I very HIGHLY RECOMMEND you listen to the song YOUR EXLOVER IS DEAD by STARS before/during this story.
It was written in response to that song and I wrote it to the music. It may change your thoughts a bit on this story. So please check it out, if you google the artist and title it should be first choice and will play the whole song.
This is about as close to a songfic as I can get.
It is a bit short but I like it this way, I think the moment speaks more than any words could add to it.
Risk
It was a beautiful night.
The party was in full swing and as he looked around he took a moment to embrace this moment. Finally his life was is some sort of order. He actually had time to appreciate the things he had, rather than being to busy trying to keep them together to enjoy them.
He intended to grasp every second with both hands.
When he spied her across the floor his heart stopped for an instant. He would never forget that feeling she stirred in him.
He had to decide, it was now or never.
Walking to where she stood, her eyes lit when they landed on him. He held out his hand. For a moment he thought she would deny him, but then she placed her hand in his.
So they danced.
Swirling. Pause. Twist.
The movements came naturally. Leaving the thoughts of each dancer to run rampant through their eyes.
It had been years since they had been like this. He realized now how bereft he had been without her company. They had tried to make it work but the pressure, like it does to all things, eventually made them collapse.
The dance made them separate for a moment, but the steps brought them back together and when their hands touched once more he couldn't deny that his feelings for her have never wavered.
She looked the same and yet there was more to her, more memories that he hadn't been apart of, more lines to her face that he didn't get to watch appear.
The loss of those moments left him with a bit of regret, but he couldn't regret. A firm believer in fate, he couldn't regret.
The music stopped.
Saying she was headed home he offered to see her there. That she didn't contradict him made him smile. Maybe there was still hope for them yet.
The walk was short but their slow steps made it take twice as long. Not feeling the need for words, their conversation was extensive without them.
The brush of their hands as their arms swung, asked how they had let time get so away from them.
The hesitation of their eyes when they met briefly, told how much they missed and pined for each other still…
It had been so long since he had been this breathless. He had forgotten the feeling.
They reached her door and she turned sharply putting her back to the door and giving her attention all to him.
"I'm not sorry Aang. After what happened and all the time we lost, I… I cant be sorry." she stammered out, unprepared to hear the emotion on her voice.
Him knowing that didn't detract from this, he didn't know what to say either. All he knew was that this felt right and he couldn't walk away from her right now. He brought his hand up slowly seeing if she would stop him, when she didn't, he brought it to her cheek. All the time between them faded with that touch; he brought his lips down to hers.
She gave as good as she got and he had her pressed against the door in seconds. Even after all the seasons that separated them, he still knew exactly how to make her senseless. He felt her leg come up and wrap itself around his, pressing closer he tried to put all their lost kisses into this one fantastic embrace.
He broke contact and his shattered breath was more than enough evidence for her. She knew that he felt something big just then, just as she did.
"I knew I shouldn't have danced with you. I didn't want to fall in love again." She looked up at him, awaiting his reply.
He looked back at her questioningly, "Again?" He shook his head lightly and she saw his feelings before he said them.
"I never stopped Katara."
He knew that what happened between them was significant. They fell hard and fast, and when reality settled neither could take that next step, not with everything happening in the world around them.
They faded out as fast as they had sparked. But what he said to her was true, she had never been far from his mind.
He watched her eyes get bright with unshed tears and when one escaped he caught it before it could journey far.
"I don't know what to say Aang." She said brushing his hand away.
"Then don't say anything Katara." he pressed.
She had been down this road before, she knew how the outcome could be. How much pain was left afterward, the gaping hole that was never healed in her heart where he had stolen a piece so long ago.
How could he so easily open himself once more to that kind of torture?
She didn't doubt that he loved her then, she had been there for the torrent of emotions that they had shared, the highs, and when it ended the all time low. Even when they parted she didn't doubt that he loved her, and he may love her still. But the risk evolved make her stop short. What would keep time from repeating itself? What stopped it from ending the same way.
She knew she couldn't overcome that pain twice.
Then the question that haunted her came up once more, the one she never knew how to answer. Was all the pain worth it? Was she glad to have known him regardless of the outcome?
Should she let him in once again? Risk the possibility for heartbreak, jeopardize her contentment now for what, a gamble?
Take a chance at a new destiny that could end in ecstasy or just as easily end in sorrow?
She took a slow breath and stared up into his face.
She knew what to say.
The answer came easily this time.
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