Avatar and all those associated with it are brilliant

Sadly, I am not one of those people

This is a (short) one shot between Sokka and Toph occuring shortly before Serpent's Pass

In Toph's defense, she didn't try to fall for him. She wasn't even sure how she felt about Sokka until they kissed.

And she wasn't entirely sure how that had happened, either.

One minute she was teasing him about the cactus juice debacle and making innopropriate innuendos about his deep and heartfelt love of meat. She wasn't sure who moves first but the next minute their mouths were smashed together.

And then it was over too quickly.

There was a long silence. Even though she was blind she still looked away, avoiding eye contact

It was a long silence

A very long, awkward silence. Until,

"Toph?"

She felt his body turn towards her as she fought to keep her voice steady.

"yeah, meathead?"

"Umm," his voice cracked a little, "nevermind"

Another long silence passed between them. Toph note that Sokka hadn't turned away from her yet. Neither had his hear rate slowed back to normal. She shoved this out of her mind and focused her sense on whatever was scurrying in the tall grass near them. More silence passed.

"Toph." Sokka said again. The breath caught in her throat. He had shifted himself to be mere inches away from her face.

And then there was no space between their faces at all.

This kiss was longer and deeper than the first. Toph could feel herself being lost in it. Before she was completely gone, he pulled away.

"Toph" he said for a third time.

"You're makin me a little tired of my own name here, snoozles."

"Oh, right, sorry." Sokka mumbled

Toph waited a moment before saying, "Well, where you gonna say something?"

"Oh yeah." He inhaled deeply and stood up. She could feel him staring at her. "Toph I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"You don't like me do you?" Toph asked, "Not like that."

"What? No." He knelt down quickly in front of her and grabbed her small hands. "That's not what I was trying to say at all. But I just don't think I can do this."

"Yeah" Toph turned her body away from him be he twisted around to face her again.

"No, Toph, please listen." Sokka pleaded, "Toph, I really like you, more than I should, but. Ugh. This is going to sound really cliché but I just got out of a relationship and I didn't get much closure with her."

Toph sighed. She knew he was talking about Yue. Aang had told her about that situation shortly after she joined the group. Yue had sacrificed herself to save the moon spirit. It was completely selfless and probably saved the world. How was Toph supposed to compete with that? "Yeah, I get it."

"Toph" Sokka pulled her in close. "Toph, I really like you and want to be with you but I don't want to be with you while I still feel attached to someone else. I don't want to do this half-way. You're worth so much more than that. Do you know what I mean?"

"Sure, meathead" Toph pulled away from the embrace and stood up.

"You're still my best friend" Sokka said, "And hopefully someday, something more."

"Sure" She lightly kissed the top of his head and walked away.

Two days later he must have realized that didn't matter. Two days later he must have realized he was over it and ready to start something new. Because two days later he held Suki, the Kyoshi warrior, in his arms.