#ikeaverse

[ardantly]

Zukka IKEA AU

This is the crimily's hive mind braincell at work on this fine Saturday my dudes

Sokka gets dragged into Ikea with katara and he gets lost because he liked this one dresser too much

He's so fascinated by the dresser that he climbs inside and somehow manages to get locked inside, Katara and Aang think he's gone back to the car so he just sits there for like a good 15 minutes contemplating his life choices and how he arrived in this situation

Zuko is the disgruntled employee that gets him out

Zuko usually hates his job but suddenly there's this really cute boy who looks super lost and omg his day just got ten times better but also worse how tf am I supposed to talk to this costumer he's so cute HELP

They start talking and bond over the IKEA cafeteria meatballs and that Hamlet isn't Shakespeare's best play (you can pry theatre nerds!zukka from my cold dead hands)

When Kataang finally come back to search for Sokka, the two of them are super sad bc they don't want to stop talking

Zuko is frantically trying to find a reason to keep talking to Sokka until he's finally like wait you need my number in case you get stuck in another locker

Sokka resigns himself to always pining after the cute IKEA dude

Sokka nearly starts dancing right then and there

Kataang tease him mercilessly all the way home but it's okay Sokka can't stop fucking grinning

[vulpemarshmallow]

24 Hours

It could be worse. This is a nice part of town, and it pays decent enough money for what it is. I really ought not to complain about not being overworked, though this Pharmacy Tech degree is going to waste with me sitting here watching “Singing in the Rain” for the thirtieth time.

The bell on the front door rings. Well praise Andraste, we’ve got ourselves a bloody customer.

I can see him from the front of the store, and I have to look again to make sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me because our shelves are over six feet high and I usually don’t see customers until they’re at the pharmacy counter, staring me down. But I see this one; he’s built like a wrestler, or a semi-truck, or at least a pick-up truck, and he’s walking down the aisle with a concerned look on his face.

I wonder what happened.

The phone rings and when I answer it, it’s Lirene from the front, telling me that I ought to call security about this guy before something goes wrong because he smells like a brewery and has a look on his face that makes her uncomfortable.

I tell her that I’ll keep an eye on him and press the panic button if necessary, but that I can handle anything else. Sure I can, I think as I hang up the phone, I weigh a good 180 soaking wet, and can barely lift the pallets of stock onto the shelf, but I’ll take care of the gorilla back here, just you watch.

I get a good look at him now, and I see why Lirene was concerned. He’s…well...

I could climb him like a jungle gym.

I have to look up at him when he gets to the counter, and he looks down at me under this heavy brow, with these dark, sleepy eyes, and sets down a box of our generic “feminine” painkillers, the box proclaiming relief for “cramps, bloating, and fatigue.”

“Nice of you to be going out so late for your girlfriend,” I say, when I ring him up, and I’m being a catty bastard right now because there’s nothing like feeling that spark of attraction to have it crushed under a boot heel thirty seconds later.     

“Sister,” he says, and his voice is all low rumbles. He thanks me when I hand him the little bag, and I’m not ready to see him go.

“Well that’s even better,” I say as he starts to turn away, and he has to turn back, and it’s awkward as hell. “Because it means you’re a great brother.” I smile like an idiot and he just looks at me. He looks down at the bag for a second and nods, then turns to leave.

This time I watch him go.

He’s the only customer I have that night, but the sight of him standing at the counter, all wild hair and tired eyes, sticks with me for days.