me when. the frozen mango hits
i think they would understand each other 😌
The moment that the sliding door of their rented room clicked shut behind her, Katara heard shuffling, a groggy voice whispering. “Katara? Is that you?”
“Aang?” She whisper-shouted back, blinking into the darkness. She fumbled around by the door until she managed to grab a sea-moss lantern by the door and tugged off the cover. Immediately, what the lantern illuminated had her in stitches. Aang was there, sprawled across a thin bamboo mat, clearly half-asleep, but for whatever reason, not in the bedroom he shared with Sokka. She settled down onto a floor cushion next to him, still giggling at the way he continued to groggily blink at her. “What are you still doing up?”
He pulled himself up onto his elbows, rubbing at his eyes in a way that reminded Katara of a seal-penguin pup. “I went to check on you before bed, but you weren’t in your room. I wanted to make sure you got home alright.”
She wrinkled her nose at him teasingly. “What, you thought I was kidnapped or something? Joining an illegal street fighting ring? You can trust me to be able to take care of myself, you know.”
“Firstly, you and I both know that with how our sparring went back at Jet’s compound, if anyone is winning a street fight between the two of us, it’s me .” Mock-offended, Katara parted her lips to respond before Aang held up a hand to stop her. “And secondly,” He continued, grinning slightly as Katara stuck out her tongue at him, “I know full well that you can do much more than just hold your own. But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you, Katara.” She felt her heart beat sporadically for a moment, and instantly wanted to curse at herself.
“So what were you up to, Ms. Street Fighter?”
“For the record, I would have a much cooler fighting name than that,” Katara huffed, reaching up to gather her hair over her shoulder.
-ch8 of the teenager in the iceberg by quillthrills
mentally begging my local mountain equipment store to please accept my job application so i can finally justify buying overpriced outdoors equipment by telling myself my employee discount makes it basically free
do any other fanfic writers ever look back at something they've written and just wanna cry because you want what they have 😭 bcos same 😭😭 this exerpt is from my fic where i take the common zutara trope of zuko saving katara from a loveless relationship with aang and flip it on its head until it becomes kataang hehhee :) also new aang au fic coming soon!!!
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Once she closed it, she turned to leave, but… hesitated. The wind, it seemed, had blown one of Aang’s cupboard doors wide open. But that wasn’t what gave her pause. No, what confused her was the glint of ice blue stone that seemed to shimmer inside. She stepped closer, then, silently apologizing to Aang for definitely invading his privacy, she reached in.
And drew out what looked like a traditional Southern water tribe proposal necklace.
For a moment, she was sure that her mind was playing tricks on her, that she was somehow misinterpreting something, but as she turned the necklace over, back and forth in her hands, she knew that this was unmistakably a proposal necklace. One she’d never seen before. The pendant itself, in style, shape, and material, mirrored her mother’s necklace, but the combination of carvings on it was different- two that were water tribe, that in fact matched her mother’s necklace perfectly, and two that looked distinctly air tribe.
Before she could puzzle it over for much longer, she heard the clearing of someone’s throat and a gentle knock on the doorframe. She whirled around, feeling as though she’d been caught red-handed, only to see that it was Aang. He grinned at her, opening his mouth to ask her what she was doing snooping around his office, only for him to feel the words dry up in his throat when he saw what she was holding.
She panicked, interpreting his expression as disappointment. “I found it by accident, I swear, I-”
“It’s okay, Katara,” Aang assured her, and he meant it. Maybe it was better that she’d found it this way. Spirits knew that it would’ve taken him much longer to work up the nerve to broach the subject with her.
“Who-who’s it… for?” Katara asked, trying not to make the tremble in her voice too obvious. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep it together if he told her that he’d found a lovely water tribe girl who wasn’t her to settle down with.
“She’s beautiful,” Aang smiled softly, shaking his head lightly. “She’s stubborn, opinionated, with a short temper at times, and I love how passionate she is about what she believes in. About helping people. She’s an incredibly talented and exceedingly humble bender, and she’s so, so kind, and, did I already mention how beautiful she is? Because spirits, she is. And I’m so in love with her. I have been since I was twelve.” He took a deep breath, his hands shaking now.
“I’m so, so, so in love with you , Katara.”
Katara suddenly could no longer form sentences.
“Do you want to know when I made that necklace?”
She nodded, staring up at his eyes, her own welling with happy tears.
“The moment we arrived in the Northern Water tribe, years ago, I found a carver to teach me the significance of the symbols. Later on, I had Toph help me find an earthbender who specialized in teaching the skill required for etching tiny symbols in rock. I’ve carried it with me every day since.”
Katara’s tears were flowing freely now.
“I don’t want to rush you, don’t want to pressure you, and if you don’t want me the way I want you, then just say the word, and I’ll never mention it again, but Katara, I need you to know that I am head over heels for you. I meant what I said in my letters.
I am forever yours, always, if you’ll have me.”
---
this type of joke will always get me every time without fail
︵‿︵︵‿︵︵day two: protectiveness/ bodyguard︵‿︵︵‿︵︵
︵‿︵︵︵‿︵︵‿‿hosted by @kataang-week︵‿︵︵︵‿︵︵‿‿
summary:
stuck in her tower for all eighteen years of her life, katara had come to peace with her own lonely, repetitive existence, her only company being her mother, hama. at least, she *was* at peace, until a certain airbending thief happened along her tower, caught her eye, and forever shifted the path of her destiny. OR: kataangled. and yes, i came up with that brilliant wordplay all on my own.
In all of her eighteen years of gazing out into the same meadow, the same night sky, Katara had never quite managed to piece together why every year, on her birthday, the night sky came alight with glowing lanterns in hues of soft silver and blue. As much as it tugged at her, she didn’t mind the element of mystery too much. After all, a girl who grows up never leaving the confines of her tower is a girl used to looking out into a world of mysteries. Katang spent her days pouring over old scrolls, gleaning bits and pieces about the world from what she could see through her window.
To be entirely honest, it wasn’t all that much. A modest meadow, a bubbling brook, the occasional frog-squirrel or cat deer. Still, it was more than enough for her to feel utterly enchanted by. Each and every time that an animal walked by, Katara would imagine how it would feel to be one of those wild things, chained to nothing, bound by your own will.
Katara certainly wasn’t.
Aang made quick work of the tower walls, the uneven brick providing natural foot and handholds as he scaled the rough, mossy stone. When he finally reached the summit of the spire, he heaved himself over, his breath rough as he dusted off his palms. He tugged off his thin overshift, revealing his one-shouldered monk’s robes as he did. Aang scratched his neck absentmindedly as he took in his surroundings. He was surprised to see that the tower was furnished, lived-in, even. He recognized waterbending forms painted on most of the walls. There were even lit candles softly flickering away in various nooks and crannies, casting warm light over the room.
Wait. Alarm bells rang in Aang’s mind, urging him to further examine the situation he had found himself in.
If the tower is abandoned, then who lit the-
The next sound he heard was a deafening thunk as a thin sword buried itself in the wall next to his head, leaving a deep cut along the shell of his ear.
She wanted a reason to snap back, to make some snide comment, but Aang’s eyes were so open, his expression so… trustable that she simply couldn’t stomach it.
Katara knew that should’ve been telling him to leave. She should’ve asked him to apologise, to be on his way. In all her years of solitude, she’d never dreaded being alone, but something about Aang leaving and her never being able to see him again sent a pang of something like homesickness straight through her.
“I see that you need time to process all of this.” Aang stood, his eyes shining with sympathy that only made Katara feel more guilty over how heartbroken Mother Hama would be were she to find out about her new doubts. “I’m happy to give that to you.” She trailed like a ghost behind him as he strode to the window, tugging a wooden glider from his back before standing atop the edge of the terrace, grinning at her softly as she clung shyly to the carvings of the doorway. “And I understand that you don’t know me, that you have no real reason to believe me.”
He turned to the side, saluting her teasingly. “So I’ll be back, same time tomorrow, so that we can get to know one another a bit better.”
“Aang!” She shouted, rushing to the edge of the terrace as he snapped open his glider, plunging downwards. “No, you will not .”
“I can’t hear you! But I totally agree! I’m looking forward to it as well!” His whoops echoed through the field as he did a couple loop-de-loops.
Aang stepped through her window, right on schedule, with an injury he claimed he had gotten while sparring, Katara’s only response was the word “Again?”
“Hey, If being injured is what it takes for you to let me stay even a few minutes longer, I’ll take it.” Aang grinned, shrugging as he tugged up the end of his top to reveal the bruises patterning his ribs. Katara did her best to focus on the injury itself, and not the muscle rippling over Aang’s side, as she settled into the stool next to him, leaning over to run her hands over the purple-and-blue skin. “I like your company.”
I like you. The response materialised in Katara’s mind before she could suppress it, and the longer it sat there, the more right it felt. I like you.
“So, what else does a thief carry with him in his bag?” Katara had been strangely curious about what Aang considered precious enough to carry around with him in his satchel, but after fishing through playing cards and a set of spinning marbles he’d been very proud of, her interest was considerably less piqued.
“Oh, I don’t think I ever got a chance to explain what I took to end up in your tower.” Aang fished around until he tugged out a velvet box, passing it over to her with both hands. He continued on, talking about the castle security and his plans to pawn the necklace to feed and house children displaced by the ongoing conflict with the Fire Nation, but his words faded away as Katara opened the box.
I know you.
There, nestled in silk, was a pale blue pendant on a deep blue velvet ribbon. Just looking at it for a moment was enough for her to feel entirely off balance. Vague memories hit her, one after the other, of looking up at a ceiling of moon symbols carved in diamond, a hanging mobile of seals and icebergs. The ornate arches of a castle, the corridors and gardens of a grand estate.
I know you.
The world tilted, and suddenly, neither Katara’s will, nor her body, were her own.
to see the rest of the kataang week submissions from the other extremely talented and lovely members of this community, head over to @kataang-week :)<3 thank u so much to the wonderful mods for making all of this possible!
why did i confidently read the mark one as "what i'm gonna do to you tonight's gonna leave an invincible" 😭😭
Invincible valentine cards I made
The war has been ended, Ozai has been rendered helpless, and Zuko has reclaimed the Fire Nation with the promise of peace. Everything that Aang has been working towards since the moment Katara freed him from the iceberg has been done. He's saved the world. Now, all that's left is to confess to his forever girl. The two are finally free from all the responsibilities placed upon them by the war and the world- now, loving one another no longer means neglecting their sense of duty.
OR: Aang wakes up the morning after him and his friends saved the entire world, and the first (and only) thing he can think about is Katara. When they get a chance to talk, the two take a walk down memory lane.
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For a moment, in his still dream-addled mind, Aang wondered what he had done to wake up this way, only to have the memories rush back the moment his fingers lightly grazed the marks. For the first time in technically a century, a looming deadline of responsibility and unfulfillable promises wasn’t hanging over him.
Had it really only been yesterday when he and his friends had saved the world?
---
He remembered seeing that Katara was okay and feeling the relief so intensely that it felt as though it had reached his soul. Holding her for probably a couple seconds too long. Not wanting to let go, out of relief that she hadn’t been hurt.
---
From his place on the floor, bending a sphere of air for Momo to play with, Aang watched his friends bicker over Sokka’s drawing of them and felt so overwhelmed with emotion that he could hardly contain it. He had needed to grow up so quickly in the last year, all of them had. War had pushed them so far- each of them had lost so much, and yet, they could still smile. Could live in the peaceful world they deserved. That Aang would now be able to help create.
Aang felt tears prick his eyes as he wondered what Gyatso would say if he had seen what Aang had done. If he knew that Aang finally stopped running from destiny.
---
He turned to look at her, and spirits , she took his breath away. She pulled him in, and he wrapped his arms around her, burying his head in her neck, savouring in the reminder that she was okay , that they were okay , that they would have time now.
---
Guru Pathik was insane, absolutely crazy, for thinking anyone could ever choose cosmic energy over this girl.
---
When Katara had excused herself early, saying that she had to grab a few things, Aang waited until she left the hall before jumping up from his seat.
“I have to- uh- um- A-Avatar things. To grab, from, from my room? And I should probably- uh- check on Appa. See how the, um, sleeping on the balcony… went?”
“...Mhm.” Toph deadpanned, “Sure, Twinkletoes. Just in case you were wondering, Miss Sugar Queen’s on her way to the gardens right now. You can catch up with her if you take the stairs to your left and make a couple of turns.” She elbowed Aang, hard enough to crack a rib or two. “Go get her, tigerdillo.”
---
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. It wasn’t the time, no matter how much I wanted it to be.” He bit his lip nervously, then reached for her hands, pulling them between the two. The water she had been bending splashed back down into her lap, and after she gave a startled giggle, Aang helped her bend the droplets of water from her skirt. He took her hands in his once more, caressing her skin gently with his fingertips.
“But… now could be that time. If you wanted it to be.” He breathed the words, looking into her shining, ocean-blue eyes.
crying, screaming, throwing up
I'M CRYING, LOOK AT CLARK'S FACE WHEN LOIS GETS KRYPTONIAN POWERS
CLARK KENT IS THE REIGNING CHAMP OF BEING LOIS LANE'S #1 FAN THAT IS A MAN THAT IS ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON THAT HIS WIFE IS SO COOL AND STRONG AND AWESOME HE IS SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW JUST WATCHING HER THIS IS THE BEST OF OF HIS LIFE
hi!!! i'm quill 🕯an a03 writer trying to figure out an entirely new platform!!she/her
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