Title: Forgive Me
Rated K+
Summary: "How am I supposed to apologize!? I don't know what I said!" Sokka shouted angrily. Katara crossed her arms and frowned. "You really are clueless, aren't you?" Tokka one shot
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Forgive Me is owned by Evanescence.
---
Will you forgive me again?
I don't know what I said.
I didn't mean to hurt you.
Forgive Me- Evanescence
---
Frankly, Katara was getting tired of this.
Huffy silence had filled the room for most of the morning. Toph had gone out of her way to make sure that they all knew how upset she was with Katara's brother. She snapped whenever Aang or Katara had suggested that the Earth bender should go and apologize to end this. She gave them all a very cold and hard silent treatment. Sokka wasn't making matters any better either.
Aang had taken the day to search for Appa; Momo balanced upon his shoulder. He had left Katara alone, alone to assimilate the bitter feeling that hung about the house. Sokka and Toph had not spoken to each other for two days.
Katara was getting sick and tired of her brother and best friend. The past two days had been nothing but a huge headache on her part. Even though the two weren't speaking to each other, Sokka had of course chose yesterday to complain all day long about how Toph was being ridiculous, that she didn't have anything to be mad about and she was acting like a drama queen and a baby. Katara had tried calming her brother down, suggesting maybe he should look at the situation from Toph's point of view but Sokka wouldn't listen to logic or reason. He wouldn't swallow his pride and say that the whole fight was actually his fault.
He wouldn't be the first to apologize.
The start of the fight really was his fault. Sokka had gotten a letter from Suki two days ago and eagerly read it aloud. The Kyoshi warrior was keeping them informed as the war ragged on outside of Ba Sing Se. It was her closing paragraph that made Toph snap. Suki had probably not realized that Sokka would read her letter out loud and closed her letter by saying how much she missed Sokka, and how she couldn't wait to be reunited with her boyfriend.
Toph never warmed up to the new couple. In fact, Katara couldn't remember if the young Earthbender had ever warmed up to Suki at all.
Katara could see from a distance the child-like crush that Toph had for her older brother. She actually found it adorable and silently cursed Sokka for not seeing the faint flirts Toph sometimes left. Sokka was too absorbed in his relationship with Suki to notice anything.
"Morning,"
Sokka entered the living room of their current house in Ba Sing Se. Katara shook her head. It was nearly noon and her brother was just now dragging himself out of bed. Sokka walked over to a wall aligned with an assortment of fluffy pillows and plopped down, sighing loudly.
Katara braced herself and held in a retort. That was the same position Sokka liked sitting in when he began his daily rant about Toph. It was only a matter of time before -
"Who would have thought that Toph would go so long with out talking," he said resentfully.
At that moment, Katara would have given anything up in order to join Aang in his search for Appa. She would have given anything up so she wouldn't be able to listen to her older brother's rants.
"Where is she?" Katara asked casually, her voice calm and rigid. She had a feeling that her headache would return within the hour.
"She's being such a drama queen! I can't stand it anymore Katara!" Sokka declared, ignoring his sister's asked question. "She's just jealous of what Suki and I have and now she's taking it out on me. That girl has got some major issues!"
"She's not the only one who has issues," Katara found herself muttering. She couldn't help herself. The fight had been going on for at least two days and Sokka had been dancing on her last nerve. Her remark unfortunately didn't go unnoticed by Sokka and the watertribe warrior decided to reply to this comment by overreacting.
"What's that supposed to mean!? Aren't you on my side here!?" he demanded, standing up for a dramatic effect. His younger sister rolled her eyes and glowered in annoyance.
"That's it! I'm sick of this pointless bickering between you two! Knock it off, your complaining and ranting has been giving me and Aang headaches for two whole days!"
"It's not my fault!"
"Yes, it is your fault! If you hadn't had read that letter out loud in the first
place-!"
"You see! I didn't do anything except read a letter from my girlfriend! Toph's the one who's acting all immature about it . . .!"
"Toph's immature!? You're both immature! And you especially Sokka, you of all people know what it feels like to-!"
"To what!? Last time I checked, reading letters wasn't a crime!"
"ENOUGH!"
Like Aang often said, fighting wasn't going to get them anywhere. Actions would.
"Sokka, maybe you should be the one to apologize. . ."
"WHY SHOULD I BE THE ONE TO APOLOGIZE!? I haven't done anything!"
"It doesn't matter if you did or not! Aang and I are tired from practicing Waterbending and these headaches aren't helping us in the least! Toph's just as stubborn as you are. She's not going to be the first one to apologize. . ."
"I'm not going to be the first to apologize either!"
"Couldn't you just swallow your pride!? Just this once!? I'm sick of hearing you complain about Toph, and I'm sick of you both giving each other the cold shoulder!"
Sokka forced a fresh glare upon his younger sister. He still couldn't see why Toph was upset. So he had read a letter from his girlfriend. It wasn't that big of a deal but Toph was making it seem as though he had said something so offensive that he should have been punished for it as though he had committed a murder.
"Well, even if I DID apologize first, how am I supposed to apologize!? I don't even know what I said!" Sokka shouted angrily. Katara crossed her arms and frowned. "You really are clueless, aren't you?"
The waterbender sighed as her older brother gave her a weird look.
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Look, I don't care HOW you apologize! I just want you two to stop fighting! It's ridiculous! It's not helping anyone, especially not me and Aang!"
With that, Katara stormed out of the room, escaping the cynical silence that had once again taken charge. Sokka shook his head irritably. Katara was just being cranky, there was absolutely NO way he was going to apologize first.
All he even did was just read a stupid letter! Sokka couldn't believe how Toph turned such a simple thing into something so complicated!
Toph was just acting childish. There was nothing wrong about reading a letter from your girlfriend, was there?
Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have boasted after he had finished reading the letter. He did take the bragging a bit too far, Sokka could remember the irritated looks on his friend's faces as he went on and on about how fantastic his and Suki's relationship was doing. Also, now that Sokka looked back, there was absolutely no point in reading the letter out loud. He was just so excited to hear from Suki that he let his enthusiasm get the better of him.
"Oh great, now Katara's got me feeling guilty," The watertribe warrior muttered, kicking over one of the pillows that he had laid on earlier. Katara had a knack for giving people guilt trips.
So maybe the fight was his fault. Maybe it was up to him to apologize to Toph and end all of the hostility between them.
"Fine, I'll go and apologize to her, are you happy now!?" Sokka shouted towards the direction that Katara had stormed off in. Silence answered him. Either Katara couldn't hear him or she was just ignoring him.
Sokka rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He couldn't believe he was actually going to be the first to apologize! He just hoped that the Earthbender wasn't too mad at him.
---
Sokka went off in search for Toph, not knowing that the twelve year old girl had been in the other room the whole entire time. The Blind Bandit had been listening in on Katara and Sokka's argument and had heard Sokka's last shout. So he was going to apologize to her first? Toph sighed and positioned herself in a casual position so Sokka would have no idea that she had been eavesdropping. The young Earthbender had actually calmed down the other day, but there was NO way she was going to be the first to apologize. She was as stubborn as Sokka was.
Sokka walked down the hallways of the house. He wasn't a hundred percent sure that Toph still inside. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check. Sure enough, as the watertribe warrior neared a half opened door and peered inside the room, he found her, arms folded against her chest, sitting up against the wall.
"Hey, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Sokka said brightly, walking into the room uninvited. Toph remained silent, making no acknowledgement that she was okay with Sokka's interruption. She wanted him to know that she wasn't going to forgive him that quickly. Sokka frowned at Toph's response.
"So, still mad at me huh?"
"I had NO idea you were such a genius Snoozles!" Toph exclaimed sarcastically, turning so her back was facing the fifteen year old. Sokka was about to snap at her with another sour remark but held it in. He didn't come looking for a fight, he came to apologize first.
"Hey look, I didn't come find you to start a fight, I-"
"Yeah, yeah I know. You came to apologize because Katara put a guilt trip on you, am I right?"
Sokka stared. "You were listening the whole entire time, weren't you?"
"Of course I was Snoozles! You and Sugar Queen were shouting so loud that the neighbors next door must have heard you!"
"Well, do you accept my apology or not!?
"That depends! Do you even mean it!?"
"You should be happy that I'm even apologizing in the first place!"
"Oh really Snoozles!? I was happy before you came in here and started acting like you were really sorry!"
By this moment, Toph was on her feet, arms still crossed against her chest, glaring heavily at Sokka. Sokka glared right back.
"Katara wanted me to apologize first and that's what I did. We're really giving her and Aang headaches because of our fighting-!"
"Haven't you been listening!? They were getting headaches because of your ranting! You've been ranting day in and day out and I haven't said a single WORD! The only reason they want us to start talking to eachother again is because they won't have to listen to YOU rant anymore!"
Sokka blinked. Toph was actually right. She had been giving him the silent treatment the past two days and he had been the one ranting about her.
"I only ranted because you were driving me insane!" The watertribe warrior explained angrily. He watched as Toph's milky green eyes narrowed.
"And I stopped talking to you because you're a clueless idiot!"
"I'm a clueless idiot!? All I did was read a letter from my girlfriend out loud! As I recall, you're the one who made a huge fuss about it! Why did it matter to you anyway that I read that letter from Suki aloud!?"
Toph bit her lip while trying to come up with a good answer. There was no way that 'Snoozles' was going to find out that day that she had a crush on him. When Sokka had read the letter a mixture of jealousy and defeat had drowned her. She and Suki never really got a chance to talk, but she never liked the fact that at all of how she came from Sokka's past and a whole new relationship started, leaving her out in the dust. While they were traveling with Suki across the Serpents Pass, it was as though she was left out.
"I just . . . I just don't like it when you and Suki get all lovey and mushy. It may be great to you, but to me it's just disgusting!" The twelve year old finally replied, hoping that Sokka would buy it. Sokka narrowed his eyes. Something that simple wouldn't cause Toph to give him the silent treatment for two whole days but it looked as though the young Earthbender wasn't about to reveal the real reason anytime soon. He just decided to take the excuse without any question.
"Well, now I finally know why you got all mad," Sokka smirked. Toph smirked as well, pushing a lock of her ebony hair back behind her ear.
"So do you think you can apologize now and mean it?" she asked. She was tired of giving her best friend the silent treatment. Not talking was no fun at all.
Sokka's smirk remained on his face. He was tired of fighting too, and he was sure that Katara and Aang would be thankful that the two were friends again.
"Toph, sorry that I read the letter out loud. And I guess I'm sorry for bragging about my relationship with Suki,"
"And I'm sorry that I gave you the silent treatment and overreacted," Toph smirked and held out her hand for Sokka to shake. Sokka looked at it for a minute as though it was covered in swamp water before reaching down to shake it.
"So are we talking again?" he asked. Toph responded by trying to squeeze the life out of his right hand.
"That was for calling me a drama queen!" she grinned and let go. Sokka held in a whimper; Toph was stronger than she looked. In the other room Katara smiled to herself. "Nice work Snoozles," she smiled quietly to herself as Sokka's held in whimper finally escaped in the form of a shout (Toph had also decided to step on his foot as well because Sokka had called her a baby). She had been listening to their conversation and was just glad that the whole fight was finally over at last! Everything was back to normal!
"Geeze Toph! That hurt!"
"Oh quit your whining you baby!"
Well, normal enough anyway.
-Fin-
A/N: I've been working on this one for a while now, and I'm glad I was finally able to post it up. Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to tell me how you liked (or didn't like) this one shot by reviewing!
