#zutarafy

[zutarafy]

The Emperor: Fire Lord Zuko, tarot card drawn for @chezpillow as part of Bulletproof Exchange 2025-26

[zutaras-where-its-at]

hi if you're still doing the zutara AU headcanons, how about a doctor AU? Where Zuko and Katara are both medical students in their surgery rotation ^^

I know nothing about anything medical so forgive me please

Katara has been the top surgeon at Ba Sing Se Hospital for only a short year, and she’s worked her ass off to get there. She has dedicated countless sleepless nights, thousands of dollars towards education, and years of working her way from the bottom of the food chain all the way to the top. Every other part of her life has been set on pause just so she can pursue the dream that she’s always had: to not only help those in need, but to be the best at it.

So, when Zuko, another impressive surgeon just a bit older than her, transfers from a hospital several states away, she’s more than a little wary. Where Katara is the first med student in her entire family, Zuko comes from a long line of prestigious doctors, and his last name already sets him several steps ahead of her. She’s threatened, she can admit that, albeit grudgingly...but she has confidence in her own abilities.

She got here all on her own. She didn’t need some family legacy to help her reach the top, and she’s not about to give that up for anyone (no matter how cute or charmingly awkward they are, dammit).

Every interaction between the two doctors remains civil and even friendly, but there is an underlying current of tension that Katara just can’t dismiss.

And then it happens. A patient comes in needing an immediate heart transplant, requiring two surgeons to perform the operation, and both Zuko and Katara are on call. At first, Katara is apprehensive. Sure, Zuko seems like a pretty harmless guy outside the OR, but people change when they’re in their element. But her worries couldn’t have been more wrong.

They are unstoppable. The moment they begin to work, something almost magical occurs. It’s like they can read each other’s minds, like they aren’t even separate beings. The transplant is finished in record time with no complications, and throughout the entire process, both doctors are in disbelief at how effortless their partnership was.

They begin to plan more surgeries together. They start taking lunch together. Others begin to associate one with the other out of habit. The other physicians jokingly refer to them as Mom and Dad. It blooms from a tentative rivalry into an unparalleled power couple.

He brings her coffee. She asks him to review her cases with her. He leaves little notes with smiley faces in the on-call room for when she takes naps. When he takes naps, she covers him with extra blankets and makes sure his alarm is set to the loudest setting. It’s almost too natural, too easy.

And, of course, they eventually start to fall in love. Really, it can’t be helped when they have such a special thing going for them. When they finally make it official, the nurses buy them matching mugs with “Best Mom/Dad Ever” printed on the sides.

[zutarafy]

Zutara Week Day 1: Royalty

In which Zuko and Katara win Prom King and Queen

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Zutara Week Day 6: Vintage

"Hey Zuko, did you know 2000s fashion is considered vintage now?"

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Zutara Week Day 2: Eclipse "You rise with [are] the moon, I rise with [am] the sun" aka in which Katara moons Zuko c: Based on this comic by Mark Parisi!

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Zutara Week Day 5: Journey In which I'm inspired by the video game, Journey. Perhaps Zuko and Katara are in search of the quenchiest cactus juice?

[zutarafy]

"Good goodbye"

Zutara inspired by Hwasa dancing at the Blue Dragon Awards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rLJVLcpoU8

[zutarafy]

"A pawpsicle... Judy knows he reaches for these when he’s nervous. She’ll always know him better than he knows himself."

Inspired by In the Nick of Time, a lovely time-travel Wildehopps fic by LovelyLavenderLove