Title: the rebellion in her bones
Summary: Toph has never been afraid of doing something different. Aromantic!Toph character study.
Notes: Written for the Asexy April Fanwork Challenge on Tumblr. I consider both Toph and Avatar Kyoshi to be aromantic, mostly because I enjoy the symmetry of them both having daughters with no named husband (yet and hopefully never). Since we're still waiting for LoK's Book Two, this fic is comprised entirely of my headcanon and will mostly likely end up conflicting with canon, though I tried to keep things as vague as possible.
Bending, they say, is in the blood, and earthbending runs right down through Toph's bones. So, too, does rebellion.
(It isn't always loud and brash. Sometimes, rebellion is as simple as silence.
And she's had enough practice with that.)
Toph knows that earth encompasses everything; earth is the bones of the planet, and the planet holds all in its hands. And eventually Toph learns that she is the same, in a way.
(Her life after the war is a far cry from before; there are many people in it, many of whom Toph loves to varying degrees. Why should she narrow her focus to just one?)
The realization doesn't come at once, of course. It takes time and a fair amount of confusion and heartache, but the rebellion in Toph's bones is nothing if not intuitive. In the end, her foot comes down; enough is enough, she decides, and that's that. She isn't one to agonize, to dwell.
(Her bones know that she is just a little different from most people. Her bones know a different kind of love.)
Silence is wholly impossible as years go by. People prod and ask - they always do - and when she gives in and answers, her explanation is take it or leave it, and take your overly sentimental romance with you.
Rebellion means that she won't waste breath defending her nature.
(She knows that people wonder about her sex life - active and wholly enjoyable and without the least hint of commitment. But the people who judge are the ones she couldn't give less of a damn about, and so it doesn't bother her.)
Aang has no difficulty understanding her earth metaphor, even if embracing aloneness is an alien and frightening concept to him. Toph would explain that she isn't alone, not really, if only it didn't sound so cheesy in her head. He might try to hug her if she said it out loud.
He seems to get it regardless. He hugs her. She doesn't mind.
(Twinkle Toes is about as sappy as Sugar Queen, so that's to be expected. No wonder they fit so well together.)
Katara's practically in love with the idea of love, but as always, she surprises Toph. It takes her a little while to wrap her head around it, but once she does, she asks questions. Lots of them.
It leads one of the deepest discussions of Toph's life, and Toph ends up surprising herself along the way.
(Then again, Katara's always been good at dragging out the good parts of people that are otherwise unwilling to surface.)
Sokka has a tendency to fall for people hard and fast, and Toph doesn't think he really gets it, altogether. But that's okay, because it doesn't stop him from clapping Toph on the back and announcing that it's totally cool. And then they move on with life. Trust him to keep a sensible head.
Suki smiles and tells Toph about a few of the Kyoshi warriors who are just the same. It's a surprise, but not an unwelcome or wholly unexpected one. And after thanking Suki, Toph takes a moment to appreciate all that Avatar Kyoshi was.
(Sokka and Suki are almost as mushy as Aang and Katara. It's gross, really, and Toph does her best not to smile when she hears them being ridiculous.)
Mai is the one to bring it up, a casual question that Toph decides to answer with honesty. Zuko isn't surprised at all; he tells her so, and Toph punches him on the shoulder for ruining her shock value. Mai gives a dry chuckle and says that she'd guessed as much.
They admit that the both of them would probably be the same as Toph if it weren't for the other. It's not so much saccharine as it is stating a fact. Toph can appreciate the sentiment.
(Zuko and Mai aren't really vocally mushy in public. Toph loves them for it, though Mai wryly assures her that they're handsy. But that's something Toph can understand.)
Each encounter leaves Toph with a feeling that's difficult to explain. A warm glow, perhaps, at her center. It makes the sides of her mouth twitch, not in a smirk but a genuine smile. It makes her happy to have such friends, people who ask but don't question. It proves why she doesn't need what the rest of them have.
Why would she need anything when it's all there, all filled, down to her bones?
(Still others question and comment and judge, and sometimes she wants to hit them all with a well-placed boulder - rebellion is often physical, too, but she resists. Idiots.)
And when her sex life produces another life - unexpected but not unwelcome, as she learns - Toph comes to smile, because she finds that now she's filled through her bones almost in excess. It's yet another thing to love, in a lengthy list of things she loves deeply without being in love.
(There's a difference, she asserts fiercely.)
And as she holds her little daughter and watches Lin grow, Toph smiles sometimes and thinks of rebellion.