Falling in love with your best friend is a very common thing. It happened to my sister and Aang, and they're the living proof that the key to eternal love is a strong bond.
When I asked Katara how she knew Aang was the one for her, she told me they were so much alike. They were both interested in bending, they had the same humor, they loved beautiful views and a lot more. She could trust him, and he could trust her. She told me that she would do anything for him, no matter what it would take. But the most important thing was though, that she felt like heaven when she was with him. She never wanted to leave his side, because he made her feel different. With Aang, Katara said, she could be whoever she wanted to be. And he loved her unconditionally.
That made me think. About Toph. I saw her as my best friend, and I was curious to find out if we would be able to fall in love with each other. I wanted to know if we had the key to eternal love as well.
It turned out we had.
I had locked myself up in my room to think things through, and therefore I needed to be alone. I first tried to figure out if Toph and I were alike. We both loved to joke around, and to pull pranks on people. We adored to eat, and we adored hunting to get something to eat. I trusted her, and would always trust her, in any case. I would do anything for her, even die. And when I was with her… I was the person I wanted to be. I was a kid, yet at the same time an adult. I was Sokka the pranker, Sokka the plan guy and Sokka the sensitive guy all at once.
But did Toph make me feel different? I tried to remember the times I was with her, and the freshest memory I had was one where we'd gone hunting. We ended up fighting each other, playfully. When Toph had landed on top of me – of course she won – I had felt something in my chest. The feeling was nice but made me feel uncomfortable as well. Especially because it was Toph sitting on top of me.
I had never been more surprised.
How had I been able to ignore my own feelings for three years? I had seen twelve-year-old Toph turn thirteen and fourteen, she had seen fifteen-year-old me turn sixteen and seventeen, and never had I even thought of me having feelings for her. Just because I didn't think things through. From the moment I realized I was in love with Toph, all the feelings I had subconsciously ignored came to me. My heart was racing and I breathed rapidly. The only person I could see was Toph. Toph earthbending, Toph smiling, Toph commenting on me – again – Toph yawning, Toph picking her nose.
I wasn't just in love with Toph Bei Fong. No. I was head over heels in love. I was crazy about her, so crazy I almost ran to her to kiss her. Finally. After three long years. Ever since I met her. Ever since she became Aang's earthbending teacher.
It was when the sun was setting I made my way to Toph's place. It wasn't far from mine, luckily. As always, I opened the door without knocking and began looking for her immediately. I wanted to call her name, but even that I couldn't do. Just thinking I would see her when I would call her name made me feel all fuzzy inside. My knees had begun buckling, and just before I hit the ground she was there to catch me.
Toph.
She always came just in time to rescue me, whatever happened. With my arms clumsily lying over Toph's shoulders, I leaned against her.
"Sokka? What's going on?"
I wanted to say I was fine, I wanted to tell her nothing was wrong with me, but all I was able to do was let out a strange sounding sigh. She put me down on one of her couches and sat herself beside me. It took me a few minutes to calm down, and for once Toph waited patiently. She didn't say anything, all she did was look at me, studying me. At last, after I was able to tell myself I only needed to ask her some questions, I turned to her.
"You okay?" Toph asked. "You didn't drink cactus juice again, did you?"
I laughed at her question, shaking my head afterwards before I smiled at her.
"Toph, do you trust me?"
She gave me a confused look, one that told me she wanted to repeat her cactus juice question. My smile widened a little; she was so beautiful when she was concerned about me.
"Of course I trust you." she eventually replied. "I always do."
"Would you do anything for me?"
Toph's silence, Toph's look in her light green eyes made my desire to kiss her appear again, and it grew quickly.
"Yes. I would."
"Even die?" I asked, sounding surprised.
Toph smiled, and I remembered all the other times she had smiled. All the smiles she had ever given me were pure. So pure I wanted to thank her for giving them to me.
"Even die." she assured me.
"Who are you when you're with me?"
Toph's confused look returned quickly after my last question, and I couldn't really blame her. I didn't want her to make any comments on it though. I just wanted to have my question answered, so I could finally decide what to do.
"It's the last one, promise."
Toph's face grew expressionless. She looked away from me, and directed her face to the ceiling. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She was deep in thought. Just like I had been deep in thought hours ago.
"When I'm with you…" she started, her gaze still pointed to the wood above, "I'm the person I want to be."
My eyes grew wide as my cheeks started to heaten. Toph looked me in the eyes again, after what seemed like an eternity.
"With you, I'm a child and an adult at the same time. I'm Toph the prankster, Toph the sarcastic one and Toph the sensitive girl." I unconsciously held my breath. "All at once."
"Why?" I blurted out before panting.
Toph had never looked more serious. "Because I know you like me for me. And you always will."
I placed my hand on top of hers, and caused her to look down at it. When she looked up at me again, I placed my other hand on her cheek. Her cheek was warm. Very warm. After I stared into her eyes for a few moments, I moved my hand from hers to her other cheek.
"I will never like you." I said softly. I slowly pulled her face closer to mine. "I will always love you."
As I felt her breath on my skin, I closed my eyes and, three years too late, I planted my lips onto hers.