Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Author's Note: Apparently, I'm officially a fangirl now. I bought a Sokka action figure today, though to be fair, I would have bought Katara if they'd had one.

So, there were all of 3 seconds of Kataang in "Lake Laogai," but I still managed to come up with a oneshot based on them. I sort of changed the rules on this collection to include it, but I'm the author. Besides, I figured this was short, and several people already have this story on chapter alert.

What Were You Thinking?

As the group followed Jet to wherever this Lake Laogai place was, Aang pulled Sokka back a little from the others.

"I can't believe you said that," Aang hissed to him. His eyes were glinting dangerously. "That had to be your worst idea ever!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Katara kissing Jet? I mean, all I have to do is look at her for you to get all protective, and then you go and suggest –"

"Whoa, hey, relax," Sokka interrupted, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. "I knew she would never actually do it."

"Then why bring it up?" Aang's voice was rising in both pitch and volume, and Sokka rushed to try and calm him down.

"Look, I was just teasing her about the crush she used to have on Jet. It's a brother-sister thing." Sokka kept walking a few steps before he realized that Aang had frozen in his tracks. Sokka went back and tentatively took him by the elbow, guiding him along. Regardless of their conversation, it was imperative that they keep up. Aang didn't resist, allowing himself to be pulled along.

"She had a crush on him?" Aang asked in a faint voice.

"Well, yeah. Until she found out he was a deranged maniac. I'm pretty sure it all faded away then. You, uh, didn't notice?"

"No," Aang shook his head. He looked like he wanted to be sick. "That's why she was crying."

"She cried?" Sokka had missed that part of their first meeting with Jet. Aang nodded.

"I thought it was just because she was thinking of all those people that were going to be flooded."

"I'm sure that was part of it, as well as the fact that you and she had helped make it happen," Sokka said, but he winced as he saw Aang's stricken expression and understood that this was not the right thing to say at the moment. He went on quickly. "But it was probably mainly that he'd betrayed her trust. Anyway, it's probably just as well you didn't see it. Would you have done anything differently if you had known?"

Aang frowned in thought as he pulled his arm away and began walking on his own.

"Probably not," he admitted, biting his lower lip. The willing self-sacrifice in his expression was actually painful to watch. "I mean, if she liked him…except I might not have been so ready to trust him."

Sokka was thinking that actually would have been a good thing, since at least one of them would have agreed with him, and they might have left sooner. However, he wisely kept this to himself.

"Anyway, it was nothing, believe me," he said instead.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Aang said, with new determination. "As soon as we get out of this horrible city, I'm going to make sure that Katara and I get some alone time." He skipped ahead of Sokka to join the rest of the group.

"That's ni--" Sokka began, but then he registered what Aang had just said. "Wait – what do you mean by that?" Aang just flashed a devilish grin over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows. Sokka, just beginning to realize the depth of the mistake he'd made, hurried to catch up with him and started babbling frantically while Aang steadfastly ignored him.

"Oh, come on, Aang, you know I didn't mean – it was a joke! I do that! Look, I'm really sorry I…oh man!"

I've really got to start watching what I say, Sokka thought ruefully.

--

Author's note: The "It was a joke. I do that" line was actually something the Genie said in Aladdin and the King of Thieves. I thought this would be fun, and I've always wanted to write something where Sokka said "oh, man" somewhere. You've read it, so review it!

Member of the Boomeraang Squad: charleegirl, Jesus.Lives, Liselle129

Thank you to MormonMaiden, Avatarwolf, A Mere Servant of God, Egglette, Tenniyo, Tech-Man, kataangfan22, Akama-Star…, avatarkataang, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Ron Weasly girl, and mental hospital escapee for reviewing Chapter 5.