Not A Date
***I do not own ATLA****
Modern AU - Aang (17)/Katara(18)
"Yeah, my dad was just wondering whether this 'Avatar' everyone was so fond of was at my school. So, needless to say, he was a little shocked when he saw the 'almighty, all-powerful' protector of the world crying like a baby, all because his daughter was destroying him in Mario Kart." Katara smiled when she saw the act of nervousness and embarrassment she had caught on of fairly quickly; a nervous rub or tug at the back of his neck while dipping his head to hide the blush. Yet, this time it was added with a scoff instead of the usual stutter or chuckle. "Hold on, that reminds me. You lost the bet, I beat you – several times might I add. You owe me $20."
Despite the eruption of laughter, audible nuisance of feet skidding across the hallway, the clanking of lockers being shut, yells, shrieks, and general conversation originating from the cluster of many other students, both Aang and Katara had unknowingly and subconsciously tuned out all other frequencies; solely wanting to hear the other's voice, and theirs' only.
"Hey! You didn't 'beat' me, I let you win several times to... to... to allow you the courtesy of claiming to have beaten the Avatar." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he begged the Spirits to allow him to time-bend so he would not have to witness the utter shit-eating grin on Katara's face. However, upon further inspection, he found that he didn't mind seeing her like that... Nah, this isn't so bad, he thought to himself.
"Aaaha! So you do admit it. I beat you. In fact, I didn't just beat you, I kicked your ass across that TV screen. And what, you 'allowed' me win? Please, you were concentrating so hard your clothes were dripping of sweat. You're gonna have to come up with a better excuse sweetie." Katara replied casually while inspecting her nails in victory, acting like it was no big deal – only this time – she found herself being the one wanting to learn to time-bend so she wouldn't have to witness the shit-eating grin plastered across Aang's face.
Amused with himself, Aang simply replied with a smirk, "Sweetie, huh."
"I didn't meant it like that!" Katara immediately retorted, although she found herself enjoying the sight of the blue arrowed boy smiling fondly at her. "I – it just... came out. I – Oh whatever!" Unable to explain herself without revealing her secret crush on the teenager, Katara just settled on crossing her arms and looking away, huffing her hair-loopies away from her eyesight as an act of frustration. Although she was frowning, the delightful sound of Aang's laughter immediately painted a smile across her face, one which she so desperately tried to fight while also attempting to prevent a blush to no avail. Setting her sights back onto the boy now, the master waterbender opted to change the topic; wanting to escape further embarrassment, Katara responded, "You still owe me $20 by the way."
Although Aang was never the bold type, ever since his mastery of firebending, he had discovered this unforeseen yet not unwelcome confidence within himself – which more often than not caused him to be more straightforward and risky. So, with this new-found force inside him, Aang found himself doing and saying something he normally wouldn't as he'd usually either be too nervous or too unsure of himself. Now coming out of his laughter, Aang genuinely smiled at Katara as he uttered the next few words flawlessly, "Well, I can repay you by taking you out someplace with a set of ice-skates and some really delicious ice cream. What do you say?"
Wait, did I just ask her out? Just like that? Aang asked his own bewildered self.
Did – did I hear that clearly? Oh my Spirits, he just asked me out! Katara mentally jumped around like a giddy school-girl as she realised her long time crush had finally found the balls to ask her out – something she had been hoping would happen for 3 months now.
When Aang arrived in Republic City after mastering firebending, in the hopes of graduating from high school, Katara already had a boyfriend: Jet. However, the airbender immediately caught her eye; and not due to his title, reputation, dashing good looks, or his natural charm – which she did not mind at all. Instead, Katara found herself being drawn towards his kind, gentle, passionate, and fun-loving nature. Whenever she hung out with him, much to Jet's dismay, she recognised that she felt like a normal kid again; when she was with Aang, she didn't feel like she was constantly mothering a sibling, or worrying for a father, or crying for a mother, or fighting with a blind earthbender, or lashing out at a grumpy scarred firebender, or regretting dating a selfish boyfriend. Instead, she felt like she was sliding down a smooth yet exhilarating waterslide, or she felt like she was running through a field of panda lilies – laughing as the delicate flowers brushed her semi-dark, tanned skin while dragging a certain airbender across the field with her, or she felt like she was gliding across the nebula skies, enjoying the feeling of the calming, gentle breeze gliding across her face and body – not worrying about an upcoming test or potential breakup - just living in the moment. The airbender to her, was a breath of fresh air, clearing her mind of anything negative or worrying while she playfully teased him, or punched him, or laughed with him or at him – anything really. It felt new... it felt fun... it felt like Aang.
However, though the airbender was quite the catch, Katara already had a boyfriend whom she had been dating for several months and was regretting choosing with every passing day. When Aang arrived in her life, although she didn't want to cheat as she wasn't that type of person, Katara hoped that he would at least make hints that he liked her as well – either that or straight up ask her out – as she was desperately searching for a reason or motive to breakup with Jet. However, because Aang knew that Katara was in a relationship, and knowing his respectful ways, he never made a move considering the fact that she was already someone else's significant other - even though she looked like she no longer wanted to be. Katara in fact knew of this, and although she understood why, she still wished he would do it anyways – feeling a bit guilty and selfish herself afterwards. Yet, when she caught Jet smoking weed around the backside of the school with his associates, she immediately broke it off with him and hadn't felt happier since then. Although he wasn't the worst person in the world, he definitely wasn't someone she could see herself having a future with. Upon first viewing, Katara was mostly drawn to the tan skin, the flirty smile, the jet-black hair and the tall physique. Jet definitely wasn't a bad person as he helped out many homeless shelters and provided for the innocent, the only problem with that however, was that he himself chose who was innocent and worthy of his time. Basically, anyone Fire Nation related or anyone who was not opposed to destroying the Fire Nation, was deemed a 'traitor' in his mind. However, he had other qualities that Katara also disliked: his jealous and controlling nature, his difficulty in trusting her, his 'not knowing when to stop' attitude - especially when it came to sexual activities - his drug addiction, and his need to always fight or cause chaos, much like a certain psychotic firebender. However, that was all in the past; Katara had dumped him and moved on to focus on herself, while also secretly wanting to date a certain airbender immediately but she also restrained herself as to not seem desperate.
Although, the fact that Aang had just asked her out made her feel even more overjoyed... more so than she initially thought, yet she half expected it as she recognised that she may have already fallen for the teenager. And even though the master waterbender wanted nothing more than to go on a date with Aang, she also felt the need to play hard to get. Deciding to punish him for taking so long to ask her out, Katara forced a fake apologetic smile to tug at her velvet lips as she spoke just barely above a whisper, "Oh, Aang I'd like to but... I just recently broke up with Jet like a month ago and I don't know if I'm ready to go on a date yet."
Feeling defeated, Aang frowned as he thought he had just been rejected by his one and only crush as he started to turn around. Katara internally began to panic as she thought she had completely shattered his hopes – surprised that he didn't pick up on her playful and sarcastic tone but feeling stupid at the same time for even attempting to play games. She was about to stop him and tell her she was joking, but Aang himself halted. While Aang was feeling sorry for himself, he began to revise the words of his grumpy and moody firebending Sifu: 'Firebenders do not show fear and they do not back down. To be a firebender, you need to know when to stand your ground and when to be light on your feet. However, you never grow stubborn, overextend or expose yourself when standing your ground and you never avoid and run like a pussy when being light on your feet. Instead, you push and readjust, and you evade and redirect.' Those last few words relit a flame in Aang as he turned back around to face the waterbender.
'Evade and redirect. Evade and redirect. Evade and redirect.' Aang repeated in his mind as he turned back around with a smile, much to Katara's relief. "What if its not a date?" He asked smoothly, leaning against the lockers while she raised her eyebrows, clearly amused and intrigued by his reply. "What if its just two people meeting up and enjoying a night out together. Both having fun separately, but together."
"That still sounds like a date." Katara responded, patiently waiting to see how he'd recover from this one.
"Really? Well, I was stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years and I remember doing stuff like this all the time and it not being considered a date at all. Just two people having fun." Regaining his confidence, Aang opted to continue and use 'the puppy-dog look' to further convince the tanned beauty, "Come on, it'll be fun. You can skate circles around me while I fall on my ass and explain to you how this is clearly not a date."
Smiling herself, Katara giggled at the thought of Aang stacking it while ice-skating before agreeing to the one thing she so desperately longed for, "Okay, as long as its not a date, then yeah. I guess it could be fun."
"Yeah, totally not a date."
"Great, pick me up at 7?"
"Sure."
"Uhhhh... Where's your car?"
"Oh, I have a better way of getting there." Aang responded while he took out his staff and held it by his side.
The young airbender had just talked with Hakoda regarding the curfew which was set to be 10pm, before catching an earful from Sokka about how he was going to cut each and every one of Aang's limbs off if he tried anything with his sister - which bought Sokka several water-whips to the head. Aang simply yet sheepishly nodded and smiled while not taking his eye off the waterbender as he physically found himself unable to. Katara was wearing a casual, sapphire sundress that was complemented with a light blue denim jacket and white air forces. Katara herself, also found it rather difficult to keep her eyes off the airbender beside her as she admired his toned physique, which was only further complemented by his blue, orange and white stripped-cotton shirt, blue skinny jeans and orange, white and black air jordans. Aang was lean, yet muscular, and Katara preferred it that way if she was honest. It was a perfect look for him, and Aang thought the same of Katara, only he found himself appreciating her curves instead.
Walking closer to her while she tried to figure out his plan, Aang held his hand out for the master waterbender while a reassuring smile tugged his lips. Leaning a little closer, Aang asked in a calm and soothing voice as he stared into her filled-with-life, cerulean ocean eyes, "Do you trust me, Katara?"
Losing herself inside his stormy, life-bringing silver eyes for a moment, Katara shook her head sightly to regain her composure. Smiling back and placing her hand in his, she responded sweetly, "Of course I do."
With his smile now growing wider, Aang raised his hand which was holding hers, and kissed the back of her tanned hand while still staring into her ocean eyes. Feeling surprised himself by his sudden boldness, Aang didn't catch the sweet smile and pink hue that had been painted over Katara's cheeks as she looked away in embarrassment, being somewhat surprised herself by how easily he was able to fluster her. While she looked away, Aang's boldness only seemed to grow as he tugged at her hand and pulled her to him, quickly yet still gently as to not hurt her or make her uncomfortable. Katara let out a yelp of surprise while she felt Aang wrap his strong arms around her waist, his muscles poking out against her own smooth skin, thus causing her entire face to redden once again. The Avatar tightened his hold on her as he advised Katara to, "Hold tight", and without warning he clicked his staff's wings open, allowing Katara a moment to marvel at his glider before he took off with her shrieking in surprise and dread.
Although she had flown on Appa before, flying on a glider, with Aang... this close to her, was both exciting and terrifying. Aang found himself laughing and blushing when he felt Katara dig her face into his chest, one of her arms holding onto a handle of the glider while the other was wrapped around Aang's torso, clutching onto him for dear life as she felt the wind sway her chocolate hair around soothingly. It took a while, but inevitably, Katara found the courage to pull her face away from Aang's defined chest – which at first dissapointed her as she quite enjoyed the feeling of being pressed up against him – but the view of the city and its array of transparent colours took her breath away. Soon, she found herself laughing and shrieking in joy as they airbended their way to the ice-skating arena.
Upon touchdown, Katara and Aang both reluctantly let go of each other, with Katara taking a moment to compose herself and catch her breath while Aang simply fixed his clothes and beamed at her. Once she regained control of her senses, Katara tried to sound angry and upset when she playfully punched the airbender's shoulder, her smile betraying her not-so-believable act.
"Don't you ever do that without warning me first Aang!"
Surprised by her natural strength, Aang rubbed his shoulder gently while he chuckled out a question, "So, did you like it?" He asked, completely ignoring her clearly obvious act of 'anger'.
Katara couldn't keep a grin from overtaking her facial features as she beamed at the airbender beside her, recalling the memory of gliding across the city while holding onto Aang's muscular body as she answered, "Yeah, it was actually really fun."
"Told you it would be." Aang responded, physically unable to keep his smile from growing wider. Normally, in this situation, he'd be messing up his words; stuttering every now and then while he'd also fidget with his fingers or scratch the back of his neck. Seeing as how this was his first date, with a completely gorgeous waterbender who not to mention was his first crush – although he was starting to feel that she was becoming much more than just a crush – Aang was quite shocked to find that he wasn't yet already on the verge of nervous breakdown. Although somewhat bewildered by this sudden outpour of unforeseen yet much welcomed confidence, Aang allowed himself to revel at this new side of him as he held out his arm for his 'non-date' to grasp on to while asking her, "Ready for our... 'non-date'."
Grinning back at him, Katara tugged back a lock of hair that was poking her cheeks before she wrapped her arm around his, "Yeah, ready..."
The remainder of the night was filled with much laughter and teasing, mostly on Katara's part as Aang proceeded to make a fool of himself while attempting to ice-skate - not that he nor Katara minded. However, this actually left him wondering why he even suggested to take his crush to participate in the one activity he had no experience in as he proceeded to fall on his face and ass numerous times while Katara laughed her ass off at her 'non-date'. Holding onto her stomach while she tried to clench her jaw to stop it from hurting from the shear amount of laughter that was escaping her mouth as she helped the charming yet goofy and loveable teenager back onto his feet. Although, Aang recognised that it wasn't all that bad as him – even with his 1000-year knowledge from his past lifetimes – not having the slightest idea of how to ice skate actually allowed him to be significantly closer to Katara while she tried to teach him. Eventually – which means after 30 minutes of trial and error – Aang caught on and began picking up speed, taunting Katara while he zoomed past her. However, his gain in confidence this time only caused him to lose balance as he stacked it... again... while Katara laughed her ass off... again.
Soon, they handed back their ice-skates to the lady at the counter before making their way to the arcade, which was a part of the same building. Wanting to challenge each other, Aang and Katara decided to have a dance battle on one of the machines, and they had another, and another, and another, and another, as Katara continued demanding rematch after rematch, failing every time in defeating her partner. Soon enough, Aang took mercy on the waterbender and purposefully miss stepped, making sure to make it seem realistic enough as he didn't want to make her feel insecure or angry. Katara however, noticed Aang's 'miss step' and was instead enchanted by his thoughtfulness as she beamed at him and leaned in to kiss his cheek, allowing it to linger for a moment longer to get the message across.
Aang couldn't keep the massive smile that was plastered on his face throughout the whole night while his 'non-date' dragged him towards the photobooth. Once they took their seats, Katara grabbed Aang's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder as they both stared in awe at each other, smiling sweetly when the timed photo was taken. The second one was of them facing the camera and grinning at it, with Aang's arm still wrapped around Katara, and with her leaning back, resting her head on his shoulder. The other two were of them making weird and funny faces which they both hysterically laughed at once they got out of the machine.
It was around 9pm and the two benders decided to grab some tacos and gelato to go before Aang airbended them to a nearby park. Finding a bench by a pond, Katara and Aang took their seats and began chowing down on their meals, occasionally stealing glances at each other while they sat in silence before engaging in a debate as they both dug into their gelatos.
"Well, I certainly hope your waterbending isn't as good as your ice-skating" Katara teased.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Well, not to gloat or anything but... Master Pakku did say I was his best student."
"Really? He told me something completely different..." Katara replied with a smirk and raised eyebrow.
"Okay, I may not have been... paying attention the entire time. But... I picked it up pretty quickly." Katara's smirk was still present so Aang opted to reinforce his statement, "And yes... he did say I was the best in his class."
"Okay, sure." Katara replied, her smirk still existent as she continued eating her caramel gelato while Aang finished his.
Aang, noticing the clearly amused look on her face, spoke in a fake heartbroken tone, "Wow, you – you don't believe me..."
"No, I totally do." she replied with heightened sarcasm as that same teasing smirk remained plastered on her face.
"Okay, stand up." Aang said while rising to his feet. Intrigued by where he was going with this, Katara obliged as she placed her cup of gelato on the bench and stood up beside him. "Get in a general waterbending stance." Raising her brow yet still smiling, Katara followed his commands and stood in an L-shaped stance with her hands hovering in front of her chest. "No. No. No. You're doing it wrong." Aang stated as he tried to 'fix' her stance. He was oh so clearly messing with her as Katara's stance was perfect and completely balanced, much like her element and... herself, Aang thought. However, he wanted to mess with her a bit and found it amusing that the lesser of the two was pointing out the other's 'mistakes'.
Katara however, had a plan in motion when she saw the smirk on Aang's face, his clearly fake 'serious' expression, and the playful tone embedded within him while he 'fixed' her stance. Since they were facing the pond, Katara waited until he was behind her to waterbend a water tendril, wrapping it around his leg and pulling him down underneath her while she shifted her stance so that her feet were still in an L-shape around him. With her holding onto his leg, the one she had pulled before, Katara asked in a playful manner – smiling widely as she did so, "So, how was my form?"
Awestruck by her beauty and clear mastery of her element, Aang halted the teasing and responded truthfully, "Perfect, Katara..." Seeing her smile fondly at him, Aang opted to add a little something to see if he could fluster her again, "Just like you."
A familiar pink hue once again covered her cheeks as she smiled wider at the airbender beneath her, however this time, she did not try to hide it. Satisfied with the reaction he got, Aang opted to try and get up, however, Katara simply pressed her foot down on his chest, rather gently as she just wanted to get the message across, "That's Sifu Katara to you."
Chuckling to himself, Aang's eyes suddenly grew wider as Katara giggled while she repositioned herself, shifting his leg to her right as she gently sat on his stomach. Straddling him while his smile grew into a grin, Katara giggled at his adorable facial expression before she commented, "You know, this has to be one of the best dates I've ever been on."
With his grin transforming into a smirk at an instant, Aang responded teasingly, "Well, that's odd, because technically this isn't a date."
Smiling in return, Katara responded while slightly nodding in approval, "You're right." Slowly leaning in, Katara grabbed a fistful of Aang's stripped cotton shirt, the feeling of his hot breath on her lips causing pleasant shivers down her spine. "This isn't a date..." She spoke sweetly, her voice just below a whisper as she closed the remaining distance between them and captured his lips in a mind-numbing kiss – one which the both of them have been dreaming of since the day they met. As soft velvet lips danced alongside their smooth pink partners, Katara and Aang both found themselves sighing in relief and satisfaction as they felt as if their life had been complete with this one simple action. However, once her lips left his, the satisfaction instantly transformed into disappointment as both teenagers wanted to continue.
Noticing their desire for each other now beginning to burn, through half lidded eyes, her voice still barely a whisper, Katara commented, "And that wasn't a kiss..." before she leaned in hastily and crashed her soft velvet lips onto his again. Aang slightly leaned up as to allow her to be more comfortable which only allowed her hand to travel upwards and tug at his hair while the other remained on his chest, caressing his hard pecks as she sighed in satisfaction once again. Feeling bold, Aang's hands ventured downwards; his fingertips brushing down her spine, causing her to pleasantly shiver once again before they eventually arrived at their destination. With both his hands now resting on her plump ass cheeks, Aang firmly gripped onto them when Katara plunged her tongue into his mouth, causing her to moan his name which came off as muffled due to their tongue's battling it out, with hers' gaining the upper hand as Katara's desire only grew due to the placement of his hands.
The two spent the rest of their 'definitely not a date, date' talking and making out at the park before Aang eventually had to take her back home. Once they arrived, Katara kissed Aang goodbye and ran upstairs, giggling and grinning madly – overjoyed by the fact that the most caring, thoughtful, gentle, affectionate, goofy, handsome and charming teenager in the entire world just asked her to be his girlfriend. To which she obviously accepted and answered with another deep and affectionate kiss. When Aang arrived home, the two facetimed each other untill midnight as they were way to happy and restless to go to sleep and just couldn't for the life of them spend another minute without talking to or seeing the other. Both of them feeling entranced by the other as their hearts had been stolen, much to their satisfaction. As the clock struck midnight, the couple reluctantly said their goodbyes for the second time that night and darkened their screens, falling to a deep slumber - dreaming about their significant other while also wondering what the future had to offer for them and their newfound loving relationship.