A/N: I'm the WORST updater, sorry! I was so bored today that I just sat and wrote this, guess that's lockdown for you XD Anyway, I wanted to thank you all for your sweet words, I'm sorry it took me this long to update, but know that I really appreciate hearing from you.
Saturday Evening:
Katara's POV:
My oceanic eyes survey the now clean room. Fully charged laptop with a full Netflix line up, bowls of popcorn, various snacks and a pile of games to play. I nod my head in satisfaction. 'This should keep us entertained for the evening.' I think to myself with an excited smile. I reach down to shove my Gray's Anatomy textbook into a random drawer. For once, wanting all thoughts of studying to be pushed to one side after the intensity of the week. I'm broken out of my thoughts when a light knock sounds at my door. I grin and cross the room to open the door to reveal both Haru and Aang with warm expressions.
"Hey Katara!" Aang greets enthusiastically, just as Haru raises his hand in greeting. My smile broadens and I beckon them inside.
"Hi guys! Ready for our first flat-mate get together?" I welcome while closing the door behind them.
"Definitely. I needed the time to unwind with all the coursework that my lecturers have been dumping on me." Haru complains as his eyes shift around the small room, as if looking for a place to sit. I shoot him a sheepish expression.
"I'm sorry I don't have any spare seats, but I was thinking that maybe we could play a round of truth or dare to get to know each other better." I suggest just as Aang plops himself on the ground.
"You're really into this whole-get to know each other better thing aren't you?" The Airbender queries mildly, but the slight twitch in his fingers makes me wonder if he's nervous about the whole thing. I tilt my head to one side.
"We are spending the next couple of years together, I'd thought it would be a good idea." I point out while Haru takes a seat next to the child-genius.
"Sounds good to me. I'm personally intrigued to know more about my gutsy saviour." The earthbender expresses with a twinkle in his eye. I flush slightly before taking a seat opposite them.
"I was only doing what I thought was right. I'm sorry if I offended you." I apologise as I bite my lip anxiously, but the man simply waves his hand.
"Nah, I'm touched. Now let's get the game going!" Haru decides as he reaches for a bottle amongst the pile of games I've organised on the floor. I watch as he spins the blue coloured bottle and ironically it lands on Haru. "Dang it, I should've known I would be going first." The man grumbles, but the easy smile on his face suggests he's anything but bothered.
"Truth or dare?" I ask as the man rubs his chin in thought.
"Well, since we are here to get to know each other…I'll pick truth." I nod at his answer and ask the question that was already sitting on my mind.
"What do you study?" The query fires out of my mouth and I watch as Haru shares a glance with Aang.
"A real academic, aren't you?" The man teases, prompting my eyebrows to shoot up to my hairline.
"How did you know?" I ask in disbelief.
"Aang mentioned you're doing medicine." The earthbender says with a shrug, before he receives a nudge from said airbender.
"I thought the point of this game with to answer the person's question." Aang jokes, eliciting an eye roll from the man.
"Alright, alright. I'm doing science of communication." Haru admits in embarrassment and I can't help but stare at him. Fortunately, my manners seem to kick in a few moments later as I shake my head.
"I didn't realise there was a science for communication." I confess sheepishly, but the earthbender is already shaking his head in disagreement.
"I don't know why they call it that, it's not really science. It's more about public speaking and how to positively influence people with the power of speech." The man explains eagerly, but his face screws-up in disappointment a second later. "Too bad it doesn't work on people like Azula." He mutters and I can't help but shoot him a sympathetic glance.
"Unfortunately some people don't change, but that's such an amazing course. Who knows, maybe one day Azula's hardened heart will open up to one of your famous speeches." I state with a wink, only for the man to snort and cross his arms.
"I didn't realise she had one." Haru retorts. A chortle escapes past my lips just as Aang frowns.
"Come on guys, we shouldn't be so quick to judge." The airbender states wisely, effectively cutting off my chuckles as I flicker my gaze to the ground in shame, but the earthbender isn't so easily guilt-tripped.
"She threw my food on the ground Aang. What is there not to judge? She's only been on campus for a couple of years and is already a menace." Haru voices acidly, but my eyes catches the way the boy shakes his head in disagreement.
"We don't know her circumstances, maybe she-" Haru quickly cuts off the airbender with a glare.
"Don't bring up that old game of excuses Aang. It doesn't work on me." The airbender wilts slightly at the man's tone and my mind races with ideas to extinguish the sudden tension in the air. Without thinking I reach forward and spin the bottle, to my surprise it lands on me. I furrow my eyebrows as Haru snorts.
"You might need a new bottle." He says with a half-smile. A soft sigh escapes me at alleviating the heated air and I shoot him an embarrassed smile. "So, truth or dare?" He follows up with. I purse my lips.
"Dare." I say with a shrug, earning surprised reactions from the two boys.
"Wow, I thought you were going to go with truth. Hm, I dare you to bend." The earthbender challenges. My jaws drop.
"B-But the rules…!" I start in protest, before Aang shakes his head with a knowing look.
"Doesn't apply if they don't see you and they definitely won't see you in your dorm." The airbender explains with a boyish grin. I gulp, but I've never been one to back down from a challenge before, so without another word, I get to my feet and take in a deep breath. I raise a hand and focus on the moisture in the air, before plucking the unseen water from the atmosphere to hold it in my hand, visible for the other two to see.
They gape at me in shock and so with a smirk, I crystallise the water in my hands into ice before letting it fall to the ground, as a perfectly shaped ball. That seems to break the two out of their stupor, as Haru goes to slow clap while Aang stares up at me in wonder. I grin and fall back to the carpet.
"I've never seen a waterbender be able to do that before. That was amazing!" The child-genius gushes with excited eyes, as if on the verge of bouncing up and down from his position. The sight just serves to warm my heart as I beam at him.
"It took a lot of practice, but I was determined to perfect my bending." I voice with a touch of pride.
"I haven't seen much Waterbending before, but even I have to admit that was cool. You'll have to show us more when we're off campus." The earthbender suggests, boosting my ego that much more.
"Sure." I say easily and reach forward to spin the bottle again. This time landing on Aang. A fleeting look of…something crosses his eyes, but again it's gone before I can really read it. "Truth or dare?" I opt to say instead.
"Dare." He answers without thought, as if he already planned his answer in advance. I furrow my eyebrows, ignoring the drop in my stomach at not having the option to find out more about him. 'Being a child-genius, I bet he must have a really interesting upbringing. Guess I'll have to wait for the next bottle spin.' I decide.
And just like that the hours quickly fly by, each of us choosing a mixture of truths and dares. Well, all except Aang who has stubbornly stuck to dare each and every time. As a result my annoyance was slowly showing in the form of how drastic my dares became to the point that I was making the poor boy stand on his head, holding his breath while balancing a chair on his feet. Somehow, he made even that look easy. When the timer sounds and he returns to his upright position, I can't help but to flicker my guilty eyes away from his bright red face. However, a whistle soon returns my attention back to my flatmates.
"Jeez remind me not to pick dare next time." Haru jokes, I hunch my shoulders up in shame.
"Gosh Aang I'm so s-" I start, but I'm interrupted by the sudden chime of a phone. The earthbender grimaces and goes to fish out his phone from his jean pocket. His eyes skirt over the text message and a disappointed sigh escapes past his lips.
"I'm sorry guys, but I'm going to have to bail. My tutor wants me to attend this event with him tomorrow for extra credits and wants to go over it tonight." Haru apologises in disheartenment, but I spare him an encouraging smile.
"Don't apologise, that's great that you're doing that. We'll re-schedule the movie some other time." I reassure easily. The man shoots me a grateful expression, before patting Aang on the back as he gets to his feet and crosses the room.
"See you guys around! That was fun and I look forward to our next meet-up." Haru bids with a wide smile and wave. I wait until the door clicks behind him before returning my gaze to the airbender who's watching me with a quirked eyebrow.
"What?" I ask self-consciously, only for the boy to shrug.
"You mind telling me what the crazy dares were about? I mean, I wouldn't mind if Haru's dares weren't simply staying silent for a minute." Aang questions in amusement. Heat blossoms to my cheeks in shame as I go to clutch my elbow.
"I guess, I was just getting frustrated that you kept choosing dare." I admit, prompting the young genius to furrow his eyebrows.
"You didn't want me to choose dare?" The boy echoes back in confusion. I chew my lip as I deliberate on my next words.
"No! I just, wanted to find out more about you. I've got so many questions such as what's it like to be a child-genius? Did you always have heightened intelligence? Does your parents share the same talent? Or did they stuff you with lots of knowledge? I've always heard that airbenders live a life of freedom and don't get tied down to work or education and yet here you are doing exactly that. Is that incorrect?" I fire out in a flurry of questions, my curiosity completely piqued. But when I catch the fall in the boy's eyes, I pause. "Too much?" I ask sheepishly, but Aang simply turns his head to one side.
"I-I should go." He stutters out and airbends himself onto his feet. I blink twice in surprise before quickly scrambling to my feet and grasping his wrist to stop him from leaving.
"What's wrong?" I question with furrowed eyebrows, but he just shakes his head.
"Nothing. I just realised I have some studying I should get done." He mumbles and I don't need to know him to figure out he's lying.
"I thought geniuses don't need to study?" The question slips past my lips before I can censor them and before I know it, Aang snatches his hand out of my grip as his eyes flash angrily.
"Just stop calling me that!" He shouts, stunning me into silence. The airbender scrutinises me for a moment before his eyes widen in shock and he quickly takes a step towards me as his expression adopts a picture of remorse. "I-I'm so sorry Katara. I-I shouldn't have shouted." He stutters out in apology, the regret that fills his face is so evident and heart-wrenching that I can't not forgive him.
"I-it's ok." I quickly reassure, but when he drops his head forward I know that he must still feel guilty over it. I swallow. "I guess I shouldn't have pushed." I add, but still he doesn't lift his head up. I chew my lip for a moment in thought. "I'd still want to watch a movie with you though…if you want." I whisper quietly. The silence that follows is almost deafening, but eventually he raises his head to pin me with a small smile.
"Ok." The airbender agrees softly and I have to hold in my exhale of relief as I guide him over to the mattress. Once his back is rested against the wall, I pick up my laptop on my desk and shimmy back until I'm sitting beside him on the bed.
"What do you want to watch?" I ask quietly, afraid to break the fragile air that has, for unbeknownst reasons, settled between us.
"You can choose." His sombre tone devoid of its usual playfulness wedges a block of lead into my throat as guilt crawls its way through my insides. I swallow and scroll down the screen until a familiar image catches my eyes.
"Mulan?" I query lightly and at the nod of his head, I press play. Minutes tick by and slowly the tension dissipates. I'm so engrossed in the film that I don't notice the boy nodding off until I feel something heavy land on my shoulder. I flicker my surprised eyes down, only to find Aang's eyes are closed in sleep, light snores escaping past his parted lips. The sight is so heart-warming and touching that I can't help the flash of maternal instincts that wash over me.
Gently, I raise my arm to wrap the boy in a light hug. 'I don't get it. How can you be so light-hearted one moment, but so serious the next? And why are you so against being called a genius?' I release a soft exhale. 'With all your mysteriousness, you're making it impossible to ignore. I need to know more about you; there must be something I'm missing. I'm sure of it.' I think to myself in curiosity just as the image of his pained eyes flashes across my mind. 'Something had hurt him.' I realise suddenly and I return my gaze to his sleeping form. The urge to hug him closer is overwhelming, the need to try and keep the evil away. But I refrain on the last minute, not wanting to awaken the sleeping bender. 'I promise I'll help, any way I can.' I vow silently and before I know it my heavy eyes drift to a close as my cheek rests on the top of the boy's scalp.
A/N: I have shamefully not re-read over this. I'll prob do it tomorrow, but it's late here and I really didn't want you waiting any longer in case I forgot or something came up. So I hope it doesn't have too many glaring issues. I'll be sure to fix them and update it soon tho. Hope you're all well! I'm gonna try to stick to monthly updates, which I so far have been just about doing, I wish it was more frequent. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I tried to incorporate some angst to keep the ball rolling. I'm keeping thing mysterious I know, but it's fun XD Anyway, see you next time & always looking forward to hear from you guys.
Gray's Anatomy is a well known textbook used amongst med students. I actually have never used it or own one, but eh thank God I ahven't failed yet XD
23/2/21