Rating: T (for safety; can be potentially misconstrued)
Word Count: 653
Katara crept up behind her boyfriend, feeling rather predatory. Aang was sitting with his back to her in one of the wooden chairs in the Jasmine Dragon, back hunched over as though he were looking at something — Katara frowned to herself, already having an inkling as to what it is — on the table.
Aang was spending way too much time with those old, stuffy officials. Never mind that he was the Avatar, or the fact that he was needed to help establish new policies in this new era of peace — Aang was still Aang, and Katara was determined to do whatever she could to make him take a break.
And if she had fun while doing it, well, that was just a side benefit.
She placed her hands gently on his shoulders. Aang gave a small start and raised his head, as though about to turn and look at who had disturbed him, when Katara impulsively drew closer and planted a kiss behind Aang's ear.
She didn't know what she was expecting his reaction to be, but she didn't expect for Aang to immediately jolt upright, as straight and stiff as a board, and suck in air sharply. Every muscle in his jaw was firm, and Katara could even see the tendons in his neck pop out from how tense he was.
Katara drew back, alarmed at the rather strong reaction he had. She didn't think he was even breathing.
"Aang?"
As if her voice broke a spell over him, Aang gave a sharp inhale, and he unfroze from his position. The muscles in his jaw and neck relaxed almost immediately, and he rubbed the back of the ear she had kissed before looking up at her sheepishly. "Ah, sorry, Katara," he mumbled, blushing furiously. "I wasn't … expecting that."
Katara raised her eyebrows. "Clearly," she said dryly, which only intensified the blush on Aang's cheeks. She thought it was rather adorable.
Aang cleared his throat, face still bright red. "Anyways, what was that for?" he asked. Katara thought he was simply trying to steer them away from his embarrassing reaction, but she complied nonetheless.
"Oh, I was just hoping to get my boyfriend away from all the political work to go and take a break. With me." Katara gave him a significant look.
Aang rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he said. "It's just … There's so much work to be done, and I can't really ignore it since it's for the new peace policies and compensation agreements."
"You won't have much choice if you collapse from exhaustion, either," Katara pointed out. She could still recall, with vivid clarity, the meeting a few nights ago, when Aang had practically been dead in his seat with exhaustion. She couldn't forget the dark bags underneath his eyes, nor the way his eyes kept unfocusing throughout the meeting, nor just how unaware he seemed to be with his surroundings.
And it worried her to no end.
As much as the world needed the Avatar, Aang was still a person too, a person who needed to sleep and eat and rest and have fun, a person who deserved to have fun. And if he wasn't going to provide that for himself — well, Katara would force him to.
"A break won't hurt anyone, sweetie." Katara took Aang's face in her hands, forcing him to stare into her eyes. "Please, for me?"
Aang wavered under her gaze, and for a moment, she thought she had him. Then he dropped his face and turning away. "I don't know…"
Before he could finish, Katara impulsively swooped down and pecked his ear again, this time purposely leaving her lips to linger on the soft flesh. She heard Aang give a sharp inhale again, and his back straightened slowly. She waited.
"On second thought," Aang said breathlessly, "a break might not be so bad."
A/N I rated this T because there might be CERTAIN people who would misconstrue it. It sucks, but what can you do about it?
