I Love You

The three Water Tribe warriors did not sleep that night.

They sat at the edge of the temple landing. Their legs dangled down into the dark abyss, and the light of the moon and the stars was bright, brighter than it had ever been at the South Pole. Hakoda sat between his son and daughter, an arm around each of them. Katara was leaning against her father, eyes closed but still wide awake, listening to her brother talk quietly about everything, about anything. It had been too long since they had spoken, since they had really talked, and it seemed like Sokka was trying to make up for that in a single night.

Aang thought it was sweet. He tried voicing his thoughts to Toph, earning himself another bruise on his arm. But when the day had faded and Katara, Sokka, and their father's figures were outlined against the silver moon, he began resent their conversation. Sure, he didn't mind for a few hours, they were family, weren't they? But as the night ticked on, he couldn't help but wish they would finish up, so he could talk to Katara.

…was that it? Was he jealous?

No, no, of course not. They're her family.

So what. Don't I deserve some of her attention too?

Her father was captured and thrown in prison! He's the one who deserves attention!

Yeah…well…

As he struggled with this internal argument, he noticed Zuko was also staring at Katara, Sokka and Hakoda, only Zuko was doing a much better job of hiding it. Aang sighed and, knowing that he wasn't going to sleep tonight if he didn't, got up and quietly made his way over to Zuko's sleeping bag.

"Hey," he whispered when he got there. "You wanna talk?"

Zuko looked at him with an expression so full of disdain that Aang visibly flinched.

"Come on," said Aang. "Seriously."

The older boy rolled his eyes and slid roughly out of his sleeping bag. Aang could almost hear him wondering how this group could be so dumb.

They strolled over to the fountain, in the complete opposite direction of the Water Tribe trio, Zuko glancing over his shoulder again and again. He settled on the edge of the fountain, and Aang leaned against one of the pillars, trying to act cool for Zuko's sake.

"Do you miss your family?"

Zuko looked at Aang with a mixture of confusion and contempt on his face. "What?"

"Well, isn't it a little…" Aang paused, searching mentally for a word. "…depressing, to watch Sokka and Katara and their father when you know your family's never going to be happy like that?"

"Thanks for pointing that out," said Zuko glumly.

"Oh – I thought – that was what you were thinking, wasn't it?"

Zuko did not reply to this. Instead, he asked, "What about your family?"

It took Aang a few moments to understand what he was asking, then he smiled and shook his head. "Oh, Air Nomads don't have families." At Zuko's expression, he continued, "I mean, Air Nomads don't spend a lot of time with their families. I don't know who my father was, and my mother was just one of in the group of women who looked after all the Air Nation babies."

"Woah…and that doesn't bother you?"

"Why would it? It's just the way things were."

Zuko nodded, but Aang didn't know if he was agreeing or not.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question," said Aang. "Do you miss your family?"

The Fire Prince sighed. "I'm glad I left. They were evil and secretive and they didn't care about me, or each other for that matter."

"Come on Zuko. Stop dodging the question."

"Does it really matter?"

"Well, no, I guess not, but I'm just…I don't know, curious. I want to know."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because I'm interested?"

Zuko laughed, but it was a weird, strangled sound. "You're such a kid."

"No, actually, you're a kid compared to me – I'm one hundred and thirteen years old, remember?"

"One hundred of those years were spent frozen in ice, if I'm correct, so that means I'm technically older than you are."

Aang stuck his tongue out at the other boy, and Zuko laughed softly.

"Only by a couple years, anyways," said Aang, as Zuko got up and walked up to the edge of the platform.

"Oh, I'm older than you are by lightyears, Aang."

"No you're not, Zuko."

"You wanna bet?"

There was silence. Aang wondered why Zuko was so edgy. Was it something Aang had said?

"You know," said Zuko, without looking at Aang. "Technically, you are my family."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Um…what?"

"Yeah. Spiritually, you know?" He glanced at Aang, who looked as if he doubted Zuko's sanity. "My great-grandfather on my mother's side," he said slowly, "was your past life, Roku."

Aang's jaw dropped. "You're joking."

"No, it's true."

"That's weird."

"I know."

There was a few more seconds of silence. "So why don't you want to tell me? It's okay if you do actually miss them. I mean, they're heartless jerks but they're still your family."

Zuko looked up into the sky. "I don't. I honestly don't, Aang. I'm serious. If I never see them again until I die, it'll be too soon. I…I hate them."

Aang looked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. I completely, absolutely, utterly hate them."

"That's…sad."

Zuko shook his head and turned around. "I'm going back to bed."
"No, come on, hear me out."

"You can't call me sad and then expect me to bend over and take it! Especially since you're the one who has to kill my father!"

Only after he said it did he realize how loud he was being. He turned back to the camp to see a few heads ducking back into sleeping bags, pretending they were still asleep. The quiet drone of conversation from the other side of the platform fell silent. Zuko said a silent prayer to his Agni, to give him the strength to not blow Aang off the temple.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Whatever. I'm not listening."

"Okay, well, I'm going to talk anyway." Zuko rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you, okay? I just…"

"Don't talk to me, Aang."

"Come on. It's just really sad, what happened to your family. I mean, it's not your fault, that's not what I'm saying," said Aang, truthfully sounding like he wanted to help. Zuko just shook his head. Why didn't this kid understand that this wasn't helping?

"Just shut up."

Zuko got up and began to walk away. "…I guess you don't want to talk."

"What was your first clue?" asked Zuko, and suddenly he felt more tired than angry. He really did want to go back to sleep. "Look, Aang, I appreciate the gesture, but it's late. I don't feel like talking anymore. Okay?" He did his best to not hurt the boy's feelings.

Aang nodded, and Zuko turned away again. Then, "Aren't you jealous?"

With an exasperated glance at the heaven, Zuko turned around again to face Aang. "What are you talking about now?"

Aang cast an anxious look towards Katara, Sokka and their father and stepped up so Zuko could hear his whispers. "Are you jealous of them?"

"What…why do you want to know?"

"Come on Zuko just tell me."

Zuko looked at Aang. "Are you jealous of them?"

"I promise to tell you if you tell me."

Zuko didn't think Aang looked like the all-powerful Avatar he was supposed to be. He just looked like a worried little kid who wanted to spend some time with the girl he liked.

This thought struck Zuko, and it seemed so strange that he actually laughed out loud. It was a soft laugh, but more real than he had felt all night. "You really like her, don't you." It wasn't a question.

Aang looked stricken. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Aang, I knew that you liked her even before I joined your group. I just…didn't know how much you liked her."

The younger boy looked past Zuko's shoulder to see the young waterbender, and his eyes softened. "I love her."

Zuko let out a low whistle. "I get it. You wanted me to admit I was jealous of their family, so you wouldn't feel bad about being jealous."

For a moment, Aang looked like he was going to deny it, but then he sighed and fell limp. "Yeah. That's the truth."

Zuko laughed again, surprising even himself. "You've got a lot to learn, kid." He patted Aang on the shoulder once, then turned away for the last time and went back to his sleeping bag.

Aang glanced wistfully at Katara. Then, with a sad shake of his head, he retreated back to the campsite. He curled up into a fetal position, his eyes closed, a frown still on his face.

Eventually, as the moon actually began to set, the Water Tribe family parted. They returned to their sleeping bags in camp, and Aang squeezed his eyes shut and tried to steady his breathing, so as to look like he was asleep.

Even though they were trying to be quiet, their footfalls seemed unnaturally loud in the silence of the forgotten temple. Aang heard two bodies return to prone positions, Sokka and his father by the sound of it. Something sharp tugged at his heart as he wondered where Katara was.

It was then that he felt the presence of another body near him. His heart began to pound so loud, he was sure that everyone would be woken up, Toph or Zuko would probably yell at him to shut up, any moment, any second now –

Something soft and warm brushed against his cheek. He tried to pat down the powerful urge to start hyperventilating.

"I love you."

The way she had said the words, under her breath, and so confident that she was the only one who heard them, made the breath catch in Aang's throat. He felt his face flush and was suddenly glad it was dark, so Katara couldn't see.

She lingered for a moment, then the warmth of her body disappeared and Aang knew she had gone back to her sleeping bag. He sighed inwardly and turned over.

And, as the Avatar slowly drifted off into sleep, he touched the spot where the love of his life had kissed his cheek, and smiled.

Aww! When I started writing this, it was supposed to be a Sokka fanfiction...but then it sort of strayed. And then I thought it would be a nice Aang/Zuko friendship fic... and then for a while I had no idea where I was going with this... but, lo and behold, somehow Katara managed to save me. :D and I actually am a Zutarian. but this idea was just too cute.

So why don't you review and tell me whether or not I should just throw my computer out now, and live in the streets as a hobo in shame? ;)