Chapter 15: Confessions

A/N: It has been 2 months. I'm sorry! Life has been crazy but hopefully this makes up for it. The start of this chapter should be February 3rd, 2019. Drama will soon ensue in both this and the next chapter.

Last Time:

"I love you, Sweetie. So much."

She smiled and held him tighter.

"I love you too, Aang. I love you too."

"You ready for all the tests tomorrow?" Katara asked her boyfriend as they lied on his bed during a lazy Sunday morning.

Aang groaned in response. "Uuuugggghhhh. Don't remind me."

The waterbender rolled her eyes and snuggled closer to him.

"Fine. Just don't blame me for not reminding you to study when you're freaking out tomorrow."

He scoffed playfully.

"The Avatar doesn't 'freak out', he merely panics."

"Mhm. Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," Katara responded, smiling at him lovingly while holding him tighter, her eyes twinkling.

The airbender turned his body to lay on his side and pulled his girlfriend closer to him, making her yelp in surprise while he pouted teasingly.

"Come on, you don't honestly think I 'freak out', do you?"

The girl wrapped her arms around his neck, their foreheads touching.

"I don't know, the frantic feelings and thoughts you give off when you forgot to study for a math test get pretty intense..."

Aang frowned.

"What do you mean the thoughts and feelings I give- oh, right," he realized as Katara giggled.

While the knowledge that his girlfriend had magic certainly wasn't brand new, it would take some time before it really sank in for Aang. So far, although the waterbender had refrained from invading his mind on purpose to respect his privacy, she naturally latched onto him, so any thought or emotion that stuck out energy-wise often led to inadvertent eavesdropping.

Of course, Aang had been perfectly accepting of Katara's abnormality, and Katara couldn't be happier; it seemed as if her life had turned upside down in the span of days from being miserable and depressing to being full of light, kisses, and joy. In fact, the waterbender couldn't remember the last time, if ever, she had genuinely felt even slightly suicidal since Aang and her became a couple.

"Aang?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

The waterbender smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips, peppering even more all around his face before moving as close to him as possible, touching their foreheads.

Aang grinned with the onslaught of soft pecks, responding by pressing a sweet, long kiss to her forehead.

"What was that for?"

Katara sighed. "I just love you so much. You know that, right?"

At this Aang's smile softened with adoration as his hold on her tightened slightly.

"I know, sweetie, I know. I love you too."

The two lied in silence for a few minutes, reflecting on just how much their once bland, meaningless lives had changed in just a few short weeks.

"Katara?" Aang broke the silence.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Should we get to studying now?"

The waterbender laughed, getting slightly sheepish at the end.

"Probably."

The next day came with a very unceremonious, annoying BEEPing from both Katara's and Aang's respective phones, reminding them that they had a full day of torturous tests, midterm reviews, and quizzes that could make or break their grades.

Fortunately, Iroh had seen the stress that the student body had taken and had allowed the entire period as a free period, whether to be used as a study hall or just to relax for a bit by sleeping.

"Katara?"

The waterbender in question frowned. Had Aang just tried to communicate with her with his thoughts on purpose?

Shaking off her initial shock, she responded.

"Aang?"

The boy next to her grinned and took her hand in his, squeezing it.

"It worked! Yeah! Anyway, I figured that if we can't spend time together in public, we could it do it in the privacy of our minds? I mean, unless there are other magicians that could listen in..."

Katara chuckled at his rapid fire train of thought before responding.

"No other magicians, so yeah, we could try this. Maybe I could quiz you on stuff like this?"

"Sure! Wait, why can't I quiz you?"

"I would hear you..."

The airbender blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh. Right."

Katara rolled her eyes but continued.

"Now, the line of symmetry in a quadratic function is...?"

"Spirits," Katara thought as she got her indigo lunchbox from her locker, "I survived!"

Suddenly, she felt herself being shoved to the side as some senior jocks passed by her.

"Watch where you're going, Sophomore!"

She huffed and gauged her surroundings before discreetly bending a stream of water from the water fountain up to the nape of their necks, before freezing it and letting it slide down their shirts, grinning like a cat as she watched them yelp at the sudden coldness.

"Wait," she thought, seeing a figure out of the corner of her eye going up the stairs in the opposite direction of the cafeteria, "Is that... Aang? Where's he going? Maybe I should... no, Aang's a responsible teenager- well he's a teenager- he can take care of himself. He probably forgot something and will show up in a few minutes..."

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she continued to lunch.

"Stewed sea prunes... yum!"

15 minutes had passed and there was still no sign of Aang.

As always, being a fast eater, Katara had finished her entire thermos of stewed sea prunes and two oranges in the first 10ish minutes of lunch. Having not much else to do other than go on her phone, the waterbender decided to look for her missing boyfriend, so she got up from her lonely table and signed out.

"I think he went this way..."

Checking back to make sure it was the right staircase, Katara hurried up them quietly to see where it led.

"I've never used this one before..."

Finally, she got to the top, and was met with the sight of some kind of fitness room, with workout machines, a small, artificial field for what seemed like bending practice if the dirt piles and moats were any clue, windows letting in fresh bouts of air, as well as the silhouette of her now shirtless boyfriend, resting on a bench, wiping his forehead with a wet cloth.

"Aang?" she called out.

Startled, the airbender-in-question's head snapped towards the source of sound.

"'Tara? What are you doing here?"

Katara smiled as she walked up to him, wrapping her arms around him as his came around her hips, pulling her to him, as she said, "I came to find you."

"Mmm?" he hummed while nuzzling her stomach. "Why?"

"You weren't at lunch- I was curious."

Aang chuckled slightly, looking up at his girlfriend. "I see."

A brief silence followed before Katara spoke softly, "What are you doing up here?"

Slightly tensing, the airbender offhandedly replied. "I just had to blow off some steam. I tired myself out so that I would calm enough to meditate."

The waterbender's soft, content smile dropped slightly for a second apologetically.

"I'm sorry I interrupted."

The boy vehemently shook his head and gave her one of his goofy, childish grins.

"I don't mind."

Then he added in a mischievous whisper, "You probably give me more therapy than the meditation itself," making them both laugh a little.

Katara sighed in bliss as she gazed at her smiling boyfriend.

"If someone had told me a month ago that I would be this happy, I would've asked if they needed to go to a psychiatric facility. Now? I'm stuck wondering if it's possible to get even happier."

Suddenly, an especially strong, chilly gust of wind swept through the windows, causing Katara to shiver, making her regret that she hadn't brought her jacket, still hanging on the hook in her locker.

Aang's eyes widened in concern as he grabbed his varsity jacket from the bench and rushed to drape it on the waterbender, shielding her from the cold.

"Thanks," she whispered, blushing slightly.

"Of course."

A silence followed, neither sure where to go from there, but it was not an altogether awkward quiet.

Drifting slowly, the girl's gaze eventually turned towards her boyfriend's impressive, shirtless body, humming approvingly and tracing his tattoos as she went.

Now, the airbender certainly wasn't some body builder who was pure muscle and veins, being rather on the leaner, more athletic side, but it would be lying to say that he didn't have a fairly muscular frame. In Katara's opinion, his lean frame complimented the muscles he had gained from his years of Avatar training.

Quickly glancing up at her boyfriend while biting her lip nervously, the waterbender began to explore his exposed body, turning a vibrant shade of fuchsia all the while.

Her small, delicate hand slowly moved to his left shoulder, before creeping down his arm, sensually feeling the muscles there while tracing the outline of his tattoos.

Katara hid a smile as she heard Aang's breath hitch in anticipation of what would happen next.

Doing the same thing with his other arm with her other hand, the waterbender focused her right hand on tracing patterns on his chest as her eyes darted upwards to gauge his reaction, taking delight in when she saw the pink tinting his cheeks.

"Serves him right for all the times he's made me blush incessantly."

As her hands came to rest lower and lower on his chest, Katara couldn't help but notice that it was getting harder and harder for the airbender to meet her eyes.

"Shy now, are we?" she thought in amusement.

All of a sudden, the waterbender felt herself being lifted as she found herself on Aang's lap, almost bridal style, with the airbender looking intently at her.

"Why do you tease me so?" he asked rhetorically, a little smile on his face lightening the mood between them as Katara blushed.

"Because," Katara said in a playful haughty tone, "I want to. Why do you let me?"

"Because," Aang replied as he nuzzled her neck with a pout, "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?"

The airbender gestured to her torso.

"It's not fair that you look better in my varsity jacket than I do," he replied with a pout, looking at her seriously, making Katara giggle in response.

"It's not funny!" which only made Katara laugh harder, eventually causing them both to laugh.

Slightly out of breath, Katara looked up at her boyfriend lovingly.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Aang, noticing the sudden drop in mood, furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"For what?"

Katara smiled and gestured around them.

"For everything- for this, for making me laugh, for making me smile, for being a part of my life- but most of all, for making me happy, happier than I ever imagined I could be."

The airbender could only watch in awe as his girlfriend delivered her heartfelt message, turned away from him.

"I love you, Aang Jiang. I love you with everything I have. You're a thief- you stole my heart, and quite frankly, I know that I'll never get it back. What you do with it is your choice, but I trust that you won't break it. Don't make me regret that."

Katara faced him, terrified of his potential reaction, but instead saw a smile on his face and pure adoration on his expression, his eyes seemingly glassy.

He leaned in, making their foreheads touch.

"And I love you, Katara Mizu," he said in a ragged, wrought-with-emotion whisper, "You're everything to me Katara. If I had it my way, I would be able to hold on to you tight, shield you from all the bad and hurt in the world, and never let go. Besides, I'm not the only thief here, you know," making them both chuckle slightly, despite themselves. "For you, I held my heart on my sleeve, ripe for the picking, and you took it and will never give it back. I don't want it back. But I promise you- I promise you that I won't make you regret trusting me, and I promise that my heart will be yours forever."

Katara looked up at him, tears freely flowing down her face as she was overwhelmed with love for the boy in front of her.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?" she asked hopefully.

Aang nodded. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Fed up with how far apart they seemed to be, the waterbender launched herself at him, attacking him with a kiss, mumbling I love you's against his lips.

"Now this is bli-"

Suddenly, there was a gasp, causing the two to pull apart in horror as they recognized the tone.

A/N: Dun dun duuuunnnn!