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Tonight, Team Avatar, along with its citizens, was celebrating Republic City officially being rebuilt after Tagah's attack. Festivities included but weren't limited to: dancing, a fireworks show, a hot pot dinner and round after round of drinks. Aang was their designated Sober Friend for the night, mostly because he didn't drink and also, well, someone had to be.
And Aang was so glad for that, because that meant he had a perfect memory of how ridiculous everyone else acted once they had alcohol flowing through their bodies and their inhibitions were dangerously lowered.
What happens when you combine a certain group of revered war heroes and notable political figures with alcohol? Well…
Suki became way more confident than what was her norm, challenging nearly half the restaurant to arm wresting matches. Most of them humoured her, and she actually had a good streak going until she challenged Toph, who nearly slammed her hand through the table after five seconds. After that, she was wresting with her sleepiness, which was slowly becoming a losing battle every time she closed her eyes and then jerked herself awake.
Speaking of Toph, she was usually loud in more ways than one, but tonight she was Loud, so loud she could probably be heard all the way across the city. Had she been born an airbender, Aang figured that she'd do pretty well with soundbending. At some moments, she'd be giving her full attention to playing around with her metal bracelet, the motions of it being the only thing that could keep her quiet.
Drunk Sokka could either go one of two ways, become so spacey he briefly forgets who he is as a person, or suddenly be hit with a stroke of ingenuity for something, and if no one got him at least one piece of paper and something to write with he will whine so hard about it and maybe cry a little. Tonight it seemed that Inspired Sokka was at play, his little area at their table a mess of napkins with hastily scribbled out ideas and drawings for his next invention. When Aang asked what it was, he said it'd be a machine that could take a portrait of something much quicker than a painter would, and it'd look more accurate to real life. It sounded cool enough, and Aang couldn't wait to see it, if Sokka's notes still made sense to him the morning after.
Zuko gets super sentimental when he drinks, but never for anything actually happy, for some reason? Instead, he'll randomly say something like "Hey, hey, Aang, remember when I told you to kill me if I ever turned into my father?" And then he'd chuckle like he told a really funny joke, and Aang will have to follow along and go "Yeah Zuko, that was hilarious." because if he didn't then Zuko would get really pouty and at least a little grumpy for the rest of the night.
As for Katara?
"Hey, Aaaaang~"
Katara nuzzled into the crook of his neck for what felt like the millionth time tonight. Not that Aang is complaining, who'd be stupid enough to do that? Not him.
She giggled into his skin for an approximate ten seconds, and oh so slowly made the effort to remove her face from his neck and move upwards so her lips were now just barely grazing his left ear.
When Katara got drunk, she'd cling to Aang's side like a purple pentapus, and as long as she stayed drunk, there was really no removing her.
Again, not that he's complaining, but it did make his job of making sure no one got too out of hand a lot harder when his amazing and very beautiful, very attractive girlfriend was snuggling him much like she would when they're in bed together.
Anyway, Katara was mumbling something into his ear, but he couldn't make it out because of the growing commotion Suki and Toph were making to his right, with Toph trying to goad Suki into a rematch that she would definitely lose again.
"What was that, sweetie?"
"I said you. Me. Baby. Tonight. Let's go."
Silence. Silence all around the table, like someone had frozen all of his friends in ice. Was that him? Did he somehow do that when his girlfriend just said out loud that they should go make a baby? He wasn't even anywhere near finished with carving her betrothal necklace! Sokka's been trying to teach him, but all of his attempts so far sucked! They sucked so much!
Thank the spirits that seemingly no one else beyond their table heard that. If they had, they were being very polite about it by minding their own business. Though maybe that was because it was coming from this group in particular.
"Alright, my guy!" Toph suddenly exclaimed, slamming Aang's back so hard that it knocked the wind (hah) out of him, and he would've ended up face-planting on the table too if he hadn't caught himself in time.
"EWWWWWWWWW! KATARAAAAA! That's so OOGIE!" Sokka yelled, no longer able to focus on his project with his full attention now dedicated to making the most elaborate grossed-out faces.
Katara barely paid her brother any mind, only frowning and poking her tongue out at him before returning her full attention to Aang. Which was honestly a little surprising, Aang thought for sure the return of Oogie would get her to snap, but nope.
Looks like she… really wanted that baby.
Suki and Zuko were snickering amongst themselves and making kissy faces at the couple, which did not help in easing his suffering any.
When he turned back to face Katara again, he was met with… that look in her beautiful, dazzling blue eyes, which were steely focused on Aang's lips. She slowly leaned in even closer towards him, and—
"Okay!" Aang slammed his hands down on the table and stood up, meaning that Katara was now sort of dangling from his left arm a little from where she'd hooked her arms around his and was still seated. "I'm calling it, we're turning in for the night. Everyone, please make your way to Appa outside. Right now."
Everyone else groaned as they reluctantly stood up and half walked, half stumbled their way out of the restaurant.
Everyone except Katara, who was still seated, and still holding on to Aang's arm and stuck to his side with a dopey, expectant look on her face.
"Sweetie? You okay there?"
"Mmmm. I'm all good baby."
Baby. Like the baby Katara apparently wanted them to make tonight. Okay.
"Can you walk?"
"Yep!" Katara perked. "I've got it—" she tried to stand up, but did it way too fast and nearly fell over. Luckily she was still holding on to Aang, plus the near-stumble gave her an excuse to grasp on tighter to him.
"Woah! Careful there."
"Sorry," Katara let out a slight chuckle. "looks like you've got me, huh?"
Well, looks like Drunk Katara was quite the sweet talker too. And not a very good one at that, but hey, it's all about confidence, which Katara is full of right now.
Aang carefully escorted his girlfriend outside to the nearby alleyway where his friends, Momo and Appa were waiting.
"Why aren't you guys on Appa already?" Aang asked.
"Uh, you said to go to Appa, not to get on him." Zuko said, eyebrow raised and hands on his hips like he said something sassy.
"… You guys are too drunk to get up, aren't you?"
"Hey, you can't prove that!" Suki scoffed, and then she proceeded to try and climb her way up to Appa's saddle while everyone else watched. She managed to make it three quarters of the way up before clumsily losing her footing and falling back down to the ground on her ass.
"Okay, I guess it can be proven." Suki pouts as Sokka helps her back up on her feet. Appa lets out a groan that sounds a lot like he agrees.
Aang was about to ask Toph why she hadn't just made a platform for them with her earthbending, but if she hadn't done so already then there must be a good reason. It'd probably be safer for everyone if they didn't test whether or not Drunk Toph could properly earthbend. So instead, Aang created a gust of wind that safely brought everyone up and on to Appa's saddle, Katara included. Though that was a little harder as she was still keeping her grip tight on him, but he managed.
Aang propelled himself up on Appa's head and took the reins. "Appa, yip— oh."
Suddenly, he felt a pair of all too familiar arms wrap themselves around his waist. A chin was perched on his shoulder, and the gentle and satisfied huff from her lips seeped down from where it grazed his skin into his bones.
He didn't need to turn to see who it was, but well, he was gonna do it anyway. Who's going to stop him, the Avatar? Hah! Guess what, that was him!
So he slightly tilted his head to the left and down and— okay, it wasn't actually easy to see Katara's face properly from this angle, but Katara looked pretty from every angle!
"YO! Twinkle Toes! Why aren't we moving!" Toph loudly demanded, breaking Aang out of his daze.
"Awwwww, it's cuz someone's in love." Sokka cooed. Everyone else in the saddle giggled and teased along, and all Aang could do was sigh good-naturedly.
"Alright, alright. Appa, yip yip!" And with a snap on the reins, Appa took to the skies.
Aang has always been grateful to have Appa ever since the two met. He was always there to lend a listening ear or catch him if he fell.
Right now, he was grateful that he's big and strong enough to carry one Avatar, one flying lemur, and five very drunk adults, because Aang would not be able to airbend them all all the way to Katara's apartment, even with the Avatar State.
Also: thank the spirits that right now they were all too tired to be rowdy and were already beginning to doze off, he didn't want any of his friends accidentally falling off without him somehow noticing and traumatising any of the people below.
It only took them a few minutes to make it to Katara's place in the heart of Republic City. Appa floated right next to the balcony, and Aang floated down (with Katara still attached, of course.) and helped everyone else off the air bison.
Aang brought Appa and Momo in for a group hug. "Goodnight you guys, I'll see you in the morning." Everyone else managed to mumble out their own versions of 'goodnight', and the two animals lowed and chirped before flying away to their makeshift shelter Katara had made for them near her apartment.
Alright, his Sober Friend duties were nearly completed for the night. Now to actually get everyone to go to sleep, because no one else seemed to be taking the initiative.
"Hey, Katara," He turned to face his girlfriend. "You think you can let go of me long enough to help set up the tea room for everyone else to sleep in?"
A pout was beginning to form on Katara's face, so Aang quickly added: "I promise we'll be together in your bed right after."
Katara hmmmed loud and long like this trade needed great consideration, but considering she was giving up valuable cuddling time, it very much did. "Alright," she sighed. "But let's do it quick."
Calling Katara's tea room a 'room' was a little generous, it was really more of a tea area, but the important thing was that it had a lot of cushions and blankets, and the kitchen was just a few steps away so their friends could easily make themselves some hangover cures in the morning after, which they'll definitely need.
Once Aang and Katara had finished in making the place as cosy as possible and filled some tea cups with water for them, Sokka, Suki, Toph and Zuko all flopped down into the mess of softness, groaning as they were finally granted rest.
Aang couldn't help but snort at the dramatics. These were four of the most powerful people in the world, one of them being the Fire Lord, all pooped out after a night of partying. "Goodnight guys."
"Do not throw up on my furniture." Katara pointed a stern finger at them as she not-so subtly tried to pull Aang towards the staircase.
"I'll throw up wherever I want." Sokka grumbled.
"Cheers to that!" Toph grinned as she held out a hand for a high-five but ended up smacking him square in the face. Aang would one hundred percent bet that that had nothing to do with her being drunk. He left them to their antics as Katara tugged on his arm again.
After a few steps, Katara had successfully steered Aang to the top of the staircase, but the pout on her face returned. "Aaaaang."
"What's up, buttercup?"
"Can you carry me to bed?"
Aang smiled. He could tell that even in this state she could make it to her bedroom on her own, but he wasn't going to pass up on any opportunity to pamper his girlfriend.
So, he scooped her up in his arms, with her arms winding around his shoulders, and carefully made his way down the winding staircase, feeling more than hearing her breathy giggles in the crook of his neck the whole way.
When he finally made it to Katara's bed, he let her down slowly and as gently as one could onto the mattress, but Katara wasn't ready to let go just yet. She yanked him down with her, and he was caught so off guard that he had no time to catch himself before falling right on top of her, a small 'oof' escaping from his lips.
"Okay, let me just—" Aang manoeuvred them so that they were both facing their left sides. "You okay to drink some water?"
Katara hummed an affirmative, and pushed herself up into a half-sit. There was a basin of water on top of the bedside drawer tables on either side of the bed specially for waterbending emergencies. Katara raised a portion of the water out from the basin on the left and drew it into her opened mouth. She gave a thumbs up once she'd swallowed it all and Aang returned the gesture.
"Mm kay, g'night." Katara mumbled as she laid down, her back to Aang.
"What, no baby tonight?"
Katara turned her head to face him so fast Aang was a little worried the motion might make her sick. Then she just… stared at him for what felt like a full minute before finally replying: "Soon, baby, soon. All in due time."
She gently gave a gentle pat-pat to his cheek before laying back down. "Now spoon me."
Aang felt like he was frozen in ice again. Looks like he really needed to step up his carving skills to get that necklace done in time.
But not tonight. Tonight, as Master Katara had well made it known, was for cuddling, so that's exactly what Aang was gonna do. He threw his arm over her waist and pressed his body closer to her back.
"Sweet dreams, sweetheart." Aang kissed her temple, and watched as her face just barely twitched at the contact. Clearly, she was already sound asleep.
Looking at her serene face in sleep, Aang was reminded once again of the fact that he was the luckiest man in the world to have a soulmate like Katara.
It also reminded him of the time he doodled on Katara's face when she briefly fell asleep when they were cloud watching as a way to relax after their respective long, hard days.
It didn't seem like Katara would wake up anytime soon. Maybe…
No. He couldn't again, not after Katara so thoroughly and painfully water-whipped him when she realised what happened to her face only after they made it back home from a ride over the city on Appa.
… His friends upstairs, on the other hand…
"Be right back, baby." Aang mumbled as he quietly shot out of bed with his airbending, taking the stairs two at a time while trying to control his giggling.