Chapter 1
"I'll have another" his voice sounded like gravel and smoke
"Coming right up" said the man at the bar tending to his customer immediately.
It was nearly dusk out and the city of Gaolin was still alive with busy streets of people playing music, dancing, selling goods and everyone in the city just having a good time, of course there was a reason for such celebration. Today is "special day", particularly so for certain young lady, it was her sixteenth birthday. A which some nations considered it a girls ascension into adulthood. That "certain someone", was none other than the self proclaimed greatest earthbender Toph Beifong.
Today was suppose to be a great day yet here Zuko was drinking away one his many problems.
"Another." Zuko muttered
"You sure about that buddy? Might wanna finish your current drink.", said a voice from his left. Zuko looked over his shoulder and saw Sokka and Aang with both of them holding almost the same smile. "It's finished" Zuko uttered and held the glass up for his friend to see he then placed the glass on the counter and went back into thought. Sokka looked at his friend and chuckled thinking he might know full well as to why his friend looked down, "So why don't you tell me what's on your mind.", Aang placed hand on Zuko's shoulder then proceeded to take a seat on the wooden stool next to him. Zuko paid no mind to this he merely continued to stare at the glass on the counter as if it would leave if not watched. "Bartender, we'll have three of your strongest!" yelled Sokka. "Actually ill just have some union and banana juice" Aang slipped in before the bartender left. "Fine" A few minutes passed and they sat there with neither of them speaking a word and just as Sokka was about to give up hope he heard Zuko speak up. "She's changed." Zuko muttered. "We all have." Aang said with a small smile, "Yeah, look both Aang and I have facial hair now" Sokka said waving his hand nonchalantly and took a sip of his drink. " But that doesn't mean its a bad thing. For instance when I saw you again you were standing tall, smiling at everyone, being all suave."
"Suave?" Zuko interrupted his right eye twitching at the thought.
"Heck you had women throwing themselves at you earlier today!" Sokka continued a trace of irritation could be heard in his voice, he then took a drink from his glass to calm himself and continued *Cough-cough* "Anyhow back to my main point, when I saw you again I thought you were radiating with confidence, yet here you are being all depressed and angsty, it's almost like when we first met you." Sokka finished with a chuckle "No, if it were like when we first met I'd be hurling fireballs at you both." Zuko stated. There was a moment of silence between them before they all three started laughing. " Just go tell her how you feel.", Aang suggested.
" She's like a sister to me, nothing more." Zuko replied
" Yeah, just keep telling yourself that. The only person you seem to be fooling is yourself, and to be honest, you're not doing a very good job at doing that either" Sokka added
" I can't just - " Zuko cut himself off when he heard the voice of the person they where speaking of. He turned to confirm his suspicions and spotted her immediately. There she was Toph Beifong, the birthday girl surrounded by flocks of men trying to rouse her attention but neither of them seemed to be able to make her budge. She turned to look his way and despite her being blind, and them being across a room fool of people they locked eyes for what in reality was probably nothing more than a second or two but for Zuko it felt like an eternity too short, her parents most likely wanted her to find a potential husband by the end of tonight and at this he felt his heart stop and drop down to his stomach. It was then that he realized Sokka was right, he wasn't fooling anyone, not anymore.
...
She held an emotionless expression the entire time they spoke to her, she hated events such as these, in which she was the center of attention of men speaking of how much gold or land they had to their names, little did they know things like that meant nothing to her. Toph raised her hand to signal them to stop " Sorry gentlemen but I'm not int-" she stopped when she felt a pair of eyes staring her way, she focused so that she could "see" where it was coming from her eyes widened for a second before her face shifted into a frown, and she turned on her heels and left in the oppisite direction, leaving the group of men there completely baffled as to what they might have done wrong.
"Maybe my money isn't enough for her?"
"No no, there isn't a soul on this planet that doesn't love money and she's no different"
"The rumors do prove true though she does some to have a heart of stone."
"Indeed"
Toph ignored them and just kept walking she was deep in thought she didn't know what it was about him, because despite her being blind she could always feel the heat of his stare when ever his eyes were on her. walked across the room and found her way to her friends Katara and Suki. She plopped down on a chair and crossed her arms
"What's up with you?" Katara asked
" Nothing" Toph stated and continued to hold her pout.
"Well, if you say so." Katara said knowing full well something was wrong but, she also knew how Toph was and prying her about it wouldn't help she'd just have to wait until Toph opened up herself. Katara noticed a young man walking their way, he was tall well built and an all around handsome man, most likely a nobles son.
"Excuse me Lady Toph, but may I have this dan-"
"No" Toph cut him off
"But you haven't heard wha-" he tried to continue
"No" Toph repeated
" B-But"
"NO" Toph emphasized the word along with giving him a glare this time, the young man felt as though his life would be in danger if he so much as opened his mouth one more time so he proceeded to walk away with his head held in shame.
"Well there goes another one" Suki said referring to the list of men Toph had been rejecting all day and night.
Katara and Suki sat there for a while just watching as Toph turned down one guy after another, they where starting to see why she was upset now. After a few minutes they wave of men finally died down and they had a small moment of silence before Toph spoke.
"You know I used to think you guys were disgusting" Toph spoke bluntly resting her cheek on her palm this caught both Katara and Suki by surprised and both gave her a confused look.
"I mean the way you all talked about falling in love" Toph finished.
"Oooh" Katara said and she knew this was it.
" You all talked about how you've met you're soul mates and I used to think you guys were just deluded children grasping at an ideal that just didn't exists" Toph shrugged and not really seeing where she was going with this Suki was about to reply but Katara put a hand over her mouth and Toph continued. " I mean it sounded nice in theory but I just didn't think it was real...but then I met him" both Katara and Suki knew full well who she was referring to. "Now I'm a cynic...a skeptic who's converted into a believer or rather a victim" Toph said throwing her arms in the air before crossing them. "It's disgusting" she finished, finished with a pout.
Both Katara and Suki were shocked by this sudden confession from Toph. Katara smiled and spoke "Wow, I never expected to hear something like this coming from you Toph."
"Yeah, yeah shut it" Toph stated
Suki gave her friend a hug and continued where Katara left off
"Anyhow it's perfectly normal for you to feel that way towards Zuko after all you tw-"
" D-did you...did you just say Zuko? Tophs face went red and her expression changed completely.
"oops" Suki said receiving a small glare from Katara
"H-Ha-ha! Jokes on you guys, I was just kidding about everything!" she shouted trying to conceal her embarrassment though her shouting only serve gather more attention from some of the other people in the room.
"Toph settle down, it's not that big of a deal everyone already knows." Katara said trying to help her calm down, but this only helped to mortify her more
"Knows what? H-Ha haha." Toph replied her face as red as a ripened tomato.
"She's in denial." Katara whispered over into Suki's ear.
"No kidding." Suki replied
...
A few minutes later and Toph's embarrassment had finally passed though it didn't help that she was no longer speaking again. She noticed how much quieter it had gotten, most of the party had died down only a few people remained including "him". She pulled her chair back and stood up.
" I'm going for a walk" Toph muttered just barely loud enough for them to hear
" Are you alright?" Katara asked, the worry in her voice evident.
" Yeah ... just need some fresh air is all." Toph responded and with that she walked off.
Zuko spotted Toph in the corner of his eye walking out towards the gardens and decided to follow. Once outside he saw her near a pond meditating. He approached her slowly trying to think of the words to say. His foots steps were light, he was trying not to disturb her, though she knew he was the moment he stood from his chair back by the bar.
"T-Toph" he spoke softly, and no matter how hard she tried to fight it, her ears perked up at the sound his voice and her heart beat thumped against her chest.
"..Hey" Toph said though it sounded more like a whisper
" I need to talk with you."
" Alright talk." Toph replied
" I- ... to be honest I don't even know what to say" Zuko confessed his shoulder slumped in defeat. Toph listned to his heart bear quacking with every minute that passed. She couldn't take it anymore all these games they both played she knew what she felt for him and weather or not he felt the same, she was about to find out.
" Then, why don't you show me instead?" She asked biting her lower lip
this caught Zuko by surprise . Zuko thought about it and realized she was right if he couldn't tell her hed show her with action, they were both too stubborn to admit what they felt out loud. He took a step forward and paced around her until he was directly in front her, with only a few feet in between them. You didn't need to have special hearing abilities to hear how loudly his heart was pounding against his chest, Zuko swallowed the lump in his throat and bowed respectfully "Toph Beifong, may I have this dance?" Zuko asked before taking his fighting stance. Toph stood the blush gracing her cheeks clearly evident. " I thought you'd never ask." she replied with a big smile and she too took her stance.
A/N: I know my writing style isn't the most enjoyable but I hope you all liked this small oneshot, I had the idea swimming around in my head for a few days and so I finally decided to do something with it. Anyhow as I said I hope you guys enjoyed it!