Hello after abandoning fanfictions for a long time im back with an Atla fanfiction! This one-shot takes place sometime during the Avatar the Last Airbender episode, "The Headband" where Aang joins the Fire Nation school and hosts the dance in the cave.
"That settles it. No more school for you young man."
After sneaking into the Fire Nation, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph lived in a cave. Aang attended a Fire Nation School so he could learn more about the Fire nation to face the Fire Lord. However, Aang got in a fight at school and Sokka and Katara had to pretend to be his parents after facing the principal.
"I'm not ready to leave." Aang answered. "I'm having fun for once and just becoming a normal kid." Aang walked over to Appa, his flying bison. "You don't know what its like, Sokka. You get to be normal all the time."
"Ha, Ha." Toph chuckled. Unlike Katara, Toph, and Aang, Sokka was not a bender.
"Listen, you guys. Those kids at school are the future of the fire nation. If we want to change this place for the better we have to show them a way of freedom."
"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved fire nation monsters?" Sokka retorted.
"I'm going to throw them a secret dance party!" Aang happily replied.
"A dance party?" Katara questioned.
"Yeah, I know a few ancient fire nation dances." Aang answered.
"You? Dancing?" Toph answered.
Sokka pulled off his fake beard and paced the room. "Are they coming here?"
"Yeah, tomorrow night!" Aang answered.
Sokka groaned. "Go to your room." He answered jokingly.
Later that night, Katara walked over to Aang when they were finally alone. Aang saw the nervous look on her face.
"What's wrong Katara?" Aang asked.
"Well, how do you expect to throw a dance party if you can't..."
"Can't what?" Aang asked.
"Do you know how to dance?" Katara replied.
"Of course I can!" Aang answered. He stood up and the two went outside of the cave.
"This one's called the phoenix flight." Aang instructed as he ran in a circle with his arms behind his back. "And this one is called the Camelphant strut-"
"Aang, I'm not talking about that kind of dancing. That's just silly."
"What kind of dancing?" Aang asked.
"Uh, like two- person dancing." Katara replied.
Aang froze and stared at her.
"Well do you know how?" Katara asked.
"Uh... no?" Aang asked. "That's-"
"I'll teach you," Katara said, grabbing his hand. Aang's face flushed red.
"Uh..." Aang trailed off.
"Your right hand goes with my left hand." Katara said. "And your left hand is behind my back like this." Katara guided Aang's hand to her waist, and Aang blushed even more. This wasn't Aang's first time touching Katara, since he had held her hand and hugged her, but this was something different. Katara put her hand on his shoulder and continued instructing him.
"And then, you move your feet like this." Katara said. Aang looked down at Katara's feet. "Do the opposite of what I do. When I move my left foot forward, you move your right foot back. Then you move your left foot forward and I'll move my right foot back. Then we move like this. Katara stepped back and Aang nearly tripped stepping forward. Katara moved slowly forward and Aang clumsily moved back. They kept doing this, and slowly Aang got the foot pattern.
"You're doing great!" Katara asked. "It took me longer than that to learn this dance."
"I think I knew how to do this in one of my past lives." Aang said.
"Who?" Katara asked, continuing to dance with him.
"Avatar Kuruk. He was a waterbender Avatar."
"This is a waterbending dance." Katara added. "The way we move back and forth resembles the water pushing forward and back against the sandy shores."
Aang tuned out of what Katara was saying. He had never touched a girl like this, never danced with one either. His hand slowly lifted off her waist and hovered over it. Instead of moving like water, he felt like a walking tree, or a dancing tree. He avoided looking into her eyes, otherwise she would notice him blushing. Katara however had noticed a long time ago.
"Aang, you're moving too stifly. Relax." Katara said, and let go of his shoulder to correct Aang's hand position onto her waist. Aang loosed up, but forgot to continue the foot pattern of a split second. He brought his foot forward which collided with Katara's foot. Katara stumbled back bringing Aang with her. She fell back bringing Aang on top of her.
It took a few seconds to realize what had happened. All Aang could see was Katara face, and her eyes bulging. He tried to move his mouth and realized that it was locked with someone elses. Aang gasped and rolled off of Katara. His eyes were bulging too and his face was all red in embarrassment.
"I'm so sorry!" Aang quickly apologized. "Are you ok?" Katara sat up with her face red also.
"I'm ok, Aang." Katara answered. "It was an accident. The two stood up."
"Hey are you two going to help?" Sokka shouted from deep inside the cave. "I'm not setting up your dance party for you by myself."
"You?" Toph retorted. "I'm the one doing all the work!"
"It's not my fault I'm not a bender." Sokka retorted.
"We're coming!" Katara answered. She entered the cave and glanced back at Aang who looked away. Being the Avatar, Aang had a lot to do and had no time for romance. He admired Katara a lot but still didn't know how to tell her. He shrugged it off and entered the cave.