"Can you just pick one already," Sokka grumbled. This was the fourth store they visited and Katara was still hunting for the right dress for the celebration.

"Would you be quiet," she hissed back. "Nobody forced you to tag along."

"You said you were just picking up a dress for the celebration and then you would take me to get something to eat! If I would've known this would take so long, I would've never have come."

He had her there. While Sokka may not be the best dress critic, he was the best she could get. Now that the celebration had turned into her first date with Aang, there was no way she could keep the dress she had originally picked out. That dress was the epitome of bland and she had no idea why she picked it in the first place. Maybe for Gran Gran it would be alright, but for a special night, she needed a special dress.

Luckily for her, Republic City was the best place in the world to solve her problem. As she was digging through the myriad of dresses, she stumbled across the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. Instantly, she snatched it and tried it on.

The dress was mostly navy blue with splashes of royal blue here and there. It was the perfect color combination for someone who was proud to be from one of the Water Tribes. But what Katara loved most of all was the intricate yellow stars that were woven throughout. It made the dress look like it was plucked from the night sky.

"What do you think?" she asked her brother of the latest attempt at finding the right dress.

"Katara," Sokka groaned not bothering to look at her, "They're all the same to me, pick one and let's get something to eat."

"Would you just look and tell me what you think!"

"Fine," he huffed. He gave her a quick once over and did a double take when he examined it more closely. "This is actually really cool. I like it."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You're not just saying that are you?"

"No, for real. This dress suits you perfectly," he said genuinely causing Katara to beam at him.

"Great! I'm gonna get it. Meet out front while I take this off and pay."

"Finally. I don't get what the big deal is. It's not like you have a date or anything."

"Well…"

"You do have one don't you! Who is it? Is he a waterbender? Earthebender? Nonbender? Don't tell me he is a firebender," he said with a groan.

"Yes."

"Yes? For which one?"

"Just… yes."

"Oh, I know, it's that guy Jet isn't it? I've seen him around the dojo a few times. I think you could do better than him."

"What? I'm not going with Jet! I'm going with Aang."

"Aang? As in Avatar Aang?"

"No, the other Aang," she said sarcastically.

"You and Aang huh?" he pondered while scratching his beard. "Interesting."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Noting, it's just… interesting."

"Would you just head to the front while I pay!" she hissed.

Her brother sighed and headed out. Aang and Katara decided it was in everyone's best interest to keep this date between the two of them as long as possible. This way, they can just enjoy the time together while not being hounded by questions. While eventually people would be able to connect the dots, it would be nice to treat this as normal as possible.

She looked at herself in the mirror again and couldn't stop herself from smiling. While she knew Aang wasn't someone who was solely interested in her just for her looks, she couldn't wait to see his reaction to this dress.

When Katara arrived at the council the next day, she saw a scroll right in the middle of her desk. Curiously, she opened it.

Katara,

I've been summoned for some Avatar business in Omashu, so you won't see me until the celebration. Don't worry, I promise I'll be there.

Aang

P.S. Make sure Toph doesn't try to steal anything from my office while I'm gone.

She smiled and put down the note. Part of her was relieved that she wouldn't see Aang until the celebration as it could be a bit awkward to see someone you're going to go on a date with at work. But then again, not seeing him until the big day will build up the anticipation and the nerves.

The next few days flew by and the night of the celebration arrived. Katara was all dolled up and ready to go. Sokka had gone over to Suki's place earlier to head to the celebration with her. This left Katara all alone with the thoughts of what the night had in store for her.

For what felt like the hundredth time, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had her hair in a bun, wore light make up, put on a generous amount of perfume, and of course, took a moment to admire the beautiful dress that was looking perfect.

The more she thought about it, the more she wished Aang hadn't left for Omashu. The anticipation was killing her and he probably would've made her feel more comfortable leading up to the celebration. A knock at the door caused her to jump in surprise.

"Oh shit," she muttered to herself. This was it. She took one last look at the mirror, played with her hair, brushed off the imaginary dust from her dress, sprayed a bit more perfume on, and made her way to the door.

Taking one last deep breath, she opened the door and saw her date with a big smile on his face. He was dressed in formal Air Nomad clothes and it made him look so handsome and important.

"Wow," he said breathlessly after a moment of examining her. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," she replied meekly with massive blush. "You look good too."

"Are you ready to head out?" he asked an offered his arm to her.

She nodded and gladly accepted his invitation. When they walked further from her house, she realized a carriage was waiting for them and not his usual form of transportation.

"No Appa?"

"I gave him the night off," he responded. "Plus, I wouldn't want to see your hair get messed up from the wind. It looks amazing right now."

As they boarded the carriage, she cursed under her breath for how charming he was. Deciding that it wasn't fair for him to be the only one bringing charm to the beginning of this night, she not so subtlety scooted extremely close to him on the carriage.

"I really like this material," she said as she slowly traced her fingers up and down his forearm. "Is it comfortable?"

Katara saw him gulp and she smiled to herself.

"Yes, um, it's very comfortable."

Since they weren't flying to the celebration and the ride would take a decent amount of time, they decided to play a little game to pass the time.

"Ok, you're turn."

"What's something embarrassing that no one would expect of you?" Katara asked.

"This stays between us right?" which prompted her to smile and nod. "I ask my past lives questions about mundane things that I'm too afraid to ask real people."

She slapped his shoulder playfully. "Aang! I would think they have better things to do than answer your silly questions. Let me guess, a lot of them had to do with girls."

"Maybe," he replied sheepishly which prompted Katara to smack his shoulder again. "What? They got nothing better to do. When the next Avatar comes around, I'd be happy to answer anything they want. Although, some of their advice they gave me had been a bit dated and made me look like a complete idiot."

"Did you ask them anything about tonight?"

"Nope. I'm all-natural tonight. How am I doing so far?"

She shrugged teasingly. "Could be worse."

"Could be worse!" he responded dramatically with a fake pout. "I'm hurt."

"Just ask me a question before I kick you to the curb."

"Fine," he huffed. "What's your favorite food?"

"Sea prunes," she answered immediately which caused him to gag. "What? You don't like sea prunes?"

"They're terrible! I don't understand how anyone can eat that stuff."

"If you tried my Gran Gran's, I'm sure you would learn to love them."

"Avatar Aang, we have arrived at our destination," the driver announced interrupting them from their game.

"Awesome, thanks so much for the ride."

As Katara began to exit the carriage, Aang grabbed her shoulder.

"Before we head in," he said with his tone becoming more serious, "I think I should warn you about something."

She nodded and he continued. "As you know, I'm the Avatar."

"Yes, I have noticed that," she teased.

"I'm sure you have," he responded with a chuckle. "What I mean though is how that's going to affect you tonight."

"What do you mean by that?"

"A lot of eyes are on me everywhere I go. Because you are with me, a lot of those same eyes will be on you tonight."

"Oh." That was all she could say. With all of the excitement and nervousness of going on a first date with a young man she liked, she didn't really think too much about what going on a date with the Avatar would actually mean let alone at a public event like this.

"I don't mean to scare you or anything like that," he said sensing her uneasiness. "I just don't want you to be intimidated. It can be a lot to have so many people looking at you and whispering amongst themselves. Try not to pay too much attention to it and you'll be fine."

"Ok, I'll try."

When they arrived at the banquet hall, she did try to ignore the attention… for the first three seconds. As soon as someone saw a blue arrow, it was as if the entire party came to a halt. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and all their eyes were focused on him.

Katara wasn't sure what to do. Part of her wanted to distance herself from him as much as possible as she felt insecure about herself. The other part wanted to practically be on top of him so she wouldn't get separated with all the hoopla surrounding him.

Fortunately for her, he made the decision easy when he gave her a reassuring smile and offered his arm for her to take. She gladly accepted and immediately heard hushed whispers from nearly all the females in the room.

The banquet hall was rather large. There had to have been a few hundred people in attendance not including the staff that was serving the food and drinks. It was beautifully decorated with all four of the nation's aesthetics on full display.

There was a main stage and dozens of tables littered in front of it on the right with an empty space on the left which Katara assumed was for dancing. Thankfully, rather than sitting next to snobby elites, Katara and Aang sat next to Zuko, Mai, Azula, and Toph. She surveyed the room and found Sokka and Suki sitting with all the other Kyoshi Warriors. She even saw Jet who apparently had moved on from Azula and was with one of the Kyoshi Warriors she didn't recognize.

The first speaker of the night was none other than Fire Lord Zuko himself. While a bit stiff, his speech beautifully captured how things have changed over the last 110 years and how things will only continue to improve. Once his speech concluded, the party began.

Music was blasting, alcohol was served, and endless trays of food were brought out. Katara had never eaten more in her life, but it was hard to resist with all the different foods from each nation be presented to her. The conversations at their table were largely initiated by a drunk Toph who had no shortage of teasing remarks for every single member at the table.

Katara was glad that she felt so comfortable with everyone they were sitting with as every few minutes or so, an attendee would come over to their table and practically gawk at Aang. She sensed that all these people were starting to get on his nerves, but he always gave them a genuine smile and engaged with whoever was speaking with him.

As the night wore on, Katara noticed the dance floor was becoming more active. She never heard anything like the music that was being played, but whatever it was made her want to move. For her, taping her foot to the beat was plenty. For a certain airbender, he needed much more.

He stood up abruptly and Toph understood exactly where he was going. "Time to shine Twinkle Toes?"

"Yup. Katara and I need to show these people what real dancing looks like."

"What?!" Katara shrieked. "I can't go out there. I'll make a fool out of myself."

"Something tells me that you're a lot better than you think."

He offered his hand to her, but the waterbender wasn't up to it.

"I don't know Aang," she said as she began to nervously tug at her hair. "These shoes aren't really made for dancing and I-,"

"Take my hand" he commanded softly with his signature smile.

That smile will be the death of her. She smiled and took his hand. "Ok."

Aang sped them to the dance floor and rolled up his sleeves. "Just follow my lead," he whispered into her ear.

And that she did. They began to dance in a style that was not too different than the waterbending exercises Katara would always do. This made it much easier to keep up with him as she could tell he was an excellent dancer right away.

She felt like Aang had a spell on her as she couldn't pry her eyes away from his if she tried. While her dancing skills were nothing special, there was something about dancing with Aang that made it feel so natural to her. She wasn't lying to him when she thought she would embarrass herself, but here she was keeping up with him step for step.

A loud noise from across the dance floor broke the spell and that was when Katara noticed that they were the only two dancing and a sizeable crowd circled them.

"Aang," Katara said quietly as she looked around at all the eyes on them. "Everyone's watching us."

"Don't worry about them," he responded coolly. "It's just you and me right now."

Katara couldn't help but notice his heavy-lidded stare as he said that and it caused her face turned into a tomato. That was all she needed for the spell to be brought back up.

The next minute or so happened in a blur. Katara's body felt like it had a mind of its own as she effortlessly followed Aang's movements. All that mattered was the two of them were in sync.

As the song came to a close, Aang brought her down to for a dip. They were both covered in a thin layer of sweat and staring deeply into each other's eyes. She wanted to kiss him so badly as she could feel his breath on her and she could tell he felt the same. He brought her back up and they gave a small bow to the crowd that circled them who roared in cheers.

"Do you want to get some fresh air?" he whispered into her ear.

She nodded with a smile. He grabbed her hand and casually led them through the crowd of people to a nearby balcony.

"I knew you were a better dancer than you were letting on," Aang said proudly.

"I had a good partner to lead the way. Who knew the Avatar was a great dancer."

He shrugged. "Toph doesn't call me Twinkle Toes for nothing."

She smiled and crept closer to him. "What other tricks do you have up your sleeve?" she asked while her eyes darted to his lips for a brief second.

"I can show you," he replied while wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his head down towards her.

"Let's see what you got," she said with a smile as her arms snaked around his neck.

When their lips met, it was soft and sweet. While technically they had already kissed, that was to get them out of hot water. This felt like the true first kiss between the two and they were both a bit reserved with how deep they wanted the kiss to go.

However, that reservation didn't last very long. With the adrenaline still pumping from the dance and the buzz from the alcohol, the kiss quickly got hot and heavy. Katara tightened her arms around his neck and he tightened his grip on her waist so there wasn't an inch of space between them.

Before the kiss could deepen further a loud voice interrupted them. "Ahem!"

They sprang apart and saw Zuko awkwardly standing at the balcony's door.

"It's time for your speech Aang," he said while avoiding eye contact.

"Alright, I-I'll be there in a second."

Zuko nodded and couldn't leave the situation fast enough leaving a flustered Aang and Katara alone.

"I guess that's my que," he said with a small smile.

"Yea, I guess it is."

Aang led them back to the table before making his way towards the stage. Katara saw that Zuko was still uncomfortable while the rest of the table gave her a knowing look. She simply gave a nervous smile and sank as low into her seat as possible.

When she heard Aang's voice boom from the microphone on the stage, she instantly perked up. Despite hearing about all the things he has accomplished and personally see him take someone's bending away, seeing him on that stage deliver his speech was the first time she had truly seen him as the Avatar.

The best public speaker she had known was her father. But this felt different than an ordinary speech. Aang speaking on that stage demanded everyone's full attention. It wasn't because he intimidated the crowd or that his words were life changing, but because he had a pull with each person in the audience that only the Avatar could bring.

She felt kind of bad that she was so lost in thought that she wasn't really paying attention to the words he was saying, but she saw Zuko try his best to conceal the tears that were streaming down his face. She could only imagine the things they had been through together from the war to all the efforts they had put into rebuilding the world to get to where it was today.

A sudden roar of applause snapped her out of her thoughts and she too began to clap. He must have said something about the end of the celebration as a lot of people began to leave. Truth be told, she had no idea what time it was as all the laughter, drinks, and the dance had given her a ton of energy. Their group of friends all stayed as it was rare for them all to be together.

Zuko and Mai were the first out of their group to leave after about an hour as a pregnant Mai could only take so much from Toph who was very drunk at that point. Not long after, Sokka tapped Katara's shoulder letting her know that he was leaving and would be spending the night at Suki's. He gave her a wink before he left causing her to gag.

The next hour consisted of Azula and Toph ganging up on poor Aang trading embarrassing stories about him and Katara had never laughed more in her entire life. To his credit, he handled it goodheartedly. That is until Toph decided to breach a sensitive topic.

"Twinkle Toes, remember that time you tried to seduce Ursa?"

"What?! I never did that!"

"Ooh," Azula cooed and sat up in her seat. "I've never heard this story before. When did this happen?"

"It was a few years after Noren passed away, so your mom was single and ready to mingle. Or at least that's what Twinkle Toes thought."

"I don't know what you've been drinking tonight, but I think you have your facts mixed up," Aang huffed and crossed his arms.

"Oh no I don't," Toph replied back with a smirk. "I'll remember that night for the rest of my life."

"Be quiet Aang," Azula snapped. "I'd like to hear how the Avatar tried to seduce my mother."

"As I was saying," Toph continued, "We were at some party in Ba Sing Se and your mom and Twinkle Toes were sitting next to each other. Let's just say that he had about ten too many glasses of wine and couldn't stop himself from drooling over her and flirting with her all night."

"Toph! That isn't true! I would never flirt with Ursa!"

"Why?" Azula challenged. "Is my mother not good enough for the Avatar?"

"What?! That's not what I meant! I enjoy your mother's company a lot, but I don't see her like that. I'm sure I was just being nice."

"Oh, you were very nice to her that night," Toph said while trying to hold back her laughter. "And based off Ursa's heartbeat, your kindness wasn't going unnoticed."

"Spirits Toph, were you just spying on me the entire night!?"

"Are you kidding! That was the best entrainment I've ever had at a party. That or Sparky's reaction to the whole thing!"

"Look," Aang said while pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't remember that night too well and maybe I had a few too many glasses of wine. But I refuse to believe I was acting in a flirtatious way towards Ursa!"

"I don't know about you ladies," Toph said to Katara and Azula, "But if a guy told me how great I looked in my outfit, if I did anything new with my hair, was whispering Spirits knows what into my ear, and was laughing at my crappy jokes, I'd think they would have extra motivations than just being friendly."

"She's got you there Aang," Katara chimed in. She had been holding back a fit of giggles but the opportunity to join in on the fun was too tantalizing. "I wasn't there, but it definitely sounds like you were putting the moves on her."

Aang groaned and slammed his head on the table. "You guys are the worst," he mumbled.

"I wish I could've seen ZuZu's reaction to all this."

"If Twinkle Toes wasn't his friend, I'm sure Sparky would've sent him to the nearest dungeon."

"Ha ha, very funny Toph," Aang said as he stood up. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to use the little boy's room."

As he strode off dejectedly, the girls burst into laughter.

"So Sugar Queen, that was some dance you had with Twinkle Toes."

"It was nothing," Katara said while trying to conceal her massive blush.

"Nothing huh?" Azula remarked with a smirk. "And where exactly did you two run off to right after?"

"Yea, when Sparky got back from telling Twinkle Toes it was time for his speech, his heartbeat felt like he saw a ghost. I wonder what he could've saw?"

"We just got some air," Katara replied as nonchalantly as possible. "I'm not so sure why he would be acting so strange."

"Just some air?" Azula questioned. "Is that what people from the Water Tribes call it?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Save it Katara," Azula said waving her hand at her. "That balcony has windows and I saw you two swapping spit out there."

"You did?" she asked nervously.

"No, but the way you're acting right now tells me my intuition was right."

Before she could respond, Aang came back and sat down with a satisfied sigh.

"So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing interesting. Right Katara?" Azula asked slyly.

"Right," Katara said and gave a nervous giggle. "Just some girl stuff."

"Excuse me," one of the staff members said softly. "We're starting to get everything cleaned up and-,"

"Are you kicking the Avatar and his friends out?" Toph asked with a semiserious tone.

"Toph! She's just doing her job," Aang hissed and shot an apologetic smile to the staff member.

"Relax Twinkle Toes, I'm just teasing her. We'll be out of your hair in a minute."

After that exchange, Katara looked around and saw that the place was pretty much empty outside of the staff. She'd been so engrossed in their conversation, that she didn't realize how much time had passed.

The four friends exited the banquet hall and Azula had to keep a drunk Toph from falling on her face. Much to her dissatisfaction, Toph agreed to let Azula take her home even though she felt like she was perfectly fine on her own. Aang and Katara said their goodbyes to them before heading onto a carriage of their own to drop Katara back at her place. They decided to continue their game of questions before they arrived.

"Favorite place to visit?" Katara asked.

"Hmm. I'd say Kyoshi Island."

"Why, because it's technically named after you?" she teased.

"That doesn't hurt, but I love how it's so isolated. Plus, the weather and being able to ride on the Elephant Koi fish is awesome!"

"Riding Elephant Koi fish?"

"It's too hard to explain, you just have to see it for yourself one day. Anyways, it's my turn to ask a question now."

"Ok, shoot."

"Favorite color?"

"Silver," she answered. Blue was her real favorite color, but her appreciation for silver had grown immensely the more she looked into his eyes. Unfortunately, he didn't get the hint.

"Hmm, that's interesting. Not too many people say silver. Mine's yellow."

Before they could cask anymore questions, the carriage came to a stop.

"Looks like we're here," he said a bit disappointedly.

"Yea," Katara responded in equal disappointment. "I had a really fun time tonight."

He perked up happily and looked into her eyes. "So did I."

After what felt like an eternity of staring at each other, Katara decided she wasn't quite ready for the night to end.

"Would you like to come in for some tea?" she asked a bit timidly.

"I'd love to."

A/N: I figured that if you guys offer your time to write in a review, I should extend the courtesy and reply to them. Also, this chapter got out much later than intended but I should get back on track.

Aangbanger: Glad you enjoyed it. I definitely know what you mean about when certain characters pop up and certain things seem to happen.

Ashley Barbosa: Yep. There had to be some Kataango. As a 14-year-old girl, Katara gave him a quick peck on the cheek. As a 24-year-old, she was hungry for more.

Sam: There will be some things that I have planned for Aang for future chapters. One important thing to note that while he didn't have Katara or Sokka during the war, he did have Uncle Iroh and an already changed Zuko.

UGudBroXD: Unfortunately, no beating up Jet in this chapter. If you can tell in the last chapter, Jet knows how far to push Azula because she has already taken him to the cleaners.

Guest: Yep. Seems like Azula is the de facto villain in many Kataang stories. Which is fine and makes perfect sense, but sometimes its neat just to have her vibing with everyone.

Lalaanddiki: I could see Jet and Azula as two people who are purely only physically attracted to each other but would hook up on occasion. And regardless of whether she is redeemed or not, she will always be a bit out there just like Zuko will always be a bit awkward.

IHaveSomeThoughts: Glad you liked my take on how their potential friendship could work.

Hilmintonhamhigh: While Azula is an amazing antagonist in a lot fics, in an AU like this, why not just make her a part of the gaang?