And so begins my ill-fated Tokka journey.
Prompt 1: Small (#40)
Set while they're undercover in the Fire Nation.
"Mmm."
Toph and Sokka wandered the quiet streets of the small village in relative silence. The group made a stop to rest and resupply, with Aang and Katara taking charge of the shopping, leaving the dynamic duo to explore the village in search of entertainment. Turns out the village did not have anything particularly interesting to offer, aside from a roast meat stall from which Sokka bought two shish kebabs for the pair to enjoy.
"This is pretty good," Toph mumbled through a mouthful of tender roast beef. She licked her lips clean of sauce, and smiled contently. "Yep. Pre-tty good."
"Mhmm." Sokka nodded sagely, polishing off the last bit of meat still stuck to the skewer then passing the spike to Toph. "Wanna bend these?"
"Sure, I guess." Toph took the skewers, and making sure that no one was watching, concentrated on finding the impurities in the metal - then she twisted the skewers into a loop and with an earth-bending boosted jump, placed the loop onto Sokka's head like a circlet. "A crown, for the princess." She grinned.
"Very funny, Toph." Sokka grumbled, though he found it hard to suppress a smile at the friendly ribbing. Looking down at the pillar of earth that Toph used to jump up, however, Sokka had a sudden epiphany.
"Wait, Toph."
Toph stopped, sensing the suddenness in his tone. She tensed up as well, preparing to drop into an earthbending stance. "What?"
"Hold still for a minute." Sokka said seriously, inching closer towards the girl. "I need to check something."
"Check what?" Toph asked, anxious as her seismic sense returned nothing suspicious. Whatever Sokka spotted, she couldn't defend against it until it made its move. "What is it?"
Sokka swallowed, his hand reaching out slowly as sweat beaded on his forehead.
Tap
Sokka patted Toph on the top of her head.
"Huh. I never noticed but you're really small."
CRUNCH!
"Agh!"
Toph glared down at Sokka, whom she had buried up to the neck underground with a stomp of her foot. "Excuse me?" She snapped, testily.
As they say - In for a copper, in for a gold… Sokka gulped as he stared up at the angry earthbender. "Well, I, uh, couldn't help but notice that you barely come up to my chest- eep!"
A heavy stone, larger than a watermelon, slammed down inches from Sokka's head, and sweat started rolling down his forehead. "Wait-! Just hear me out, Toph!"
Toph raised an eyebrow in her best continue, but know that I'm moments from kicking your ass even harder face.
"What I meant to say, is that you're really small—!" Sokka's eyes widened as the earth swallowed his neck, leaving his chin just barely above ground. "Just let me finish! Please don't hurt me!"
His heart hammered with fear, even though he knew that Toph wouldn't really hurt him.
…Probably.
…right?
Toph narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but didn't do anything more to the poor boy.
"But! But! Even though you're really small, you kick all kinds of ass!" Sokka blurted out, looking at Toph hopefully. Toph had a thoughtful look on her face, and she tapped the ground lightly with a foot, causing Sokka to rise out of his earth prison slightly.
"Go on," Toph grinned, seeing where this was going. She enjoyed praise - maybe even enough to forgive Sokka for calling her small in the first place.
"You're the best earthbender this side of Ba Sing Se," Sokka continued, emboldened by the feeling of the pressure on his ribcage easing. "You've fought - and beaten - men that are like four times your size, without even breaking a sweat."
"I am pretty awesome, if I do say so myself," Toph smirked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I just find it amazing," Sokka said, growing more confident as he continued to rise from the ground. "Even though you're small, you've done so many incredible things. Teaching the Avatar, fighting against the fire nation, saving lives - my life - too many times to count."
"I just… wanted to say that you're an incredible person, Toph. I'm glad we've got you on the team." With a pop, Sokka was freed from his earthen confines, leaving him sprawled on the ground in front of Toph. Toph looked away pointedly from Sokka, trying to hide the wide smile that she bore on her face. That, and the beginnings of a faint blush. Can't have Sokka seeing that.
"I guess that wasn't so bad." Toph said, maintaining an air of indifference while offering a hand for Sokka to pull himself up with. "Y'know, not that I care about what you think or anything. Alright, get back up you idiot, we need to get back to the lovebirds."
"Hey," Sokka grumbled, though accepting the helping hand. "Please don't talk about my sister like that. Not an image I need in my mind."
"Pfft." Toph punched Sokka playfully in the shoulder. "Get used to it. It's not like they're even trying to hide it anymore."
"Ouch…" Sokka rubbed the shoulder gingerly, but otherwise didn't respond - he was thinking. A rare occurrence for Sokka, yes, but it did happen occasionally. The two continued on their way, headed now towards where they had left Appa and the rest of their supplies.
After a long period of silence, Sokka mumbled, "…Being tiny makes you look pretty cute, too…"
Toph's cheeks flushed bright red.
Some Time Later...
"Where did Sokka go?" Aang looked up from the packing he and Katara was doing to find Toph strolling up to the group from town. "I thought he went into town with you?"
Toph blushed and looked away, her foot scraping the ground. "Oh… y'know how Sokka goes. He's probably napping somewhere."
Crickets chirped, and the cool night breeze swept gently through the empty streets.
"...Hello? Toph? Anyone?"
Sokka sighs, resting his face against the cold dirt imprisoning him. "...I thought that was pretty smooth..."