Aang looked at the clock. It was approaching seven. *Will Katara HURRY UP?!* He thought as he paced outside the bathroom that Katara occupied. *If she keeps this up we are going to be-* he paused in the middle of his train of thought as Katara excited the bathroom.
"Ready to go?" She asked. Aang stood there for a moment, gaping at her. She was wearing a silky green dress which clung to her in all the right places, and her hair in her tradition "hair loopies".
"Uh... yeah..." He said, still staring at her decidedly beautiful figure. She smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.
"You're adorable when you're gaping at me," she giggled.
"Well, er, you're beautiful, er, all the time," he stammered out. She giggled again. "Especially now," he said, tearing his eyes from her bodice and looking into those clear blue eyes.
"You really think so?" She asked nervously as she fiddled with her dress, unsure.
"Yes. I really do. You're beautiful, no matter what you wear," he affirmed, regaining his ability to speak clearly. He leaned forward and kissed her. He maneuvered his tongue slowly into her mouth in a well practiced manner as he hugged her. When their tongues touched they both shivered in pleasure. After a moment of their lips and tongue interlocking they released from their embrace. They looked at each other. Aang realized suddenly that he was as tall as her, maybe even a bit taller.
"Imagine if," she giggled, "Sokka saw that."
"I don't think I want to, seen as it would probably involve being chased and murdered," he responded with a wry smile. She giggled again. Aang looked at the clock.
"Gah!" He exclaimed looking at the clock. "We need to go! We are so gonna be late." He lamented. She looked at the clock with a gasp.
"Uh oh," she said, already rushing towards the door. She turned to look at him. "Last one there has to explain to Sokka what delayed us!" She challenged, smirking at the look of horror and determination on Aang's face. She ran out the door before Aang could reply, and Aang grinned and followed.
Katara had a head start, and was running determinedly down the streets of Ba Sing Se. Aang used airbending and easily ran up aside Katara, grinning.
"Hey! No fair!" She said to him, though she was grinning playfully.
"No one said bending wasn't allowed," he replied, shrugging.
"Alright then," she replied, bending water out of a nearby fountain and throwing it at him, knocking him off his feet before he could defend himself. He did a sort of floating kip-up and saw Katara already sliding down the street on a wave. He grinned and did the air scooter move. He laughed, "I have you now Katara!" He yelled and flew after her. She turned and grinned. She started moving faster, her wave propelling her at high speeds. Aang flew above her and leaned down. He then started tickling her neck —which he knew to be a sensitive spot— she shrieked with laughter and water whipped him with the water in the canteen she took everywhere. He yelped and flew in front of her —turned towards her—, grinning wildly. Katara laughed and Aang spun around and flew off down the street towards their destination.
A few minutes later Katara jogged down the road towards Iroh's tea shop, which was the decided meeting place for the "Gaang" as Sokka called it. Aang stood on the rooftop of the store across from the tea shop and watched as Katara looked around while she jogged the last few yards towards the door. Aang jumped down from the rooftop and activated his glider, flying down towards his girlfriend. He landed right behind her and cleared his throat. Katara jumped and started turning around, already moving into a water bending pose. He kissed her and she tensed in surprise, but then relaxed into it as she realized it was Aang. She kissed him back. She groaned and Aang pulled away, grinning.
"You surprised me," she said, her breathlessness from the run enhanced by the kiss.
"I'm good at that," he said, still grinning. She smirked.
"I suppose so," she said after she mock considered. "You wanna go inside?" She asked, and immediately thought of how the airbender won their race. Aang saw her expression, and took pity on her.
"Sure. How about this: we face Sokka together," he inquired, searching her beautiful face. She immediately brightened.
"Yes!" She exclaimed and pulled Aang into the teahouse.
"Finally! You could have at least come in here before getting all kissy kissy; Zuko said we need to wait for you two to get before we eat so Snoozles here has been getting his undergarments in a bunch," Toph exclaimed in a rush. Both Aang and Katara went beet red at that kissing comment.
"Kissy kissy? KISSY KISSY?! YOU'RE SAYING I'VE BEEN STARVING JUST BECAUSE YOU TWO WANTED TO KISS?!" Sokka exclaimed.
"I wish I didn't offer to help you with Sokka," he whispered to her.
"Hah! Probably should have thought that through better eh?" Katara replied laughing.
"What are you two on about?!" Sokka asked them.
"Hi guys!" Katara said to Suki, Zuko, Mai, and Toph, ignoring Sokka.
"Hi Katara," they chorused.
"Hey Sugar Queen," Toph said to Katara, smirking at her own use of the nickname she gave Katara.
"Er, uh, hi guys," Aang said hesitantly, still watching Sokka's furious form. They all responded in kind.
"Well Aang? Are you going to explain why we were late?" Katara asked sweetly. Aang glared at her.
"This was supposed to be a group effort!" He said to Katara. The group looked at the pair quizzically.
"Oh all right fine. I'll do the first part you do the second?" She asked.
"Fine," he grumbled, watching Sokka glare at them. He moved his gaze to Zuko, who gave a smirk and a reassuring nod, and to Suki who rolled her eyes at Sokka.
"Well, I was taking a bit too long in the bathroom because my hair was a complete mess, when I came out Aang stammered out how beautiful I am," everyone looked at him and he blushed crimson. Suki smiled pityingly at him and Sokka stared daggers at him, "and kissed me. Now, you could see how that was a little time consuming and distracting. Aang realized we were gonna be late so we stopped," she finished simply.
"That doesn't explain why you guys are out of breath and soaked," Suki pointed out.
"Well, that was because we had a race here to see who had to explain this whole ordeal to Sokka. I won of course," he said with such seriousness that everyone besides Sokka, who stood there looking positively enraged, started laughing. He cracked a goofy grin. "I then waited on the top of the building across from here for her. When she came jogging up the street I glided down behind her and kissed her," he looked at Toph, "though I suppose you knew that," he said.
"Yup."
"Ugh. Seismic sense is such an invasion of privacy," he lamented.
"Oh shut up Twinkle Toes; let's see you get around blind without it and THEN we'll talk," she declared, crossing her arms. He put his hands up in defeat.
"I can't BELIEVE you made us wait so long," at this Suki scoffed, "just so you could kiss. Disgusting!" Sokka exclaimed. Aang grinned and kissed Katara, feeling Sokka's eyes burn into his skull. The others laughed again.
Iroh came out of the back and announced that they should get started with the meal. Sokka readily agreed, his anger at Aang and Katara replaced temporary with hunger. They all sat down at the giant table Iroh had set up for them. Aang lead Katara over to a seat near the end and sat down next to her. Sokka glared at them again, and Aang just grinned and shrugged. He turned to the rest of the faces at the table. Everyone was looking at him, and silence reigned.
"Why are you all looking at me?" He asked curiously. Before anyone could answer Toph's voice rang out.
"Because you're the AVATAR," she exclaimed, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh no!" He said in mock distress, "you found out my secret! So?" Laughing again.
"Well, we all kinda look to you as the leader," Suki said.
"O-Kay... Aang replied, wondering where this was going.
"You can be such an idiot sometimes Twinkle Toes," Toph said, shaking her head, "WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO DO!" She exclaimed. Katara heard Aang inhale sharply. She grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed reassuringly. He relaxed almost immediately. She could see him pull himself together.
"Uh... well, er, I shouldn't be the authority on this. I don't care what we do as long as; we do it together; it's fun; and Sokka doesn't raise objections every time I kiss Katara," he said slyly.
"Alright then. Why don't we eat the food and talk for now. We can do other stuff later. I want to know when you will be moving back into the house again Toph," Katara interceded before Sokka could retort. She felt as Aang exhaled appreciatively at Katara's help. He squeezed her hand and kissed her lightly. When Sokka started to protest Aang lazily waved his hand and the air in the building blew into Sokka's face. At the same moment Katara waterbended the tea in Sokka's cup into his face. The result was hot water blown into his sinuses. He shrieked and fell out of his chair yelling about his head being on fire. Katara and Aang looked at each other in surprise and grinned. Zuko looked at the two and shook his head, smiling.
"Let's hope for Sokka's sake that he learned his lesson," Zuko said. Suki glared at the three of them, and looked back at her whimpering boyfriend, and started laughing.
"Oh Sokka. You should know better than to mess with the Avatar and his girlfriend," she teased.
"I... want to... kill them," Sokka sputtered.
"Now now Sokka; you wouldn't want ACUAL fire in your sinuses would you?" Toph asked sweetly, her face barely restraining a grin.
Everyone, even Sokka started laughing.
"Seriously Toph," Katara started when the laughter died down, "when are you going to move back in? It's getting lonely with just Sokka and Suki to keep us company,"
"Soon, I hope. My mother," she said "mother" with venom, "is reluctant to allow me to live with you. I'm almost to the point of running away again," she reported angrily.
"Don't do that," Aang said softly, yet every head turned towards him.
"Don't do what?!" Toph said, starting to get fired up. Aang's eyes widened and he realized that he needed to play this well to get off without any bruises.
"I just mean... family is important. I never had a family until I met Katara and Sokka. I never had a mother or father. I love Katara," he sighed dramatically, "and yes, Sokka, with all my heart, but, it isn't the same. Katara, even though we all know she tries," everyone chuckled, and Katara looked indignant, "can't replace my mother. Same with Sokka. Even if you feel more at home here; if you feel like your real family is here, don't give up your mother and father. At least you have a choice. I didn't. Just... try and get along with them. You don't have to get along well, but, at least try," he ended slightly pathetically. He looked around the table to see everyone looking at him, even Sokka; who was really touched that Aang said he loved him. Why do they have to do that?! He wondered, annoyed. Katara looked at her boyfriend in a new light. She realized that, she had known Aang hadn't had a mom or dad, but it never really came up. He acted so much like a normal kid that it was easy to forget that he didn't have parents. She put her arm around him and kissed him. Toph looked towards him, understanding etched on her face.
"Alright. I'll try." Toph said, after a long moment of considering.
"Well, with that heartfelt discussion out of the way, I just wanted to say that I sadly will probably only be at the house on occasional vacations," Zuko said after a pause.
"Thats fine. Royal royalty and all," Aang said, "and anyways, I'm probably gonna head over to the Eastern Air Temple and try and fix it up. The fire nation really destroyed the place," he said sadly. Zuko looked at his feet and shifted uncomfortably.
"Well I'm coming with you," Katara declared.
"You are?!" Aang said, surprised but very pleased.
"Of course silly. Do you honestly think I'm going to let you do that all on your own? Especially with all of the bodies," Zuko felt burning guilt at that moment and Mai must have seen because she said:
"It wasn't your fault Zuko."
"I know... it's just I feel bad for you, Aang. For a lot of stuff,"
"Nah it's fine. Honest. And, anyways, if the fire nation hadn't started the whole war thing then I wouldn't have gotten stuck in the iceberg and met Katara," he said cheerfully as Katara blushed, "or any of you," he said as an afterthought.
"But not just that. I mean-" Zuko started, but Aang cut him off.
"All is forgiven, alright? As long as you don't try and... I don't know... steal Katara, or become an evil dictator, than we're good," Aang said. Zuko chuckled and shook the young Avatar's hand.
"There's no danger of either happening," Zuko said happily as he looked at Mai and kissed her. Then Aang looked at Katara but before they could kiss too Sokka intervened.
"Nope. Not a chance guys," Sokka told the pair.
"Really? And what are you gonna do if I do? Boomerang-bend?" Aang asked to more laughter. Sokka went puce. Aang grinned and kissed Katara. When it looked to the group like they were going to forget they were there Zuko cleared his throat loudly. They broke off, and they weren't embarrassed in the least. They were both beaming. Sokka looked even more put off than usual until Suki kissed him lightly. Toph fake coughed.
"Well, unless you guys want to find me a boyfriend, I would advise you keep the kissing to a minimum. It's really annoying to be in a room where everyone is kissing besides you." Aang just grinned.
"Well, I'm sure Appa would kiss you," he joked.
"Hey... where is the big fuzzy furball? As a matter of fact, where is Momo too?!" Sokka asked.
"Appa's at home because I could exactly bring him in here could I? And Momo is hanging with Appa," Aang replied.
"Pity. I always liked Appa. He got us where we needed to go," Zuko lamented.
"Yeah, well, speak for yourself. You never got woken up by him," Sokka retorted, grouchily.
"That WAS great," Katara said, smirking.
"That's because it didn't happen to you," Sokka snorted.
They finished their meal amidst casual conversation. When they —well, Sokka— finally finished their food they came back to the same problem.
"So, what are we doing Aang?" Suki asked. Katara knew her boyfriend was groaning inwardly right then so she quickly said "Lets play Who's Most Likely To". Aang gave an audible sigh of relief and he said "Yes. That. Whatever that is," Katara grinned.
"Sounds good. Just explain the rules," Zuko said.
"Alright. Basically one person says 'who's most likely to blank' and we have three seconds to choose. When the three seconds are over everyone points to the person they think is most likely to do said thing and whoever get the most fingers is out. Rinse and repeat until you have the last two, which at that point everyone who was disqualified votes instead of the remaining players. Last one standing wins," Katara explained.
"Awesome. Who's most likely to burn themselves?" Suki said. They counted to three and they pointed. Katara, Aang, Suki, Zuko and Toph —who said the name of her choice since she couldn't see— pointed at Sokka. Sokka, and Mai pointed at Zuko.
"Agh. Fine," Sokka said as he was eliminated. Mai then said who was most likely to read a book.
"Hah! Safe!" Toph cried. Katara pointed at Suki. Everyone else pointed at Katara.
"Psh. I don't read. Why would I?" She said, but she got admitted defeat anyways. Aang asked who was most likely to have kids. Aang pointed at Suki, but everyone else pointed at him (Sokka took this chance to sputter incoherently while looking at Katara and Aang).
"Oh alright, I see your point," Aang said and surrendered, kissing Katara. Sokka sputtered even more. Katara grinned at him which only made it worse. The next round Zuko asked who was most likely to kill someone. Everyone pointed at Toph who said Zuko.
"Well? Who lost?" She asked after a moment of silence.
"Oh, uh, right. Haha... blind. It's, uh, you," Suki said.
"Ugh. All right. Just so you know, I'm not that violent," Toph said.
"Uhuh," Sokka replied, apparently unconvinced. Next round it was who was most likely to die.
"Cheery subjects aren't these Aang?" Sokka said. Aang nodded solemnly. Katara squeezed his hand again. Zuko lost that round. In the final round the question was "Who is more likely to marry first," Mai won that one. After that they played several more games of Who Is More Likely, but after the fifth game, and the fourth Sokka had been out first, he declared that he wanted to play a game that wasn't rigged.
"Sokka, you can't rig this type of game," Katara said, laughing at Sokka. Aang grinned.
"I've got to say, Katara is right about this," he agreed.
"Well of course you agree! You guys are bleeding soul mates!" Sokka exclaimed waving his arms, wildly. Katara and Aang looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles. Zuko looked at the pair smirking. He realized that Sokka was right; they were soul mates. This thought surprised him, though, even Sokka has to be right some time. He watched the two young teenagers recover from their laughing fit, and they looked at each other again, and fell back down giggling again. Soul mates indeed. Zuko shook his head in amusement.
"Sokka," Aang started through rapid breaths as he recovered from all the laughing he had just done, "the game isn't rigged. But I do agree on that soul mates thing," he said with a grin and despite Sokka's protests, kissed Katara.
"I regret saying that," Sokka said ruefully. Suki chuckled.
"You're going to have to get used to that you know," she said as Aang and Katara broke apart, both grinning ear to ear.
"Do I have to?" Sokka whined.
"I'm afraid you do," Zuko said in a sad voice, though his face was split in a grin. Even Mai, ever sulky and depressing had a smirk on her face.
"It looks like the Twinkle-Queen ship is here to stay," Toph said with a smile in her voice. Sokka was looking at the roof as if the entire conversation wasn't happening.
"Can we play some other game? How about How's Your's?" Sokka said, trying to break the conversation up.
"Sure. Why not?" Katara said.
"You need to explain again," Aang reminded her.
"I know," she responded. "We pick one person to be 'it' and send them from the room. With the people remaining, select a common trait: hair, articles of clothing, or body parts all work. When the person returns, they'll ask someone, 'How's yours?' That person should then give a one-word adjective to describe their trait. Repeat until the person asking guesses the trait," Katara explained.
"Alright," Aang said, nodding.
"I'll go first," Zuko said and left the room.
"Let's do... noses," Toph said. Everyone murmured their assent. They called Zuko back in and he walked over to Katara.
"How's yours?" He asked.
"Dry." He nodded, deep in thought and walked over to Aang.
"How's yours?"
"Protruding." He moved to Sokka, then Mai, then Suki, then Toph.
"Alright I give up. What was it?" Zuko asked. Aang grinned and put his arm around Katara's waist.
"It was 'nose'" Suki informed him, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend who was dancing and whooping.
"Ah... that was hard," he replied. Suki nodded in understanding.
"I think Aang should go next. Let's see how the mighty Avatar does!" Sokka said.
"I'm fine with that," Aang said, amused at Sokka's behavior. The others nodded. Aang left the room.
"Let's do clothes," Sokka said. Suki grunted in agreement.
"Cool," Katara said. And called Aang back in and went straight for her, a mischievous smile on his face. That smile alone was enough to worry Katara.
"How's yours?"
"Tight."
"In all the right places," he muttered and she blushed. His grin turned from mischievous to flirty.
He walked over to Toph —who was wearing a loose tunic and baggy pants— and asked
"How's yours?"
"Comfortable." He moved over to Zuko.
"How's yours?"
"Stiff." Aang snorted. Zuko was wearing his "conservative" royal robes.
"Alright, is it... clothes?" He asked the room.
"How did you know?" Mai asked, surprised at the young Avatar.
"Well," he blushed, "all the descriptions seemed to fit. And, also after Katara said 'tight' I kinda unconsciously said 'in all the right places' and Katara blushed," he explained blushing furiously. Sokka looked irate.
"You- you-" he started. Suki laughed at him.
"Give him a break," she said as Sokka stuttered threats.
They played that through the night, until about two, when Toph said she needed to get back.
"My parents told me to be in my bed at dawn, so, I suppose I should start off now," she said with a shrug, then left.
Soon after that Zuko said that he and Mai needed to get home before the Royal Guard decided he had been kidnapped. That left Sokka, Suki, Aang, Katara, and Iroh.
"You four should go home soon," Iroh advised.
"I'm not going home before those two," Sokka said, crossing his arms defiantly. Suki glared at Sokka and looked apologetically at Katara, who nodded understandingly.
"Come on Sokka. I'll make it worth your while," she said suggestively. Sokka gave one last look at Aang and Katara and then submitted to his girlfriend and walked back to the house. Aang and Katara looked at each other.
"Are you guys going to leave?" Iroh asked, watching the wordless interplay between the two. Aang shrugged almost imperceptibly, and Katara raised an eyebrow and tilted her head towards the door the other couple had just left through. Aang looked out the door at the receding pair and then shook his head slightly. Katara nodded.
"We're going to stay for a bit if that's ok with you Iroh," Aang said, turning to the balding man in front of him. "And, if you have any tea we'd love some,"
"Of course Master Avatar," Iroh smirked. Aang groaned. "Kidding. Just kidding. No need to work yourself up," Iroh said lightly as he grabbed a kettle of cold tea from the party and sent a jet of fire at it, making it steam again. He then poured into the duo's cups as they sat down at the now nearly abandoned table. He realized that the two needed time alone and excused himself, making up something about the kitchens. He instead moved to the balcony and watched the stars.
Aang looked into those piecing blue eyes, watching her gorgeous face.
"So... do you want to dance?" She asked. Aang was caught by surprise. The last time they had danced —well, REALLY danced. Zuko's coronation wasn't very good dancing— had been in that cave in the fire nation.
"Um..." he swallowed, "yes. But, what about music?" He asked.
"We don't need it," she said simply.
"Alright..." he said, a bit confused, but he trusted her. He put his hand on her waist and his other hand in her hand. And they just sort of moved. It was hard for Aang to explain. It's like they were dancing to a tune only they could hear. As they wound down he found himself embracing Katara while swaying a bit. He closed his eyes, thinking of everything that had happened over the last year. They lost Appa, found Appa, found Zuko, defeated Ozai, helped negotiate the peace. But what he considered his greatest achievement was getting Katara. He got the girl he had been drooling over for almost two years. The adolescent part of his brain was doing flips and back-hand springs. He had stopped swaying, and they were just standing there; in each other's arms. He leaned down a bit and kissed her forehead. She looked up and he saw she was smiling. He realized he was smiling too.
"Hi," he said sheepishly.
"Hi yourself," she replied. There was a pause. And for a second he realized that he was holding her. He also realized that he had an erection. He blushed, and she smiled.
"Excited is he?" She asked slyly. He laughed softly.
"You know it," he replied. He stood there for another second, his embarrassment at his erection gone, replaced with another feeling. *Love.* He thought, sighing contently. He kissed her, softly at first, his lips pressing on hers, his tongue tracing her lip, she shuddered, but didn't pull away. He took this as a sign to keep on going. He started to kiss a little more passionately, moving his tongue into her mouth. She shuddered again as their tongues touched.
After a few more moments, or maybe a few years; Aang didn't know. They broke the kiss. They stared at each other. Looking in the other's eyes. Aang broke their little impromptu staring contest to look at the clock. He saw it was thirty after two. He realized they should probably get back to the house. He looked back to Katara and gestured to the door. She smiled and nodded. They walked out the door together, arms around each other, talking softly. Katara looked into Aang's face, watching the moonlight play over it. She kissed him again, though this time the kiss was quick, and not quite so deep.
"I love you," she whispered, as if it would break the illusion if someone heard her.
"I love you too."