Metamorphose
Chapter 1: Hands (Age 13)
"Aang!"
"I missed you sweetie," Aang murmured into her hair, his arms wrapping around Katara's waist as she threw herself into his embrace.
"Urgh, gross," Sokka muttered as he marched past the younger teenagers. "Cut it out you guys - it's been like two weeks."
"Shut up," Katara threw over her shoulder at her brother. She turned her attention back to the Avatar, a large smile blooming over her face. "Hi."
"Hey."
A silly grin split Aang's face as they looked at each other, a bubble of laughter escaping Katara's throat. Her hand fisted in his robes, fingers of the other beating against the bare side of his chest. They were standing so close their breaths mingled together, tickling their lips.
"Hey," Katara whispered as her hands slid up and cupped the base of his head. She pulled him forward and pressed her lips against his, sighing softly as they melted into the embrace. Her tongue brushed against Aang's lips for a brief moment before she pulled back and smiled sweetly at him. "I missed you too."
"I'm sorry we took as long as we did," Aang answered, lacing their fingers as they made their way towards the tea shop. "I wish you could have come with us."
"I wouldn't have been much help," Katara replied, squeezing his hand. She twirled the fingers of her free hand carefully to extract a globe of water from the air. "This wouldn't have worked quite as well in the desert." The water was tossed to the side with a quiet splash.
"I suppose not," Aang conceded with a small shrug. They strolled along for a few moments before Aang stopped, turning to look at her with his bottom lip trapped between his teeth for a few seconds. His stare was heavy. "I really did miss you though."
"But we're together now, sweetie. That's all that matters." She smiled at him, her heart full to bursting with emotion that she wasn't sure she could hold on to. As quickly as she could, Katara entwined the fingers of their other hands and squeezed at Aang's grasp again.
She glanced down and watched as Aang's thumbs rubbed over her knuckles gently, the calloused tips of his fingers scratching against her skin. Her brows drew down into a frown as she watched Aang's actions.
"Are you alright?" Aang's voice broke through her concentration. Katara glanced up to his concerned gaze. "You just went all... frowny all of a sudden."
"Have your hands always been this big?"
A bark of laughter escaped Aang's lips before he brought their joined hands up to his lips, pressing a rough kiss against the back of each of her hands. Examining their hands, the contrast of her dark skin against his arching blue arrows and pale complexion always a pleasant sight, he was surprised to notice that his hands enveloped her own entirely. Gently, he loosened the grip of one of her hands and spread his own into its full span, even more surprised when Katara's mirrored hand pressed against his own palm looked so tiny. Most of her fingers barely came up to his second knuckles.
"I guess?" Aang asked in reply as he relaced their fingers. "Maybe not? I suppose I've never noticed."
"The Warriors in my village used to say that you could tell how big a polardog pup would grow by looking at the size of its paws," Katara resumed their leisurely pace towards the tea shop, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she pulled Aang along with her. "And I do think it's true – you could always get quite close to the puppies and their paws were always very big. Getting closer to a full grown polardog was not something you'd want to do, but even from far away they were huge."
"Thanks for the animal biology lesson, sweetie," Aang quipped, shrugging his shoulder away from a light hearted swat of her hand.
"I'm just saying," Katara grumbled. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips. "Maybe the same is true about teenage boys and Avatars."
Aang's hand slipped from her own and she walked a few steps before turning to him with a brow raised quizzically. He was turning his hands over slowly, flexing all of his fingers into a fist before splaying them out.
"Are you alright sweetie?" Katara smiled at him, bemused at his actions. Aang blinked a few times before looking up with a huge smile on his face.
"Yeah," Aang answered quietly, grinning at her before he had conjured a current of air, sweeping past her with a loud cry of excitement. She shook her head, her laugh breaking free as his voice floated on the breeze. "I'm gonna be so tall!"