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Just friends

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Zuko and I climbed down from the roof and Zuko went off to wake Aang for one of their ridiculously early dawn firebending sessions straight away. Aang hates these.

I have a new appreciation for them.

Zuko is right, because I often sleep in, I am not normally up early enough to witness this sight. Will endeavour to remedy this oversight by me in the future. Really, it is worth it to get up early for the sight of them, firebending training, in that lovely golden morning light that happens just after the sun has risen.

Zuko and Aang took a break and Zuko got us all a coconut. Zuko had insisted we get an enormous bunch yesterday at the shops. I had no idea what to do with a coconut so I was most curious about what he would do with them. He got three straws and his swords. Then in one quick swift movement he sliced the coconuts open with one of his swords. I found this distractingly sexy. He handed me the coconut and a straw and told me to drink it. Apparently young coconut juice is very popular in the firenation and is very hydrating and cooling and is good to have in the middle of firebending practice.

Good to know.

It was thick and sweet and nutty but very refreshing. Aang really liked it, but he had had coconut juice before, so the taste wasn't such a surprise to him. They went back to training and I continued to drink my juice and eat my mango and watch them train.

Sweaty, shirtless Zuko- mmmmmhhhhhhhhh.

It was a nice start to the day.

-?-

Zuko and Aang did a bit of meditation. This is not nearly as fun to watch as training, but I know it is necessary so I wont boo it. After a while I got up and started making breakfast for the other guys. I was up, I may as well. Suki trickled in first, with her hair sticking up in a haphazard fashion. Suki is normally up before me and is normally looking a little better put together than she did right at this present moment, so her just woken up demeanour was a bit of a surprise. Suki is normally rather talkative and friendly, but I have discovered that, like me, she is quite taciturn before she has had her tea. I put one in front of her and started cooking the bacon. The smell of bacon always wakes Sokka up and brings Zuko to the kitchen.

success!

Zuko called the training session to an end and he and Aang came into the kitchen and tucked into breakfast heartily. Sokka wandered down and joined me in the kitchen for bacon frying. Apparently he was 'helping me', but really he was just picking at everything as I cooked it. He said that according to his schedule, I was due to train Aang in some one on one waterbending healing this morning. Oh. Sokka just wanted to check if that was cool with me.

I have been neglecting Aang a little bit since the play and this would be the first time we have spent time one on one together since that terrible intermission. Sokka said if I wasn't up for it, maybe we could let Aang have a morning off. But Sokka thought it would be better for our group if me and Aang could get back our normal level of friendliness. Sokka did have a point, it would be better for me and Aang and our group harmony, if we were not awkward with each other (we have been a little awkward recently).

Also Aang really does need to learn healing and I have been very neglectful of late. Just because me and Aang are having issues, is no excuse for slacking off in training. He is the avatar and he needs me to prepare him as best I can for what is coming. The comet is not that far off after all. So far pretending nothing had happened had worked okay. Maybe it would be good for Aang and I to train together.

I really just wanted to put this all behind us.

So today I would just be friendly to Aang, but perhaps a little more distant than I normally am. We'd get back to our original level of friendliness given time, I'm sure, but at this point I do not want to do anything that could be construed by Aang as a romantic intention for his person.

I could be strict waterbending master Katara, rather than kind and motherly Katara.

And Aang will understand waterbending healing and that I just see him as a friend.

And everything will be great.

-?-

Toph woke up and joined us and breakfast got under way. During breakfast I ended up handing the lock picks Toph made me over to Suki. She wants to learn how to do it as well and Toph has promised her a set as well for her birthday (note: Suki's birthday is the seven day in the month of the Oxdog). Toph is going to teach Suki all she knows about lock picking this morning. They are going to practise on the various doors in the house. Toph says the firenation have the most complicated locks and if Suki can learn how to pick a firenation lock, all other locks will seem easy. They wandered off together and I noticed out of the corner of my eye, Suki rub Toph's head affectionately and whisper her appreciation for Toph's skill. This made Toph smile.

Then Sokka coughed and cleared his throat and announced that he needed to talk to Zuko. About manly things that the menfolk must discuss. When Sokka was pestered as to what manly things pertained, he admitted that he wanted to pick Zuko's brain about everything firenation (the military structure and the capitol layout etc) and come up with strategies for when we have to attack the firelord. Zuko agreed and followed Sokka to the library, but he kept glancing back at me. He gave me a little encouraging wave from the library door and then it was just me and Aang.

-?-

Okay, so it was a little awkward at first. There was a bit of silence and not the good, companionable sort of silence, the I have no idea what to say to you silence. I got one of the mannequins Toph made and me and Aang when onto the front balcony where it was a little cooler and there was a sea breeze. Today was already monstrously hot and it was only just after breakfast.

The silence stretched on and we could hear Suki's cry of dismay as she accidentally broke a lock somewhere and Toph started giving her more detailed instructions – clear as a bell. Me and Aang sat in silence on either side of the mannequin and were just all kinds of awkward. This was not helped by the fact that we could both hear Toph being a much better teacher than I was being at the moment.

Okay I just need to say something and get this lesson started and stop acting weird around Aang. He was glancing at me hopefully. I crossed my arms and I started talking in a brisk and businesslike fashion about healing theory. Aang followed my lead and nodded along like he was listening.

I started demonstrating chi flow and how it mimicked blood flow and eventually the sound of Suki's lock picking progress was drowned out by my own lesson. Aang listened and kept his distance from me. We didn't touch or talk about anything other than healing, but slowly after a while, it because less awkward. He smiled at me warmly when I congratulated him on demonstrating the chi flow properly and for a second he looked exactly how he did that first day in the village, right after me and Sokka had pulled him out of the iceberg. Happy, hopeful, eager to please.

Aang never changes, not really, and it is nice to know that some things stay constant.

-?-

After a while I moved on from chi flow to blood flow. Aang was having a hard time visualising it and concentrating on it. Blood is real and solid, whereas chi is ephemeral and invisible. What he needed was a liquid to use that was like blood, but not. Water wasn't quite the right consistency for what we needed. I thought about the coconut juice this morning. It was thick, but not too thick. It would probably do nicely. I told Aang to keep practising with the water until I got back and I went into the kitchen and got some coconuts.

I was able to manipulate the liquid inside the coconuts so that it would drain out. I got a jug and started draining them one at a time. While I was waiting for my coconuts, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between Zuko and Toph.

Zuko and Toph were in one of the hammocks and he was reading her Love Amongst the Dragons again. Or at least trying to. He kept getting distracted and telling Toph about how smart Sokka really was, like this information almost came as a surprise. I know Sokka acts like a goofball most of the time, but really, he is very clever. I felt quite proud that he was my goofball big brother when I heard Zuko talking about him. Apparently he had given Sokka enough information and now Sokka was brainstorming. Zuko is most impressed with Sokka's grasp of strategy etc and kept going on about how smart Sokka was and how detailed his plans were and how he came up with them so quickly.

Toph was listening with affectionate exasperation. She finally, very blunty, told Zuko to get back to the adventures of Zara and Kizu. She said Look as adorable as you and Sokka's mancrush on each other is, can you please get back to reading now! Zuko got a bit defensive over the mancrush bit and denied having one on Sokka, he was just impressed with him, that's all. Toph scoffed and said Oh please, if Sokka didn't have a girlfriend and you weren't hopelessly in love with Katara, you and Sokka would be the cutest couple ever.

There was a loud crash as Zuko fell out of the hammock in surprise.

Toph laughed and he blushed and said really quickly, I'm not in love with Katara. you can't know that. we're are just friends. At least I think that's what he said, it all came out in one smushed together jumble. Toph just raised and eyebrow and said archly, well I certainly don't sigh longingly after my friends. Zuko stood up and started brushing himself off and retorted You sigh longingly after Sokka quickly and with unwise cheekiness. Toph rolled over in the hammock until she was even with his stomach and she gave him a rather forceful punch. He make a oooff noise and said that was too much affection Toph! Toph smiled sweetly at him and said that wasn't affection, that was for being a smart arse. She rolled back over to make space for him in the hammock and reminded him to read again. Zuko complied.

I am all aflutter.

-?-

I cannot even concentrate on anything after overhearing that conversation. I am just in a happy daze of happy.

-?-

Okay, shake it off. I am probably getting ahead of myself. He did deny it after all. But in that flustery embarrassed way he does.

Is Toph right? Maybe. I'm not sure.

No! Stop thinking about Zuko and focus!

I have a lesson to teach that deserves my concentration.

And I am going to focus on that and stop thinking abut this.

-?-

My healing lesson with Aang passed in a gentle daydream after that. I brought the coconut juice out and made Aang practice with it. He did and I observed and I would occasionally make comments, but I wasn't really paying attention, so I don't know how helpful my comments were. My brain may have wandered off into really happy daydream land and there was no calling it back.

There was me and Zuko and large beds and full moons and candles and lots of frolicking on the large beds under full moons and candles and then there was frolicking on beaches (there was lots of cheeky frolicking okay, that's all I'll say). There would be long days together and sunrises and sunsets and sillyness. And then much later there would be a double wedding with Suki and Sokka. I'd wear purple, like Yue was planning on doing. We'd have it here, in this beach house. I love this house.

Oh, if only Aang and Toph fancied each other, and then it could be a triple wedding.

I am not one to let reality crowd into my daydreams, so a triple wedding it was.

Toph would look gorgeous and deign to get all girly for the occasion. Aang would twirl her around happily and wouldn't even remember crushing on me and the current awkwardness between us. Her parents would be happy for her and she would be free to run about the world like the rebel wild child she is. Sokka and Suki would just as cheesy and snuggly and plain old coupley together as they are now. Sokka would carve her a necklace and it would match her fans perfectly and they would make terrible jokes at each other all day.

And much fun would be had by all.

And then later it would be just me and Zuko and we'd just take care of each other and wouldn't have to worry about anything. Eventually we'd have a little girl called Kya (after my mum) and then another little girl called Yue (if Sokka didn't mind) a boy called hmmm...don't have a boy name. I'll let Zuko name the boy. Zuko would spoil them rotten and read to them every night.

And the five of us would come here every summer and...

-?-

Snap out of it!

Like really!

-?-

I think the heat was making my brain fuzzy and prone to whimsical thinking. I just needed to dunk my head in cold water and snap out of it. I declared that Aang was progressing nicely and me and Aang should stop with the healing and go swimming and practise some combat forms. Really I just needed the cold ocean all around me and to stop thinking these thoughts.

-?-

Back from swimming.

Feeling more sensible.

Passed Aang onto Toph for earthbending practice. Sokka and Zuko and Suki are making plans. They asked me to join them, but I declined in favour of a nap. By nap I meant time alone in my room, getting my thoughts together. Also, I was worried my fuzzy brain might accidentally let slip something about double/triple weddings and the three of them would look at me weirdly.

-?-

My thoughts are: no, he doesn't love me in that way.

He did deny it after all.

And I don't want to be a sad, mad fantastsist!

Day dreaming like this is stupid and wasteful and wont do me any good in the long run. We are in the middle of a war and I need to be practical and focus on fighting the war! I do not need to be wasting time thinking about frolicking and future triple weddings and other such ridiculous things. Besides, Zuko is normally so take charge about most things. I imagine if he did have any feelings like that for me, he would say something, or let me know in some way. He is right. We are just friends. He would say something if he wanted more from me and because he hasn't said anything, then he must be happy with this friendship between us. And if he is happy with it, then I should be happy with it and not expect/fantasize about more from him.

Zuko is probably my closest friend now.

Surprisingly.

Have no idea how this happened, but there it is.

If I have something to say, a secret, or a wish or a hope, I always want to tell Zuko first. And he just listens and doesn't judge and helps and sooths and somehow I always feel a little better after talking to him. This is probably the most surprising, because out of the two of us, he is definitely a lot grumpier and pessimistic than me, but somehow he always knows what to say or do to make me feel a little better about things.

He makes me feel like I am young and fun and I probably only really get to feel this way around him. Sometimes around the others, I just feel... a little old. I've been playing the mother for so long. It can be so tiring sometimes- trying to keep everybody happy and to keep us all alive and together. Don't get me wrong, I don't resent it at all. Mothering is something that someone in the group has to do and that someone is me. Maybe I put myself up for it, but I honestly don't know anyway other way to be. When our Mum died, Sokka and my dad really just needed someone to take care of them and there wasn't really another option. I've been mothering people for so long now, I think it's just part of who I am. It kind of hurt when everyone was teasing me for being motherly and not very fun. But I don't need to play the mum around Zuko. He doesn't need that from me. He needs from me what I need from him. Someone to listen and understand. We are on more equal footing.

I like our friendship and I wouldn't want to make it weird and awkward in any way. Aang and I got along so well earlier and now were are so stilted and stiff with each other. All because Aang developed a crush on me and I couldn't feel the same way. What happens if Zuko doesn't fancy me and this is all just me reading waaaay tooo much into things?

I think I really couldn't bear losing the easy comfort of our friendship as it is now. I would miss that too much. If he doesn't fancy me and I make a move, say something about large beds and triple weddings etc, it could make things super weird between us. I don't want to risk what we have now, which is something I haven't had with anyone else before.

I have resolved to be happy with our friendship and not say anything to make it weird.

Unless Zuko says something to make it weird and then I will be all over that like woah!

-?-

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authors note, long and rambly:

Lovely wonderful readers! You have reached the end of just friends and that is what Katara has resolved to be with Zuko. Don't hate me lovelies! This is not a permanent and binding decision and we will still get Zutara smooches later! Never fear!

To all my brilliant and lovely reviewers! You guys are all kinds of wonderful, really. Frolicking and large beds for everyone! Seriously though, I love reading all your thoughts, especially the thoughts of some lovely first time posters who've left me some feedback! Thanks first timers and welcome! Reviewers, you guys know I have nothing but love for you all! I'll miss reading your comments when I am on hols, but never fear, I will be back very soon!

So if you are wondering why this chapter is so much shorter than the others I have been writing recently? I'm going away to Vietnam (from the 12th to the 28th of november) and so there wont be any updates for those two weeks. I wanted to leave you guys with something before I went away. This chapter was originally planned to be much longer, but the next bit of it gets us started down the road to some serious shenanigans and Sozin's comet related schmozzles, catastrophes and tantrums (oh I have some great stuff planned for you all!). So I didn't want to open that can of worms if I wasn't going to post forever (well just two weeks really). So this chap was sort of an attempt to consolidate their relationship so far. Does that make sense? Everybody is in a good place for now.

Fun fact for this chapter: Young coconut juice is almost the exact same consistency as blood and was used as a very, absolute last resort for intravenous hydration fluid for Aussie soliders in WWII on the kokoda trail. So there ya go. Good choice by Katara (and if she hadn't gone for coconuts, she never would have overheard that conversation.)

Aang and Katara are trying to get back to that friendly level they were at before the intermission. But it is still weird and awkward and uncomfortable between them. They are trying their best to pretend that nothing happened and they do not talk at all about what went down in EIP and Aang's subsequent tantrum. I just see them having a giant communication fail over this whole thing and just sweeping it under the rug.

Okay, we are quite close to Sozin's comet now. I am bad with maths/dates, so I am going to guestimate about two weeks - a weekish. Sokka and Zuko must have come up with some plans about what they would do when the time came.

One thing that struck me as very odd in the show and doesn't quite fit in my universe is the entire Gaang wide communication fail over Ozai's-burn-everything plan VS Aang's wanting to wait til after the comet. I think the Gaang actually had pretty good communication for the most part in the series and I have run with that idea in my fic. So in my head, I have hand waved this communication fail and told myself that Aang only decided to wait the night before that scene. If it is any longer, then I just don't know what is going on. I can't see any of the Gaang (except Aang, really) keeping that sort of thing from Zuko. I think Aang would have told them he wanted to tell Zuko himself, and he really was going to tell him, but he was a little scared of Zuko's reaction, so he kept putting it off and procrastinating (as Aang does). And then we have joint bombshell reveal.

During the planning sessions in this chapter, Sokka and Zuko and Suki are working on a plan to strike before the comet, because Zuko thinks that Aang wont be a match for his Dad during the comet, when all firebenders are super charged. Because Sokka would be emphatic, at this stage, (before Aang decides to wait), about striking before the comet, Ozai's crazy plan never comes up.

That's just how it makes sense for me lovelies.

I love the Sokka/Zuko bromance, but for me, I see it as platonic guy love ( for all you scrubs fans out there, sing it with me! …..it's guy love, that's all it is, guy love, he's mine I'm his, nothing gay about it in our eyes...) but I know there is a rather large group in fandom who disagree with me about this. Toph's comment about how Sokka and Zuko would make the cutest couple is a nod to the HMAS Sokka/Zuko. It's not a ship in my armada, but bless its cotton socks anyway.

I flove their friendship, but I think the morning's planning session is the first time Zuko gets to see how amazingly smart Sokka is. At Boiling Rock, he's making things up on the fly, but here Sokka is at his planning/strategic best and I think Zuko is impressed by this. This is not to say that he never thought his goofball buddy was smart, but this is the first time he really sees just how smart. I think Sokka is a fabulous genius actually. Aww Sokka, ten points to ravenclaw (you know that's where he'd be sorted).

Toph and Zuko's conversation where she teases him over his mancrush and his actual crush has been in my head for ages. It was actually originally going to take place after TSR, but when I got to it, it didn't feel quite right. It just fits here, because I think by this point, Zuko is head over heels and ass-backwards in love with Katara. And Toph knows this and is fondly exasperated by him and by Katara and all their shenanigans. Toph is just lightly teasing, but she is also saying Oh for crying out loud, you are the most obvious person in the history of ever, just go kiss her already! in her Toph way.

Zuko teases her lightly about her crush on Sokka in retaliation and meets the business side of Toph! Mostly he and Toph get on like snugglebugs, but when he pisses her off, Toph is pretty upfront about it. (it's okay they still love each other!) I do think that Toph started to get over her crush the longer she spent time around Suki. I think Suki would be lovely to Toph and is a confident and competent warrior that Toph can look up to, but without being overbearing the way that Katara (though I love her) can sometimes be. I think Toph would have warmed to Suki, almost despite herself. She and Suki are proper friends now and she is at the stage where she can spend a morning showing Suki lock picking and enjoying Suki's praise of her awesomeness without feeling jealous. She really likes Sokka, but she values his and Suki's friendship more and so she has gently put her feelings aside. Bless her cotton socks. But she still has occasional lapses/ longing sighs.

Their conversation prompts some daydreams from Katara. Daydreans that feature cheeky frolicking, large beds and/or moons and candles. I mean of course she desires him, so there is going to be lots of cheeky frolicking, but her daydreams are more than just lusty. She daydreams about them taking care of each other and Zuko reading to their imaginary kids etc. so there is a deeper connection and desire there. For a little while she just lets her imagination run wild and this is what we get, a compilation of hopes and dreams for all the Gaang and a comfortable and happy future.

She hopes that Sokka and Suki will still be as much in love in the future as they are now. She also has thoughts regarding the possibility of Taang.

Thoughts on Taang for anyone interested.

Tanng. I see it! I do. I even kind of like it. For symmetrical purposes. Two opposing elements balancing each other out. And I like the idea of Sokka/Suki, Katara/Zuko and Toph/Aang. All six members of the Gaang together and with someone I think suits them. Ahh lovely. I like it even more for the plot bunny I have re: the triple wedding and the delightful shenanigans that would entail.

For Toph and Aang, if they were to become a couple, I can see it happening later and when they are much much older. I think Toph and Aang would provide for each other's deepest wants and needs. Aang needs grounding more than anyone else. Aang needs someone who is solid, reliable and practical. Someone who will let him float off when the whim takes him, but pull him back to reality quickly when it is necessary. Aang needs stability and this Toph can provide in spades.

Toph, on the other hand, wants freedom more than anything else and she would definitely get this with Aang. Toph craves an escape from her rigid life in Gaoling ( hence the perpetual running away/ earthrumbles) but she also very much wants to please her parents. A relationship with Aang would allow for both. With Aang she would get freedom, but she would also be partnered with the avatar and for the Bei Fongs, who would want her to make an advantageous match, you can't do any better than kung-fu-ninja-action-jesus-Aang.

I think that Toph's tough love would be more beneficial for Aang than anything else. She would call him on his hypocrisy and would never take his crap, but at the same time she'd offer him stability and support. She wouldn't let him get away with his shenanigans and would help him face up to his Avatar duties. At the same time, Aang's sense of fun and freedom is something that Toph craves and wants for herself in her life. They have very similar senses of fun and humour and I think they would have delightful adventures together. Toph grounds Aang, but he lifts her up – if that makes sense. Also in that swamp episode, everybody saw a character they loved/missed the most and Aang saw Toph, even though he hadn't met her yet. Symbolism anyone?

Well I guess it would have been symbolism on a different show, or if Bryke had not gone with ships that I think are very unseaworthy vessels.

So yes, I see Taang. I think they would be a great fit for each other and would have a lot of fun together. Doesn't grab me in the same way that Zutara does but I do get it and why people ship it. It's the whole opposing elements balancing each other out thing, all over again. People love that sort of thing, because that thing normally makes great story telling! -gives Bryke the side eye-

So in this chapter, I had Katara decide to try to just be friends with Zuko, unless he makes a move on her. Don't hate me lovely readers. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. I just needed to put the brakes on a little bit, because at rate we were going, the fic would explode with all the UST I was stuffing in.

Seriously though, I have built up their friendship to this point where they both really and truly value, respect and adore the other. They are both each other's confidante. I think this really strong bond between them is a very new and wonderful thing for both of them. Neither of them have experienced the level of trust and comfort that they have here before, at least with anyone else who was not a blood relative. So their friendship does mean a lot to both of them. It is something both of them will be reluctant to risk/ screw up, in anyway. And making the jump from close friends to a couple is huge and scary and daunting, especially if you are unsure of how the other person feels. Sometimes I think, at the start, it is easier to start being in a relationship with a new person, because there is less emotional risk if it doesn't work out. Starting up something with a great friend can be devastating if it doesn't work out. Also there have been a few mixed signals for these past few chaps, and while Katara and Zuko are still good friends, they are both a bit confused as to where the other person stands with regards to taking their relationship to the next level. Both of them will be reluctant to broach this subject out of fear of rejection/ruining the friendship.

Katara is waiting for Zuko to speak up, but that will be a long wait because he is waiting for the same thing from her. I also think Zuko would be a little more shy that Katara in the romance department. I think he has a much stronger and more potent fear of rejection, due to being rejected a fair bit in the past. And seriously, all his lady friends practically throw themselves at him (not that I blame them) and he's never been the one to put himself out there first, so to speak.

Katara has acknowledged at least to herself, that she would not be opposed to something more. But due to her current weird and stilted situation with Aang, she would be concious of how unrequited love/crushes/unwelcome expressions of romantic affection can really wreck havoc on a friendship and make things awkward. She does not want to be the one who puts herself out there, if there is a possibility that Zuko isn't on the same page as her. She's not quite at the stage where she'll think bugger it, I'm willing to risk what we have now for the chance of being something more. Not yet at least. ; )

When I get back from hols, there will be DRAMA (as well as the requisite shenanigans and sillyness)! Katara will find out exactly how Zuko got his scar, Zuko will find out Aang can't go into the Avatar state any more, Aang will have to make some hard decisions, Sokka will have a few mad ideas and some very sensible ones, Toph will be wise and exasperated and Suki will win at life some more.

And Sozin's comet will be upon us! Oh noes!

Til then, lovely readers...