ooh maiko and zukka for the ship asks?
vomit/don't ship!/okay/cute/adorable/ perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn/ screaming and crying/ i will ship them in hell
Tbh i don't get the appeal, other their two boys in the main cast of similar age. In canon, they have a fun dynamic but they're not especially close so, meh.
It doesn't help that most zukka fics/ headcanons tend to portray zuko as much more soft and shy than he is, like he's never hotheaded or even grumpy or moody in zukka fics which is a shame to me, like zukka has potential for a lot of stupid hijinks and just lot of funny interactions between this moody, emo grumpy dude and a sarcastic, funny guy who would enjoy pushing his buttons.
Also, people tend to have them be instantly attracted to each other at first sight in their AUs and its just...OOC to me like that trope seems to fit jetko way more. Imo, sokka and zuko would have to spend way more time together to be interested in each other.
The only zukka fic i've enjoyed is the firebender's guide to living life after destiny which i haven't caught up with but is really good so far
vomit/don't ship/okay/cute/adorable/ perfect! / beyond flawless / hot damn/ screaming and crying/ i will ship them in hell
Just my favorite out of the canon couples, loved them since my first watch in middle school! I love how mai brings zuko's smoother side. I love how the few times zuko seemed genuinely happy on the show was when he was with mai and I love that mai was willing to risk her life for zuko and his beliefs even if she didn't understand them.
But despite that I can see why some people don't like them together, they have communication issues. Mai doesn't know what zuko needs when he's troubled and zuko would probably be unaware if mai was going through something (a mix of mai not letting on that anything's wrong and zuko cluelessness and self-absorption).
It be interesting to see them work through these issues tho. For instance, i can see them having disagrements about politics, what to do about landback, reperations etc.
I imagine that when zuko starts out as firelord he attempts to enact a lot change, real fast without much regard for wether there is enough money for it, the opinion of the court etc. Like idk zuko got banished for speaking out in the war room and when he did keep quiet in the war room (like he was supposed to), he was miserable. Coming back from travelling with the avatar and seeing the effects of war his impulsive ass is def fighting his council on the regular.
And of course, at the end of the day he'll vent to mai about these arguments ( he wants to donate half the fire nation's coffers to the earth kingdom cities and villages most hurt by the war and depose local fire nation leadership from ek colonies) and mai in turn would suggest a compromise (maybe 10% of the coffers and FN leadership can stay but they pay higher taxes or something), zuko would dismiss this and would probably be offended at the suggestions (that's not enough to ammend the dammages caused by the war) but mai is worried about zuko, he's been losing weight, and losing sleep and she's been hearing rumors about the new ozai society. There have been attempts against zuko's life and mai is afraid that these all these problems will be exasperated if zuko's keeps up with these radical changes. Not to mention that mai hasn't seen the human cost of the war/imperialism the way zuko has so while she's on board with ending the conquest she isn't as invested in reparations or active decolonization.
As time goes on they're nighttime disagreements will turn into arguments. At some point, mai feels like she's back to being the noble woman, her parents wanted her to be and zuko dismissing and getting mad at what she has to say isn't helping. Ideally, this will lead to them going on a break until they need to work together on a mission and without the stifling pressures of the palace, they rekindle their love and talk about what went wrong in their relationship. Mai will have a more active role, in the palace and politics.
Oh and instead of kei-lo, mai will have a brief fling with ty lee