still breathing
ring
chase
Toph pretends to scowl as Katara smiles sympathetically: "Well, yes, he is very persistent, isn't he?"
hero
faker
And at night, Sokka remembered those that have not been lost not in war, but in something much, much worst (heartbreak).
memory
forget me not
Sokka tries his hardest to leave it all behind, he swears, but how can he help it if Suki's hair occasionally goes black and her eyes turn a pale, emerald green?
box
gift wrapped
All of the trouble he went to making it look pretty (for a blind girl, no less) was worth it the moment Sokka saw the look on her face.
run
you don't have a choice
She doesn't bother to tell him 'I love you,' or even 'you better thank me for this'—only shoves Sokka out the door with a shouted "Get your butt out of here!" for closure.
hurricane
eye of the storm
Pulling her to him roughly, Toph mutters, "Just...don't die, okay? I wouldn't like that very much;" Sokka blinks in surprise, but agrees, "Okay, as long as you don't croak, either."
wings
if hearts could soar
Toph never wanted to fly, but with Sokka's hand in hers she thinks she's come pretty close.
cold
hot
The snow falls around them as Sokka leans forward, laughing, to plant a kiss on Toph's lips, the only part of her that isn't freezing to death in this blizzard-ridden place.
red
satin
She groans, her hands gripping the sheets harder, harder, and through the pleasure bitterly wishes the man she'd met tonight was as familiar as she'd thought.
drink
spilt milk
Spilt cactus juice is a whole different story.
midnight (companion to view)
moonrise
In a time so foreign he barely remembers it, but for the shockingly red hair, Sokka would sneak out onto the balcony each night to watch the moonrise (it is much, much later when he realizes he never stopped seeking his first love until he'd found his true one).
temptation
forbidden fruit
It is the breathtaking feel of her skin against his; stolen, wet face pain smeared across her fumbling fingers and mingled with tears; it is all she'll ever want, and everything she can never have.
view (companion to moonrise)
window
She finds him on the balcony that night, but before she can place her hands on her shoulders and ask why he looks quite so grimly determined and so freeboth at once, Sokka turns to her, speaking the words that turn her world to ice: "Suki, we need to talk."
music (companion to laugh)
melody
All the compositions and musicians and vocalists in the world could never be as beautiful as the sound of her laughter, ringing, resonating, singing in his ears.
silk
indulgence
It's flowing and beautiful and exactly the kind Sokka imagined on his future wife--but the dress, he realizes in awe and wonder as Toph steps into the church, pales in comparison to the girl.
cover
shelter
"I'll protect you," Sokka seems to say, cradling Toph's head to his chest and holding her tight as she's ever imagined, "I'll hold you and keep you safe and never let you go--never..."
promise
liar, liar, pants on fire
"I do," Sokka whispers in reply, eyes boring into Suki's, and from her front row seat Toph wonders if she is the only one to know he's lying.
dream
granter of wishes
"Toph," he whispers, breath hitching in his throat, "Toph--", but it seems that less then a moment later Suki's voice is right beside his ear, stiring and waking (Sokka feels that he's entirely too unsurprised to realize he'd rather be asleep).
candle
burnout
In the lifespan of a flame, there is one moment before the light dies when it flares brighter and warmer than it ever has before (and who would've though, Toph thinks numbly, that such a moment could be seared so powerfully into the eyes of the blindest girl alive?).
silence
beauty
When all is said and done, it is not the war they will remember, but the easy companionship that so often accompanies the quiet; the bad jokes and the worse puns--no, in the end, they will not recall the war, but each other.
fire
second time around
When he gave them the battle scribbled with Toph can do it or Toph'll figure it out, they told him he relied too much on his right hand man—err, woman; Sokka looked at them and said 'no, no, I don't think I do.'
strength
falter
He grits his teeth, but refuses to drop the sword in his hand ("I save her no matter what you do," Sokka spits out, Toph's broken body cradled in one arm, "She'll keep living even after this, you bastard").
mask
hide and seek
Wrapped in her own, unwanted coccoon, Toph had been hidden from the world for so long that by the time Sokka came along, she was so ready to unravel it that Toph failed to notice when, in the end, it was he that helped her to do so.
ice
frostbite
Her lips are so cold and her face is so blue and Sokka knows he never should have brought her here but dammit why won't she just wake up?
dance
shake it
"May I have this dance?" Sokka asks sauvely, bowing gracefully; Toph blinks, blushes, mumbles out, "Sure, Snoozles," proceeds to grab his ear, and drags him onto the dance floor.
body
tremor
A shiver runs down Sokka's spine as he gazes into Toph's pale eyes, lips nearly touching--and who knew these last few inches would be harder than all the miles he had traveled?
sacred
temple
In these ways, Sokka prays for her return: a cup of ginseng tea in the morning; a panda lily on the noon windowsill, fresh smelling and sharp scented; and in the evening, a small dish of custard (her favorite).
farewells
hello, hello
"Do I know you?" Sokka asks playfully, inclining his head in a bow as he brings her hand to his lips, and Toph smirks, "No, no, I don't think you do."
world
that would be you
If he is stupid enough to die on her, Toph tells Sokka's comatose form as fights off rebel firebenders left and right, then she will make his life--err, death--a living hell (but if he isn't here beside her, well, can she even imagine heaven or hell or anything in between existing in the first place?).
formal
starstruck
The first time in three years Sokka saw Toph Bei Fong in a dress, he fainted in the middle of the ballroom, caused an international crisis, and woke up to the very same earthbender making a rather enthusiastic attempt at CPR.
fever
cure me
He tries to calm his flushed cheeks when Toph discards her shirt--thank god for breast bindings--and moans about the Fire Nation and the weather and she is so, so, hot that she thinks she's going to explode (Sokka doesn't disagree).
laugh (companion to music)
candy
The one time Sokka ever felt jealous of Aang was when he first realized that Mr. Goody Goody Glider had heard Toph's laugh before he did.
lies
hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil
Well, Toph thinks bitterly as Suki leans in toward her new husband for what should've been Toph's kiss, at least she's got the last one covered.
forever
eternity
Toph thinks she might want to spend it with him.
overwhelmed
under estimated
Truly looking at her for the first time, Sokka realizes that she is so, so beautiful it's a wonder he never saw it before.
whisper
bare
Truth: two sets of legs tangled in the sheets; his arm slung around her waist; the sound of Sokka's voice, oh so vulnerable, as he asks her to stay.
wait
day after day
She is not the patient type, but all the same, Toph will wait for Sokka until he finally gets over himself and starts using those pick up lines on the right person.
talk
gossip
They've heard the word of the streets alright ("Didn't you hear? Two of the Avatar's companions were found kissing last week") coupled with the whispers of nobles ("Toph Bei Fong, running off with a Water Tribe boy?" "How scandalous"); Toph and Sokka are just here to tell you that they're all true.
search
lost and found
She has been wandering for so long that it's a wonder she could've ever found her way here--but there is never a brighter moment then when Toph is finally able to lock her arms around him and whisper into his chest, "I'm home, Snoolzes--I'm home."
hope
flutter
"Breathe," he whispered, scrunching his eyes shut, "dammit, Toph, just breathe, and I'll buy you a life's supply of cactus juice, anything" (ironically enough, it was then that Toph began to stir; waking and breathing so beautifully Sokka thinks he might cry).
eclipse
blackout
Toph is slipping deeper into the water and everything so dark and wet and cold, but the moment she hears his voice calling her name, all the light returns to his world.
gravity
come down to me
Whenever Sokka drifted too far above ground, or found himself a hundred feet in the air with no way down, he simply thought of her face: and there, oh, there was the ground again.
highway
the road of life
It wasn't so much that Toph was Sokka's guide per se as the person that flipped his map around when he so happened to be looking at it backwards (how she could tell Sokka never did find out).
unknown
enigmatic
If Toph was a mystery, then Sokka was the man that would never stop searching until he found an answer.
lock
key
The two come hand in hand, and Toph and Sokka were just the same (joined at the hip, it was often said; you could never find one of them without the other).
breathe
keep up the good work
Sokka once asked her what he could do for her—"Keep breathing," Toph ordered, smiling slightly, "Just keep breathing, Snoozles, and that's good enough for me."
A/N: this took forever, didn't it? Ah, well. I got it up...eventually. Hope you liked it, smilypie!
P.S. I am so, so releaved that Tokka is still my OTP, even after discovering that I absolutely adore Taang. Seriously.