Katara grimaced as the oven's heat hit her face. Bracing herself against the warmth, she reached in to pull out her last cookie sheet, admiring the near-perfect heart shapes as she did so, then closed the door in a single, elegant movement.
"Feeling proud of yourself, Sugar Queen?" Toph piped up. She folded her arms across her chest and gave her trademark smile, affectionate yet somehow caustic. "You've been making those things all day."
Katara blew a lock of hair from her forehead and opened the refrigerator. "I am, actually," she replied as she drew out the tub of white frosting she'd prepared.
Toph sniffed. "You people and Valentine's Day," she complained. "You go all soft every year. It'll be the death of me!"
Katara managed not to roll her eyes. Why must Toph be so devoted to her tough persona at all times? she wondered. "Isn't it nice to have a day set aside for love?" she suggested. Not expecting a thoughtful answer, she drew out a table knife and began liberally spreading the frosting on her previous batch.
"I guess," Toph muttered, "but I don't know why you have to make it so flowery."
Katara considered her housemate's objection as she licked a spot of frosting from her thumb. "Well," she began, "I think —"
"Oh!" Toph interrupted. Katara made a face, displeased at being cut off. That was a benefit of Toph's blindness, she thought; she didn't have to worry as much about offending the younger girl with her body language.
"This came through the mail slot for you," Toph continued, pulling a small envelope from her pocket.
Katara scraped the frosting from her knife on the inner edge of the tub before setting it down and walking over to take the envelope. "How do you know it's mine?" she asked as she reached out.
Toph snickered. "Why would someone write to me?" she pointed out. "Unless it was in Braille. And this isn't." Good point, Katara realized.
The pink envelope's flap snapped as she edged it open to reveal a piece of red cardstock covered in white gel ink. Dear Katara, Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Aang, it read, with hearts around the words and a simple drawing of their smiling faces. It was simplistic, to be sure, but no less touching for it. Katara smiled broadly and clutched it in her fingertips. "It's from Aang," she murmured.
"Zuko 'n' I are going out tonight," Toph said. "You two losers could come along."
"No, we're —"
"Never mind," Toph interrupted again. She rose quickly to her feet. "I knew you wouldn't." She exited the room and threw open her bedroom door, making a loud noise as if she'd torn it from its hinges. Katara smiled to herself; Toph's unusual manner of affection would always have a certain charm, frustrating though it could be. She returned to the cookies she'd frosted ("You're BORING!" Toph yelled before she slammed her door) and dipped each into a bowl of pink sanding sugar. A few moments later, two dozen cookies sparkled in the light from their spots on the cooling racks. Katara examined them with a critical eye, then realized what was missing. She took a pointed tube of dark red icing and wrote carefully on an especially large cookie she'd set aside for Aang: Be mine.
"Hi, Katara!" Aang cried as she opened the door.
"Hi, sweetie," she returned. She was about to reach down to give her boyfriend a hug, but as soon as she'd closed the door again to block out the February cold, he linked his hands to wrap his arms around her neck, then rose ever so slightly on his toes to give her an affectionate kiss.
"You two are gross," came a voice from just out of sight.
"No one asked you, Toph," Katara said, by now growing irritated from an entire afternoon of such comments.
"How can you think it's gross?" Aang demanded. "You can't even see us!"
Toph appeared around the corner and waved carelessly, as if to dismiss their objections. "Whatever," she said as she edged past them. "I'm outta here." She ripped the front door open and slammed it shut, making an even louder noise than she had with her bedroom door.
Aang giggled. "I don't think Toph understands the point of Valentine's Day," he said as they walked into the kitchen.
Katara's eyes twinkled as she took a cookie for him ... and one for herself ... from the trays lining the counter. "And just what is the point of Valentine's Day?" she teased.
He frowned as he considered the question. Then he looked down at the cookie in his hand and looked back up with a crooked grin. "Sweets?" he suggested.
Katara joined in his laughter. "That's all?" she asked.
Aang shook his head, still laughing at his own remark. "No, it's... being together with somebody you love."
"Aren't Toph and Zuko doing that, too?" Katara countered, her tone light.
"Yeah," Aang said as he bit into his cookie, "but it's showing affection too. And we know how Toph feels about showing feelings." He's got her there, Katara thought. "Besides, staying in's as good as going out," he added. She picked up another cookie, having already finished her first, and nibbled it absentmindedly. She's just so cute, Aang thought distractedly. "I mean ..." he murmured, trying not to show that he'd lost his train of thought, though he knew he was blushing. "If you stay in, you can cuddle ... or ..."
"Do you want to cuddle?" Katara asked, her expression blank as if she didn't already know the answer.
Aang's blush reached his ears. "Mmhmm," he admitted, then stuffed the last of his cookie into his mouth so he wouldn't have to expand on his answer.
"We'll have plenty of time for that," Katara promised. She turned back to the counter and picked up the cookie she'd set aside, holding it gently to keep it from crumbling. "But first, I've got something for you." She started to blush herself as she held it out to him. "Happy Valentine's Day, Aang."
He read the message as he slid his hand underneath the cookie to take it from her. "But Katara," he said, "I've always been yours."
(A/N: Because y'all know Aang would use gel pens.)