A/N: Welcome to Kataang Week 2022 Day 5! Today's prompt is Power Couple!
Summary: Katara hated it when people called them a power couple. Aang happened to love it.
Word Count: 2.4k
Enjoy the story!
Katara hated it when people would call her and Aang a power couple.
She knew the magnitude of her hatred was probably undeserved, but something about the phrase never failed to irk her. No matter in what context it was used (save for the people who actually knew them), the comments following always somehow managed to demean both her and Aang (albeit usually more on Katara's end).
Now, Katara wasn't jealous of the fact that her husband was more powerful and well-known than her- that couldn't be farther from the truth. She loved praising Aang and telling him about the flutters she felt in her stomach after watching him bend, partially for the shade of red his cheeks always seemed to turn afterwards, but just because he deserved more genuine flattery. She wasn't exactly envious of Aang and the hordes of reporters and fangirls that seemed to follow him wherever he went either, though she was happy to help Aang make a quick escape when his glider wasn't available. Katara's hatred lied more in the degradation it caused for the both of them.
Katara had always done her best to remain modest no matter where she resided in the public's view. If Aang's complaints of her not giving herself enough credit were any indication, she was quite successful at it too. However, she still knew that she had worked extremely hard to earn the title of Master Waterbender, and she took pride in all that she had accomplished since the war's end, even if she would never go out of her way to brag about them.
The specific demographic that seemed to call them a "power couple," however?
They made her want to change every philosophy she had ever had on the subject and rub her bending prowess in their smug, likely sexist faces.
Katara couldn't name a single journalist or magazine that had called them a power couple without also explicitly referring to Katara as nothing other than "the Avatar's wife." She wasn't asking to be referred to by her formal title of "Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe," but dammit, she had a name.
She hated feeling reduced to such an ornamental role. It was as if she was just there as the arm candy by Aang's side for all the formal events and balls and had no personality or value on her own. One article had even gone as far to state that, "if there's anything the Avatar and the Avatar's wife are, it's a power couple! The Avatar adds the power, and his wife adds the couple!"
The waterbender couldn't stand it, and she wasn't even the one to notice it to begin with. In fact, Aang was the first one to bring up the difference in how the media tended to treat the two, expressing his frustration one night after an exceptionally long press conference.
"Ugh," Aang had groaned as he walked through the doorway to their bedroom.
"Eep!" Katara yelped, jumping at the noise from her spot on the bed as she was drawn away from the book she'd been reading.
The airbender winced, his hands quickly stripping his outer clothes off his body as he apologized. "Sorry, sweetie. Didn't mean to scare you. Was just a long night."
"It's fine, my love. Is everything alright?" she tilted her head at him and set the novel on her bedside table, outstretching her arms to welcome him under the covers with her.
Aang sighed and gratefully accepted her warm embrace, his head immediately burying itself into her softness. He took a deep breath, moaning softly when he smelled the faint but comforting scent of her floral shampoo.
"It's nothing," he mumbled, voice muffled by Katara's chest. "Just some annoying stuff but I don't want to upset you."
"Were you upset by it?"
Aang nodded, rolling onto his side so that his head could lie in the crook of her neck.
"Then let me be upset with you."
"Fine," he conceded, his hand tracing the seams of her nightgown as her hand came up to caress the top of his head. "It was just… I hated how they talked about you."
Katara furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean, Aang?"
"They kept calling us a power couple," Aang frowned. "Which is great in theory- it's true! -but it was so… gross the way they kept calling you nothing but 'the Avatar's wife,' like they thought I was the only one making us a power couple, like you were just there for decoration."
The waterbender couldn't help but smile and press a kiss to Aang's forehead. "Have I ever told you how sweet you are?"
"That's the fourth time today," Aang chuckled.
"Well it's true," Katara said. "I appreciate it, sweetie, but you don't have to get upset like that because of me."
"Weren't you just the one saying you wanted to be upset with me?" Aang asked pointedly. "Then let me be upset for you."
Katara sighed in surrender as the airbender continued on his rant about how he was going to draft an executive decree declaring that if an article was going to call him "Avatar Aang, Hero of the Hundred Years' War" then it would also be obligated to refer to Katara by her full title (a decree which Katara managed to talk him out of, much to her relief). However, the waterbender couldn't help but notice that he had left something out as the months had progressed.
He would never admit it aloud, of course, but Katara could tell that the comments about his greatness as the Avatar had started to mess with Aang's head a little bit. It wasn't that he was ungrateful or fishing more compliments, far from it, but rather that they always seemed to see him more for his status as the Avatar rather than as a person.
Katara knew Aang- he hated the thought that being the Avatar was his only purpose in life. If people were going to fawn after him, she knew he'd rather they marvel at his humor or what a good husband and friend he was, not about the latest "amazing" deed he'd done like cutting the ribbon for the new museum's public opening. The latter especially got on his nerves as the comments and compliments always applied exclusively to him because he was the Avatar, not because of the action itself; they wouldn't have given someone else doing it a second thought.
Katara already couldn't stand the sexist undertones, but the way they treated Aang made the whole thing unforgivable. If it were up to her, she would've made sure that Zuko's firebending task force would've gotten an influx of calls about unfreezing a few dozen people from the streets of Republic City. She couldn't believe how Aang maintained his saintly patience despite having interacted with probably quadruple the reporters she had. Little did she know…
…that Aang loved it when people would call him and Katara a power couple.
Katara was powerful and brilliant and a lot less well-respected and well-known than she deserved to be, so, in theory, Aang loved the concept of people finally acknowledging his wife's amazingness and thinking of her in as high a regard as their strangely high thoughts of him.
Of course he hated it when they would reduce Katara to nothing more than "the Avatar's wife" or always ask him things about his status as the Avatar, but that was what made the interactions with reporters more fun in his eyes.
Most, if not all, reporters expected him to agree when they called him and Katara a power couple. After all, Aang was the Avatar, the most powerful man in the world; there was no denying it. What they didn't expect was Aang to talk so much about the subject.
He wasn't talking about himself for hours on end, no no no, but rather something much more interesting in his opinion. It was, in fact, his favorite topic in the world:
Katara.
The airbender was sure that by now, just about every media outlet in Republic City had a good ten pages (at least!) of notes on nothing more than Aang rambling about how lovely the love of his life was, the reporters all hoping to catch some detail in there about Aang to feed to their audience, not that they ever did.
If there were any journalists whom Aang hadn't gotten to yet, he strongly encouraged they come his way and schedule an appointment at City Hall! He was more than happy to detail Katara's most recent waterbending feats and how she'd come up with her newest move, the Octopus Gear.
"Avatar Aang! Avatar Aang!" a relatively young reporter asked him on his walk from the docks to his office, a pen, notepad, and voice recorder in hand.
"Yes, Saizom? How may I help you?" Aang gritted his teeth asking the question. He didn't get angry easily, but he was familiar with this reporter in particular for all the wrong reasons. This absolute worm of a human being was the one who had the audacity to publish an article calling Katara the "couple" part of their power couple, an article which Aang had gone to quite a lot of trouble with in hopes that Katara would never have to see it.
"What are your thoughts on the articles going around calling you and your wife a power couple?" he asked eagerly.
Aang chuckled to himself quietly. This was going to be fun.
"Well, I wholeheartedly agree," he began, exaggerating the pitch of his voice to sound more dramatic and passionate to the man walking beside him. "Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe and I are quite the power couple!"
The airbender devilishly grinned. "In fact, I would even wager that Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe adds the 'power' to our power couple. If you've seen her in action, you'd surely agree with me that she is nothing less."
Saizom frowned, taken aback by the Avatar's unexpected segue into talking about his wife. "Well, I'm quite sure your wife is skilled, but-"
"Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is quite the skilled bender indeed!" Aang gushed, not caring whether he interrupted. Saizom deserved nothing less. "Have you heard about her new move, the Octopus Gear? It's truly a work of art in the field of modern bending; I only wish I had her ability!"
"B-but you are the Avatar, you-"
"Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe was even kind enough to let me witness her entire process of devising such an ingenious tactical form. Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is the most powerful waterbender in the world- did you know that?"
"Wouldn't you argue, however, that you're more powerful? You know, being the Avat-"
"Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe has beaten me in spars numerous times before," Aang waved him off. "In fact, she usually beats me when we waterbend togther. She could probably even beat me in a fight with both hands tied behind her back!"
Aang had been telling nothing but the full truth in that last segment too- ever since the New Ozai society had had a recent surge of support, Katara had been working extra hard on developing the skill of waterbending with minimal hand movement should they end up in a precarious situation.
"But what about the difference in your biology? She is only a woma-"
"Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe has been waterbending for over 12 years and has developed and toned quite a lean and muscled physique with all her intensive training. It gives her every possible advantage in waterbending. I am only made worse by my biology, as you say."
Though Aang thought he was striking back quite well at what that worm of a reporter was saying, he couldn't believe that people still thought these types of things.
"Well, that is all well and good, but in the context of being a power couple-"
"No 'but's about it," Aang shook his head. "Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is the more powerful one between us two. She is more disciplined, talented, skilled, and any other word you'd like to try and use to argue otherwise, biology or not. Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe has an incredible grasp of her element, though nothing can ever compare to the hold she has on my heart. Some say she is lucky to be with me, given all of my accomplishments, but I assure you it is completely the other way around."
"But Avatar Aang I-"
"Oh, would you look at that!" the airbender quipped gleefully. "We've arrived at my office. So sorry, Saizom, but I really must be going. Toodles!" Aang ran inside and quickly shut the oak door behind him, immediately bursting into laughter as he entered the room.
"What happened to you?" Katara raised an eyebrow at him as she leaned against the wall by his desk, clearly amused.
"Oh, nothing," Aang chuckled, walking up to her and greeting her with a kiss. "Just a silly reporter."
"The one that said all the stuff about me putting the 'couple' in power couple?"
Aang's eyes went wide with realization as he facepalmed. "You saw that article?"
Katara hesitated for a moment before cursing under her breath. "Dammit, you weren't supposed to know."
The airbender squinted at her. "Wait a minute… you knew that I tried to make sure you didn't see the article so that you wouldn't get upset at all their, excuse my language, bull-pigshit, but you saw it anyways and tried to make sure I wouldn't know that you had seen it so that I wouldn't get upset?"
Katara blinked, taking a moment to process what he had just said. "Yep, pretty much."
Aang laughed and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "They should just call me 'Master Waterbender Katara of the Southern Water Tribe's husband' all the time- it's obvious who the smart one is here."
The waterbender groaned. "Aang, please tell me you did not refer to me like that the entire time you were with that reporter."
"The monks told me to never tell a lie," he sing-songed.
"I can't believe you."
"You love me for it."
"I do, and that's why I can't believe you."
"C'mon," Aang whined. "They brag about me so I should get to brag about you. Forget Forever Girl. You're the power to my couple."
Katara gave him a look. "Aang."
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I love you, but that was horrible. Please never say that again."
"Not even one more time?"
"Aang."
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I was not asking."
"But you're the power to my couple!"
"You know, I think I hear Sokka calling from across the building, let me just go see what he needs-"
"No, wait!"
A/N: Okay hope that ending wasn't too rushed! Bonus few lines that didn't make the cut (but I'm a math nerd so I thought of them anyways):
Aang: C'mon, what's a power couple without the love?
Katara, without missing a beat: An exponent.
Aang: *blinks*
Aang: I told you you were the smarter one.
That aside, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you tomorrow!