#fuck it i'll shower first i rlly need to cry

[hopeful-kath]

My favorite zukka fics yay

Ok so that "gimme a minute" turned into like 2 weeks oops

(I'll organize them in short and long fics)

Short fics: less than 30k words

breathing patterns by saaifione

"The summer before they lose the war, Sokka takes people diving."

This is a literally my favorite piece of writing of ALL TIME. It's rlly short (less than 4k words) but oh god it's so beautiful, but it's also so fucking devastating it's definitely not a fluffy happy read. i cry every time I read it and I would tattoo some quotes from this fic into my body if I could it's so poetic.

Your breath is my breath and your life is my life, no less faithful than any marriage vow you have ever heard spoken and no less tangible than a necklace carved in bone.

(my favorite quote of all time)

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Spear & Shield by Elliott Fletcher

"Sokka sweeps Zuko off his feet with a blow to the ankles. He whacks his tailbone on the ground, spluttering. Before he can compose himself, Sokka rolls on top of him and pins him to the mud.

“The fight’s never over.” Sokka says. It’s his first win."

Fellas is it gay to spar and then go skinnydipping with your bro?? Jk jk this one is really tender and cute I love it so much, it's 8k words only and yet it still manages to be a slowburn, I didn't even think that was possible.

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boys are more trouble than they're worth by skyways_are_highways

"Prince Zuko works at a tea shop. Prince Zuko works at a tea shop and is actually sort of nice. Apparently, this is supposed to be fine and acceptable.

It’s not."

The boys falling in love in ba sing se what's better than this?!?!?

Basically the gaang think that Sokka has a secret girlfriend

(and Toph being a menace as always we love her for that!!)

My comfort fic, it's so funny and cute. I literally burst out laughing at some parts and I NEVER DO THAT IT'S REALLY HARD TO MAKE ME LAUGH LIKE THAT

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Ignite. by outpastthemoat

"Sometimes Zuko breathes fire when he kisses, little flickering flames that lick against Sokka’s skin and never burn; sometimes a shower of golden sparks flies away from his lips when he breaks away and gasps for air."

"Zuko kisses like he’s expecting a fist to follow but doesn’t care; he’ll take everything Sokka is offering him for as long as he's allowed, kisses with all the recklessness that Sokka maybe should’ve expected from the boy who throws himself at danger like it's the only friend he has."

Sokka, Zuko and an exploration of accidental firebending

Yes, two quotes for this one because the writing is THAT good!!

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this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in it's time, exploding) by meliebee

"Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup."

This one is VERY angsty (there's comfort eventually dw). Basically Ozai organizes a coup and there's a civil war in the fire nation.

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Cardinal Directions by SpaceWall

"Zuko’s compass pointed south until the day his father burnt it off. Sokka’s never pointed home until the day he left it."

Soulmate au with a twist. I think the concept of compasses as soulmarks is very interesting and I love it.

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Killing Me Softly by BarbAndCo

"Zuko is in love with Sokka. It’s as simple and painful as that. And it’s never been a problem before until he feels a tickle in his throat and a single petal falls from his lips."

Hanahaki au... PAIIIIINNNN

Now I gotta warn that is is an unfinished fic, it's supposed to be 2 parts but there's only 1 and it hasn't been updated for over a year.

HOWEVER it can totally be read as a standalone. The writing is so great and the angst is so GOOD.

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I could (never) give you peace by zukkababey

"Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words 'I think I’m in love with you', but he choked them back down at the last second.

Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how.

But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving."

This one is really tender but angsty at the same time I LOVE IT. ALSO IT'S BASED ON A TAYLOR SWIFT SONG WHAT ELSE CAN YOU ASK FOR??

Nothing beats angst with a happy ending fr

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Through the Ice Darkly by chuffystilton

"A century after the Northern Water Tribe attacked, two years after the Avatar’s sudden emergence from the ice and snow – why does the world feel more unbalanced than ever? Zuko and Azula are on the quest for an answer."

Zuko and Azula are imprisoned in the Southern water tribe. Prince Sokka tries to get answers...

This one has a lot of elements of mystery so it's better to go in with just the basic premise.

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Long fics: more than 100k words

Most of these are classics or rlly popular I KNOW OK I just don't read a lot of longfics or ones that are really worth recommending tbh

The Art of Burning by hella1975

"Zuko had never excelled at anything. Azula was a prodigy. Uncle always knew what to say. And Father... Father was strong, iron-like. But Zuko had only ever been good at surviving. Putting one foot in front of the other in a grim show of stubborn determination, gritting his teeth and bearing it. Survival was all he had ever been taught. He knew how to do it. So when he was kidnapped by the Southern Water Tribe, he expected to fight as he always had. He didn’t expect to be taught instead how to live."

What it says on the lid, fellas!! This one gets pretty dark but it's SOO GREAT

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Will We Last the Night by CSHfic and VSfic

"Chief Arnook never assigns Sokka to protect Princess Yue, so he goes to fight the Fire Nation with the other men. When the moon dies, and the ocean spirit takes its revenge, Sokka is caught standing on the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Sokka should have drowned… and he would have drowned, if not for a certain Fire Nation raft fleeing the North Pole."

It's the shortest of the long fics with 143k words but it's so fucking good.

(The slowburn is SCRUMPTIOUS)

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These Things Written by Erisenyo

"On a particularly hopeless night, Zuko sends out a messenger hawk to nowhere. He didn’t realize that his messenger hawk is deeply committed to completing the job. And that Sokka happens to be traveling straight through nowhere, at the time."

Accidental penpals zukka? HELL YES

This is the first part of a trilogy that spans over 870k words AND IT'S REALLY GOOD WOAH it's basically an entire show rewrite with zukka

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While Mighty Oaks Do Fall by WitchofEndor

"The newly-crowned Fire Lord Ozai offers his firstborn son to service in the temple.

This turns out to be a catastrophic mistake."

Fire sage Zuko au let's go

Ok hear me out hear me out I know zukka isn't the main focus of this one BUT DAMN THE WORLD BUILDING AROUND THE FIRE SAGES AND FIRE NATION IN THIS ONE JUST SO FUCKING GOOOD AND THE WRITING TOO and zukka gives it that little kick of flavor that puts everything together 👌

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Leaving It All Behind by Sreeder

"The attack on the Northern Water Tribe goes differently, Aang and the ocean spirit don’t destroy the entire Fire Nation fleet, only most of them.

Zhao escapes, taking Sokka and a few other Water Tribe men as prisoners. Knowing Sokka is traveling with the Avatar he gets sent to Zhao’s “special prison camp” that is hidden near the Earth Kingdom colonies.

Seeing a familiar face brings back his hope, even if that face is the scarred Prince of the Fire Nation"

A word of warning: this one gets DARK like really really dark, it's a very realistic depiction of what would happen in a prison camp in the world of atla

STILLLL the plot and the characters are great and if you can handle the dark subject matter you should definitely check it out

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Blue by blacklipscurse

"Iroh insists they create a new life and identity in Ba Sing Se. Zuko wants nothing more than to bide his time until his next opportunity to return home, until he realizes ‘Lee’ can get away with things Zuko never could.

Zuko dons the mantle of the Blue Spirit again only to lose his focus when the Avatar comes to the city. This time, however, his attention is drawn to the annoying Southern Tribe warrior."

Blue spirit shenanigans, zuko's inner turmoil and falling in love in ba sing se what else can a simple girl ask for?

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Guidance by jovialJuggernaut

"The spirits can provide guidance for many things. In the Southern Water Tribe, it is traditional for those who near adulthood to ask the spirits to guide them to their soulmates, someone whose spirit completes their own.

Sokka doesn't believe in any of this spirit mumbo-jumbo, but spirit mumbo-jumbo has a habit of finding him, anyway."

Soulmate au where they see each other in dreams since they were kids thanks to a spirit.

This is probably the best long fic soulmate au I've read it's just *chef's kiss*

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Me about to read the boiling rock but gay for the 92736373725254837th time in whatever zukka fic I'm currently invested in