Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or its characters.

83

Aang twirled a thick lock of Katara's long hair between his fingers. It flowed through his fingers like silk, like water come to life, the flow of a creek over its bed. "You have such beautiful hair," he sighed in appreciation. "I love looking at it."

"And tangling it," Katara added, her face resting on his bare chest.

"I'm untangling it," he chuckled. "Using my fingers like a comb."

"Wait til you pull them away," she smirked, turning her head to look up at him through dark lashes. "Hair everywhere. It may be beautiful, but it sheds."

Aang pulled his hand away and made a face when he discovered she was right. Strands clung to him, swaying like spider's webs caught in the breeze as he shook his hand to free himself of them.

"You can add it to my list of imperfections," she said, laughing. "Short-tempered, occasionally impatient. Sheds like a dog."

He grinned above her. "And scary."

"I'm not scary."

"You're a little scary."

She pouted. "How so?"

"When you don't get your way," he said, frowning lightly in thought. "It can be a little scary."

"You make me sound spoiled."

"No, it's not that," he corrected. "It's like you know you're right- and you usually are, that's the hard part about it. You have this way about you that just seems... maternally frightening. I'm afraid to disappoint you."

Katara gave him a pained look. "'Maternal' is not really a word I want you to associate with me."

"It's not a bad thing, Katara."

"It sounds... unsexy," she complained.

Aang laughed, before pulling her closer and pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "There's plenty of other things about you that are sexy. You're so sexy, Katara, it's frightening."

"Dating me must be terrifying, then," Katara said dryly.

"Terrifying, exhilarating. The reason I wake up in the morning."

She turned her head away, casting her eyes down. "I don't have to be the only reason you wake up in the morning."

He almost scowled at her veiled implication. They'd gone the whole day without mentioning the job offer. A whole day of bliss, spent in the spring-time sunshine, amid flowers and greenery as the weather began it's inexorable turn towards summer. And then an evening in each other's arms, when the last rays of the sun cast dust-laden beams across their intertwined bodies.

"You're not the only reason I wake up in the morning," he said finally. "I have two jobs. And school."

"And an offer for an even better-"

"Katara, please," he cut her off. "I don't want to talk about this. I told you I'd think about it, and I did."

She sat up, pulling the sheets around her, hiding her body from him in vulnerability. "Think about what it could mean for you."

"I did. It could mean a great job for me, and possibly the end of our relationship as we know it."

"You don't know that it would mean the end for us," she said firmly, hitching the sheet up a little higher. "I know I could survive a long distance relationship with you. I know we could do it."

Aang leaned up on one elbow. "It's my decision, Katara. And I made it. I don't want to survive our relationship. I want it to thrive, and that means staying here. Please, can we drop this?"

She chewed her lower lip. "Let me ask one more question, and then I'll drop it."

"Fine," he sighed, waving for her to continue.

"If I could come with you, would you go? Would you take the job, if I went, too?"

He drew in another deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Yes," he admitted. "Yea, I probably would." He looked up at her, willing her to understand. "But I'm not asking you to leave, and I'm not leaving you behind. Now, please, I beg you; let it go."

There was a moment of time, little more than the span of two heartbeats, where a thousand fears and words lay within her eyes and he knew he had not said enough to allay them. But the moment passed, and she lay back down, her head resting over his own heartbeat. And, for the rest of the night, they didn't speak of it again.

"How'd your fitting go the other day?" Suki asked as Sokka strode into the room, a towel around his hips. "I meant to ask, but it slipped my mind."

He was fresh from the shower, and he gave her a pointed look at her sprawled position on the bed. She bit her lip guiltily; she had just come back from Aikido training, and had dropped immediately onto the bed in exhaustion. If she had caught Sokka doing the same thing, she would have given him an earful, and they both knew it.

Sokka shook his head in exasperation, but let the subject go unbroached. "The fitting went fine," he said instead. "I clean up nice."

"Mmm, I'll bet you do," she murmured. She picked her head up to ogle the broad span of his shoulders, the way his back muscles moved in synchronization as he leaned over to pull clean underwear from his drawer. "I can't wait to see you in that suit. The only thing I'm looking forward to more is getting you out of it."

"I'm literally naked right now," he laughed. "How will it be any different?"

She rolled over to face him, resting her head on one hand. "It's all in the presentation, you understand? If I go to the grocery store and buy you a cupcake in one of those cheap little plastic containers from off the shelf, it's boring. Mundane. But if I go to the bakery in that same grocery store and buy you a fresh cupcake in those cute little cardboard containers they have- the ones they wrap with ribbon-, it's completely different. Now, it's delightful. Now, it's special."

"The cupcake will taste the same no matter what container it comes in," Sokka argued.

Suki grinned. "But I'll take more pleasure in unwrapping it."

He laughed aloud. "You're ridiculous."

"You love me."

"More than anything," he agreed as he pulled open his sock drawer. "Ah, shit," he complained. "I'm out of socks."

She sat up. "There's a pair right there," she said, pointing at the last pair in the drawer.

He glanced at the neatly folded socks, a faint blush on his cheeks. "I don't like those socks."

"Why not?"

"They're not comfortable."

Suki gave him a strange look. "Then, get rid of them."

"No," he said. "That's wasteful."

"You're wasting them by not wearing them. Here," she said, standing to go to the sock drawer and reaching for them. "I'll throw them away for you."

He moved to block her. "Why don't you mind your own sock drawer, Suki? You're giving me a hard time, but I've seen the way yours overflows. You easily have fifty pairs of socks in there."

"Are you seriously not letting me throw that pair of socks away?"

"Socks are an emotional investment, Suki. I have an emotional attachment to them."

She snorted with amused derision, but turned to toss herself bodily back onto the bed. "That's stupid."

"Go throw away your own socks, if it means that much to you," he said, closing his sock drawer firmly.

"It's a good thing I trust you," she sighed, closing her eyes. "Otherwise, I'd be worried about what you're hiding in there. A weapon, perhaps. Or, maybe something sexual, like a cock ring."

"A butt plug, actually."

Suki chortled. "A million dollars."

"The key to nuclear fusion."

"The tattered remains of your robe."

He bit his lip. "An engagement ring."

She lifted her head to glare at him for a moment, before dropping it back onto the bed. After a moment, she began to laugh again. "You're so stupid," she said, shaking her head at his joke.

A/N: it's coming. Hang in there. I sat down and wrote like 8 chapters this weekend.