Stealing Glances
Aang
1.
The usually calm and collected Katara got so angry after their disastrous first water-bending lesson she looked like she was ready to strangle Aang at the first convenient moment. He got so upset he almost started to cry (which was the most embarassing moment so far since he had gotten out of the Iceberg), but it seemed to calm her down exceedingly. When she stomped away after apologizing to him and poor Momo, though still angry enough to scream at Sokka, Aang looked after her with a stunned expression on his face. He really tried to figure out why she got so angry, but he had no clue. Katara really was the most complicated person he had ever met... Maybe it was because she was a girl.
2.
He woke in the middle of the night after another nightmare. He had dreamed of the storm after which he had been stuck in an Iceberg for a hundred years. Aang still felt the ice-cold wind on his face and the rain pouring down on him, the way Appa reeled from one side to the other, and still heard the frightened roars his Bison had emitted.
While the boy tried to calm down, taking one deep breath after the other, his eyes searched for Katara's sleeping back as if on cue. From his current position, he could barely make out her dark hair and part of her face, but somehow it calmed him down more than anything to know she was close by. He may have betrayed people in the past, even though he certainly hadn't chosen to disappear for this long, but he still had friends who believed in him no matter what.
Aang smiled happily and laid back down, an image of Katara's laughing face hovering at the back of his mind: She was, after all, his best friend.
3.
Aang stared at Katara. She was sitting with her back against a rock with her eyes closed. Sweat covered her face, and she was breathing heavily. Sokka had gone off to make sure they weren't followed any more. Appa and Momo were still a good twenty minutes of walk away.
He considered asking Katara if she was alright, but decided otherwise. He would wait until she had caught her breath, and when she did, he would apologize to her. What he had done back at the village sure had been stupid and way too dangerous, considering Zuko was still after them, but he had wanted people to know the Avatar really was back.
And maybe, he thought, with his eyes fixed on the water-bender, just maybe, he had wanted to impress her. She was, after all, the most interesting person he had ever met... Well, definitely the most interesting female person.
4.
He wasn't sure when his feelings for Katara had changed. He wasn't even sure when he realized them for the first time, but, as new and unfamiliar as they were, he couldn't resist the temptation to sneak glances at her whenever she was close. Sometimes he even managed not to brood over how to defeat the Fire Lord or how to get rid of Azula and her creepy friends while he was with Katara (though she herself often reminded him to stay focused).
Aang knew that his feelings for the water-bender were dangerous, but he couldn't shake them.
He wouldn't shake them. They reminded him that he was not only the Avatar, meant to defeat Ozai, but also a normal human being behind all of that.
Katara
Suddenly Aang shifted in her embrace. With renewed hope, she laid him back a bit to look into his face. His eyes opened, and on seeing her, his lips quirked up a bit and he gave her a weak smile. It was then, when their eyes met, that Katara knew two things: One, that Aang would live, and two, that she would never, ever leave his side, no matter the outcome of their mission. She would look after him, care for him, protect him and keep him safe as best as she could - not for the world's sake, nor for his, but for herself, because she needed him as much as anyone... and maybe even more.