Okay so all of this is going on while Katara and Zuko are on their "mommy mission". I got this idea from my sister. Toph may seem...well is pretty bitchy (in lack of better words) to Aang in this and that's not how it was intended it just kinda came out that way so sorry about that.
Aang's POV:
I paced across our usual training spot for I don't know how long. Where was he? It wasn't like Zuko to be late. I hadn't seen him since him and Katara got in that fight. Then again, I haven't seen Katara either. I got worried that maybe she got sick again so I left the eastern side of the temple hoping that Zuko wouldn't show up while I was gone and then yell at me for being late. I was in the middle of thinking up an excuse for not showing up as I arrived to Katara's room. The door was shut so I knocked. No reply. I knocked again. Nothing.
Maybe she's sleeping.
Yeah, that was it. She was sleeping. I didn't think she'd mind if I came in to see how she was doing if she was sleeping so I slowly and carefully turned the door knob and opened the door. It made a loud squeak and I winced hoping that she hadn't woken up. I entered the room and quietly shut the door behind me. No squeak. Good. I walked up to her bed in confusion to find it empty.
Where is she? Well it is a big temple. She's probably on the second floor trying to avoid Zuko.
I shrugged and walked out of the room and up to Sokka.
"Hey Sokka."
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Uh…good. I think."
The master swordsman gave me a confused look and folded his arms. He was waiting for an explanation.
"What happened?" he sounded annoyed. I didn't blame him. With everything that has been happening (and him being the caregiver while Katara was sick), I'd get fed up with everyone's problems, too. How did Katara handle this every day? Sokka's expression turned to a look of worry. "Is Katara sick again?"
"Oh no, nothing like that. Well then again I wouldn't know 'cause I can't find her."
"You can't? That's odd. Usually you two are stuck side-by-side like glue and I can't get one of you to come with me to do something without the other one following."
I slightly blushed. He was right. I didn't go anywhere without her lately and vice versa. After thinking this I became a little worried. What if she was in trouble? She couldn't save herself she was still recovering!
"Do you think we should look for her, Sokka?"
"Nah. She probably needs girl time."
"You know what's even odder?" Toph came walking up to us with her arms folded across her chest, matching Sokka. "I can't seem to find Burn Boy either. Katara didn't kill him, did she?"
Sokka laughed. "I doubt that. He's probably off getting food or something."
The conversation was left like that with none of us really knowing what did happen to the two.
Sokka's POV:
It was now time for dinner and I started losing hope in Katara showing up to make anything so I took matters in my own hands and prepared us all a little meat dish. It actually turned out pretty great; shocker due to my lack of cooking skills. There was just one tiny piece of information that I left out of the dinner plan: Aang didn't eat meat. Sometimes I wondered how that kid survived with never eating a piece of meat in his life.
"That's okay, Sokka. I can probably find some fruit around here somewhere if I get hungry."
I responded in a simple 'okay' and everyone carried on with their eating but I could tell that there was some disappointment that he had no food. Katara had always made sure that Aang had a nice bowl of nuts and fruit while the rest of us had a good, hearty meat meal. She was always good at making sure that none of us were left out at meal time. I was really starting to get worried about her and the fact that Zuko wasn't here didn't make anything much better. But dinner passed and night fell and we all sat around a small fire like we usually did at this time of night and talked.
I noticed that Aang was rather fidgety at dinner and his movements didn't seem to have subsided during the passing minutes of 'social hour'.
"Hey, buddy, anything wrong?"
Toph grabbed Aang's shoulder and shook him a little making him lose his balance for a moment but he managed to sit upright.
"He's probably just depressed that his girlfriend's not here."
"Toph, she's not my girlfriend!"
"Defensive much? I mean seriously, whenever you're around her-."
"Toph, that's enough." I looked at her with a pleading eye. I didn't want anyone getting mad at anyone else on a night like tonight. My look towards her did no good to her blind eyes. My only weapon now was the tone of my voice. "You're just making it worse."
She closed her eyes and stuck out her hands to show she was backing off.
"It's just-." Aang paused. You could tell there was resistance in his voice. "Well my mind has been on facing the Firelord and the only way I can defeat him is by going into the Avatar State but…" He paused again.
"But?" Toph asked impatiently.
"I can't go into the Avatar State and I don't want to kill him."
"It seems to me that you have no problem, Twinkle-toes. Don't go glowy and don't kill the dude."
"But the only way I have even a chance of facing him, not just killing him, is with the Avatar State."
"Then what's holding you back?" I chimed in.
"It's more like whom."
We all just looked at him waiting for a response. He seemed tense with everyone watching him, waiting for the answer to why he couldn't fulfill his duty as the Avatar.
"Who is it?" I asked again.
"Katara."
Aang's POV:
My heart sped up. Had I really just said that? I stared down at the sparking fire and sighed waiting for the group's reaction but everyone was silent, probably trying to figure out why Katara had been the reason why I couldn't master the Avatar State. My stomach grew a slight pain. I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or hunger- I still hadn't eaten.
"Katara?" Sokka questioned.
I nodded. Toph started laughing. Everyone looked to her, confused. Except me. I was angry.
Thanks for the support.
"Whoa, Mr. Avatar," she started, still laughing. "You can't go into the Avatar State because of Katara? What, does she have some mystical spirit power that disables it or something? I mean serious-."
I stood up.
"IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE HER, OKAY!?"
Well I had just put myself in a VERY awkward position. Toph stopped laughing and just froze, staring into nowhere. Everyone else stared at me. My heart sank.
"Oh like you couldn't figure that one out?!"
Their eyes all shifted and Sokka let out a fake yawn.
"Well that's enough excitement for one day. I'm beat!"
He stood up and stretched his arms. The rest just got up, nodded in agreement while mumbling to themselves then shuffled off to bed. I saw Sokka's feet suddenly in front of my floor-bound eyes.
"Love is hard to follow sometimes. You'll figure it out. You're a good kid."
Sokka patted me on the back and left to his room. His words didn't seem to be too much help and barely thoughtful but he was right- love was hard to follow. But it wasn't just sometimes, it was ALL the time. My stomach grumbled and I put my hand over it. I guess it was time for dinner.