A/N: This fic is written for my friend KatAang32. I promised her a Kataang fic even though I ship Zutara… I don't remember why exactly. Either way she helps me all the time with stories and all that, so this is for her!
I hope you love it Kataang!
"That was amazing!" Katara laughed, as she walked up the front stairs of the beachhouse with Zuko. The firebender had spent the day drilling some of his firebending sets on the beach while Katara practiced her waterbending. Aang had originally been there with them but had quickly grown tired of what he thought were the prince's obvious attempts at flirting with Katara, and made an excuse to leave.
"Well, I don't know if I'd call it amazing, but I felt that last set was rather impressive." Zuko smiled, one of the only people who could earn one of those from the usually pouty firebender was Katara. Aang rolled his eyes and got up from his place on the porch.
"Hi Katara!" He beamed, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was even with her clothes soaking wet and her hair all messed up from practicing so hard that day. Katara smiled back at him wringing out her hair.
"Hey Aang. I missed you earlier. I was hoping you'd come back after you fed Appa and Momo." She didn't realize that feeding his pets had just been the excuse Aang had used to get away from the beach. Of course it wasn't a lie and Aang did feed his furry friends, but he certainly had been taking his sweet time heading back to practice.
"Oh…" Aang's face turned pink. Katara had missed him? The Avatar smiled, taking that as a hint that she had feelings for him. "I'm sorry Katara. Maybe we can practice together some other time?" He asked.
"Sounds good to me!" Katara smiled. "I'm going to go start dinner." She told the two boys before walking into the house. Zuko was about to follow her, but Aang stopped him.
"Hey Zuko!" Aang grinned, being extra careful to act natural. His efforts may have worked against him as Zuko raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"Hi Aang. What can I do for you?" Prince Zuko wondered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Can we talk for a second? I have to ask you something." Aang's request came off innocently enough but the prince saw through him.
"What is this about? You've been acting strange all day." Zuko leaned against the porch railing, waiting for Aang to explain. The airbender took a deep breath.
"Follow me." Aang ordered, making his way around the house to the fountain in the backyard. He didn't turn around to see if the firebender was following him, he could sense his footsteps behind him. Once they had arrived at the fountain Aang sighed.
"Why did you drag me all the way back here?" Zuko demanded. He was tired from bending all day and wanted to go inside to wash up and relax before supper. Aang twiddled his fingers, trying to string together the right words. He had practiced what he wanted to say on Momo, but the thoughts escaped him now. Being an airbender, Aang decided honesty was the best way to go.
"Look Zuko, I can see that you like Katara but I wanted to ask you to back off." Aang finally looked up at the Fire Prince after the words were out. Zuko was surprised by Aang's words, he didn't exactly know what to make of it.
"Excuse me?"
"Zuko, Katara is the only person in the world that I care about. As the Avatar I'm not even supposed to form earthly attachments." He paused shaking his head. "It doesn't matter to me. I just love her so much."
"Oh..." Zuko frowned. He didn't know how to tell Aang that he had the entirely wrong idea here. Katara and the Fire Prince were nothing more than good friends, with their history there would probably never be anything more between the two.
"Ever since the day she pulled me out of that iceberg, I just knew." Aang admitted.
"I see." Zuko sighed, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. "Does Katara feel the same way about you?" He asked, trying to sort this out before he told Aang the truth.
"Well, that's the thing." Aang looked up at the firebender sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wanted to ask her about it but it makes it kind of hard when you keep flirting with her."
"Wow." Zuko sat quietly for a moment. "You know, you've got the wrong idea. Katara and I are just friends." The prince looked away, trying to keep Aang's embarrassment to a minimum.
"Oh." Aang replied curtly, his face burning red. Minutes passed and neither of them said anything. They simply stared at the weeds growing between the tiles below their feet.
"Well this is certainly awkward." Zuko sighed, trying to get the conversation going again.
"Zuko… I'm sorry." Aang started. "I just assumed there was something going on between you guys. The way you were laughing and joking with Katara at the beach… well, I wasn't expecting that from you." Aang admitted, trying to say the words as nicely as possible. He wasn't trying to start a fight, Zuko realized that.
"I promise you there is nothing going on between me and Katara." He sighed, trying to placate Aang so he could go relax in his room. "It's obvious you care about her. Just go talk to her." He told the Avatar, before getting up. "I'm going to go get ready for dinner. Go talk to Katara." Zuko headed off to his room leaving Aang alone to think. After a while Aang decided it wouldn't hurt to take Zuko's advice, so he went to the kitchen to go talk to Katara.
"Hi Aang." Katara smiled, genuinely happy to see her friend. She started getting the dinner plates out to set the table, but Aang took them out of her hands doing the job for her.
"Katara… I have to tell you something." Aang sighed, concentrating hard on the task at hand. He heard Katara starting to chop vegetables on the counter.
"Mmm." She acknowledged, waiting for him to continue. The Avatar took a deep breath before starting.
"I told you I left the beach to come back and feed Appa and Momo…. That wasn't the only reason I left." Aang walked over to her and leaned against the counter. Katara looked up from her chopping to give him her full attention.
"What happened? Are you alright?" She asked, worried. Aang shook his head, hurrying to correct her.
"I'm fine. I was just a little jealous because I thought Zuko was flirting with you." Aang admitted honestly, Katara laughed.
"Zuko flirting with me?" She snorted. "Yeah right!" Katara shook her head, trying to gain her composure again. "Zuko and I are just good friends, that's all. Why were you jealous?" She asked through the tail end of her laughter. Aang took comfort in the fact that Katara thought the idea of Zuko flirting with her was so ridiculous it was laughable.
"Well… you know how I told you I like you?" Aang sighed. He didn't really like putting himself out there like this, every time he had done this in the past it ended up with confusion and tension between him and Katara. "Well… I sorta still do. A lot. I know you told me that now isn't the right time, but when is the right time going to come? Who know's what's going to happen after the war? I don't even know if I can even defeat the Fire Lord, let alone restore balance to the world if I do."
"Aang…" Katara sighed, taking in his words. She couldn't hide the fact that she liked Aang back forever. The waterbender thought for a moment before pulling Aang close to her, wrapping him up in a tight hug. "You're right. There is no such thing as the right time for anything. I don't know what's going to happen after the war." Katara let Aang go suddenly, looking away from him as a blush colored her cheeks. "All I know is that when it's over I want to be with you… forever."
"Katara…" Aang gently tilted her face up so she was looking at him. "We don't have to wait for the war to be over."
"I don't want to distract you from your fight, Aang." Katara sighed.
"I don't see it as you distracting me, I see it as you giving me something to fight for." Aang grinned down at the beautiful blue eyed girl. "Forever can start right now if you want it to." He whispered. Katara thought about that for a moment before grinning back up at him and pulling him down so his lips met hers. The two stayed like this for a moment. It was the first kiss they'd ever shared where there was no tension, they both genuinely wanted it to happen.
"I love you Aang." Katara laughed a little after she said it outloud, a sense of relief washing over her. It felt nice to finally let her feelings for the airbender out. Aang leaned his forehead against hers.
"I love you too, Katara. I will forever." Aang sealed his words with another kiss, Katara happily welcomed it. Aang held Katara close, basking in the joy of this moment, he'd waited so long for it to finally become real. It was was a moment even better than he could've ever imagined. Breathlessly, Katara pulled away, smiling as she looked Aang in the eye.
"Forever." She agreed, once again capturing the Avatar's lips with her own.
A/N: This was my first attempt at a Kataang fic… as I said I'm a Zutarian so yeah…
Anyway, I'd love to know what you thought of this. You're already at the bottom of the page so might as well leave a review while you're here?