I’m forcing you to fuck me! This isn’t no 90 Day Fiance shit! I thought you were an actor. Where is the commitment to the craft? You sound like you’re a dying tractor. Do better!” Katara continues jumping on the bed, trying to emulate a good old fucking. Zuko breathes in, before an unrestrained groan comes from his lips. Katara’s cooch instantly quakes.

Their shoes were off, at her insistence, sheets already strewn about to make it believable. She could hear the snickering behind the door she’s triple checked to make sure it was locked and unable to be seen through the keyhole, her thong shoved in front of it to ensure their privacy.

“Zuko, Zuko, Zuko!” she pants, makine her voice sound as fucked out as possible. “I can’t!”

He continues smacking his arm, trying his best to replicate the sound of cheeks being clapped. “Baby, yes you can. You’re taking me like a fucking champ.”

Katara almost couldn’t hold back her giggle. This was all so fucking ridiculous. Taken straight out of a Larry smut scene. But they had a job to finish, a lifestyle they needed to live out, a pact to win. She whines, he lets out a moan. They bite their fist before they lost their minds and ruined the scam. She could imagine the title to their terrible porn video: college girl takes BEC (big emo cock).

“So, so good!” Katara made sure to make her voice sound as strained as possible, jumping even harder on the mattress. Zuko is ashamed to say his dick twitched in his pants the slightest. “So goddamn big. I feel so full!”

“Thanks for thinking I have a big dick,” he mutters, before letting out another wanton cry.

“Please be quiet!” Her little faux whimpers are simply killing Zuko, a blush creeping on his neck. He may or may not be jerking off to a sound now burned in his memory.

“Ready for the grand finale?” Zuko’s bewildered, pausing in his erratic jumping on the mattress. Katara jumps as hard as she can three times, before landing a punch square into Zuko’s stomach. It’s unexpected, and he doubles over, wheezing and pathetically gasping for air.

“Baby, cum in me!” Katara mewls, a devious smile on her face.

Zuko frowns, rubbing at his sore stomach. “Really? You’re that invested in this role? You would hurt your bestest friend in this world?”

“Shut up! Let me bully you.”

They leave the room, ensuring their hair looked as disheveled as possible, clothes put on backwards, and Katara’s lip gloss smeared across his face. It tasted like Starbursts and scams.

The pair were suddenly enveloped in violent cheers. Muscled frat brothers were taking their beefy arms and slapping Zuko’s chest in celebration. Zuko could see Katara blushing, acting bashful and even tucking a strand of hair behind her ear for emphasis. He rolls his eyes, and deftly decided his heart was indeed forever stolen by the bat shit crazy bitch.

“My man!” Chan howls, grabbing Zuko in a signature bro hug. “Any other Deltas you want to raw dog tonight?”

Zuko’s gaze was focused on Katara’s smiling face. “This dick belongs to one woman.”

They sorority and fraternity wearily climbed back into the party bus in the wee hours of the morning, needing to make the trek back in time for classes. Everyone was to stop by the Psi Alpha Psi house to collect their stuff, and then make their way home.

Zuko’s nodding off, too tired to continue breathing when Katara pokes him expertly in the arm. “What?”

“We’re going to steal the house trophy when we get back.”

He gasps. “Not Beatrice.”

“Yes, Beatrice!”

“Why do you want a $9 dildo from Amazon anyways?”

Katara sighs. “I overheard them this morning. The Deltas and Psi Alpha Psi. They were running through photos of girls and guys that rushed that didn’t make it through the process. And they were so fucking mean , Zuko. Like I almost cried, and they didn’t even roast my ass. Like Co-Star level bullying. They don’t deserve Beatrice. We do.”

“So, bet’s off?” He cracks his knuckles in anticipation. She simply nods.

“You bitch. You didn’t have to slam me so fucking hard!” Katara reprimands. Zuko silences her with a passionate kiss that has every emotion she could possibly feel tingling throughout her whole body. She’s pushed up against the fireplace, clutching the wall behind her as though finding something to grind her against Zuko’s fiery passion. They were simply mimicking the rest of the group coming back, girls pressed against the frat brothers, trying to make the most of their remaining high instead of heading to class.

They pause to take a breath of air, (they could hear Mai mock gagging in the back) before sending each other a secret nod.

“You feel that pucker in your asshole? You know shit’s about to get real,” Katara says in a low voice.

Zuko’s slamming her against the fireplace once more, this time Katara’s hand now finding contact with Beatrice herself. In a flash she’s shoving the phallic toy in her jacket, sprinting for the door.

Chan, eagle eyed as ever, and experienced in the art of recognizing dildo thievery, instantly shoves Ty Lee off his lap. “Don’t you dare take the fucking house trophy, bitch!” He barely finishes his sentence, before he’s shoved to the ground by an enthusiastic Zuko, who grabs Katara’s hand and breaks into a run.

They run, run, run until they reach Zuko’s apartment, collapsing on the patch of fake grass at the front of the building. He still has his hand intertwined with hers, her other hand having a vice like grip on the sex toy.

“You know what, I don’t care about making other friends. You’re all I need.”

“I know.” Katara can’t stop the smile from growing on her face.

#zutara fanfiction #zuko x katara #zutara #zutaramonth #zutara month 2020 #day 25 #they share a hotel room #but it's an airbnb bc i said so #atla

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miss-writes-a-lot · 5 years

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Persona 6 Chapter 12: Into the Castle

March 7, 20XX Friday Early Morning Two days before the deadline

Jumin had stayed up all night after the girls left just to make sure there were no altercations. He was currently asleep, face down on his desk. He only woke up when he heard a loud knocking on his bedroom door. He woke up in a panic before calming down. "C-come in!" The door opened and entering was his mother. "Hey, time to get ready for school." She said.

"Uh...actually, I'm not going to school." Jumin said nervously, looking down and twiddling his fingers. "Wait, what do you mean you're not going to school?"

"I was gonna...ask you if I could skip? Please mom! I have to save Isas, and the only way I can is to go to the Toxic Isles and-" Grey put her hands up slightly as if she was surrendering. "Easy, easy! I'll let you go just...follow me."

Jumin tilted his head in confusion as he followed her out of his room and to the center of the hallway. She reached up to the ceiling and pulled down it down. "We have an attic?" Jumin asked.

"You've lived here for sixteen years and you didn't know we had an attic?"

"I spent a lot of those years in my room, mom."

"Just get your ass up there." Jumin shrugged as he and his mother made their way into the cramped attic filled with old boxes. Grey crawled over to a very long, wooden trunk. She pulled it towards her and opened it, pulling out a long and old katana, handing it to Jumin.

"W-what's this?" Jumin asked puzzled. "Your dad's old katana. Not really sure if it's still useable, but...he wanted to give it to you if you ever got your persona...and now that you have, I thought you could use it..." She said, looking down as she handed it to Jumin. Jumin sighed as he placed the katana down gently and went to hug his mother. Grey gripped hard onto Jumin's shirt. "Mom, please don't start crying....I don't wanna be the reason you cry..." Jumin whispered. "T-too late...I love you too damn much to watch you get hurt...b-because you're my son. M-my only son, really....I don't wanna lose my little JuJu...m-my...my.." Grey couldn't finish. Jumin sighed as he caressed his mother's back gently as he hugged her. "I-I know...I love you too, mom. A-and I promise to come back...I promise..."

Grey smiled as she kissed Jumin's cheek. "I know you will...you're a Narukami-Eko. We're brave and very stubborn." Jumin chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I promise I'll make it back...I promise. This is only a test run anyway. Just see what we're dealing with...I'll make it back...for you and dad...I-I promise..." Grey smiled and caressed his knuckles before she let go. "I love you, Jumin..."

"I-I love you too, mom..." Jumin broke away and took the katana, along with the chest itself but stopped. "Wait, won't it be a bit weird that I'm carrying around very dangerous objects?" Jumin asked.

"I told you, you're an Eko. That usually means you can get away with stuff like this." Grey replied. Jumin was about to say something, but he just shook his head and left. "Thanks for the weapons, mom!"

"That's what we're here for!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls arrived just a few minutes after Jumin had began to set up camp just in case they were there longer than they had to. Jumin looked up from setting up the weapons once he heard the girls arrive, both were in a bit of shock. "Where did you get all of these?!" Suki asked, a bit fearful that it was the result of something illegal. "Mom gave 'em to me. She thought we could use 'em." Jumin explained.

"So she keeps weapons in your house?!" Kimi exclaimed. Jumin nodded casually. "Yeah, pretty much."

"You are too calm about this." Kimi sighed. "Look, just pick your poison. I already got mine." Jumin picked up his father's old katana and swung it over his shoulder.

"C-careful with that!" Kimi exclaimed. "Sorry..." Kimi grunted at Jumin's carelessness as Suki and her knelt down to find their own weapons. Suki found a pearl white long bow and steel arrows. "Perhaps this would make a good range weapon..." Suki said to herself quite loudly. "What about a melee?" Kimi asked.

Suki thought for a moment, scanning through the many possibilities. What would go good with a long bow in battle? Maybe a carving knife? No, that won't do...maybe a dagger? No...why I can't I find anything good?!

Tired of being unable to make a decision, Suki simply decided to just keep the long bow until she found a good melee weapon. Kimi easily picked up a large steel bat and began to swing it around recklessly. Jumin rolled his eyes a bit. "Such a hypocrite..." He muttered.

Kimi playfully punched him in the arm, snickering. "Everybody ready?" Suki asked. The other two nodded. "Alright, let's go." She then commanded. She signaled for them to follow her and they ran head first into the falls.

The trio fell into the Toxic Isles with their suspicions being correct. After their little attempt yesterday, the castle had become heavily guarded with wire and metal gates where the former accessible entrances would be. "Shit.." Jumin muttered.

Suki placed a hand on his shoulder with a look of determination on her face. "We'll find a way. This is simply just...a minor set back. We can get past it!" Jumin flashed a miniscule smile and nodded. He stepped forward to reexamine the castle and its layout. "I have to get inside. " Jumin stated.

"What?!" Kimi exclaimed.

I won't be able to get the complete layout and download on to my laptop."

"B-but remember what happened last time?! And plus, do you really need a layout for this place?" Jumin frowned. "No Kimi. I absolutely don't need a crucial piece of our plan." He replied sarcastically.

Kimi pouted. "Y-you don't have to be such a dick about it..." Jumin sighed. "I need to get some ideas of the layout just in case he decides to change something again."

"Mmm...fine! We'll go! B-but how are we gonna get in? All our options are basically shot." Suki smiled as she looked off at the castle. "Well, not quite...."

"What do you mean?" Suki said nothing. She went on a full sprint and jumped from the current isle and onto the other.

"W-what she doing?!" Jumin asked in a panic. Kimi grinned widely. "I have no idea. But I'm gonna do it too!"

"WHAT?!" Kimi didn't wait for Jumin to stop freaking out. She jumped onto the other isle and followed behind Suki. Jumin sighed. God these girls are gonna kill me...

Jumin jumped himself, flailing his arms a bit as he jump, considering he has never done anything like this before. He quickly and quietly ran to catch up with the girls. They stopped once they reached the right side of the castle wall. "Suki, give me a boost." Kimi requested. "Wait, you're actually gonna climb that wall?!" Jumin gasped. "Well, duh! Now help me up!"

Both Suki and Jumin knelt down and boost Kimi up the wall. She tightly grabbed the edges as she hoisted herself up and over the wall. She walked to the heavily locked gate, took out her bat, and smacked it against the locks, which broke apart bee quickly. "What flimsy locks..." Suki pointed out.

"Well they can't exactly withstand the womanly power that is Kimchi Kiyoshi." Jumin said. Kimi flashed a cocky smirk, but her glory was short lived when they felt the ground beneath them shake.

"He must know we're here..." Suki whispered.

"Let's just get in there. Better to know what might happen then wait for Saturday."

"Saturday?" Kimi pondered, tilting her head a bit, "isn't the deadline Sunday?" Jumin shrunk a bit. "Jumin? Is there something we don't know..?"

"M-maybe..." The girls crossed their arms, a "mom look" on their expressions. Jumin eventually caved in. "Okay, okay! Midnight! The deadline might actually be midnight on Saturday cause that's when the day starts! That's what we always abided by when we came up with this whole anniversary shit!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Jumin shook his head, scared.

Suki sighed. "So that means...we only have today to prepare..."

"S-sorry..." Kimi shook her head. "L-let's just get in there."

"Right. Let's go." The trio carefully enter the castle grounds. Everything seemed so much bigger than before. Isas must have been working very hard to make this place "perfect." There was just something about it...something important. Something they were missing. What was it?

"Mother and father never loved me..." A calming voice rang, singing through the courtyard of the kingdom. "Isas...?"

"They absolutely hated me. From the moment I was born...I was imperfect. I was never "good enough" for anyone. They hit me every day...for every little thing..." The group came to a halt to listen to the voice as he spoke. "I guess that's why I am so jealous of everything and everyone...even Jumin~kun..."

Jumin let out a small gasp, hands flying over his mouth. Jealous...? Of me?

"He had such a loving family...and such a loving heart...I never had that...I'll never have that...why can't I have that?" Oh Isas... Jumin clenched his fists tightly as he looked down. If only he had taken more notice, if only he had talked to him more, then maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe they would have been happier. Maybe...Isas would have been happier. "...I cannot let that happen again. Not again. That is why...you. Must. LEAVE!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, a trio of shadows ambushed them. "Alright! Our first real battle!" Kimi cheered as she got into position.

"Okay, let's do this!" Suki exclaimed. "PERSONA!" Jumin yelled, casting Magaru, "Take em down!"

"Alright! Now you're getting it! Go! Atalanta!" Kimi shouted, inflicting Mabufu on all of them. "Yeah, that's more like it!"

"Arise! Hegemony!" Suki cried, casting Teradyne. "Your time is up!" With that last hit, the shadows disappeared and left behind some money. "Holy shit! Cash!" Kimi exclaimed, bending down to pick up all the loot.

"Again?! Ugh! Will you ever learn not to mess with my things?!" The voice boomed. "We're not leaving here without you, Isas! That's a promise!" Jumin yelled. "Ugh. So stubborn. So annoying. Very well then...why don't we all make a deal?"

"...What kind of deal?" "If tomorrow night, when the moon is full, you and your little party succeed in defeating me...I will return your Isas...but if you fail..well, let me just say it was nice knowing you all..." Jumin's eyes widened at the realization of what could happen and was most likely to happen if they failed. "I-it's a deal..." Jumin breathed. The voice chuckled. "Very well then...it is a pleasure doing business with you." With that, the voice disappeared. Jumin was left standing there, eyes still wide and body shaking. What did I just agree to...?

"Jumin? Are you okay?" Kimi asked. "...I have do something...I'll see you guys tomorrow..." The girls looked at each other with great concern, but let him be. "O-okay...see you tomorrow, Jumin."

"Stay safe.."

"...I will." I will...

(I'll be opening a q and a for anyone who's interested after the boss chapter ia over.)

#sketch speaks #bri talks #persona 6 #my writing #bri writes #jumin eko #kimi kiyoshi #suki ichika #bri #isas chikako #persona series #persona

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carpetheotherfandoms · 7 years

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Earth Kingdom.

Avatar the Last Airbender

Katara hasn’t seen Aang in many years but when the Earth King holds a conference to unite the world leaders they’re brought face to face with the demons that tore them apart.

Part two here. Part three here.

Warning: implied sexual content

Enjoy.

She woke up that morning feeling very blissfully unaware. The pillow was warm pressed against her cheek and the sheets that were tangled around her body felt slightly cool. She could feel the breeze from the window she had left open last night on her back since she had been sleeping in nothing but her bindings lately. She had been in Ba Sing Se for nearly three weeks now and it was so unbearably hot during the summer nights she found she had no other option.

She rolled over onto her back and the morning light shone directly onto her face disturbing the peaceful feeling she had had. She opened her eyes and stretched her arms up over her head. She laid in bed with her eyes open for some time just scanning the room around her. It was decorated with the seal of the Earth Kingdom on practically everything and a few wooden tables here and there.

She didn’t really require much it wasn’t like she would be staying much longer anyway. The Earth King had only requested her presence for a short period of time in order to help teach healing sessions to a few of his personal staff. She was honoured when she received the message because, as the Earth King, he could have his personal healers trained by anybody in the world.

However, as her brother coolly reminded her, why wouldn’t he choose the woman who was capable of bringing the Avatar back from the brink during the war?

And although, she was definitely ready to get back home, she had decided to extend her stay when the Earth King notified her that he would be hosting the upcoming world leader conference. Essentially, it was a party held for great leaders from each nation ranging from individuals like national monarchs, spiritual healers and even the great Avatar himself who would visit to mingle with one another. They would have the opportunity to discuss politics, the state and international policy but also be able to have a more relaxed and personal introduction.

Considering that her father was the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and most of her close friends were basically internationally renowned by now, she knew they would all be attending. She decided that she might as well stay instead of journeying home and having to journey back practically days later.

When the Earth King first approached her with this idea he spoke very casually of his excitement to having the Avatar come. It made Katara quite uncomfortable but she let him continue telling her about his thrilling party plans. She hadn’t seen him in a few years since he began his full-time duties as the Avatar and since they had had their falling out. After the war initially she knew without a doubt that he was who Aunt Wu had been referencing all those years ago but as their relationship progressed, the world was still in chaos.

They were together for almost three years when the world started needing their Avatar more and more. Aang was gone for longer periods of time and instead of being able to go with him Katara found that she was also needed in other places. It put a real strain on their friendship and their relationship so when their stress pushed them over the edge, they said some things. She knew he hadn’t meant it and she knew she hadn’t meant what she said but it hurt nonetheless.

Many times over the years she thought about writing him and begging him to come back just once so they could talk but she could never bring herself to do it. What was the point, she always said when she pulled out her notebook? He would just run off again, be needed somewhere else, give priority to anyone but you and it’s not like she could complain. The world was in such disarray how the hell could he not be pulled away and how could she ever ask him to slack on his duties?

She spoke to her brother about it once or twice. He was a good listener now that he had slightly matured but he didn’t really know how to help her through it. He would update her whenever he ran into Aang on his own journeys abroad but at some point it got to be too much for her. Sokka, realizing this, would often avoid even referencing Aang by name when Katara was around, he would just use the word Avatar and be done with it. He could tell how painful it was for her to hear his name repeatedly and have to constantly relive that fight. She had spent days afterward crying about it until one day there just weren’t any tears left. That was the day she threw herself into her work and never really looked back. Slowly it got easier and now, four years later, she could say his name and not want to hide.

She shook her head from her thoughts of Aang and rolled herself out of bed to begin brushing out her long, dark locks. Normally she would just throw on her usual thick, warm water tribe clothing but being somewhere where it was not nearly as cold she had no choice but to pack some much lighter outfits. As she aged it became much harder to find something as comfortable and upscale as it needed to be. What she used to wear on her journeys with the gang as a fourteen-year-old just wouldn’t cut it anymore. As a twenty-one-year-old woman and one of the worlds most prominent water-benders she had to dress much differently.

In situations where she met with world leaders she often wore dresses she had specially made to still be representative of the southern water tribe culture but more apt for the climate changes. For example, she had come to the Earth Kingdom to teach and enjoy the city so she would wear a halter style cut off shirt and some tights in her favourite shades of blue. It was the perfect material for bending, moving around at a fast paced and even great for going out in the city.

Once she had finished washing up, she went down to the servant’s quarters kitchen to grab a quick breakfast and head out. She didn’t particularly enjoy having them bring her meals to her in bed. She didn’t feel quite like the famous sole water-bender of the southern water tribe like everyone kept referring to her as. She was Katara and she could go to the kitchen to get her own food whether she was a guest of the King or not.

After eating quickly, she exited the palace and headed into the city. She wanted a few hours to herself before the dinner tonight that was being held to welcome her father. As the days progressed more and more people would begin arriving for the conference. These dinner parties would be almost a nightly thing and unfortunately she would have no time to herself. Everyone always pestered her about the stories of her days travelling the world with the young Avatar and she would repeatedly explain them for those who wanted to know. It would be easier if the more recent memories of their friendship weren’t so painful.

After spending the entire day wandering each of the city’s upper, middle and lower rings she realized she had to get back and get ready for her father’s arrival. She couldn’t exactly be wearing such causal clothing and be a sweaty mess for a dinner with the Earth King.

She would never hear the end of it.

By the time she had finished getting ready she had made it just in time to hurry down to the port and wait. For the dinner she had pulled most of her hair back out of her face but left the rest of it cascading down her back. She was wearing a long sleeve, V-neck cut dress made of a fine material that hugged her curves and moved as though it were flowing water cascading down her body.

The ship docked against the port, the door started to open and her father started walking out. She couldn’t help but run forward at the sight of him. When she finally reached him he picked her up and swung her around as if she were a little girl again. They both laughed as he placed her back onto the ground yet continued to hug her tightly. Katara had grown to appreciate her father more and more as the years went on after the war. As a child she hadn’t realized the role he played in helping protect her people but now, having to be a representative for them, she understood the burdens he bore alone all too well.

Before she could open her mouth to welcome her father to Ba Sing Se she noticed that her brother was coming out of the haul with Suki and Toph at his side. It had been a little while since she had seen any of them since all three of them spent a lot of time gallivanting the four nations and helping with national security improvements or putting their input in on military conferences. At the sight of them she released her dad and smiled brightly. She hugged each of them firmly and as they walked back to the palace for dinner they all excitedly told her stories of things that had happened since they had last been together.

Sokka described his expeditions in the North helping secure new trading and military agreements for the South. He had been working closely with the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe and his son since one day he would be replacing his father as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.

Suki talked about the international branches of the Kyoshi warriors and how she had been training girls across the nation. They all wanted to learn how to fight, how to protect their people and how to help their communities prosper.

Toph discussed her search for more metal-benders and how that was going. She wanted to train as many as she could in the newfound art and she noted that she had been spending a lot of time in the fire nation with Fire Lord Zuko because that seemed to be where they were cropping up.

Their conversations led directly into dinner and it ended up going by so quickly with the unexpected reunion. Katara felt nothing but warmth as the night progressed even in spite of the stinging pain she had in her heart knowing Aang was missing this. Usually she kept herself distracted when that pain started, dinners like this with her favourite people always helped her ignore it, but she knew when she was alone if the pain wasn’t gone it would be a rough night.

It felt very late when everyone decided to retire to bed. She hugged her father as he left, waved Suki and Sokka off considering she could tell how badly they wanted some alone time having been apart for so long and hugged Toph before she left spite of all Toph’s sarcastic aims at avoiding it. She had missed them dearly but also felt immense pride at the work her friends were doing out in the world. They were repairing the damage done by Fire Lord Ozai one community at a time.

When it was time for her to actually sleep all she could feel was that pain in her chest so she decided that maybe she could wear herself out with a walk in the brisk summer air. She descended the staircase from the western wing where they were staying and exited the palace doors.

She found that the cool breeze of the outside world made her feel suddenly a lot calmer but she knew it wasn’t enough to keep the sad dreams at bay. Therefore, she walked towards the royal gardens. She knew there was a large man-made almost lake sized body of water and she knew being near water right now would help her, it always did.

To be continued ...

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