A/N: Hello, my dears~! So, yes. It is indeed Taang Week this week and I for one am incredibly excited. Mainly because this gives me a valid excuse to write everyday and just see what my crazy mind comes up with.

So in case you're asking, "what kinds of one shots will these be?"…psh, beats me. I'm kind of improvising as I go along. Who knows what I'll come up with. I tend to take the themes and create some totally weird and unorthodox interpretation of them. I mean, even today's one shot came out of nowhere. But I hope you all enjoy my Taang Week submissions and I hope more people decide on participating. It really is a lot of fun!

All the info is in my profile if you'd like to know what the next theme is / you would like to take part.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I don't make money off of it either. Oh well. Life is lame XD

OOO

Day 1

Job

OOO

Toph had a terrible habit of taking her life, picking it apart piece by piece, and intently scrutinizing all the parts that she had managed to uncover. She was like a cat with a ball of yarn. The only difference would be that a cat would eviscerate whatever it was given. Toph wasn't trying to rip everything apart and destroy it (she liked to think that her life wasn't ugly enough in order to justify breaking it further; in fact, life was okay for the most part). She was simply separating everything to make them easier to look at.

She wasn't a fan of riddles, old sayings, or people who liked to beat around the bush. She liked for things to be presented in a way that was clean, neat, and straightforward.

Toph hated when people called her handicapped, disabled, special, or impaired. She was blind. She couldn't see. There. Simple. Short, sweet, and to the point. She even hated when people told her that her rich family and rich friends (well acquaintances really, and even that was pushing it) weren't used to her lifestyle and they just needed time to accustom.

No, she insisted. They hated it. They may not hate her, but they hated her life. That was it. It was the truth.

Katara often told her that her outlook on life and situations was far too harsh and she needed to start looking at things with less of a pessimistic attitude. But what everyone—especially Katara, worrywart that she was—always seemed to pass over was that Toph wasn't a pessimist. She was a realist.

Toph found it useless to look at things with anything other than a realistic view point. Because honestly, it was the only things that helped her make sense of situations, deal with her troubles, and figure out what to do next.

But what frustrated her the most were moments where she would try all this and still come up with no idea on how to move forward.

"I'm bothering you, aren't I?"

It was said quietly and with a sigh tagged on the end, almost as if the speaker herself was growing weary of the company she had created. And while she would have preferred to sulk and deal by herself in private, she sort of had to be here. No, there was no sort of about it. This was all necessary.

"You aren't being bothersome. But I won't deny that you are being difficult." Two cups of black tea were poured—perfect; she needed to be alert right now.

She scoffed before she took a sip. "What the hell is the difference?"

Her companion shrugged and stared at her with honest eyes—eyes that didn't betray, only enlightened.

"You aren't bothering me because you aren't coming to me with useless and trivial problems. I'm interested in what you have to say and I'm always happy to speak with you." Always kind and honest. What she saw is what she got. That's what she liked. That's why she came here—why she had to come here.

"However." A dramatic statement complete with a dramatic pause. Haha. Very funny.

"You're not making the conversation easy since you're purposefully bypassing the questions you don't want to answer. Now that is being difficult." A sip from their tea cup, and all of a sudden they thought they were a freaking certified genius or something.

She rolled her eyes at the theatrics and the bold statements. Had it been anyone else, she would've walked out and screwed the entire thing. She would take her chances on her own. But, added to the fact that this was the only person she could tolerate for extended periods of time, she willed herself to put up with the teasing.

Of course, she would make it clear that she was ticked off.

"I'm not bypassing sh—"

"Toph!"

"…fine. I'm not bypassing crap. There. Better?"

"Sort of."

"What is it with you and your virgin ears? You asked me to express myself and be honest, so I'm doing that."

"You don't have to curse, Toph."

An exasperated sigh. "Whatever! Who cares? That's not the point, Twinkles! That is so not even the freaking point of all this."

Though there was no doubt venom and frustration behind the retort, Aang took no offense to it. He was far too used to her mood swings and short temperedness that he didn't take the snapping statement to heart. If anything, he was glad that she at least was talking to him and at least attempting to create a stable ground for the two of them. That was a start. And he could work from that.

"So what is the point, Toph?" Aang inquired with a voice that sounded far too old and concerned to be that of a sixteen year old. "I'm trying to help you, but you're talking your way around things and—"

"I'm not talking my way around anything!" she insisted strongly. Toph took a breath and tried to remember that there was no need to yell and shout. But she always had trouble controlling her frustration. "I'm telling you everything like it is." The last part was said quieter, but still had a bite to it; a bite that burrowed deep in Aang's chest, and made him feel that this was starting to become pointless.

He tried again, attempting to be calm enough for the both of them. "Then kindly explain to me why I'm here."

She cringed. He made it sound like he was forced to be here, like he didn't even want to be here. She accepted that as the truth, even though there was a small part of her that thought she was exaggerating and he was just as frustrated as she was. In fact, an environment that Toph would have hoped would have been comforting, helpful, and understanding, just turned into a whirlpool of frustration and irritation.

Toph took the moment to look at him—really look at him. Slight taps on the floor and she was able to get a picture. She realized that this picture looked different from the last time she saw, and this only added to her foul mood. This time around, he had gotten taller, he wasn't as slim as he was before and sinewy muscles filled in the scrawniness that he was first awarded with three years ago…

Three years ago…certainly better times in her opinion. But that was just her opinion.

Toph struggled with her next statement and was debating whether she should even voice the frustration and the worry at this point. It was almost not even worth it anymore. She felt like giving up, to be honest.

But…

"I've been picking myself apart for a while now," she muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed with the wording that seemed to only make sense to her. "I zeroed in on something the other day, and it's been bothering me."

She couldn't see Aang's eyebrows come together in confusion, but she could feel the way the muscles in his hands tensed, like he was physically trying to grasp what he couldn't immediately get. She smiled. At least that hadn't changed.

He didn't say anything, and instead waited for her to speak what she was thinking, what made her so frustrated with him, with herself, with everything. She never used to be like this, so filled with uncertainty that she couldn't even muster the ability to voice what she needed to. But he…he made things so complicated.

Her thoughts and feelings were disorganized, and this was as simple as she could make it for him.

"I feel like I've lost you."

Aang's attempt to lift his cup and take a sip of tea to calm himself was quickly forgotten and that action was halted. He looked across the table again and attempted to read the girl's sightless eyes to try and find out whether she was trying to be light and joking or heavy and serious. With her he could never tell. Well…he used to be able to tell…but…

He was suddenly scared to answer her now.

After much hesitation he spoke quietly, a whisper, a breath filled with words. "What do you mean?"

Toph scoffed in her head. She herself didn't even know how to dignify that with an answer. That was the whole point of this stupid meeting at this stupid teashop, which was stupidly scheduled like it was a damn business proposition. It felt so freaking formal that it made her skin crawl. It was like this was what they pulled themselves down to: civil afternoon teas in a tea shop like they were old friends meeting up after fifty years.

They were more than that. They needed to be more than that.

"Haven't you noticed anything different about us? At all?" Her eyes were hopeful that he would be able to fill in the blanks so that she wouldn't have to.

But his silence said it all. And it was just more irritation and frustration and anger and sadness and guilt and a desire for things to just go back to the way they were before he suddenly up and left and threw away everything they had before and—

She slammed her palms on the table. She couldn't do this. This was sickening, and it was making her uncomfortable and it was making her seethe with every raw emotion imaginable. This wasn't how things were supposed to be right now. This was not what she wanted right now. She didn't go through the trouble of coming all the way over here—going out of her freaking way to see him after Spirits knew how long—to just be subjected to this nonsense. She was suffocating, and she needed to breathe.

Toph pulled him out of his seat roughly, and made him stumble out of his seat and trip over his feet only slightly. She shoved a trembling hand in her pocket and pulled out whatever coins her fingers touched. It was far more than what their order was, but Toph couldn't bring herself to care about the enormous tip she just gave their server. She just needed to get out of here. She needed to get out of here and make him see.

It was cold outside, but she paid little mind to that. She ignored Aang's protests, the passerby's she pushed out the way, the tears that she would not allow to fall—not here and not now—and the red hot boiling rage that was just tempted to be spewed at the boy she was dragging with her. Dammit, she just wanted to make him see some sense. That's all she wanted. She wanted things to be the way they were before things got in the way.

An alley was found. What kind, she didn't know. Who was watching, she didn't care. But this was the only way that she could make him see what she was talking about since he was apparently too daft to realize it on his own. And damn it all, she was going to fix this.

He was pushed against the cold wall of the alley and he looked down at her, trembling with rage and eyes fueled with a determination that he hadn't seen in ages. He was about to touch her shoulder—something he hadn't done in ages, actually—and perhaps comfort her into a more peaceful state of mind. She needed to say something and he wanted to know what it was.

Without warning, she reached, laced her fingers behind his neck, pulled him down, and crashed her lips against his.

It was an angry, passionate, desperate kiss. One that took the energy out of her and one that she had been dying for. And it felt so familiar and so good and so much like three years ago when everything wasn't like it was now. When everything wasn't complicated. When everything was simple.

They were a bit clumsy at first—which was expected since they hadn't done this in years—but as the feelings and emotions became familiar, so did the way their lips moved against each other's. The familiar swell of affection filled her chest and made it ache in a good way. She was pouring all the passion and tears and all the thoughts of I've missed you forth, hoping that this was enough to make him realize what he was doing, and what he was putting forth before this.

Toph stopped first and let her forehead drop and land on his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and just help him there, wanting to feel something familiar and right and stable. She missed this. Oh, how she missed this.

"You need to know the difference between your job and your purpose, Aang."

Aang looked down at the top of her head and smoothed down the hair at the top of her head. Running his fingers through her hair—he remembered this too. When was the last time they were like this? How long had it been? How long had he been gone?

"What the hell is the difference?" he affectionately quoted her.

Toph laughed lightly at the joke, but stopped quickly, afraid that it would turn into sobs. "You need to know the difference between what you have to do and what you are supposed to do."

Aang was about to ask for clarification, realizing that he wasn't following, but she interrupted again. "Your job. What you have to do. What people make you do. You being the Avatar and being this damn hero for everyone and solving everyone's problems like you're some kind of all knowing oracle. But you and I both know that you're only human."

She sniffled. No. She wasn't crying. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

"Then there's your purpose. What you're supposed to do. What you want to do. What makes you whole, what makes you happy, what feels familiar to you, and what is the one thing that you can never let go." She inhaled shakily and tried to continue. "I know what my job is and I know what my purpose is. The only question is whether you know yours."

And there suddenly—as he was watching his breath puff out into the cold, as he still felt the pressure of her lips on his, as he held her, touched her, breathed her, loved her—

He understood.

He hugged her tightly then, and refused to let go, not this time.

It all made sense to him, and he wanted to kick himself over and over again into a bloody mess until he was just a wretch on the floor for not seeing it so obviously before. Putting his Avatar duties before what really mattered to him. Letting his job take a hold of his purpose—his desire—the only thing that made him feel content like he was now. And he realized what the three year absence did to them, and how they had changed. When he told her that they would have to be put on hold until he completed what he had to do, he broke it all.

I'm the Avatar. I have to do what I'm meant to do as the Avatar.

No. He wasn't meant to do that. He had to do that, but he wasn't meant to do that. It was just his job. His job that had gotten in the way of what he really needed. He couldn't believe it.

It was such a mistake—such a huge mistake!—that he couldn't believe that he had let it happen in the first place.

And there it was. Everything before the two of them, as straightforward and as simple as it could be.

He started muttering into her dark hair. "I'm sorry." His voice was laced with guilt, and he wondered how she had even had the patience to wait for him like this. She truly was incredible. "Spirits Toph, I'm so sorry. I—I don't even know why…how I…I'm so sorry, Toph. Really, I'm so sorry."

He meant it. He really did. Because he missed this, and it felt so right to be like this, and this is what he wanted and desired and needed and dreamed of and so much more that the words just poured through his mind without stopping.

Aang hugged her to him tighter and let her rest her head against his chest. They stood there, in the cold, letting themselves make up for lost time. Because he truly didn't want to let her go. Not now, and not ever, and he couldn't possibly fathom what he was thinking for so long.

Suddenly, right where they stood, things slowly started unraveling out of their knot, and became clear. It was simple. It was real. It came back to them—they found it. And they wouldn't let it go again.

They wouldn't lose themselves again. Not ever.

OOO

A/N: I kind of just typed this one. It had no structure and it kind of wrote itself. While it's not as polished as I would have liked it to be, I find myself having a fondness for it. Hope you liked it, drop a review, and stay tuned for the rest of the week. Thanks!