Work Text:
The first night after the battle finds Katara staring up at her ceiling, fingers twiddling at her sides. So much had happened that day that her brain was still moving a mile a minute. She’d faced down Azula and won, that alone was enough to send her reeling without adding in everything else. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Aang facing Ozai and getting hurt, or dying. She tried to remind herself that the fight was over and the boy had won, but her anxiety refused to be logical.
Her anxiety only rose as the night went on until she was practically in a panic. They’d spent so long working towards this day but now that she was finally here she couldn’t even enjoy it. Without thinking, she sat up and put on her tunic and slippers, padding out of her room and over to Aang’s suite. Katara didn’t bother knocking, the boy was most likely already asleep at this time (unless he was fretting like her) and wouldn’t mind her simply entering anyways.
She was right, Aang was asleep when she entered his room so she knelt down next to his bed and gave his shoulder a gentle shake. He grumbled and turned to face her but didn’t open his eyes. She jostled him again, “Aang,” she whispered, “Can I sleep with you?”
Finally, his eyes fluttered open and he jumped when he registered her presence, “Oh man, you scared me.” He rubbed his eyes and then stopped abruptly and looked at her, rising slightly off the bed, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m okay I’m just-” she broke off, embarrassed of what she was going to admit. “I’m just scared. Can I sleep with you?”
He looked surprised but immediately moved over on the bed and lifted the blanket for her. He was in just his underclothes, and once Katara removed her tunic so was she, but there was nothing sexual about it. She slid into the bed, which was already deliciously warm, and then further into Aang’s space. They were both on their sides, facing each other and he grabbed one of her hands, bringing it to his chest.
“What’s wrong? Why are you scared?” His eyes were big with worry and she felt bad for waking him up for this but she’d needed to see that he was ok. She knew that if the roles were reversed she would have no problem with Aang coming to her for comfort in the middle of the night, and that made her feel a little better about having intruded on him.
“I don’t think my brain has fully caught up with the fact that it’s over and you’ve won. Everytime I close my eyes all I can see is you and Ozai fighting and him hurting you or killing you. I’m sorry I woke you up, but I needed to see with my own eyes that you were ok.”
“I’m sorry you’re dealing with that, I wish I could take those thoughts away from you. You can stay here as long as you’d like, though.” He smiled softly at her and gave her hand that he’d been holding a kiss.
Katara gave a half smile at the gesture, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m exhausted but I don’t think I’d be able to sleep in my own room.” Her face flushed and she said, “I like being next to you, you make me feel safe.”
“Good,” he said earnestly, “Because I will always protect you.”
Aang rolled onto his back, pulling her closer as he did so until she was pressed up against his side, her head pillowed on his chest. She could feel his steady breathing, soft but strong and it filled her with a new kind of hope. He was here and alive and they had all the time in the world. Katara had never let herself dream of getting this far, too worried about the worst case scenarios, but now that they were here she was going to relish in it. They were safe and they were together and that was all that mattered.
---
The next few nights were much more of the same. Katara would start out in her own bed, staring at the ceiling or the wall. She would relive every battle they had ever been in together, relive every fear she ever had of watching her loved ones get hurt. She could only ever last so long before she’d be flinging herself out of her own bed and into Aang’s. The second night she had crawled into his bed he’d been just falling asleep, all bleary eyed and rumpled, but all the nights after that he was always wide awake and waiting for her.
“What do we do now?” Their foreheads were pressed together, breaths mingling between them.
Aang’s question had her thinking, “I’d never planned this far, but I suppose you’ll have obligations to the four nations. Probably have a lot of political gatherings like that party we broke into at the Earth King’s palace.”
“Well, yeah,” He sighed and turned his head slightly away from hers in thought, “I know all that already, but I never imagined what else my life could be. I just want to be happy, I don’t want my entire life to be war meetings and stuffy old men. I want to be free to do what I want. What we want.”
Katara’s heart soared at the fact that he was counting her into his future plans. She lifted a hand to turn his face to hers once again, making sure his eyes were on hers before she said, “I promise you that I will never let war meetings and stuffy old men become your entire life. You can do whatever you want now. Let’s travel the world, see all those things and places we never got to. You still never took me to ride those hog monkeys.”
The boy’s face lit up (her boy’s) and he wriggled excitedly on the bed, “Oh yeah! I’d completely forgotten about that. Oh man Katara, you’re going to love it, it’s ten times better than penguin sledding!” And then he was off, telling her about all the places he wanted to take her, all the animals she needed to ride, and things she needed to see, and foods she needed to eat. He wanted to share it all with her and she felt herself warm with a gentle sort of elation.
---
“Katara.” Sokka’s voice was sharp behind her and she jumped, pulling her hand back from Aang’s door faster than she thought possible of herself. Her brother was leaning back casually on a pillar just across the hall, as if he’d been waiting for her. Now, he pushed off and walked forward until they were face to face, his own looked ridiculously stern.
“Oh, uh, hey Sokka. I didn’t see you there, did you need something from Aang? I was just here to…” She trailed off, unable to think of a good excuse to be sneaking off to the young Avatar’s room this late at night.
“Katara, don’t bother, I’ve seen you walking to his room three times this week.” He rolled his eyes exasperatedly before settling back into that stern expression. “You can’t be sleeping in his room, it's not decent.”
“Not decent? Oh that’s rich coming from you!” Katara was on the defensive now and she pointed a finger at him, “You think we didn’t all know that you and Suki were sleeping together when we were traveling? In more ways than one, might I add.”
Her brother’s eyes bugged out of his head for a second before he waved it away, “We’re not talking about me, Aang is the Avatar and he’s watched like a hawk. What do you think people are going to say when they find out you and him have been sleeping together?”
Katara froze for a second, she supposed he was kind of right but, “You’re right people will talk if they manage to find out, but if it doesn’t bother Aang it doesn’t bother me. Besides, it’s not like they can demote him from Avatar.”
He ran a hand over the length of his face and groaned, “Katara you’re missing the point-”
She poked Sokka hard in the chest, “No, you’re missing the point, and the point is that this is none of your business. I’m going inside now, I’ll see you in the morning.” and without waiting for a response she pushed open the heavy wooden door and made her way quickly into Aang’s bedroom.
The young Avatar was sitting up when she entered the room, “Is everything alright? I heard Sokka’s voice.” His tattoos were gleaming in the light of the candles and she wanted nothing more than to kiss every inch of them. They hadn’t done anything remotely like that yet, just traded simple kisses and hugs, but in this moment, with the concern for her on his face and the way he looked in that candle light Katara wanted to touch him. She had to physically shake herself awake from her day dreaming so she could answer Aang’s question.
“Everything is fine. Sokka is just being dramatic, as always.” She waved her hand to brush it off, only… “Hey, Aang, does it bother you? What people will say when they eventually find out that I’ve been sleeping here? Do you want me to stay in my own room from now on?”
“What?” Katara had been slowly moving away from him without realizing, and now he pulled her onto his lap with a quick tug of her hand, “Of course I don’t want you to stay in your own room. I love our nights together and I could care less what people say. Gossip is just gossip and as the Avatar I’m always going to have people talking about me, good and bad.”
Aang pressed a kiss to her cheek that was over far too quick and she giggled, “I was hoping that would be your answer.”
He laughed and leaned in again, only this time his mouth met her own. His lips were soft and he smelled slightly spicy and when they opened under hers the whole world exploded. Katara couldn’t describe to you the things she felt when his tongue brushed against her own for the first time, but a dark heat ignited itself in her stomach. The kiss lasted only a few more seconds, though, and as Aang pulled back she was already mourning the loss of it.
“Wow.” she couldn’t be more eloquent than that. He had effectively fried any living brain cells that Katara had possessed and turned her into a puddle of goo.
Aang let out a pleased sounding huff, “I love you so much. No matter what anyone says, as long as you’ll have me, it’s always going to be the two of us. I promise.”
Katara smiled and opened her mouth but before she had a chance to say anything back the young Avatar was on her, fusing their lips together once more; not that she was complaining. When he pushed her back onto the bed, crawling on top of her, she let out an embarrassing sigh. She was only mollified when Aang let out one of his own.