Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.
48
"Oh, Spirits," Katara whimpered. "Oh Spirits, oh Spirits..."
Aang rubbed her back encouragingly. "You're doing great, Katara. You're almost there." And she was. Another ten feet, and she'd be at the top. "Just... just reach for that green one, that's it. And take another step... and another."
She didn't have far to go, but he could see her entire body trembling. "How far now?"
"Five more feet."
"This better be some surprise," she threatened. "I feel like I'm about to pass out."
He smiled. "I think it's a good one."
Her hand was trembling as she hit the faded green button at the top, a half-hearted 'You did it!' blaring out in a static-y voice. She turned to face him where he hovered around her, her eyes looking into his as if her life depended on it.
"My surprise?" she demanded. Even her voice trembled.
He reached above the edge of the high wall, pulling the little envelope he'd asked the employees of the gym to place there before their arrival.
"You're going to have to open it," she said. "I can't move."
Aang laughed a little. "Well, I already know what's in it, so it's kind of pointless for me to open it."
She glared at him. "What do you want me to do, then?"
"Let's go down real quick, and you can open it at the bottom."
At his words, Katara's eyes trained downward to the heavily matted gym floor below them, and the color quite literally drained from her face. Beneath her warm brown skin came a deathly pallor, and her trembling intensified.
"Are you okay?" he asked, alarmed. "Are you- Katara!"
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell limply away from the wall. The belayer on her line far below her scrambled to take tension, and she literally hung lifeless as he slowly descended her from the floor. Aang jumped away from the wall, dropping quickly, his belayer seeming to sense his haste and bringing him to the floor before Katara. Reaching above him, Aang caught her in his arms, cradling her against him protectively. He placed a fingertip above the fluttering pulse against her throat, and felt a trace of relief at the steady little beat he found there.
"She's fine," he told the pale-faced employees who hovered around them. "She should be awake in a moment."
"You shouldn't have taken her up that high," one of the employees accused him. "We have to call an ambulance."
"Fine, call," Aang said, waving him away. Katara's eyes were fluttering open, and some color was returning to her cheeks. "Are you okay?" he asked when her blue eyes met his.
"Am I dead?" she asked wryly. She sat up gingerly and looked around, noting all the fellow gym-goers and employees staring at her with concern. "Oh, wow, this is probably the most humiliated I've ever been in my entire life."
Aang winced. "Surprise?" he chuckled nervously.
She glared at him. "Okay, so now that I've embarrassed myself in front of thirty people and faced one of my deepest, darkest fears, what's the actual surprise?"
Zuko sipped his coffee, his attention wholly focused on the tea shop's budget for the month. As he entered this week's expenses, stifling his frustration at the delays in construction of the ordering station and point of sale, someone sat in the empty chair next to him. He almost rolled his eyes. There was an etiquette, for goodness sake. You don't sit in the empty chair right next to someone when there was a plethora of empty chairs scattered haphazardly throughout the coffee shop. It's just not done. He turned to glare at the offending person, to utilize his scar in the only thing for which it had proven useful; frightening people away.
But it was the girl from the interview, Mai, and she watched him with scarcely concealed amusement in her sultry eyes. It was her eyes that he'd thought of in the week since he'd hired her. Placidly mirthful, somehow, and he couldn't quite figure that out. She leaned back in her armchair, one leg crossed neatly over the other, as she sipped some drink hidden in her little cardboard cup.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Don't you have your own coffee shop?"
"It's a tea shop. And I'm scoping out the competition," he said, shrugging.
She smirked. "Corporate espionage is illegal."
"Only if you get caught."
Mai laughed before looking away, one hand running through the shining length of her blue-black hair, and for a while, they sat in contented silence. He typed away at his computer, stealing little glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking, but after a while, he caught her watching him, one eyebrow quirked up in that dry amusement that intrigued him more than he wanted it to.
He huffed in embarrassed irritation. "Why are you here?" he asked finally.
In response, she held her coffee cup aloft, wiggling it with another amused little smirk on her face.
"That's not what I meant. Why are you here?" He gestured to the chair she occupied. "There's, like, ten empty chairs."
It was her turn to shrug. "I wanted this one. Is that a problem?"
He blinked. "No- I guess not. It's just... I mean, people don't usually want to sit next to me."
"Because of the scar?"
Zuko scowled darkly at her direct response. "That wasn't very polite," he admonished in a mutter. "But... yea."
"Sorry," she said, and though her tone wasn't overly apologetic, he could tell she meant it. He got the sense that she didn't say things that she didn't mean. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... well, it is rather noticeable."
"Is it?" he asked sarcastically. "I wasn't sure."
She laughed, and despite the strange tone of this candid conversation, he found himself chuckling, too. The dark-haired girl took another sip of her coffee, eyeing him speculatively over the lid of her cup. "How'd you get it? If you don't mind my asking."
He did- ordinarily. But she seemed quietly accepting, a genuine sort of aura that lent the impression that she would be sympathetic without making him feel pathetic. "I was in the United Forces. You remember a year ago, when there was that trouble with those warlords near Kyoshi?"
She nodded.
"A grenade blew while I was clearing a building," he explained. "Caught it full in the face."
Her eyes caught his, and in them, he could see no trace of the discomfort that people normally experienced when he shared the story. She reached out and put her hand on his. "I'm sorry," she said simply.
"It's fine," he answered, looking away uncomfortably. "It's not so bad- I mean, I'm only terrifying. I'm not missing any limbs."
When he looked back at her, there was a strange look on her face, a light in her eyes and a blush on her cheeks. "That's a subjective statement."
"Do you not see the scar?"
"I see it," she answered. "But, terrifying? No, I don't think so."
He blushed, too, and ducked his head back to his computer, unsure of how to respond.
After a while, she drained her drink, and stood, straightening her dress. "I'll see you again soon, Zuko."
"See you soon."
A/N: I have to think of a suitable surprise for Katara haha. Suggestions?