Thoughts On The Friendzone

thoughts on the friendzone

when i was 5 years old my best friend was a boy named kyle who didn’t know how to knock on doors so he made dinosaur noises outside my window to wake me up in the summer until i demonstrated how to ball his fists and slam them against my doors. we collected caterpillars in my trailer park and built them houses while we traded pokemon cards. he wasn’t the only one. there was ben, and mitch, and noah—but kyle’s the only one who hurt me, because when he tried to kiss me and i asked him why, he told me “because you’re a girl and i’m a boy, shouldn’t we like each other?”

i missed him so much and i wondered why he couldn’t just be my friend like he always was

in the first grade there was rich and joseph and i got sent to detention with them almost every day with a smile on my face. we built block towers and sang to my teacher’s lion king soundtracks when she’d turn the lights off during lunch time. one day they got in a fist fight over me at recess, and i wondered why they felt they needed to share my friendship, like it was something they owned.

in the second grade zach and i played yu gi oh under our desks during free time and i got moved for talking to him constantly. everyone in the class would tease him and i for talking, asking when we were going to date already, asking him if he’d kissed me, and he stopped being my friend.

when i was 11 i met a chubby boy with the name of a colour who wore puffy vests and unwashed t-shirts, with greasy hair and bright blue eyes and a smile that hid hurt behind it. people didn’t like him because he was silly, but i liked him, because i was also silly. he became my friend the day he bought me 5 giant roses and asked me to be his girlfriend, and i politely declined but promised him i’d be his best friend because i’d always wanted a best guy friend that stuck around. we burnt our feet on the concrete during the summer and walked home with the sunset silhouetting us. he talked often about how he loved me, but never blamed me for being me, even though he refused to move on. that boy dyed his hair jet black and sat on the end of my bed playing songs to me on guitar, and all that pent up rage from before didn’t show until the first time he slapped me across the face and called me a dumb cunt.

in the 7th grade there was a boy named ryan who sat next to me on the bus and talked to me about manga. he’d ask me personal invasive questions but i didn’t mind because it was attention and i liked attention. i was dating another guitarist with curly brown hair, one who was much more kind-tempered than the other, and ryan mentioned how much of an asshole he was every day. i wondered, why, why does he think the love of my life is an asshole? but whenever i asked him, he just told me, “girls only date assholes. there’s no room for nice guys like me.”

i wondered, if he was so nice, why did he say such mean things?

he never stopped with me, taking me to movies, hanging out with me, you know. being friendly. i thought we were friends. but then, how many times had i thought that before?

how many times had i bonded with a boy, thought they got me, only for them to ask me if i wanted to make out?

how come when i told ryan i was coming out as a lesbian, he stopped being my friend, and said “damnit, the one girl i really want to pound into a mattress, and she’s only interested in chicks!”

there was a boy my junior year who stayed up all night with me until the sun rose, talking about life, past loves, hopes, dreams. beneath a million twinkling stars spanning forever, he brushed long brown hair out of his eyes and listened to me talk about the history that made me. then he asked me if i’d ever consider dating a guy, and complained about how he’d never get laid.

when i told him no a couple hundred times, he found new girls to listen to.

i would sit on the couch and play zelda with dakota, and he’d talk about all my favourite games with me. he was the closest thing to support i had, and the letters and poems he wrote me were always so kind and friendly. but he’d put his arms around me on the couch, and no matter how many times i told him i was uncomfortable, he’d still come over every day and do it.

“don’t you know how it feels to love someone and not have them love you back? don’t you know what it feels like to be friendzoned?”

when i meet guys who talk about the friendzone, who talk about the girls who don’t give “nice guys” like them i chance, i always want to just say

when i was 10 years old i met a girl whose brown hair fell across her shoulders and whos eyes sparkled when the sunlight hit them, whose voice was like velvet and whose scent was like mountain smoke, who made me dizzier than a fly climbing a sugar hill. and i’m 18 years old, and i still love her, and she knows, and she doesn’t love me.

but my first thoughts upon hearing her rejection were not “what a bitch,” were not “she just wants a douchebag and not a nice girl like me!” were not “im going to keep pushing her until she dates me,”

they were

“she is the best friend i have ever had, and i am the best she’s ever had, and i would hate to take that away from her.”

so before you play the victim, mr. Nice Guy, before you angrily throw your fedora on the ground and blame the girl you claim to adore so much:

put yourself in the shoes of a girl who thought she made a wonderful friend, only to find out that he just wanted her for sex. that he just wanted her for a relationship. a girl who was just an object to win, a prize. a girl who’s trust you’ve just shattered.

maybe she friendzoned you. but you girlfriendzoned her, first.

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“I don’t really know what I’m doing…to be honest, I don’t usually, but I can fake it. Now, I don’t know where to begin, I just…let me start over. Hey, Yue, Zuko here. I wanted to talk to you. It’s about my feelings for Sokka.”

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quinnlet

4 years ago

Top 10 favorite Zukka fics?

alright i am still fairly new to zukka fanfiction and i have so much to read but out of the ones i have read so far here are my favorites in no particular order:

everything in the best laid intentions series (but especially the third part for disaster bi sokka my son)

Centers around members of the Gaang coming out to their well meaning but woefully unprepared friends. Part one is centered around Zuko coming out as gay, the second one is centered around Toph coming out as a lesbian and the third one is centered around Sokka coming to terms with his bisexuality.

the consequences of knowing because i love some good angst and this changed me as a person

Sokka's in love with Zuko. Zuko knows this. Zuko's in love with Sokka. Sokka knows this.

They're not meant to be in love. Everyone knows this.

Five Times Zuko Wanted to Die (and One Time He Didn’t) for excellent flirty modern au

“Sorry about that,” the voice says, and suddenly the curtain has been pushed aside, and Zuko is speechless. “What can I help you with?” He stares. “Um— ” The boy has to be around his age, he’s sure of it. He’s got the most perfect tan face Zuko has ever seen, with blue eyes so brilliant it’s hard to form words. The college-age AU in which Sokka fixes watches, Zuko struggles through engineering, and everyone's nervous about the cute boy from the jewelry shop.

The Fate of Nations in Our Hands is a super good post war fic. who isn’t a slut for ambassador sokka and fire lord zuko??

Sokka and Zuko's journey with touch over the course of Sokka's first year as the Ambassador.

A Problematic Peace series for some more A+ post war content and pining dorks

(Part one summary) It’s a little bit hard to sleep alone in an empty palace when you’ve just gotten used to having friends, a little bit hard to lead a nation when your family’s gruesome legacy still colors everything you do, and a little bit hard to hold onto your last vestiges of heterosexuality when you’re starting to realize that you never had them in the first place.

Quit your life and come train Pokemon is my favorite modern au and the first kiss scene is the best thing i have ever read

Step one: Don't fall in love with Aang's ridiculously hot, talented, jerk-ish roommate who sings Fall Out Boy in the shower and is secretly a huge dork.

Failed step one.

The Good Vanilla is so adorable it made me cry

Sokka’s beautiful friendship with Zuko doesn’t start with breaking Dad out of jail. That’s just what he tells people.

Sokka’s beautiful friendship with Zuko started the day he realizes that he knows how to cook.

Feat. breakup cake, an attempted assassination, and eating out of the pan like dirty heathens.

Spirits Help Us, There’s Two of Them because they are perfect for each other and this fic proves it and the last scene changed my life

Sokka and Zuko are both weird guys. Fortunately, they're the same kind of weird as each other.

Friendship Bracelets more modern au cuteness but this time they are roommates and everything about it is so pure

Sokka was laughing, all stupid and nice with his head thrown back, and Zuko realized that he quite liked Sokka’s laugh. He liked it a lot.

And the sun was coming in through the windows in such a way that it was illuminating Sokka’s tanned skin, the blue of his eyes, the light of his smile. And Zuko thought fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

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(do you take this jerk to be) your one and only i told myself i would only do complete fics on this list but screw that this fic is the exception because it is so essential to zukka nation

Under the leadership of Fire Lord Iroh, the Fire Nation has made every attempt to restore peace and make amends for the harm they inflicted during the Seventy-Year War. Their newest proposal is a literal proposal: a marriage to unite the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes.

The Fire Nation offers Prince Zuko’s hand.

The Water Tribes offer Princess Yue’s.

Sokka is apparently the only person in the world who has a problem with any of this.

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quinnlet

8 years ago

The Last Jedi prediction

Luke: I believe what you were meaning to say is ‘thank you’.

Rey: Thank you?

Luke: You’re welcome!

Rey: What? no-no-no, I didn’t… why would I?

Luke: Okay okay *chuckles*

Luke: ♫ I see what’s happening here You’re face-to-face with greatness and it’s strange You don’t even know how you feel, it’s adorable Well, it’s nice to see that Padawans never change Trust in the force, let’s begin Yes it’s really me, It’s Luke, breathe it in I know it’s a lot: the hand, the sight! When you’re staring at a Jedi Knight! ♫

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quinnlet

5 years ago

Reddie in the 90 s

THIS Richie with THIS Eddie

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quinnlet

6 years ago

this thread absolutely killed me

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quinnlet

4 years ago

Fake Relationships

1. Anything For You by beersforqueers

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6440107/chapters/14741941

Summary:

Based on this prompt. In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn’t told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang’s wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn’t want to break Gran-Gran’s heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend.

Things don’t go as planned.

2. Will You Fake Date Me (But For Real This Time) by AlyssiaInWonderland

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21938437/chapters/52359385

Summary:

Zuko is determined to convince his Uncle that he is not, in fact, pining after Sokka.

Sokka is desperate to convince Katara and Aang that he is not, in fact, pining after Suki.

When Sokka’s scheme to avoid pity means Zuko and him must fake date for an entire diplomatic event, shenanigans, realisations and confessions ensue.

Aka: they fake date, they realise they’re mutually pining idiots, and then they date for real

3. Little Moments In The Ordinary by corgiles

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507324

Summary:

Sokka just had to be cursed. That was the only way to explain why the person who only four months ago he had a healthy dose of genuine fear for was now standing in his kitchen introducing himself to his dad as his boyfriend. He just had to remember no matter how many cupcakes Zuko got him or how close they got as reluctant group project partners, they were only pretending to be dating for Thanksgiving. That couldn’t be too hard…right?

4. Emergency boyfriend by lesmiserablol

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932779

“Can you be my boyfriend?”

Somehow, Sokka manages to not choke on his tea. He slowly puts his cup down as he looks across the table at the seat that had been empty just moments before but is now occupied with a panicked looking employee. This is his first time visiting the Jasmine Dragon, but if he’s going to be ambushed by attractive people every time he comes by, he might just become a regular.

5. Friends Dont Let Friends Fake Date Each Other by naggeluide

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22266358/chapters/53171026

Summary:

Toph demands that Zuko fake date her. This goes just about as well as can be expected. Sokka steps in to show them how it’s done, and this goes a bit better than expected.

6. One Coffee Please by Phantoms_Echo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22704988

Summary:

“H-hey-!”

The person squeaked as they fumbled with their phone.

“Sorry, I’m really sorry! But I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend. My sister is bringing my ex with her in a surprise ambush and I really don’t have another choice,” Zuko explained quickly, eyes on his coffee. “I will pay you. Just, please go along with this?”

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quinnlet

5 years ago