i really like your headcanons and im a sucker for zutara. do you have any hc about katara's abandonment issue? (if zuko will notice, how will he react, or even just a katara hc of how she handles it)
Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to talk way to much abt this! Here we go:
How Katara "handles" her abandonment issues:
Katara herself would never think of herself as having abandonment issues. It's not like she's constantly thinking everyone will leave her, she's sensible about it, she knows she's loved, she knows her value... To an extent.
Because then something will go wrong... Then she'll start subconciously preparing herself to be left behind, to pick up the pieces on her own. Before anyone's even left her, she starts to distance herself, to detach and think about what she has to do next. She's gotten so good pushing down all the fear and panic and grief that it's second nature. Abandonment issues? More like abandonment mastery! She should get a gold medal in just how good she is at abandonment.
(This basically turned into a pocket fanfic, so feel free to skip to the headcanons below!)
I think the first time Zuko notices this would be after Aang goes missing during Sozin's Comet. Katara is... Weirdly chill about it. She doesn't even seem to mind the fact that their friend has disappeared in the face of incoming disaster. At first he thinks she must just be that certain that Aang'll be back, but then he spots something when he brings it up on their way to face Azula. A tremor, a slip, something that isn't quite right. But then the lightning hits the fan and he thinks no more of it, though it is a little weird that in the days before he becomes Firelord he barely sees her, and whenever he does there's always something taking all her attention. She's there and healing him- refusing to leave his side one minute, and the next? Gone.
Their relationship remains pretty distant for the next couple of years, and Zuko's pretty sure she just straight up doesn't like him. She usually attaches herself to Aang's side and doesn't leave. But then, gradually, she seems to warm to him again, talking to him more often, enjoying his company. She looks relaxed for the first time in a while.
Then, one day, she shows up at the palace, drops her things and declares that she's going to stay there for a little while. Zuko is... Perplexed. By this point it's safe to say he's been yearning from afar for a good amount of time, so it's not like he's unhappy but as far as he's aware, she and Aang are still together and she was perfectly happy. But he rolls with it and over the next couple of weeks, Katara becomes his chief advisor (unofficially ofc). The days become weeks, then months. She doesn't mention Aang- ever. She skirts around the topic like a professional ice-skater. Zuko doesn't pry.
One day, he off-handedly mentions that he has to go and stay in the Earth Kingdom for a week-long summit. Katara doesn't react particularly, but she doesn't show up to their regular meeting/tea-time, or to breakfast the next day, or the next. Zuko finally catches her, the day before he's set to leave, and is finally able to ask her to go with him. He's gonna need his best advisor.
They go, and Aang is there, surrounded by his acolytes. He hadn't even realised Katara would be there, and after a brief reunion... He leaves her behind. Katara breaks up with him on the last night of the Summit.
Over the next couple of years, Zuko and Katara grow closer. Then something goes horribly wrong, and he and Katara end up in a huge argument. Every time they stop to catch their breath, Katara's expecting him to storm off. But he doesn't. He doesn't even make a move to go until- hoarse from shouting and feeling too much for one evening, she suggests she gets some sleep. She's getting ready to create that distance before he can do it for her. But then Zuko says something to the effect of:
"Okay. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
Later, Katara will reflect on his as the moment she truly fell in love with him. He'll still be there tomorrow.
While Katara never outright recognises her abandonment issues, Zuko is able to guess at how it makes her feel to be left behind.
After they are married (and a little before), Katara is in full control of his schedule. If he's going anywhere, it's after he's got the go-ahead from his queen. Given that Zuko would rather be at home anyway, he's perfectly happy with this unspoken arrangement.
Zuko learns the places Katara goes to hide when things get tough, and he always makes sure he seeks her out. Whether that's to comfort, make-up, argue (sometimes straight up fight), he goes and finds her first.
There's an underground spring beneath the palace. It's about half a day before Zuko finds Katara down there. This becomes their neutral ground. No "shop-talk" allowed, only them and what they need from eachother.
Katara is an incredibly tactile, clingy girlfriend. She just likes being close to him, even if it's just playing with his hair or tapping his foot with hers. This is also something Zuko is perfectly happy with.
For the first few years, Katara didn't like waking up to him gone. But then she realised that "I rise with the sun" wasn't an exaggeration and her waterbender butt is not waking up at rhe crack of dawn. Zuko always makes sure to leave a cup of (cold) tea. While in the beginning the quality is... Questionable, she drinks it anyway.
As a sidenote, if u haven't before, go listen to 'Staying Still' by Noah Kahan, it is very this!
