I've been reading a lot of fanfiction for this dynamic and I really like it. Big brother Zuko and little sister Toph are so much fun. It also breaks up the monotony of couples pairings.
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, I'd be a lot cooler than I am now.
"Shit."
Goddamn seashells with their toe-stubbing ways. He looked over at Toph. "I mean shoot."
Toph looked over at him blandly. "I've heard the word before. You know, Blind Bandit, Earth Rumble VI, big tough earthbenders. Ringing any bells?"
"Oh," Zuko said lamely.
Zuko and Toph patrolled the edge of the Ember Island beach in silence.
"Does it ever stop hurting?"
Zuko looked at Toph, who kept her gaze firmly on the ground.
"Uh, yeah. The pain should go away in a minute or so. Stubbed toes aren't that bad. They're just-"
Toph cut him off.
"Leaving your family is what I meant. Sometimes Zuko, you're as moronic as Sokka. I know that you didn't have a choice, but still. Do you ever just wake up one morning and begin to look for them, or call out to them, just before you remember that they're not there?"
Toph trained her sightless eyes at a rough approximation of Zuko's eye level. She missed just barely, staring intently at his right shoulder. Usually it would have been comical, but right now, not as much.
"In a way. My father and I were never very close, but in the early days of my exile I'd miss him. I'd always wanted to be around him and make him proud, but…. I'd never had that kind of relationship with him. Really, Uncle was more like a father than him. I mean, I may not miss my father, but I sure miss him. That pain, no, it doesn't ever go away. I don't think it ever will without him."
"Oh." Toph's voice was almost inaudible, her hair hanging in front of her eyes.
Zuko started, just realizing the meaning of his words to Toph.
"But that's not just it, Toph!" Zuko said, his panic making him jittery. "Family is more…..complicated than that. " He relaxed slightly.
"It's not just who you're related to, but they're who you are. I mean, you have a family who's here with you. You guys always complain about it, but Katara's the mother of the group. And Aang's the goofy little kid, and Sokka's the crazy yet responsible uncle. You have a family Toph, even if you're not related by blood. If anything, it makes it more special that they chose to be with you."
Toph looked up at Zuko. "Well then, what does that make you?" she asked.
"Well," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not sure that I've been here long enough necessarily to be a part of that."
Toph deadpanned. "Wrong." She replied. "You're part of this family as much as the rest of us. Hmm," Toph deliberated. "That makes you Big Brother."
"I'm not sure-" Zuko began, before Toph cut him off.
"No. Either you're a part of this, or it doesn't exist at all." Toph declared.
"Fine."
Toph perked up. "Does this mean I get to call you Zuzu?"
Zuko glared back at her.
"No."
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