Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Bryke and Nickelodeon, not me.
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Zuko stared up at the ceiling. The silence was too much after the past months of traveling and camping and company. He sighed and tried to find a more comfortable way to lie down. His chest ached. The pain no longer stabbed him sharply, but it was still annoying.
The door creaked open. He squinted in the darkness. "Who's there?" he whispered.
"Zuko?" The door opened a little farther, sending a shaft of light from the hallway through the dark bedroom. "Is that you?"
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Toph?" A small figure in a white dress crept into the room. He tried to sit up a little bit. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
She inched towards the foot of his bed. "I can't sleep," she whispered loudly.
"Can't you find Katara?" he asked.
"She's with Aang."
"Sokka?"
"Suki's with him."
He smiled at the jealous distaste in her voice. She put her knee on the edge of his bed and leaned towards him. Her long dark hair, tied at the nape of her neck with a silk ribbon, fell over her shoulder and trailed over the blankets. "You just want some company?" he said.
She nodded.
"I can't sleep either. Come on." He pulled the blankets back. Toph clambered over the bed and laid down beside him. Zuko smoothed the covers over her. "Better?"
She nodded. He settled back against the pillows and folded his hands over his stomach. Toph sighed. He glanced over at her; she stared blankly at the ceiling. "Why you can't sleep?" he asked.
She sighed again and crossed her arms. "I don't know," she said.
They were silent for a moment. "Are you sure?" he said.
She bit her lip. "I just…I don't know what I'm supposed to do now." She drew her long hair over her shoulder and twisted the ends around her fingers. "Am I supposed to just go home and go back to the way things used to be?"
"You ought to be with your parents," Zuko said.
Toph rolled over onto her side, turning her back to him. "My parents kept me away from the rest of the world," she said, her voice muffled by a pillow. "Do I really have to go back to that?"
He studied her for a moment. "Do they even know where you are?" he asked.
She curled up in a ball. "Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"I had to run away to join Aang," she said. "I didn't want to hurt them...but I had to."
Zuko mentally ran through the time she had told him about her childhood. Granted, he had been distracted, what with Aang missing and all, but he still remembered parts of it. "Do you want to go back to them?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "I want to see them, but I don't want them to treat me like some fragile little thing that they have to keep hidden or it might break."
Her voice sounded thick and quiet. Zuko reached over and tugged on her long, silky ponytail. "Hey," he said gently. "Don't cry."
"I'm not crying."
Zuko twirled the ends of her hair around her finger. "Would you rather stay here?" he asked.
She rolled over. Her eyes were red-rimmed. "Of course I'd rather stay here, but that's just my opinion," she said.
"I'd like it if you stayed," he smiled. "I'd miss you if went away."
Her foggy green eyes lit up. "Are you just saying that?" she said.
"I'm not," he said.
Her excitement faded. "My parents would never let me," she said, disappointed. "They would definitely say no."
"That's never held you back before," he said. "Besides, I'm the Fire Lord. People have to listen to me now."
She smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "That's right," she said. "You're the boss now."
"Yeah," he said. "I am." He leaned into the pillows and looked up at the dark ceiling.
Toph got on her knees and leaned over him. "So why can't you sleep?" she asked.
He smiled without meaning to. "Nothing, really," he said.
She leaned against his hip, propping her hand on the other side of his chest. "You're lying," she said.
"You and your earthbending skills," he said, reaching up to tug on her ear.
She scowled. "It wasn't because of your heartbeat, it was my…my woman's intuition," she said.
"You're just saying that because you heard Katara say it."
"Well, I am a woman."
"A very little one."
She raised herself up on her knees and crossed her arms. "Shut up," she said.
Zuko started to say something, then stopped. He frowned. "Where did you get that dress?" he asked.
"Why? Is it one of yours?" she teased.
"It looks familiar," he said. "Where did you get that?"
Toph pulled out the sides of the full skirt. "I don't know, one of the maids brought it for me after Katara made me take a bath," she said. "I look pretty stupid, don't I?"
Zuko plucked at her sleeve. The soft white silk dress clung softly to her. A narrow red sash, the same color as the ribbon in her hair, was tied a little above her waist. He rubbed his fingertip along the embroidery of the hem. "This was Azula's," he said.
Toph made a face. "Great," she said. "I knew dresses were evil."
"She never wore it," he said absently. "It was a present for her eighth birthday. My mother made it for her."
Toph rubbed her hands over the embroidered skirt. "You mean she had someone make it for her," she corrected.
Zuko shook his head. "She sewed it herself," he said. "Azula refused to wear it. She said only a commoner would wear something handmade."
Toph sat back on the bed. She looked straight ahead at the dark wall, but her eyes were thoughtful. "Is your mother dead?" she asked.
Zuko looked away. "Maybe," he said. "I don't know."
"So all you have left is your uncle," Toph said.
"I guess," he said. "Azula…we were never close, but at least she was family." He closed his eyes.
The bed shifted underneath him. He felt something warm and light touch his cheek. Zuko opened his eyes to see Toph backing away from him quickly. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I just…you seemed sad."
Zuko touched his cheek where she had kissed him. "I don't mind," he said softly. "I guess…I am kind of sad."
Toph laid down next to him, nestling her cheek in the curve of his bare shoulder. The silk ribbon slipped from her hair. Zuko ran his finger though her long locks as it spilled over her shoulders and his chest. One of her small hands rested against his collarbone; her fingers ran against the jutting bones. He caught her hand, pressed it to her lips, and placed it against his heart. "I think you should get some sleep," he said.
She nodded. He stroked her long hair until the gentle rhythm lulled her into a light doze. She huddled closer to his warmth in her sleep, then sighed and tossed one short leg over his. Zuko smiled drowsily as the aching in his chest eased.
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Author's Note:
Just some Toph and Zuko love. Sibling love or pairing love, read it however you want. I can go either way.