We will finally have the conversation with Sokka and some angst.
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA
The next day Aang woke up really tired, he barely got any sleep, he just tried to clear his mind by meditating.
When he finally decided to go get some fresh air, he was surprised to see waterbender outside, near his tent, looking nervous and playing with her hair. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things because of the lack of sleep. Katara didn't expected him to get out in that exact moment, but she shook away the nervousness when she saw the eye bags on his face.
—Are you ok?
—Yeah.. I didn't sleep so well.
Aang said, he wasn't exactly lying, but it wasn't only that, he did not feel ok, and felt frustrated that he can't just shake his thoughts away.
The silence between them felt really thick, but soon, Katara spoke with excitement:
—Thank you for the scrolls!
She went and hugged him, taking Aang completely by surprise, he was extremely confused and didn't dare to move his arms to hug her back and only when she finally pulled away, he spoke with a pretty cold tone.
—You're welcome, I will try snitching more for you after tomorrow.
The avatar let a small smile to show that he was happy to help her, but didn't really feel in control of his emotions, seeing her the first thing in the morning was just the icing on cake.
—I-i gotta go.
He went in the tent, putting his hands on the cold glider, and exited again letting his feet sink into the snow, before opening his glider.
—Wait, Aang!
—Sorry, Katara, I'll talk with you later.
—Aang!
But it was too late, he already left, "why is he like that?! I just wanted to talk with him.. ". She pouted watching him fly and sighed, turning around and walking back to her tent bumping into someone.
—Ouch.
—Ouch?! I should be the one complaining because it's you that hit me!
She growled with annoyance at him and gave him a death stare. Sokka's expression soften up.
—What's wrong?
—Aang! I was talking to him and he left me!
The warrior couldn't help but let a snort and smirked at her.
—Someone has feelings.
—No, I don't!
Her voice went really high pitched and Sokka laughed. He was irritating her so much, because that just wasn't right! Yes, she found him attractive, really charming and sweet, but there was no way that she will actually like him!
—Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, sis.
She rolled her eyes and left, finding a place where she can be alone, without nobody seeing her, following the instructions on the paper. It was really frustrating, but she couldn't give up. It was her only chance of learning waterbending.
Two weeks have passed. Aang was trying his best to avoid Katara at any cost, but didn't forget about their agreement. She said that 3 days were enough for her to switch between the scrolls, Aang thought it was completely unrealistic as he was only learning one scroll per week with 3 masters by his side and he was still struggling. It wasn't moving the water that was so hard for him, the airbender felt like there was something that was stopping him from learning it, "like a personal grudge". That thought echoed in his head all day. He was the avatar and had to learn waterbending, but more than that, he was raised as an air nomad, if it's something the monks taught him is that he should always let go of any negative emotions. He needs to feel them, then when he's ready to let go. But now he was doing the opposite of that. He let the thought that Katara could not train with him because of her gender, to cloud his mind. It was so irritating, it almost made him snap at his masters, but Aang tried his best not to.
—Focus!
Pakku yelled at him, making Aang drop water that he was barely holding on the ground. The airbender sighed.
—You're the weakest student I ever had. Get out of my sight. We'll try again tomorrow.
He screamed with a cold tone and Aang looked down frustrated, he was trying his best, yet he was failing. For the rest of the day, he just meditated, trying to not let his feelings get the best of him, but couldn't help and wish he was home, there Gyatso and the other masters praised him a lot and the children loved him. It was always a happy and free atmosphere. In the Southern water tribe, he felt like a failure. It wasn't his fault that his avatar identity was revealed until he was 18, but at the same time it wasn't like he could do anything in the middle of the war, and now the only person that made his "trip " to the pole, was uncomfortable because of him.
It's true that she tried talking to him and even inviting him in her tent one time, but he refused every time and tried to stay as far as possible from her. He wasn't mad at her, nor disappointed, but couldn't bear the thought that she felt so repulsed when Sokka talked about them being together.
—Airhead, hello!
The warrior said, already inside his tent.
—Oh, hi, Sokka!
Aang said with a small smile and cleaned his red eyes.
—I wanna talk to you, when the airbender opened his mouth to say something, Sokka interrupted him. Aannd, no excuse.
Aang sighed and nodded.
—So, what do you wanna talk about? He said with a nervous laugh.
—You're completely in love with my sister.
He had no idea why, but those words made him cringe really hard, while Aang was putting his hands on his face, trying to make the blush get away from his cheeks.
—I'm so sorry, I know I should stay back, and I'm really trying to it's just-
—What? I didn't say I was mad. You seem like a cool kid and you really made her happy that night.. until I ruined it.
Aang bit his lip, looking down, but then decided to look at his friend, the warrior's expression seemed to hold guilt.
—Sokka, it is not your fault that Katara doesn't like me that way.
He touched his shoulder, trying to smile and comfort him, even though his heart was breaking inside of him and tried his best to hold tears in.
The water tribe man started laughing, making Aang take his hand, feeling really confused and offended and finally letting go of a tear which made Sokka stop laughing.
—She likes you, Aang.
His eyes lighted up in hope, but then worry took over him. Spirits, he was acting like a child.
—B-but then.. why did she act so disgusted.. You know.. That night..
The Airbender cleaned his eyes once again, trying to avoid eye contact as possible.
—That? Katara is always talking that way when I'm teasing her, but..
Sokka looked away, making Aang look back at him. The warrior had a serious expression on his face.
—Something happened that really hurt her.. It's not my place to tell you this story, so go and talk her when you give her the scrolls.
At the scroll sound, the avatar widens his eyes, "I'm in trouble" and started mumbling words, searching for an excuse, making Sokka chuckle.
—Do you really think I'd snitch on you for helping my little sister?
The warrior touched Aang's shoulder, in a brotherly way, trying to comfort him.
—Now stop crying like a little girl before I take my approval back.
He said with a teasing tone watching the airbender rub his eyes once again with a smile on his face.
—And if you hurt her..
Sokka said with a small growl, making sure to make eye contact and to make that the airbender knew he was being dead serious.
—I'll hurt you too.
Katara was really anxious for reasons she didn't want to admit to, she cleaned the inside of her room and was dressed in her normal traditional blue clothes. "Why is he taking so long? " she thought brushing her hair starting to braid it when she heard a light knock on the wooden stick that was holding the leather still on the tent.
She quickly took her hair and opened the tent, smiling shyly.
—Hi.
—Hello, I brought you the new scrolls.
He said in a calm tone, much warmer than in the other days, and he looked much more hopeful.
She nodded, but didn't really want their conversation to end there, so Katara took the papers out of his hand, while he was waiting for her to return the other two.
—Uhh, I can't find them, come on in.
She lied and bit her tongue, Katara didn't like lying, especially not to people she actually liked. Of course, she didn't like Aang romantically, but she liked him as a person, that's all. All of the soft blushes were because she was just nervous because they're both lying to the masters.. Yeah.. She couldn't believe herself either. The water tribe girl sighed loudly, making Aang look at her confused.
—No, no, nothing.
She said and he let a small smile curious, while watching her "search" in some drawers for the scrolls.
—Sit down.
—Uhh, sure.
He said and sat down on one of her blankets, playing with his fingers.
She "found" them under some clothes and smiled, sitting down, in front of him.
They looked at each other, both really nervous to say anything.
—I-i think I should head back.
Aang said and tried to stand up when she grabbed his hand. She scolded herself mentally, but decided to speak from the heart.
—I want you to stay.
The airbender blushed and nodded, going back immediately, leaving a small smile.
—I-
Both of them started talking at unison, then looked down with red faces.
—You go first.
Aang said trying to hide his nervousness as much as he could. Katara cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
—I wanted to thank you for "borrowing " the scrolls for me.. You really shouldn't have, but yet you still did..
She said with a smile on her face, her tone much warmer than the first time they talked. The candles all around the room made her face have an orange tint to it. Her eyes had that hopeful shine he first saw before the masters rejected her.
Aang brought hope back to her.
—Thank you.
She said one more time, slightly bowing her head to him, making Aang smile really widely. "the timing is perfect, just do it" Katara thought and put her hands on his back, dragging him into a hug, letting her head relax on his shoulder. This time he responded back, respectfully letting his hands rest on her back, enjoying the hug as much as it lasted. When Katara broke the hug, they both looked disappointed.
As they started chatting about Aang's failure at water bending, Katara gave him some advice she learned by herself, but also kept her ears open for everything that Aang said. The airbender had what she was missing, a teacher to explain moves. She listened to Aang trying to remember Pakku's exact words.
The Water Tribe woman finally yawned. It was 10pm at night, but it was still daylight outside, the avatar stopped talking and smiled at her, soon the two made eye contact, his smile faded in admiration.
The atmosphere got heavy, both of them staring into each other's eyes, arms gently touching from the time they were talking. Katara opened her mouth slightly, maybe out of shock, or maybe she wanted to say something, she didn't know either. Aang looked at her lips and gulped, looked back at her seeing her doing the same thing and decided to close the distance between them, pressing his lips over hers.
The tanned woman stood there confused for a second before closing her eyes for a few seconds, forgetting about her worries, finally enjoying herself, but soon pleasure turned into guilt and she broke the kiss with an upset look.
Aang felt like he messed up and looked at her with worry, starting to shake. He couldn't utter a word, as he was looking at her put her hand over her mouth looking at him with a frown on her face and tears in her eyes
—Go.
She said coldly.
—W-what-
He tried speaking and looked at her, trying to show her how much he regretted what just happened, but she didn't even look at him.
—Please.. Just go.
She said one more time and he stood up.
—I'm so sorry..
He said glancing at her one more time, then left.
Katara looked down at her lap, with an empty expression, trying to process everything that has happened. She touched her lips and closed her eyes, remembering how soft and freely his lips felt over hers. "Ugh, he probably thinks I hate him now!" she said and bit her lip, putting herself under the blanket, crying and overthinking everything that happened, in all ways she tried to take it, she just couldn't regret that they kissed. She felt guilty, guilty that she enjoyed his kiss, guilty because she knew that was wrong.
When Aang exited the tent, with the two scrolls in his hands, he couldn't even look around to make sure no one saw him. How could he mess up so badly? He kept asking himself and tried his best not to cry, but he doesn't know that not everybody was in their rooms, preparing to sleep.
Pakku was outside of his tent, annoyed at the way one of the skins was laying and tried to fix it, when he saw one of the tents opening with the corner of his eye, he walked silently, trying to stay as quiet and stiff as possible so he couldn't be noticed by the boy walking with something in his hand that he was not able to see, because of the distance.
He couldn't believe his eyes. The avatar was leaving the chief's daughter' tent.
A/N: well the next chapter gonna contain some trigger warnings (physical abuse and sl*t shaming probably)
TheQuietReader: omg, thank you so much for the long recension it made me feel so good, I really appreciate it!!Well, I really like Sukka too, but more people voted on Tokka, I'm so sorry if it will make you uncomfortable.
I'm not sure how long I will make this book and I don't know if I should follow the original plan or just make them stay at the South Pole.I was originally planning Katara to talk about the reason why she should feel guilty in this chapter, but then it just didn't work so I guess I'm gonna leave it to you to guess.
Ashely Barbosa: aw , we still don't have any answer, but maybe next chapter? or the other one after it? I have no idea.And poor Aang, after this chapter, he really needs a bigger hug.oh and, he won't be as sensitive all the time, it's just a rough time.
Now for the question:
If I decide to make it longer, should Zuko or Azula be the villain? Oh, or Zhao?