Prompt ; #84 – Flower

Title ; Something More
Rating ; K
Word Count ; 405
Summary ; Pure fluff.

They were walking by the turtleduck pond when she spotted it. While she delighted over finding a perfect fire lily in bloom – it had been years since she'd seen one, she cooed – he was wondering how someone managed to smuggle it into the Fire Lord's private garden. All signs pointed to one culprit; an uncle trying to drop his nephew very blatant hints that neither of them was getting any younger.

She could sense his irritation, and after bickering for awhile about how he was supposed to be relaxing and she didn't understand, he cut her off with a terse, "It's just a flower."

"No," she said, refusing – like always – to let it go. "It's something more."

# # #

They were in the marketplace for what she deemed a much-needed trip around the city when her hand on his elbow stopped him and pointed to a scene just a few yards away.

For all intents and purposes they were simply watching a young man give a young woman a flower, and he told her so.

"That's a panda lily," and he could hear the roll of her eyes in the exasperation of her tone.

When he still failed to see the importance, she shot him one of her infamous looks and snapped, "It means something more."

# # #

Toph had hit the nail on the head once – years ago – when she pointed out that the two people who never had fun knew how to when they were together.

What no one was quite as eager to point out was that they also fought, and fought, and fought. Heated arguments, shouting matches, and he couldn't count how many water whips he'd had to dodge along the way, or how many times he'd almost burned the curtains.

He couldn't remember what it was about this time, and neither could she—though she would never admit that to him. He lasted ten days – ten days of battling with himself not to join her as she sat in the garden, bent in the rain, and smiled to everyone but him – before he found her in the library and extended the peace offering he'd brought.

Its stem was bent, a leaf was wilting, but by the look on her face, it was still perfect.

"All you're giving me is a flower?" yet her voice told him he'd already been forgiven.

And when she kissed him, he finally knew what she meant by something more.