Author's Note: I am having trouble thinking how to slip their ages in so please note them. Sokka is 21 and Toph is 18. Okay, here's my attempt at one more short story.
Friendly Chat
By: X-wing Day
We were walking down the road, nothing but trees as far as the eye could see. Toph strode beside me and I couldn't help but take note of a few changes in her since we'd met. Alright, I'll be realistic she's gone from a hard headed little girl, to my best friend, to a beautiful young woman. As I noted this I felt the smallest of smirks creeping onto my face.
"You're not so tough you know." I said just to see what would happen. Toph shoved her hands into her pockets and turned her sightless green eyes toward me. Her expression was bored and she didn't even pretend to be surprised.
"What makes you say that, Snozzles?"
"Six years of experience." I laughed because that got a small twitch from her.
"I could take you down any time." She blew her bangs from her face and faced forward again. "Pick a day of the week."
"That's not what I meant." I threw my arms behind my back, clasping my hands there and continuing to smile. "I meant you seem to like people thinking you don't care or something."
"I don't." Toph slowed her pace a little and somehow mirrored my pose.
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"Prove it!" She glared a bit childishly and I really smirked. This was a side of Toph that even Aang and Katara rarely if ever saw. Sure she'd argue with them, but the feel was somehow different when it was us.
"You agreed to walk all the way to Bei Sing Sei, the city you hate, just to go to a wedding." I started to tick off points on my fingers, ignoring the fact that she couldn't really see them. "You agreed to be Katara's Maid of Honor even. You know that requires you willingly putting on a dress right?"
"Yes I know I have to wear a dress, I do that sometimes." Toph started playing with her meteor bracelet and that just gave me even more ammunition. "So I agreed to go to their wedding, Aang would have tried to drag me if I said no. Twinkle Toes would never have let me forget it either."
"How about that chunk of space earth? Why do you still keep it if you don't care?" I saw her pause in her bending of the metal ore, but the moment passed quickly.
"I like it because it's from space." Her voice wasn't as strong this time.
"And who was it that came to cheer me up after Suki and I broke up?" This time I couldn't even keep the joking tone. My favorite little earth bender smiled just slightly as she recalled that event.
"Someone had to force you to move on, if not for me I think you'd have stopped bathing even." Her nose crinkled at the thought and I had to laugh a bit. She frowned again quickly and put her arm bracelet back, crossing her arms. "Fine I care, but I'm still tough."