a/n: For everyone who celebrates, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! :)

OOO

Day 18: Restless

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Canon Universe

OOO

Aang was stressed.

Well, maybe this wasn't stress. Stress usually came with dark circles, paranoia, and trippy dreams. He'd know if that kind of thing started happening again.

No, Aang felt like he was going to faint, vomit, and start hyperventilating all at the same time.

Katara giggled. "It's called nerves, you silly." Aang had to admit that he was kind of glad that his crush on Katara was rather brief. Having her as a girlfriend was definitely not as nice as having her as a pseudo mom slash big sister. Aang had unceremoniously burst into her room that afternoon, and she only had to look at his face for a moment before she sat him down in a chair, covered his lap in a blanket, and gave him some warm tea to calm him down. She even smoothed her hand over the top of his head and nodded along as he rambled through the reasons for his current state.

Seriously. Katara was the best. And right now, he needed the best. Zuko was just as clueless about this stuff as Aang was if the beginning of his relationship with Katara was any indication. Sokka tended to come on too strong with it came to this. So Katara was his last resort.

"This feels worse than nerves, Katara," Aang mumbled as he held out his hand and silently pleaded for another cup of tea—geez this was like his third cup. "I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack," he mumbled as he downed the cup in one swallow and slammed it on the table next to him like it was liquor.

As seriously as Aang was taking this, Katara seem bemused more than anything else. "Aang. It's not that big of a deal. Really. Sure you might have to plug up some courage, but I didn't think that'd be an issue for someone like you."

Aang covered his face with his hands and let out a wretched moan. "No, but you don't understand!"

The waterbender quickly peered around the table and found a tray of custard tartlets that were brought up to her room this morning, courtesy of the Earth King's staff. She pushed it towards Aang and his eyes immediately lit up when he saw them. Ah, sweets! Those cure anything.

Aang started nibbling as Katara spoke up again. "I kind of do. It's not a difficult concept, and surely not a difficult action to carry out either. All you have to do is ask her. I mean, I doubt very much she'll say no."

"You don't know that!"

"Aang." She stared levelly at him. "You're just asking her out. Calm down."

"I can't calm down, Katara," Aang sighed in frustration as he sunk down further in his chair. The blanket that was draped across his knees was now pulled up to his chin, and he just felt like curling up into a little cocoon and dying of mortification. "This is super important. I'm crossing a line here. I mean….we've sort of…acknowledged the line before. Not explicitly acknowledged it, but a guy notices undertones, you know?"

Katara lifted a brow and smirked. "What kind of undertones?"

"You know, fake flirting, the touching, the bumping arms, the closeness…I mean, you and I are close. Sokka and Zuko and I are close. Toph and I are a…different kind of close." It was the kind of close that made Aang want to walk up to a formally-dressed Toph during all of the Earth King's parties and drag her out to dance so he could place his hands on her hips and press her near. The kind of close that made him want to lace her fingers with his when their hands bumped together. The kind of close that wanted to just screw it all and lean down and kiss her whenever she put her head on his shoulder or lounged on top of him with her legs draped across his knees.

The kind of close that made him want to stop toeing a line and just cross it and get to point.

"Ah, I see," Katara acknowledged. "Making it 'official' as it were."

"I don't want to ruin anything between the two of us," Aang mumbled, beginning to doubt himself. "And Katara, I know we fight and bicker a lot and she's really abrasive and comes on a little strong sometimes, but she's just amazing. As a friend, but it's more than that. Or at least I want it to be more than that. But, I dunno, what if I'm just being selfish and forcing her to into a new relationship she doesn't want to be in? Then she'll feel weird around me and then she'll just start avoiding me and hating me altogether and then we'll never talk again and I'll feel horrible for the rest of my life because I upset her and lost what could have potentially been the best thing that happened to me and then we'll never—"

"Woah!" Katara interrupted, standing and placing her hands on Aang's shoulders. "Okay, you're doing that thing we talked about. Remember? When all your thoughts jumble together and you stop making sense?"

Aang blinked a few times and shook his head. "Catastrophic thinking. Right." Aang breathed in and out to try and calm himself.

"Alright, let me try and put this into perspective," Katara sighed as she dragged her chair closer to his. "You're not an idiot, Aang. Usually, when people feel signals that strongly, it's because there's merit behind them. I'm sure she wouldn't be opposed to dating you. And besides, the worst she could say is no. And before you start freaking out, she's not going to stop being friends with you. The two of you have too much history for it to all fall apart with one harmless question."

Aang decided to concede with her on that point and tried, for both of their sakes, to be a little more logical. "But I don't want things to get awkward. If she's not interested, sure we'll still be friends, but then everything will be…itchy."

Katara tilted her head and winced. "I actually don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Well," the girl laughed. "You know how you mentioned that guys know signals when they see them? Well, girls tend to see more signals than you guys do. I really really don't think she'll say no to you."

"What kind of signals?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that," Katara admonished him with a smirk. "First rule of the Girl Code: when you are holding a fellow girl's secret, you keep it and tell no one. So shush and eat your tartlets."

Aang groaned in frustration—while still taking two more tartlets and shoving them in his mouth—and gave Katara a withering stare. "I thought you were supposed to help me. Wouldn't telling me what you know about her help?"

"No," Katara pointed out sagely. "Just like you won't tell me what a "different kind of close" means, I'm not telling you what I know about Toph. Just…know that it's subtle—I mean, it's Toph, she's hard to read—but it's there." Katara put a comforting hand over Aang's. "Look, I know it's nerve-wracking. But it can't hurt to just try and see what happens. Could be one of the best decision you make in your life."

Aang nodded. Katara always had this crazy way of taking a hopeless situation, turning it on its head, and making it seem like a positive thing. Right now, it was pretty comforting and he supposed that there were worse things that could happen then asking Toph out to lunch. "Or she'll probably think I'm joking or something and punch me in the gut," he laughed nervously.

Katara rolled her eyes, but still managed to smile. "Give yourself some credit."

With the rest of the desserts packed up in a napkin and Katara pushing Aang out of her door and telling him to "hurry up and get it over with already," Aang found himself wandering aimlessly through the halls of the Earth Palace, not caring that he was passing some very important Earth Kingdom advisors and counselors whilst stuffing his face with food. Now he sort of understood what Sokka felt like. But for now it didn't matter. Aang was still hung up, and eating sugar made him feel better. There wasn't anything that needed the Avatar's keen eye, so he was free to do as he wanted. So there.

Aang turned a corner and inhaled sharply, causing him to start choking on his last piece of dessert and have to lean a hand on the wall so her could clear his windpipe. He was coughing and banging on his chest—smooth, Avatar, smooth—as the source of his sudden surprise strode over and leaned her shoulder against the wall.

She waited until Aang's coughing was under control before she smirked at him and asked, "So, do I still need to go and get the healers?"

Aang stood up straight and cleared his throat. "You could have helped you know."

Toph shrugged and flippantly waved her hand. "Eh, you were fine." She was holding a bunch of pins in her hands and half her hair was still in a bun while the other half was lazily hanging down to her lower back. Aang chuckled. She must have just gotten out of that meeting with other Earth Kingdom tradesmen and was done with her share of the responsibilities today. Toph always immediately took her constricting hairdos out the moment she could.

"So how'd it go?" Aang asked casually, allowing himself a moment to catch his breath.

Toph rolled her eyes rather dramatically and crossed her arms. "Ugh, about as well as any conversation with a bunch of old, greedy men could possibly go. I mean I got my way in the end. You'd be surprised how pliant people can be with the threat of an Earthquake rumbling just at their feet."

The Avatar didn't bother to comment. Toph didn't really hold any political titles in the Earth Kingdom, but she had the proper upbringing, knew the ropes, and could talk her way out of nearly anything, so she always did a lot of good when a lot of important world leaders came together for UN delegations. Trade agreements? Call Toph, her family owned one of the wealthiest trading companies in the world. Political instability in the Fire Nation? Give Toph fifteen minutes with King Kuei and Ba Sing Se will freely give Fire Lord Zuko all the military support he needed. Corruption within the Dai Li? Toph could sniff out the liars and traitors in a matter of minutes. Finding replacements, however, was strictly regarded as "not her problem."

"Stop bragging just because you're good at your job," Aang complained with faux contempt. He was trying to stay serious, but he kept smiling through his sentences. "You're making the rest of us laymen all look bad. However will we compete?"

"Threatened to be in front of such a hot shot, huh?" Toph leered. "It must be tough. How do you even measure up?"

Aang leaned in closer but was desperately trying to reign in his nerves. This was a really good opening, and he could practically hear Katara cheering him on in his head and just telling him to go and ask already. It was the perfect time. They both had nothing to do. It was around time for lunch anyway.

He steeled himself. "Well, I'm pretty sure I could sufficiently surprise you if given the opportunity."

Toph was smirking, but her incredulity was showing through. "Surprise me how?"

Aang chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well…Sokka and Suki told me about this pretty nice place that has some really good food. I mean…I dunno, it was just a thought. Because, you know, the food here can kind of get boring. And it's a nice day to walk around too and—well, we don't have to do that." Crap, he was messing this up. "We can just come back here if you want. I mean I know you're probably tired from everything and…I mean it's just lunch with me it's not super important. In fact…"

Ugh. Yeah. This was a mess. Aang clapped his hands together and smiled through the train wreck. "You know what? Uh, scratch everything I just said! I dunno what I'm talking about. I'm, uh, acting really stupid. Tired. You know with…with, uh, with everything and—"

Toph—saint that she was—decided to end his rambling by putting her hand over his mouth to keep him from talking. Aang immediately shut up and Toph looked like she was about to start bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"You know, you'd think that someone who can smoothly talk world leaders through an international trade agreement would have a little bit more tact when it came to asking people out." Toph couldn't help but laugh to herself and shake her head. "Gosh, all the men I know are rubbish with romance. I can't tell who holds the gold medal."

Aang furrowed a brow and Toph answered for him. "Of course I knew you were asking me out, Twinkles. I mean, I've never seen you so nervous to talk to me before. You looked like you were about to pull out your glider and go cuddle with Appa."

Her hand was removed and Aang tiled his head, looking hopeful with a boyish smile. "Soooo…is that a yes?"

Toph smirked, rolled her eyes at him, and turned on her heel. "Give me fifteen minutes to change. I guess I can indulge you just this once. And besides, after hearing you trip through that entire spiel, how can I not say yes?"