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   Could We Have Been by prettycatsu

   Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender  

   • Teen And Up Audiences
   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • M/M
   • Complete Work

   12 Jan 2026

   Tags

   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • Aang/Zuko (Avatar)
   • Aang (Avatar)
   • Zuko (Avatar)
   • Katara (Avatar)
   • Sokka (Avatar)
   • Toph Beifong
   • Iroh (Avatar)
   • Azula (Avatar)
   • Ozai (Avatar)
   • Suki (Avatar)
   • Fluff
   • Pining
   • Angst
   • Romance
   • canon divergent but also canon compliant
   • POV Alternating
   • it’s the show but with Zukaang essentially
   • this is sort of a rewrite of a fic from 2008 but not really it's more of a homage
   • slow ish burn
   • No Homophobia
   • implied dynamic is top zuko bottom aang
   • nothing explicit - teen and up audiences

   Summary

   “Do you hate me?"

   Zuko wanted to say yes. It was the obvious answer. Aang was the Avatar. Aang was the enemy. Aang was the one thing keeping him from returning home, from returning to his father’s good graces. He should hate Aang fiercely and openly, and he should have set that entire clearing on fire to get to him and capture him once and for all.

   "No,” he said, and was surprised to find it was the truth.

   ---

   OR What if Zuko and Aang talked at the end of "The Blue Spirit"? A tale about young love and how it is as real as it is inexplicable.

   Aang is not twelve. This IS a rewrite of the show, but it diverges more in the Book 3 chapters. Please read the notes before the prologue!

   UPDATED with artwork in Chapters 1, 3, 7, 14, 16, 18, 22, and cover art in 25!

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   134,024

   Chapters:

   25/25

   Comments:

   434

   Kudos:

   1,437

   Bookmarks:

   356

   Hits:

   47,682

   Bookmarked by Mar_stephan

   14 Aug 2026