So, basically, this is another AU… call me obsessed and I'll immediately tell you that you're right… probably getting an F in math class right now, but on the bright side at least I'm practicing English XD Anywho… my first Taang fanfic (for those of you who don't know, that's Toph and Aang)! It's been almost ten years since the show ended and I still don't know if I ship Taang or Tokka… #therealstruggle Regardless, here's the fic!
x…x…x
It just wasn't his day.
Aang burned his toast so severely that he set the toaster on fire in the process. He forgot to do laundry the night before and he was down to his absolute last pair of underwear. Worst of all, he tripped over his cat Momo and ended up spilling his coffee down the front of his white work shirt. Cleaning up the mess took up so much time that, for the first time since he was hired, he was late.
Just as any other American employee would, he contemplated calling in sick; after all, if things were this bad at home they could only go further downhill at work.
Unfortunately, when he went to call his office, his phone was notably absent from his pockets. He scanned the kitchen table. No phone. Fishing underneath his bed and between the couch cushions only got him a few loose pennies and a whole lot of lint. Rummaging through his briefcase yielded nothing but a bunch of papers and donut crumbs. No matter where he looked, he couldn't find his cell phone.
"Great!" He yelled out, frustrated. He stormed over to his home phone, fuming, and punched in his cell number. The dial tone droned in his ears, but he couldn't hear his ringtone anywhere in the house.
"I'm so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stu—"
"Hello?"
Aang froze. The voice had come from the home phone. Someone had picked up! "Uh… hello?"
"Who's this?" The voice was female.
"It's, uh, it's Aang. Um… I think you have my phone."
The voice on the other end scoffed mockingly. "How do you figure?"
Aang, stunned by her sarcasm, rubbed the back of his head. "Why do you have my phone?"
"Found it."
The young man sighed in relief. Someone had found his phone and would give it back to him when he gave her his address.
"That's great… My address is 226 Maplewood Avenue."
"Um… good to know?"
Aang's smile faltered a little at the voice's confused tone, but he quickly dismissed it. "Where did you find it?"
"In your car." The voice replied.
Aang's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I-in my car? How could you have found it when it was in my car?"
"Because I have your car." The woman spoke as if stating the obvious.
"Why do you have my car? Who are—" It suddenly hit Aang like a brick. "Did… did you steal my car?"
"Yeah. Duh."
"Wh… Why?" Aang broke into a cold sweat. He peeled back the curtain from the window facing his driveway. Sure enough, blank gray pavement stared back at him.
The woman on the line snorted. "Are you asking me why I stole your car?"
"Yeah… I mean…. That's my car." He reached for a pen and a piece of paper and scrawled out "Remember to change locks and upgrade security system."
"You're not going to ask for it back?" The woman began laughing sharply into the receiver, making Aang cringe. "Look, here's a word of wisdom for you: a man who leaves his keys in the car with the window down does not deserve to own a vehicle."
Aang blinked. This was messed up on sooooo many levels…
"You realize I took milk money from kids like you in middle school, right? How old are you? Like, twelve? You're not even supposed to be driving. That's really irresponsible."
Aang's face burned. "I'm t-twenty-three years old!" He sputtered. "A-and I'M irresponsible?! You stole my car!"
"Then demand that I give it back."
"Look, I don't want any trouble." The young man massaged his forehead, hopelessness setting in. "You stole my car, my keys, AND my phone, and you're probably going to come to my house now to steal something else. Please, just come by and drop them off. I'll meet you some place if that's what you prefer. I don't even need to know your name. I won't press charges, but I need my stuff back."
Silence drilled into his ear.
"You know," the woman mused. "You have a really high voice for a guy."
"Give me my car please, miss."
"My name is Toph."
Aang arched an eyebrow. "…Nice to meet you… please, just give me my stuff. Meet me at that little coffee shop on the corner of Daymond and Hue, okay? I can walk."
"What's your name again?"
Aang rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Does that really matter, ma'am?"
"It does if you want your car back."
The grown man muffled the receiver with his hand and let out a groan. Why was this lady torturing him? All he wanted to do was call in sick and enjoy a day to himself. Was that so wrong?
"It's Aang."
"Last name?"
"Twinkle."
Long, loud guffaws echoed in his ears. "What the hell kind of name is 'Twinkle'?! What are you, a Telletubbie?"
"Ma'am, I don't want to have to call the police. Now please, for the last time, give me my stuff." Aang begged.
"Convince me, Twinkletoes." Aang listened hard to the woman's amused voice and recognized the familiar grainy sound of his radio playing in the background.
Normally, Aang would consider himself a very level-headed, compassionate, and amiable person. This woman, however, was pressing all the right buttons to make him want to explode. Anger bubbled beneath his skin. He couldn't even remember the last time he was angry.
Taking a deep breath, Aang filtered his words as carefully as he could. "Ma'am, I—"
"I'm twenty-two years old. I'm not a ma'am."
"Toph, I am trying my best to negotiate here. I'm tired and upset and this just isn't a good morning. Meet me at that coffee shop, please, or even here. Just… give me my stuff back."
"You asking me out?"
"No!" Aang blushed an even deeper red.
"Why are you so uptight? Haven't been out in a while?"
"Are you going to give me my car back or not?"
Toph hummed thoughtfully. After a few seconds, she clicked her tongue. "Nah."
"What?! Wh—"
A dial tone answered him.
Aang plopped the phone on the table and sputtered incoherently at it, trying to formulate a conscious sentence about how furious he was. No words—at least none from the English language—came out. When he had finally gotten a chance to catch his breath, he stabbed the buttons and dialed for his boss's secretary. Her voice made him feel a little bit better when she picked up.
"Hi, Ms. Kyoshi? It's Aang Twinkle."
"Aang! I was just wondering about you. Where are you?"
"I'm actually home right now. I'm not feeling well and I think I need to cash in one of my sick days."
"I hope everything's alright. What do you think it is?"
Aang's stomach twisted in knots as he tried to think of a recently spreading virus. "Oh, you know… flu… smallpox… fever, tremors… seeing spots… vomit, lots of vomit." It didn't sound convincing, even to him. Before he could continue, the call-waiting tone beeped in his ear. "Would you excuse me, please? I have another call."
"Sure, no problem."
Aang pressed a button and held the phone back up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Your air conditioning sucks."
The young man's eyes snapped wide open. He knew that voice. "T-Toph?"
"Yeah. How do you work your air conditioner? It's only blowing out of one vent."
"I'm on the phone with work right now. Can this wait?"
Toph clicked her tongue. "Fine, but make it snappy. It's hot in here."
Aang, flustered and way too tired to handle his current situation, wearily switched lines. "Hello, Ms. Kyoshi?"
"Yes, Mr. Twinkle."
"Can you tell Boss I'm not coming in today? I'll be there tomorrow, first thing."
"Well, I hope you feel better. I'll let Mr. Roku know. Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids." Her voice was unusually loud.
"Alright, will do."
"A word of advice." Ms. Kyoshi was now whispering. "You could definitely use some work on your acting skills. Anyone could tell you were lying straight through your teeth."
Aang flushed. "Y-yes, ma'am."
"Have a good, restful day, Mr. Twinkle." Her voice glittered with humor as she hung up.
The young man sighed and switched back to Toph. "Toph?"
"Hey, Twinkletoes. So you said that this café is on Daymond and Hue, right?"
"Yeah." Aang grimaced at his new nickname.
Muffled talking filtered through the line before she spoke up. "It's got a green sign out front with a tea cup on it?"
"Yup, that's the one."
"You want your car back right?"
"Absolutely!"
"Then how come you're not here?"
Aang bolted up out of his chair. "Don't move!" He shouted into the phone before throwing it down onto the table and running into his bedroom for a clean shirt.
"If you're not here in five minutes, I'm keeping it." Toph's voice strained against the rustling of fabric as the young man tugged a T-shirt over his head.
"STAY!" Aang shouted out at her before slamming his door, not even bothering to hang up.
x…x…x
It wasn't a very long walk to the Jasmine Dragon, but it seemed like hours before Aang screeched to a halt in front of the door. He flung it open, nearly knocking the little bell off of its position above the entrance. Customers stared as the disheveled youth narrowly avoided colliding with a waiter bringing an iced tea to a patron.
"Jeez, Aang, watch it!"
"S-sorry, Zuko!" Aang apologized to his friend before scanning the room, his face hot with perspiration.
Soft murmurs echoed in his ears as his eyes alighted upon a small woman he didn't recognize with ravenous black hair tied up in a messy bun. As he approached her, he noted how her cargo pants were a size too big and her yellow no-sleeve shirt was a size too small. Flip-flops peeped out from under her pants and a stripe of milky white skin underlined her tank top.
"Toph?"
The woman turned around and her eyes nearly sent him tumbling backwards. Her irises were almost completely translucent, tints of green gleaming around her pupils.
"Y-you're…"
"Blind? Is that the word you're looking for?" Toph folded her arms and arched an eyebrow.
"Um… yeah…" Aang scanned her face for signs of offense, but saw none.
"Judging from your squeaky voice, I assume you're Twinkletoes."
"Yeah, yeah that's me." Aang stuck his hand out in a greeting and then immediately retracted it as he remembered she couldn't see.
"You just held your hand out, didn't you?" Toph blinked.
"Uh, yeah… how could you tell?"
Toph rolled her unseeing eyes. "Call it intuition."
"Excuse me for asking, but… how did you steal my car? Or… you know… drive it?"
Toph plopped onto a plushy chair and Aang sat next to her. She picked at her toes, unaware of how Aang was wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Twinkletoes, every professional needs an apprentice— you know, someone to pass the torch on to. In the criminal profession, an apprentice is normally someone that does the dirty work or bears the brunt of the punishment if a team gets caught. Since I obviously can't see, my pupil drove your car for me. He should be here right about…"
"Hey."
Aang shot up from the couch the moment his eyes met the tall, dark shadow looming in front of him holding two coffee cups. The man towered a good three inches over the top of the Aang's head. A thick line of stubble shaded his chin and jawline. Shaggy brown hair hung over his piercing brown eyes. An unlit cigarette was clenched between his teeth.
"Now." Toph smiled and stood, standing beside her companion. "Twinkletoes, this is Jet, a transfer from one of our allies. He's getting some tips from the master, yours truly. Jet, this is Twinkletoes." Jet nodded at Aang with a pointed look as handed Toph a cup and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. "He also happens to be my boyfriend."
"I see. Nice to meet you, Jet." Aang went to shake his hand, but Jet only glared at it, causing him to drop it back to his side.
A heavy silence hung in the air before Toph cracked her knuckles and crossed her arms at Aang. "So, let's do business, shall we?"
Aang, grateful to have his attention diverted from Jet's intimidating gaze, turned to Toph. "Yes. I just need my phone, car, and keys back and I'll be out of your hair."
Jet held up a hand in protest. "Not so fast there, Twinkie. Criminals don't exactly take suggestions from people they steal from. We'll make you an offer and you'll take it. Otherwise, we keep it all."
Aang, suddenly extremely afraid, only had it in him to nod.
"Told you he's an easy one." Toph nudged Jet and snickered before snapping her gaze just below Aang's eyes. "Listen, Twinkletoes. Your car was an easy steal, but it's not big enough. We've got a lot of people in our gang and your puny Fiat isn't going to cut it. Pipsqueak couldn't fit in there even if we chopped his legs off." Toph swung her arm in a cutting motion and Jet chuckled. "We'll give you your car back and throw in your phone and keys just because you're a nice guy. But you'll need to owe us a favor. A big one."
Aang shifted his gaze from Toph to Jet, and back to Toph again. "Like what?"
"How much did you pay for your Fiat?"
After a quick calculation, he replied, "About 18,000."
"That plus a phone like this equals about 18,500." The blind woman dangled her victim's phone in front of his eyes. "That, plus about 500 for our trouble, should equal 19,000. We're fair people, so we'll deduct money for everything that you do for our gang. We'll add money if you screw up."
"Where did you guys train, a bank?!" Aang leaned forward and whispered sharply. "This isn't how this works! Look, I'll pay you two grand right now if you give me back my car and phone right now. We'll both walk away happy."
Toph giggled. "It's funny how you think you can negotiate."
Jet placed a hand on Aang's chest forcefully. "Consider your debt now 20-grand."
"But—"
"Think before you speak, Twinkletoes." Toph smirked. The young man shriveled up, closing his mouth before another sum of money was added to his fee. "Smart guy. Your first assignment's tomorrow, the back lot of this building. 5:00 sharp."
"Listen, I don't want any trouble—"
"Then we'll see you tomorrow." Jet fisted the fabric of his shirt and pulled him a little closer, a devilish smile twisting his face. Aang shuddered.
"Tomorrow." He murmured in reply.
Jet released him and snuck his arm back around Toph. The woman stepped away from Aang, a grin also on her lips. "See you then, Twinkletoes."
Aang watched helplessly as the pair walked out of the café, both looking heinously innocent. But somehow he couldn't take his eyes off the short woman who was laughing so sweetly at her boyfriend as they walked down the street.
How could a blind girl half his size be so intimidating? And more importantly, how did the day go so wrong?
So that's chapter one! I'm probably making this a three or four part fic. I wasn't planning on it (this was actually supposed to be a drabble, but as I wrote it evolved into something way more interesting). Let's see how far this goes! I super-duper appreciate your comments, likes, and favorites. Please continue to respond! I love feedback! Until then, Keep Calm, Leaf On.