Compnaion to chap. 4 of Hormones.

Wishes

He stood up and addressed them. Okay, so maybe he shouted enthusiastically. "Today's my thirteenth birthday!" he yelled happily.

Katara snapped out of her daze. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? We're not prepared at all."

Aang frowned slightly. "I'm telling you now aren't I? Besides, I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Technically, Aang, it's your hundred and thirteenth birthday." Sokka added, a rare childish smile appearing.

"Oh." said Aang, slightly daunted. "I'm really old aren't I?"

Sokka laughed. Aang brightened. "That my friend, you are."

"So, wadaya wanna do, Twinkle Toes?" Toph questioned. "It's your birthday, you should at least get to do something special."

Aang paused. "Well… there's supposed to be a really spectacular waterfall around here. I'd like to jump off it." He said with a hopeful smile. "Lot's of people make wishes on it. You know, throw your coin down."

Katara smiled. "Consider it done. Why do you want to jump off, Aang?"

Aang's smile faltered a bit. "Well… at the temple where I used to live, we always went cliff diving on birthdays. It was like an unofficial tradition." He paused then added, "Also, it's an amazing freefall through mist and rainbows and well… it's kinda how I make a wish."

Katara frowned a bit. "What do you mean Aang?"

He was blushing faintly. "Well, on the way down I make a wish."

"Why would you do that?" Sokka asked rudely.

"I'm not sure." He replied. "I just remember the time before, on my way down, I made a wish. And it came true." He added, almost under his breath.

"Really?" Sokka asked, interested. "What did you wish for?"

Aang paused, then, looking at the ground, replied: "Well, it was after the monks told me I was the avatar, and when the other boys wouldn't play with me anymore. Monk Gyatso said I could take Appa on an extended trip."

"By yourself?" Katara asked, surprised.

Aang nodded. "You forget. This was before the war, so it was safe for one kid to travel by himself around the nations." He paused. "Well, maybe not 'safe' exactly, but safe enough for a kid who knew his bending well."

"How is this related to your wish?" Sokka asked.

"It's what led up to my wish. Anyways," he continued in a quiet voice, "I stopped at this waterfall, and decided to jump off it."

Sokka snorted. That sounded like Aang, just deciding to randomly jump off a waterfall.

"It was incredible, almost magical, the free fall." He looked around at us. "Have any of you ever gone cliff diving?"

They shook their heads. "Of course not, silly." Katara chided gently. "We wouldn't have a way to survive the fall."

"Oh. Right. Well, anyway, on the way down I made a wish."

Sokka nodded. "And?"

"And what?"

"What did you wish for?"

"Oh yeah." He looked at the ground again, turning over a bit of dirt with his toe. You could tell he was a little uncomfortable. "I wished for friends." He finally muttered under his breath. "Friends who wouldn't mind me being the avatar, who would treat me like a person and not an incarnation. Who would like me for me."

"Did it come true?"

Aang smiled and nodded. "I met Bumi. And Kuzan. Kuzan was from the fire nation. After that I came back to the temple. I left again and got caught in that storm that ended up with me in the ice burg." His smile broadened. "Then I met you guys."

"Huh."

Katara smiled. "So where is this water fall exactly?"

Later at the Waterfall

Aang gestured grandly over the waterfall. "Here we are!"

It truly was a grand waterfall, with the water falling from a steep cliff, and disappearing into a hazy mist with rainbows gleaming through it hazily. (A/N: Just imagine Niagara Falls with a lot more mist and rainbows)

"Wow," Katara murmured softly.

Even Sokka looked mildly impressed.

Toph looked rather indifferent. She shrugged. "I'll have t take your guys' word for it. I sense a cliff with water on it, and an edge, but that's about all I got."

Aang looked a bit put off for a moment, before asking "Who wants to jump off it with me?"

Katara brightened. "I'd love to!" She gushed.

Toph shrugged again. "I'd rather keep my feet on the ground. The whole 'free fall through misty rainbow paradise' effect is kinda lost if you can't see it."

Sokka just shook his head, looking faintly green.

"I guess it's just you and me then, Katara." He tried to ignore the way his heart jumped into overtime when he said that.

She just nodded, and walked over to the edge with him.

She paused, obviously a little nervous. "So how does this work, exactly?"

Aang smiled. "We jump off the cliff, and I'll create an air cushion right before we hit the bottom."

"Right. How are we going to get back up?"

"I'll bring my glider and fly us back up."

"Okay."

"Come on, then." He offered his hand to her.

Katara paused, staring at his hand. He was asking her to put her trust in him, to entrust her life in his hands. She barely hesitated.

They walked together, still holding hands, to the edge of the cliff.

Aang blushed slightly, as did Katara. It's funny, how they could make something as simple as holding hands awkward. (Remarked the author)

"On the count of three?"

She nodded.

"One."

"Two."

He paused, seeing the hesitation on her face, his eyes met hers, and he offered the most comforting smile he could.

"Three."

They jumped, and Aang propelled them away from the cliff face, before they began the plummet.

Within a few seconds, they had been enveloped by mist.

"Make a wish!" Aang yelled to Katara, trying to be heard over the roaring of the wind in their ears.

Katara closed her eyes. The whole experience was utterly terrifying, but oddly exhilarating. She clutched at the hand still holding hers. It griped back gently, comforting, and his other hand found hers. She felt herself pulled into a strange, free falling hug. Aang must have been stabilizing their flight, because they weren't spinning out of control.

"It's okay." He muttered in her ear. "I'm here."

She smiled, and managed to crack open her eyes. She was met with a wonderful picture of Aang's smiling face, surrounded by mist and rainbows. 'I wish I could wake up and see that face every day…'

Aang smiled back at her. "I wish I…'

Katara shivered lightly, noticing she was soaked through. Aang pulled her a little closer. She blushed, but cuddled into the warmth. The fog was thinning out, and the river was approaching fast.

Aang turned them so that they were right side up, and began to slow their descent. He stopped them right before they hit the water, hovering with Katara easily.

(A/N: that was one heck of a fall)

Aang released her from the hug, keeping hold of her hands. He twirled them around a bit, dancing his feet lightly on the surface of the water.

Katara gasped lightly. She felt completely weightless, and at ease, not in the least bit concerned that she was floating over a fast moving river at the bottom of a waterfall, focusing instead upon the boy before her.

He grinned at her, before arranging his hands in a manor more suitable for dancing. (A/N: Hand on the waist, hand in hand) "May I have this dance?"

She smiled slightly and bit her lip. "I don't know how to dance."

He smiled. "It's okay. I don't know too well either. Air dancing isn't my strongest point. I just know the basics."

She smiled. "Then you may, I suppose."

His grin widened, and he floated them back up into the mist, back amongst the rainbows. The ground disappeared, and they were once again in a fantasyland, where nothing seemed too real.

They dipped and spun through the mist, forgetting how cold they were in favor of how close they were to the other. They danced, weaving their way through the mist, forgetting about everything outside of their world of rainbows and feelings.

Sokka

Sokka stormed around. "What's taking them so long?"

Toph shrugged. "Maybe they died."

Sokka paled. "You think so?"

"No."

Happy Land

In the course of their dance, the two had ended up much closer than they had originally intended, but neither truly cared at that point.

Aang smiled lightly, and wrapped his hands around Katara's waist. She did the same to him, and they floated through the mist, gently spinning in circles. Aang could feel himself slowly losing control of what he was doing, but he no longer cared.

Katara had no idea what she was doing, or what he was doing. Her mind had slowed down to the point where only the most basic of processes were functional, like breathing. She would breathe, she would smile, and she would feel. It was enough for her.

Aang rested his forehead against hers, maintaining the eye contact he had held for so long. He stayed quiet, soaking in the intimacy of the motions he was carrying out. He could easily read any emotion that passed through those clear blue eyes right now… there was surprise, and… pleasure?

That, apparently, was enough for whatever being had decided to take over his body. He withdrew his head a little, before pressing his lips to hers.

Katara, on the other hand, still had her brain turned off, and for once, decided not to think about her actions, letting her emotions govern whatever processes her body was carrying out.

She kissed him back.

They stayed locked like that for some time, neither moving. Aang, without noticing, had begun to move them upwards through the mist.

They broke apart, and Aang hovered them gently right under the lip of the cliff.

"What did you wish for?" she asked quietly.

"Something I wanted for a long time, that has finally come true."

With that, he floated them over the edge of the cliff.

"Thanks." He offered. "For coming with me. This was a great birthday."

She just smiled.

'Thank you for making all my wishes come true."

Hormones

"Aang we need to have a talk."

"What do we need to talk about Sokka?" I noted how Katara and Toph were suddenly absent from the campsite.

"Not about something. We need to have a talk. The talk."

I like how this turned out. What do you think?