It wasn't the first time she could feel his eyes on her. Sure, just because she was blind didn't mean that she couldn't feel those eyes seemingly searching her for something, and it was getting damn annoying.
The first time she'd noticed, Toph had been at a reunion for the fifth anniversary of the end of the war. The party had been in full swing (apparently, because Toph was so bored that's she really couldn't tell) and she'd been lazing about at a table just listening to the music that the people danced to and playing with her food in a very unladylike manner. Katara had always insisted that Toph be present at these kinds of things, although the earth bender hated this kind of stiff formal parties. Something about withholding friendships and unions, as well as for the good of the four nations, blah, blah, blah. Toph always just kind of tuned Sugar Queen out, and now it had just become natural. She'd been sitting at the table for the last two hours, shooting down any hopeful dancing partners with a sour look. Most were startled that the blind girl was able to pinpoint their faces and shoot them such a look, which was another thing that annoyed her about these stupid formal parties. Most of the guests were snobs, and quite ignorant of generally—everything.
Toph had almost punched a guy when he'd decided to lead her to her seat because a poor, helpless blind girl shouldn't strain herself. Needless to say, when the idiot had learned her real name, he'd run away like a dog with his tail between his legs.
Normally Sokka had been her savior of these terribly boring parties, but since Suki had become pregnant, he was waiting on her hand and foot, literally.
"Would you like a foot rub Suki?" Toph rolled her eyes as she could feel her friend fluff the pillows behind his beloved wife's head, and quickly scurry around to take off her shoe.
"Sokka." Suki said in an annoyed voice, getting her husband's attention.
"Yes my beloved fan girl?" Sokka asked, switching to massaging her hands. "Is there anything that you need? Is our future son hungry?" Toph nearly burst out laughing at that one, and Suki just grinned and shook her head.
"Just sit with me Sokka, oh, and it's a girl I keep telling you that." Toph tuned the funny couple out as they began bickering about whether it was going to, as Sokka put it: "come out a little wolf tail warrior" or a girl.
Pushing her food around on her plate with her fork in an increasingly bored fashion, Toph suddenly became very aware of someone watching her. It wasn't in a bad way, no creepy chills running down her spine or any bad feelings, but it was just odd. She'd never had anyone look at her like that. Toph could feel glares, especially because the heart rate normally increased and the figure became stiff. She could feel glares; they were the easiest looks to decipher despite her blind eyes. It was too often back when she was twelve that Sugar Queen tried to burn holes in the back of her head when they'd fight sometimes.
But this wasn't a glare. It also wasn't one of those annoying looks that Toph often got when people 'admired' her feminine qualities. Toph didn't give any indication that she had even felt someone watching her; instead, she simply kept playing with her food, although she was rapt with attention. The next second, the feeling was gone. Toph stopped pushing her food around for a moment, wondering what the heck that was about. She was so caught up in thinking; she didn't even notice her next guest, sitting down in the chair directly to her right.
"Flameo Toph! Great um…. Party, huh?" Aang chirped in a cheery voice, nearly giving Toph a hard attack. Recovering quickly, Toph snorted in a very unladylike manner and rolled her non-seeing eyes.
"Right Twinkle Toes." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, gesturing to the all too proper dance floor. As far as Aang was concerned, she knew that his idea of dance parties were wild and erratic dances, like the one that they had in the cave several years ago. Toph could never decide if she found Aang's outdated language funny, or annoying.
"You want to make it fun?" Toph grinned deviously, as an idea suddenly popped into her head.
"I know that look Toph. That's your we're-going-to-get-into-a-lot-of-trouble look." She could ear the grin in Aang's voice.
"It will be worth it." Toph assured him, before leaning towards him and explaining her genius plan.
xxxXxxx
The second time she'd felt that same gaze had been a few days after the anniversary of the war. Katara had been furious with Aang and Toph, she couldn't prove that it was them that had spiked the punch, but she said that she just 'knew' it was them who had done it. So what if Katara was right? Aang had never looked so guilty, but Toph managed to convince him to keep his lips shut. After all, spiking the punch with cactus juice had been one of the best pranks they'd ever played. And one of the most disturbing ones…
Toph had been standing in the gardens, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily, and sweat made her clothes stick to her skin in an uncomfortable manner as she took a deep breath and stomped down on the ground. A pillar of earth shot up with alarming speed, Toph didn't wait and flung a couple of boulders at the pillar, effectively destroying it. Finally she was satisfied. The training area looked like a bomb had gone off, the earth was in complete rubble and no stone was left unturned, and then crushed.
Deciding that she'd better put the area back to at least some kind of normal, Toph sighed and began her boring work of repairing the arena. It was a few minutes before she realized that she could feel that gaze again. This time, she decided to try to see who it was.
"Quit staring at me." Toph said loudly, and quite abruptly she could feel those feather light footsteps. Aang sheepishly walked into the training area, having just come back from his own run.
"Sorry Toph," he began, rubbing the back of his bald head, "I was just surprised to see you cleaning up anything." He said cheekily, but didn't get away with it as Toph flicked her hand and a fair sized boulder got him in the gut. She got that satisfying "oof!" noise as the Avatar fell over and laughed. Grinning, Toph offered her hand to Aang to help him up, but the moment their hands touched, Toph realized that something was different. A jolt, almost like electricity surged up her arm, Aang got up hurriedly, but Toph didn't fail to miss the increased heart rate that they now both shared.
"Uh…" Aang trailed off, a little unsure of what to say. Toph just ignored him, too bewildered with the tingling feeling left in her hand where they had touched. She became aware that he was looking at her in that odd way again, it made Toph feel uncomfortable.
"I'd better finish up." She mumbled, avoiding turning back around, knowing that he would be disappointed. But why? Twinkle Toes had started acting so weird lately, and it was making her both confused and nervous. Toph didn't like being confused. Or nervous for that matter.
"Want some help?" Aang asked hopefully.
"No." She said bluntly, but upon feeling the hurt in his stance, she softened a bit.
"Um thanks, but I'd better do it. Besides, I think that Iroh was looking for you earlier." It was a lie, but Toph knew that Aang would somewhat believe her.
"Oh. Okay, thanks Toph." Aang walked away, and Toph hated herself for making the air head feel so dejected. He was a naturally cheerful person, and it didn't feel right when Aang wasn't happy.
They weren't kids anymore. Aang and Katara had tried the whole relationship thing, but that didn't work out and it broke Aang's heart when Katara got engaged to Haru instead. Toph didn't want to be the rebound girl. She had a feeling that Aang was only confused about his feelings pertaining to her because they'd been such close friends, and now with Katara marrying Haru in a week… Toph sighed angrily and kicked a boulder, sending it flying into the large pile of debris.
xxxXxxx
"You seem troubled Toph." Zuko spoke after they had sparred together, wiping the sweat from his brow as they sat near the turtle duck ponds. Toph had taken off her shirt as well, and was currently in her under wrappings; the heat of the fire nation sun beat down on her mercilessly.
"Are you spending too much time with Iroh again?" She asked, letting her unruly hair spring out of its bun as she flopped back down on the grass.
"Maybe," she could hear the smile in Zuko's voice, after all, he loved his uncle like a father. Toph loved uncle Iroh, he was like the great uncle she had never had, he was kind, caring and made her laugh. Not to mention the great advice her gave.
"Maybe I have been spending too much time with my uncle," he continued, "because I know how to tell when people aren't themselves." She could feel him sneaking glances at her, but she didn't give him much of a reaction.
"PMS." Toph growled, rolling over on her side and further into the glorious shade. She could hear Zuko groan.
"You can't use that as an excuse every time Toph, now what's really going on?" He demanded hotly, using his best 'fire lord' tone on the young girl. She didn't answer him at first, but instead rolled over onto her back once more, as if she was staring up at the sky.
"It's Aang." She said softly, so softly that Zuko had to strain his ears to hear the girl, but he did. "He's been acting weird around me, and staring at me a lot. It's damn annoying." She snapped, glaring up at the clouds that she could not see.
"Is that why you came to the fire nation?" He asked a moment later, and Toph nodded silently.
"I didn't want to be near him anymore." She could practically imagine the frown forming on Zuko's face.
"I know he likes me." Toph said bluntly, and she could feel Zuko's surprise, and hear it in his voice. "Then what's the problem?" he asked, growing more confused as Toph lost her frown and simply looked impassive. It took her a while longer to work up the courage to answer that question. What was the matter? Toph liked Aang a lot, but she was adept at simply not showing it. She didn't wear her heart on her sleeve and instead chose to bury it. But she wasn't confident. She wasn't…
"I'm not Katara." Toph whispered, startling the Fire Lord next to her. He had never seen Toph look quite as sad as she had then, not even back when they'd traveled together as a big group… And then they'd gone their separate ways. Toph had been furious with them and for a while she had dropped off the face of the earth after the war had ended. They'd all paired up, and as Toph had seen it, they'd abandoned her. She'd calmed down after a while, but Zuko knew that she was always a little touchy on the subject of what she did during those few months.
"You're not Katara, you're Toph." He finally said, "and Aang likes you for who you are." Toph snorted, and suddenly her sarcastic, defensive front was right back up again.
"Right, and I'm a turtleduck." Toph said, getting up suddenly. Zuko sighed in frustration and growled slightly, taking a different tactic instead.
"You're just afraid." He called, and as predicted, Toph stopped abruptly in her tracks and whirled around, but he wasn't done yet.
"You're just afraid that Aang's feeling may be genuine, but you couldn't handle it, so you used coming to visit as an excuse to get away from him." It was working; Zuko could see the anger in her filmy green eyes and her stance. He'd have to watch his back because it looked like she was ready to kill him.
"I'M NOT WHAT HE WANTS." She roared, her small fists curled so tightly her knuckles were white. It was taking every ounce of her self-control not to deck him.
"How do you know?" Zuko countered, and finally Toph lost it and stomped her foot, a huge wave of earth surged towards Zuko. Zuko skillfully jumped, and using his fire bending he propelled himself over the surge. Toph raised boulders from the ground before punching them outwards and sending them racing towards the Fire Lord. Acting quickly, Zuko dodged and ducked to the best of his ability, and took a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of flames from his hands. Toph kicked up a slab of earth to divert the flames and at the same time, sent the slab flying towards Zuko.
It was too quick for either of them to notice as a huge torrent of water burst from the pond. Steam hissed as the clouds billowed upwards, and Toph suddenly found herself flat on her back, held down by a shrieking wind. She could feel her air being stolen from her lungs, but it ended quickly as the wind died almost immediately. Only one person she knew could produce a wind like that. Hoping that for once she was not correct, Toph wanted to just lie right back down and dig herself a nice hole to live in as she 'saw' the one person that she had tried to get away from.
Judging by his stance and elevated heartbeat, Toph knew that Aang was mad. For a regular person, being mad wasn't all that bad. But Aang was quite slow to anger, but when he did finally become angry… Even Toph knew that she should not mess with the air bender. After all, he was the Avatar. Right now however Toph noticed one thing that made her heart sink. He wouldn't even look in her direction.
Zuko had already picked himself up from the ground, and was dusting his clothes off before he left, knowing that something was going to happen. Hopefully it would work out like he hoped it would. For both Aang's sake and Toph's.
"Who are you to decide that?" Aang asked in a low voice, the anger was gone now, it had been replaced by a tired sounding voice that no seventeen year old should have to experience. They'd been forced to grow up faster then others, they knew things well beyond their years that most adults did not know. Toph was astounded by the question, but she grew angry.
"Because I don't just want to be a rebound of Katara. Because I'm not her." She said angrily, but didn't dare to look at Aang at the moment.
"What makes you think that I wanted you to be her?" he snapped, surprising Toph.
"Because I'm one of your closest friends!" How could he not see that he didn't actually like like her? "I'm not beautiful, or kind, or caring. I'm rude, sarcastic and violent! How can you not see that? I'm not anything like Katara and never will be." Toph explained, she'd been waiting a long time to get this off of her chest.
"You're wrong." It was a dangerous tone of voice, and it made Toph bite her tongue.
"Wrong about what?" She asked bitterly.
"You are beautiful." Her heart nearly stopped just about then and there. She stared at him with her unseeing eyes, her mouth agape. This time it was Aang who wasn't done.
"You heard me. You're beautiful, you have a worse temper than a flaming kimodo dragon and sometimes you're the most frustrating girl in the entire four nations." Toph winced.
"But you're not like anyone else. You're strong, independent and you never give up." With each word Aang took a step closer. Toph could only 'stare' at him with wide eyes, unbelieving of what she was actually hearing.
"You're the only one who I want to be with." He finished, and by now they were standing almost nose-to-nose, Aang's proximity made Toph's face heat up. Her heart was beating so hard that she was worried it would explode. She had never been one to get butterflies in her stomach, but Toph did at that very moment when she could feel Aang looking at her with that same odd look that several months ago at the dinner party had thrown her off.
"But—" Toph had run out of things to say, any reason to not accept this. Zuko had been right she was scared. She was scared out of her mind because Toph wasn't experienced with this. Sure, she'd had that crush on Sokka, but she'd forced herself to end that when she saw how much they loved each other. She wasn't quite certain when she'd begun to like Aang; it was after the war she knew that.
Toph didn't get a chance to think or finish her sentence even as she suddenly found a warm feeling on her lips. Quite abruptly, Toph realized that the warm feeling was Aang's lips pressed against her own. Being this close to him, Toph could easily smell his scent, it was a light scent, and she liked the earthy tones to it, but also a scent that could only be described as air. She decided that she liked it.
The kiss felt like it lasted for eternity, but at the same time it was too fleeting for Toph's taste. Aang went to pull away; she could feel the nerves practically oozing from the airbender, Toph didn't let him pull away. She'd waited too long for her feelings to be returned; maybe it was partly her fault, being that she only believed that she was second best… But Toph knew that Aang hadn't been lying to her. Toph reached upwards and had to stand on tippy toe (the airbender had grown annoying tall) in order to grab Aang's head and bring his lips crashing back down onto her own.
xxxXxxx
Toph didn't mind that odd gaze anymore. In fact, there wasn't a day that she didn't feel Aang looking at her in that way. Although she said that he didn't need to, he always made sure to say "I love you" every day. He didn't say it as often as some might, but this way, the meaning of the words never diminished.
It was a beautiful banquet, Katara and Haru had been married the week before, and now the Fire Lord was holding an honorary party for the newlyweds. Needless to say, this was yet another terribly boring banquet that just seemed to drone on and on. Toph was currently leaning near the punch, trying to look as innocent as possible as she waited. Aang wrapped his arms around her tenderly from behind and held her close for a moment, before stepping back as Toph turned to grin at him and give him a quick kiss.
"Hey Twinkle Toes." She greeted happily, before handing him the carefully concealed vial that she had managed to hide from Sugar Queen.
"You got it in?" Aang said in an admiring tone, before swiftly tucking the vial into his own sleeve. Toph punched his arm, making him groan.
"Did you ever doubt me?" She asked slyly, winking at him.
"Of course not. You're far too cunning for that." He chuckled. Toph shrugged, her dress was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and all she wanted to do was get out of here. After they had their fun and Toph got her revenge on Zuko for yelling at her. Never mind the fact that from that, Toph and Aang had got together… besides, it was always fun to annoy Zuko. Poor Mai was the one who would have to calm him down…
"Ready?' Toph asked as Aang took her hand shyly.
"Ready." He grinned, and he was suddenly that same, childish kid that was ready to pull a prank.
Aang quickly moved over and dumped the entire vile of cactus juice into the punch that was being served, grinning; Aang went back to Toph as the two cracked up as they left the dance hall. The feeling of her hand clasped in his own just felt right. Her hands were no longer that of a lady's, her mother would have fainted had she known how Toph behaved most days, in very unladylike fashion. Her small hands were calloused and rough from the very earth that she fought with, but Aang loved them. They weren't supposed to leave, but both of the teenagers just needed to get out of the stiff atmosphere. Toph stopped Aang at the end of the hall; he glanced at her in surprise for a moment before she tugged on the robes around his neck, effectively bringing his lips down onto her own.
"TOPH! AANG!" Toph frowned, as she had to cut their kiss short as they could hear a very angry water master.
"Oops." Toph laughed as Aang laughed and took her hand as they dashed down the hall, away from the wild "look! A giant mushroom!" Toph ditched her intricate hair ornaments, letting her ebony hair spill out in a silky wave behind her. Wherever Aang would take her, Toph would follow him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So I have no idea why this popped into my head one day, especially since I hardly write anything even vaguely romantic… I do love Kataang, because Aang ad Katara and just so darn cute together, but I also like a little dash of Taang here and there.
I thought it would be funny if Sokka got extremely overprotective and over caring of Suki, heheheh.