Aurora
"Romance doesn't exist," Sokka had said. "Its all science if you think about it, nature's evolution," he'd told the gang while stroking his bare chin. Toph thought it was funny that he'd said such a thing. She also thought it was quite ironic that he'd said that right after his break-up with Suki. She'd been alright with the moodiness, it was all part of Sokka's personality after all, but once he insulted love and romance for the sake of enjoyment she'd had it.
For a good month or so Sokka had become an outsider to the group. It was tough for Toph to keep her promise while Aang was constantly trying to impress Katara and she was left alone with Momo and Appa. She often found herself attempting to be with Sokka even though that was the very thing that she was trying to prevent. He too began warming to her in this vowed silence. Sokka found himself scooting closer by the fire and setting up his sleeping bag next to her. Toph was glad for this growing concern with her well being especially when she'd fought off Zuko and fallen asleep while flying.
It was her pet peeve, she hated flying. She was blind, and truly blind in the air. Not seeing was a weakness for her, usually she hated when people were concerned about her blindness on the ground, but now she, though stubborn, wanted a little help. Sokka had offered for her to sit closer to him when the night air became brisk and soon she let the whispering winds ease her to sleep. In the morning she'd found herself with her head in his lap, his coat over her body and his hand stroking her hair.
Toph was not one to be impressed by such bravery, but Aang was. He spent the whole entire next day talking about Katara with Sokka. Toph knew that he hated it and tried multiple times to rescue him from the questioning twelve year old, but she found herself for the first time nervous. She somehow couldn't muster up enough nerves to go and approach him after that night.
When she'd convinced herself that she was being ridiculous, that nothing was different and that Sokka was just being a good friend. She was able to approach him, though she had created an empty spot in the pit of her stomach where she was imagining all they could be. She followed the vibrations where Sokka's smooth voice was arguing with Aang. She could now tell things that she hadn't noticed before. Sokka walked a lot swifter than everyone else and he hummed quietly while he worked melodiously. Sokka was also, as embarrassing as it was for her to think it, well built and muscular, she could tell that when she'd slept in his lap. That night she could feel his even breaths and slow heartbeat. He was at ease and relaxed even though they'd narrowly escaped. Perhaps Sokka's most desirable qualities were also his weaknesses. He was trusting and readable, an open book as Katara had once said. Toph had never been one for the undecided softies, but maybe opposites did attract.
"Hey Aang, why don't you help Sugar Queen with dinner? I'm hungry for that bird she captured," Toph complained. Aang stuck his tongue out in a disgusted way at the news of meat being prepared.
"Hi Toph," Sokka said, nervously leaning to one foot. Toph raised her hand into a wave and a half smile.
"Sokka," she said wistfully. Toph felt Sokka moving, but he was surprisingly light-footed and she couldn't tell which way he was going. Before she returned to her right mind Sokka had snaked his arm around her waist. After blushing fiercely she shook him off exclaiming something along the lines of:
"Sokka! Off- Don't! I'm not sure… you're! Erg!"
"Sorry," he squeaked, "I'll go." He turned away and she felt his shoulders slouch as he walked away with only a portion of his usual pride.
"Wait," Toph offered. "I don't know what I'm doing, but if you do… than I'll, well, give it a try," Toph said awkwardly. She could feel him chuckle under his breath at her comment. And so with a little bit of Toph's trust, as cliché as it sounds, a beautiful relationship began.
Four Years Later
It was Toph's birthday, she was turning sixteen and Sokka, now eighteen, had decided to take her on a trip for her birthday. They'd begun dating after the war and now Sokka was accompanying her everywhere she went and she didn't have anything against that. He was after all her other half, her sarcastic soul mate. Sokka had a soft touch and a kind voice. He loved Toph as much as she loved him and that meant that after dating she discovered he was a good kisser too, but that didn't change the fact that she resented him for choosing the south pole as her birthday trip. So she was going to spend her sweet sixteen blind as a bat in an icy hell-hole.
Appa was just now lowering in altitude, but that fact didn't comfort the blind bandit. Though she'd usually be thrilled with the idea of touching down, she knew they were landing on ice, which would be just as bad as the ridiculous flying bison.
"Are you cold?" Sokka asked.
"No," Toph answered defiantly as she shivered like her body was trying to make her a walking contradiction. Sokka shoved his parka over her head and her hair, right on cue, fell out of its usual intricate bun.
"Sokka," she whined. He chuckled nervously, knowing that Toph hated being helpless, but also aware that that was partially the reason he'd taken her here. Sokka liked playing guard and helper.
"Oops, Katara can fix it when we get there, but I personally like it down," Sokka informed her, reaching out to take a strand of her black silk between his fingers.
"Sure you do," she replied bitterly while attempting to smooth down her hair to no avail.
"No you fat fleabag! We need to land over there!" Sokka said scrambling to Appa's reins. "I said Aang and Katara's house! Huh, I guess autopilot is broken," Sokka laughed. A joke to calm the nerves, maybe, but joking about the bison being broken while suspended in the air didn't comfort the helpless Toph. She made a face at him as he steered the bison to the avatar's house.
"You know that you'll have to change when we get there," Sokka said, eyeing her Earth-Kingdom garb. Toph sighed and shrugged, knowing that she'd somehow get her way out of it. "You'll have to wear shoes too," he added as if to worry her more than she already was. He covered his face, hoping desperately that she wouldn't impale him.
"Why are you taking me here? I already know where Twinkle-toes and Sugar Queen live in their perfect engaged bliss. I don't understand why we're here, again."
"It's a secret," Sokka confined.
"Enough!" she sighed, reaching for his hands. "I love you more than you know, but I can only handle so much," she wailed.
"Okay, we're going to watch the aurora," Sokka announced eagerly.
"No offense Sokka, but you do realize that you're going to watch the southern lights with your blind girlfriend?" Toph pointed out in a very black and white kind of way.
"Yeah, and I'm staying at my best friend's house who just happens to be my soon-to-be brother-in-law and the avatar. I'm pretty sure anything is possible," Sokka replied exasperatedly.
Then they landed.
Katara was the first to greet Toph and Sokka. Toph blindly clung to Sokka's arm as she hobbled around on the ice. It was cold and wet. The ice was colder than anything her poor little feet had ever felt and as much as she hated the idea of it she knew that she'd have to wear shoes, just as Sokka had predicted.
"Happy birthday Toph!" Katara squealed, wrapping her arms around Toph and pulling her away from Sokka. She felt her way a little through Katara, but when she let go of Toph her arms shot out to balance herself as she struggled to stand. Aang came quick behind Katara and hugged Toph too, quietly whispering happy birthday. He inconspicuously led her back to Sokka as if he knew her feelings.
"Come in," Katara said pleasantly. While Sokka led her in he gave his sister a half hug and clapped Aang's back. From then on the night whirred by. They ate dinner and before Toph knew it Sokka had left her with Katara and gone off with Aang. Sokka had told her that he was talking to Aang about Katara and their soon marriage. Toph personally had been against the idea of them getting engaged, but Aang had argued that Katara was sixteen at the time and that he was a hundred and fourteen so they were of age. She'd told him that being stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years wasn't a legitimate excuse and that he'd have to wait until he was sixteen like she'd have to before marrying Sokka. Of course after the words came out of her mouth Sokka had walked in and chuckled at her. Toph knew for sure that age wasn't a thing with him and even though she'd turn sixteen today at ten forty-three he wouldn't be rushing into anything.
"Come here Toph," Katara said while dragging her by her arm. "You have to come in my room if your going to change. I think I have a nice embroidered coat for you," Katara ranted.
"Katara, I can't see," Toph complained.
"Oh," Katara said surprised. "I'm sorry, I forgot."
Katara then went through a beautifying ritual that Toph was used to since she was in the Bei Fong family. Firstwas Toph's hair, which Katara combed out and braided with little moon flowers intertwined. Katara then pinched the younger girl's cheeks to get them pink. After she finished her face Katara helped Toph into some winter pants, a embroidered coat and lace up boots. Toph felt literally like a walking marshmallow. It was utterly ridiculous how many layers she had to wear and she was completely blind in the fur-lined boots.
"You know Sokka really likes you," Katara said offhandedly. Toph smiled.
"Yeah, he's so sweet," she said imagining his lips on hers and his intoxicating scent.
"He's crazy for you like Aang was for me," Katara continued.
"Good, its not like we've been dating for four years," Toph said sarcastically. Katara laughed on cue and fixed the last strand of Toph's hair.
"I know it doesn't mean much, but you look really beautiful Toph," Katara informed her and made Toph blush innocently.
"You're right, it doesn't," she giggled. "Why are you getting me so dressed up to sit in the snow anyway?" At this Katara smiled, but of course Toph couldn't tell.
"I thought you'd want to look nice for Sokka," Katara muttered with a pin in her mouth.
"I don't know, images aren't really a thing with us, since you know I'm blind," Toph explained and Katara took Toph's hand.
"Well, either way he'll think you look adorable. Shall we find him?" Katara asked and Toph nodded, clinging to Katara so that she didn't trip. When they went outside to find the boys the wind nipped at Toph's nose.
"Katara," Toph began, "can I ask you something?" Toph asked.
"You just did," Katara laughed. Toph stared daggers at her.
"Leave the joking to Sokka and me," she said pointedly. "How did Aang ask you to marry him?" Katara took a deep breath.
"Well, first he started disappearing a lot and one day he looked really stressed and when I came over to him he gave me my necklace which he'd been working on. He said 'Katara I love you, will you marry me' and I said yes," Katara answered simply. Toph nodded. "It was on my sixteenth birthday."
"Katara, where'd Momo go?" Aang asked worriedly.
"Spirits, you lost that lemur again?"
"Appa ate him!" Sokka exclaimed. Toph laughed too hard, but Sokka joined her just so that she wouldn't be alone and that was usually how the relationship worked. He came and swept her away from Katara.
"Are you ready to go? You look stunning by the way," Sokka said, slipping his warm hand into Toph's.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Toph mentioned while toying with her hair. Sokka walked with her until they were a little way away from the house. He slung the backpack over his shoulder and turned to wave goodbye.
"Have fun!" yelled Katara.
"Be safe kids!" Aang shouted. Toph returned this with a stuck out tongue.
"Real mature Toph," Sokka said.
"Hey, I'm not sixteen until ten tonight," Toph giggled.
They walked for a long time in the ice and Toph heard the snow crunch under her boots, but she couldn't feel anything and merely clung to Sokka. If anything Toph was happy she was with Sokka. He'd been her saving grace a lot of the time lately and she didn't know what she'd do without him right now. They continued their trek for much too long and later Toph convinced Sokka to carry her. His sinewy muscles bulged slightly when he lifted the lanky girl.
About half a mile later Sokka felt himself asking, "How did this happen?" only to receive Toph's simple answer.
"I don't know, but I think I like it," she'd told him. When his breath was becoming strained he decided it was a good place to stop. He set her down and packed the snow into a bench. Apparently colored lights lit up the sky and Sokka was ogling over them, but Toph didn't care that she couldn't see them. She was content with her head at his shoulder and their bodies intertwined. For hours Toph sat and listened to his heartbeat and even breathing, then her teeth began to chatter.
"Sokks, I think I'm cold," she complained, rubbing her cheek on his jacket.
"Okay, I'll light a fire," he replied kissing her cheek then digging in the backpack at his feet. She heard him pull out supplies and the sound of him using flint. She heard the fire being built long before she felt the warmth. He sighed and Toph knew that she was obligated to ask why he'd done so.
"What is it?" she asked only slightly perturbed.
"The fire is blue," Sokka replied.
"Honey, do I need to remind you that I'm blind, I don't know what blue is or why that's significant."
"Fire's are usually red that's why its neat," Sokka whispered hot breath into her neck.
"What does red look like?" Toph asked curiously.
"Colors are hard to explain. I'm sorry if you don't get it Toph, I'll try my hardest," Sokka said sympathetically. "Let's see, red is angry and tortured. It tastes spicy and unique. Its hot," Sokka explained the best he could. Surprisingly Toph found herself nodding and understanding what he'd said, nearly perfectly.
"It sounds like Zuko," Toph giggled into Sokka's muscular arm.
"I see, you think Zuko's hot and spicy, huh?" Sokka asked, pulling his head away from Toph. She laughed.
"Not like that Sokks," she insisted.
"Sure it isn't. I think you deserve some punishment!" he muttered. She screeched and scrambled as far away from him as she trusted herself to. He crawled after her and tickled her. Her side hurt from laughing so much and there was snow in the back of her parka, but she didn't care. Sokka at this point hat stopped tickling her and was resting above her with a hand on her shoulder. Toph could feel his hot breath getting closer to her skin. Before she realized it Sokka's lips were meshing with her own. She closed her unseeing eyes and melted underneath Sokka arms. Sokka moaned incoherently and Toph thought there was something wrong.
"Sokka?" she asked hushed in between kisses.
"Hmm?" he murmured before forcing another kiss at her.
"Sokks, what does blue look like?"
"Ah, blue. You just had to interrupt didn't you?" Sokka said. Toph didn't answer so Sokka took that as a yes. Sokka pushed himself off of the ground and momentarily struggled to catch his breath. He sat up against the snow hill and helped Toph off the ground too. "If you think about it blue is sad yet cool, calm and collected. Its relaxing and somehow peacefully forgetful. It can be bright if it needs to be, but it still has an undertone of pure joy and goodness. If you want to think about it a different way I guess blue is kind of like me," Sokka concluded.
"Blue sounds pretty," Toph said. Sokka laughed heartily in a way that he wasn't sure he could anymore.
"There's a lot of blue in the aurora; I wish you could see it," Sokka said tilting his head backwards to watch. Toph sighed.
"Me too," Toph answered drowsily before falling asleep on Sokka's shoulder.
Early that next morning Toph was jostled. Sokka was up packing things away in his backpack and wiping snow off of himself and her. Toph was chilled to the bone and wet. She wanted to go back to the house, but Sokka reminded her that she was officially sixteen and that he had a gift for her as well as two waiting for her back at Aang's.
"Happy birthday, darling," Sokka whispered placing a gem into Toph's hand. "Could you bend it into a circle?"
"Sure, what is it?" Toph asked, her elegant fingers warping the geode.
"It's an emerald; emeralds are green. Do you want to know what green looks like?"
"Do you even have to ask?" she retorted shaping the emerald into a marble-like shape.
"Okay, green is nature and equality. Green is stable and unmovable. Green can be soft and alluring or loud and in-your-face. Green is the seasons and their changing. Toph green is¾"
"Sokks, I think green is¾" Toph began.
"You."
"Me."
Toph Bei Fong you are green, green is you.
"So what am I supposed to do with this?" Toph asked holding up the emerald.
"Give it to me real quick," Sokka said taking it and putting it into a wire hold. He held it in his hands gingerly and looked at Toph who was now staring into the sky, imagining what it looked like.
"Are we going back?"
"Not yet," Sokka answered, kneeling on one knee. "Toph, look at me," Sokka insisted.
"I can't really look at you Sokks," she replied, turning towards him. "Where did you go?" she asked.
"Toph, I'm kneeling. Do you know what that means?" Sokka asked. Toph smiled.
"Is my boot untied again?"
"No Toph, will you marry me?"
"Ah, nature's evolution," she sighed.
"What's that?"
"Yes, I'll marry you Sokka!" she exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping her legs around Sokka's waist.
Romance doesn't exist. Its all science if you think about it, nature's evolution.
Sure Sokka, science….