Chapter 6: Laugh

A/N: With school starting and all of my after school activities (2 hours of stuff on Mondays, 3.5 on Wednesdays, plus all-day chess tournaments on weekends... :/), I'm still trying to get a more regular updating schedule but bear with me, I promise I will never forget about my stories. I have every intention of finishing each and every one. Anyway, let's get to a little Kataang!

Last Time:

I sat down on my bed cross-legged, taking off my leather jacket, and gestured for him to sit next to me pencil and journal in hand.

"Shall we begin?"

Normal POV

"Shall we begin?" Katara asked, taking out the paper Mr. Iroh had given them to start their projects.

Aang scoffed, "Well what else would we do, genius?"

She grit her teeth and counted silently to 10, trying to force herself to be calm.

"Damn him," the waterbender thought, "Damn him and his fucking obnoxious attitude."

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Fine then." Katara leaned over the edge of the bed and got out her English, Math, and Science homework.

"But I think I should remind you that," she started, her mind shifting gears into AP Stats, "Oh, never mind."

"Remind me of what?" Aang demanded.

Katara simply looked at him and smirked.

"Oh, just that since this project is a third of our quarter grade, if you fail then you'll be kicked off the basketball and soccer teams," she shrugged nonchalantly, "That wouldn't be very good for your popularity or reputation, now would it?"

Very faintly, the waterbender thought could hear him grinding his teeth together as she grinned discreetly, knowing that she had hit her target.

Huffing, Aang snatched her homework from under her arm and exclaimed, "Fine! Let's just do the damn project!"

Chuckling slightly, Katara took back my homework and got ready to write in the small black journal.

"How should we start?" she asked him.

Biting back a snappy reply, he suggested simply, "20 questions?"

She raised an eyebrow as Aang rolled his eyes in response.

"I figure if we're going to have to 'build confidence in one another' and 'tell each other our secrets as a way of releasing them'," he mocked, making little air quotes with his fingers, "then we should get to know each other first instead of just being strangers to one another."

"He has a point," a little voice in Katara's head told her.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay. You first."

With a small boyish grin, he asked, "Virginity status?"

Yet again, Katara raised an eyebrow at her project partner.

Aang raised his hands innocently. "What? It'll help break the ice, won't it?"

Giving a soft sigh of exasperation, the waterbender said, "Fine, I'll answer but we have to make this two-way. Any question you ask the the person, you have to answer yourself. Also, no lying to get out of an honest question. 'Confidence', remember?"

He nodded. "Okay. Can we do skips?"

The girl shrugged. "Sure, but then the other doesn't have to answer either."

"Fair enough," Aang replied, "Now answer the question."

"Virgin," Katara said timidly after a few seconds of pause, "Your turn."

The airbender opened his mouth to speak but then promptly closed it. "Skip?"

His partner cocked her head in question. "Why?"

"Can we just move on to the next question?" he asked with a slightly pleading tone.

"Okay," she said off-handedly. "Favorite color?"

"Orange, yellow," Aang paused for a few seconds, frowning before giving her a small smile. "And cerulean. You?"

"Blue, silver, and grey," Katara replied, the corners of her lips turning up slightly at the last color.

The boy in front of her looked at her in confusion.

"Aren't silver and gray the same thing?" he asked.

The waterbender's eyes widened rapidly as she nearly yelled, "No!"

Aang shrunk back, startled.

Katara flushed and averted her eyes before speaking passionately.

"Silver and grey couldn't be more different. Silver is mystical, whimsical, supernatural. It's fleeting and doesn't stay very deeply rooted. Grey on the other hand is dark and mysterious. It has unknown depths and gives an aura of safety."

A long silence followed, neither sure what to do in light of what just occurred.

Suddenly, Aang grinned at her before exclaiming loudly, "POLAR BEAR-DOG!"

Katara stared at him like he had 2 heads.

The airbender shrugged before replying in response to her shocked look, "It's an icebreaker."

There was a few seconds of utter quiet between the two before Katara started laughing.

She bent over, clutching her stomach, unable to reel in her giggles, Aang watching her in amazement the whole time.

"What a sweet laugh," he thought, "Like tinkling bells. I've never heard her laugh before."

The corners of his mouth crept up, while internally he was grinning like an idiot.

He didn't how he was able to get such a sweet sound out of this girl, but if there was thing Aang knew, it was that he would do anything to make it happen again.

A/N: XD Okay so yes, Aang may (for now) be a jerk on the outside but internally he's still the sweet monk we all know and love! This is just the beginning of the development of their relationship so stay tuned!