Do you think you could do a fic about a one on one confrontation between Aang and Zuko over Katara?
Aang bounced his leg up and down in agitation. Katara was late, but that was alright. He had been early. The clock on the wall told him that he had been waiting for an hour, and she was only ten or so minutes late.
He was facing away from the door. He had taken the opposite seat at first, but he thought Katara coming in to see him watching the door door for her arrival would make him look desperate. Which, to be clear, he was not. Still, each time the door opened behind him, it took all his willpower to just cast a quick, casual glance behind him.
Casual
That was the word for the evening. He had picked this tavern because it was lowkey. Out of the way. He'd worn a knitted hat and neutral colored clothes so that it wasn't immediately obvious that he was the Avatar. The patrons at the tavern were working class, and stopping in for tea- or something slightly stronger- on their way home. Aang wasn't sure they would care that they were in the presence of the Avatar even if they knew. It was a good thing, though. Aang remembered that Katara didn't like it when he was swarmed by friends when his attention was supposed to be on her. That would not happen tonight.
Fifteen minutes after Katara was meant to arrive, Aang saw a carriage pull to a stop outside the tavern. It was unmarked, but clearly carrying someone wealthy. It was her! Aang was certain. He forced himself to keep facing forward, with his back to the door, holding his teacup to make himself look busy. He heard light foot steps heading towards him, and his breath grew short with excitement. He looked up with bright smile on his face, ready to greet Katara.
"I'm so glad you-" Aang stood to greet her only to be met by a tall, hooded man, instead of the small, lovely woman he'd been waiting for.
"Aang," Zuko greeted him and slid into the seat across from him.
"What are you doing here?" Aang demanded, his face twisted as if he'd taken bite of something spoiled. Zuko motioned for him to have a seat.
"Katara sent me," he explained.
"No," Aang gaped at him and shook his head. "She said she would keep this between us. No way she told you. You must have...have forced her to tell you or read her diary or something." To his ever increasing aggravation, Zuko looked amused.
"You and I both know I couldn't force her to do anything," he said. "And I don't know if she keeps a diary, but probably not. Katara told me on her own. The day you visited the palace, actually. She didn't know what you wanted, but she said she wasn't comfortable coming to see you." Aang just stared down at him in shock. When Zuko bade him to sit again, he complied, if for no other reason than his legs seemed to not want to support him anymore.
"Why would she tell you?" he asked, more to himself than to Zuko. "Why wouldn't she want to see me?" Zuko raised his brow at that. He grabbed a cup from the table between them- the cup that was meant for Katara- and helped himself to some of the tea.
"I think you know why," Zuko said. He took a sip of the tea, made a face and set it aside. Then he sighed and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "Aang, we need to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you," Aang spat out. He crossed his arms and scowled at the fireplace next to them. This was, he thought, the most romantic seat in the place, and it was wasted on Zuko, his ex-best friend.
"That's fair," Zuko said. "But I have something to say to you. It's been three years, Aang. Why are you still bothering her?" Heat rolled through Aang from his toes to his scalp. He turned his scowl from the floor to Zuko. A few years ago, Aang would have gone into the Avatar State, but after he'd accidentally leveled a farm, Katara had told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to learn to control his power of lose her forever, he'd found Guru Pathik and finished what he'd started a long time ago. His anger no longer led to terrible displays of his power.
"I love her," he told Zuko as if it were the most obvious truth in the world. To Aang, it was the most obvious truth in the world. Zuko, though, just sat there with that pitying look on his face. For a split instant, Aang was tempted to give him another scar to match the one on his face.
"If you really love Katara," Zuko said, "then listen to her."
"I'm trying!" Aang insisted. "But she won't give me a chance to hear her."
"Oh no?" Zuko sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "So, when she told you she didn't want to be with you anymore and you decided to keep pursuing her for three years, that was you listening?"
"That was because she needed me to master the..." Aang looked around nervously and dropped his voice, "Avatar State! And I have!"
"The world needed that," Zuko scoffed. "What about two years ago, when she told you we were dating, and you still decided to keep pursuing her? Were you listening then?"
"That isn't fair!"
"No, it isn't," Zuko agreed. "It isn't fair that you keep putting Katara in the position to hurt your feelings. She wanted to stay friends with you, you know. She still cares about you."
"Because she knows deep down that we are meant to be!" Aang insisted. "If you would just let her go-"
"I'm not the one who needs to let go," Zuko said. "Katara is a very smart woman who knows what she wants. If she told me tomorrow that she didn't want to be with me, I'd believe her. The only time Katara has ever doubted herself is because she knew what she wanted would hurt someone else. She cares for you, but she isn't in love with you. You have to learn to be okay with that. You're too old to still be acting this way."
Aang's shoulders sagged heavily. He stared at the table for a long moment. At 22, he had faced challenges that would've broken most people. He mastered all forms of bending by age 12, single handedly ended a war, and had begun the process of resurrecting his entire culture from the dead. He'd done it all in the face of impossible odds. And he'd done all of it through sheer force of will. Even getting Katara in the first place had been through persistence. He had been in love with her for over a decade. How could he give up on her now?
"I won't give up," Aang said quietly. He looked up and saw the disappointment on Zuko's face.
"Then you're going to lose her," he said. Aang's face contorted with anger.
"I've already lost her!" he hissed. "I'm going to get her back!" Zuko regarded Aang thoughtfully for a long while. Then he sighed and stood up.
"Well, I tried," he said. "And since you've proven you can't be trusted, you're never going to be alone with Katara again."
"Worried she'll come to her senses?" Aang taunted. Zuko raised his brow, and his lips curled into the most infuriating smirk.
"No," he said. "I'm worried that the world leaders might frown on the Fire Lady decking the Avatar."
For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Aang's hands and feet felt numb and he was genuinely afraid his heart had stopped beating. Fire Lady. That meant...
"We've been engaged for a month," Zuko told him not unkindly. "We've already told the others. We're going to make a public announcement next week. Katara thought it be best that you find out before then. She wanted to have everything settled between you two before the wedding. She still wants you there, you know. But only if you promise you're done pressing her."
His words reached Aang as if he were speaking underwater. There must be some mistake, Aang thought. Katara- his Katara- couldn't be marrying someone else. Especially not Zuko, who had once been one of Aang's best friends. Aang longed to wipe the pitying look off of Zuko's face. He thought he'd won, Aang realized. He really thought Katara was in love with him, but Aang was her destiny. He had to be. After all, how many women would turn down the love of the Avatar? Yes, Zuko was a king, but Aang was the savior of the world. Surely, that had to trump. Aang stood up before his mind had caught up to him.
"Aang." Zuko was looking up at him with a furrowed brow. Fake concern. Fake like his friendship. Fake like his declaration that he would let Katara go if she wanted to leave him.
"I have to go," Aang mumbled. Then he bowed his head once and hurried out of the little shop. He could feel Zuko's pitying eyes on him as he left, but it didn't matter. Nothing matter except Katara.
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Taking Time to Thaw
Rated E. Finding time to explore is getting harder and harder for Aang and Katara. Something needs to change.
Part 4 of Explorations, but can be read on its own if you're just here for the smut. Chapter 1 written for @kataang-dungeon's Kataang Smut Weekend 2023 prompt: Wait (first time/teasing). HUGE thanks to @queen-korri for last-minute beta-reading and editing, and to @coyotelemon for encouraging me to continue this series.
In the days and weeks that followed their return to the South Pole, Katara and Aang found a way to a new normal. The dark, sunless hours on the ice stretched out longer as they approached Fire Nation summer, but they had discovered that if they timed their lunch right, some days they could meet up in her family’s hut while everyone else was out, and sneak in some coveted alone time. They never knew how much time they would have before someone returned, so they had been diligent about keeping clothes on and staying in common spaces, but it had been a welcome change. An opportunity to engage in hungry kisses and fleeting touches that they hadn’t before.
It wasn’t enough.
Each encounter left them charged, electric—but it was much, much more than they’d been able to get in the South Pole previously.
They had discussed their next move on the flight back to the South Pole from Cranefish Town: Aang wanted to use his mouth on her. She had seen him fully now, and even gotten to use her hands on him, but he hadn’t yet seen her. When he’d told her how much the smell of her arousal turned him on, and how he wanted to taste her the way she had tasted his release, Katara hadn’t known what to think. She didn’t think they would have an opportunity for it before their next trip, anyway, whenever that would be. But she often went to bed dreaming about it.
Read more on ao3 (logged-in users only, sorry)!
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OK @zukkaart said something that stuck with me and I have to write a little something for it
"Katara cries rhe day she turns the age her mother died" so I'm going on a whim on her mother's age . If anyone knows her true Age I'll edit it.
I decided not to put an age
Katara woke up screaming. A horrible, stomach clenching scream. Her hands rushed to her ears to block out the noise. Where was it coming from? It had to STOP.
There was a pounding in her chest, loud like the ceremonial drums they used. But there was also a tightness, making it hard to breathe.
All of a sudden warmth engulfed her, a soft gentle voice coaxing her out of this maddening state. Slowly all that was left of evidence that something was wrong was the thundering of her heard in her ears.
"Are you with me now?" Aang asked softly, stroking her hair.
She gripped onto his sleep shirt and leaned into his touch. Comfort was there, in Aang.
It took a long time to feel comfortable opening her eyes.
"Im sorry..." she said quietly.
Aang shook his head. "Never say sorry. Do... do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly.
"I don't know... I just... it felt like I was in a nightmare and all I knew how to get out of it was to scream."
Aang frowned. "We'll... thags one way to start you birthday."
Katara stopped in her tracks. Her birthday.
She scrambled out of Aang's hold to grab their calandar. 6th. She collapsed on the floor, her whole body shaking. She couldn't believe it. The day had come.
Aang was confused. "Kat?"
She started as if she didn't know he was there. "I uhm...," she began, swallowing hard. "This is the age my Anaana died."
Aang froze, his eyes wide. "Oh."
Katara laughed , the sound hollow. "A body never forgets truama. It just holds it for another time. I.. I didn't know I'd react like this."
"Thats OK. Its fine. We can work through this together," Aang said with a smile.
Katara looked at him. "Together."
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