Title: Transference
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Pairing: Sokka/Zuko, Jet/Zuko
Genres: Modern AU, High School, Romance, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Coming of age
Length: Super!Epic (146,280 words)
Warnings: Child abuse, homophobia

Author on LJ: scuttlebuttincx
Author Website: The_Quartermasters @ AO3

Author's Summary:
In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through.

Review:
This is without a doubt the best and longest Zukka fic I've ever read. It's a slow burn modern AU romance, with Zuko's conflicts with his father easily translated into a story about Zuko dealing with child abuse, his own hangups concerning his family, and coming of age with the help of his newfound friends, the Gaang. Though as the summary says Sokka does help him deal with all of this, this is not the story of an unrealistically co-dependent relationship. I find it hard to believe a coming of age story really is such if it's about two people literally unable to function without each other, but this is thankfully a story where Zuko finds his own strength with a little bit of help. And it's all the more satisfying for it.

The POV jumps between Zuko and Sokka, and their slow realisations of their feelings for each other - and for another boy - are handled gracefully and at a realistic speed, with a minimum of melodrama. This pleases me, as what often turns me off when it comes to high school AUs is the absurdly high amount of stupid misunderstandings and subsequent stupid drama. Though all the Gaang is of high school age and scenes take place there, it isn't the focus of the fic, with most of the story happening around rather than because of high school. So if like me you don't usually like high school AUs, never fear, as this fic is missing the vast majority of the negative tropes associated with the genre.

Sokka and Zuko's relationship is sweet and well paced, with male bonding turning slowly into slash without feeling forced at all. I love the pacing of this fic, with Zuko slowly dealing with his problems rather than jumping right into another relationship, and Sokka slowly realising that he has feelings for a boy. The switching POV means we know exactly what both the characters are thinking, making this a gentle romance with a minimum of drama and a maximum of good feelings for the reader.

Transference