Chapter 2: Game Night

Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you all so much for your support. It means a lot to me. 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.


A week later, Katara found herself lounging comfortably in her new room. The transition from her old apartment to her new one had been far easier than she had expected it to be. Especially because her new landlord had volunteered to help bring her things over to their place, which had saved her quite a bit of hassle to say the least.

So far, things had gone rather smoothly with getting used to the new place and to her new roommate. Not that getting used to Aang was a problem, really, given that she was already developing quite the crush on him. Unfortunately for her, he was often busy doing other things during the day, leaving her little to no time to get to know him more, but she was determined to figure out a way to spend some time with him.

Not that she was exactly home all of the time, either. She did have a job to work at, after all. But what time she was home, she didn't get to see him for very long, which she found quite disappointing. She noticed that he had seemed to want to talk to her more, but he had always been held back from being able to because of whatever obligations he had at the time.

Still, despite all these setbacks, she was determined to find a way to get him to spend some time with her. Even if it meant that she would have to think outside of the box to do so.

Being alone at the apartment wasn't all bad, though. Aang's pets were always there to keep her company, and she always loved being able to play with them when they would come up to her. Momo didn't come up to her as much as Appa did, but she supposed that it was likely because cats were more distant than dogs most of the time.

Except she had noticed that Momo was particularly fond of his owner, which was plain to see whenever Aang had entered the room and Momo had run alongside his much larger companion to greet their master. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, she couldn't help but be impressed by this show of how much his pets liked him. Animals knew when a human was a good person or not most of the time, and the fact that both of his pets practically ran to him whenever he came home said more than words ever could.

This wasn't the only thing that had her seeing just what kind of a person Aang was. Much to her embarrassment when Aang had been away, Katara's dangerous curiosity had gotten the best of her and had resulted in her going into his room, even though she knew she could get kicked out for invading his privacy like that.

Fortunately for her, she had been smart enough not to touch anything and had instead chosen to look around to see what kind of things he had. If there was one thing she had learned from her brother, it was that you could often learn about a person from what kind of possessions they kept with them.

Aang had seemed like a humble sort of person to her when she had first met him, but his room had only proven her right, as he had barely anything in there to speak of. The only noteworthy items he had in his room were a bed, a dresser, a small flatscreen TV on the dresser and what appeared to be a meditation mat. And other than a few knick knacks and various items that she could only assume were family heirlooms, that was all he had in his room.

She liked that he lived so simply, though. From what she had seen of rich people, the more possessions people had, the more selfish they were. But, due to Aang's lack of many possessions, she could see that he was rather selfless despite being the owner of the very building they lived in.

Not only that, but upon having learned his full name, she had looked him up to see just what kind of person he was. As it turned out, he was a big supporter of many charities throughout the city they lived in and often helped out in person. Even his media profile was basically a big advertisement for helping the poor and homeless.

Needless to say, she had never quite been so impressed with a person, even if she had had to stalk him a bit to find out all this information about him. Add that with his looks and his genuinely warm personality, she was beginning to think that maybe just maybe he might be the one for her.

This was incredibly early to be thinking of, she knew, but she just couldn't help it. She had met many guys over the years, and had turned down every single one of them because she had been raised to have rather high standards in who she dated. None of them had met hers until Aang had come along, and now she was excited to see where this might go.

Though she couldn't say for sure whether Aang had a mutual interest in her as she did him. Most of the time, she felt as if she could read people pretty well, but with him she just couldn't for some reason. It was as if she couldn't think properly whenever he was around, and it frustrated her to no end.

But, she knew that she wasn't going to give up easily. And she knew that she had to at least try to see if he might be interested in going out with her. So, with this in mind, she found herself in her room laying down on her bed while looking up at the ceiling, trying and so far failing to think of something that would get him to spend some time with her.

Feeling her bed shift a little, she was surprised to find that Momo had jumped onto her bed, his long tail moving from side to side as he walked up to her. "Hey, Momo," she greeted him with a laugh as she started petting his head, making him purr as he nuzzled against her hand. "I don't suppose you would know if Aang likes me or not?"

No sound other than the purring came from him, making her sigh a little as she went back to looking up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I didn't think so." After a few more moments of staring up at the ceiling, she became surprised as she heard the sound of her phone ringing. Digging it out of her pocket without taking her hand off of the happy cat next to her, she became surprised to see her best friend calling. Quickly hitting the "answer" button, she brought it to her ear and said. "Hey, Yue. What's up?"

"Not much. Just wanted to check up on you since Sokka told me that you found a new place," she replied easily over the phone. Katara couldn't hold back a smile. It was nice to hear that her friend was happy, even if it was with her brother. "When can I come see it?"

"Uh… sometime soon," Katara began carefully, not wanting to alert her friend to her crush lest she be teased about it before she even knew if he liked her back or not. "I've got some things I need to get taken care of first." She felt a bit bad for lying, but she just was not quite ready to have her friend come there. If Yue saw Aang for even a second, she would immediately start teasing her. Something that she really did not want.

It was silent on her friend's end for a few moments, and Katara could practically see the wheels turning in her best friend's head. "Why don't you want me to come over?" she finally asked, her voice as full of suspicion as Katara's heart was full of fear that Yue would figure it out. "What are you hiding?"

Barely holding back a bit of a gulp, Katara laughed nervously and tried to focus on petting Momo who had snuggled up to her. "What do you mean, Yue? I'm not hiding anything."

"Kat," Yue began in a serious tone that Katara rarely ever heard. "How long have we known each other?"

"Since Kindergarten," the frightened young waterbender replied, doing her best to keep the nervousness out of her voice but found that she was not doing a very good job.

"That's right. And since we've known each other for so long, I can tell when you're hiding something," came her friend's disbelieving tone. "So we both know that you're not telling me something. The only difference of what happens next is whether you decide to not tell me and I give you crap until you give up, or you could save yourself some trouble and just tell me now."

Knowing that she was defeated, Katara let out a long sigh and allowed the soft fur of the cat currently lying down on her stomach to ease her into it. "Okay, okay. You got me Yue." \

"That's what I thought," Yue's voice turned a little smug before her voice returned to curiosity and a hint of excitement. "So, what did you try to hide from me?"

Being silent for a moment, she decided that it would just be best to get it over with and, with a roll of her eyes, she finally said. "Okay, what I didn't want you to know, it's about my new roommate."

At this, Yue's voice changed from curiosity to confusion. "Okay… Are they like a clown or something? Why wouldn't you want to tell me about them? Or do you think they'll replace me as your best friend?" a hint of jealousy seeped into Yue's voice, making Katara laugh despite the nervousness she felt.

"No, Yue. No one will ever replace you as my best friend," she promised, hearing what she could only guess to be a soft sigh of relief come from the other line a moment later.

"Oh. Good," her friend's voice sounded noticeably happier as she spoke once more. "Okay, so if it's not that, then why don't you want me to know about them?"

"Well…" Katara started with a blush burning her cheeks which she was thankful that Yue couldn't see as she looked over to the door to make sure Aang wasn't there. "My roommate? They're not a girl…"

It took Yue a few moments to catch on to what Katara was implying, but when she finally did, Katara's ear drum nearly burst from her friend's squeal of excitement. "Ooohh. Katara's got a boyfriend!"

"Yue, could you not be so loud?" Katara admonished as she started scratching Momo's ears before putting the phone to her other ear. "I swear, if you were any louder, I'd be deaf by now."

Ignoring her friend's grumpiness, Yue just scoffed. "Oh, please. You're just trying to get out of telling me about this roommate of yours." Katara groaned as she moved her hand from Momo's ears to cover her eyes, but gasped as she realized she had likely disturbed his sleep. But, after seeing that he had not been awoken, she lowered her voice so as to not disturb the slumbering cat.

"Whatever, Yue," she sighed as she did her best not to complain about how nosy her friend could be at times. "Besides. He's not my boyfriend."

"But you want him to be, don't you?" Yue's teasing voice came over the line, and Katara could only blush and remain silent as Yue's voice turned smug again. "That's what I thought. So, tell me about him. What's he like?"

This time, Katara didn't have to force a smile onto her face. Thinking about how good of a person he was seemed to bring a genuine smile onto her face. "He's amazing. I've only known him for about a week, but from what I've seen, he's one of the kindest, most down to earth guys I've ever met."

She could almost see her friend motioning for her to continue as Yue remained silent, and she decided it wouldn't do her any good to keep delaying it. "I don't know that much about him yet," she continued with a smile growing on her lips. "But I'm definitely trying to get to know him more."

To Yue's credit, her squeal of joy was much quieter this time around, making Katara sigh in relief as Yue said. "That's amazing, Kat! So, when do I get to meet him?"

"Yue!" Katara scolded as she resumed petting the still sleeping Momo's ears. "I just met the guy. It's not like I've been dating him for a few months."

"Oh, fine," Yue's disappointed sigh came from the other end of the line. "Well, whenever you feel like you've known him long enough for me to meet him, I would love to. But you do know that we're going to be talking about this on Girl's Night, right?"

"Yeah, I know," the young waterbender sighed in return. Her eyes widened as she heard the sound of the front door unlocking, and knowing that she didn't have much time, she sat up and walked over to her mirror. "I gotta go, Yue. Tell Sokka I said hi!"

"But-" Yue's voice attempted to argue, but Katara had already hit the end call button and was already checking to make sure she looked decent. She hadn't expected Aang to be home already, but she supposed she hadn't been there long enough to know when exactly he would be back. Besides, with all of the different charities she had seen him sponsor on his page, she could only assume that his schedule wasn't exactly fixed.

Taking a long look, she quickly took her brush and ran it through her hair a few times before the sound of the door finally opening made her stop. "Hello?" Aang's voice called.

Making sure that she was satisfied with her appearance, she took a deep breath and turned around to find that a now awake Momo was already bounding out of her room, no doubt making his way to his master. The already familiar sound of Appa's happy bark showed that Appa had woken up from his own nap as well, bringing the once quiet apartment to life as she walked out of the room.

Unable to hold back a smile, the young waterbender watched as the dog and cat nearly tackled their master as he walked in, making him laugh merrily as he pet them both. "I missed you guys, too," he chuckled, being completely unaware that his roommate was watching this scene from her doorway.

But, after a few moments of petting his furry friends, he finally let them go and looked up to see the waterbender smiling at him. "Oh. Hey, Katara," his smile brightened as he saw her. "I didn't see you there."

Blushing as she realized that she had been caught, she laughed a bit nervously and waved back at him. "Hey, Aang. How was your day?"

Taking off his shoes at the entrance, he made his way over to the living room and stood by the love seat, gesturing towards the bigger couch that was across from it. "Not too bad. How was yours?" he replied with genuine interest, making her smile as she took her seat.

"Oh, not too bad," she shrugged simply, trying not to seem like she was excited that he was there. "I just had to work, but we were slow enough that I got off early."

"Cool!" Aang's smile positively beamed at her, making her already improving mood go up even more. "It must have been nice, right?"

"Yeah," she couldn't keep a smile from crossing onto her face as she looked back at him. "I don't like staying there if there's nothing to do. It gets pretty boring."

To her surprise, Aang snapped his fingers, a look of remembrance on his face as he got up from the love seat. "Hold on just one second," he put a finger before running into the kitchen, making the very confused waterbender only sit there in surprise as she tried to figure out what he was doing. The sound of a bag being opened took her by surprise, but not more so than the sound of the microwave being opened. Understanding dawned on her a few moments later when the sound of popping kernels came from the kitchen, and she finally understood what he was doing.

A few minutes later, the young airbender came back into the room with a bowl of popcorn in his hands, setting it down on the table that separated them.

"Sorry I kind of left you hanging there," Aang apologized sheepishly as he retook his seat. "I just remembered it when you said 'boring'."

Katara wasn't sure of whether to be offended or not, and Aang must have noticed the unsure look on her face as his face burned red. "No, I didn't mean it like that, I-" he cut himself off and took a deep breath, waiting a few moments so that he could explain himself more clearly. "What I meant was that you told me you get bored easily, and I thought of something that might be fun to do and help us get to know each other more."

Her interest immediately peaking at this, she sat a little straighter and looked at him with interest clear on her face, unable to hide how much she had been wanting to get to know him more. "Okay. What did you have in mind?" she tried her best not to sound too excited, but found that she had let a little of it slip through, much to her disliking.

"Well, there's this game that my college buddies and I used to play when I first met them," he began as he took a piece of popcorn and showed it to her. "For example, let's say we were starting right now. I would throw this piece of popcorn to you and you would try to catch it with your mouth. If you caught it, you could ask me any question you wanted."

"So, what happens if you don't catch the popcorn?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Then you don't get to ask a question," he shrugged simply in reply. "The only way you get to ask a question is if you actually catch a piece of popcorn."

A look of unhappiness took over the waterbender's face, making Aang look confused for a few moments before she decided to explain. "I, uh… I've never really been good at catching popcorn like that," she admitted sheepishly.

His confusion quickly clearing, he just laughed and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it, Katara. I wasn't good at it, either, but I got better and I know you will, too."

Feeling reassured by this, Katara also couldn't help but wonder. "And if we run out of popcorn before I can ask anything?"

"Then I'll make some more," his simple answer came almost immediately, making her smile as she saw that he wasn't going to make fun of her if she really did do poorly. Now feeling better about the game, she nodded and moved closer on the couch until she was on the edge of the seat.

"Okay, I'm ready," she smiled at him, making him smile back at her as he gestured to the bowl in which she reached forward and took a piece of popcorn, aiming it carefully for a moment before tossing it at him. Despite it being way over his head, and with a speed she didn't know a human could have, he jumped up from the couch and snatched it, making her blink in disbelief at what she had seen.

"How did you do that?" she couldn't help but gasp out in surprise, making him laugh as he once again shrugged.

"I had a lot of practice," his smile never faltered as he became amused by the complete surprise on her face.

"See? I can't even throw it right, how am I supposed to catch it with my mouth?" she groaned in annoyance, but became surprised as she felt a hand on her shoulder, her head snapping up to see him standing over her.

A sympathetic smile was on his face, but she could see the amusement dancing in his eyes as he looked down at her. "Katara, really, it's okay. Do you think I had it perfect when I first started?" Looking down again, she shook her head. "You're right. I didn't. It took a lot of practice, but with time I got better. And I know you will, too. Okay?"

After a few more moments of silence, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." Now satisfied that she was okay, he went back to his seat and sat back down. "Well, you obviously get to ask a question. What'll it be?"

"Let's just start with basic questions and work our way up," he suggested, making her smile as she saw that he was trying his best to make her as at ease as possible. Nodding her agreement, he took a moment to think it over before asking. "What's your favorite food?"

She pretended to think about it for a moment, but she already knew what the answer was. "I guess I would have to say my Gran-Gran's sea prunes. They're the thing that I like the most." A look of disgust came onto Aang's face, making her laugh as she noticed this. "What?"

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly as he rubbed his neck. "It's just that I tried it at one of the restaurants near here, and I can't say I'm a huge fan of it."

Katara couldn't help but giggle at the look of displeasure on his face, making him smile. He absolutely loved her laugh. Never before had he heard one quite like hers, and he couldn't help but smile everytime he had the chance to hear it.

"It's okay. It's kind of an acquired taste," she assured him as she noticed a bit of an apprehensive look on his face, making him sigh in relief that he hadn't offended her. "Besides, at least I know that you won't be taking my leftovers like my brother used to."

"You have a brother," Aang noted, making Katara laugh again as she nodded. "Well, now I know what not to ask."

His joke was rewarded as another fit of giggling came from the amused waterbender, making him smile as he enjoyed the beautiful sight of her laughing. "Well, now I know not to ask if you're funny or not," she put in a little flirt in her words.

Unfortunately for her, it went right over his head as he smiled simply. "Well, thanks. You're pretty funny, too." Taking a piece of popcorn, he aimed it toward her mouth and made his shot, having it perfectly lined up, yet she was unable to catch it in her mouth before Appa ran up and grabbed it from the ground.

"See?" she sighed in disappointment as she put her chin on her hand. "I'm not going to catch it."

"Give it some time," he repeated himself as he gave her another reassuring smile. "Now, I do believe it's my turn."

Deciding that it wouldn't do her any good to keep pouting, she resumed her normal stature and grabbed a piece of popcorn, her aim greatly improving as she got it right down the center of his mouth which he easily caught.

"See?" his teasing voice chuckled as he wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh again as she watched him. "You're already getting better. So…" he trailed off as he tried to think of another question. "How old are you?"

A puzzled look overtook the waterbender's face. "I thought you would know since you did a background check on me?" she couldn't help but ask.

Aang just shrugged as he picked up another piece of popcorn. "I didn't really think to look at the age. I don't want to discriminate, so I just look to see if a possible renter has a bad history or not."

Katara couldn't help but admire him for this. She knew that a lot of landlords wouldn't hesitate to look for details of potential renters like that, but Aang wanted to give anyone and everyone a fair chance. The more she got to know him, the more she couldn't help but see what a good person he was.

Hoping to continue on, he made sure that she knew that he was aiming and waited until she was ready before he made his shot, her tongue getting a taste of it, but not being quite able to get it in her mouth before it hit the ground, this time with Momo snagging it from the ground in the blink of an eye.

Groaning again that she couldn't accomplish something so simple, she looked up to see Aang giving her another reassuring smile and remembered that she didn't want to give him the wrong impression of her. Clearing her throat, she decided to pretend like it hadn't happened and cleared her throat. "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly before reaching to get another piece of popcorn, making sure she had it aimed right at him.

As she threw it, she could see that she had gotten it just right and was expecting Aang to get it with ease, but became surprised as he somehow missed it, watching the kernel drop to the ground where both Appa and Momo butted heads to get it before running back to their positions where they waited for another to fall.

Katara couldn't quite believe what she was seeing for a few moments until a thought occurred to her. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she asked with a raised brow.

As if to confirm her suspicions, he shrugged simply and put on an innocent face. "I don't know what you're talking about," came his dodging reply, making her roll her eyes, even if she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she noticed that he was trying to make her feel better.

Watching as he grabbed the next kernel, she became determined to get this one and got herself ready, watching as he launched the small piece right at her as App and Momo waited for it to fall to the ground. They were disappointed, however, when the popcorn did not fall, and instead landed directly into her mouth.

"Hey, you did it!" Aang cheered for her, making her smile as she saw how happy he was for her. "Good job, Katara! You got it down a lot quicker than I did."

Unable to hold back a proud look on her face, she cleared her throat once more and smiled warmly at him. "Thanks. So, now it's my turn to ask a question."

"Shoot," he instantly replied as he leaned back against the love seat to get more comfortable.

She thought about it for a moment, but knowing that they weren't supposed to go into the deep questions yet, decided to start with something light. "What's your… favorite sport?"

"Bending or non-bending?" he asked.

"Both," she decided after a moment of thought.

"Well…" he trailed off thoughtfully as he looked up at the ceiling. "For bending, I like soccer the best. There's a lot more space for me to airbend and I can go as fast as I want."

"So you're an airbender," Katara noted as he paused, being a little surprised at that. From what she had seen and heard of airbenders, they usually had a tattoo on their bodies in the shape of an arrow. "I thought airbenders had tattoos?"

To her surprise, a look of fear overtook the young man's face, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, making her wonder if she had just imagined it or not.

"Oh, yeah. Most airbenders do, but I didn't get mine. My friends thought it wouldn't be a good idea for me to get them," he told her cheerfully, but she could sense that he was covering something up. What that was, she didn't know, but she was more than a little curious to find out.

But, seeing by his face that he really didn't want to talk about it, she decided that she could wait to ask about it until another day. The last thing she wanted to do right now was make him not like her.

Instead, she just nodded simply and decided to get on with the game. "Okay. Your turn." Grabbing another piece of popcorn, she aimed it and threw it right to him, watching as it landed in his mouth with ease.

As he swallowed the kernel, he took a moment to think about it and smiled as he thought of one. "What's your favorite color?"

"Gray," she spoke without thinking immediately, it being the first thing on her mind as she looked into his eyes, making her blush as she tried to avoid his gaze.

Being confused as to why she seemed to get shy all of a sudden, he just laughed it off and got back to it. "Cool. Well, it's your turn." Making sure she was ready, he threw her the kernel and watched as she caught it effortlessly, making him smile. "Wow, see? You really are getting the hang of it."

"Thanks to you," she smiled back at him, the two staring into each other's eyes for a few moments before Katara cleared her throat. "Right. So, uh… What's your favorite color?"

Looking into her eyes again, he answered easily with absolutely no reservations. "Blue." Katara felt a blush creeping on her cheeks, but she wasn't entirely sure why. He seemed to be looking at her in a way she didn't recognize, but she felt like there was some hidden meaning behind his words.

Deciding to shake it off, she smiled and laughed a little. "Okay. Your turn." Digging her hand in the popcorn, she made sure that she had it lined right where she wanted it and made her shot, watching as Aang opened his mouth to receive it, but instead was surprised to find that it had bounced off of his forehead, to which Appa immediately dashed to get it from the ground.

"You did that on purpose!" Aang laughed as he looked at her in disbelief, making Katara smirk just a little as she put on an innocent look.

"I don't know what you're talking about," her voice was just as innocent as her face looked. "I'm just a bad shot. I would never do that on purpose." The two looked at each other again and burst into a fit of laughter, knowing that she had indeed done it on purpose and both finding it hilarious.

Once their laughter had finally settled down, Aang gave her an appreciative smile. "You know what? You're pretty funny, too."

"Thanks," Katara smiled warmly at him, happy to see that they appeared to be getting along well. "Alright. My turn."

"No, no, no," Aang objected with a laugh. "I call foul. You did that on purpose, so I get a second try that's not bad on purpose."

Letting out a fake sigh, she grabbed another kernel and pretended to roll her eyes. "Oh, fine. If you insist." Throwing the kernel normally this time, she was not surprised to see that he had caught it with ease. "Okay, ask away."

"Tell me about your family," was his only reply.

"That's not really a question, Mr. Smart Guy," she teased at him, making him laugh as he sat up again to level with her.

"Okay then, Miss Intelligent Girl," he teased right back at her, making her laugh. "What's your family like?"

Taking a moment to think about how to describe it best, she decided to just be honest. "Well, the only real family I have are my brother, my dad, and my grandmother. My mother… died… when I was a little girl."

Aang's eyes widened as he realized what a mistake he had made. "Katara, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay, Aang," she assured him as she put a hand on his to calm him down, making them both feel a jolt of electricity surge through them as their skin touched. "You didn't know, and I was going to tell you eventually." She paused and looked down at her feet. "She… was killed by a street gang when I was a little girl. No one knew which one, but they robbed her and decided that she had to die."

Aang didn't know quite what to say. "I'm sorry" didn't quite seem to cover it, and he knew from personal experience that it didn't help anything to say it. In fact, he would even say that it made it worse.

Instead, he chose to say, "Well, if she was anything like you, I'm sure that she was a great person." Earning a half smile from Katara as she looked up at him.

"Thanks, Aang," she whispered to him, wiping a stray tear from her eye as she gave him a grateful look. There was silence between them for a moment, and deciding that she didn't want it to linger, she grabbed another piece of popcorn and aimed it at him. This time, she became surprised as he caught it with the tip of his nose, spinning it around with some incredibly subtle airbending before launching it off of his nose into his mouth. He just hoped that it would help get her to laugh again.

He was quite relieved to see Katara laugh and look at him in amazement. "That was amazing! I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that before."

"Thanks," he chuckled as finished off the last bit of it and swallowed. "I've been practicing."

"I noticed," she laughed, making him laugh as well for a few moments before they got back to their game. "Okay, ask away."

An amused look came onto his face as he saw that she had truly forgotten something. "Um… It's kind of your turn, Katara."

She blinked in surprise as she realized that he was right. "Well, why did you let me throw you some popcorn?" she asked a little indignantly, but mostly with utter confusion.

"Because I like popcorn," he joked, making her laugh once again as she shook her head at him.

"If you say so," was her only reply as she smiled at him. Opening her mouth, she pointed to it and watched as he made his toss, getting it right down the middle as she quickly chewed and swallowed the kernel. "Okay, now that I've told you about my family, why don't you tell me about yours?"

"Okay, well… there's not really much to tell," he shrugged as he thought about it. "My parents died when I was little. No one ever told me what from, and I was too young to remember."

"I'm so sorry, Aang," Katara's eyes turned sad as she saw that he too had lost loved ones. "That must have been awful."

He simply shrugged as he looked down at his feet. "It probably would have been if I remembered anything about them, but I just don't. They died when I was three, so I don't remember anything about them except their voices." Katara looked down at her feet as well. At least she could remember her mother. The only memory Aang had of his parents was what they sounded like. She had pictures of her mom and her mother's diary, not to mention the necklace she had given her not long before her death.

"It's not as bad as you might think, though," he continued as he had a staring contest with his shoes. "The good thing about not remembering much about them is that I don't really know what they were like, and I guess that kind of makes it… easier."

"Yeah, I guess that would make it a little easier," she mumbled as she looked at him with pity in her eyes. "So, who took care of you after that?"

To her surprise, a simple came onto his face, making her happy to see that he wasn't letting their conversation get him down. "I probably would've ended up going from foster home to foster home, but then my Guardian Gyatso adopted me. He never had a son and had wanted one, so he adopted me." He smiled as he thought about the good times they had together. "He was a great Guardian, and to this day is the closest thing to a father I've ever known."

Katara was happy to hear that he hadn't had too bad of a childhood, and from the look on his face as he reminisced about his childhood, it seemed like he had a rather good one. Feeling content with this, she then picked up a piece of popcorn and made her throw, watching him snap it up with ease. "Okay, your turn."

Aang, despite the serious nature of the questions they had asked each other just minutes ago, found himself wanting to ask a rather personal question. One that had been on his mind since the moment he met her. "So… Do you have a boyfriend I should know about in case he comes over?" he attempted to be nonchalant about it, but could hear the nervousness in his own voice as it came out, making him wince as he wondered if she would pick up on it.

Despite the fact that she could tell that there was something different in his voice, she couldn't quite tell what it was and decided to be honest. "No, I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh. I see," he replied, hoping that his excitement at hearing this wasn't showing on his face. Score! He thought happily.

Seeing that he had asked her the question, she decided it would only be fair she asked him the same question, meaning that she could get the answer she needed without him knowing as he tossed the popcorn to her. Swallowing it in seconds, she nearly choked on it from trying to get it down quickly, but finally managed to get it down after a moment of Aang helping her get air back into her lungs. Once she had finally settled down, she then asked. "And what about you? Any girlfriends I should be aware of?"

"Nope. I don't have a girlfriend," he shook his head, not noticing the wide smile that came onto Katara's face as she did her best to hide it.

"I see," she too replied, still doing her best not to show how excited she was from hearing this. Not that she really needed to, as Aang was too preoccupied with his own thoughts from learning that she was indeed single.

Both being satisfied with these answers, they decided to move on with the game, the both of them going on for a while with the popcorn until they had reached the last kernel.

"And then he fell in the ice," Aang finished, making Katara laugh so hard that she ended up spitting a little water that he had gotten for her as they both had gotten thirsty from the salty popcorn they had been enjoying on him. After a moment of silence between them, the two laughed with pure delight on their faces, feeling like they had been laughing for days and not wanting to stop. They had forgotten all about the sad turn in their game earlier.

But, once they had finally managed to calm down, Katara reached down to grab another piece and was saddened to find that there weren't any left. "Aw. We're all out," she said with disappointment clear in her voice.

"Well, it is pretty late," he said as he looked at the watch on his wrist, unable to hide the sadness in his tone as he did so.

"What time is it?" she couldn't help but ask curiously.

"It's about five 'til midnight."

Her eyes widened to the size of plates. "It's almost midnight?!" she asked incredulously, making him laugh again as he nodded. "B-but it was just five-" She cut herself off as she looked up at the clock on the wall. He was right. It was almost midnight.

"Wow," she breathed as she laid back against the couch. "I can't believe we played this game for six hours."

Aang grinned as he laid back as well. "Well, you know what they say. Time flies when you're having fun."

She couldn't help but smile at him as she looked at him with admiration. "You're right. Time did fly by. And I definitely had a lot of fun." Standing up from the couch, she walked over to him and leaned down to his face, making him turn bright red as she placed a lingering kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks for the game, Aang," she smiled as she pulled away. "This was really fun."

It took him a few moments to snap out of the daze she had left him in, but once he finally did, he smiled back at her. "Thanks for playing with me. I had a lot of fun getting to know you."

If it was possible, her smile widened even more. "Yeah, I did, too." She sighed as she looked at the empty bowl. "I'm kind of sad it's over now."

"Well, if you want," Aang began as he cleared his throat nervously. "We could continue this tomorrow night."

Katara's eyes brightened and her face radiated the happiness she felt in her heart at his suggestion. "I would love to!"

"Great!" Aang couldn't help but smile rather widely from this. "I'll be back home around seven tomorrow, so if you're still up for it then, we'll continue where we left off."

Unable to hold back her smile, she nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan to me." A yawn escaped her lips as she looked at him, making her a bit embarrassed as he laughed.

"Looks like someone's tired," he said teasingly as he stood up. "Come on. I'll walk you to your room." Allowing him to lead the way back to their hallway with Appa and Momo on their tails, the two stopped as they reached the doors to their rooms. "Well, thanks again for playing with me, Katara. I had a lot of fun."

"Yeah, I did, too," she smiled, unable to hold herself back as she gave him one more kiss on the cheek, not noticing as his face once again turned red from this. Once she pulled away, she gave him another smile. "Goodnight, Aang."

"Goodnight, Katara," he whispered back to her, watching as she gave him one last smile before she walked into her room and closed the door, leaving Aang standing there as he felt the spot that her lips had touched on his cheek. His smile undiminishing, he took one more look at her door before gathering his furry friends and going to his room, feeling rather content with how well the night had gone as he went to bed.

Despite her tiredness, Katara had found it hard to go to sleep from the excitement she felt from all that had happened. But, knowing that she had work in the morning, she forced herself to calm down and close her eyes, falling asleep with a smile on her face as she thought of the young man who she didn't know had already stolen her heart.