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tiredcath · 4 years

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Zukka Fic Recs

after atla came back into pop culture i found myself falling back in love with zukka which resulted in me reading (almost) every zukka fic on ao3 and here are my favorites

Transference by The_Quatermasters (146k)

In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through.

Borderlines by The_Quatermasters (73k)

Three years after the war, the work still isn't quite done and the Gaang is scattered across the continents in their efforts to help the world recover. When Aang and Katara pay visit to the Fire Nation where Zuko is Fire Lord and Sokka acts as Ambassador for the Water Tribe, sparks fly between the siblings over Sokka's life choices.

Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by Muncaster (47k)

Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes?

(AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

sirens & sleepless nights by Satirrian (54k)

Life can be pretty hard living in a city under a totalitarian regime. Between adhering to the ridiculous curfew, keeping himself from being gunned down by a passing patrolman, and paying his unnecessary tolls to the state for, say, breathing, Sokka has his hands full just getting to work. Add aiding a resistance group on top of that, and Sokka should really be getting paid for this.

Then, one night, Sokka finds an injured patrolman collapsed in the street, who tells him with blood on his lips, “If the patrol finds me, I’m dead.”

Real Slow by surveycorpsjean (21k)

“I see.” Zuko closes the scroll. “Is the Water Tribe sending a replacement?”

“Uh yeah,” Sokka gestures to himself dramatically. “You’re looking at him.”

First by HoneyBadgerMole (20k)

Zuko has been nurturing a crush on the jock in his AP Psych class but he has been too scared to talk to him until they get paired up for a project.

the benefits of getting a flat tire by LesbeanLatte (64k)

Zuko makes an impromptu decision to run away from home after a disturbing conversation with Azula. Unfortunately, some plans are better when they're actually, well, planned. Zuko isn't counting on getting a flat tire almost as soon as he's far enough away from the city to really be in the middle of nowhere.

Sokka is immediately taken with the stranger he and his friends find stranded on the side of the road during an afternoon joy ride. However, he has no idea what he's getting involved with and a kind attempt to help a fellow teen in need turns into a massive coverup for a missing person who just so happens to be the son of the mayor of Ba Sing Se.

Azula was just trying to help her big brother - in her own way - by telling him things she thought he deserved to know. Now the situation has gotten wildly out of control. Did she enjoy seeing Zuko upset and afraid? Of course. Had she intended to endanger his life? Not necessarily, but of course, her idiot brother overreacted to everything and that's what happened and now she doesn't know how to stop the chain of events she's indirectly put in place like dominoes.

Operation Leverage by snowandfire (50k)

Sokka's instincts are onto something great. Zuko just wants to serve tea and brood in peace. Ironically, Toph is the only one who can see what's really going on.

The Stingray by Smediterranea (24k)

“You’re not carrying me.”

“I don’t mind,” the lifeguard says easily.

“I can just hop over.”

“On sand?”

Zuko will never admit it, but being carried feels pretty nice. The lifeguard sets him down and eyes him warily.

“Are you really all by yourself?” he asks in a worried tone. “No friends in town you can call to check on you?”

“No,” Zuko confirms. Tears are forming again with alarming speed; his foot throbs painfully with every passing second.

“What kind of burrito do you want?”

“You don’t have to —“ Zuko repeats.

“I’m getting al pastor. You like al pastor?”

AU: Zuko falls for Sokka, the super hot lifeguard who helps him after an unfortunate encounter with a stingray.

it's the illusion of separation by argentoswan (110k)

Sokka takes a job washing dishes at the new tea shop in town. It's a great gig, until he finds out his only coworker is his old high school bully. Sokka really should quit, but he also really needs to afford rent.

Also, Zuko is kind of hot now.

People like to think war means something by trying_to_spell_both_our_names_at_once (21k)

Sokka was the first to leave.

Somehow that hurt the most. . . . Not long after Zuko becomes Firelord, forces gather in the South and next thing he knows he's thrown into a civil war with almost no one by his side. Maybe healing is longer and more complicated than it needs to be, but with the right people by your side it is always possible.

a way that will destroy you by anothermistakemade (14k)

In the wake of Ozai's death, Zuko begins to fall apart. Sokka will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen.

or, zuko might be losing his mind, but he also might just be really sad & traumatized

Those Who Favor Fire by CSHfic, VSfic (30k)

After a failed attempt on his life, Sokka fakes his death, dons a disguise, and infiltrates the would-be assassin's ranks in an attempt to bring them down from the inside.

Zuko learns of his husband's tragic death, mourns, and vows revenge.

Words Mean More at Night by DaisytheDoodleDog (28k)

Even ten years after the end of the war, rebellions rise and risk the balance of the nations. Sokka was willing to do anything to protect his people, which is perhaps why he's leading an army against the rebellion, attacking only as a last result. But Sokka's unwinding, it's taking a toll on him, and the only thing keeping him grounded are the letter Zuko and him exchange late in the night when no one can see the messenger hawks. But as they say, nothing's fair in love and war.

another word for wanting by eurydicees (23k)

Sokka begins to dream of his soulmate when he's eleven years old, and it just gets harder from there. Or, 125 moments soulmates share, and none of them come easy.

(In which your dreams are your soulmate's memories, and Sokka dreams of an all-consuming fire, growing and eating at his soulmate until it burns up the connection between their souls. In which they find love anyways.)

It Has Only Just Begun by Kirazalea (39k)

There is a bitter triumph in crashing when you should be soaring

Zuko had now chosen the path his uncle had been trying so hard to show him; he had someone who believed in him, who maybe loved him; he was travelling with the Avatar and they apparently had a plan to end the war. By all accounts, Zuko should be smiling.

But Uncle was gone (captured by Azula, and Zuko didn't think she would kill him, but he didn’t, couldn’t, know for sure). The Avatar was barely breathing (he could still die at any second and there was nothing any of them could do about it). Azula had conquered the last Earth Kingdom stronghold (all those innocent people who were now at her mercy). It seemed like, for every step Zuko took forward, the world sent him back three more.

But he was determined to push forward anyways. He needed to make his uncle proud, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

aka: zuko joins the gaang at the end of season 2

Nightmares and Reveries by HisMomoness (20k)

Zuko doesn't sleep because when he does, he's haunted by nightmares. Sokka worms his way into a job and makes it his mission to get Zuko to relax. Lots of head pets and one vacation to the South Pole later, Zuko might just be getting the hang of it.

Cue pining, some fluff, and eventual romance.

The One Who Stopped Time by ohhihoney (66k)

All hope was lost to Zuko until one day, his uncle asked a random person at the Jasmine Dragon to tutor his nephew. Gritting his teeth and embarrassed beyond the point of no return, Zuko gave the blue eyed boy his number.

Little did Zuko know how much Sokka would change his world.

Rubbed Off Stars by ohhihoney (2k)

Sokka wasn't going to just sit and watch the boy at the back of the bus cry while trying to rub off pride flags off his cheeks.

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WIP

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought (168k)

After that fateful Agni Kai, Ozai makes a different call. Branded as a traitor and banished to a prison camp, Zuko learns how cruel the Fire Nation can be to its citizens. Three years, a water tribe raid, and an unexpected meeting with a gang of over-enthusiastic idealistic children puts Zuko back in the spotlight. The revolution is coming and it wants another poster boy, but Zuko is not willing to lend his face to the cause.

Another Brother by AvocadoLove (312k)

It was a mission of revenge. There weren't supposed to be any survivors, but Chief Hakoda couldn't bring himself to kill the Fire Nation boy. Against his better judgment, he brought him home. A Zuko joins the Water Tribe story.

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BONUS : zuko x jet

Something to Hold Onto by Wildgoosery (122k)

Since the day the walls of Ba Sing Se fell, the Freedom Fighters have struggled to protect what remains of the city and its people. Jet and his second command, a mysterious boy named Li, have spent the summer piecing together an army, hoping for a chance to take the city back for good. But Li is also Zuko, and the time for that secret is quickly running out. Soon, he'll have to decide exactly who he is, what cause he's going to fight for, and where his heart lies.

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attackfish · 4 years

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@bookworm-2692 asked:

"Instead, Aang’s first battle is fighting the Southern Water Tribe, including Master Katara’s attempts to control him" okay now I'm BURSTING for more information on the Toph/Zuko marriage AU!! Five headcanons please! (you don't need to follow from that quoted sentence if the au would rather you focus on a different section yet, I just wanted to let you know how shook I was even tho it totally makes sense. Poor Aang. Are there any teens his age around to form the Gaang 2.0 with??)"

Since I had in fact answered this in posts that were in the queue at the time, the asker has given me permission to continue on past that and not address these questions specifically.

Universe tag: [Link].

1. After the trip to the Southern Air Temple, Aang buckles down to train. With Torqa and Yuka training with him, he could almost pretend that he's still at the Southern Air Temple, that nothing's really changed. But nothing is the same. Everything is just that little bit different, to remind him that the Air Nomads are gone, and he can't go home. For one thing, it's impossible to be a vegetarian at the South Pole. There just aren't enough plants to be found. Hakoda, Sokka and Katara do their best with trade to bring in as much grain, beans, and dried fruit as possible, but it's just not enough. He has to eat meat, and wear the warm furs, and some days, he feels as if the Air Nomads are dying again as he changes.

2. It takes Aang longer to study waterbending with no deadline hanging over his head. As Katara teaches him, the Northern Water Tribe, regularly sends emissaries to the South, requesting that he be turned over to them for training, since the Southern Water Tribe has no recognized masters. Recognized by whom? Katara is wont to retort. But he is fifteen when Katara is finally willing to declare him ready to begin earthbending. If it perhaps took longer for Katara to make this declaration than it might otherwise because he's the Avatar, Aang won't ask. But before arrangements are made to find an earthbending teacher, Katara graciously invites a Northern master to come to assess Aang's skills, mostly to get the North to shut up.

3. The North sends a wizened old man, who Aang is astonished survived the journey. Katara does not bow to him, but she does incline her head. "Master Pakku," she says to him. "I am glad you came. I learned much from you." He is furious. "You were not my student," he tells her, and Katara smiles. "No, but I learned from you anyway." He is not able to find any substantial problems with Aang's proficiency. When he leaves half a month later, he is willing to testify to that, and to Katara's mastery, if, and Aang thinks this is weird and kind of funny, given his reaction when they met, Katara is willing to say she was his student. He doesn't know what went down, other than that he and Katara waterbent together for a while, and he visited Chief Hakoda's mother's grave.

4. Given the political situation in the North, recovering from a civil war, with a woman ruling for the first time in hundreds of years, even if as a regent, Sokka elects to escort Master Pakku home and to stay on as an ambassador, to renew their ties with the North on a more even footing.

5. Finding an earthbending teacher for Aang is a problem. As soon as they send out word that Aang is ready, every village and petty leader in the Earth Kingdom insists that he should come study there, that they are best suited to tutoring him. Even the Firelord sent them a letter saying his wife is the greatest earthbender in the world.

#avatar the last airbender #aang #katara #sokka #toph #posts i created #do you want to ask a question it doesn't have to be a question #aang d'awww #katara is the answer #sokka the meat and sarchasm guy #a little toph love #five headcanons #Political TophZuko marriage with Mai as official concubine AU

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heavensenthearty · 4 years

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Harlow the Meghan Markle anon here--thanks for the well considered answer! I had thought you'd go and do a headcanon AU of what Zutara post war nation would be like but I got book recs instead! Thanks :) (I don't normally read romance and when I do it's always on ao3--of my OTPs ofc)

I live for giving book recs!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 And if it helps in something, some of the books I listed are not "romance" per se, but "young adult", so there's much more to them that just the main couples. Personally, I think my favorite worldbuilding from the list is Shatter Me's, but the fashion described in The Folk of Air is just otherworldly!! Oh, but the aesthetic of A Court of Thorns and Roses! Oh, but just all of the characters from both Red Queen and Six of Crows!! They're justt wonderful!!

Feel free to ask me for some other recs any time!

And as for the Zutara headcanon post-war, well, I actually believe Katara would get into the Fire Nation's favor even before she became Fire Lady. Before her and Zuko even started dating.

Imagine she returns to the South Pole to help reconstruct, and she's designated Ambassador shortly after for her people skills and her connections worldwide. Since Firelord Zuko is so determinated to make it up to the Southern Water Tribe for their lost resources, Katara travels to the Fire Nation quite a lot. And because she's merely close friends with the Firelord, it's not difficult for her to fill him in and get him invested in the social work needed in the poorest villages which she visited during her time on the run. Or the necessity for new environmental laws to avoid pollution.

Obviously, she keeps a close eye on these projects while she also takes her traveling time to study some traditional medicine and setting her sights on improving the Fire Nation's healthcare system.

Her friendship with Zuko also deepens until they realize they have feelings for each other, and by that time she has a fair share of the people's approval because it's difficult to stay mad at someone that makes healthcare affordable for you 🤷

And something that I have always loved about post-war Zutara is the fuse of cultures. Imagine it! No segregation. Through the years, Water Tribe people would become increasingly comfortable with traveling to the Fire Nation — or just to the outside world in general. They wouldn't feel the need to isolate themselves anymore, and there wouldn't be just one place where they could coexist in harmony with people from other ethnicities (*cough* Republic City *cough, cough*). Inspired by the royal interracial couple, the Avatar World would achieve the level of acceptance and multiculturalism the real world can only dream about. It would be truly erasing separation overall. An excellent message for a kid's show and a portrayal of what the world could be if everybody cooperated.

Such a shame! Wasted potential and values.

#zutara #atla #katara #zuko

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