Chapter 1: New Opportunities
Hey guys! Hope you're all doing well and staying safe. I just wanted to mention that this story idea was suggested by Lightningninja17, who's got a cool new vampire story out. If you guys haven't checked it out yet, I'd recommend taking a shot at it. Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you all have a great day!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Katara couldn't help but let out a bit of an annoyed sigh as she waited at a red light. She had already been sitting there for a few minutes, and if this took any longer to change to green, she was going to be late for her appointment.
Well, appointment wasn't really the word she was looking for. She was going to meet with someone who had an extra room to rent in their apartment. Ever since her friend Yue had decided to move in with her brother, she had been panicking about finding someone else to share the apartment with.
However, there weren't many people who had seemed to want to move in with her. She understood this, of course, as many people she had seen before were either crazy or just weird. And to her ever increasing annoyance, the ones who had wanted to rent a room in her apartment were all guys who had clearly only really been interested in living with a beautiful girl.
Because of that, she had decided that it would be best for her to find a new place to stay. It was either that or she rented it out to the few who had applied, and she would a thousand times over rather find a new place than deal with them.
She had to admit, she wasn't particularly happy with Yue for putting her in this position, but she couldn't say she blamed her. If she had been given the chance to move in with a guy she loved, she would have taken it, too.
Though she certainly wasn't in love with anyone, and frankly, she doubted she ever would be. The only men she had run into that weren't her family were either rather stupid or just not her type, making her feel like she was going to spend the rest of her life alone.
But, she supposed it didn't really matter. If she was ever going to meet someone that she could actually see herself dating, she would just have to wait and see what would happen.
Just as these thoughts concluded in her mind, the light finally turned green, making her sigh in relief. She was usually more of a patient person, but today wasn't one of those days. The process of finding another apartment herself had not been easy, but after some time researching, she had found one that might actually work. It was a two bedroom apartment that was being rented out by someone. She had no idea what kind of person they were other than what she could see on the reviews that had been shown on the website where she had found the place.
And due to the fact that not one of the reviews had been negative in any way, even if she found it a bit suspicious that the reviews were a little too positive, she had decided that it would be her best bet and was currently making her way over there.
Though she wasn't going to just go to a stranger's place without protection, of course. She knew that there were many crazy people who would kidnap her in a moment if she wasn't careful, and despite her waterbending abilities, she thought it wise not to bring her waterskins with her so as to not upset a potential future roommate.
This did not mean that she was going to leave herself defenseless, however. And knowing that she would need something in case there wasn't any water around, she had opted to bring the tiny can of pepper spray that was hanging off of her keys. It had been a gift from her father a few years back when she had started college, but now that she had finished college, she found that she still needed it to this day.
Although it was rather funny, as she had once thought the gift to be ridiculous. She was one of the best waterbenders in the world, and could certainly take care of herself. It did come in handy for situations like this, and she was now glad that her father had given her it. She would have to thank him again later. Especially if she ended up having to use it.
She really hoped that that wouldn't be the case. Not only because it would just be a pain in her rear end, but because she really needed a new place to stay. If she couldn't find another place to live, she wouldn't be able to afford her current apartment on her own, meaning that she would likely have to rent out the other room to one of the guys that she really had not wanted to live with.
Shutting these thoughts out of her mind as she turned right onto an unfamiliar road, she kept going forward and took a look around the area. It appeared to be a nice place. There was a park with kids playing, and it didn't seem to be a dangerous place to live. She knew of one place in the city that no parent would dare let their kids play outside in, and seeing that wasn't the case here, she felt a little bit more confident about her possible future arrangements.
Though her mind couldn't help but wander back to who her future possible roommate might be. Based off her experience with men in the past, she assumed that the person renting the apartment was a girl. Katara wasn't one to normally make assumptions, but this person hadn't spoken to her like most men had.
Well, they had spoken through messages only, and the username "Windy123" certainly hadn't helped her ascertain whether or not her potential roommate was a boy or a girl. The words that "Windy" had were polite and cheerful, prompting her to think that this person was indeed a girl.
Though she knew it didn't really matter. Boy or girl, this was her last chance to find a place before she would be forced to rent out one of her rooms to someone she didn't want to, so as long as this person wouldn't be someone she couldn't live with, she was going to take it.
With this determination in her mind, the young waterbender finally arrived at the building she was looking for. Fortunately, it was a large apartment building, and seemed to be quite hard to miss. It would do well for helping her get used to her new home if she ended up moving here.
Not only that, but it was right next to one of the most beautiful lakes she had ever seen. This would serve her well not only for waterbending practice, but also for when she just wanted to enjoy a nice day in the water.
Feeling a little happier with this, she parked her car in the back of the lot, wanting to save the closer spots for those who actually lived there. Making her way up to the right side of the building, she found the staircase "Windy" had mentioned and started going up it, thinking along the way that this would do well for her workouts as she ascended them. Though she knew that stairs weren't a necessity for a workout, she found that she enjoyed them quite a bit.
Finally reaching the floor "Windy" had told her his apartment was, she walked over to the two doors and looked at each of the numbers. Unfortunately, she had forgotten which one she was supposed to knock on. Taking out her phone quickly, she scrolled through her messages and finally found what she was looking for, the door she needed being on her right.
Putting her phone away, she quickly attempted to shake any nerves she was feeling and took a deep breath. Not that she was particularly nervous, but she certainly had to prepare herself in case anything happened.
After a few moments of getting herself ready, she finally rapped her knuckles quickly on the door, making sure to take a step back so that she wouldn't be in her potential future roommate's face.
The young waterbender waited patiently as she heard what sounded like a dog barking come from the apartment, which in turn was followed by the sound of footsteps coming her way. Making sure that she looked decent, she looked back up just in time as the door swung open. And her jaw dropped.
There, standing at the door while struggling to keep his rather fluffy dog at bay, was a rather good-looking young man wearing a gray, tight-fitting long sleeve shirt with a pair of blue jeans. He had short, black hair and what looked like a bit of scruff on his face. But the best part? His piercing gray eyes. She had never seen anyone with gray eyes before, and she couldn't help but be a bit mesmerized by them.
"Appa, down!" he grit out as he struggled to hold his furry friend back from going at the completely surprised waterbender.
"Sorry," his strained apology came out as he finally managed to get his dog to calm down, even though he knew that his dog wouldn't have attacked her. Well, unless you counted an endless amount of licks as an attack. "He's just excited to meet someone new."
Katara could only continue to stare at him as he wrangled the large dog who had started attempting to charge her again. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. Sure, she had known that there was a possibility that "Windy" would end up being a guy, but she just hadn't expected to be so… gorgeous.
But, after the man had finally gotten his dog to fully settle down, he looked up to her with a friendly smile, his eyes shining with joy and mirth. "So, I take it that you're 'Watergirl123"? He asked, his smile not faltering for a second as he drank her in.
It took her still so surprised mind a few moments to collect her thoughts, but upon realising that she was just standing there and staring, she forced herself to snap out of it and smiled sheepishly back at him. "Yeah, that's me." She stuck her hand out to him. "I'm Katara."
"Nice to meet you, Katara," his smooth and enjoyable voice came back to her as he shook her hand, making her smile as she noticed that he was shaking it firmly. Most guys would shake her hand as if she was some fragile thing that could be easily broken, but not this guy. She appreciated that he wasn't doing that. Though she also couldn't help but appreciate how good he looked in his clothes. "I'm Aang."
Aang… She liked that name. It was certainly like nothing she had heard before. "Nice to meet you too, Aang," she finally replied, the smile on her face completely unforced as she did so. So far, this situation wasn't looking too bad for her.
After a few moments of the two just silently looking at each other, Aang seemed to realize that he was staring and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, would you like to come inside?" he invited as he gestured to his right, still holding the large dog by its collar as she nodded and walked into the apartment with him right behind her.
She had to admit, she was impressed. The apartment was very beautiful, and more importantly for her, it was clean and organized. Much like her brother, Yue had been sloppy and unorganized, frustrating her to no end. But, as she could see clearly here, Aang seemed to keep his place neat and tidy, something that she really appreciated.
And the apartment itself was bigger than her own. Everything from the living room to the kitchen had more space to move around in, making her excited at that. If she had a dollar for every time she had hit her head on a cabinet in her apartment because of how small it was, she could buy a house.
"This place is beautiful," she thought aloud as she continued to admire it, not noticing in the slightest that Aang was thinking the same thing about her.
"Well, thanks," he decided to say aloud, knowing that voicing his thoughts probably wouldn't be in his best interest at the moment. "It's been a work in progress, but I think I've managed to make it better than it was."
Katara couldn't help but look at him curiously. "What did you do, exactly?"
"Everything," he shrugged simply as he looked around, still holding Appa back on the collar who appeared to have mostly settled down, panting happily while wagging his tail. "When I first moved in here, the place looked like it hadn't been touched in a hundred years."
Katara laughed a little at this, making him smile. He liked her laugh. It sounded just like chiming bells. "Well, it looks great now. Was your landlord a pain to deal with?"
"No, he was actually pretty easy to get along with," he chuckled. "Given that the landlord was me."
Blinking in surprise for a few moments, Katara couldn't help but wonder if she had heard him correctly. "You're the landlord of this building?" she sputtered out a little.
"Last time I checked," he joked with a playful look in his eyes. "Why?"
Snapping herself out of her surprise, she gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I just didn't really expect you to be the landlord. I haven't met a lot of landlords who are around my age."
To her great relief, he didn't seem to take any offense to it and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. You're not the first one to ask that question. Should we go look at your room?"
"I'd love to," she nodded her agreement, following him as he led the way while still holding onto his dog until they reached a room at the end of the hallway. Though she noticed that there was another room across from the one they were going to, and figured that it must be his.
"And, here we are," he gestured to the room with a smile as she took a look inside. It seemed to be a nice room. There was plenty of space for her to put her things, including what little stuff she had in her living room. Yue had ended up taking most of the stuff that they had shared before she had moved out.
Stepping inside the room, she smiled as she walked around and found that she liked it. She could already see where she would put her stuff. Not that she had a lot of it to bring, but it was nice to see that she could already get an idea of where she would put her things. She was also happy that she had her own bathroom as well, something that she appreciated.
"So? What do you think?" Aang asked as he noticeably struggled with Appa, trying his best to hold him back as Appa's tail wagged furiously.
Giggling a little as she watched him struggle, she gave him a warm smile. "I like it. This place is much better than the apartment I'm living in now," she added as she looked around the room.
"Well, with the information you've given me, I've already run a background check," Aang grunted as forced his dog to sit down. "You seem like you'd be a good roommate, so if you want it, it's yours." Appa barked, and he smiled sheepishly. "That is if you don't mind having a dog around."
Katara couldn't help but giggle again at this, but she gave him a reassuring smile. "I have no problems with dogs," she promised, becoming surprised as Appa immediately ran with all of his strength and finally broke free of his master's grip, running towards the surprised waterbender and knocking her to the ground.
Unable to hold back her laughter as Appa began licking her senselessly, Aang ran over to her immediately. "I'm so sorry! He's usually better about this. Appa, down!" he tried in vain to get his dog off of the poor girl, but she just laughed and waved him off.
"Really, it's okay, Aang," she assured him as the dog continued to lick her mercilessly. "I love dogs."
"Well, he seems to like you," he laughed, feeling relieved that she didn't seem to be upset that she was being slobbered over by his dog. And, as if Katara didn't have enough attention from animals at the moment, a black and white cat came walking up to her, purring as it nuzzled against the cheek that wasn't being licked by Appa. "Oh, and this is my cat Momo."
"Nice to meet you, Appa and Momo," she greeted them both with a laugh as Momo began licking her hand that was petting him as Katara began to pet Appa as well. Though Aang could only watch this scene with a smile, finding that this might just work out after all.
After a little while of letting the two pets have their fun, Katara forced herself to get up and watched as the two pets then returned to their master's side, amazing her how even the cat seemed attached to the young man in front of her.
"So, now that you've met my pets and you've seen the place, what do you think?" Aang asked, though he couldn't help but feel a bit of fear that she would decide not to move here. Despite having just met her, he really hoped that she would move in, finding that he wanted to get to know her more.
"A nice apartment with two adorable pets?" she laughed a little, making Appa bark and Momo meow as their tails moved happily. "How could I possibly say no?" And how could I say no to that? Her rebellious mind added in her thoughts as she once again looked at the handsome young man in front of her.
A wide smile came across Aang's face as he heard this, relief instantly overcoming him as he stuck a hand out to her. "Well then, welcome to your new home, Katara," he told her with a smile. "I think you'll like it here."
Katara took his hand and shook it, feeling that same jolt of electricity go through her as their hands touched. "Yeah," she replied with a meaningful smile back at him. "I think I will, too."
