"Katara, I love you." Aang said those words strongly, with as much emotion as he could muster. Then he repeated softly, "I love you Katara."
Just then, Toph strolled into his room. Aang yelped in surprise. "Toph! What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Twinkletoes. What are you doing here?"
"This is my room!"
"That's not what I meant. Why do you keep saying you love Katara? She's out with Sokka." She sat on his bed. "So I'm asking, what are you doing here?"
Aang sighed and sat beside her. He looked down bashfully. "Practicing?"
Toph fell backwards in a fit of laughter. "Practicing? You're kidding right?"
Aang was starting to get mad. He stood up, his fists clenched. "So what! Every time I try to tell her, something always gets in the way. Now I want it to be perfect when I tell her. So yes, I'm practicing."
Toph sat up and made a placating gesture with her hands, although she still had a huge smile plastered across her face. "Relax, I'm not making fun of you. Ok, maybe a little. But seriously, why do you think you need to practice? If you've waited so long, you should just tell her. She's probably been waiting just as long to hear it."
Aang's anger dissolved into surprise. He sat back down beside her. "Really? You think so?"
"Well, I don't want to ruin the suspense, but I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about you."
"How do you know that?"
"I can feel vibrations, remember? And when you're around, she's got some pretty interesting vibrations."
Aang could feel his pulse rising. "Like what?"
"I probably shouldn't tell you too much. But I can feel that her heart beat speeds up when you earthbend, or when she kisses your cheek, or when you take off your shirt."
Aang could feel himself turning crimson. "You can tell all that?"
"I can tell you're blushing right now. I know because your vibrations feel like mine do when I'm blushing. That's how I know things like that. That's how I know that you really should just tell Katara how you feel. Don't worry about practicing. Just say it."
Aang thought about Toph's words for a moment. "Maybe I will. Thanks Toph."
"Hey, no problem. Just remember that if you don't take my advice I'm going to start introducing you to people as my close personal friend, Avatar Twinkletoes, savior of the world and loser in love." With that, Toph left Aang to ponder over their conversation.
xxxxx
Despite Toph's advice, Aang had planned to make the evening building up to his confession a little more special than an ordinary night. While Sokka and Katara were out, he had gone to the local market to pick up some yew berries for Katara. He knew she loved them and he thought it would add a special touch to the night. While at the market, he also found out that the town would be holding a festival that night with displays, stalls, and fireworks. He found a private hill close to where they were staying that had an exceptional view of where the fireworks would be set off. Tonight would be the night. He was sure of it, everything seemed to be working out in his favor.
It was nearly dusk when Sokka and Katara returned. Aang told Katara about the festival and the fireworks, and he invited her to watch them with him. Katara was delighted by the idea. She'd always loved how the bright bursts of color lit up the night sky. Unfortunately for Aang, Sokka also loved fireworks. When Aang suggested they go watch them, Sokka wholeheartedly agreed that they should all go. Toph had done her best to convince Sokka to stay with her at the inn since she wouldn't be able to see them anyway, but Sokka insisted that she come too for the fresh air. Much to Aang's dismay, he and Katara headed to the hill that night with Sokka and Toph in tow.
Upon arriving at the hill, Aang's luck started to turn again. Toph managed to convince Sokka to sit with her on an outcropping of rock on the side of the hill so that she could at least entertain herself with earthbending while everyone else was watching the fireworks. Aang had suggested that he and Katara watch the display from the top of the hill. No one objected since it wasn't too far from where Sokka and Toph were sitting. Luckily for Aang, it was far enough that he and Katara could talk quietly without Sokka overhearing them.
Katara sat down on the grassy hill and Aang settled down next to her. The last traces of light were quickly fading from the horizon and the stars were starting to come out. Below them, brightly lit paper lanterns made the streets of the town glow with many different colors.
Katara looked upon the scene before her and smiled. "Wow, it's so beautiful, even without the fireworks."
Aang gave her a sideways glance. The soft light of distant lanterns was dancing on her skin. She was mesmerized by the glowing lanterns, so she didn't notice that Aang was looking at her when he said a little wistfully, "Yes, it is beautiful." She looked up at him and smiled warmly, unaware that he was referring to her.
Aang tried to take in everything about her at that moment – the way her hair was blowing softly in the gentle night breeze, the way her skin glowed ethereally, the brightness of her eyes, the soft smile on her lips…
Now was the time. Aang knew it. He could feel it with everything inside of him. He would finally tell Katara. She would finally know how he felt.
Aang looked into her eyes and gulped. "Katara, there's something I need to tell you." She looked back at him. A slightly puzzled look crossed her face. "I feel like I've tried to tell you this a million times but every time I try, something always gets in the way. So I'm just going to say it before anything else gets in the way. Katara, I …"
CRACK. The fireworks display started with an especially loud bang cutting off Aang's words. Aang groaned in frustration.
Katara looked at him seriously. "Aang, what were you saying?" She was practically shouting to be heard over the loud cracks and pops.
Aang's frustration had reached a breaking point. Tonight was going to be the night he told Katara how he felt no matter what. He took a deep breath to yell over the fireworks, "KATARA, I LOVE YOU."
Unfortunately, just a moment before Aang's confession, the person setting off fireworks below dropped his lighter and stopped to pick it up. This act resulted in complete lack of ambient noise when Aang yelled his feelings to Katara.
Katara looked at him wide-eyed. "What did you say?"
Sokka screamed in an accusatory tone from the side of the hill, "What did you say!"
Aang's eye's widened with fear. Images of Sokka beating him with a club suddenly sprung to mind. He grabbed the pouch at his side, held it up with one hand and pointed at it with the other. "Yew berries! I said I love yew berries!"
Sokka seemed to settle down. Aang thought he heard him grumble, "Ya, you and everyone else. You don't need to shout about it." He also thought he heard Toph say something about Avatar Twinkletoes.
Aang sighed dejectedly. He lowered his head, closed his eyes and dropped his hands in his lap, still clutching the bag of yew berries. He was still busy reprimanding himself for being a coward when he felt Katara's hand slip around the hand that was holding the bag of berries. When Aang looked up at her, she was smiling at him. Amusement was dancing in her eyes, along with… something else?
Still looking him in the eye and smiling, she took his hand, along with the bag of berries, and placed them in her lap. With her other hand, she reached into the bag, took out a bright red berry and put it in her mouth.
That look in her eyes seemed to intensify when she said, "You know Aang, I love yew berries too."
Aang looked at her incredulously. Just then, the fireworks started again. She smiled at him again then turned her gaze back towards the sky. Aang blushed, surely he'd misinterpreted her meaning, but his hand was still in her lap with her hand gently holding his.
He'd also gone back to watching the fireworks, confused by what just happened and trying to figure out what it meant. He received the confirmation he needed when he felt Katara sidle up next to him and put her head on his shoulder. He breathed in sharply, surprised by the sudden contact, but he smiled and let out a contented sigh.
As he watched the rest of the fireworks, he reflected on the night and decided that it had been perfect after all. Maybe it didn't go exactly as he had planned it to, but he was still happy with how things turned out. He was also relieved that Toph wouldn't be calling him Avatar Twinkletoes.