i saw a post of yours that said zukka is just zutara without most of the relationship development and i have to say you are 100% correct and idk how people don't get this. i mean, i guess it's because they're blinded by their own shipping goggles and obsession with zukka fanfic. and imo there's nothing wrong with shipping zukka on its own... but someone told me they think zutara is just "straight zukka" so i told them that i think zukka is kinda just zutara with less development and they went "uhhh, agree to disagree!". but like?? that's honestly just a fact of the show?? you are free to do anything you want with zukka in fanfic, you can make them bond over losing their mothers if you want but that was what zuko and katara did In The Show. you can write a fanfic where zuko has to work hard to earn sokka's forgiveness after betraying him if you want but that's the arc zuko and katara had in the show. zukka in my opinion is about the potential they might've had if their relationship was more focused on, while zutara is about... if the fully developed enemies-to-friends relationship they literally already have in the show led to romance. it's kind of like if i shipped aang and azula and tried to claim they have more screentime/development together than katara and aang, that wouldn't be something you could agree to disagree on, i would just be wrong.
It'd be like shipping Aang and Azula and arguing that they had more development than Aang and Zuko. Or shipping Azula and Katara and arguing that they had more development than Katara and Zuko. Katara and Zuko actually have the relationship development that other ships wish they had. They're the kind of ship that most enemies to lovers ships aspire to be, the kind where the enemies actually resolve their differences and become genuinely close, and have personal development with each other and make each other better as a result.
















