A/N: Welcome to Kataang Week 2022! As always, on the first day I will lay out what the next week is gonna look like:

Monday, July 25th: Admiration

Tuesday, July 26th: Jealousy/"Just Friends"

Wednesday, July 27th: Sneaking Off

Thursday, July 28th: Drunk Kataang

Friday, July 29th: Power Couple

Saturday, July 30th: Quiet Moments/Healing Techniques

Sunday, July 31st: Wait For Me

Monday, August 1st: Free Day (which I might actually do this year)

Today's prompt is Admiration! I'm going to try and post these around 8 AM EST each day, so be sure to check your preferred platform (AO3, here, Tumblr) then!

Summary: He only sees her from a distance, but Aang can't help but be besotted with admiration.

Word Count: 2.0k

Disclaimer for this whole story: I do not own ATLA.

Enjoy the story!

It was an extremely rare instance that the Avatar got an unscheduled holiday, and even rarer so on as beautiful a day as today.

Even at the sparring pool in the center of the island, Aang could hear the waves gently crashing on the shore of Air Temple Island, rolling against the steep cliffsides in the south. Rays of sunlight reflected off the water and warmed his skin from his perch in the doorway facing the pool, which was undulating ever so gently as it rippled with the breeze.

Best of all?

It was quiet.

No nosy nobles questioning when he would be "repopulating the Air Nation," no dignitaries whining about tea getting on their robes hours after Aang had already done them the courtesy of waterbending it all out, no King Kuei to ask if he could use the pooled world budget to host a birthday party for his pet bear, Bosco.

Absolutely nothing at all, other than the sound of the tides and the soft voice of his fiancee, humming an old Water Tribe song as she waded into the water across the courtyard.

Aang grinned to himself just thinking about it.

Fiancee.

Katara was his fiancee.

He was going to be her husband.

Being able to say those words aloud, to even think them, seemed to make the rest of their difficulties all worth it.

He sighed and leaned onto the frame of the doorway he was standing in, intently watching his fiancee's graceful movements. Aang may have been the Avatar, but Katara truly was a master of her craft.

Most people assumed that being the Avatar meant that he was the best bender of each element, but that couldn't be farther from the truth, except for maybe air. While he was certainly on par with most masters of each element, he was no match for the best, which just so happened to include his wife-to-be.

More often than not, Aang had no choice but to be in awe of her waterbending prowess. Sure, he was considered a master waterbender as well and could probably replicate most of what he saw her do well enough, but her abilities went nautical miles beyond that. Everything about the way she effortlessly bent the element to her will, how she seemed to move with the water intuitively, as if on instinct, all while being perfectly in control, never failed to fascinate him.

Her diligence and determination made her practice regiment intensive and methodical, forging Katara into one of, if not the most, formidable waterbenders in the world. Aang would be lying if he said the fame that came with being the Avatar didn't get to his head every once in a blue moon, but Katara never seemed to falter in how she handled her prestige. No matter where they were, be it a royal ball or getting asked for signatures on a walk around Republic City, Katara always took everything with grace and humility, and Aang swore he fell in love with her all over again every time.

Aang sighed again happily (he seemed to do that a lot when thinking about Katara) before his mind returned to the present. He watched enraptured as she did her warm-up, energizing both her mind and her muscles. Aang had seen the routine countless times over the years, but it still managed to take his breath away every time, which was quite concerning for an airbender.

"First, we start with a simple ball of water," he could hear Katara saying in his head as the waterbender in question raised an orb accordingly a few dozen feet away.

"It may seem simple, but you have to get the size just right! Too big and you'll have too much to think about, too little and it won't be a good warm-up."

Katara took a slow, deep breath before slowly dividing the water in two. Two became four, then four became eight, and so on as she exhaled, until she had dozens of large droplets floating in the air.

Katara then leaned down, holding the water in place with one hand outstretched as she picked up a stream of water with the other. Aang sucked in a small breath subconsciously when he saw the way Katara flipped back her hair as she guided the water in spirals around her. While her bending was more than enough to make Aang stare, that certainly wasn't the only thing keeping his eyes attached to her.

His gaze may have been focused on her bending, but that didn't mean he couldn't admire everything else about his lovely fiancee: her bindings highlighting the curves of her figure, the hair loopie beads standing out against the rest of her dark, long, wavy hair, the way the deep blue of water brought out a sparkle in her eyes.

Well, the last one he couldn't technically see, being an Appa and a half away from her, but Aang knew it was there, so he could appreciate it anyways.

Still seemingly unaware of her fiance's presence, Katara proceeded with her warm-up and brought the spirals around her body into a vertical column above her, freezing it into ice. She did the same to her droplets, elongating them into spokes on the pole with little balls of water on the end before grinning.

With a sharp twist of her wrist, the structure began to spin rapidly, casting a shimmer on the water (and Katara) below it as the sunlight bounced off the glassy orbs like a chandelier. Aang knew the warm-up was nearly at its end, but the last step was his favorite part. After all, he had come up with it.

Katara quickly flexed her hand and swept her arm up, freezing the ends of the spokes and releasing it all high into the air. The ice exploded into thousands of tiny flakes that fell slowly back down into the water. Aang also couldn't help but notice that some flakes fell onto Katara's hair as well, making it glitter in the light.

"Woo!" Aang shouted from the doorway, clapping his hands as he trotted down the stairs and knelt down next to the pool. "That was amazing, Tara."

"I was wondering when you were going to make your presence known," she replied as she greeted him with a kiss.

Aang's eyes went wide, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You knew I was here the whole time?"

Katara chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Please, I could feel you staring at me the second you walked into the doorway," making a faint pink tint reach Aang's cheeks, though he never broke eye contact.

"What can I say? It's awfully hard not to admire my beautiful and amazing wife-to-be," he said, resisting the urge to smile when he saw the waterbender blush.

"Well, my dear husband-to-be," Katara continued as she looked up at him and rested her arms on the stone deck, "your wife-to-be would like you to join her in the pool if you would be so willing to do her the honor?"

Aang stood back up and bowed dramatically, eliciting a short chuckle from the waterbender. "Your wish is my command."

Aang quickly shed his outer clothing and took a few steps back. Katara groaned, knowing what he was about to do, scrunching her nose and shielding her face with her hands preemptively.

Without another word, Aang ran at full speed towards the pool, jumping once he got to the edge and using his airbending for more lift and a bigger splash.

"CANNONBALL!"

Aang hit the surface of the pool at full speed, the resulting splash taller than he was. His head popped up out of the water like Momo smelling moon peaches, and he wiped his face with his hands, smiling with that crooked grin that Katara loved so much.

She shook her head and sighed affectionately. "Some things never change."

"Sorry, Tara. It feels like it's been an eternity since I last did that."

Katara chuckled as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Mmm, that's interesting cause I could've sworn you did that two days ago when we waterbended together," Katara tilted her head in thought. "And then there was that time three days before that, then again last week…"

"And that's why I said it feels like an eternity," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her nose. "Two days is a long time!"

They both laughed at that as Aang returned Katara's embrace and rested his arms on her hips, the two of them just enjoying a moment of comfortable silence.

"Now look who's staring," Aang murmured as he caught her gaze never quite seeming to go above his neck. Katara blushed furiously and looked up at him.

"You started it," she replied quietly, affectionately noting the amused sparkle in his stormy eyes. "Besides, what were you even doing for that long staring at me?"

"Hey, I wasn't staring. I was… admiring."

"Admiring?" Katara raised an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, is the difference?"

"Well, I'll have you know," Aang began matter-of-factly, "admiration goes much deeper than simple staring."

"Mhm."

"Staring is shallow," he said dramatically. "Superficial, even!"

"So all your staring was completely innocent?"

"It wasn't staring! It was admiration. Humor me for a second here."

She rolled her eyes, fighting the grin trying to find its way onto her face. "Go on."

Aang smiled. "The way the breeze went through your hair," he said softly. "The way the sunlight shone on your skin, absolutely everything about your waterbending. You always move with such grace and elegance all while knowing you could probably beat whatever opponent you were against in a minute flat. Maybe I was staring a little, but how could I not admire the most talented and beautiful person in the world?"

Katara's heart melted a little. She had been teasing him, but she didn't expect such a sweet, genuine answer.

"Stop that, it's not fair."

Aang looked quizzically at her. "What's not?"

"Here I am making fun of you and you have to go ahead and make me fall even more in love with you," she pouted.

He laughed softly, pulling Katara closer in. "All's fair in love and war."

She tilted her head to look at Aang, unable to hold back a smile as she leaned in to kiss him.

"Let it stand for the record that your bending has the same effect on me," Katara said quietly once they broke apart. "Air and earth especially. Something about the way you always manage to have fun while doing it, no matter how hard the exercises or how focused you seem to be. It makes my heart skip a beat."

"And I'm sure the fact that I mostly bend shirtless helps with that, hmm?" Aang teased.

She giggled. "Maybe a little bit."

"Please, I can feel you admiring me from our room in the tower you know? The floors are all stone."

"Then we make a perfect pair- two of the most skilled benders in the world who both fail at the slightest bit of discretion."

"Two of the most skilled benders in the world who happen to be too hopelessly in love to be effectively discreet," Aang amended.

Katara giggled, sighing and pressing the side of her head to his chest. "What ever are we going to do with each other then, so hopelessly in love?"

Aang grinned as he returned her embrace and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Simple, we get married."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard considering we've already planned most of it," she laughed, turning her head to look up at him.

"I want to admire you for the rest of our lives," Katara murmured.

"I want to get caught admiring you in a failed attempt to be discreet for the rest of our lives," Aang replied just as quietly with a smile. "And somehow, I think that can be arranged."

Katara grinned, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"I think so too."

A/N: Despite being quite uninspired for this, I thought it turned out pretty well! See yall tomorrow!