Title: Bound
Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar. I just play in their backyard.
A/N: Unbetaed. Slight spoilers if you haven't seen the last few episodes. Enjoy!
Aang wants to take Toph places.
He wants her to smile, and laugh, and feel the wind play with her hair. He wants her to feel what he feels when he's using his glider, cutting through the air: pure freedom and no boundaries.
And Aang understandsToph appreciates flying- and simply appreciates flying. Aang understands.
He knows that she appreciates being able to travel faster, and once in a while he hears her silently thank the spirits that Appa was found, well and mostly unharmed.
But Aang knows, despite her tough exterior, that Toph still hesitates approaching Appa. That she rarely strays away from her self-designated seat on top of Appa.
Aang knows that Toph is still afraid of an unknown that she does not want to know. Afraid of what being helpless truly feels like, afraid of learning to trust that which makes her vulnerable.
Aang wants to take Toph places, to great heights.
He wants to let her feel what he feels when he glides through the sky, wants to make her feel free, and unbound. He wants her to smile and laugh, and be free.
And while Aang wants to take her to places she's never heard of, feel things she will never feel with anyone else…Aang realizes he's afraid of taking away HER freedom by giving her his. He decides he loves her far too much to do that.
A/N: After reading countless of Toph/Aang with the same plot device: Toph goes flying with Aang, I decided to write this. I wanted to take the same plot device and give it a different spin. This is the first time writing Avatar fics, so any comments, critiques, all loved and welcomed!