A/N: Avatar belongs to Mike, Bryan, and Nickelodeon. Puberty belongs to adolescents everywhere; even though they wish they didn't own it.

Wasn't that awesome guys? Wasn't it awesome when I became a really great swordsman in the span of 24 hours? I was all like...whoosh and CLANG and thrust..."

"Sokka would you shut up!" Katara had heard enough. They had been flying on Appa's back for the past five hours and Sokka had been relaying his day to them. She was a little sick of it.

"Don't yell at me! I can't help my sweet natural talent!" he preened, but he sensed he better lay off the awesome swordsmanship for a while.

The silence allowed Katara to better enjoy Aang's shirtless physique. She wasn't sure why he had been going shirtless so much lately but she found she could really care less. Sure, he was much shorter and younger than her, but he looked FINE!

"So enough about sword fighting," said Sokka, interrupting Katara's fantasies involving Aang and a lot of pink snow. "Nobody has even complimented me on my impressive artistic knowledge. Now I can paint, arrange rocks, recite poetry, and emote on a level only Zuko was able to. I mean, come on, chicks love the artsy guys." But his face fell as he examined his clothing. "I think I need a scarf and some skinny jeans though."

Katara took a deep breath so she could yell at him for the longest possible time without having to stop for a little necessity called "air" when Aang stepped in.

"Guys, calm down. Katara, be happy for Sokka and his new found joy. Sokka you should SHuT uP." There was a pregnant pause as the group looked at him.

Aang cleared his throat. "I mean, PleASe ShuT uP." His face turned read as he looked at the others. They looked like they were trying not to laugh in his face.

This was ridiculous he could control three elements - and was going to learn a forth as soon as he could find a fire bending teacher that wasn't a total asshole - he was going to save the world, he was the freaking Avatar! So why couldn't he control the inflection of his voice?

The other members of his group seemed to have temporarily forgotten his vocal agility and were ignoring his deep seeded confusion.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Toph asked when he bumped into her.

"I'm getting out the schedule so I can see if we have time for a quick shopping excursion." Aang felt the scroll hit his leg as it unrolled but didn't care. Something was very wrong. This wasn't the first time his voice had gone squeaky on him but it was the first time he hadn't been able to hide it from the others.

"There's no way we can afford to take a day to shop!" seethed Katara.

"Not a day Katara, just a few hours! Do you NOT want me to embrace my new found awesomeness? Do you WANT me to feel inadequate next to you and all of your freakiness?!"

"Freakiness? What are you talking about?"

Sokka put his face in his hands and said in a small, defeated voice, "Katara, you guys can all bend some element or another. Aang can even bend three, possibly four. And he seems to be able to bend his voice."

"HeY!"

"Sorry Aang. It's just that I want to feel special too."

Katara looked at him bewildered. "Didn't we just have this discussion? I think it was right before you went and got a sword made out of space earth and learned to kill things with it."

Sokka shook his head, bemused. "Katara, Katara. That was yesterday. Today has dawned anew and I feel the need for jeans so tight that I bulge in all the right places."

Toph's head snapped up at this. "Yeah, let's get him the jeans," she cried.

"Why thank you Toph. See Katara, somebody else understands how attractive I'll look in - hey! Toph you can't see what I'm wearing! Why do you care?"

"Sokka, we've been through this. I may not be able to see with my eyes, but I can see better than anyone with my feet. And in the case of your jeans, I may need to use my hands to see too."

Sokka's jaw dropped and looked over at Katara who was silently fuming at her brother's stupidity. But he quickly snapped out of it and said, "Okay, that's two for and one against. Aang? Do you think we can stop?"

Aang sat there and pondered for a moment, thinking. Shopping with Sokka always took awhile, but it might afford him some time to look for some ointment to lube up his vocal chords so they wouldn't crack. "I'm with Sokka," Aang said, carefully avoiding Katara's eyes, "Shopping sounds good to mE!"

Aang clutched at his treacherous throat as Sokka raised his new sword of stupendousness above his head and yelled, "To the Fire Nation Outlet Mall!"