DISCLAIMER: I own Avatar, and I do not own Avatar. Therefore, by the principle of explosion, I do not exist. (Also, the same principle says you're Santa Claus.)

VIII. Zukaang

"I'm sorry, Aang," Katara said softly. "I hope we can still be friends."

"Of course we can," Aang replied.

"Thank you for being so understanding. I don't know how I can make it up to you."

"Don't feel that way, Katara. As long as you're happy."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." He got up to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I'd like some time to myself." He walked dejectedly out the door, closed it gently and collapsed sobbing.

Meanwhile, just two rooms down a somewhat similar scene occurred. It ended with Toph marching out of Sokka's room, shouting "I hate you!" and slamming the door. She was masking her sorrow with anger; tears streamed down her face as she marched down the hall.

"Toph!" Sokka cried, pulling the door open. He was cut off when Toph stomped on the ground, causing a slab of earth to rise and seal up the doorway.

Aang looked up at all this commotion. "Toph? What's the matter?"

Toph made an annoyed grunt.

"Toph?"

"Sokka dumped me, that's what's the matter! Why are you bawling your eyes out?"

He sighed. "We're both in the same boat. Katara just dumped me."

Toph had the slightest of reactions—a slight widening of the eyes, a tiny jerk of her body—but it was enough to tell Aang that this was news to her. Without saying a word, though, she grabbed him by the collar and started walking again.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

"Come. Now."

"Where?"

"We're going to drown our sorrows."

"In fruit pies?"

"In alcohol, Airhead! You're going to be my drinking partner!"

"Alcohol?!"

Despite Aang's initial struggling, they were well on their way by the time Katara rushed out to protest.

"You're hopeless," Toph complained as she dragged Aang back to their Ba Sing Se residence. "But what do I expect? You're an Airbender. Lightweight."

"Mmm...Katara, you're pretty..." Aang drawled as he stumbled along the path with Toph's guidance.

"Will you shut up about Sugar Queen and keep moving? We're only in the Middle Ring, and it's too late to hail a carriage! We'll be lucky if we get three hours of sleep tonight!"

"Don't leave me...Katara..."

"And this guy's supposed to be the Avatar. Ridiculous."

"Katara..." Aang mumbled, stumbling into the room. The figure on the bed turned and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Wha—"

"Don't leave me, Katara. Please...don't leave me..." He approached the bed, still hopelessly inebriated.

"I'm not— this isn't your room— Aang— what are you—" The voice lapsed into silence for a little bit. "...I won't leave you. I won't leave you, Aang."

"Oh, Katara. I love you." He slid into the bed.

"I love you too."

They drew each other close, enjoying a moment of closeness as their lips locked.

"Aang, you've been drinking."

"I...missed you. Don't leave me, Katara..."

"I'll never leave you, Aang. I'll stay with you forever."

"I was so sad...when you said...we couldn't...be...together."

"It's a lie. We'll be together forever."

"Forever...forever girl...Katara, you're my forever girl..."

"You're my forever boy, Aang."

Aang attempted to chuckle, but it came out more like a hiccup. "We're forever."

"Yes. Forever." They pulled together into another kiss.

"Katara, you feel...different."

"Do I? You're just imagining it."

"Yeah...guess I am..."

They lay comfortably together in the darkness, Aang in a haze of drunkenness, the other...

"Katara?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you rubbing?"

"Nothing..."

"Oh."

"...Come here." They kissed.

"Mmm...Katara, is it your period thing now?"

"No..."

"You're wet."

"No, I'm not. Go to sleep, Aang. Tomorrow's going to be a long day..."

Sokka knocked on the door. "Zuko, wake up!"

"It's the middle of the night! What's the matter?" was the half-mumbled reply from the other side of the door.

"Aang's still missing! He's not in his room!"

"Leave me alone."

"But Aang's missing! We need to find him!"

"Leave me alone. We'll look for him in the—"

"Zuko?" came another voice from behind the door. "Oh, my head...What's going on here?"

"It's okay, Aang, go back to sleep," Zuko murmured.

"Is that Aang in there?" Sokka asked.

"This doesn't look like my room..." Aang said.

"Sokka, leave me alone," Zuko repeated. "Stop, Aang, you're got a hangover, you need to rest..."

"In your room?" Sokka asked. "What's going on here?"

The door opened. "You tell me," Aang mumbled. "I'm gonna go to my room. My head's killing me!" With that, he stumbled over to his own room and flopped down in his bed.

In an instant, Zuko had pinned Sokka to a wall. "I'm going to kill you!" Zuko hissed.

"Zuko, let go of me..."

"Do you know how long I've waited for that?" Zuko continued, his quiet voice signalling the beginnings of an angst-filled monologue. "That could have been my only chance in years, perhaps forever! And you had to come and ruin it! Do you know how long I've dreamed of being with Aang? Of sleeping with him and whispering sweet nothings in his ear? Of holding him and kissing him and telling him I love him? Of hearing him say 'I love you' to me? Do you have any idea how long I've wanted these things? And I had them! Just now, I had them all! I was satisfied—I was happy! He may have been drunk and heartbroken, but—even if it was just one night—I had everything I wanted! Now you've ruined it! You've ruined everything!" He flung the boy to the ground and turned away with tears in his eyes.

Sokka stared at him for a moment, then got up and rubbed his aching ass. "You were happy? But you're never happy! And that hurt, by the way."

"I hate you."

"Also, was that speech meant to make me feel sorry for you? 'Cause it just made you sound like an opportunistic bastard. And I don't use the word 'bastard' a lot."

"Of course you don't," Zuko retorted, spinning around. "The show's PG-13. You aren't supposed to swear. I take offence to being called an opportunistic bastard, by the way."

"Wait, PG-13? Are you sure? I don't think it was rated PG-13."

"I'm not sure myself. I just pulled something out of my ass."

"That's not a very PG-13 word, either."

"No, I guess it isn't. 'Butt', maybe? I know Toph says that sometimes."

"Yeah, especially in connection with getting it kicked."

"Yeah." Zuko chuckled a bit, then realized that the conversation was heading in an unexpected (and extremely strange) direction. Resuming his angst-ridden voice, he said, "Anyways, you're missing the point. I was having a moment with my Aangy, and you ruined it! I hate you forever!"

"I still stand by 'opportunistic bastard'. ...Wait. 'Aangy'?"

Zuko's eyes widened slightly. If one could read his mind at the moment, his thoughts would probably be running along the lines of Oh, shit. "I never said that," he replied quickly.

"Oh, yes you did! Wait 'till I tell everyone!"

"No, don't!"

"I will! Unless..."

"Unless what?"

Sokka's smile strongly reminded Zuko of Azula. "Unless you..."

"Ohhhh," Aang moaned. "I must still be drunk. Look at that, a Zuko hallucination with underwear on his head."

Author's Note: I'm sorry I took so long to get this out. It was finished fully a month ago. However, what I wanted to do was get well started on the Toko and Taang stories before posting this one, because in fics like this I prefer to finish a chapter before posting the one before it. It prevents me from publishing "hot off the press" stuff which is usually riddled with mistakes. The policy has served me well on the whole, but in this case it resulted in a rather long delay. See, I now have major writer's block with regards to the half-finished Toko story (which was to be next), and absolutely no inspiration at all with regards to the Taang story. Therefore, I decided to post the Zukaang oneshot and forget about finishing Toko and Taang. For the foreseeable future, Ten Love Duets will not be finished. (I won't say unfortunately. I've tortured enough people, wouldn't you say?)

I'd like to thank all my readers and reviewers for your feedback and support! Now go read something that's actually worth reading!